Texas Triangle Number 3

We did it! Not only did Matt & I survive our third year of Texas Triangle (DFW--> Houston --> El Paso --> DFW) but we also survived 2013! Both were honestly great though a little exhausting. Regarding our trip, it was great celebrating Christmas with both of our families and we loved all the family time we got. We have a lot of unpacking and getting life settled to do, so instead of going into a lot of detail, here is a quick picture recap of our 8-day trip!

Making sugar cookies with my niece

Celebrating Matt's birthday at a
local pizzeria. So good!

Stockings on Christmas morning!

Christmas morning cinnamon rolls

Christmas afternoon at the park. Guys
tossing the Frisbee. 

Love this picture of my brother and his daughter :)

While in El Paso, we visited Hueco Tanks state park. 

Starting to climb up

One of the huecos, or water tanks.

All the climbing cousins!

We definitely had a great time but we're glad to be home for New Years! Our 2013 was a great year and I hope 2014 is just as full of blessings and time with family. 

Hope you have a great & safe New Years!

Weekend Festivities, Part B

If you missed my post from yesterday (I know, 2 posts in 2 days!), just scroll down and catch up on what we did this past Saturday. Sunday was also filled with holiday-themed adventures, this time in Grapevine. 

Following church Sunday morning and a quick lunch at home, we headed to downtown Grapevine as they always decorate Main Street. We weren't the only ones with that idea as it was certainly a popular activity that day. Plus, the weather was perfect (sunny, temperatures in the upper 50s) so we enjoyed being outdoors! 

Along Main Street- love the Parisian themed decorations
outside a French bakery!

After walking around and doing some window shopping, we took the shuttle to the Gaylord Texan. For anyone interested in visiting, I highly recommend taking the shuttle instead of driving to the Gaylord as it is substantially cheaper. Anyway, at this time of year the Gaylord is known for its ICE exhibits (large ice carvings, 9 degrees Fahrenheit) which I've heard are really cool (pun intended). But the cost of admission wasn't quite in our budget this year so we skipped out on that. We still had a lot of fun walking around the large resort, people-watching, and looking at the Christmas decorations. 

Christmas everywhere!

Very cool model train set

Matt spotted this detail: shotgun shell Christmas lights!

Poor lighting but cool gingerbread display 

Gotta have a margarita glass Christmas tree.
This is Texas after all.

We ended our visit with some ice cream. I have no clue why
they didn't have Blue Bell-- what's more
Texan than that?

We then got the shuttle back, walked to the car, and came home. Matt finished wrapping his Christmas gifts to me so we are now DONE with our Christmas shopping. We met up with some friends for dinner and then went to small group for Bible study. Once we got home I realized how exhausted I was and pretty much went straight to bed. I love 9:30 bed times! 

We had a great and much more eventful weekend than our normal study-filled two days. It was fun to get out, explore the area some more, and see the Christmas decorations!

Weekend Festivities, Part A

The ice finally all melted away and we are back to our normal life. Well, it's not really normal right now as we're both done with our classes for the semester (yay!) and we're leaving soon to celebrate Christmas with our families, but at least the sun is shining and the roads are clear! Before we leave, I've been trying to motivate myself to do some outside-class research and comps prep, but once 2 o'clock rolls around, it gets harder and harder! So in lieu of doing that boring stuff, I'm writing a blog post :)

As I mentioned, last week Matt & me both finished our last obligations of the Fall 2013 semester so this weekend we decided to not do anything productive and explore the DFW area. On Saturday we took advantage of couple of Groupons we purchased and planned on visiting both the Dallas Museum of Biblical Art and the Dallas Arboretum. 

First we worked out and grabbed lunch at a new-to-us burger place, Hopdoddy Burger Bar. He got a burger and I got a salad (with a burger patty on it) and they were both delicious! We didn't order one, but the milkshakes we saw others enjoying certainly looked tasty. 

Yes Mom, I did steal some of his fries. They were delicious

Following lunch, we went to the Museum of Biblical Art. Photography wasn't allowed but even for non-art people like us, it was pretty interesting. Don't ask why we bought a Groupon for an art museum if we don't like art galleries, but it was a good price and we figured why not. Anyway, one of our favorite exhibits was one titled Temptation. It was drawings of various food temptations such as donuts, candy bars, and muffins. If you know my husband, you would know why he liked it so much. We may have missed the point but we enjoyed it!

Next we decided to be crazy and head to the Arboretum. We don't go into downtown Dallas that often so since we were there, we decided to brave the cold, cold winds (felt like it was in the lower 30s). Besides being quite chilly, we really enjoyed it and will definitely be going back when the weather heats up! They decorated an old mansion, the DeGolyer House, with all sorts of Christmas decorations and we had fun walking through it. 

A real reindeer! 

Outside the DeGolyer House

We may have been a bit unprepared for the wind chill...

We decided we would take this study. It's just
missing my sliding ladder...

The DeGolyers were famous socialites and had received
an invite to go to the reception after
JFK's motorcade.

Looked right out over White Rock Lake. We can't wait
to go again and explore some more!

After that, we headed home and got ready for Matt's informal work Christmas party. No pictures as I was tired of bringing my camera with me but we had a lot of fun chatting with his coworkers.

And that was our busy Saturday! Next- our Sunday activities...
What did you do this weekend?