Early Anniversary and More Summer Fun

Well, we have enjoyed being outside a lot lately! We're usually at the splash park, pool with friends, or running through the sprinklers at our house. We've been busy celebrating friends birthdays, trying new restaurants, and just this past weekend Tommy and I celebrated our 6th anniversary a little early. We decided that from here on out, our weekends are jam packed. So, this is literally the only weekend we had open for the next couple months! Crazy!!!!! So, thanks to our good friends, Kelly and Brian for watching the kiddos, we had the best day together!!! First, we went to lunch at a restaurant called Hula Hut, which is on Lake Austin. So good!!!! From there, we literally walked 20 feet to the dock where we had a jet ski waiting for us! We had 2 hours to spend jet skiing on the lake. If you've never seen Lake Austin, it's not a typical lake. It's more like a giant river. There are a lot of celebrities who have homes on the Lake, which we got to see. All the homes on the lake are so beautiful. We had so much fun!!!!! Then, from there, we went to Mozart's, which is right next to Hula Hut, and had iced coffee and chocolate chip cookies:) Then, we drove to town lake which is the river that pretty much runs right through downtown Austin, and we went stand up paddle boarding! I have wanted to do that since we moved here! It was so much fun and definitely  A LOT harder then it looks! But we had a blast and got a pretty good workout:) After an hour and a half on the river, we drove to the Whole Foods downtown. Whole Food's headquarters are in Austin, so it is a pretty amazing Whole Foods!!!  Tommy had never been, so I had fun showing him around:) It has little restaurant bars through out...pretty much it's like any other Whole foods, but on steroids:) After a fun long while there, we had dinner reservations at a place I have been trying to get into for months now. It's called Uchi. And it is beyond good. Probably one of the best meals I have ever had. It is japanese/sushi restaurant. Supposedly, the chefs are on Top Chef? Or some show like that? All I know is that they book out weeks in advance for reservations. So, I figured it must live up to all they hype. And it sure did.
We had the best day and are thankful to have had such a great day to celebrate 6 great years!!!!

My kids love the little rides at the mall :)

Of course, at the splash park!

Love them.

Had brunch at a super yummy place called, Chez Zee

Celebrated a sweet baby girl's first birthday!!!

Gunnar and Kin

Fun nights at the pool with such sweet friends!!!!

And these two are always keeping me on my toes...

Yummy Yummy Hula Hut

Lake Austin and our jet ski

So fun

Ah Mozart's. 

The water was so so warm, which made it so fun

Actually stand up paddle boarding! So much fun!!!

Now, this picture doesn't do the Whole Foods justice, but here it is! 

On the Patio at Uchi!!

I enjoyed getting texts from Kelly to update us on how the kids were doing!! 

Delicious food at Uchi! Here is the tuna, goat cheese, and fuji apple drizzled with pumpkin oil!!! 

Well, I LOVE brussel sprouts. Weird I know. But Tommy doesn't like them. BUT, he ate more of these brussel sprouts then I did!!! So, we ordered more:)

Delicious sushi

More delicious sushi

All I know is this was SO GOOD

mmmmmm

And since we were celebrating our anniversary they brought us this dessert....again not 100%sure what it was, but it was SO good:) Oh Austin, I will miss all your yummy food!!!!!!!!

                                                 

Silly Face

Not sure how miss Kinley comes up with this stuff, but if you ask her to make a silly face, she'll stick her tongue out! Hilarious, this girl.

Summertime Fun

Summer is definetly our most favorite season around here. We love splash park fun, pool time, yummy popsicles, and I, personally, can't get enough of that great sunscreen smell : )
Here are some fun pictures of the beginning of our summer...

Crazy how fast this year has flown by!!! Here we are last year at one of the splash parks here...

We're moving...

back to California!
Our family is heading back to the west coast, where Tommy will be opening his own dental practice in Kingsburg. We are SO excited! If there is anything I have learned over the past few years, with all the moves we have made, it is that we are SO NOT IN CONTROL, as well as learning to accept change. If I had many more hours to write the detailed ways the Lord has directed our steps I would. But for now, Ill just say that He has. And not just that. He has directed us faithfully. And we are beyond thankful. Mostly because we don't deserve it, but we are confident in His great love for us.
So back to Cali we go. We are moving at the end of June. Tommy's practice will, lord willing, open around the first of August. So...if any of y'all want a GREAT dentist... ;)
With all of the excitement we have, we also have a great deal of sad emotions. We really will MISS Austin. This place is so great. The people are so great. Family life here is so great...I actually came up with a little nickname for the area, "The land of the mini van". No joke.
The food here is so great. And on, and on, and on...
We really will miss everything. But part of the greatness of how God works, is Him revealing to us that He doesn't want us here anymore. And with that comes a great sense of peace. So, yes we are sad to leave but at PEACE that the Lord really does want us in Kingsburg. And for that we are grateful.
I plan on doing a separate detailed post on the specifics of what exactly we will miss...as well as a few "things" we will not :)
Look forward to more posts about our "lasts" here in Austin.

Oh, and here are a few family pictures we had taken to sort of "document" our time here.

Family Sunday

We are blessed with a lot of "good days" around here. Last Sunday was especially good. And for no "big" reason. It was just a good day.

We go to the 11:30 service at our church, which gives us a very relaxing morning together as a family. We decided to go get donuts before church. This was Kinley's first experience eating a donut. Of course, she was all about it.



                                         

They were being so sweet together in the car. This does NOT always happen:)

Our church has a big fishing pond in front. And it is one of  Brady and Kinley's favorite things to throw rocks in it. 

After naps, we had a bike race:)


I am thankful for everyday. And all the little moments. 

Celebrate!

Well, this past week was a fun week full of celebration!! On Tuesday night, my friends Kelly, Beth and Hayley, and I all went to dinner to celebrate Hayley's birthday, which was on May 4th, and my birthday which was on the 5th. We had a fun dinner at Vivos that lasted for 3 fun hours:) Im pretty sure we could've talked all night!!

Then, on Friday night, Hayleys husband invited a group to dinner in downtown Austin, at the restaurant Roaring Fork. It was fun to celebrate Hayley's birthday and enjoy great conversation and food!!! Such a fun night! :)

Hayley and Me :)

They brought us each a birthday dessert! Yummy creme brûlée!!

THEN, for my actual birthday, Tommy gave me the "day off" :) I had a WONDERFUL massage in the morning, and then had a fun shopping day at the Domain. My friend Beth watched our kids at night so Tommy and I could go to dinner. We went to one of my most favorite restaurants, Bess Bistro. I can not say enough good things about this place. EVERYTHING is so so so good.

Their special salad of the night was this Heirloom tomato salad, with Arugula, salt, paper, balsamic, and their in house made cheese. It was SO good!

And since it was my birthday, they brought me their home made beignets. YUMM!! 

I sure do love this place. And if you are ever in Austin, you HAVE to go here!!!

I felt so blessed and loved on my birthday. Except I'm not sure how i feel about 28!! :)