Revisiting Texas

May/June brought chances to go to Texas for the Adcocks. Keenan went over Memorial Day weekend to Fredericksburg, Texas, for our niece Lexie Mason's marriage to Adam Waldrum. He had a great time. I had the week off of work due to the holiday, so I drove to California and spent some time with my favorite Hunters and at Disneyland.

Later in June, Allie, Keenan, and I flew to Dallas then drove to Atlanta for our nephew Kaipo Adcock's wedding. We first went to the Fort Worth Zoo at Allie's request. Then we went to the Water Gardens water feature in Forth Worth. We drove to east Texas, stopping at a BBQ place for dinner, then drove on to Atlanta. We stayed at Karen's house. Karen lives on a lot of acres with her husband and lots of animals, her greenhouse, and a pond. We had a great time reuniting with family. The ceremony was Saturday morning. It was at Rachel's local church and her pastor officiated. It was really sweet. After the ceremony, we had bbq pork sandwiches, chips, and soda. We also had cake. It was so fun to see the nieces and nephews I haven't seen in years. They had the same cute faces. At the wedding were Tori, Kalei and his wife, Carol, Kauhi and his wife, Brandi, Renee (Kauhi's ex and mother of the groom), Kaylee, Kainoa and Kaipo Adcock, Karen and her boys, Colby and Nicholas and their girlfriends. Papaw was there. I think it was nice for him to have all of his children around.

Later that night, Karen fixed yummy food for us. We all hung out. We went to sacrament meeting in Atlanta then went back to the house for family time. I took a big long nap. We had a fun bbq with everyone and went to Katherine's grave for family pictures. Luckily there was someone at the cemetery that could take a picture of all of us. Tori suggested Keenan give a family prayer while we were all there together and it was really nice.

Got Whataburger for lunch

this is a real ostrich egg, largest egg in the world, about the size of 24 eggs.

 

A safari area of the zoo

Mitty's relative

they matched my nails

We always loved the Water Gardens

The view from the room upstairs where Keenan and I stayed

 

Allie had fun riding around with Tori and Papaw

Keenan and Kainoa raced around the pond while the pig watched. 

Allie did not catch the bouquet

baby goats

baby pigs

We drove Sunday night to Richardson, Texas: Home Sweet Home! We drove up to Sue's house, next door to our old house and it was so fun to see her. She was kind enough to let us stay with her. We visited for a while, then we went to bed. We got up and went to the donut store by 24 Hour Fitness where we used to go all the time. Still good. We then went to Karen Dillard's College Prep and visited with Karen and David. They now have 300+ employees. When I was there, I think there were about 25 of us. It's fantastic. We toured their space, which is one of 5 locations and is much bigger than it used to be. We then decided to back to Sue's to hang out. Allie, Sue, and I swam while Keenan took a nap. Keenan and I went to visit Lin Maute for a bit. Lin had been in our ward in Richardson and we've kept in touch all these years. Then many neighbors came over for pizza. We hung out on Sue's front lawn and just talked and laughed. It was very fun. Nina is the neighbor who used to be a seamstress. She taught me how to make a slip cover. Pam came over. As she crossed the street, she reached out to Allie and said she would recognize that face anywhere. Andy and Katherine came over. They came to Utah many years ago and we saw them then. We also peeked inside the windows of our old home and Sue took us to walk around the back yard. They really haven't taken great care of it. There have been some crazy things go on since we left.

First of all, the family we sold it to seemed very nice. Then we found out the mom was on drugs and was a prostitute, working out of our home. The husband kicked her out. The kids are grown now and some have lived in the house. They rented the house for a bit to a family that seemed to have multiple generations live there. Then the older daughters of the owner moved in with some friends who didn't have a place to live. They turned out to be trouble. One night there were gunshots fired. A man was shot in what used to be Allie and Melia's bedroom. He ran down the street. One bullet went through the window, through Sue's window, grazed the frame of her bathroom and landed in her bathroom. She heard the whole thing and didn't know what it was until the police came later and started questioning her. She said it was crazy to see about 8 inspectors trying to cram into her bathroom, getting evidence, forensics, etc. Crazy. This was last October. The house hasn't been occupied since then.

Cute Lin Maute. Melia called her Yin Fun. The kids loved her. Our last night in Texas was spent in her house, after we closed on our house.

Allie, Sue Hoot, Me, Karl, Keenan, Pam, Nina, Andy, Katherine

Chocolate Ice Cake still good after all these years

David and Karen Dillard, me, Allie, and Keenan

Greenwood Hills Elementary School

Flew back to real life in Utah on Tuesday. It was a great trip. Glad we went.