Easter in Austin

This year we showed Joy we weren't kidding around when we threatened to come back to Austin for every Easter from now on...

 We packed these two little cheese-balls up in the car, along with their Easter finery and all of the associated holiday paraphernalia, and headed out to Austin for the long weekend. 

We tried to get a few of the traditional Texas Bluebonnet pictures on the way, but Savannah was freaked out by all of the traffic rushing by, and Lily didn't really get why we wanted her to sit down in a bunch of scratchy grass...  Maybe we'll have better luck next year. 

This was seriously the best shot we got...

Once we got to Austin, the Park clan had such a great weekend planned that it was over before we knew it!

Highlights:

• Going to a very exciting Austin Torro's (SA Spurs' feeder team) game and feeling like Somebody Important b/c of our awesome seats.  

Best Day EVERRRR!

• Watching Savannah and Lily figure out that there was CANDY in these plastic eggs!  And then having them ask me for "eggs" every few hours for the next two weeks...meaning, "Mom, would you please hook us up with some more of that delicious CANDY??" 

Must. Get. More. EGGS!

•  Watching the Park kids collect MOUNTAINS (literally) of eggs....and then watching Darrell tease his sons by pretending to steal their favorite candies out of their gigantic pile. 

Mauri would only pick up pink eggs this year...

• This should really go first, but we had a lot of fun helping Joy stuff hundreds of eggs while watching "Forget Paris."  It just kept getting funnier as the night got later and later...

Nolan's basket was overflowing, so he had to resort to other measures to hold more eggs.

Easter Sunday included a beautiful church service, a delicious dinner, and my favorite game to play with the Parks, "Don't Eat Pete!"

Easter Dresses from Grandma Laura

We, as is totally normal when we go to Austin, had a GREAT time.  I am seriously in awe of Joy and Darrell and their awesome family.  Somehow everything always runs smoothly, even with the addition of Rob, me, and 2 little munchkins thrown into the mix. 

Easter Dinner

I know that eventually, I will probably have to host the holiday at our house, but I'm pretty sure I will never be able to top The Park Family Easter....so we'll just keep inviting ourselves to Austin until Joy eventually puts her foot down.  ;)   Thank you, Darrell, Joy, and crew for the great weekend!

Pretty Woman, walking down the driveway!

Olde Oaks Boys Version 3.0

The third annual Olde Oaks Boys reunion happened during March.

This year's crew: Rob, Ben, Gavin, Grant, Andrew (aka Thor) , Autrey, Jeremy, Taylor

I'm starting to realize why, every time my parents saw some of their old college buddies, they insisted they didn't feel like any time had passed....when CLEARLY (from my perspective), they were a bit delusional reliving the glory days.

I feel like hardly any time has passed since we were all in college together...7+ years and 10+ kids later.  Someday Savannah and Lily will want to give me a good dose of reality!

The Group

People started rolling in on Friday night, but the weekend didn't really get started until Saturday.  It was a full day.  The morning started with cinnamon rolls, and then was mostly spent enjoying the beautiful spring weather in the backyard with volleyball, a kiddie pool, and some golf in Rob's personal driving range.

Lounging

In the afternoon we had hot dogs/hamburgers for lunch, followed by a birthday celebration for Andrew and Brant.

I was SO HAPPY for an excuse to buy Costco's Great American Chocolate Cake.  So, so good.

And an Olde Oaks Boys reunion wouldn't be complete without at least a few taste tests.  This year was:

• French Fries: Sonic vs Whataburger vs Jack-in-the-Box vs Burger King vs McDonalds.  Winner: McDonalds.  Runner-up: Burger King/Jack-in-the-Box
• Diet vs Regular Soda; could you really tell the difference?  Verdict: Yes.  But some people just have a fondness for a chemical aftertaste, so they remained loyal to their diet sodas.  
•  Cereal: Name brand vs Generic.  Verdict: Generic cereals were sweeter and crunchier.  We could tell a difference but the group was split with which they preferred. 

A table full of french fries

And to finish the day off, we put the kids to bed, picked up a babysitter, and went out for some frozen yogurt and a killer game of Laser Tag.  I don't remember who the winner was, but I do know that Shilo has vowed to practice so that next year "EasyTarget" will NOT be such an easy target!  :) 

It really was a pretty exhausting day. 

Sunday, most of the crew was gone, but the Goggins' and Jones' came to church with us before heading home. 

Practically Cousins: Savannah, Sloan, Adele, Lily

And just because it blows my mind that this was life just 1 year ago:

And Adele was just an itty, bitty baby, so she was probably sleeping during this picture. 

I'm pretty sure we all spent at least a week getting caught up on sleep, but it was SO WORTH IT!  We're so glad everyone made the effort to come, and every time we do this I keep thinking, "Why don't we all see each other more often??"  Can't wait until next year!

And a big thank you for Diane and Amanda for loaning us your kids' sunglasses to keep our girls quiet during church!

Cool as a cucumber

How YOU doin'?