God Speed & Hook Em Horns

This last weekend we were able to have a few exciting things happen. One thing is that my brother Josh and his wife Lauren had their second baby boy, named Ben. He is adorable and we're glad they're here so we can see him! Second thing is that Russ' parents came to visit us. It was a great trip and so fun to spend  time with them! The reason they came, brings me to the third thing, so Russ still has just a couple classes to take but we were able to celebrate his UT graduation from the Master of Professional Accounting program. It was a good ceremony with an incredible amount of UT love ("Hook Em Horns", Longhorn Hand Signs, etc.) So much in fact, that after the keynote speaker, the CEO of Southwest Airlines spoke, he ended his speech by saying, "God Speed and Hook Em Horns." We ended the ceremony by singing "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You" and I am embarrassed to admit, I got goose bumps watching everybody hold up the longhorn sign and sing. Anyways I am really proud of Russ and his big accomplishment! We're so excited for our future and can't wait for him to be officially done in July!

You should've seen Russ and I try to figure out his gown's sleeves and hood. You can see Russ modeling the mit-like sleeves the gown comes with. Russ will have to save the hood and gown and he can go as the Grim Reaper for Halloween. :) 

The famous UT Tower, just outside of where Russ graduated!

The cute, little scholar himself!

All the professors and advisors wanted to shake his hand and have him walk across the stage to recognize him for graduating...they also had everyone else in his graduating class do it too...but I think they liked him the best. (Also, is it just me or does the guy on the very right look like Count Dracula.)

The graduate and his sweet parents. (Thanks for the picture Julie!)

Hook em & cook em. Congrats Russ!

Conference, Catching Up & Cute Kids

We just got back home from a weekend in Utah. It is was a fun, whirlwind trip. (It always seems like vacations are never long enough.) We came into town to see General Conference and also to see this little guy...

...and his family. :) It was the first time Russ and I had met our little nephew and he is now 6 months old! He is such a cutie and we he had fun playing with him and just staring at him. We also got to see Russ' brother and sister who live in Utah and it was so great to catch up with them and get to see them! Plus, Russ' sister is the best cook and she made us dinner. :) We also got to catch up with friends we don't get to see near enough. Aside from the mini blizzard we were in...on our vacation...in April we had a wonderful trip seeing friends, family and General Conference.

Sweet Home Alabama

Here are some more pictures from our visit to Alabama to see Russ' family. It was fun to get to see his immediate family but also to get to meet and visit with some of his extended family. I'm pretty sure he's related to just about everyone in the state of Alabama, and I love it! It's always a good time to see them and we're excited for our next trip.

 

We got to visit the farm Russ' great grandpa and grandma own. It was a fun tour! And if you're in the market for quality limousin cattle, then I'd recommend Circle B Farms.



Nothing says farm more than hay rolls right?

Russ, his brother Logan, and their great grandpa, better known as D-Daddy.

The Brown Boys (minus Michael, and Larry)

Back Row: Russ, Ruth-Anne, Logan, Mama Brown

Front Row: D-Daddy, Nana

Russ and Nany (his dad's mom. She's 90 years old.)

Two lovely ladies, Ruth-Anne and Nany.

Russ and Daddy Brown.

Overall our visit was a complete joy. :)

A Night in Nashville

Russ and I got back last week from a visit to Alabama to visit his family. We had a great time. (More pictures of that visit to come.) But when we flew in, Russ and I flew in to the Nashville airport, which is a little over an hour away from Russ' house. We were excited for the opportunity to visit Nashville a little before we headed to Alabama. One of the places we visited was the Opryland Hotel. One of the first words that comes to mind to describe it is, ENORMOUS! It is basically like if someone put the Riverwalk in San Antonio into a building. It has shops, restaurants, hotel rooms and even a river, within the hotel. We had fun looking at all of the lights and sights inside the hotel and were getting ready to head to Alabama, when all of the sudden Russ' sneaky family surprised us with a hotel key! Turns out one of our Christmas presents was a night at the hotel. It was an amazing present to say the least. We had such a fun time and thanks again to the Browns for all their plotting, scheming and thoughtfulness. Below are some of the pictures of our visit in Nashville.

Since it was Christmastime the hotel was decorated with what they said was something like 2 million lights. You can also see some of the rooms in the background.

Here is a Christmas tree in the hotel. It was huge!

We went on a riverboat ride inside the hotel. I had been on riverboat rides before, but this was the first one inside.

Us in the Opryland Hotel. We had been traveling that day so that's why we look so rough.



Logan and Ruth-Anne (Russ' brother and sister.)

The view from our room. And yes, we were inside!

Since Nashville is called "Music City" they have a street , called Broadway, where there are tons of little clubs and shops that have live music just about all day. It kind of reminded us of 6th street in Austin. It was cool.



See if you can spot Elvis.

Cool old building in downtown Nashville.

We also visited the Country Music Hall of Fame.

We figured while we were in the area we would stop by our old friend Miley's house, some of you may know her by her stage name, Hannah Montana. We found out where she lives and took a visit to what is known as "Singing Hills Farm." We couldn't pass up taking a creepy picture of their front gate. (Notice that even celebrities are sometimes too lazy to pick up the newspaper.)