TEXAS!

Here are some highlights from my trip to Texas. :)

So this was the beginning of my vacation to Texas. I flew from St. George to SLC in this plane. I've flown in a little 4-seater plane before so I wasn't too nervous to fly in this one, but it's still smaller than most of the other planes I've been in so I was nervous. Thanks goodness the flight was short. :)

When I got to Austin, Andrea and Colby picked me up and we went to get some food. While we were waiting for our reservation, Andrea took me to The Boot Store. This picture is just the Women's size 6.5 aisle. The whole store was filled with shelves like this, filled with boots, floor to ceiling. I've never seen so many boots in my life, ha ha.

This is just a close up of some of the boots. They were BEAUTIFUL!!! And if they hadn't been $500 a pair I would have bought myself some. :)

After dinner we went to the Bat Bridge on Congress Avenue. I guess this bridge is home to the world's largest urban bat colony. There are close to a million bats that live there and they come out as the sun starts going down. It was fun and kinda freaky all at the same time. :) This is me and my nephew, Tyler, hanging out on the grass while we were waiting for the bats to come out.

(No this is not a picture of my boobs.) I stayed with Andrea and Colby that first night and spent the next day (Thursday) hanging out with them at the time share. It was way fun. I played with my nephews and laid out at the pool for an hour or so. Little did I know I was going to get the worst sunburn OF MY LIFE!!! I just thought I'd share the redness with yall. :)

My mom, Jon and Megan arrived late Thursday night and Mom, Jon and I spent Friday touring Austin. What an awesome city!! I loved it!! We went and had lunch at Walton's (Sandra Bullock's family restaurant) and then spent some time looking around the shops that undeniably help "keep Austin weird."

After lunch we went to the Capital and walked around for a bit and then went to the University of Texas to see the football field and the pool. Unfortunately, I did not run into Aaron Piersol, my all time celebrity crush slash University of Texas Alum slash Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer. Oh well, maybe next time.

I was joking around with my aunt and saying that the next time I see Colt, I'm gonna have to ask him for a favor. I'm sure the University of Texas has celebrity alum parties so I'm going to ask Colt to take me as his date to one of 'em so he can introduce me to Aaron. It'll be love at first sight. Ha ha ha ;)

Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and since I played my cello at the ceremony I had to be there. It was fun to watch the rehearsal and see how excited Rachel and Colt were to get married. :)

We had dinner at The Red Zone at the UT stadium and tons of Rachel (she's my cousin, by the way) and Colt's friends and family were there. The room we had dinner in overlooked the field where Colt proposed to Rachel. When we all walked in the big screen had the proposal on it. It was really cute!

The wedding ceremony was on Saturday. It was so beautiful and I was so lucky to be able to play my cello as Rachel walked down the aisle. Colt and Rachel are amazing people. Her and Colt are huge examples to me of how Christian people are. They are both so loving and kind and there is no doubt that they put God first in their lives. It was amazing to watch them make those special promises to each other and I know that they will make each other so happy.

 The reception was held at a game ranch south of Austin. As we were driving in, there were exotic animals lining the road. Gazelles, zebras, you name it! There were tigers at another part of the ranch and you'd never guess what was right by lodge...

That's right!! My favorite animal EVER!!

 They also had skeet shooting throughout the night. I'm sad to say that I didn't end up over on that side of the ranch so I didn't get to try it. I DID get to see, though, Marshall break dancing on the dance floor. No joke. That kid's got SKILL!! Ha ha. Colt's best man, Jordan, and their friend Aaron wrote a funny song about Colt ("The Ballad of Colt McCoy") and they sang it to him towards the end of the night. It was SO funny. (You can find it on youtube.) The reception was beautiful and they ended the night with an a 20 minute firework show... another one of the awesome gifts that was given to the couple.

 On Sunday, my family and I traveled down to San Antonio and saw the Alamo. Some police man almost arrested Jon and I while we were taking pictures, no joke. It was scary. (oh, p.s. I lost my camera that day so I don't have any pics. Sorry) After the Alamo, we walked along the River Walk and ate at the best Mexican food place I've ever eaten at.

Monday, we just chilled at my aunt and uncle's house. We spent most of the afternoon playing cards and I taught some of my family how to play Mow. We had a good time.

On Tuesday, a bunch of us (my family, my aunt, uncle and cousin, Josh, and a bunch of my aunt and uncle's friends) went and saw Rachel and Colt's house outside of Austin and then my mom took me and Jon to the airport.

Overall, it was a GREAT trip!! While I was there I realized that

1) I'm a city girl,

2) I'm a city girl,

and 3) I need to move to a bigger city because I'm a city girl. :)

I also loved spending time with my family. I always love visiting my Aunt Liisa and Uncle Steve and I love hanging out with Josh when I'm there. It was such a great trip and I can't wait to go back. :)