or trying to, anyway.
i had grand visions of still blogging while we were away, which did not happen (obviously). so now i'll just play catch up and write a couple of posts full of updates and photos. and there are a lot. of both.
we were so excited about our trip to dallas a couple of weeks ago! we were ready to get to hang with nick's parents, visit with some of our family and friends we hadn't seen in over a year and introduce emmy to our world in the big d. it was a great time--super busy, but we wouldn't have had it any other way! here are a few highlights from our trip:
- cousin time! bella got to hang with her cousins, wyatt and sophia while the newest ones (emmy and olivia) got to chill together. there was a lot of chaos, dancing and getting into things. it was fun and there was so much adorableness i could hardly handle it.
- nick's parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this year. can you believe it?! forty years. what an amazing testimony and inspiration they are! we partied it up texas-style with a huge bash to honor them and it was so fun. how loved they are!
- church. we were able to visit our old stomping grounds, irving bible church for a service as well as a few trips to let bella play in the tubes. just walking through that place brings back countless memories. nick&i both worked there, worshipped there aaaand it was where we first got introduced. so it's a pretty special place in our book. to top it all off, the worship team sang "ten thousand reasons" my new fav song. i may or may not have just sat there and cried.
- we got to celebrate the fourth with family out in the country, about an hour outside of dallas. we spent the night with jd, stella, sophia and olivia and had a great time watching the kids play and hanging out! then we spent the following day at nick's aunt ann's. we love going out there! it's so pretty and peaceful and there's always kids everywhere and lots of really, really good food. bel got to play with even more cousins there: mckenna, kaity, luke, tyler, kaylee, allison, lexi and landen! she loooooved it. she attempted to swim in the pool (she hated it), blew bubbles and played and played on the swingset until her little cheeks were bright red from the hot texas sun. that evening, as we sat outside watching fireworks, my tuckered out girl fell asleep in my lap. and i loved it.
- it's always a highlight for me when we get to have my good friend amanda take photos of our family! she does suuuuuch an amazing job. we hiked out into a nature reserve for this shoot which included a quilt, some bubbles, a 1920s baby carriage and a vintage bonnet. cannot wait to see the end results, but here is a sneak peek...
- baby shower! my sweet sister in law is due in less than two months with our precious niece, josie anne. this is one prayed for little girl and it was *such* a blessing to celebrate both she and jessica while we were there! cannot wait to see her pretty lil face and give her squeezes. so excited for bella and emmy to have another girl cousin... what fun!
- keeping bella entertained can be a bit of a challenge since she is on the go every minute of the day, but we managed to find a few things to do that kept her out of the heat! she loved the merry-go-round and the miniature train at grapevine mills mall, as well as her first visit to chuck e. cheese. she had the most fun just running around and pushing buttons on all the machines. cheap entertainment, if you ask me.
- we crammed as much time in as we could with family and friends. nick went to a rangers game with the guys, ate good texas barbeque with his best friend, played poker and a few games of settlers. i caught up with good friends, visited with the family i nannied for last year, and ate with girlfriends at two of my *fav* spots (breadwinners and chuys).
- we had a wonderful time staying with nick's parentsand getting to visit with them, and watch them love on our girls. they were so gracious, helping us so much with bella&emmy, letting us use one of their cars and opening up their home to all of us. they got up almost every morning with bella and let us sleep. bob cooked us breakfasts and theda changed lots of diapers :)our girls are blessed to have their nonni and papa!
already looking forward to our next visit to the big d. it's such a special place to us... where we met&fell in love, had our first home together and welcomed our bella grace into the world. it's where half of our family lives, and many people who are so precious to us! we're so grateful to have a built-in family vacay every year for our girls where they can play with their cousins, see lots of family and friends and get a bit spoiled by their nonni and papa (i think bella had ice cream every night!).
here's to you, texas. we'll be back soon.
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