Dallas Trip Last Weekend

Cynthia took Ben and I to the Genghis Khan Exhibit at the Irving Arts Center. We couldn't take any photos inside the exhibit, so this is all we got. With my IPhone too, so not as good. The exhibit was really beautiful, and I learned so much about the great warlord. There was a video that tested the DNA of men in Asia, and I think something like 3/4 of them are related to Genghis Khan in some way.
After the exhibit, we went to "Genghis Grill." They were giving out coupons at the exhibit, plus it's delicious. They just built one in Austin, so we will get to go more often!

In the evening we went to Chili's for dinner with Daniel and then to the dollar movie to see Thor. It was awesome, and I'm not just saying that. Really, it was probably my favorite superhero movie that came out this year.

Every time I take a picture of Ben and Daniel, I am always blown away by how alike they look. On Sunday we went to hang out with Millie and Dean, Ben's grandparents, and it was fun to visit with them as well. Only a few more weeks of freedom before Ben's second year of law school starts!

Dallas February Road Trip

At the end of February, Ben and I went to Dallas to visit his parents and take a weekend away from work and school. One of the best parts about the trip was getting to see my friend Jessi from freshman year at BYU. Her family lives in Dallas and we've been trying for the past couple of months to pick a weekend where we're both in Dallas and can see each other. Finally the stars aligned. We had a great time driving around in her dad's fancy car, eating at Jason's Deli, and just catching up on life. She and Erik are expecting a baby boy in a few weeks, and I am so excited for her. Jessi and I got married within a week of each other, we're both from Texas, we both have dark hair, etc, etc. I love this girl and was so glad I got to see her!

While in Dallas Ben and I went to the Dallas temple with his mom Cynthia and did an endowment session. The Dallas temple is not as pretty as San Antonio on the outside, but I am liking it more and more every time we go. After the temple, I tried to get this little kid to take a picture of us all together, and this is the best photo we got. Yep. Oh well. Cynthia took us to this great Italian place and we had a nice time catching up.
Later that day we went to the Dallas nature preserve and walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We really wanted to go to the zoo, but it was way too crowded and would have been chaotic. The nature preserve has this spot where you can go up to the top of a building and see the landscape from up high. It was quite windy, but such a nice day for February. Here are some shots of the nature preserve:

Me, Ben, and Ben's dad Daniel.

Ricey giving me the stink-eye. She loves Dallas because she has the reign of the whole house.

On Sunday, Ben and Daniel brought out this map of the world that he and Ben put together when Ben was little. It was all made out of cardboard and colored and cut out by the two of them. We had a fun time putting it together. I managed to do South America, but I don't quite excel in the geography department. We had a great time and are excited to go again soon!

Indiana Trip

The weekend of Jan. 21st I went to Indiana to visit my older sister Natalie, her husband Trevor, and their new baby girl Madelyn Emery Hedman. I added all of my pics to my facebook page, but here are just a few for fun:

Trevor, Natalie, and Maddie

Me and Maddie

Maddie smiling at me

I had such a great time in Indiana and enjoyed getting to catch up with Natalie and Trevor and spend time with Maddie. It was hard being away from Ben for a couple of days, but it was worth it to take a break from work and get to meet my new niece. Due to the large amounts of snow in Indiana, I can definitely say I wouldn't want to move there any time soon, but it made me wish Nat and Trevor lived close by so I could see them more often.

Trip to Oklahoma City, OK

This past weekend we went to Oklahoma City, OK to meet up with my sister Natalie and her husband Trevor:
They were doing their yearly road trip from Caifornia back to Indiana, so we thought we'd have a little family reunion while they stopped in Oklahoma. The trip consisted of some pretty big milestones for the Garcia family. The first one of which, was my little sister Alli getting her ears pierced!

Everyone says we look like twins. Now that her ears are pierced, we're even more similar!

Another big milestone: my sister Adrienne made friends with a gorilla. This gorilla would offer her some celery every once and a while, but Adrienne always refused it. I don't get that girl. Who wouldn't want free food from a gorilla?

And another huge milestone: having our family all together at the Oklahoma City Zoo and loving it! It was a great trip, and Ben and I had such a blast with everyone. We are also very happy for my sister Natalie who is due in October. I will post more pics of the OK trip on facebook, if anyone wants to see more. We're now back in Austin and counting down the days until law school starts!