Trans-Texas Thanksgiving Trip

For those of you who remember my post about Vic’s First Official Lubbock/Verett Trip that he took back in September, you will know that I was so jealous, that I had to get to visit the place myself. So, not long after that, we planned a whirlwind traveling week that began with a trip to Lubbock. We left on a Friday afternoon and flew from Austin to Lubbock. Kristofer and Ryan picked us up and I have to say, they were pretty excited to see us. I mean, who wouldn’t be, right? Kristofer might have also been a little excited because he had just finished the Verett Farms Cotton Harvest (sorry Kristofer – that is probably not the correct term, but if you will tell me what you would call it, I will correct! Hehe) for the year. He had spent the past 6 weeks or more working 80 hour weeks to get it all done, but he finished (and was the MOST efficient, if you ask him!). Here is a picture of the good looking men below:
Anyways, after dinner and then heading to Steve and Patricia's home, where Vic and I would be staying, we sat out on the porch and visited until way too late. I did actually get to also see Verett Children pictures once Patricia (the Verett mom) got home. She had to survive the opening of the Twilight Series "New Moon" with a bunch of her female teenager students before she could get home, but once she did, I got the official tour and saw lots of fun kid pictures of Whitney, Kristofer and Taylor!

The next day, Whitney flew in from DC for her Thanksgiving break and the girls attended a craft show and then lunch and then errands and just regular fun stuff to prepare for the evening of dinner, wine, visiting, relaxation! Sunday began with Church and lunch and then the Official Verett Cotton Tour, led by Kristofer Verett. It actually was so much fun. We drove a good distance to get out there, but once you are there, it is just 100 acres after 100 acres of cotton. Most of it was stripped or picked by then, but we did see some that hadn't been taken care of yet (which, of course, would be because they are not nearly as efficient as our Kristofer!). Kristofer showed us a lot of fields and as usual, I had lots of questions. But, it is just so impressive to see such an operation like the Veretts have. It was such a wonderful afternoon and I even got to take some cotton home with me for stockings at Christmas (which I totally left in College Station, but now my family will just get cotton in their stockings for next year!). Also, one of the highlights was that I got to ride in the stripper with Kristofer. You can see my pictures below:













We also took a picture of Vic to demonstrate the "before and after" shots of cotton growing and then being harvested. He is in the exact same spot the 2nd time around (and almost wearing the same shirt - haha):

And, some group shots from the Cotton Fields:

That evening was our final evening in the Lubbock stage of our Trans-Texas Thanksiving Trip and we were taken to a really nice restaurant and had a really nice dinner with the Veretts. I will say that we did miss Taylor and Mary being there, but had such a wonderful time and are so privileged that they always welcome us as part of their family. We cannot wait to go back!
And one more look a that pretty cotton field!

After leaving Lubbock and flying back to Austin, we began the 2nd leg of our trip...the Anniversary part. We drove to Fredericksburg for a little getaway for just the 2 of us. We stayed in a bed and breakfast right outside of town (that was actually a little scary because it was in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of empty buildings around it....everything was fine, of course, but next time I might do a little more research into places to stay....). We shopped and shopped until we dropped. I am super lucky to have Vic as my husband; he doesn't mind shopping some and as long as it's more than just "girl stuff" he is pretty easy to please. Fredericksburg is filled with home decor and great food and wine and so it turned out to be a great trip. I bought way too many fun things for our house, but it was so relaxing and fun. We hit up 3 wineries while we were there and even had a fun, unexpected surprise! On our way from teh airport to Fredericksburg, my friend Jenna called and had heard through facebook that we were going to be in Fredericksburg and luckily, so were she and her husband! It was too funny, but we got to get together for lunch on Tuesday to visit and catchup. We just love Jenna and Wyatt and love that Jenna ALWAYS has the most entertaining stories. I don't know how Wyatt doesn't just laugh all the time! haha! So, after a good visit and lunch, we went our seperate ways, but of course, had to get a picture first!

Oh and do you want to hear a funny "jenna" story? Well, apparently, they took this little getaway trip for one night just to go to some wineries and maybe buy a bottle or two, but mainly just to do tastings. Well, they ended up with 10 bottles of wine before they left Fredericksburg! Then, we saw them at Christmas and since they bought them all from the actual winery, they've had a hard time even considering drinking them! Oh Jenna - you make me laugh!

After Fredericksburg, we drove down to Orange Grove for Thanksgiving. We arrived Wednesday night just in time for dinner with Vic's mom's side of the family. Thanksgiving dinner the next day was also delicious, as usual. On Friday, we finally got to see Jill's new house! She just moved into it in October and I was so impressed by how nice it was and how cute she had it decorated. Here is a pic of Jill in front of it:We stayed overnight with her and did some shopping to decorate her new kitchen. Then, dinner and some card games with Vic and Jill's parents and off to bed again. The next day before we left town, we got some good South Texas Mexican Food in. Oh and here is one final picture of Jill and Vic at the Fajita Station from the day before:Overall, it was a great week of traveling to see our great friends, family and spend some time with just the 2 of us. We loved it and hope more trips work out like that in the future!