These two were over the moon about being back together and over the next week I can't even count how many times I wished I had an 8-year old baby lover that lived under my roof.
These girlies also have quite the imagination and helped turn the boys' room into a pirate ship!
They gathered all sorts of treasures and food and animals and had a blast pretending. My boys lack a little in the imagination department but these girls brought it right out and they had no problems keeping up.
After church on Sunday during the pirate ship hoop-la, Laney kinda went back and forth between the ship and hanging with the moms. She is 11 and right on that girl/young woman cusp and though she loves to play and have fun, she also loves being involved with the ladies. She and I decided to make cookies and frosting for a her fun Sunday activity. She was a great helper and we had a blast making Halloween shaped sugar cookies with Aunt Jen's recipe.
These girls were so cute sleeping together one night that I had to snap a pic!
On Monday we headed to Austin so I could show off the capital to the Doyle gals. First thing we headed to Mt. Bonnell to get a panoramic view of the city and hill country.
We had an awesome climb and fun exploring and getting a good view of Austin. Texas isn't known for its overwhelming beauty, but for Texas, this was beautiful!
After our "hike" we headed downtown to Hopdoddy for some delicious burgers, fries and shakes! It is the first place I ate when Brian and I drove through and it is still one of my favorites! No pictures from that yummy lunch because we were too busy enjoying it!
We stayed on South Congress to check out some must-sees and got a group picture in front of these words that are so true!
I love these people SO MUCH!!
We went to the top of the hill to check out Big Top Candy Shop and they were CLOSED...Boo! The kids were so excited about it and I told Thad that since he couldn't miss school to come, I would grab him something delicious. We were totally bummed, but recovered and headed to campus to check out where Brian goes every day, the football stadium and get some Longhorns memorabilia for Tyson.
Eve fell asleep on the drive over, so I sent them in on their own. I think Wes was ok, but who knows...he's a wild card!
After getting home we knew we needed to have some extra fun with Thad after his long day at school. We also knew the weather was going to go down hill at the end of the week, so we went straight for the pool!
The water was FREEZING, but these fishies didn't seem to mind too much!
Eve did though. She wasn't a fan and just marched around like she owned the place-
There was definitely some in and out so warm up every now and then, but they had a great time getting their swim on and enjoying the last days of the Texas summer.
Cousins being together makes my heart warm. My kids were in absolute heaven and so was I! I got to sit with my sister and just be together and I definitely don't get enough of that living 1,500 miles away from her!
Avery and Laney loved watching Eve do everything and I loved that they would gather round to watch her eat. She is pretty awesome, so I guess I get it. ;-)
These girls love that baby Eve and I loved having them love on her.
They changed diapers, buckled her in, laid her down for naps, got her up from naps, made bottles and so many more helpful and amazing things! I sure wish we lived closer to these little ladies, but this trip was just what the doctor ordered for this cousin love going on!
Tuesday was spent around Round Rock having lunch with Thad, shopping at the outlets, watching Wes crush it on the soccer field and the obligatory BBQ dinner and Rudy's. Now that's a good day!
Thad loved showing his school to his cousins and I think this is one of the funnest things about having people come, so they can picture where we live and go when I talk to them on the phone or whatever else. I love it!
Avery chased Eve girl for me and it was so nice to have a break from chasing my little wanderer. Eve will not stay near me when we are at the park, at soccer, or even out in the driveway. She is a curious cat!
And look at those mad baby soccer skills!
Ok, maybe Wes has the mad soccer skills, but she'll be there in no time!
And Avery has mad taking-care-of-babies skills, so props to her too!
We had a great time watching crazy three year olds chase the ball, but were all pretty hungry and excited to meet Brian and Thad at Rudy's for someTexas BBQ!
We got all the yummy stuff and everyone loved it!
Wednesday was our lazy-ish day. We hung out at home all day after Haley and I got a good walk and workout in and just took it easy.
But we did end the night with a bang: Dinner and a movie at Alamo Drafthouse
And the movie wasn't Goosebumps, it was Hotel Transylvania 2. This is always one of my favorite things to take people to do. Even though you can have snacks at the movies in Utah, it is just fun to be waited on and eat your dinner in the theater while you watch.
The Doyle girls loved it and hope these theaters make their way to Utah sometime soon!
Thursday was our big trip to San Antone! I knew I wanted to take them down south when they decided to come because it is a fun place but probably not somewhere you would just vacation to without a reason. I really wanted to show them the Alamo and the temple and even though it was rainy, we decided to brave it. I thought the rain would be too complicated with Eve and because Brian was working from home to watch Wes after preschool anyways, I asked Kristen to watch Eve during preschool so Brian could work and let Thad skip school to spend the day with is cousins. I get weird about him missing school because he will miss so much over Christmas break (and already had two sick days), but I let that go and he was beyond excited to come on this little day trip with us!
After figuring out where to park, the Alamo was our first stop-
Going inside was a first for ALL of us! When we came in the spring as a family, the line was way too long and we figured it wouldn't be the last time we would have the chance. No school holidays and rain = perfect day to get into the Alamo! We couldn't take pictures inside, but we got some walking the grounds outside.
It probably rained the hardest while we did this, but hey, you win some you loose some...at least we had ponchos...
The River walk was next on our list and we had a lot of fun checking it out.
We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and it was super fun!
We really wanted to do a boat tour on the river, but the rain prevented that from happening, so we headed straight to the temple and these cuties loved it!
Our selfie stick was giving us some troubs, hence my nose scrunch, but Haley and I loved having our babies on the temple grounds that rainy day.
On the drive home we made the stop at Buc-ee's! Brian has wanted to stop several times, but the kids are always asleep when we pass so we were all excited to experience this first together. The 50+ gas pumps in front pump you up before you even step in the door. It is called a "gas station" but it is much more than a gas station!
We got Beaver Nuggets and some other souvenirs before heading home, but I do have to say this stop made it pretty close to the top of the list for best spot of the day. I know, weird.
We got the green t-shirt for Haley and the Willie one for Brian. Good finds!
We probably stayed close to an hour and were sad wishing Buc-ee farewell-
If you're ever between San Marcos and San Antonio, be sure to make this stop!
And Brian and Kristen held the fort down so well while we had a spectacular day down south!
We listened to Whip and Nae Nae about 20 times on the ride home, so we had to whip it out when we got home-
Thad got us all addicted to this and we had a blast watching them do this over and over again!
Our last day was spent wrapping up some must dos and soaking up as much of each other as we could. Lunch at Torchy's and Round Rock Donuts made for a tasty afternoon and after picking Thad up from school Haley helped me FINALLY get my fall decor out while we rummaged through Halloween costumes for the Trunk-or-Treat at the school later that night.
After having our own Round Rock Donut on the way to San Antonio we decided we had to get a Texas sized one (and maybe some donut holes) before they headed back to Utah the next day.
After testing out all the costumes and getting the fall decor up, we whipped and nae naed and crossed our fingers the rain would stop so that we could go to the trunk-or-treat.
I think this nae nae worked and the rain stopped!!
So we headed to the school and had a fun night collecting treats to eat with our movies, Night at the Museum 2 and Cinderella.
Even though Eve is little, she did not let herself get forgotten!
Captain Fast.Batman.Pirate Laney.Cutest Eve.Little Piggie
And there you have the best little set of cousins!
We stayed up late watching movies and not wanting the trip to end (they had to leave at 4am), but alas, it ended and this is how we all felt the next day-
We sure love those Doyle girls and are so grateful they made their way down to Texas to love on the Monsens. This week was exactly what we needed so that we can make it to December before seeing all our cousins.
Come see us again, y'all! We love you!
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