our little visit to Austin...

We had such a good time while we were in Austin honoring Macy Jewel and trying to offer some support to Jared and Miranda. I know i mentione dit in an earlier post, but we are so glad we were able to go. We had SO MUCH FUN with them and their families. It was so {selfishly} nice to be apart of their recognition of Macy. It was hard, i cried a lot. It was hard seeing our friends dealing with such a hard thing... But they are amazing and i have learned so much from them. I think about Macy everyday.

We ended up being on the same flight as Miranda's dad and Jared's brother. Miranda and I made that connection at about 10pm the night before our 6 am flight. While on the flight from SLC-PHX I saw Jared's brother and introduced myself. Then during our layover in PHX we ate breakfast with Jared's brother and Miranda's dad then sat by each other on the flight down. We took took them with us to Jared and Miranda's house. We hung out there for the afternoon. I was able to chat with Miranda while she was pumping {she was donating her milk} and it was a conversation that i truly will cherish the rest of my life. WHAT AN AMAZING WOMAN! what a great friend!

That evening they took us downtown to the Capitol Building. It was beautiful! We hung out down there for a while and just chatted with them while max ran around... it reminded me of days-of-old when we were in school and traveled around with them. We realized a couple of things while in Austin: 1) Austin is beautiful and we could totally live there. 2) we miss our C-L-E friends. While we've always known this, spending time with them again on a consistent daily basis REALLY made us realize it!!!

 "Hey there George W"

Saturday:

saturday morning we headed to flagship store of Whole Foods.... IT WAS AMAZING! we felt like kids in a candy store. we actually headed back there that Monday before we left and spent a few hours there tasting and sampling and eating... it was great! There was a brunch at a park for everybody prior to the viewing and graveside service. All us utah folk were soaking up the sun rays and while it was a little chilly, it was nowhere near utah weather.... and we LOVED it. After the brunch while everybody went to nap kiddos nate and I toured around Austin some more and went to this little boardwalk place on a lake.. it was really pretty.

 

Then it was back to hotel to get changed for Macy's viewing/graveside.

It was so amazing! Miranda and her dad spoke. Her sister sang. We all sang a couple children hymns. And Jared dedicated the grave. Miranda's thoughts and Jared's dedication were some of the most beautiful things i have ever heard. I just CANNOT say it enough... We are so lucky to have been there. 

Sunday:

 we drove to San Antonio to see the Riverwalk. This is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do. It was just about an hour drive down and we were so glad we had the chance to go. IT WAS SOOO COOL.

 it was so refreshing to see plants alive..

about half way through the Riverwalk we stopped at The Alamo. Honestly, all i remember about the Alamo is the saying "Remember the Alamo". It was so neat. We LOVED it. The history that took place there and the story of the Alamo is really worth remembering ;) Nate and I were in awe the entire time reading about what happened and just standing where this brave people stood. We kept saying to eacho ther "I can't even imagine". Can't even imagine living in those conditions. Can't even imagine how scary it must have been during the attack. Can't imagine how helpless they must have felt. Can't imagine life back then in general.

....back to the Riverwalk...

after we finished at the Riverwalk we headed to meet up with the Livingstons and company for some BBQ at The Salt Lick!

it was AMAZING! it was quite the experience eating there.... and some real Texas BBQ was FANTASTIC. I decided if we lived in Texas we would probably we eat entirely too much, too often.

Monday was a relaxed day again... we ran around trying to find ej a stuffed animal armadillo.... and hung out with our friends until we flew out that evening. Monday emersyn ended up getting very sick. Grammy took great care of her and unfortunately had more than her fair share of pukes to take care of.

 this was her the day after we got home.... a bath took about every ounce of energy she had.
We can't wait to visit Austin again. And while we wish this visit was under different circumstances we are glad we could be there.