Taylor and Catherine Visit Dallas

Our friends Taylor and Catherine came to visit  us!!!! I am super behind on blogging with all the studying for my Texas teaching certification tests lately but I am pumped to tell you all about this amazing weekend with some great friends. 

Taylor and Catherine came to visit us three weekends ago and it was just beautiful weather, though a bit hotter than normal MN temps this time of year. They were training for Grandma's Half Marathon (and did awesome by the way!!!) so on Friday morning I rode my bike and we went over to White Rock Lake to run around the paths. They agreed it reminded them of Calhoun or Harriet too. :)  This picture is from our run back through a woodsy neighborhood. 

The first half of their weekend we spent in Dallas so we started at the Dallas Zoo after a tour of White Rock Lake.  I'm telling you guys that this zoo is pretty amazing. I took Taylor and Catherine there on Friday afternoon and they agreed it was pretty awesome! Here they checking out the lionesses. :) 

My favorite so I had to take another picture! Doesn't he just look like he's chillin on a beach the way he's sitting like that eating his lettuce?? 

Friday night we met up with Andrew and Steph (who came over from Fort Worth) in the Bishop Arts District and went to Eno's Pizza Tavern and did some window shopping! It was so much fun to have so many friends around us again it felt like old times! :) Happy times for sure. 

The streets were lined with trees decorated with lights and it was kinda magical I'm not gonna lie. So is this girl. :)

Later we made it to The Rustic also in Dallas near Uptown and this was over the bar....Go 'Merica! (Yes those are beer cans - specifically Bud Lite and Budweiser of course)

Outside is a huge outdoor area with picnic tables, large beer goblets, and live music playing on the stage under the sign. It was a fun place to find in the middle of cosmopolitan Dallas to feel so much like a backyard party! 

The photo below is of something we tried that night at The Rustic. This is how they describe the food they serve, "Our menu features seafood from the Texas gulf, steak sourced from Texas ranchers, and dairy and produce grown by local farmers." Awesome!! We were excited! (Side note: Isn't it the Gulf of Mexico??) Andrew and Steph ordered the dish below and said it is "super Texan" and we just have to try it! We asked what is was. They wouldn't tell us but said it tastes like chicken....well it looks like chicken too. We checked the menu and the description says, "If you have to ask..." Hmmmm.....

They are called "Calf Fries" but we have since learned that all over the world they have different names such as "Rocky Mountain Oysters," "Coyboy Caviar," and in Canada "Prairie Oysters." Yes my friends, these are DEEP FRIED COW TESTICLES!!!!! Ahhhh!!!! Apparently it is normal "fair food" down in these parts and is common in rural parts of Texas, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and other Western states. I could barely try one but my parents always taught me even if I don't like it I should try it....so I did....and I barely got it down. When in Texas, do as the Texans do. Right?

I would rather not describe the texture but the flavor just tasted like any other fried thing dipped in buttermilk ranch dressing....but still. Gack!! I am glad I tried it but sure don't have a desire to do it again. Can anyone else check that off their culinary list? 

The next day it was Andrew and Steph's turn to show us around Fort Worth. We all went boot shopping!! We drove to Justin, TX where they make by hand and sell thousands of pairs of cowboy boots! It was definitely an interesting experience and Andy and I both walked away with new boots! :) Photo to come!

That night we also got some barbecue at a restaurant called Woodshed and it was sooo tasty. Between Cooper's, Pecan Lodge, and Woodshed, I think Woodshed beat them all. Just my opinion though!

Sorry for all the dark pictures...obviously a need a new camera! We finished the night at the Fort Worth Stockyards at a true western bar. This is a picture of the dance floor with a longhorn on the wall and the large "disco spur" rotating above! 

At one point I looked up and saw THIS. Nearly jumped out of my skin!

The weekend ended with a backyard smoked chicken dinner, World Cup soccer, and games of bags in the backyard. We had a blast showing Taylor and Catherine around!

Love you,

Betsy, Andy, and Lincoln :)

Book Review Times Two!

Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver

I absolutely LOVED this book! It's about an adopted Cherokee girl who is figuring out where she belongs, with her adoptive mother who loves her, or with her Cherokee tribe who believes she deserves to know where she came from. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll understand the Cherokee culture a little better. Once I got halfway through I couldn't put it down! After I finished it I realized that Kingsolver had written Bean Trees to be read beforehand...so now I'm going to go back and read that one too! I didn't need to but if you want to read Pigs in Heaven, go ahead and read Bean Trees first. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Curious Incident with the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

THIS book is soooo interesting! It is written in the perspective of a teenage boy with Autism who comes across the scene of a crime and goes about solving it through the rest of the book. You truly get in his head and learn how he thinks and views the world and it is just fascinating! If you are in education, work with kids, or even are curious to learn more about Autism, you will LOVE this book! Children (and adults for that matter) with Autism can be incredibly frustrating or confusing if you don't understand how they think. This books puts you in his head and helps you understand the simple yet complex world that he lives in and needs to navigate.



As I'm studying for my tests for the next few weeks I will not be reading any novels until I am done with them so stay tuned for more later!

Baby James!!

This past weekend I couldn't be happier to have met my new nephew baby James Willis Carraway Dixon! He is such a sweet baby and my sister and brother in law are doing an incredible job as new parents already! I am in love with him and I can't wait to teach him so many things as he gets older!

My brother in law, Mark, was in MN for the weekend for a wedding so I went to hang out with my sister and little James. We had a great weekend filled with a picnic in downtown Princeton, a barbecue with some neighbors, some shopping in town, and lots of cuddles with James. He has many faces, my favorite being the Zoolander-esque ones! We even caught him smiling a bit, even if it was because he tooted, though I like to think he was laughing at my jokes.

Catch the man of the weekend here....

How can you not love that squishy, sweet face?!

Getting some NOLA iced coffees at Small World Coffee in downtown Princeton. 

Chilling on the lawns of Princeton University post feeding. 

So sweet!!

Selfie with Aunt B!

And I'll leave you with this beauty...I melt seeing that smile!!

Memorial Day Weekend in MN

We had such an amazing weekend back home in Minnesota over Memorial Day weekend! Check out that view of downtown....it made our hearts sing!

We started off the weekend on Friday celebrating the wedding of our dear friends, Erin and Nate! They had a gorgeous wedding downtown St. Paul complete with beautiful weather, flowering Spring blossoms, and Irish bagpipes! It was a perfect day to celebrate their love and we couldn't be happier for them! They even had these awesome growlers as centerpieces on their tables!

Here is the happy couple during their first dance! So happy for them!

Andy and I all done up for the night!

All the St. Thomas ladies together again! I missed you all!

We also celebrated our friends Chris and Nicole with a beautiful wedding shower hosted by Andy's parents and other friends of the couple. They had local beer pairings with different appetizers all around the house! It was so good! Think Fulton growler paired with mini brats....yes yum. It was so fun to catch up with friends and enjoy the beautiful summer night outside. We are so excited for their wedding on the Fourth of July! I don't know how I didn't get any pictures of the night...but I have a couple I stole from other people to share with you! :)

The happy couple themselves!! Photo credit to Linda Wegner :) 

Missed you ladies!! Thanks for the picture Kathryn!

We came home just in time for the Spring blooms on my parents' trees! They smelled divine and it has always been a favorite time of year at my parents' house.

During the weekend we also went bike riding to Minnehaha Falls in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Andy's parents, sister Emily, and her kids came along and we had so much fun seeing our old neighborhood again, soaking up the most amazing sight of the falls, and spending sweet time with our nieces and nephew. 

At first we thought that all three would fit comfortably in the Burley....I don't think that this would have lasted very long! We borrowed a second one then we were on our way!

What better than to finish off the weekend at the Flagship (Lifetime) pool just like old times! 

All in all we had a great weekend visiting and catching up with family and friends back in MN where the weather was beautiful and Spring was flourishing! We are looking forward to our friends visiting us this coming weekend down in Dallas! We can't wait to show them around town! :) 

Family Camping Trip - Colorado Bend State Park

We've all needed to breathe a little fresh air around here - especially considering North Texas failed to enforce pollution regulations when it had high levels of air pollution detected - gack!

 Check out Lincoln breathing in the "clean" Texas country air on our way south to camping a few weekends ago. Minneapolis and St. Paul are bustling big cities but with all the parks, lakes, and green spaces you don't always realize you are in a big city. Dallas on the other hand is a city of concrete, highways, and shopping. This sounds bad and it DOES have lots of funky smaller neighborhoods with small businesses booming and great green spaces and patios in a park, just not as much as dear ol' Minneapolis. We've been craving SPACE. Not just green space but air space and our OWN space. We don't really have our own backyard just one we share with the other tenants in our complex. From what we've seen around town though that the little park area we do have is generous compared to others. Most of the really nice neighborhoods don't even have big yards and the homes are just smushed in right next to each other. 

All in all we were craving some breathing room and decided to head down to "hill country." They call it hill country because it is greener, lusher, and hillier than most of the rest of the state and home to most of the Texas State Parks. You can see where it is on the map below. It is mainly the area West of both Austin and San Antonio. The drive from Dallas took about 3 1/2 hours to our campground at Colorado Bend State Park.  

As we drove we saw tons of cattle ranches along the curving country roads. We also stopped in a small town along the way and got an ice-cream cone at the local Dairy Queen as a quick refresher from the heat. This was interesting in itself because, I kid you not, these were some of the items on the menu:

- Catfish Fingers

- Frito Burger (with Frito chips on top of the burger)

- The Dude (Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich) 

Also, as I waited in line to order our small Blizzard, I realized that I would be the only one paying with a credit card. Everyone paid in cash and counted out coins that were jangling in their pockets for the exact amount of their order.  I know this shouldn't be so surprising but it made me realize how I rarely pay with cash....ever, and this town obviously did this all the time. Honey, we aren't in Dallas anymore. 

We continued on our way and finally made it the campsite after a TEN MILE gravel road that I would more accurately call a "rock road" since the smallest gravel was about the size of your fist. Makes for a bumpy entrance to the park for sure. 

We hiked one mile to our campsite (pictured below) and had a great view of the Colorado River flowing below. It was a beautiful site and a beautiful day! 

We had heard of a waterfall that was flowing a few miles up the trails so we got settled then set off to hike to it. We considered letting Lincoln off his leash and use the e-collar but with the risk of poisonous snakes and other things in the brush we decided against it. This was a good choice considering the wild life we saw on this hike!

The Colorado River was very low due to a sever draught across the state. 

Happy Spring! Blooming cacti!

As we got closer to the waterfall it got a bit rockier and more like a desert. 

We finally made it to the falls and Lincoln got to cool off in the water! He was so happy about it after 2 hours of hiking in 90 degree heat! 

Here are the "famous" falls. It was more like a trickle than the brochure let it on to be...but we made it!

I don't have any pictures but on our hike we saw probably 8-10 different ARMADILLOS. I'm not kidding they are the funniest creatures and Lincoln couldn't believe his eyes. He wanted to catch one so bad. 

Back at the campsite we started making dinner and relaxing with a glass of wine. We were at the "primitive" campsites but still wished they had a fire pit, picnic table, or other place to sit down to eat a meal. We ended up sitting on sleeping bag sacks and our little cooler. 

The sunset was pretty on the rocks! This made me think of our float trip for my mom's 60th birthday in Utah! 

All in all I think Lincoln LOVED camping. He loved that there were sticks everywhere, he could play in the water, and he could just watch birds and chase ants at the campsite. 

We were just there one night but it was such a beautiful night. The temperature didn't fall much when the sun set so we took off the rain fly to let more breezes through and lied looking through the mesh of the top of the tent. The moon was full and we were underneath that huge tree. It was just beautiful! Lincoln didn't sleep a wink the whole night. He sat upright just looking out the tent and protecting us. A couple times he would bark and growl at hearing something which is super rare for him. We're pretty sure he scared away a few raccoons from our food. Such a good pup!