more momma time

so i realized..now...an entire month later...that it would most likely be impossible for me to blog about each and every day my family was here. not that we were lacking in fun things - we weren't. i'm just being realistic. so here's to the rest of the time my momma was here. we went swimming multiple times, watched the Rangers cream their opponents (bluejays? i'm not sure anymore), saw some pretty amazing fireworks to the tune of katy perry, went to the infamous $1 day at the zoo (shhh - los elephantes! haha...it was soooo crowded and unbelievably hot), had many fun family dinners, saw harry potter and loved it, went shopping, ate bbq, TONS of mexican food, attempted to put together my hardwareless wicker patio furniture (way to go Target and not give me everything needed to install it!), took the family to fuzzy's (of course) and just had a blast.

mostly though, as fun as sightseeing was, i just loved the simple things about them being there. waking my family up with Bear in their faces. making and eating dinner together. it was even fun just sitting around the house watching my brother and sister play with Bear. ever since i can remember, we have been DYING to get a dog. unfortunately, my momma grew up on a farm and has since lost her love of animals. my dad also used to love animals, but the terrors of our neighborhood and their numerous bites to his hand crushed that love as well. so we grew up with other pets - 70+ fish, a hamster, some mice (yes, mice...weird), even a stray cat (lasted a week), but never a dog. so erika and trevs were in h.e.a.v.e.n. and it was just so cute how much Bear loved them too. when we went shopping they each bought her a toy from them and she would chase those squeaky toys over. and over. all day long. it was adorable. it was also really fun just having my mom around to talk to when we went on long walks with bear. i've really missed that - why did i move again?? oh wait, i remember - 1) because there's NO SNOW and 2) so they can visit me!!!

on the monorail at the zoo - we were the last ones to ride because they were legally not allowed to take people when the temperature reached past 103 in the cars...can we say hot?!

LOVE our rangers jerseys

Bear lovin

summer flowers

the dallas arboretum has been a long time favorite in my family. i can remember going there every season when i was little - with grandparents, without, picking pumpkins, painting tulips, looking for easter eggs, you get the picture. i can't tell you how many picnics i've had there. strangely, i've never been in the summer - and now i probably know why. don't get me wrong - we had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed the frog splash fountains mostly because we played in them (definitely not allowed). i was amazed to see how many flowers survived the heat and just how beautiful it is year round. i love this place. and what was even better than the picture perfect flowers? being there with my family.

this one's for you mom. we love you. even if erika and i both look super awkward in this photo.

they did it!!!!

DAY 1



After a much anticipated wait - my family (minus my dad - sad, he had to work and do bishop things- and michelle for obvious reasons) came to visit. i was pumped!! 8 trillion times excited. i spent the entire week before they came cleaning for my super clean mother to try and impress her and let her know that i don't neglect ALL my housewife duties. haha. they were fortunate enough to come during the insanely consistent triple digit weather we've been having, but that didn't stop us from having fun. after getting in on a monday, the first thing we did was hit up billy bob's for some good ole two-step and three-step dance lessons. mason, my best friend and neighbor growing up, met us there. unfortunately, we didn't get the memo that the lessons, for the first and only time ever, had been cancelled. BUMMER. but they still had a dj so we danced anyways. my mom greatly encouraged anson and me to teach them things that we'd learned but since it had been so long, i'm pretty such we made most of it up.

followin in the handprints of RASCAL FLATTS!

erika and mason

mom and trevs

food glorious food

i apologize for this picture being turned the wrong way. i CANNOT get blogger to change the direction of my pictures and my computer is being lame. help?? anyways, we were so shocked/excited to see this sign. hb munchen. which actually is the same logo/stands for the hoffbrau house that we went to in munchen (aka munich) germany! how cool is that?? an original hoffbrau house in dallas. who would have thought?

sampling of the food i ate...so delicious
inside a pavilion

anson's new job. or so he wishes.

so we love food. well, it used to be that anson just loved food. but now i'm a foodie too. thanks babes ;) and so one of our favorite things to do is try new restaurants and find awesome local quisine, meaning taste of dallas was right up our alley. i've heard of it before but was never impelled to go because we'd gone to taste of addison and it was super lame. the basic idea is that you pay $1 or $2 to try a small version of a restaurants most popular item. businesses love it because they attract more people that wouldn't normally go, and it's just fun to try things for cheap. addison was lame though because they charged too much. ANYWAYS. we decided to give taste of dallas a try and it surely did not disappoint. first of all they had it in the fair grounds - love. we went late so it was all lit up and a million times cooler (dallas is in a triple digit faze at the moment - unreal). since it was later there were smaller crowds. tons of options - everything from sushi, to mexican, to bbq, to thai and indian. and ohhhhh the desserts. the food really WAS delicious. some restaurants were chains (joes crab shack was there...weird) but most were local. i had the best cheesecake ever. EVER. so good. and the ain't no mo butter cake shown above was delish too. SUCCESS!