Road Trip 2014- Part Two

Our next destination was Texas!  I have visited Katy and Nick several times since they moved to Texas, and I had always dreamed of bringing the whole family...and then finally it all worked out!  We were so excited.  The drive from Stillwater to San Antonio was pretty easy...minus the Dallas traffic. Wow, that is something we are not used too, and things got a little tense with the constantly screaming baby.  I did pull out my camera at our last stop of the day.  We were all wanting to be done with the car.

Just when we thought we couldn't handle it for another moment, we arrived at the George's beautiful home!  We were greeted by Katy, Sutton, and Stella.  (Nick was at work.) We were so glad to be there...and they were so great to take in our large family...they were just the best hosts ever!  Their home is beautiful and spacious and was the perfect landing spot for our week.  To celebrate our arrival, we had to take a quick girls trip to 7-11 for some slurpees that night!!!

Sunday-
We found a local church and attended sacrament meeting with the kids.  Aunt Katy is the best at doing hair, so she helped the girls get all dolled up.

These two boys are just 3 months apart and they immediately hit it off...definitely some family resemblance!  I could just squeeze them.  I love these two.

I have always thought that Jordan and Sutton look a lot alike!

This sweet, spunky little lady Stella loved having her doting cousins around...and she kept us all laughing with her silly antics.  Very entertaining!

After church, we immediately hit the neighborhood pool...it would become our most popular hang out spot for the next several days.  If there is a pool, our kids don't need much more to be entertained.  And the Georges are the same way!

There is nothing like Sunday dinner together as a family...we so rarely get to enjoy it with our extended families.  What a special treat.

Monday-
After all our travelling, we were pretty tired out, so we wanted to just have an easy, relaxing day.  Tod went to a movie, and we hung out with the kids.  Later we went swimming and of course that night we had to go to our favorite store ever...Academy Sports!!!

Growing up as Andersons, everyone knows we love to take walks.  And whenever we are together, we take walks!  Katy and I have both since commented that taking walks was one of our favorite parts of our whole trip.  I'm sure my mom is happy about that!!!

Even looking at these pictures is a little bit hard because I wish we could take a walk together every night with the Georges!

Tuesday-
This was River Walk day!  When I first came to San Antonio years ago, we did the River Walk, and I knew that my family would love it.  So we headed downtown for our adventure.  And it surely lived up to our expectations!

We took the boat tour which is always neat and just the perfect length.

And then enjoyed a yummy barbecue lunch at County Line.

Here I am with two of my most favorite people.  Ever.  In the whole world.

We walked by the Alamo to at least say we had been there...by that time it was hot and babies were melting down...so it was time to head out.

Since the pool was closed that day, the little kids enjoyed some slip and slide fun in the yard.

Wednesday-
On this day, we headed to the river for a day of fun in the sun.  We were thrilled because Uncle Nick had a day off and got to come along...and he is just an all around crowd favorite.  Our day was so relaxing and fun.  We enjoyed time to play in the water, eat, and visit.  Even seeing a water snake didn't dampen our spirits too much...

My pretty cow girl:

We really didn't know how Luke would do on this outing, and he was just a champ.  He loved the water and played for hours happily.

These two spent almost the whole time collecting shells:

Uncle Nick took the kids on some secret exploring outings.  To this day, they will not tell me the details of their adventures...

What a fun and memorable day!

After we left the river, we drove to Aunt Jasmine's beautiful new home where cousin Savannah was anxiously waiting for Ashton and Jordan.  They got to spend the night and had a fabulous time!

That evening was the first of our firework displays...so much fun in Texas...kids were loving it.

 Cole needed his scuba goggles for extra protection.

Thursday-
We met back up the next day at Uncle Nick's new grocery store.  He is an assistant manager there and got to show us all around.  If I lived in Texas, I would be shopping at HEB!!!

Overall, Luke was really good on this trip...but during lunch, he was having a moment.

Later that afternoon, we got to see our other Snarr cousins for some swimming.  It was so fun to see them.  They have grown up so much!

And that evening there were more walks, more fireworks, more all around fun and trying to savor all the time together.

The next day was the 4th of July, and we were so glad to be together, celebrating in San Antonio.  We went swimming and had a big barbecue with Jasmine and Savannah.  It was amazing and the perfect way to celebrate our great country.

These boys were so tired out from a week of playing...we found them late in the afternoon like this:

We knew our trip was winding down, and it was soooo bittersweet.  The week was amazing but like I said before I do not like good-byes and neither does Katy...not a good combination.  We got up early on Saturday morning and finished packing everything.  We both tried to remain optimistic!  "What a great trip!"  "Thanks for coming!"  "So glad it worked out!"  But in the end, I just crumbled and cried and cried.  I love my sis so much and I love her family and living apart just feels like pure torture at times!!  But I am so thankful that this trip became a reality, and I know we will all hold the memories close to our hearts forever!  I am glad that we both made the effort and the sacrifices.  It was all worth it!

(There is one more part to this trip...as we were pulling away through my tears I told Tod, "It's a good thing you are taking me to see one of my very best friends."  It was the only thing keeping it bearable!  Stay tuned....)

Road Trip 2014- Part One

This summer is slipping away, and it is time for me to record some of the great adventures we have had these past couple of months!

It is interesting how things just kind of unfold and work out...earlier in the year we knew that Dad and Pat were getting ready for their church mission but of course, we didn't know where they would be going.  We kind of knew that with them leaving we probably wouldn't be doing our annual summer trip to Utah.  Then they got their mission call....to Stillwater, Oklahoma...which is almost exactly half way between here and San Antonio, Texas.  And we have been wanting to take the whole family to Texas for a long time.  It seemed like a no-brainer and before we knew it, we were headed off on our road trip 2014!

Our first destination was Oklahoma, and we were SO excited to anticipate seeing Grandma and Grandpa as missionaries!!  I felt just as excited as my kids!  The drive was about 9-10 hours which actually seemed pretty short to us!!  Luke was not super happy about his road trip, but he managed to survive.

The drive down was beautiful...after being in the Midwest all these years, we truly find such beauty in the green rolling hills, the farm fields and flat land.  The open space and enormous sky is something to behold.  If you ever think the world is crowded, just come to the Midwest.  We just love it.  We drove through some storms in Kansas which was exciting.

And then, finally, we saw the turn off for Stillwater...and we were there!!!  We checked into our hotel and called Dad and Pat to let them know we had arrived....it was so thrilling to see them  as full-time missionaries.  They looked so happy!!!!  After lots of hugs, we headed to Braum's (an Oklahoma favorite!) for some yummy dinner.

After we ate, I got to go to their Institute class that they teach each week on the Book of Mormon.  They are amazing teachers, and I was thankful to Tod for unpacking all our stuff and swimming with all 5 kids so that I could enjoy their class.  It was neat to see Dad and Pat "in action"...teaching, interacting with the students, learning and serving.  I am so proud of them.

The next day, we were all anxious to see Stillwater.  First stop was Elder and Sister Anderson's apartment: 

 The kids loved walking around the surrounding lake and area:

These kids absolutely love their grandparents.  It is hard to put into words that gratitude I feel for the examples that they are to my children.

Next stop was the Institute Building where Dad and Pat spend lots of their time.  There are places for the college students to play, cook, learn and just be together.  If I had a college student, I would love for them to hang out in a place like this!

Right next door is the actual Oklahoma State University campus.  I just love college campuses, and our kids have really enjoyed visiting different campuses in different states.  OSU was wonderful.  We loved exploring and seeing all the orange that is everywhere!

After a Chick-Fil-A lunch and trip to the bookstore, we ventured down the road to Boone-Pickens Stadium...wow, it was a very impressive stadium and was a highlight of the trip for Snarr.  We love college football, so seeing this was quite legendary.

At this point, everyone was getting tired, so it was time to head back to the hotel for some swimming!

That night we ate at another famous Oklahoma restaurant called Eskimo Joe's....it was so yummy.  I am still dreaming about the cheese fries!

 I really need to find this sign for Tod to hang in our house!

Oh what a good day we had!!  As we were driving around, one of our kids said, "Maybe we should move to Stillwater!"  It was a really neat place and felt like the "right" place for Dad and Pat as they are on this mission.  After dinner, we came back to their cozy apartment for movie night.  We all enjoyed "Mary Poppins" and of course, Pat prepared yummy treats for all!

Even though I was anxious to get to Texas, I was really dreading the next morning of saying good-bye.  I really do not like saying good-bye...and especially not to my dad.  But I just kept telling myself that I am going to come back to Stillwater while they are there!  I love them both so much.  They sent us on our way with a box full of sack lunches for the road.  We were all thrilled with the sweet effort they had gone too..filling our lunches with healthy food and fun surprises (car activities for the kids, magazines, etc.)  It was so thoughtful and really indicative of these two great individuals.  We are SO blessed to have them in our lives.  I am so thankful that we were able to spend time with them and see their mission area.  We loved our time in Oklahoma.