Spring Break Wrap-up

Back to the real world! Spring Break is officially OVER! I know there are plenty of you out there that don't get the luxury of a week off smack in the middle of March, and trust me, I do feel very fortunate to be a part of the "teacher" group that does! It was a great week and I am heading back into work feeling refreshed and grateful!

It all started last Sunday when me, the hubs, and his family (all 10 of us!) hopped on the Green Line and headed downtown for a hockey game! Stars vs LA Kings (D's family is all from California, so we were the very few in Kings' colors!). It was a great game (Kings won) and then the whole crew came back to our home for dinner! I had tried out a new recipe (Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken) and it was SO delicious! I had mine with a bed of baby spinach and a little bit of brown rice, then topped it with the chicken mixture... it was tooo good! Apparently this recipe also freezes very well. I can also imagine it would be tasty as taco filling, too!

Monday and Tuesday were perfect days for me to sleep in a little bit, catch up on laundry and cleaning, and get some errands ran without feeling too rushed. It felt great to start my Spring Break all caught up and ready to relax with family and friends!

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I spent out in Mesquite with my family. David came out Thursday night and stayed as well, and it was so nice just being around everyone! I love spending time with my mom more than I can say, and I miss my sisters and nephews SO much! We played the Wii, laughed, cooked, and just really had an amazing time. 

My oh-so-talented twin sister also gave me a lovely haircut! I love it SO much! :) I was ready for something easy and quick to manage... especially with this Texas heat already beating down on us. 

Friday was a gorgeous day, so after I headed back to Carrollton, the hubby and I hit up the patio at Agave Azul. I love eating outside when the weather is nice :), and we are newly in love with this Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar. We have both tried something new each time we've gone, and there are still so many exciting menu items that we can't wait to go back and try! I also had this yuuuummmmy cantaloupe margarita on the rocks... not too sweet, very refreshing, and so delicious!

I had been looking forward to Saturday for months. CONCERT DAY! We started off the day making homemade tortillas for our family get-together on Sunday. It was nice spending the morning in the kitchen with my man, and we actually had success with the tortillas this time! Still not quite as good as my mother-in-law's, but at least these were edible. ;) 

Late afternoon we took the DART green line into downtown for the G. Love and Special Sauce concert. We decided to have dinner in the House of Blues restaurant (even though it's a little on the expensive side), because if we got our receipt signed we had the opportunity to pass the line and get into the venue before everyone else. Totally worth the expensive dinner. :) D and I were the 5th and 6th people to walk into the venue. :) We walked straight up to center stage and claimed an area that would fit our group of six. I LOVE seeing shows up close and personal. :) David has spoiled me in that respect. He has this uncanny talent of making friends with people down front that never fails to get us prime spots at every single show he has ever taken me to. Unfortunately for him, he will have to do that forever now. ;) 

It was an amazing show, as ALWAYS, and a late night for us all. I think I am getting too old for that late-night nonsense! ;) I crawled into bed shortly after 2:30 AM, and felt like I had been hit by a truck the next day! D and I even skipped out on our usual Sunday morning bowling adventures in order to snag a little extra sleep.

Sunday was both an emotional and exciting day. March 18th marked the 1-year anniversary of the day my Papa went to live with the Lord. On the day of his actual funeral, my nana (his wife of 50+ years) was also in the hospital and didn't get to attend the service. The weather was awful, as well, so we were not able to have a gravesite burial. In order to celebrate my Papa and commemorate him, we decided that his 1-year anniversary was a good time for us all to take my Nana to visit his grave. We all met at mom's for a Mexican feast then caravaned out to Cedar Creek. There were almost 20 of us... all of his kids, and most of his grandkids... his wife and his sister-in-law, too. We shared memories, laughed, cried, and prayed together all in the memory of my Papa. It was a cherished moment for us all, and I know my Papa was smiling as he watched us all from above.

D and I had almost a 2-hour drive back home, so before we hopped back into the car, we decided to explore a little bit. You could tell it was a very old cemetery, so we knew there was so much history to uncover there! I was sad that I had forgotten my camera at home, but was able to get a few shots with my phone (you'll just have to forgive their quality). Some of the people there weren't even born in this century, and had died as early as 1899! It was overwhelming the number of child graves that were there, and it definitely made me thankful for modern medicine!

One area of the cemetery absolutely broke my heart! What you see here is a mother's grave and the graves of her 3 infants. What I wasn't able to fit in the photo was the father's grave, located right next to the mother's. In the early 1900's, the first infant died only 4 short days after birth. A few years later, in 1908, another infant died only a week after birth. The third infant gravestone was from a few years after that, and the baby was born and died on the same day. :( Five days later, the mother died (I assume from childbirth complications). The father went on to live a full life, and died almost 40 years after his last child and wife. Wow, this was emotional! To think of this family, so many years ago... for a husband and wife to go through the loss of 3 babies, and then the wife to lose her own life... so sad!

The whole experience was, of course, sad... but it was also a moment to celebrate. To celebrate the full life my Papa lived, and how blessed we all are to have each other and continue to live our own full lives. There aren't many occasions where we are all gathered  as a family like that, and that was something to be thankful for all on it's own. It was the perfect end to my Spring Break. :)

I am looking forward to what this week has in store, and I am rested and ready for it! :) 

How was your week?