Showing posts with label texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label texas. Show all posts

Monday, April 22, 2024

Totality In Austin!

Seven-ish years ago, we trekked from Virginia to South Carolina, so we could be in the path of totality of a solar eclipse.  It turned out to be a pretty epic and memorable experience and I've been daydreaming about the next one for quite a while.  About a year ago, we realized that the "next one" was coming up in 2024 and we picked a location and started making plans.  We reserved our hotel, bought plane tix, purchased our eclipse glasses, and rented a car 9-12 months in advance, so we would be ready to go to Austin to see it and wouldn't get fleeced by last minute pricing.  

Even with all of our prep work though, we  had heard all sorts of nightmare stories about the expected crowds in Texas and how people's rental cars were getting canceled and how traffic would be horrible, plus it was supposed to be super cloudy, so we were pretty nervous and debated driving  instead, so we could switch direction if needed. 

But, in the end, we stuck with our plan and  our only hiccups of the whole trip were getting to Austin.   It snowed the morning we were leaving which delayed our flight out of SLC, which caused us to miss our connection in Vegas.  Glen caught a stand-by shortly after arriving, but Ellie and I were stuck for hours in the Vegas airport until our rescheduled flight that evening.   In case you weren't aware, the Vegas airport is pretty much an armpit of an airport.    It's dark (no natural light), full of casinos, dirty, and so overpriced it should be considered illegal to charge as much as they do.   
These nuts were just one example of the outrageous prices.   The Chex mix was $13.99 in Vegas.  The same size bag in the Austin airport cost $5.99.   In a regular grocery store, it probably would have cost $3.99.    I stubbornly refused to give them my money and in the future will try to avoid scheduling flights that go through Vegas, because it's a dumpity dump dump dump.   

Once we got to Austin, though, we've had no issues.  We hear a lot of people canceled their trips here once they saw the cloudy weather forecast, which meant we got our car rental no problem, the hotel is only half full, and the traffic wasn't bad at all. 

AND BEST OF ALL...
In what can only be described as divine intervention....
the clouds parted right at the moment of totality and we got the full amazingly spectacular experience we'd been hoping for!   

We honestly thought the clouds made for a cool natural filter for the photos and added some depth.   It was everything we'd hoped it would be!  


We also ate lots of good food, including....

Bird Bird Biscuit, which has amazing gluten free biscuits...

Torchy's, which is our favorite taco place of all time...
And Hop Daddy's, which had amazing gluten free buns, the best sweet potato fries around, and a burger I actually enjoyed, instead of just tolerating...

We also went on a couple good walks at Lady Bird Lake (something Cami loved to do when she lived there)...

And we saw some amazing wildflowers along the way, that made me smile...
I would call it a good trip overall, but also exhausting.   We left for Texas already pretty tired after hosting the boys  for a few days.    We had hoped that our time in Texas would be more restful, but between our very long day getting here, our too-small beds, and an extremely early morning to fly back home, we got home even more exhausted than when we left.  Coming home to a disaster area of a house did not help matters either. 

Exhaustion aside, we are already scheming a way for us to see another total eclipse.  The next one in the USA isn't for another 21 years, so we're thinking maybe Spain or Australia.... 😏

I guess you can call us official umbraphiles now.   😏


Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Cami graduated!!!!

Once upon a time {approximately 7-1/2 years ago},  a girl graduated from high school with a sparkle in her eyes and her head filled with anticipation at the bright future that lay ahead for her.   She attended BYU for 2 semesters  where she got straight A's and accepted into the nursing program.  Then she started dating her future husband before heading off on an 18-month mission to France.   

She had a wonderful mission and came home eager to continue her relationship with Garrett, who had just graduated from BYU and was heading off to attend medical school at the University of Texas-Austin.   They were engaged before long and married shortly thereafter.   

Cami was too late to get into the University of Texas at that point, so she started back to school at the local community college.   Thus began "the grand run around".   The community college would not accept her credits from BYU, despite the fact that she had a 4.0 GPA.   She then embarked on retaking all of her general eds, in hopes that she could transfer to U.T. the next year.   But the U.T. nursing program doesn't like transfer students and she was informed that they only very rarely accept transfer students from anywhere, so despite her continued 4.0 GPA, they turned her down.    

She went to another year at the community college, but still really wanted to get a bachelor's in nursing.  She applied to a few other schools, besides U.T., and against all odds was finally accepted to the University of Texas...where she had retake classes again.

Then came along a sweet little baby.  

And then Garrett got matched to a medical residency in Birmingham, which meant that they had to live in different cities for her last semester.  

But despite all these odds....she finished.   

On December 3rd, Cami graduated from the University of Texas-Austin with a bachelor's degree in nursing.   

I had a big Relief Society activity I was planning on November 29th and my surgery scheduled for December 7th, but we were excited to squeeze in a quick trip to Austin and celebrate this accomplishment with her in person.

It was a very quick trip, but we wouldn't have missed it for the world! 

I very much enjoyed the bonus opportunity to snuggle this little sweetie as much as I could, especially since I won't be able to hold her (because of my surgery) when she's here for Christmas.   

{NOTE:  That photo may be one of my very favorites ever taken of me.}   

We took lots and lots of photos....










Lucie was completely exhausted by the end of all the graduation / photo taking festivities, but we were still able to finagle some sweet smiles out of her.  She is a baby who loves attention, action, and being with people.  Maybe one our family's first true extroverts?    
It's probably too early to make any of those kinds of declarations, but one thing's for certain, Lucie is certainly destined to be a little smarty pants.   

WE enjoyed the opportunity to visit Austin one last time and to spend a quick weekend celebrating with Cami, Garrett, and Lucie!   


 We are so proud of our Cami Rose--for her tenacity, hard work, and ability to balance life, motherhood, school, church callings, etc.   WE love her!  

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Lucie Love in Austin

 When Cami asked if I could come help with Lucie for a week in October; I jumped at the chance!  It's hard living far away from your only grandbaby and, though I still have a kid at home to consider, you will never have to twist my arm too hard to come hang out with her. Thankfully I was able to make arrangements for getting Ellie to and from school while I was gone and I went with open arms ready to snuggle my sweet Lucie May for a week! 

Inexplicably, though,  I  got the crazy urge to sew Lucie a dress before my trip.   Lest you forget this post from back in 2010, I am a terrible seamstress, but there's something about baby girls that occasionally gives me the urge to try my hand at it again.   This time around wasn't any better than my sewing escapades of decades ago, but after a lot of unpicked seams, an extra seam in the back where there wasn't supposed to be one, and some emergency help from a neighbor to make the buttonholes, I finally had a finished product worthy of presenting to the cutest little baby in the universe.  

And it's a good thing she's so stinking cute, because it made all imperfections totally unnoticeable.  

Cami had a week full of classes to attend and homework to do, so we didn't do any sight-seeing or adventures.  

 My days were filled with long walks with Lucie...


playing on the floor and reading books with her....

 

 and soaking up as many snuggles as I could get.  

 Oh, and there was a trip to Costco which led her to discover the joy of Costco free samples...

  She was teething during the second part of the week, so she was a little more  irritable...


But then Ellie came to join us on Thursday evening and we made it a full-out girls' weekend...
We made treats and had a Hocus Pocus marathon...

We went on a long walk around Lady Bird Lake on Saturday...



And after eating at home all week, we got some treats at some of our favorite Austin foodspots (Including Bird Bird Biscuit, which makes the BEST gluten free biscuits)...

WE tried OMG Squee, a gluten free ice cream shop, which was featured on the television show, Queer Eye....


WE also found a swing and had a little Facetime chat with our favorite missionary...


We went to church on Sunday and had the very weird experience of being asked by the Bishop if we were Hepworths (my Mom's maiden name).   I was very confused and assumed the Bishop must have been some long-lost cousin, but, in actuality, there were Hepworths in the ward and he thought we were related to them.  I contacted the Austin based Hepworths later and found out that we have the same great-great grandfather, but descended from different wives. 

I loved my time there in Austin and can't wait to head back for Cami's graduation in a few weeks.  After that, Cami, Lucie, and Garrett will be reunited, and our visits will be to Birmingham, Alabama. 

 
Have I mentioned lately how much I love being a grandma?   
 

Monday, November 8, 2021

Showering Cami!

I can't remember if I've announced this here yet or not, but I am very excited to become a grandma for the first time in a few weeks!   My daughter, Cami, is due to have a baby girl soon and thus far the pregnancy is going well.  It's been hard to be so far away from her during this time, but Halloween weekend Ellie and I flew to Texas so we could attend her baby shower. 

 It was the first time I'd been able to see her noticeably pregnant belly in person and it was crazy to think that it really didn't seem all that long ago when I was big and pregnant with her.    These photos-- were taken just eleven days apart 24-years ago.  

It was great to see Amy (Cami's mother-in-law ) who will also be a first-time grandma when their baby is born, though her second will be coming along MUCH MUCH sooner than our second.  haha. 
I was also so grateful that my sister, Kristina, and her daughter, Madeline, flew in for the festivities as well!  She's the only Crain sister who's not living here in Utah currently, so it was a treat to be able to spend time with them both!  

It was also fun to meet so many people who love Cami.  Living far away from your kids is hard, but it's a little easier knowing that there are wonderful people loving and supporting her while I'm far away.  


Other highlights of the weekend included a 6-1/2 mile walk along Lady Bird Lake...

A walking tour of the UT campus and the state capitol...

Some really good food--including some delicious gluten free options too (Here are some of the places we tried:  Torchy's, Lola's, Via313, Jeni's, Moonshine Grill, Bird Bird Biscuit)

Some beautifully warm weather (especially compared to Utah...

Ellie trying unsuccessfully to make friends with a weird goose/duck we saw...

And another walk along the river...

Reality hit hard with lots of catch-up work when we returned, but it was absolutely a treat to be able to spend some time with Cami and shower her and Baby Girl with lots of love for a few days.  

Next time we see her....we look forward to having a little baby to snuggle too!  


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