The Hill Country In The Spring

As everyone in Texas knows, the most amazing time in the hill country is the spring. The humid yet chilled winter turns to spring and the wildflowers burst into bright colors for a couple of weeks until the heat begins to get to them. The area known commonly as the Hill Country (New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, San Marcos, Boerne) bursts with blooms while the amazingly steady limestone and live oak trees keep a sense of consistency. It was so nice for us to leave our freezing temperatures for warmer climate, and get a snapshot of our favorite time of year back home.

We visited the area this past weekend. We took Jet and Kimber to all our favorite places - The Gristmill, Gruene Hall, and of course took a lot of pictures with the bluebonnets. Obviously, Jet and Kimber didn't enjoy it half as much as we did. You can't tell that they're related, huh...?

Easter Sunday

Sunday was quiet. During the afternoon, we went to a nearby park for outdoor Easter pictures. As you can see, it was quite cold, and the mountains still have a considerable amount of snow.

The night before Easter, Saturday, we spent at a friend's house. Jet, Bryce, and Braxton (his two friends in the picture) got to go on a great Easter egg hunt. We finished it off with an incredible dinner of seafood gumbo - the roux took 5 hours to make, so you know it was the real thing - and lots of great company.

There's Just Something About Home

What is it about being home? There's a familiarity to the way everything feels, sounds, looks, tastes, smells...

We went to El Paso the weekend of March 1st, and Jet and Kimber got to color Easter eggs. We had an awesome cookout on the patio, took a hot tub with a view of the city, and spent some quality time together.

My Funny Valentine

What an amazing Valentine's Day!! Jason rented a helium tank and filled over 300 balloons in our home - red, white, and pink. All three of us loved it - we enjoyed them when they were on the ceiling, and again the following morning when they had all fallen to the floor.

Kimber trying to decide which balloon looks the tastiest

Little Flapper Kimber-Girl

The week before Valentine's Day, we all traveled to El Paso for the weekend. We arrived late Friday night, and Tora & Mike had gone to buy all sorts of toys for Jet and Kimber....electric race cars, bowling sets, crawling toys - it was a child's paradise. Jet and Mike stayed up very late on Friday night playing with the electric race track. Breezy was also spending the night at Tora & Mike's so that he could spend as much time with the kids as possible. Of course, while Mike & Jet played electric race-cars, Malori, Mariah, and Breezy all split a bottle of an incredible Cabernet.

The next day, Saturday, everyone baby-sat Jet and Kimber while Jason and Mariah had date-night for an early Valentine's date. We started off the night at the Camino Real, went to the Great American Land & Cattle for an incredible steak & lobster dinner, and then finished listening to a local band while drinking after-dinner coffee at the Mesa Street Grill. It was amazing!

Nostalgia

"Mile upon mile, got no direction...we're all playing the same game....we're all just looking for redemption...just to pray to say the name..."

So, Pat Green is doing a live acoustic set at Gruene Hall on Thursday, February 14th to a sold out crowd...for $20 a ticket. I almost wish I didn't know.

The Firehouse Saloon, Gruene Hall, The Road Goes On Forever And The Party Never Ends, float trips down the Guadalupe, The Rib Hut, Great American Land & Cattle Company, Lake Conroe, Shiner Bock and tacos somewhere near Shiner, Schlitterbahn, the art district & stockyards in downtown Ft Worth, the Aquarium restaurant, Kemah, the Galleria, happy hour, Las Manitas, Star Canyon Winery, Fredericksburg, How Y'all Doin'?, 6th Street, Party on the Plaza, Robert Earl King, David Allen Coe, Jerry Jeff Walker (and every other country music star with three names), the riverwalk, Austin City Limits, The Pershing Inn, The Gristmill, Gasoline Alley, Billy Bob's, barbecue, Kerrville, Ardevinos Desert Crossing....to say that we're nostalgic is an understatement right now.

We've been in deep, snow that is, for several weeks straight. We're smack-dab in the middle of a record year for snowfall in the Salt Lake Cache Valley. Thanksgiving was the last time we saw our bushes - they've been hibernating somewhere under a pile of waist-high snow since the end of November.

Today, I threw on my iPod to bang out a couple of spreadsheets, and it amazed me that I could be engrossed in Excel and a song would bring out a memory, and maybe a tear. I am my father's daughter. Pat Green still makes me think of kayaking down the Guadalupe with Malori when she was at Southwest TX State. Joni Mitchell still makes me think of mom.

Gruene Hall is calling our name.