Dallas Trip

We came home from the Disney Cruise, had four days of school and then it was Spring Break!  Yahoo!  We headed out to Dallas to see Becky and family.  We were super excited to meet baby Sutton.  Becky was also going to take Bryn's Senior pictures and our family pictures.  I have to admit there was some grumbling--mostly among the males in our family initially.  Tanner vocalized it the best "SO YOU ARE SAYING WE ARE DRIVING 5.5 HOURS TO TAKE FAMILY PICTURES? THEN STAYING A DAY AND DRIVING HOME?"  (I mentioned we could stay longer and that quieted that argument a bit. The boys had youth conference at the end of the week and they wanted a few days to just hang with friends and let's be honest...play Fortnite.)

I think everyone ended up having a great time.  We stayed at Homewood Suites by Hilton and had plenty of space to spread out.  We spoiled ourselves and ate at all of our favorite places.  (Pappasito's, Canes, In and Out Burger, Cheesecake Factory, Torchy's Tacos...we fit a lot in between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning!)  We had lots of time to play with the cute little cousins and snuggle the new little one.  We also had some down time to just visit with Beck and Brian.  (Brian always keeps things lively and my teens especially appreciate that.)

Becky took some AMAZING individual and family photos which I love!!!  And I enjoyed being able to spend some time with my little sister.  She is such a cute mom, fun friend and she has so many talents she has cultivated I am often in awe of her.

Even though it was a pretty quick trip up and back I think it turned out better than expected.  I loved when we came home on Monday afternoon, even though we had been in the car together for hours, we all just ended up just laughing and talking together in the family room for quite awhile longer.  Sure love my family.

Road trip...Brian w/ his Go Pro.  I'm not sure what he was doing but he loves teasing the kids.

Our spacious suite.  Aub slept in the living room on a fold out couch.  She had her own TV.

Bryn braved it w/ the boys.  They controlled the tv and the a/c.  She told me it was fine...she just had her headphones on full blast most of the time.

Our bedroom. Seriously...it was just nice to be all together but also to have a little personal space.

Torchy's Tacos.  Park, Blair and Aubrey

Bryn, Beck and me.  It looks like such a fun/calm table but Beck is a pretty busy mom of four little kids.

It was really cute because Tanner ended up with all the Merks sitting with him.  My kiddos were jealous.

Baby Sutton.  He was so cute and tiny and a very content baby.

It was hard to have him in my arms for long because inevitably somebody wanted a turn.

Tanner's turn.

Parker w/ Sutton

While Beck took Brinley's Senior picts, the men took the kids to Top Golf. I went with Beck and Bryn and hung out with Sutton.  Once we were through, we caught up w/ our fams.

Griffin was really good.  He and Blair had their own clubs which was adorable.

My turn!!!

Top Golf fun.  Bryn with Perry and Blair

Lots of good food too.

Tan

Park

The oh so handsome Merkley boys.

I'm really glad Beck thought to grab a group picture.  We had a great weekend with the Merkleys.  It was awesome to see them twice in one month.  Hopefully we can get together this summer as well.

After the cruise, Parker kept saying "I miss Perry."  She is three and stole our hearts.