Our weekend in Dallas

We had lived here for about three years and into Bret's office walks a man named Ray. A very kind and caring man, who loved bird hunting, and his family. He was in his early 60's and still had a lot of life to live. Bret had to tell him he had cancer. We had just had a litter of pups and his family wanted to give one to Ray, a little bird dog, they named Hope. As a reminder that maybe their was hope in his recovery. His wife Jan, his three sons, and a daughter all spent lots of time with Ray and Bret during this time, and really saw a doctor that truly cared for their dad and the family. Time passed and Ray's fight came to an end. They asked Bret, whom they had learned to love, to speak at his wake. Bret gave a wonderful little talk, and offered kind and comforting words, and showed great emotion for this man whom he had learned to love and respect. He impressed the pants off a lot of the towns people here as well. "What? a Mormon quoting scripture from the Bible?" It was great. Ever since then we have been very good friends with this family. The youngest son Troy, lives in Dallas, and was getting married. We got an invitation to attend. It wasn't just any invitation. It came in a very fancy little box, and this wasn't going to be just any kind of wedding. I figured we wouldn't be able to go, it was in Texas, and on the same weekend as mothers day and Amber's birthday. But Bret surprised me by saying "We're going!" So we booked the hotel, bought the plane tickets, and sent back our RSVP for the wedding, reception, and Texas BBQ at their ranch. Troy, (the son of Ray, and Jan) is very successful in his line of work, and his future bride is from a very well to do family. VERY well to do. This wedding was nothing like I'd ever seen before and probably never will again.

We stayed at the W Hotel in down town Dallas. It just happen to be right across the street from the American Airlines arena, where the Dallas Mavericks were playing the Los Angeles Lakers the very night we flew into Dallas. We arrived at the hotel when there was about 2 minutes left of game 3 of the series. That was the one where they came from behind and won the game in the last minute! So we got to experience the mayhem of thousands of people pouring out of this building all ready to party hardy!!! And they were. The Hotel was rockin and all the clubs and restaurants, and bars around were all joining in. It was exciting to walk around and feel the excitement and the celebration.

The next day we went to a great place for breakfast called, Bread Winners Cafe, I recommend it to ANYONE going to Dallas. Excellent place to eat and such a cool building that it's in too. Next we went to find some cowboy boots for us to wear to the ranch. Can't go to a Texas ranch with out wearing boots! We found a place called Cowboy Cool. Very fitting I thought. The boots there were very unique and very nice. Bret tried on a pair that were made from Kangaroo hide, they were very nice. Bret said they were the most comfortable thing he's ever had on his feet! But at $1,800 it was a little hard to swallow. I tried on a pair that were very nice as well made of calf hide and were so cute! Also very comfortable! But still $400 for these boots was a bit much. But Bret surprised me with saying "lets get em!" Wow! the most expensive shoes I own are cowboy boots! I won't be wearing these to to do the chores in! We walked around and did some more shopping then I went back to the room to get ready for the wedding and Bret went to find some boots for him to wear. He found a store called Wild Bills, and found a great pair!

The wedding was incredible. It was at a big beautiful church, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and choir treated us to a concert before it started and also played during the ceremony. It was like I was at the Royal Wedding!

They had trumpeters! It was so cool!

After the wedding, we walked across the street, to the football practice field of the United Methodist University, where a huge white tent that covered the whole field had been put up. To describe it would not do it justice. Lets just say I felt like I was walking into a grand ballroom/dinning hall! Crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the floor, which was 3 feet above the ground was this pretty silvery blue carpet, with a beautiful stone dance floor, and band stand. It was even air conditioned with hundreds of waiters and servers caring around trays of snacks and drinks. This is where we got to meet Jerry Jones and his wife. For those non-football fans, he's the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Bret was very excited to meet him. George W Bush and Laura were also invited, but because of security reasons, and all the guests having to be pre-screened and all that they respectfully declined. The brides family knows them well. So I didn't get to meet George. Oh well.

This is Jan, the mother of the groom, with Bret and myself all dressed up!


Dinners over, now the dancing can begin!

They had a great band, that they flew in from Chicago, and just kept the place rockin till 1 in the morning! It was fun to watch most of the adults getting more and more buzzed on all the champagne and wine. I haven't got to dance with Bret like that for a long time. It was fun to just go crazy and have the time of our lives!

The next morning we all took a charter bus to "The Ranch." It was about an hour out of Dallas. Lots of green fields, cows, horses, and trees. This place was more like an estate, or plantation than a ranch. At the entrance there were some pretty nice cars parked out front. Bret noticed the Ferrari right away, and I noticed the Rolles Royce! I even got to touch it! They had a huge pavilion, and had a western band playing. When we got there Bret could here the music but couldn't see the band yet and he said "Did they hire George Strait?" They were singing a George Strait song and it sounded just like him! When we got closer we could see it wasn't, but I wouldn't have been surprised at all if they had. It was just that kind of experience we were having.

I love a Texas BBQ! I had been to a couple on my mission in Houston, not this quality or quantity of course, but it was fun and I ate way to much!!! Of course there was more dancing! Western dancing this time and Bret and I were out there triple stepping with the rest of them. We were doing some pretty fancy moves too. I miss doing that. We used to go dancing all the time in Provo, during undergrad. It's hard to find a place now that isn't a bar.

After hours of eating and dancing, we all threw flower petals at the newlyweds as they went off down the path to the limo that was taking them to the airport for their honeymoon! What a send off! Then it was back to the hotel and back to the airport to catch a flight home. We didn't get home till after midnight and I'm still trying to recover. Amber watched the boys for us. It was her first time doing this, and she did such a great job. She only text me with a question 2 or 3 times. I was amazed.

The trip was a memory I'll never forget, and am so thankful for the invite, we were honored to be there, and have made some wonderful friends. I also got a great pair of cowboy boots out of it!

I took a lot of pictures, and couldn't get them all in this post, so I'll be putting more in some later ones.