Santa Barbara, California 2014

July 2014 - This past summer, Daren and I flew to Santa Barbara to celebrate our anniversary and to celebrate the marriage of two close friends, Corey Sisk and Alex Liloia.  Santa Barbara quickly became my favorite American city - WOW!  It is gorgeous.  There was so much to do and see.  The food was fantastic!  The people were super friendly.  Daren and I will be back, for sure!

For our anniversary, Daren surprised me with a limo tour through the Santa Ynez vineyards.  We had a blast!  The wine was fantastic.  The scenery was beautiful.  It was a wonderful day.  We visited 4 vineyards, had a lovely picnic lunch, and enjoyed slowing down to enjoy the little things.  We celebrated twelve years together.  Daren is such a blessing.  He's an amazing father, husband, provider, friend, travel partner, lover, etc...  I feel so lucky to be married to him.

It seems fitting that we got to celebrate each other, and then transitioned to celebrating two people we love.  Friday night began all the wedding festivities, and it was a wonderful celebration.  It was one of the nicest, most fun weddings.  And, we will certainly return to Santa Barbara.

Canary Hotel - the cool boutique hotel where we stayed.  It was in the heart of downtown.

More of the Canary Hotel 

Surprise!  Happy Anniversary to us!

Toasting to the beginning of our winery tour with my favorite summer cider...he thought of everything.  :-)

Brander winery

We had our picnic lunch at this vineyard.

Rideau Vineyard

Anniversary dinner - headed to Bouchon

Bouchon!!

The French Press was a wonderful coffee shop that Cat & Toni recommended.  It was a great spot!  Lucky for Daren and me, it was right by our hotel.

We hiked the next morning and it gave us the most beautiful view of Santa Barbara.

View from the top of our hotel

Walking the beaches together

Ahhh...poolside

Best Moscow Mule I've ever had!

Let the wedding festivities begin... This is right before we are headed to Corey and Alex's rehearsal dinner party.

Corey and Daren

Corey and I

The two grooms had a ton of funny buttons to wear.  Mine  were LA Corey (or you could wear LA Alex) and 'a hard man is good to find.'  HAHA!  I didn't post Daren's because it is a lot more off color than mine.  We will just keep it at that.  Ha!

Lunch with my Gina Gina from Tri Delt.  They were here to celebrate the grooms, as well.

On the pier

We took this bicycle ride with them along the beach.  We had a blast!

On the trolley headed to the wedding

Waiting for the ceremony to begin

The program

Taking their vows

The Texas Pikes 

They are married!!

The Nix Oklahoma Family Reunion 2014

July 2014 - We made the trip this year to the Nix family reunion.  It was a great time!  The girls had a blast, and it was wonderful to catch up with all of Johnny's wonderful family members.  We began the weekend by singing hymns.  The next morning, we spent all day at the park hanging out and watching the kids play.  That night, we headed to the carnival and we all rode many rides.

Claire and Doyle singing hymns

The Nix family - but where are my kids???  Where is Daren???

Doyle, Birdie, and the girls

John and Harper in the bumper cars

Becky and Claire in the race cars

Jake, Claire, Harper, and Jordan - To say that Harper had a crush on Jordan is an understatement.  She was completely smitten!  

Daren and Claire on the ferris wheel 

Becky and Claire about to take off on the Tilt-a-Whirl

The girls had a BLAST and were sufficiently exhausted for the ride home.

Our family before we drove out

Camp Longhorn - Attawaytogo!

I spent many summers at Camp Longhorn.  Some of my very fondest childhood memories and experiences are there.  I couldn't wait for my girls to be old enough to visit and then to attend.  Believe it or not, this next summer Claire will get to go to one of the best places on Earth.  I can't wait for her to get to experience the magic - the blob, Old Faithful, Frog Girl Day, Church Mountain, the Chow Hall, the water slides, the mile swim, gum drop day, dance nights, camp fires, etc... When we went, she lit up like we have never seen before.  She was so excited, especially to find out that she'd get to have her very own horse to ride and take care of the entire term.  I know that I will fall apart when she hops on that bus and heads off for 3 weeks.  I know that I will check the website obsessively to search for pictures of my big girl having a blast.  I know that I will miss her like crazy.  But I am also so blessed and grateful for her to get to experience the fun of Camp Longhorn.  Go Claire Bear!!   Attawaytogo!

Mommy/Harper Summer Date

Harper and I had a special date day one day during the summer where she chose every single thing we did.  It was super fun and will be an annual tradition.

She wanted a picnic lunch with a peanut butter sandwich, cheetos, and an apple

She wanted to play at Zilker Park

She requested that I take this picture - silly girl!  My Diva Deluxe... 

We rode the Zilker Zephyr train

Mommy wore her out - she fell asleep on the train ride!!

We finished the date at the movies.  We even had to go home to change clothes because we got so hot & dirty!