David, the girls and I took a day and went to the stock yards. David and I spent our honeymoon in Texas and I asked him to take me to the stockyards. He took me to the actual stockyards where cattle are exchanged and because it was December we didn't see anything. This time around we made sure to go the tourist stockyards :) It was a lot of fun.
Gigi saw a few real cowgirls and some of the famous longhorn cattle.
I wanted to look at some cowboy boots. We went into a shop and saw this. Wow! They were beautiful. Then I looked at the price tag on a pair: $1295.00. I very gently put them back and then ever so quickly ushered my children out of the store.
David's parents refinished this rocking chair before our visit. Isn't it amazing? David's parents are so gifted at fixing things up. Madeline loved rocking in this chair!
We spent a weekend at David's sister's home (I never remember how to write this. I guess I fell asleep during that english lesson). It was really fun! They have a beautiful home that the girls nearly destroyed :)
Elle loves to garden. The girls loved following her around her garden watching her work. Gigi even came home with some seeds to plant, hopefully they will still work in a few years when we have some land to plant them in :). David's folks also have a fantastic garden, but of course we were too busy enjoying it to remember to take pictures of it. It was so bizarre to hear Elle and Don discuss what type of bug they had captured to see if they needed to kill it or release it back into their garden. I guess I'll have to get a bit more backbone before I start a garden.
Elle's husband Clint served his mission in Scotland and he taught Gigi the proper way to put on a kilt. She really got into it and tried to reproduce the look for quite a few days afterward.
David loved having some great business related discussions with Clint.
Elle is a great aunt. Madeline usually dislikes being cuddled, even by her parents, but Elle managed to put her to sleep 3 or 4 times. Amazing! Thanks for letting us get a break :)
We went swimming a few times with Elle and Clint. We all loved it!
We were also able to see David's brother Michael and his family. They have a beautiful new home that we got lost in and their kids are really adorable. Gigi fit right in. Too bad we don't live closer! (I forgot to take my camera to their house)
I found these picture while I was going back through the pictures of our trip. I love them. We spent so much time with David's parents, but hardly took any pictures of them. Next time I will do a better job!
The weather was perfect while we were in Texas. The girls loved playing outside. I love the picture of Madeline. Everything is better with food in hand. The above picture of David shows him doing the same thing. Like father like daughter :)
We barely managed to get everything packed up in our car on our way to Texas. While we were visiting David's parents gave us quite a few things for David to use in Chicago. David's mom taught me how to can meat and gave us about 20 cans of meat. For my birthday they surprised me with a new set of pots and pans. We have been using the same old set since our wedding and the non stick part has been coming off. Apparently that is dangerous and so his parents bought us a new set. It is SOOO nice. I think of them everytime I cook! The problem with all of the awesome new stuff was that we had to fit it all in in addition to our other stuff. We somehow managed it though and my legs only went to sleep a few times :)
6 comments:
I loved this post! I'll bet Gigi loved seeing cowgirls! Oh man, the boots story was funny though. I laughed very hard. I can just see my kids ruining a pair of $1300 boots before I even realized it!
what a great place aye? Loved hearing about your trip! Laughed out Loud when I read about the stock yards- Love the pictures! Jealous you got to spend so much time with family! :) THe Payne's they are a great bunch aren't they?
Great post! Glad you had such a great time :) I still remember when we went to the stockyards and I could not figure out where you'd gone because your description of it was totally different than what we saw. Glad you got to see the fake tourist version :)
Bethany, THANK YOU for sharing all of the great pictures! I thought the meat was bottled. Did you actually put it in cans? That is cool! I especially loved Madeline's BIG smiles sans the binkie :-) Love, Mom
Cute post! I've always wanted a pair of olive green cow boy boots. Now I know I will need to save a while before I look into that too much. You guys need a minivan!! LOL
Thanks Bethers for sharing more of Texas with us. Has ir been almost 7 years since we were there for your reception? That is so hard to wrap my mind around. I hope all goes well for you and your sweet family.
Love,
Dad
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