Weekend in Dallas

Anyone  who knows my husband knows that the words Nathan and spontaneous are never used in the same sentence unless the word NOT is also included. Imagine my surprise last Thursday morning when he asked me if I wanted to go to Dallas that day. What!?!? Who are you and what have you done with my husband? We have been so sick of the cold weather and not being able to get out very much with the girls. When Nate checked the weather and saw it was supposed to be 75 degrees in Dallas that weekend, he figured it was the perfect birthday/Valentine's day trip for me! What a great husband!

I quickly gathered up our stuff, found someone who could take Ollie last minute (Thanks Seligers!!!), researched some things to do, and texted my friend Hilary, who lives in the Dallas area, to see if they wanted to meet up that weekend. When Nate got home from work we loaded up the car, fed the babies, and took off! In our rush we forgot to bring our camera so we have no pictures to document the trip. We even remembered it about a mile from home, but we were too stubborn to turn around and go back. It's about a 5.5 hour drive to Dallas and it was late, so we decided to stop in the middle of nowhere at a roadside motel along the way. It looked really sketchy on the outside, but hey, we were being spontaneous! And it was surprisingly decent inside. The girls slept great in bed with Mommy and Daddy. Mommy and Daddy did not!

Friday morning, we got up and finished our drive into Dallas. Once there, we really just wanted to enjoy the weather. We brought our jogging stroller and took the girls for a run at a nearby park. (I know, who travels all the way to Dallas just to go for a run? People who have a terrible case of cabin fever due to snow and ice at home, that's who!) There is a Chipotle coming to Bentonville, and everyone is super excited about it. We've never eaten at one, so we found one in Dallas to try out. It was good, but after living in Utah and feasting on Cafe Rio, nothing quite compares. We also went to a big farmer's market downtown, got stuck in rush hour traffic (fun with two crying babies!) and wandered around Ikea. The girls were a hit at Ikea. Everyone wanted to stop and smile at them. Eden was a little show off and smiled and giggled at everyone she saw. It got a little embarrassing when we had 10 people surrounding the stroller and blocking the aisle! That night we made sure to stay at a hotel that had cribs available because the whole bed sharing thing does not work for us!

Saturday we met up with Hilary and Eric and their little boy, I-Man. They so graciously offered to watch the girls so Nate and I could go to the Dallas Temple. I'm pretty sure this was the first time, we've left them with non-family. Big step for us! To thank them, we wanted to buy them lunch, but our plans were thwarted when the BBQ restaurant we chose was doing a special promotion and our entire meal was free!!!! Sweet!!!!! Appetizers, drinks, entrees, dessert, everything completely free! It was GOOD food too. With very full bellies, we finished up the day at the Stockyards and then headed home. It was a quick two day trip but we knew there was another snowstorm coming that we needed to beat home. We are back to being confined in the house but Dallas was a much needed getaway for us  and the girls did great with their first real roadtrip. Thanks Nathan for being so spontaneous! We love you!

Since I didn't take any pictures there and I can't have a blog post without pictures, here are a couple shots of the girls.

A month ago Eden would just face plant and cry. We are making great progress!

Lydia thinks she's ready to up and crawl. I think not!

They always have smiles when Daddy takes their picture