Bradshaws come to Texas!

Mom and Dad Bradshaw came to watch the BYU football game in Austin visit us a weekend in September. We were long awaiting their visit and we really had a wonderful time. It's so fun to be with family!

Here's the details of their visit, day by day.

Wednesday:
Such a busy day! Full day of work, then bustling to get the house cleaned, beds made, toilets scrubbed, fridge cleared out, and then baking/dropping off cookies for a ward activity. Phew! Then Tim and I anxiously awaited Mom and Dad's arrival. We finally got to pick them up at 12:45 am and the reunion was pretty joyous.

Thursday:
Tim and I had to go to work/school half day but after that.....the four of us met up with Jim and Kerry downtown for lunch at Shilo's (a quaint little German cafe we've heard good things about.) The homemade rootbeer was pretty good, everything else was eh.

While downtown we also took Mom and Dad to the San Fernando Cathedral, perused the Riverwalk, and made a pit stop for that little place that everyone thinks of when they think of San Antonio...."Remember the Alamo!" It was interesting to listen to two different tour guides tell us the story of the Alamo, the first being a true "Tejano" and very proud of his Mexican decent (and hatin' on the "heros" of the Alamo), and the second being a white guy who preached of the tyranic rule of Mexico and the freedom seeking people of Texas. I'm sure each had some truth to their perspectives.

Poor Mom and Dad, it was so hot and muggy and we walked a lot (because the really cheap parking is kinda out of the way), so by the end of our downtown tour we were all ready to go home and take a little siesta. Mom was so sweet and spoiled Timmy by rubbing his feet on the couch. Totes adorbs. Have I mentioned I have the cutest mother in law?? 

After our revitalizing afternoon nappy poos we ventured the 15 minute drive back downtown for some yummy TexMex at La Margarita. I'm so glad Jim and Kerry were able to come too, it was so fun getting to visit with them more. The boys enjoyed talking about the eminent football game. 

I'm pretty sure David hates me taking pictures even more than Tim does, haha. 

Friday:

Again Tim and I had to go to work/school half day (the trouble of starting a new job and taking too much time off) but it was good because Dad got to study for his boards in the morning anyway. We had sandwiches for lunch at home, then decided to go the San Antonio Museum of Art. Tim and I had never even been there before so it was even more fun to get to go with Mom and Dad for our first time too. It's funny how we finally see more of the city we've been living in for two years more when people come visit us. (We'd love more visitors anytime!!) We all really enjoyed the Egyptian exhibit, and I also really like the area of the Asian exhibit that showed what rooms in a typical home would look like. Mom didn't really like much of the art, especially when we got to the modern section (there was some seriously weird stuff), haha.  She has a much more sophisticated taste!

After the museum we hurried to the other side of town to take a tour of the San Jose Mission (San Antonio has five missions-the Alamo included). We made it with only 20 minutes before they closed, we were bummed we missed the movie (we'll have to go back!). This place was seriously so cool though, I'm glad we got to see it! After this quick tour we were all pretty famished, and we wanted to show Mom and Dad some Texas bbq--so we headed over to one of our favorite spots- Rudy's. That creamed corn... mm mm mm mm mmmmmmm!!

I had a baby shower for a good friend that night and I had Mom stop by with me (it was just across the street). My friend Kaylee says this about Virginia.... "She's so cute and little I just want to put her in my pocket!" She is pretty adorable and so sweet. I'm a pretty lucky girl to have such an awesome mother-in-law.

After returning home from the party, I coerced the family into playing Cranium with me. It was so fun though! And I'm pretty sure we were all glad we played. Watching Mom and Dad do the "puppetering" was hilarious. Dad was trying to move Mom's arms and legs to act out "surprise party" without speaking....and she got "Surprise! I'm a puppet!" We died over that one.

Saturday:
We started the day off right with a yummy breakfast of waffles with homemade whipped cream and strawberries, and bacon of course! My favorite. Then we started our trip up to Austin! On the way we had to stop at Buc-ee's for some treats. Tim and I also got little gifts for mom and dad to take back to the girls at home. Dad was so impressed by alllllllll the gas pumps. Guys, there are so many.

Our first stop in Austin was to tour the State Capitol! Jim and Kerry joined up with us here too. It was so fun to see so many people in the Capitol and all around Austin in BYU gear. I was so proud to be a cougar :) And the people of Austin were so hospitable-I had on at least 5 different occasions someone welcome us to Texas! And that's why I love it here.

After the capitol we tried an (unsuccessful) tour of South Congress for lunch.....some Utahans couldn't take the heat....so we went to In 'N' Out instead! No complaints over here!

                     ^So adorable. Also....we got wayyyyy too many fries.....

After lunch we went to the LBJ Museum which is right next to the UT campus. (I also loved walking by all the tail-gating parties around campus. That's one thing BYU lacked. It was such a fun atmosphere.) I really enjoyed the museum, and I think I would enjoy it even more now after reading "Killing Kennedy." I want to go back! My favorite part of our tour of the museum was picking out songs from the '60's jukebox with mom and groovin'.

We made sure to get to the stadium nice and early to see the warm-ups! We hung out at this spot practically on the field for a while. This was also where I saw Jimmer and said "Hey Jimmer!" And he said "sup" right back to me. Guys- we had a serious connection. Dreams do come true!

I was so happy to be in the stands watching my cougs again! Even if the guy in front of us was hatin' on BYU/Mormons....rude. It made us crushing them even more sweet :)

Sunday:
We went to church together (and I even was able to get a sub for my Primary class so I actually got to go to RS, sweeeeeeeet!) and we also all fasted together, which was so touching. I am so grateful for family that supports us in our lives!

While dinner was cooking, we watched a bunch of family videos (thanks Steph!). I. Died. I could not even handle wittle Timmy's cuteness! Dad laughed so much when I would freak out about how cute Tim was. And I freaked out a lot, haha. I mean, look at THIS FACE.

 

For dinner we had roast and homemade bread then rolo cookies for dessert. Yum! It was so nice to have a day at home together after such a busy couple days! We got to keep mom and dad around until 7:30...I'm so glad we had so much time together!! We had such a fun time showing them around our new city and spending time together. We can't wait til they come back ;)

^Some walrusing may or may not have happened.