So it was a very special wedding that brought us to Austin for Memorial Day weekend! This wedding was very near and dear to my heart. When I was 11 years old I started babysitting for our next door neighbors and little did I know then what a special bond I would form with their daughter, Alyssa who was about 2 or 3 at the time. I absolutely loved babysitting for them and it became a weekly date night for their parents. When their second daughter, Carli was born I babysat for them when she was only 2 weeks old and I still remember holding her in my arms all night, just in awe of how beautiful and tiny she was.
I have so many memories with this sweet family! When Kevin and I were married 12 years ago, Alyssa was our Junior Bridesmaid and her younger sister Carli was one of our flower girls!
Over the years we have moved away and thankfully Facebook kept us connected. I have always loved seeing Alyssa's updates and am so amazed by what a beautiful, successful, determined and talented woman she has become! When she announced her engagement to her long time boyfriend Seth, I was so hopeful we would be invited and have the opportunity to see her walk down the aisle! My dream came true and we were so excited to be invited to be there for their special day!
We couldn't believe that Alyssa and Seth were getting married in the same chapel that Kevin and I did 12 years ago when she was our flower girl! What a walk down memory lane for all of us! She resonated with beauty and her dress was absolutely stunning! How was this the little girl that I remember curling her hair while I was babysitting her like it was just yesterday! Time really does fly!
What a fun wedding, like seriously the best wedding I have ever been to! From the food, to the dancing, company and entertainment, you could just feel the love of these two all throughout! It was such an honor to share this day with them! I am so happy for them! Their love story is just beautiful and I can tell they have a lifetime of happiness ahead of them!
Not only was it the same church, but it was only a week after from the exact day of our anniversary! So, I figured that while we were in town for Alyssa and Seth's wedding it would be the perfect opportunity to sneak away for a much needed and long overdue night away and leave the kids with Lita and Grandpa to celebrate our 12 year anniversary! Lita & Grandpa were more than happy to have the kids to themselves for a while so Kevin and I slipped away into the hill country and enjoyed some time together!
Our hotel offered lots of activities to choose from and we started off our stay with a little archery! Who knew this was so much fun! I really enjoyed it!
Next we decided to try the "swing over the hill country" which was anything but a swing! It was terrifying!
They strap you up and then put you in a harness and a wench pulls you up 35 feet into the air while you are holding onto a bar, while secured with a hook from your waist harness to the bar. At this point was I thrilled, thinking it was going to be so fun! Kevin was was not nearly as excited about it but was going along with it. It wasn't until this day that I realized how much he really dislikes heights.
As we were going up, I began to get a little nervous and wondered if I was really glad we were doing this or not anymore. We were supposed to get 35 feet up in the air, and then Kevin would pull a rope that would then set us into a 10 foot free fall, leading us into our "swing" over the hill country.
At about 32 feet high (higher than this picture) the pull line let go on its own and with no warning we suddenly plummeted into our 10 foot free fall and it was absolutely terrifying!! Apparently that happens fairly often...they told us afterward! WOW! We were so freaked out! We were screaming and holding on so tight for dear life! So, needless to say, that was the end of our adventure seeking activities!
We spent the remainder of our 1 night stay doing incredible things like eating amazing food....
laying in hammocks...
enjoying adirondack chairs...
lounging by the pool...
getting a massage at the spa...
walking around the property and finding beautiful hidden gardens like this one...
and enjoying this amazing view from our room that they gave us a free upgrade to!
All in all, I think I concluded that as much as I loved our adventurous experiences, the relaxing ones are much more my style! Our life seems pretty full of adventure, thrill and excitement as parents of little ones in this season of marriage. The quiet time together was the most appreciated and meaningful time of our trip! As lovely as it all was I actually got sick with a fever and body aches/chills around 6pm and barely made it through our second day only thanks to Advil keeping the body aches at bay! Finally a night away and I get sick...wouldn't you know it! It was still a wonderful time and I am so thankful to Lita and Grandpa for watching our babies so we could spend this time together. 12 years into marriage I am realizing how important and difficult it is to carve out time for each other and to keep "dating" each other and to keep falling in love with each other every day. Life is busy, kids are crazy, and work never ends...but this love is what created this family and it deserves to be nurtured and kept sacred through all of life's to do's and day-to-day schedules! So thankful we had the opportunity to spend one night here just to be in each other's company, have complete conversations and eat hot meals! It's the little things!!! It was amazing! I wish I could do it all again...even the swing if it meant getting to experience all the relaxing parts again too! :)
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