Family, Frosting and Foliage

I know this is long overdue, and I'm sure my family is probably thinking they rate pretty low on my to do list, but I'm finally getting around to their visit from December. I know, I'm a lazy POS, but, hey, I've been working overtime on the weekends, had a bachelorette party to plan and attend, been sick with a sinus infection all while completing my wifely duties of cooking, cleaning and laundry. (Just joking Chris, you help too) Ugh...too much to do and too little time!

Enough whining.

So, in true Iowa fashion, my family headed out bright and early (well, maybe not so bright since it was 4:30am) on Friday, December 28th in the middle of a snow storm. Let me tell you this is testiment alone for their love of me if they were willing to drive 30 miles per hour for over 300 miles instead of heading back home. Barry at the wheel and the women riding shotgun (and no doubt telling him how to drive...a horrible trait we all possess) they rode in the "ghetto rigged" Sante Fe decked out with my mother's gardening box bolted to the back. If only there was a picture to include of this fabulous piece of art.

After many long, long, long hours, they entered the land of mega churches and knew they were close to their final destination. Chef Christopher, waited anxiously to serve his famous Bill's Balls to the pack of hungry travelers. I drove home from work that day to find my family safely inside and waiting to dive into the great meal Chris prepared. We enjoyed some catching up and laughs as they told us the story of their journey through 2 states of blizzard like conditions. Mom and Barry headed to the hotel early since they had been up all day driving. The grrlzz and us shared more laughs and finally set up house and settled in for the night.

(As a side note here, let me tell you that my parent hotel was in the"adult" section of Dallas, complete with barbed wire fence surrounding the place and a porn palace as their neighbor)

The next day, we did our christmas gift exchange (not very interesting on their part since we got them all gift cards.) We then headed out for the Dallas Arboretum to learn about making chocolate and take in the sites of Dallas in winter. We spent several hours enjoying the nature trails and exhibits as well as driving around White Rock Lake. In fact, Chris found one of his specimens for his photo sequence at the arboretum. That evening, we ate my homemade spagetti and I made my favorite childhood cookie...oatmeal with butterscotch chips. Yummy! We watched a movie and then headed out for some mansion perusing and christmas light sightings. This was made especially exciting when we began to imagine we were being followed by the cops due to our lowriding, rigged up SUV that scraped bottom and totally sounded like a gun going off. Keep in mind, we were in Highland Park and could probably be cited for disturbing the peace. I'm laughing now just thinking about it...guess you had to be there...

Now, for our game night! Yes, finally someone to play Cranium with! We set up the game and played for probably 2 hours, laughing ourselves into a "silly session" which ended in some hilarious pics...

Sunday we drove downtown to show them the sights of Dallas. We visited the Farmers Market and then walked around the West End for awhile so they could find some souvenir Texas goodies. Then we made the long trek (long by Sara's standards) to Victory Park and had the best thing made by man...gelato. A first for the fam and a definite hit.

We spent the evening relaxing and eating enchiladas before we made the worlds worst sugar cookies. Never again will I make my own dough! How pathetic am I that at the age of 27 I need my mom to come over to figure out how to get the damn stuff to stop sticking to the counter? Finally, after numerous attempts and even more numerous curse words, my mom made the cookies and I baked them. We frosted the darn things then decorated them to our liking with plently of frosting. suuuuuuugaaaaaarrrrrr!

We chilled out and visited some more. Yes, good times...too bad they had to leave the next day...

Monday, we gorged ourselves on leftovers and watched Hot On! Our local real estate home show for the Dallas area. Of course the gradual turn of events lead to watching Jerry Springer and the numerous judge shows on TV (we didn't have cable at the time...which on a side note, I figured out how to tap into just yesterday). That afternoon my family packed up to leave, we said our goodbyes and they were on their way, back to the frozen tundra of the midwest. Did I mention it was in the 60's when they were here? Anyways, it was great seeing family and made me realize how much I miss having family close. *Tear*

Click on the picassa web album slideshow once to play, and double-click to be view the album directly (and download the full-size pics if you so desire).