Family Visits!

What a wonderful month of family visits! I've decided that March 2008 is going to be known as "The Month that Family came to Texas! Early in the month, Justin's mom, Aunt Coleen, and Grandma "Honey" came to our house for a long weekend. We felt so special, since neither his aunt or grandma had been to our home! What fun we had taking them around, showing them our works, places we like to go, and our church.




On Friday, we went to the Dallas Arboretum. A close family friend, Connie, and her sister Carol, have a season pass, and so nicely made it possible for all of us to go down for the day. I can't believe that I've lived in the Dallas area almost 5 years and have never been there! I will definitely be headed back to see what it is like during the different seasons! It was so beautiful--we went just at the beginning of spring, when all the tulips, daffodils, and many other types of flowers were in full bloom! Below are just a few of the pictures that I took that day!




The ladies at the Arboretum: (front) Carol, Kathy, Connie, (back) me, Coleen, Honey. Justin was the amazing photographer!




I loved these flowers!! I actually put this one on as my screen saver!

They had a scale model of Anne Hathaway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife), and I just couldn't resist a picture!

Justin and I in front of White Rock lake near downtown Dallas

This star topiary was actually just starting to bloom with red, white, and blue flowers (picture the Texas flag). I wish I could see it in full bloom!

This was an adorable little girl that we saw near the front when we came in. She went around smelling all of the flowers, and I just couldn't resist a picture!!

Aww!

At the end of the day, we took a ride in a horse-drawn wagon around the grounds! It was so fun! What a fun day at the Arboretum!

Friday night we grilled out at our house--yum! It was actually the first time we have grilled this spring and was a perfect day for it!

Saturday, Gene came down to join us, and had a good cuddle session with Betsy! =)

Everyone left on Sunday, and it was sad to see them go. We had such a great time with them.

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A couple weeks later, another of Justin's relatives came to Dallas to visit us! Helen Katherine, is Justin's second cousin. She stayed with us all day Wednesday, and then we took her to the airport on Thursday. She has been making cross-country trips to visit friends and family, and we were so lucky to be included!

Here we are (awkwardly holding Betsy) with Helen Katherine.

Helen Katherine is a dog lover, and Betsy loved her! Betsy was worn out! =)

We had such a wonderful time with her. Helen Katherine is only the second person on Justin's dad's side of the family I have met (terrible after being married for 5 years!) and I was so excited!! We had so much fun talking about that side of the family, learning about the history of the family, and really getting to know Helen Katherine! She even gave us an envelope full of pictures of Justin's ancestors--some that are almost 100 years old! What a gift!

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Whew! What a month of fun! I am so thankful to these wonderful family members who took their time to come and spend time with us!!

My Daffodils...

Last year was the first time ever that I actually had enough foresight to plant flower bulbs in the fall. Back in November, Justin and I worked very hard and planted about 60 daffodil bulbs in our front yard. It was really hard work--and we actually injured ourselves! I hurt my shoulder and Justin his wrist--we felt like such old fogeys!! After all that, I pretty much forgot about them until mid February, when I notice they were beginning to shoot up through the dirt. I was so excited to see them, but could hardly believe it was already time for them to start coming. It took almost a month for them to start to bloom, and then came the snow... I was so worried that the snow would kill them, but they are just fine! Now they are just about in full bloom, and I love them! Enjoy the pictures!


As they started to bloom...

Snow (AGAIN!!) in March

Oh, it is definitely Texas!! After our snow on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday was a nice day with temperatures at about 60. Then it all changed! By the time school was out on Thursday, we were in the midst of major snow!!! I had to wipe about 2 inches off of my windows before I could drive home, and the flakes literally looked like huge, fluffy white cotton balls! It made for a slow drive home, but it was sure beautiful!! It snowed until about 7, and then snowed again at about 3 in the morning. The final result of snow wasn't as thick as it was on Tuesday, but the ice on Friday morning was bad enough that my school had a delayed start again! Twice in one week--with warm weather in between!! Here are some pictures of snow number two...

The view out of my windshield on the way home...

Snow falling at home...

At first, Betsy started to run out to the yard. Then she realized that something was falling on her and she ran back under the patio. She, the wuss that she is, was afraid of the snow, and it took about a minute of coaxing for her to venture out!! Click below to see a cute video! (I'm so proud that I figured out how to do this!! )

Still looking kind of scared. Right after this, she started trying to bite the snow that was falling, but I couldn't get a picture! It was so cute!!


Self-portrait...it was coming down so hard!

Even though Justin had a long drive home in the snow, he still stopped and brought me flowers!!

He also wrote me love notes on the table--what a wonderful man I have!!




With what snow was left by Friday, Justin made a snowman!


Aren't they cute!!


What a week of crazy weather! It doesn't seem like there is any more snow in the forecast, but who knows?! My daffodils sure don't want any more! They thought it was spring for sure last Sunday, at 71 degrees, and started to bloom. Then two days of snow!! I'll post pictures once they are in full bloom--hopefully they weren't hurt by the snow!

Snow in March!!!

What a beautiful view to wake up to this morning!! Last night, we went to sleep around 10 with snow falling outside. When we got up this morning, I looked outside and saw a beautiful, thick layer of white!! We got about 3 inches last night. I know that isn't a lot, but for this central California girl, it was gorgeous!! My school is delayed until 10:30, and Justin got to hang around here until 7:30 or so until the traffic calmed down a bit. What a treat!

I've attached some pictures of the front yard and cul-de-sac, as well as some of the backyard. Betsy and I just couldn't resist having some fun! =)

Isn't the tree pretty with the ice on it?!

I just couldn't resist!!!!

(Please ignore the AWFUL hair and glasses!!)

Pretend you can't see the grass--isn't that a great snow angel?! I haven't made one for years!!

Betsy LOVES snow!! She was jumping and running, and burying her nose in it!!

We threw her ball, and she couldn't find it. It ended up getting buried in the snow, and we had to stomp around until we heard it squeak to find it!!

Isn't she pretty??

Too bad it won't last--supposed to be 56 today, and it is already melting! Sunday was in the 70s and I was in shorts, and we'll probably be back up in those temps in the next couple days. Like the saying says, "If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait 10 minutes!!" Boy is that true!