.: Recap: 21

Alrighty so here's that recap that I promised :)

First off right after I left school we went to my cousin Todd's daughter's blessing. Isn't Lacey so cute!!

Baby McKinley sort of REALLY reminds me of baby Hailey

London!! She was a princess that was fighting the dragon. Guess who the dragon was?

Right after that I had some good times with Inga's family. The highlight of that little vaca was the dinner show we went to at Desert Star. It's kind of like a spoof theater and they were doing Pirates of the Caribbean which was amazing. I loved all the funny stuff they put into it, including the villain's song from 'Anastasia' and all the subtle Disney references including to the actual ride at Disney World.

Side note: I've got Disney fever really bad currently. I miss it so much!! And I'm starting to forget it too which is totally freaking me out. Like I don't remember which rides to go to at exactly the right time. I'm so depressed. I hate memory when it's not there.

Anyways after that I went to visit Papa & Nana Rippstein in Fredricksburg, Texas, which as another great week!! Papa first took me into town just to look around and have fun. I had a good time :)

One of my fave things about being there were all the wild flowers that were out there. There were solid fields of bluebonnets, marigolds and indian paintbrush that was b-e-a-utiful. I was reallyyyyy loving it. Unfortunately pictures just can't capture them just right. I also loved the thistles or whatever they are, pictured next. I know they're a vicious weed but I like them anyways. They kind of remind me of Dr. Seuss and his "Horton Hears a Who"

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

... they were especially cool because they were soooo delicately soft and nice on top, but anywhere aside from that was super spiky and sharp and ouch.

Here's a bluebonnet field right next to Papa's property

... and on his property..

Idk what bug this is but I thought it was cool lookin

For my actual birthday, Nana took me to San Antonio! Which was super fun I was totally stoked to go cuz I hadn't been in ages.. plus it was my birthday! In San Antonio! And it just so happened that there was a San Antionio-wide celebration called 'Fiesta!' going on which made it that much better.

We started at the Alamo :)

... and moved on to the Riverwalk. Which has a beauty all its own

Then we went to the shopping markets

... so I took a pic in this sombrero. Then we went around the corner and ran into a sign saying "Do not try on just to get a picture. We charge $1 for every picture taken" hahaha. Lucky us! we got away unscathed

Nana got these hair wreath things for my cousins Morgan & Emerson. And we broke em in that day instead of just carrying them around :)

ME & PATRON SAINT ANTONIO.
lol.

Then we went to the area where the fiesta was beginning. We didn't stay for too too much of it for fear of crazies walking around with however many drinks they could take lol

We went to dinner near the beginning and after walked through and then drove home

I was so stoked to be sung to and to wear a sombrero! There were a bunch of guys singing and it was awesome!

Yay I'm 21!!! hahah.. I promise its just water :)

.. Papa even tried the hair wreath on later :)

We also went to visit Ronda and her family which was suuuuuper fun. I'd never been to their house and hadn't ever been able to bond with them as much so it was kind of nice to do that and get to know them a bit more.

And me & Stephen also went to a deluxe petting zoo with all sorts of animals from deer to zebra!
.. the llamas were his favorite

The cows were funny to feed... got tongue?!

HOLY COW!
look at that huge monster! He was fun to feed, but he got my arm with his tongue ewwwwww yuck!

... I think we're being followed..

Either the camels or the elk were my favorite

aww! Cute baby zebra!

.. they swarmed me! And when I didn't do it fast enough they'd try to snack on my fave shirt!

Then I returned home which was great, but I really under appreciate it whenever I'm here for any amount of time
Ryan had his eagle project which was a blood drive.
.. it was Madeline's first time giving blood. She even got blood spatter on her shirt, as you can see. She thought it was cool.

I've spent a great deal of time while being home with my best Htown buddy - Shannon Potter!
Recently married to Zach Bundy, and with a 2 year old gorgeousness son named Dominic, they are a trio that is just the BEST to hang with!! I love them!

Other than just hanging out and going to movies, we went to the park, fed horses, went to the zoo and so on :)

Daddy wanted to go pet the cheetahs and set a not so good example for Dominic hahahah

.. this picture is hilarious; it looks like there's no glass so Dom is just climbing into the cougar's range haha

The carousel guy was great he just let us keep on going round since the zoo was DEAD that day. Which was amazing. The weather was extraordinary and no one was there so it was just a breezy nice day at the zoo. The kind of day you pray for ha

.. I got to ride a puffin one of the times!

... MY COMB OF POWER!

JACKNESS! I love my Jax. Fave dog. Even though she's a jerk. And a parasite. And dumb.

This last weekend was my farewell. If you weren't able to come and would like to read my farewell address it is on my mission blog at:
crippstein-nicaragua.blogspot.com

Friends and family came from all over to celebrate which was so awesome to me! I wish I could have spent more time with them. It was hard for me to say goodbye. I love them all a lot.

We all went to Antonios for italian - which was delicious. All 30 of us hahaha. It was ridiculous! Juan was our server. And he did a stand up job.