time for some after pictures

I'll start with the room that needed the least amount of sprucing... the living room. When we moved in, the walls were already painted a lovely teal blue and had art from the farm stand hung on the walls. We liked the art and the wall color so all we needed to do was move in our stuff.

more guests at the Hester B & B

Nick's parents came to visit this past weekend and boy did we see a lot! Unfortunately, they declined to stay in our guest room (not sure if it was the lack of air conditioning or that the mice are back). We took Monday and Tuesday off of work so we could go tooling around the town with them. When they arrived on Sunday, we had a gianormous lunch at Hoover's. It was delicious and was definitely the instigator for our walk around the Capitol building.Monday, we drove to San Antonio. Nick tried on some new hair:We posed in front of the Alamo:We drank some of the world's best root beer:We took a boat ride:We went to the "horniest place in Texas":where Marian discovered that her sex appeal is "wild":We played around with some circa 1762 guns:and went to every saddle store this side of the Mississippi:All in all it was a great visit but way too short!

springtime

Spring is here! But, as we've learned, Texas springs are either really short or they just have hotter temperatures than MS springs. Thankfully, these gorgeous wildflowers distract us from the heat.
I found this rose bush blooming right outside our living room window. Too bad we can't see out but we can see a faint spot of pink through the plexi.

100 years and counting

My great grandmother turned 100 a few weekends ago and we went to a big celebration in Houston. I knew it was going to be a great party when the invitation arrived in the mail.It was designed by my cousin and I think it's really beautiful. She has an Etsy site where you can see more of her talent (and buy stuff too).

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of the party. Needless to say, there was a whole lot of family there. It was strange to think that half of us wouldn't have been there if Mawmaw Butchee hadn't met Pawpaw Butchee.

me, Susan and baby Sweat

Scott and our new cousin, Alyra

After the party, we drove back to Austin where my whole family stayed with us! Six people and three pets makes for a pretty tight shack. My poor parents refused to sleep anywhere but on our sofa and the floor. The next day, we celebrated Scott and my dad's birthdays.
If you look closely, you can see that the candles on the birthday cake are matches. It's been hard times at the shack! (Actually, we made the mistake of shopping at Whole Foods and couldn't find birthday candles anywhere)

Mom tried some of the wasabi peanuts we bought for dad. I'm guessing she didn't like them.

It was a really great weekend. Now we just need all of the Hesters to come stay and we'll make a regular bed and breakfast out of the shack!