I LOVE Texas!

Nathan's grandma passed away and we flew down to Tyler, TX for her funeral this weekend. The Tyler airport has a grand total of 4 gates. Talk about an easy airport to find your way around in. From the moment we landed I fell in love with the charming little city of Tyler. It was absolutely beautiful! And also the rose capitol of the nation. It's like they made a whole city just for me. ;)

The funeral was beautiful. The cemetary she was buried in was in a tiny little town and was a tiny little cemetary. (I couldn't even find it on mapquest.) The only downside was the fire ants. I am NOT a fan of fire ants. I apparently got to close to one of the many ant mounds and got swarmed. That was less than fun. However, I survived thanks to some great advice. I was told to use everything from toothpaste to alcohol. Hand sanitizer for the win! I just doused my feet with it and all those little nasty bites cleared right up. Up until that point I had never even SEEN a fire ant. And I will be plenty happy if I never see one again.

While we were there we got to go the Rose Garden. They had every possible kind of rose you could imagine. And ALOT of fire ant mounds which I steered clear of! The garden was beautiful!! A few of the roses were in bloom. Unfortunately I had a sinus infection and couldn't smell a thing. But I imagine when they are all in bloom the sight and smell would be absolutely stunning.

We also were able to get some great food. My favorite was The Jalapeno Tree. Yuuuummmmmy! I think I would move there just for the food alone. So tasty. All in all, it was great trip. I got to meet alot of family and they ALL were so kind. They brought a new meaning to the phrase "Southern Charm". It made me sad I didn't have more time there to get to know them better.

We took our little girl with us and she did really good. Traveling with little ones can be so hard but she was really great. And it was the first time we got to see our little niece who is only 3 wks younger than Mandy. She was too cute!!!

I missed my little boys like crazy though. And I was very glad to come home and see them. I wish we could have brought them with us.

Well here's a few pictures of the Rose Garden and a few of Mandy: