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!

Inspiration - Cookies and Costumes

I gotta say a big THANKS to Allison for inspiring me to bake some homemade chocolate chip cookies! We are big slice and bakers over here and by that, I mean at least every night we put some kind of cookie in the oven. So, it was a special occasion to make some from scratch! I share Allison's opinion that Kristen's cookies are the very best! I did not even attempt her recipe, instead I just took a note from good ole Nestle Tollhouse! When you say Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies does that make anyone else think of that "Friends" episode where Phoebe thinks she has some massive, secret family recipe that Monica spends countless hours trying to crack which just turns out to be Nestle Tollhouse? I laugh inside every time.

Also, thanks to Aunt Olivia and Uncle Bart for sending Kinley her very own cooking set in the mail! It came complete with all kinds of utensils, an apron and a recipe book. She loved it immediately.

I think her favorite thing are the "scissors" that really would only cut dough. That is something she is not used to being able to play with.

All the utensils are color coded and it was so fun to ask her to hand me the yellow cup or the pink spoon. She really did get to be involved!

I think the cookies turned out delicious!

Allison also inspired me to get going on Kinley's Halloween costume. Recently, Kinley has become obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We cannot start watching it until after her nap in the late afternoon because once we start she cannot stop. If we are in the car, she wants to watch it on a phone, at home on the tv or if the tv is in use, on the ipad or the computer. It is kind of insane. But, because of that, it was easy to decide she should be Minnie Mouse for Halloween! This is kind of the look I am going for.

I was not sure I was up to the task of making a costume but, I found the perfect fabric at Hobby Lobby and figured it was meant to be!

I did not find a pattern I liked, or that I know how to follow, so I am just going to wing it and try to make my own. We will see how it goes. So far, I have started by making a simple circle skirt.

I will get you some finished project pics when its ready.

Ty's Newborn Photo Session - Sneak Peak

I am so excited to share the sneak peak of Ty's newborn photo session. I CANNOT say enough amazing things about Cassie at TwelveTwenty Photography. Cassie is a friend of mine and I am so blessed that she is so unbelievably talented. But, not only that, she has patience for miles and was so delicate and sweet to my precious newborn. She has an eye for detail and really just made our photo session a wonderful and peaceful experience. She apparently has a lot more than this to show me and I should get the CD in the mail soon and I just can't wait. It will be like Christmas morning to me to look through them all and see all her talented shots. But, for now, here is the sneak peak of pics she posted on her photography blog. Definitely if you are looking for a newborn photographer I KNOW there is not a better one out there!