Planes, Trains and...Europe

So I realize it was last year since we last posted! I don't mean in the clever way that it's the first part of 2012 and our last post was the end of 2011. I mean it's been a considerable length of time. Since our last post a lot has happened. Russ has been working for a local audit firm and really enjoying it. I've been working on photography. We bought our first house! We got to meet Mitt Romney! And we went to Europe! I'll post pictures of the others soon but this is our Europe post.

Russ' work requires like zero travel but they happen to have a client in Amsterdam that he happened to be assigned to. When he found out he was going they said he could bring me. Sooo that's what we did. We went a little early to go to Paris, spent about 5 days there and then took a train, how European is that, to Amsterdam. It was so incredible. Just like straight out of the movies. I'll quit blabbing and show you some pictures.

We first went out the "country" in Paris. Top Left: Our bathroom window at our hotel. It was like a boat window and we had a beautiful view! Bottom Left: These are what our hotel rooms looked like. Right: Can you believe there are just places that look like that there?!

 We went out to the country so we could go to Disneyland Paris. Russ and I had never been to Disneyland together. And we'd never been to a Disneyland in Europe so we thought why not. It was so much fun!

 Since it was Christmas time it would "snow" on Mainstreet every so often. And if there are two things I love it's snow and Disney. So I was pretty excited.

 Us in front of the castle.

Us and Mickey Mouse's French cousin.

It was really foggy quite a few times while we were there. And this doesn't capture how cool the castle looked, but trust me, it was awesome. 

Russ eating an actual French Baguette in France on our little "patio." Also, the stereotypes are kinda true everyone there really does eat baguettes all the time, smoke everywhere, and drink a lot of wine. In fact, while in line at Disneyland a mom pulled out not Goldfish, not a granola bar, not Cheerios but an actual baguette for her toddler to snack on. But sidenote: Everyone was nicer than expected. Sorry if I offended any French readers we may have. 

Then we went to the city. We stayed just a couple blocks away from the Eiffel Tower. I have some pictures and a video of the Eiffel Tower I'll post it next. In order to see everything we wanted we took a Bus Tour where you could stop and get off and on. Very touristy I know, but it worked out perfectly. We saw all we wanted. Like:

The Louvre

Notre Dame

(and no we didn't see any hunchbacks.)

The Opera House

The Arc de Triomph 

You like how the guy on the back right is actually posing and looking at the camera? 

It was also really cool because they had a bunch of cute little street vending areas. Some street vendors were not so cute and would walk around shaking huge rings full of eiffel tower keychains and get all up in our grill. But neither Russ nor I got anything stolen from us. Supposedly that happens quite a bit. 

Then we took the train to the Netherlands. I loved this picture of Russ because he was towards the end of "Movember" and his whole office had to grow a mustache for all of November. So he looks very European. Is it European? Maybe it's more like a predator of some sort. Either way the picture makes me smile. 

Ok, last thing I promise. So one of the craziest thing to me while we were there were their toilets. Top Left: This one was next to the actual toilet and it is virtually a sink, with a towel next to it, that looks like the towel is to be reused. Top Right: Two huge buttons, each with different amounts with waterflow. Bottom Left: This was the "hair dryer" at one of our hotels. I think it was an incredibly old vacuum in another life. Bottom Right: This one just had an enormous silver button, as seen above it. 

All in all the trip was amazing. And we knew the whole time we were having such a once in a lifetime experience. We're so glad we were able to do it together. I applaud you if you've made it to the end of this post and thank you for your time. 

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.)

Lance Armstrong who?

One of the things Austin has no shortage of is bicyclists; so Russ is able to fit right in. He got a really good deal on a nice road bike that he loves to ride when he gets the chance. In an attempt to keep up with him I too found what I consider not so much a "nice" bike as a "cute" bike, which I think is way more important. We found a little beach cruiser bike at Wal-mart for super cheap and knew we couldn't pass it up. Because my theory is bikes are meant not so much for riding as cruising, so that's exactly what we did today in Texas' crazy 80 degree weather. We had a fun time and hope to get to do it again soon!

My sweet bike.

Russ' real bike.

Us right before we got really, really sweaty.

Trick-or-Rice Krispies Treat

So I realize it is now November and we are just switching to a Halloween themed blog but, since it has been like 3 months since our last post, I figured it's a step in the right direction.

This past week we celebrated Halloween. On Saturday, we went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat and had a fun time decorating our car and passing out candy for the kids. We racked our brains trying to think of what to do for costumes but, then inspiration struck while we were on the cereal aisle at the grocery store. We decided on Snap, Crackle and Pop of Rice Krispies fame. We roped my mom into going as Snap, Russ was Crackle and I was Pop. Below is 2/3 of Snap, Crackle, Pop. Enjoy.

Not Pictured: Snap