Easter 2013.

Of course we headed to TEXAS for Easter.

We started off the weekend in Arlington so William could go to some Sweet Sixteen games with Chris, Jim, and John while I hung out with all the ladies! We stayed the night at Chris and Cheyenne's, had a yummy breakfast at Sharon's, and headed straight to Houston! It was such a whirlwind, we didn't get any pictures!

Easter Sunday with my handsome love.

Easter Sunday with my other love.

Such a fun boy! I wish we could see him all the time.

We had so much fun hanging out with Kenny and Megan and the funnest nephews and sweetest niece! We definitely missed Jacob, Pierina, and Ian while we were there!

Took a trip to the Blue Bell factory with Braden! The tour was fun but let's be honest, we were there to eat ice cream and get a cool hat.

Spent most my time with my pup.

And we got a nice surprise visit with Aunt Angie (who I never got to see!), my cute cousin Danika, and her sweet baby boy Ethan! It was fun to catch up with her. We never get to hang out!

I wish I had taken more pictures but it was a fun, quick trip! 

I took two days off of work so we could spend more time with the family. SOOO worth it!

Mardi Gras in Austin, TX

For my first Mardi Gras in Louisiana, we, well, left Louisiana. Honestly Mardi Gras seems to be parades full of kind of raunchy floats and lots and lots of drunk people so I'm not sure if we missed out on much! William and I decided it was a perfect opportunity to go visit Grandma and Granddad Goff in Austin, Texas. You are probably noticing a trend here. If there is time, we go to Texas.

Lucky me, my house is almost right on the way to Austin! So we stopped for a very quick visit.

My poor Penny was in the cone of shame. You can see that is is very concerned about the fact that she looked like a petunia with four legs. She's all better and happy now though! I love that dog with all my heart.

When we got to Grandma's house, we went upstairs to put away our things and look what was waiting for us! We were secretly scheming and planning to find a way to nonchalantly ask Grandma to make us an LSU quilt, but we should have known she'd think of it first! It's beautiful and so warm, I practically carry it around the house with me at all times.

Of course the first thing on our list was to visit the Alamo. I love walking around and realizing what those men were willing to sacrifice for Texas. I am gosh darn proud, y'all!

Rudy's, of course. Ribs, sausage, brisket, bread, sauce. Amazing. 

William drove me around all his old neighborhoods in Cedar Park. It was fun to see his old house and schools. He really loves that place! 

Then we split this horrendous thing. I don't want to talk about it. Yes those are donuts. Please don't ask me anymore questions.

We took a trip to the Cathedral of Junk. It's amazing. Basically, it's a three story clubhouse in a local's backyard. Anyone can go hang out in it, he just collects donations. It was impressive and icky at the same time. There is an estimated 6 TONS of junk in there.

We spent a day in San Antonio where we ate at Chuy's, visited the San Antonio Temple, shopped at the mall and road on the Riverwalk. I love San Antonio, I think I want to live there someday!

William was extremely happy to have his favorite breakfast burritos on our way home the next morning. I was extremely happy to be stopping by my house again on the way home! 

Thank you Grandma and Granddad Goff for having us! We sure love coming to Austin and can't wait to make it back soon. It is one of our favorite places on earth.

***Not pictured: a visit to the local elementary school (Granddad is on the school board) that made me exceptionally jealous, an amazing performance of Hello, Dolly! put on by the local high school, the most delicious burgers and shakes at Mighty Fine, Sunday dinner with lots of family, and lots of Blue Bell and hanging out with Grandma and Granddad.

 Scooby says hi.

The Honeymoon.

The morning after our wedding we took off to ARUBA! That place really is One Happy Island. We stayed at a beautiful resort (Bucuti and Tara) with its own private beach. We literally could walk out our room's backdoor and be at the ocean. It was amazing.

We went snorkeling off the coast. It was such a fun experience. I get nervous each time I snorkel and have to ease myself back into it but the guides were amazing and gave me time and never made me feel stupid for being the slow one to catch on! They had these cool propellers to help you move faster through the water so we made a ton of distance! We saw an octopus and there was a sunken ship that William ALMOST reached.

Do you see him?

Hotties, right?


We also went on a Trike Tour of the island. It took only a few hours to get around the whole place and see all the landmarks. I'll admit, most of them were a bit underwhelming but Aruba is so full of beautiful beaches that they don't need much else.

William learned to drive their stick shift trikes in about half an hour before we took off. He'd never driven stick before but he drove better than the other guys who went with us. We stopped at a seaside "restaurant" that all the locals love. We watched the guys catch fish right from their dock and cook it right there. We also climbed up a big pile of rocks to see almost the whole island from one spot, stopped at the oldest church on the island, and checked out the old, broken lighthouse that used to light the way to Aruba.

It was the Fourth of July so obviously we wore our... Texas attire? At least it was red, white, and blue!
We celebrated America with a sprinkled donut and ice cream. And the Arubans even gave us a firework show! What a fun surprise. All the Americans at our resort got so excited.

William got his fill of weird food (Cuban food and Colombian food with dead flies on the table, happy birthday to me) and I got to relax. It was perfect. We flew home on my birthday and were happy to be back in the promised land! But we'll always love that One Happy Island.