Family Ties

David and I recently celebrated our one-year anniversary of moving back to Austin.  And what a year it’s been!  The best part of our return to the states has definitely been spending time with family and friends.

Shortly after we moved away, Amy, Ross, Jeff, and Elizabeth decided to move to Austin to attend UT.  Great timing!  (Did you read the sarcasm there?)  But when we came back last summer, they were all still here.  Yay!

Over the past year, my parents have been back multiple times to move Elizabeth in and out of her apartment, then sorority house, and also for Parent's Weekend.  Now that we’re back, they have a place to stay and it’s a great excuse to come to Austin more frequently!

Parent’s Weekend last October was a ton of fun.  It was my parent’s first time at a UT football game.  A University of Texas football game is an experience.  First, we had to go shopping to purchase burnt orange gear.  You can’t get into the team spirit if you’re not wearing the team’s colors.  Then we tailgated at the Alpha Xi house and at the Watson’s tent set up on MLK across from the Texas State History Museum.  Finally, we made our way to the stadium and found our seats behind the goal posts. 

My mom is a good luck charm when it comes to Texas football.  Every game she watches, UT manages to come back and win it all.  This first started during the national championship game back when I was a student, and continues to this day.

The next day, we had brunch at the Alpha Xi house and Elizabeth signed her lease.  My parents were back a few weeks ago to move her into her new digs.  We’re excited to have Elizabeth back in town to hang out for another school year.

Before we had even moved back to Austin, David’s family decided that we were going to host the 2015 Family Reunion / Chili Cook-Off.  Every year, David’s maternal side of the family, including grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and siblings get together for an epic, trash-talking cook-off. 

This year, as we were hosting, David and I were also responsible for providing judges.  So Patrick, Molly, and Jeremy agreed to eat way too much chili and give their unbiased opinions and rankings.  We warned Molly to bring tons of Tums, as she was pregnant with Noelle at the time.

This was not even half of the entries ... so much chili!

Usually the judges give a quick recap of their experience before reading out the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners, but this year, our friends went all out and roasted every single one of the participants.  It was cringe-worthy, but hilarious!  Some of the best jabs were:

‘This chili tastes like it was topped with bits of plastic.’

‘Hmm … more like something we’d find at any Indian buffet.  Would be good with some naan!’

‘Canned dog food.’

‘Were we tricked into eating meconium?’  (For all you non-moms out there, like me, that have no idea what meconium is, it’s basically dark green baby poo.)

‘Way too smoky – we might need some nicotine patches after this taste-test!’

Unfortunately David did not place (his chili was compared to the filling of a chopped beef sandwich and while delicious, this was not a BBQ competition), but Jeff got runner-up again with this (kind of) glowing review, ‘We can’t place the flavor but we love the taste!’  And Josh Morrison took the top prize AGAIN.  The judges sang his praises (and Shannon's), 'Someone’s wife must have helped them with this chili because it is far and away the BEST!’

David and I also hosted Easter this year, with Karen flying in from London to spend the week with us.  Elizabeth stayed in town and joined in the festivities as well.  

Taking a walk on Saturday morning and climbing one of the majestic oaks in the greenbelt behind our house

David and I acted as the parents and provided everyone with Easter baskets, and hid plastic eggs stuffed with candy in the backyard early Sunday morning.  Then we woke up everyone (including Karen) for the traditional Easter egg hunt.  

From there, we went to church to celebrate.  Once back home, we had a delicious dinner of honey-baked ham, cheesy potatoes, fresh green bean salad, Karen’s famous homemade rolls, and a summery pound cake for dessert.  Even though our dining room wasn’t yet complete and we sat on a hodge-podge of chairs, including the desk chair and piano bench, it didn’t matter because we were all together. 

Karen was back just a few weeks later for Jeff’s and Ross’s graduations from UT.  

Ross’s family flew in from Maine, and as Jacque also graduated the same weekend, on Saturday we had all three families over to our house for a graduation celebration. 

Kirby with Uncle Jeff sporting their Texas gear

Cousin Kelly came with her new baby, David.  I think it's safe to say this baby liked me just as much as my David does!

Later in the summer, Laura crossed the Atlantic to visit us all the way from England! 

We decided our big adventure for her trip to Texas would be to float the Comal River in New Braunfels.  David had somehow, in all his years at UT and in Austin, never floated the river.  The Saturday we drove down was one of the hottest days of the year, so it was no surprise that the river was incredibly crowded.  The rains in June also meant that the water levels were higher than they’d been in a long time, and the river was flowing faster than usual.  We weren’t the only ones taking advantage of all of this!

We had so much fun going down the chutes and lazing the day away on the water.  We’ve had even more fun since watching the videos taken with our Go-Pro!  My favorite parts of the day were of course the bus ride back to the start of the river, and Ross getting stuck in the whirlpool … no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get out!  At the same time, Laura thought she’d lost her Nalgene bottle and I thought I’d lost my hat as we went down the fast chute.   But if you look really closely in the video, you can see Laura’s water bottle float past Ross.  After our second time down the chute, Laura found it washed up on the bank!  And a Good Samaritan found my hat and stood in the middle of the river waving it back and forth until I swam over to claim it!

After our second time down the river, it was time to head home … and time for me to break my foot. 

Yep.  I broke my foot. :(

I stumbled over a sidewalk on the way back to the car and landed flat on my back.  Thank goodness the entire family was there to support me!  From literally carrying me over to a park ranger and loading me into her golf cart, to driving me to urgent care, and taking care of me for the rest of the weekend, I had so much help while I was immobile.  Because let me tell you, being in a splint and on crutches (even for just a few days before I got a boot from the orthopedic surgeon) is no fun at all.

I honestly could not believe that I had actually broken my foot because 1) it didn’t hurt and 2) I’ve never broken anything before in my life.  Surely tripping over a curb was not going to break me ... It wasn’t until I met with a specialist on Monday and he verified what the urgent care doc had told me, that I truly believed my foot was broken.  I would be rocking a snazzy boot for the next four weeks until it healed.

The before picture... 

and all of the afters!  From my not-right-looking foot at urgent care, to the splint, first swollen visit to the orthopedist, bruising a couple of weeks later, and finally, my fashionable, new boot. 

But good news!  Amy and Ross just purchased their first home nearby.  And even though Jeff has moved to Houston for his first grown-up job, he’s only a three hour drive away.  With Elizabeth back for another school year, we’re so excited for more family adventures (but no more broken bones)!