Family visits in Austin

Happy Tuesday y'all! Ha ha you would think I wouldn't be this happy on a Tuesday, but I just came off of a wonderful weekend with some of my family and the smile just ain't going away.

Let me give you a little insight as to why this trip was close to my heart. My Mother's sister ( I like to call to her Aunt Jackie, ha ha ) had a horrible fire accident about a year and a half ago that severely burned 80% of her body. It was a devastating time for everyone in the family especially for her husband and kids. It has been a long and bumpy road to recovery, but I am so happy to say that she has recovered beyond what everyone could have imagined for her. A ginormous testament to her and her family's strength, endurance, and faith in the Lord. This accident occurred a few months prior to Ricky & I's wedding here in Austin, and she was not able to attend it. So to physically see her here fully functioning and stunningly beautiful after not knowing if God wanted to call her home sooner than we wanted is absolutely amazing! Words cannot express what a wonderful miracle from God it is to have her in our lives today. Getting to show my Aunt the city I live in and spending time with her this weekend was a priceless luxury that was almost something taken away from me, and I promise that is not something I will take for granted again.  

Now that I have gracefully stepped off my soapbox- back to our weekend. I just want to give my husband a HUGE hug and kiss for putting up with three very opinionated Hispanic women all weekend- to say he is a trooper would be an understatement. We not only my mom and aunt in town, but my mother in-law was able to join us  from Houston as well. It was a wonderful weekend, but I'm exhausted. 

PS my sister and cousin Chelsey conveniently scheduled trips out the country around this time- sneaky, sneaky ladies ; ) 
Ha ha, but I can't blame them,  I would have gone to St. Martin and Israel too!

On Friday we started the day with a hike on the green belt. In the picture from left to right is my mom, me and my aunt.

Then we went shopping & had lunch at the food trailers on South Congress. These ladies did some serious damage at these stores. I was very grateful to        be on the receiving end of their shopping adventure.

My mom being silly at one of the stores

My aunt discovered on this trip that Whole foods was started here in Austin, and so we took her to their flagship store at their headquarters downtown. For anyone who steps into this store for the first time - you go into sensory overload, lol. There are bars and restaurants set up in every section of the store. Beside from their in house cook and serve sections there is a seafood, BBQ, raw food, Italian food, sushi, and pizza restaurant in the store. As well as full functioning grocery store,lol. My house reaped the benefits of their awesome floral section  : )

a bird's eye view of the Oasis by the lake

We made it out to one of the many wineries near the house on Saturday. This is Ricky and I in front of the Duchman Winery.

A great picture Lourdes took of me, my mom and Aunt Jackie

The sunset on Saturday night while we were enjoying a bottle of wine we bought at winery.

a cute saying we found on the wall : )

On Sunday we headed to brunch at Ables on the Lake. This is my pretty mama enjoying a mimosa

 
The best part of having women with you  who love taking pictures is that we have tons of pictures to record our great weekend. The worst part is that I don't have most of them to share with you : (   
Ricky was the photographer for most of the weekend, and I hated having to throw my camera into the pot after already having to take 3 of the same picture, lol. We are hanging low this week and getting back into the swing of things. Have a great week! Luv- Di

The start of new beginnings for 2013!

 There are big changes occuring this year in the De Camps house 

one of them being......

 I am now going to school at night for my teaching certification - like how I tricked you ; )

With that being said this past week was the beginning of my journey, and I am just plain exhausted. Monday - Weds. my days start at 5:30 am and have me arriving home at 10pm. Needless to say I am more boring than usual right now, sorry. In preparation for me getting ready for school and family coming into town next weekend we have been working like crazy on the house. Last week I got a new oven!!!! Super excited about this by the way!!! ( our last oven required me using a lighter to get the burner going - it was from the 80's and was ready to retire 3 years ago) We also upgraded to a king size bed and finally finished installing new floors into the house. It may not seem like a lot, but this stuff has been on the wish list for the past few years. To finally see it happen was in one word "wonderful". I don't have pictures yet because it still looks like a bomb went off in the house, but before the family arrives I'll take a few for you. 

Have a great week- Luv Di

Here are random photos I've taken this week to hold you over enjoy!

a sunset view of downtown out side of my first class on Monday

a pretty shot of the hallway of our church- empty because as usual we were late lol

I laughed for a good ten minutes when I pulled this out of Ricky's dry cleaning pile on Saturday. It was just too random not to document : )

A beautiful sunrise on the way into work this week. I am pretty lucky to see this often and it never ever gets old!

Coming down from the Holiday high

So I feel this past week hasn't been very eventful for you guys. We had a birthday dinner and post holiday office party, but sorry no pictures. We have been slowly recovering from our Holiday high and started to put focus back into our house. We are getting ready for my mom and aunt to come into town by the end of this month. It's the first time my aunt has been to Austin and our house so I want it in tip top shape : )

That being said here are some more pictures from our Florida Holiday enjoy!

My family went down to Miami to Ricky's Uncle Robert's house for Christmas Eve Festivities. This is my sister Ricky, me & Katie sitting by the fire

The ladies in the kitchen on Christmas Eve. Monica, me, Lourdes, Katie, and my mom

Christmas morning at my parent's house. I cooked breakfast that morning. Ham and cheese quiche with strawberry and cream cheese croissants.

Christmas Dinner we invited Ricky's family up to my Aunt's house on Singer Island. This is the Christmas Dinner table

view from Aunt's house

my cousin Daniel and Monica

Lourdes, Chelsey & Rosa

Ricky & Katie

My Aunt ( how amazing does she look?!) me, mom, & sister

Mercedes, me and my grandmother

Monica, Uncle Rene and Enzo

The view from the apartment Ricky's parents rented for two weeks off of Brickel in Miami.

My second mom Mrs. Bertie and my mom with Pacquito

My Dad and I

Ricky with the girls shopping, such a good sport ;)

Me, Chantal, Tia Rosa, and Ricky at the Animal Kingdom resort in Disney

So it's pretty cute that Ricky and his little cousins are constantly pulling pranks on each other. Earlier in the week they replaced the frosting in the Oreo cookies with tooth paste and got him really good. So at the restaurant for lunch he pulled the waiter aside and said it was their birthday (they are twins) and to surprise them with cake. It was hilarious!

I tried on a few Minnie ears

My father in-law being silly

our only whole family photo and it came out blurry : (

Our college friends and my sorority sister Emily and Jon with Ricky and I

Angeline and Katie at the resturant

Chantal and I

On New Year's eve we went with a bunch of friends to a show on the east side. This a pic of all the ladies. Jimmy has a cameo in the back with cool new Mohawk.

All right y'all have a great week and I'll try to take pics of the small and big things we are updating at the house!

Luv-Di

Florida sunshine for Christmas!

Y'all the month of December was one giant BLUR! We had our weekends planned out from Thanksgiving til New Years, and I am so ready for a rest and relaxation weekend, lol. I know I've been slacking on posting in here, but I promise I'll get into the swing of things soon! 

This past Holiday season we made our annual trek back to our old stomping grounds of South Florida, and as usual it was organized chaos, ha ha. Ricky and I are very fortunate to have fairly large extended families  with whom love us very much. That being said almost everyone wants to see us and catch up with us. To the point where before we even get down there our 10 day vacation is pretty much already all planed out. Don't get me wrong we absolutely adore all of our family, but the shuffling back and forth between Miami and West Palm gets old quick. So we split ourselves up, and he saw most of his family in Miami and I in West Palm. It's not what everyone want's, but it keeps them at bay since they get to see at least one of us ; )

 I also took a real camera this time and have tons of great pics, but I just haven't been able to find the time to sit down and upload them onto the good ole laptop. I promise I will soon! Until then below are the pictures I have on my I-Phone of the month of December.

Our friends had a unique wedding on 12-12-12 this year and this is a picture of me with the bride

We had a big impromptu ladies night before the holidays and this was the aftermath -6 ladies killed this all in one night! I'm not sure if I was more proud or hung over the next morning ; ) Needless to say it was good night, lol

My Birthday fell on Tues. this year so we ( Ricky & I) weren't able to really do anything special, and since he was flying down the next we just had dinner and spent some time together. So, long story short, my good friend Anna got a group of friends together for drinks, a belated birthday celebration, and to go see the Trail of Lights at downtown Zilker Park.

One of the displays on the trail

Another view

a bird's eye of view of the trail

across the street is a  giant Christmas tree they light every year ( big enough to see from the highway). It's tradition to stand underneath it and spin in circles ( don't ask me why or how this came about, but it's just what you do -lol)

Me, Anna, and Katie near the tree

On the morning I dropped Chloe off at her boarding place I came across this beautiful sunrise sky

I wasn't here, but this picture was too good to not post. It's Ricky reunited with all of his best buds from college

View of the beach I grew up with : ) I grew up less than 20 mins. away from this gorgeous place and totally took it for granted. Now that I live in a land lock city I try to take advantage of it every time I make my way down home.

Palm Beach

By Charlie's Crab

My sister's workplace, Worth Ave.

I was super lucky to have a chance to catch up with a few friends from home. It's always a blast when I get to hang out with the fabulous Grimason Sisters, Barb, and Fro ( Mr. Alvaro)!!

We were not able to get with my Dad's side of the family on Christmas Day so we met up with them a few days before for dinner and gift exchanges at the Cheese Cake Factory in The Gardens area. This is me and my two youngest cousins Lily & Jack.

This is whole Tetrault clan of gran-kids. From left to right: Hunter & Sam ( both high school seniors! I'm soooo old now)  Sam's stepbrother Cliff, myself, Jack, my sister Monica, & Lily.

My parents celebrated my birthday a few days later at Pizza Al Fresco in Palm Beach. This a picture of by the big tree on Worth Ave.

Downtown WPB had all these great sand sculptures for the holidays

view of the Palm Beach downtown skyline at night

I saw this at  a store while I was last minute Christmas shopping, and I was dying to buy it as a gag gift for my sister. But would you believe that this stuff was priced at $25 bucks?! A little too expensive for me to give as a throw away gift : (

I was able to squeeze one more afternoon at the beach with my mom on the trip, and this was the view I walked up to.

The water was absolutely gorgeous that day

We walked past this area originally with nothing there, but twenty minutes later we were walking  back and this is what we found.  Of course my mom yelled at me from a distance to try and push it into the water, but it was at least 90 lbs., and definitely dead weight. After pouring a few bucks of water on it's gills  we decided that it was dead since there was no movement whatsoever. It was pretty sad.

The Norton Museum of Art had it's annual open house while I was in town, and this was one of my favorite sayings posted on their wall.

Another favorite area of mine at the Norton's Museum of Art.

We spent the tail end of our trip with both families in Disney World, and we all had a blast. It was super packed - like parks were closed to capacity by 10am packed. We still had a great time exploring the hotels and downtown Disney though.

All in all, we had a fabulous time with all of our family! We were only able to see a few of the friends we love so much, but that just means we have to come back and visit soon ; ) I hope everyone had a fabulous December and I promise more pictures next week!

Have a great weekend- Luv Di