Dallas Bound!

So there's this lady... a rather special one. Her name is Rachel. Perhaps you've heard me talk about her. ;) Well, she had herself a baby girl at the beginning of February and I didn't waste much time coming to see her! It was just a quick trip... Thursday night to Sunday night. But it was perfect. 

(And SO nice driving 30 min. to the airport instead of the 2 hours to the Albuquerque one!)

My flight got in around 10:30pm which meant it was after 11pm by the time we got to their house. Their NEW house, btw! It was so fun to see it! Flippin' gorgeous! Texas know how to build. No yucky stucco. Give me brick. Full length windows. Stately architecture. Mmm hmm. Doug was up late, working, but it was fun to see him and get a quick low down on what's going on with his life. Basically, he's a workaholic in the middle of building out a new office and Rach is an exhausted new mom with no husband to help! Yikes. They will make it through this, but my heart went out to them. Poor Rach was yawning up a storm and needed to get to bed so we called it a night shortly after.

Gavin and Liam were up at 5:45am the next morning, excitedly chatting up a storm in their room which was connected to mine. With the time change, that meant 4:45am for me. Oi! I finally went downstairs to see if I could sleep there. Come to find out later, they were up early all excited about me being there and were chatting about their memories of Collin and Weston! Oh my heck! Melt my heart!  

Gavin had school on Friday and Liam got to go on a playdate, which meant us girls got to have a lunch date and some shopping time! That is ALL I need to put me in high spirits! We shared some orange chicken at Cheesecake Factory and I finally succumbed and got myself a pair of Birkenstocks. (Seriously, when the trend came back a couple years ago, I was mortified. And now I'm clomping around in a pair of Jesus sandals. Life is funny.)

For dinner we tried a local BBQ joint called Hutchinsons that is popular. We were one seat short in the car though and Doug didn't want to take two, sooooo. Here is Dr. Shaw, haha. He likes to stay humble in creative ways. ;)

That mac n' cheese was gooooood. The brisket and ribs weren't bad either! Definitely good eatin' right there. 

I should have named that jalapeno popper for how big it was!

The restaurant was close to Doug's McKinney office so we stopped in there afterward. It was awesome!!! I was so impressed. I couldn't stop ooooing and ahhhing. It's still weird that we're all grown ups and doing grown up things. It's like we're just "playing house".
 I could not be happier for these two. What an accomplishment! 

After the kids were in bed, we stayed up chatting, tossing back the evil caramel chocolates I brought and laughing. Being with Doug and Rach is great. It's comfortable and familiar and cozy. We can talk about anything and it's real. I miss it. I was desperately filling up my "Shaw tank of happiness". :)

Saturday morning I decided I should probably try to burn at least a few of the massive calories I had consumed on the trip already. Jogging in their neighborhood was, um, super duper cool. So here is their house. EVERY other house is at least this cool and cooler. So stately and colonial-like. I felt like a creeper, stopping every few houses to take another picture. You just wouldn't believe how beautiful they were! And it's not just a little neighborhood of them. They go on for miles and miles and miles. Only interrupted by a babbling creek or perfectly manicured landscaping.This was absolutely my DREAM neighborhood. It's all I talked about the entire 3 days I was there. I was scraping my jaw off the ground as I ran. The road rash was killer. 

We went to Gavin's basketball game that morning and took the boys to Chick-fil-a for lunch. Then we got all ready and drove to Doug's new office where he was finishing up work. Here it is!! If I thought the other office was impressive, THIS one blew that one out of the water. It was still under construction, but hello, just the outside castle structure screams amazing! I just love their name too! OrthodonTEX. Genius.

Doug kept the kids (baby included! Go Doug) while we went to the Dallas temple to do a session. That is a FUNKY temple. It is so interesting to visit different temples. Very 70's and strange layout, but ah well, it doesn't really matter, does it? :) I just loved being there with Rach!

We wanted to try something new for dinner, so thanks to Yelp and Google, the Twisted Root Burger Co won out! It had a very urban/hipster vibe to it that I was digging. You can choose hamburger, bison or veal for any of their burgers and they're all topped with interesting, fun ingredients! I'm pretty sure we got the "Enough Said" with aged cheddar, peppercorn ranch sauce and potato chips on top, and the "Big Tex" with cheddar, guac, fried onion strings and chipotle sauce and went halfsies with each other. Don't forget the fried pickles and cheesy fries to share and with shakes for the road. Stuff like this floats my boat. :)

Sunday morning, I came downstairs to find the boys watching TV and Doug trying to sleep on a chair with Amelia in his arms. So I shooed him back to bed and got the best baby snuggles for 3 hours!!! I LOVED it. She slept the whole time and was just the sweetest thing all curled up on my shoulder. (And lest you judge me for this picture, I need to make it clear that I am the WORST selfie taker EVER. So while it looks like I'm trying to be demure, I'm really just saving you from my giant nose and gummy smile. You're welcome.)

When Rach came downstairs, she made us all yummy pancakes and we snuck in an episode of the new, Fuller House before jetting to church. Rach stayed home with Amelia, but I was excited to check out their building and get a feel for their ward. We just stayed for sacrament though before grabbing some lunch and getting me packed up to go. The time honestly flew by. I love these people so much. We always lament that it's never long enough and life isn't fair that we live states away from each other. It makes me sad that we can't be neighbors so I can help out in stressful times like these. :( I'm just so grateful for the very amazing Mr. Evans in happily holding down the fort while I was gone so I could enjoy my time there, guilt free. I needed my Rachel time and treasured every minute.