I love my Texas!

But truly, I love my family more. :)

This week we rolled back into town from our road trip to visit my family in Dallas. We got together to celebrate the blessing of my newest little niece, Sophia (or as she’s known around these parts, Sophie). The whole family was there, except for our beloved Tom, who is currently serving a mission in Idaho for our church. It was really sad to have him not there, but that problem will be remedied this Christmas!

Anyways, we spent the week at my sister’s house (thanks, Em!) and got to have cousin playtime (E still hasn’t stopped talking about how he misses his cousins), take pictures, visit fun sites, and most importantly, eat some really great food. I was just glad to soak up the sister time, I sure miss them when we’re away from each other!

And since I’m sure you’re just dying to sit and watch my vacation slideshow (haha), here are some pictures from the trip:

Here is the whole group, after watching the running (or strolling, ahem) of the steers through the Ft. Worth stockyards. Me, the hubby, and the two kiddos didn’t make it in time to see them going through town, but were told we didn’t miss much…

The cousins, hanging out and being cool. This is the closest I could get to a photo of them together right then, it was hilarious.

Here’s sweet little Sophie, trying to stay cool and stylish (I think she succeeded at both!).

There was this cute little racing horse that cousin A rode, and W wanted to help make it ‘go’.

And much to my surprise, when cousin N was riding it, Grandpa put W on the back with him and he loved it! But then again, I should have known beforehand, since he is our little daredevil child.

They also had this wooden maze that the boys decided to try. I think Nathan was the most excited to do it, though – this type of thing is right up his alley. And even though it was hot and humid, they had a fun time. Us spectators got to go up to a viewing platform and watch as they made wrong turns all over the place did an awesome job on the tough maze!

 

Nathan got a gold star to show that he completed the maze. The best part? Finding out that the maze had been featured in the Amazing Race, one of our very favorite TV shows! So now we know Nathan and I could do well on it, ha! Or at least, he could. I’d just argue and slow us down, but it would make for good TV!

Apparently this is where you go when you get caught cheating at the maze. They all look so sad, don’t they?

If you’ve made it this far in the commentary, congratulations! It only goes on more from here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

After that, we decided to roam around the little touristy area, complete with cute little shops and fun places to take pictures. Case in point:

And yes, I was probably jumping up and down like a crazy person to get them to smile for me in these pictures. But a photographer’s gotta do what a photographer’s gotta do! ;)

Cute cousins who loved being together!

Aunt A and Uncle J couldn’t help but get in on the action. I think these should be their Facebook profile pics, don’t you?

A rare smiling W with Uncle J. It took him a long time to warm up to his extended family, but towards the end of the week it got better, and he was able to un-stick himself from me long enough to hang out with Nana, Grandpa, and his aunts and uncle. For a few minutes at a time, at least.

Here’s Ang getting her psychic reading from “Pappy”. I think he told her to not fall in love with anyone at EFY, but I don’t think she heeded his advice…

You gotta enjoy the yummy DP!

The boys loved going on the carousel rides, and Grandpa was only too happy to oblige by using up his quarter supply on the cute cousins.

We saw some actual longhorns over in their pen, but only one ventured close enough to hang with us. The rest seemed a little snobby if you ask me, keeping their distances from us. Must be because we’re from out of town or something.

W was excited to see them!

The hubby was excited to read more information about them. So much like my dad, it makes me laugh.

There he goes again, our little daredevil baby. Maybe he’s practicing to be a real cowboy when he grows up. They have to sit on fences a lot, don’t they? :)

J takes his Uncle responsibilities very seriously, as seen here. Little cousin A loved getting a bird’s eye view!

And that pretty much does it for that day of the trip. I really didn’t take that many pictures of the things we did. I guess I was having too much fun experiencing it to stop and get out my bulky camera to capture it. And I’m completely fine with that. And besides, we’ve got other people in the family who took lots of photos, so maybe I can bum a few from them. Right, Em? :)