Surprise Easter Visit!

I kept a secret for two months and I'm so proud of myself (my sister kept it a secret too!). Virgin America started offering service from SF to DFW in February and a special was running...$200 for a round-trip ticket. That's practically unheard of...what a deal! So, I purchased the ticket and the countdown began for my surprise visit home for Easter. Let me note that I wanted a few things for my whirlwind trip back to Texas...BBQ, Tex-Mex, queso, warm weather, sunshine, to see the movie Water for Elephants, and a storm....I experienced them all! I did not, however, ask for a snake in the backyard, a rat inside the grill, a small snake in one of the bedrooms (me of all people had to discover it), or hail the size of baseballs. You never know what you're going to get in Texas!!

Lauren picked me up from the airport and had the idea to invite my parent's over to her place for dinner. I was craving brisket and all the fixins, so we made dinner and anxiously awaited my parents arrival.

Here's a brief video of the surprise. Let me preface this by saying we're a goofy family at times and my dad likes to play pranks every now and then. My parents brought a chair over for Lauren's place, and my dad was silly and was sitting in the chair with his eyes closed when I opened the door. Little did he know that it was me at the door. Hehe!

After dinner we all headed to my parents' place in Weatherford. This is a picture of Bailey, Lauren's dog. Doesn't she have the cutest ears?


This is one of my parents' dogs named Buddy. He loves to sunbathe and lay on the hot stones during the day. That's the life!

My parents just adopted this pup named Gracie. The vet estimates she's about five years old. She's a sweet girl, but for some reason she growled at me any time I entered a room she was in. It was actually pretty funny.

This is Joe (aka the teacher's pet, class clown or bad boy depending on the hour of the day). Joe can be quite hyper at times, but he is one of the most loving pets. He's asking me if he can sit in my lap and help me out on my laptop.

I gave in....who can resist his adorable face? He's helping me browse the web for jobs.

And look at the view from our "office" on the back porch...beautiful. This is my parent's new garden...they did a great job!

After an exhausting day of sunbathing and helping me on the computer, I found Joe passed out on my bed. Such a sweet boy.


My mom and I did a lil' bit of shopping and we came across this painting at Hobby Lobby. I couldn't believe the title of the painting....Bella Chihuahua! Named after my lil' girl.


Sister pic before we head out to the movies. We went to see Water for Elephants. I read the book back in February and loved it. The movie was pretty good and followed the book almost to a "t".


A shot of the girls!

The girls and pops pose for a photo on Easter morning.


Time for the girls to pose. I love how we're all three in coordinating shades of blue and navy and it wasn't even done on purpose.

Taking a break to smile for the camera before digging in to our yummy Easter brunch.

The night before I left DFW we experienced pretty awful storms. Around 11pm it started to hail pebbles and then quarter-sized hail.

The sound of the hail was quite scary. It sounded as though the roof was caving in. This is a shot of the backyard.

It looks like the ground is covered in snow!

Unfortunately, the quarter-sized hail turned into baseballs. Absolutely devasting to my parents' roof and yard.

Here's a quick video that captured the sights and sounds of the hail.

Here's another very, brief video of the hail....this was when the baseballs were coming down form the sky!

I had such a wonderful visit with my family despite how little time we had. Now I get to look forward to having them come visit Mike, Toby, Bella, and I in SF this summer!