A Day in the Life

Last weekend, our good friends Kami and Matt came down from Logan, Utah to drive with us to San Antonio for the wedding of our other BFF, Tara. I know, they were too nice to fly into Dallas, just to spend another 6+ hours in the car driving with us. Usually it doesn’t take that long to get to San Antonio. But what you don’t realize is that the wedding was indeed in San Antonio, but the reception was out on a ranch in Tarpley, Texas.  We started the drive down on Friday morning at 10am, and got there about 4:30pm. This place was OUT THERE. And it had no address, so our trusty GPS was just as confused as we were. But we enjoyed the scenery as we drove through the country. We especially loved the sign that read “Loose Livestock” as we turned onto the dirt road to the ranch. Hmmm.

View of the ranch

This place was beautiful! The barn was basically a huge home with a big room that could serve as a bar, concert venue, or reception center. There were a few other homes on the ranch, where we all slept for the night. There were Hummers, Jeeps, and 4 wheelers sitting around with keys in them if anyone wanted to go exploring. There were streams, hills, a shooting range, and lots of yummy food cooked by our host and the brides family. We had a great time, and are now planning a yearly pilgrimage down to Tarpley to take in the beauty of this place again and again.

As soon as we got there, all the boys went to shoot guns…and some of the girls. Kami and I decided to hang with Tara, and help out around the house. The boys had lots of fun.

Zac got to shoot the big gun

Matt has good form

The wedding took place the next day. Tara married Damon, who has 10 siblings, who were all there! Talk about love and dedication. I think they had a great time all together. The wedding took place in the San Antonio temple, and it was such a beautiful ceremony. Tara looked beautiful, and they both looked so happy!

Temple Spire

Tara, Damon, and friends

Kami and Matt at the temple

Zac and I

Ring Ceremony

Later that night, they held a ring ceremony for the rest of the family, and it was so sweet to see Tara and Damon talk about how much they love each other, and look forward to learning to love each other more each day. We love Tara and Damon, and we wish them lots of happiness!

Andrea and I spent the weekend in Oklahoma City at the Red Man Triathlon.  Since December my Dad has been a workout machine.   He exercises a few hours a day and has since lost a lot of weight.  He is in great shape but wanted some additional motivation to keep going.  He signed up for the Half Aqua Bike event at the Red Man Triathlon.  The Half Aqua Bike consists of a 1.1 mile swim in a lake followed by a 56 mile bike race.  This was his first triathlon event and we are so proud of him for working so hard and accomplishing something so difficult.

The day started out rainy and cold.  The race was delayed about an hour because some of the bike race roads were under water.  Dangerous for road bikes…  We didn’t prepare for cold rainy weather but we did our best.  Notice the baby in a trash bag poncho / blanket in every photo.  We were trying to keep her lips from turning blue.  It rained all day and it turned the whole park into a red mud pit.  Needless to say we were wet, tired, and covered in red mud at the end of the day.

Even though the weather was poor my Dad had a great race.  He took second place in his age group and was 15th overall in his event.  Not too bad for a “Big Guy” (that is what every one called him as he passed, “Good Job Big Guy!”) and for his first triathlon type event. Congratulations Dad, and thanks for inviting us.  Now we just need to get training for the next one!  Maybe I will join you.

We went on a houseboat trip last week to Lake Ouachita (oh-watch-it-tah is how we think it is pronounced) near Hot Springs, Arkansas. This was a Brassfield family tradition at Lake Powell when we lived in California, but since we’ve lived in Texas, we haven’t been back there. In searching for a closer houseboating option, my dad came across Lake Ouachita, which claims to be the clearest lake in America, and it has about 12 marinas with lots of houseboat rentals, so we gave it a try. And it was only a 5 hour drive. We absolutely loved it! The houseboat was really nice, with sleeping room for 10 people, a hot tub on top of the boat, a BBQ grill that made the most amazing burgers and steaks, and a slide  (hours of fun there). The lake was awesome too! The water was not too cold, and glassy enough to ski and wakeboard on.  We enjoyed 90 degree days and 75 degree nights, and lots of humidity.  If not for the hoards of bugs and biting flies, this trip would have been bliss. Here are some pictures of our trip:

We had a great trip to Hawaii.  Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip.  Let us know which ones you like the most in the comments.

I have to say, tagging along on a business trip is not as fun as vacationing all together, since Zac had to be at work all day from Monday to Friday. But we found plenty of stuff to keep us busy until Zac could join us in the evenings. Here is day 6-10 (minus some pictures, because I left the “big” camera in Hawaii with Zac, and he doesn’t get home until Saturday).

Day 6:

• Adelyn and I took the bus to the Bishop Museum, to see the exhibit on Hawaiian culture and history. Unfortunately, it hasn’t opened yet (I guess “Summer 2009″ hasn’t happened yet), so we found other Polynesian cultures to explore. We went to the Science center, where there are a ton of hands on activities for kids. Since Adelyn isn’t old enough, I just explored them myself (I learned how waves are made, and how volcanoes erupt, etc). The picture below is of Adelyn in front of a HUGE butterfly, from the “Bugs” exhibit. She looks concerned.
• Then, I met up with Joy again, and she taught me how to surf! We went to Waikiki Beach, and I had a blast! I used a huge 10 foot board, so it wasn’t that hard to stand up on, and she had to give me a push to let me know when to start paddling, but it was awesome, and I’d totally do it again.
• Dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise was good, as were the Malasadas at Leonards (we couldn’t get enough of those things).

Huge Butterfly

Day 7 was laundry day. I had to do 2 loads at the nearby laundromat, and it cost me over $11. I haven’t been to a laundromat in a while, but this seems preposterous, considering I dried both loads in the same dryer simultaneously to save cash. After I spent all my quarters, the clothes were still a bit damp, but I didn’t want to break another dollar for just one more quarter, so I took the clothes home and hung them up all over the hotel room.

Laundry Day

We went shopping at the Ala Moana Center (just a huge mall), and for dinner we all went to Roy’s. We ordered the macademia crusted white fish, which was scary for me because I’m not really a fish lover. But it was SO GOOD. We also ordered the souffle, which we had heard really good things about. It lived up to the hype.

Day 8:  Saturday (Zac doesn’t work)!!!!!

• Hanauma Bay was AWESOME. Zac and I had to take turns holding the baby while the other one snorkeled, but it was still awesome. As soon as I get the pictures off the waterproof camera, I will post some. But we got there early, the morning was warm and beautiful, and the fish were so cool. I love that you can swim right up to them and they don’t get scared. I loved it!
• Polynesian Cultural Center – Great cultural experience. We learned how to make coconut bread like the Tahitians, split a coconut and make fire from the Samoans, and how to dance a Polynesian dance. We watched a cool IMAX film about protecting coral reefs (the kind of movie that makes you want to totally get involved with saving the world). The show was a new one – “Ha: The Breath of Life” has replaced “Horizons”, and it was really good. Even Zac loved it. Adelyn had a few minor meltdowns, but lasted until the end without a total breakdown. All in all, she was pretty good on this trip, but we did have a few difficult days, where she was so tired and grumpy that all I could do was take a drive to calm her down.

Day 9:

• Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona. This is a must see while in Oahu. The visitor’s center is being remodeled, and will be so awesome by next Fall. But it was still neat to learn about the attack on Pearl Harbor, and it was sobering to see the actual ship, lying just a few feet below the water’s surface, where many soldiers still lay. I thought it was interesting that many of the soldiers that survived the attack and have since passed away have been buried in the ship in the years since.
• Wailana’s Coffee House for lunch was another recommended spot to eat at. It was right next to our hotel, and we thought it was pretty good.  Not amazing, but good.

Dad and Addie at Hanauma Bay

Unhappy Face

Day 10: Last day in Hawaii

• Honolulu Zoo: Adelyn was a little young for this, although she has recently been taking an interest in birds, so we spent a lot of time near the bird cages. Apparently before Hawaii was discovered, it was full of birds, so the bird exhibit was quite large. It was a pretty good zoo, and was very open. There were open grassland areas with no cage around it. I guess the animals just know where to stay. There were peacocks roaming the grounds, and we went right up to one and Adelyn stared at it for awhile. I was surprised she didn’t squeal at it and scare it away. Her squeals are pretty ear piercing.
• Dinner was Round Table Pizza on the beach. It was a great evening, and Adelyn even tolerated us taking her in the ocean one last time before we went home. Adelyn and I flew home that night on an overnight flight (neither of us got much sleep, but it wasn’t a screamfest either, so I was grateful). Zac had to stay and work this week, so he’ll be home in a few days.

We are so happy we went, and had a great time overall. If we do this again next year, I’m looking for others to go with us to keep us company. Any takers?