Texas Trip Part 1: Austin

The day after Brad finished finals, we took off to Texas to see the Schaack family. This trip was so perfect. We hadn't seen my siblings since our wedding, so i had been looking forward to this trip for a long time. This also was Brad's first Texas experience. :) We flew into Austin early Thursday morning, and spent time with Russ, Megan and the girls. We were in Austin for Thursday and Friday. 

Megan picked us up, and we went to their new house, which was so beautiful! They just moved in a few months ago, and they really have a perfect house in the most beautiful neighborhood ever. So played 'Ariel' on the trampoline with Brinley while we waited for Kenzie to get home from school. (Videos of the Ariel game to come. We had never laughed so hard.) 

Russ got home from work, and Kenz got home from school, so we decided to go downtown Austin. We went to Lake Austin and rented the stand up paddle boards and a canoe and went down the river. It was so beautiful. 

 I started out on my knees

 Then went to my feet...

 The girls in the canoe

 Brad came over to bug me

 Made me lose my balance, and we both fell in the water.

 Kenz and Brad had a good little groove goin here...

I obviously didn't.  I ran into a tree...

 So i traded Russ the paddle board for the canoe...

 Brin and Brad swam around for a while...

 Kenzie just loved hangin out on the paddle board

 Megan even rocked the paddle board the whole way back with the pregnant belly...

 Hangin out on the dock....

 

After the lake, we went to this yummy pizza place. I want that Mediterranean pizza right now! We had a great time walking downtown. We went to this cool old fashion candy shop, and let the girls go crazy. However, my little sweet tooth was also in heaven also!

Friday morning, we went over to see Russ' office. He really has an amazing practice, and it was fun to see him in his element. He gave us all some good body adjustments, which felt oh so good. It was also fun to meet his staff and just see what he does every day!

After our expedition at Integrative Sports and Wellness, Brad and Russ went road biking. They said they would only be gone for an hour, which ended up being a little over 2 hours. I had never seen 2 sweatier boys in my life. They sure had fun though! Us girls all went a did a little shopping in the meantime. 

While we were packing up to head to Dallas, we watched Kenzie ride her 2 wheeler bike out on the street! We had some good laughs watching her, and showing off for us! We couldn't love that Kenzie girl any more!

Megan made a yummy dinner Friday night, and then we all got in the car to head to Dallas! We had a 4 hour drive, and had a great time talking with Russ and Megan, spitting seeds, and listening to music! We love them!
*funny story: Brinley slept the whole way from Austin to Dallas that night. However, she kept on having bad dreams cause she would randomly start crying and yell ' No! stop hurting me!' and then get mad at random people. It was pretty sad and funny at the same time.
We love Austin, and the Jepson family! 

Jordy's Mission Call

My dear friend Jordy has been making me go crazy for a while here! She is such an amazing person, and her life is always full of amazing things. I envy how she does so many things, and does them all so well. Her and I have been tied to the hip since Mrs. Belliston's foods class my Junior year in high school, and I constantly learn so much from her. Our lives have gone different directions at times, but we have still always been the best of friends. 

Anyway, she told me a little bit ago that she had decided to serve a mission. I will never forget that conversation. We were eating Chic-fil-a chicken nuggets in her house, and i was telling her about one of my many weaknesses, and as the conversation continued she told me about an amazing experience she had, and how she has decided to serve a mission. I think i peed a little. I immediately started panicking how i'd survive not being able to call, talk, or see her whenever i wanted. But then i thought, 'of course she is going on a mission! She is ALWAYS doing amazing things, and this is just another one.' 

As many people know i started getting a little anxiety as it got closer and closer to her receiving her call. The day her call came, i think i was going to explode. I was having all sorts of weird dreams and just wanted to know where she was going!! Anyway, Brad got done with all of his finals with flying colors Wednesday night, and we immediately headed over to the Whitt house to find out where in the world she was going. 

Brad felt like he needed to hold on to the big white envelope for a while. I couldn't touch it or else i would have just opened it myself. 

 Opening the envelope....

 Jordy has been called to serve in the Omaha Nebraska Mission, serving at the Winter Quarters site on the Mormon Trail. 

How cool is that? 

I couldn't believe it...and i am just so excited for her!

 I look ridiculous in this picture...but I love both of these girls to death.

This was such an exciting night! I am so grateful that Jordy is joining the ranks. She will bless the lives of so many people!

Easter Weekend

Easter is probably my favorite holiday! Why? Well Easter candy is THE best! I don't even want to know how many bags of cadbury eggs I ate by myself this year. I also love it, because it means it's finally spring time! Most importantly I love celebrating the life of our Savior. He is everything to Brad and I. 

We had a great weekend celebrating Easter with Momma and Poppa Schaack on Saturday, and then with the Curtis family on Sunday. 

Saturday:

We had a great time hanging out with my parents. They are always so good to us. We began our festivities by going to dinner at Cafe Rio (Brad's favorite place). While at dinner, we began talking about how my parents were flying out of the Provo Airport to go to Texas in a few weeks. We started making all kinds of 'what if' jokes about flying out of the Provo Airport, and I think we really made my Mom nervous. So she insisted after we were done eating that we go check out the Provo Airport. It was super random and funny. The whole way there we kept on saying 'are we seriously going to the Provo Airport?' So we got there... Took a picture for memory sake...and checked out the tiny little airport. What an exciting event. 

 Then we headed back to the house to color easter eggs. Brad was so excited for this. He was really intense about making the COOLEST eggs. It was fun :)

Then onto the Schaack family tradition: Our annual Easter egg hunt in the dark, with flashlights! Brad and I should have tied the game, because we had an even amount of eggs. BUT, my father put out another empty one so it wouldn't be an even number. So Brad won, of course. 

Sunday:
After church we hurried on over to the Curtis household to celebrate with them. We had a wonderful Easter dinner, and of course we were all excited to find our Easter baskets. Marty always hides them really good for us. However, this year we were tricked. They gave us a little basket with an egg in it, and when we opened up the egg this is what we found...

So everyone was intensely trying to figure out how to use the google maps app by typing in the coordinates. Some people (Brad) got frustrated when their phone wasn't working properly and it was withholding them from finding their basket first and being the winner. 

We followed the directions on the phone and found ourselves on a mountain looking through a big field of nothing. But sure enough, we found another envelope giving us more coordinates to run to. This is when the competition began to be a little too close for comfort. I was having a hard time being a fast runner due to my stupid injured knee. So Brad sweetly came to me and said, 'Honey i love you, and i'm sorry your knee hurts, but i am just gonna go and win okay?' He took off on a sprint, and i hobbled like 100 yards behind him. He is just so competitive. 

So sure enough, we found our baskets in the Wagstaff's backyard. How happy we all were!

We missed Heather Ann and the little boys on Easter. They were enjoying their time in Washington at the time. 

We all went back to Marty and Keri's and opened our Easter baskets. Keri got us some food storage stuff, which was awesome! We are terrible in the Emergency Preparedness subject. Of course, i was bursting with joy for the cadbury eggs. (Brad, for the snickers) 

And of course, a good game of badmitten to end the night. Brad was complaining  for so long after of his shoulder being sore. Those games get pretty intense!

We love and appreciate everything both of our families do for us! Our Easter weekend was the best!!

General Conference Weekend

Wasn't General Conference amazing? I can never get enough of it. It always goes by way too quickly. We had a great time this weekend spending time with both families, and being spiritually renewed.

We began Saturday morning by watching the morning session at Chris and Heather's. Heather had some amazing cinnamon rolls that she got, that my is making my mouth water just thinking about them right now. In between the two sessions we went laser tagging at Trafalga. This activity is always a Curtis family favorite. Heather got a babysitter for the young kiddos and we all took off. (We missed Marty and Keri this weekend, while they were in St. George). 

Getting ready to tag it up. 

I still can't get over how funny it is to see my husband finish a game of laser tag drenched in sweat. He takes his laser tag very seriously, and does not mess around. :) 

My mom and i hung out during priesthood on Saturday night. We went and shopped around and just hung out. It was fun to spend time with her! 

After Brad got back from priesthood, we went to Matt and Mikelle's in provo, and hung out with some friends. We love them, and thanks to Mikelle i planned a good April Fool's joke on Bradley the next morning. 

Ora Gel on Bradley's toothbrush. Numbed his gums right up, the next morning. Best morning of my life!:)

We watched conference on Sunday at my parents house. I made some Banana Pancakes at my moms, and we just enjoyed the day together.

Mission Reunion

To start off our General Conference weekend, we decided to go to Bradley's mission reunion. It was good to see Brad's mission president along his his wife, President and Sister Henry. I actually had met them last year while we were dating, so it was fun to talk to them again. President Henry was the mission president for the first half of Brad's mission. He has some epic hair, that you can't really see in this picture. I just made Bradley promise that he wouldn't ever have hair like that. :)

The best part of the night is that we got to see Judd and Alli! We hardly get to see them with them living far away from us in Salt Lake.  Judd was an AP with Brad for the last part of their mission, and they are the best of friends. Judd and Alli got married just a few weeks after us, and we love them to death! 

Judd and Brad being weird.

Alli and i get along so well, because we have a mutual love and passion. Yogurtland. Since i have been married, i had yet to find another friend that understands how amazing this place is, until she came around. While we were at the reunion we begged our husband to take us here after, so we could enjoy some of this. So they did, and we were thrilled.

 The boys were making fun of us for wanting our picture, so they said they had to have a picture too. Poor Tim was alone, with Laina being in Hong Kong. 

We spent a long time at Yogurtland, mostly listening to Brad and Judd tell crazy stories, and talking about who knows what. We had a great time! So thankful for so many great friends.

General Young Womens Broadcast

Back in January, i was called to be a beehive advisor in our ward. I was super sad to be released from teaching sunday school with Brad, but my experience teaching this beehive class has been so fun so far! My mother is the Young Womens President in our ward, so we get the unique opportunity or serving together (kind of) for a while. Serving with her makes me realize more and more how incredible she is. It's amazing to go to church every week, and have at least 5 people tell you how amazing your mother is. Hopefully one day, i can be like her.

So, the young women in our stake had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of singing in the choir for the Young Womens Broadcast. They have been practicing for months, and have had an incredible experience doing so. A member from the young women general board go to each practice, and they had an incredible  fireside each time. During the practice, they really forced the girls to be spiritually prepared for this experience, and pray for the things they would like to see happen. The girls truly understood that the purpose was not to sing in the choir, but testifying to the world about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

My mom and I rode up to the conference center on Saturday. Along with the Parson's. The meeting was incredible. The music was incredible. And i think my mom and I cried through the whole thing. It was fun to be there surrounded by all the mother's, grandmothers, and leaders in our ward. As well as thousands and thousands and thousands other young women and their mothers.  

My favorite talk was THIS one 

And if you all haven't seen THIS video, you need to now. I still can't watch it without crying. Pretty much all of the girls they show in the choir at the end are in my ward. 

After the broadcast, we went to meet up with all the girls. They were all on a spiritual high. It's funny what the spirit can do to you. :)

Here is the sweet Harris family of girls

Kailey and Brooke

This is my one of my favorites of the Beehives, Kate. She is 12 years old, and is more mature than i am. I love her to pieces.

Me and mi mama. Isn't she lovely?

The most incredible part of this experience was this: The next day at church, was fast and testimony meeting. I'm not kidding, ALL of the testimonies born during this meeting were youth. NO moms and dads! (besides the Young Mens president at the very end). I have never seen that before. At first it was all the young women getting up and sharing their experience in the choir, but then all the young men got up and started bearing powerful testimonies too. It was so cool. We have an incredible ward!

St. George

I'm so disappointed I hardly have any pictures of our little St. George get away. It was perfect. And we SOOOO enjoyed the time together to be wild, silly, spontaneous, and careless. We took off on Thursday morning, and came home Sunday. The weather was great Thursday, and Friday. But not so much Saturday. 

Thursday we got to the 'Hoopes Hotel' and unpacked the car. It was a perfect place for us to stay. Dan and Leann are soo generous and kind to let us stay there. We then got back in the car and headed to the shops. Brad's eyes got really big when he saw his favorite store of all time, The 'Eddie Bauer Outlet'. It's really funny how much he loves that store. We stocked up his summer clothing for the next ten years. And then to my favorite, the Gap outlet. And i got summer shirts. I forgot how fun it is to buy new clothes. :)

Thursday night we had the treat of meeting up with my dear friend Liz Starley and her family for dinner, and then on to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for some deliciousness we had never experienced before. I hadn't seen Liz, nor her family in a long time. We had a great time spending time with them.

Friday was the best day ever! Kenny and Heather came to meet us! We love them, and had a blast being crazy with them. They met us at Dixie Rock, and then we headed to Gunlock Reservoir. 

Brad and I on top of Dixie Rock

 Oh i forgot to mention, the air show was going on the weekend we were there. The 'Blue Angels' were flying around, and Brad was obsessed with them. It really was fun to watch, but Brad almost started crying cause he loved it so much. 

 Brad and I went to Gunlock last year and there was lots of water, and water falls for Bradley to jump off of. However, when we went there this time, there was no water! Just rocks. Kenny and Brad don't care, and find  these huge logs to throw off the big cliff. I still don't understand how they found that so thrilling. But whatever floats their boat.

Last year, with lots of water....

This year, with nothin....

 watching the logs fall. WOW MOM!

 Kenny decided to be bold and dive into the Reservoir. It is impossible to describe the temperature of this water. Freezing is an understatement. 

 But of course... he did it, and swore it wasn't that bad. (Liar)

That night, we enjoyed some in-n-out burger...and played some intense game of 'scatts.' (aka Scattergories). We had some good laughs at our crazy brains that night...which continued on to another intense game Saturday night. :) FYI, a Lion still IS an amphibian.

Saturday we woke up and did a windy hike in Snow Canyon. We found a rock that we wanted to hike to, and did it. We packed lunches and ate them on our rock. We then made a precious video, that i have yet to get my hands on. When i do, i will share it. Until then, it's a secret. We made it for my sweet father in law, Marty. He is gonna LOVE it! Saturday night, we just hung out some more with the Nielsens. Went to dinner, a little more shopping, dessert, and s'more scatts! 

It was definitely a perfect weekend! Thank you Kenny and Heather for joining us. :)