happy 4th!!

happy birthday America - I am glad you were born

home

Today marks our two year anniversary of living in Austin. So much has happened, and we have grown so much as a couple. Austin has such a special place in our hearts, and we adore everything about this place. We love the area, our ward, and our little apartment we call home. Austin is where we began our married life, and where we built our marriage foundation. We couldn't have been more blessed.

Plain and simple - we love Austin. 

our very first day in Austin, and what we started with

and this is what we have built - a home

i couldn't imagine taking this journey with anybody else. 

Char & My visit Austin

Charity and Myers flew in from Atlanta on Sunday afternoon. We were so excited we couldn't even stand it. On the way home from the airport we drove through downtown and grabbed some delicious pizza at Home Slice (definitely one of our favorite pizza places in Austin). We rested some, and found an awesome hiking trail not far from our place so we spent the rest of the afternoon just exploring. 

We had the windows down, radio on, and he was just singing away for us. 

It has been such a treat having my sister and sweet nephew visit us in Austin. He's been such a trooper sleeping in his little pack n play in the corner of the living room. Cameron took Myers out on the patio tonight before bed and they star gazed and puppy watched. Myers even started walking while he was here within the first 10 minutes of being at our place. It's been so fun watching him stumble and giggle while he's been learning. We're sorry you've had to miss it Derek! Hope we've taken enough video to make up for it, somewhat. 

This boy couldn't drink his green smoothie fast enough. 

Saturday afternoon

Today was a glorious 70 degrees. So Cam and I spent the afternoon walking throughout downtown and doing some window shopping mixed with people watching. Austin is such a fun unique town and we grow to love it more and more everyday we live here.

home

We are home! We spent a week and a half living out of a suitcase, and it feels heavenly to be able to be in my own home. It was fabulous seeing both of our families and I feel very spoiled. Now it's back to the real world...

Happy New Year!!

Barton Springs

Quite possibly our favorite spot in Austin. Barton Springs is a natural spring in downtown Austin. The water stays 68 degrees year round, and it feels wonderful during this hot hot summer here. We bring our big old goggles, noodles, and swim along the bottom looking for fish, turtles, and anything else crawling along the bottom of the spring. It's become a weekly tradition. We go in the evening when Cameron gets home from work, and cool off from the day.

 After we go swimming, we usually go to a trailer park and get Torchy's Tacos. Best chips & queso in town. Hands down. 

Now come to Austin & enjoy Barton Springs with us too!! 

Summer

Stevie Ray Vaughn 

we moved!

Yes - we moved out of Pflugeville and into Austin proper over 4th of July weekend, and we LOVE it! We are now closer to downtown, which cuts Cameron's drive from 20 miles to 10 miles to work. (For those of you who don't know, Cameron works in the heart of downtown Austin.) My drive to school is only 7 minutes versus 20 minutes. We are closer to everything which is fantastic. There is a running trail that we just love behind our complex around the lake. We wasted no time unpacking and making it home again. We moved in on a Saturday, and the last box was unpacked by Sunday night.

Cameron's parent's, Logan, Jon & Wendy and their kids came down from Dallas to help us. Also our friends Spencer & Ashley from Pflugerville helped us move. We are so thankful for your help, and sacrificing a Saturday to help us. We love y'all! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Our new sofa

(Char I told you I had my Georgia blanket on the back. ;) I know, I need a pretty one. Keep an eye out for me. )

The kitchen - it's much smaller than our other one. So that's been a huge transition. So I am still playing around with what will work, what I like, ect... 

The washer & dryer are on the back wall. I am thinking of adding a curtain to help separate the two while I do laundry. 

Dinner area. The pictures of the floor will obviously be put up sometime. The THATCHER frame on the wall is my all time favorite thing in our home. Too bad that the thermometer is right there. 

Cameron's Ukrainian memorabilia. 

I painted the plate and Cam painted the bowl. We are so ready to go back to Cabo San Lucas. 

easter weekend.

This past weekend was spent doing something like these....


Enjoying a nice little hike near downtown Austin.

um best staircase ever? not. 

my favorite. 

And it was spent getting over an awful sinus infection, and doing a little painting. Since living in a apartment, it's not really worth it to paint the walls. But you do need/want to add some color, just get a canvas and paint it. :) 

Texas for where we got married & Georgia for where we got engaged. And it doesn't hurt that it's our home states either ;) 

St. Patrick's day on 6th Street

For St. Patrick's day, we celebrated by going downtown with some friends and ate a delicious dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. We're super festive here. It was so fun though. Downtown was packed. SXSW (South by Southwest) has been going on all week, which is the world's largest music festival. We had to park at Cameron's office, which is 10 blocks away from the restaurant. Roads were blocked off just because there were so many people, and cars parked just anywhere. Crazy. There was bands on every corner. It was so fun to experience it and to enjoy some good people watching.

out with the old, in with the new..er

This week, I had to say goodbye to my '98 Honda Accord. Needless to say, we have been on a mad car search this week. Running into tons of scams, crappy cars, or even both. So when we found the '99 Toyota 4Runner, it was love at first sight. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but it's pretty close to the truth.