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!!