Pumpkin Patch 2011

Every year around this time we make our annual trip to Hall's Pumpkin Farm. It is definitely the best pumpkin patch in the area. They have a hay ride where you can feed farm animals, a corn maze, the BEST kettle corn I have ever had, and lots and lots of picture opportunities. Last year we had a blast in matching plaid. It is something we always look forward to and it was so fun to take Ty this year!

Right when we arrived, Kinley ran to the slide and wound up right behind Eden in her cat costume. It was totally a coincidence and they were thrilled to see each other.

Kinley played around a little bit and then we quickly moved on to tons of picture taking.

Happy Fall Ya'll

World Series - Game 6

To say that last night was an emotional roller coaster is an understatement. I truly have never been so on the edge of my seat for any television event in my lifetime. Hoping for a world series clenching win last night, we had some family over to watch the game. We tend to have the masses over to our house because we are the only ones with kids and it is easier to have everyone here and be able to put Kinley and Ty to bed when they need to. The entirety of our house was on pins and needles the whole night and with every lead turned tie ballgame the mood shifted. The mood shifted from pure elation to total buzzkill over the 4 1/2 hour game.

During the day I prepped for the game by changing the Surprise Pumpkin Treats that I have been wanting to make into Rice Krispie Baseballs!

It was really easy and fun! All you do is make regular rice krispie treats, shape them into balls, put a peanut butter cup inside, and squeeze on some red icing on top. I think they turned out pretty cute for the game and definitely turned out delicious! I totally recommend them.

The true excitement of the evening was found on our backporch. I guess sometime around the 5th inning, the boys started to one-by-one make their way outside. It was cold outside and they were enjoying the weather and some adult beverages while watching the game through our back windows. It was like the walls and roof of our house were too confining for the amount of anxiousness that they all had. They would start screaming and cheering one minute, shouting in anger the next, or just stand in silence when it was too much to bear. It was pretty hilarious.

The girls and babies pretty much stayed inside...for some reason, I don't have any pics of Mom, Kinley or Katie! During the extra innings all I could do was clean the kitchen. I kept hand washing and wiping down counters trying not to be sick in nervous anticipation.

Then when we would hear the boys scream again outside, Mendy would run out with the camera and try to capture some reactions.

Overall, it was thrilling baseball and such a fun night! I feel like I need to post these pictures today, before game 7 and the mood shifts again. Right now, we all still have hope for our Rangers. We will see what Game 7 holds!

Ft. Worth Stockyards

This weekend we took a little trip to the Ft. Worth Stockyards for the annual Chuck Wagon Cookoff. My cousin, Cary's, dad James has a chuck wagon there every year and participates in the competition. I am not exactly sure of all the rules but, it is a pretty cool idea. I know that each chuck wagon has to be completely authentic and everything on it has to be what would be authentic to the time period. Each contestant gets the exact same cut of meat and they prepare it how they would have on the trail back in the day. You can't use any ingredients that were not around and they dig holes in the ground for coals to cook the meat over. It is a really cool idea. We went on Sunday and missed the actual cooking day but, just looking at the chuck wagons was cool.

Here are the boys.

And Boss was grandpa of the year that day. So sweet to all the kiddos.

The Stockyards are also just so cool in themselves. It is a definite must-do if you have not been. There is tons to do. There is a rodeo every Friday and Saturday night and there is so much history there and the architecture is very authentic. They do a longhorn cattle drive multiple times a day, there is a giant wooden maze, a petting zoo, lots of great restaurants and mini rides for the kiddos.

We went with my dad and David, Kristy, Aubrey and Grady. We had so much fun with them! Kinley and Aubrey were like two peas in a pod and played so well together.

Aubrey showing me her boots

How cute is this kid!?!

He kills me. To.Die.For. Clearly here he is still celebrating that Tech beat OU in football this weekend. Also, we were so totally excited that David and Kristy asked Ben and I to be Grady's Godparents! I still feel so thankful and blessed that they thought to ask us! We are committed to loving Grady till we die and helping to encourage and spur on his spiritual journey in a life that leads to Christ. We could not be more excited!

These last pics totally sum up what Kinley and Aubrey thought of the day and spending time together. They hit the jackpot when they got to ride this mini carousel...once. Truly, none of the 5 adults even had one more quarter to let them ride again. It was kinda sad. But, nevertheless, they loved it when they did get to ride it!

Special weekend happenings

A little catch up of the weekend...besides some great Texas Ranger baseball wins!

Ty got to meet some special people for the first time! Inie and Bull came through town on their tour of West Texas. Inie got to hold Ty for a good while and they seemed to hit it off just great.

And Matt-Matt finally came back from New York and got to meet his nephew!

Ty was cheesing it up this weekend and we tried our best to catch some smiles.

We got to have a special birthday celebration for Gram who needed Kinley's help to blow out candles.

And, we also got to spend some special time with Allison and Ella and, of course, there had to be some dress up.

It was a pretty fun weekend. Hope yours was great too!