At the beginning of September I surprised Ryan for his birthday with a trip to Dallas, Texas. I brought him out to dinner on Friday night, and then we came home for custard pie and gifts. I put together a small package for him that included travel size shampoo, toothpaste etc, some snacks and the plane tickets! I had his bags packed and we left shortly after that to stay at a hotel near the airport. We flew out bright an early on Saturday morning to Dallas.

Right away we drove to Waco, TX to visit Magnolia Farms. Magnolia Farms was exactly what we expected. Charming, busy and HOT! We heard from the locals that it is best to visit on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and we highly recommend visiting in the cooler months. We shopped our way through the market and had lunch at on of the many food trucks.  They have a restaurant on the grounds as well, but the wait was crazy long, and we were starting to get hangry.

We have family in Dallas, so it was a great weekend sharing meals with family and little excursions on our own. (Shout out to Nikki & Jordan and Jimmy, Judy & Andrew for opening their arms to us!) On Sunday we had lunch at a BBQ place called Lakewood Smokehouse and it was heavenly. We then explored the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens; the grounds were gorgeous and made for great subjects to photograph. Shortly after that we stopped at Steel City Pops, which was an adorable little storefront that specialized in popsicles. They were amazing, and a must-do if you plan a trip to Dallas. On our final day, we toured AT&T stadium, which was a dream for Ryan being the huge Cowboys fan that he is. The trip was short, sweet and so relaxing which was just what both of us needed.