Anniversary Trip {4.22.16 - 4.24.16}

I have tried to write this post over and over again. I just can't seem to find the words to describe how incredibly happy I am. Colby and I reached our 5 year anniversary a few weeks ago. When we were first married I thought time had slowed down but it keeps going by faster and faster, 5 years just came and went. Ten years sounds like a long ways away but it will probably come just as quickly. Since it has been 5 wonderful years I think I will do a count down.

5 times that we have read The Book of Mormon together

4 college degrees

3 states lived in 

2 crazy hazards loving adventure 

1 happy and more in love than ever couple!!

On the day of our Anniversary we went to a cousin's wedding. I am not going to lie. At first, I wasn't thrilled that we were going to a wedding because I wanted to celebrate our big 5 year anniversary on the day we were married. However, I got over it and actually had a great time remembering what it was like to be married to my best friend 5 years ago that day. It was also great to see so many smiling family faces that we don't get to see very often. We saw lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews! And grandma and grandpa Hazard to top it off! Below are some pictures from that awesome day!

April 9th, 2016 - 5 years with this wonderful stud! 

Vera hitting the dance floor! 

These two had so much fun together! We caught them pretending to have church class together and then they just roamed the halls together while holding hands. It was so sweet. 

Two trouble makers working together! hahaha

Since we were at a wedding on the day of  our anniversary Colby planned a special anniversary trip for me 2 weeks later. He set everything up and it was a big surprise. First he took me to an old western town that still had all the original buildings that had been built in the late 1800s. We even stayed in an old historic hotel right on town square! 

Supposedly this hotel is haunted. It's called the "Nutt House Hotel" after the last name of the two brothers that built the place. Since this was a surprise anniversary trip I didn't look into anything before we went. However, I was thinking it was a bit creepy with all old pictures hanging in the room. One picture had a group of children staring at the camera. Not one kid was smiling, so yeah that creeped me out. But as the night came and went nothing out of the ordinary happened. Which makes me glad because I started reading online of other peoples accounts of the place being "haunted" and it was creepy. I am glad I am not staying there again. But it was fun! 

This picture definitely makes this place look haunted! 

The courthouse is the center of the town square. Quite a few small towns in Texas still have this same setup.

Big Rocks Park in Glenrose, TX. With all the rain lately the river was really high!

Goslings at Granbury Beach!!

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 Had some pie at "Pie Peddlers" which has been voted best pie in Texas! It was really good. And some old-fashion root-beer from Dublin, TX!

 Found my dream place to eat and read a good book. It's called Storiebook Cafe!

This is my kind of Christmas tree :) 

Our next stop takes us to Dallas! Colby surprised me with tickets to Wicked! I was so ecstatic! It was sooo amazing. I have been wanting to see this play for years! Literally years! When  I was in High school my older sister went and saw Wicked on Broadway in London. I had never heard of it, but she came back and told me all about it. So this was 7 years in the making!

The next day Colby took me to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful and the perfect time to go! This anniversary trip is one I will never forget. It was perfect! Thank you Colby!  

Last, but not least on our way out of Dallas we made a pit stop at Carlo's Bake Shop and made sure to get some treats for our way home! It did not disappoint! 

 This is my kind of store!

Visitors {3.8.16 - 3.22.16}

I cannot believe April has come upon us. March came and went quicker than I had expected! But I blame that on all the wonderful visitors that came to West Texas to see us. Sierra (Colby's sister) graced us with her presence for 2 weeks while Colby's parents and older brother (Donny) over-lapped a few days with Sierra and stayed with us through Easter. It literally was a full house...well a full apartment anyways! We had so much fun and saw and did so many things that the pictures will fill two blog posts!

At first when I realized that Sierra was coming for two weeks I was worried we wouldn't be able to find anything to do. However, as I started planning I realized there was actually quite a bit to keep us busy. In fact, we didn't finish all the things I had planned! 

The first weekend Sierra arrived we went to Abilene and Lake Brownwood. In Abilene we went to the zoo and had a friend of mine in the air force give us a private tour of the aircraft that he flies. He is a pilot for the C-130, which is a huge cargo plane that moves pretty much anything the military needs it to move. Then he let us try on his night vision goggles. It was awesome! We all looked like aliens and Hallie was unsure when Sierra had them on. 

These two videos below are fun. One is of Hallie being adorably cute. In the other video we are feeding giraffes from our hands through the sunroof of the car at a place called Fossil Rim, one of our last adventures before sierra left!

The professional marshmallow roaster does not like to be interrupted. Here we are having an evening picnic by the river. Hallie loved feeding all the geese and ducks.

It may not look like it, but Hallie did not like the snakes at all! 

But Hallie did love this camel. We held her up on the wall and she kept trying to get down from the wall, so she could go to him. 

 The next couple of days we drove to San Angelo because one of Sierra's college friends just recently moved down there. We had a great time riding the bikes, visiting parks, visiting a donkey rescue, playing mini golf and using a pedal boat in the river.

Hallie was unsure of the donkey's

Trying to enjoy the paddle boat. The little girls only wanted to jump in the river instead!

The next couple of days we were in midland and enjoyed more time at the parks, ate a ton of samples at the candy store, enjoyed story time and painted pottery at a cute pottery shop. After a few days in Midland we were going to meet up with our parents at Hueco Tanks by El Paso. Unfortunately, Sierra got a really bad stomach bug. Colby went without us to meet his parents and I stayed with Sierra and Hallie. It was no bueno to see someone so sick. But it did only last a day and no one else got it...thankfully!

Once Colby, Donny and the parents arrived we enjoyed a small BBQ at the sand dunes and went to the Petroleum Museum! The next day we had to take Sierra back to Dallas, but we stopped in Glenrose, TX to visit Fossil Rim. An amazing experience altogether!! It is an African themed drive-through zoo. We fed a few animals by hand and the rest just got close to the car to eat the food we threw out the window. However, our favorite was feeding the giraffes! It was so awesome! Watch the short video at the top of the blog!

Hallie didn't like the sand. She had to be on a blanket and not touching the sand at all to be fine  :) 

Hallie was in the middle of mimicking my fake laugh! She is just too cute for words! 

Giraffes at fossil rim

Picture taken right underneath the sun roof! This giraffe even decided he wanted to take a peek inside the car!! 

Very last adventure before she left: Half-Price Books in Dallas. Hallie is already learning the Hazard family motto, "Go Big or Go Home!"