Owens Country Farm

Fall is here and it's that time of year again when we get to visit Owens Country Farm!  It was a really pretty, although slightly warmer than I would have liked, day and we enjoyed it to the fullest at one of our favorite fall places.

 Since Lila seems to always be frowning in all of our pictures, Maddie decided to do a little bit from her stand-up routine.  She imitates Froggy from the Little Rascals really well and Lila just cracks up every time.  It worked like a charm and got Lila to smile...but then we had Maddie making a goofy face.  Jackson didn't seem to think any of it was funny:)  Can't please 'em all, I guess.




Aunt Colleen came with us today, too.  The kids were way too intrigued with all of the elementary school children in matching blue shirts to be bothered with looking at the camera anymore.



The only way we got their attention was telling them to make a scary face!

Sweet smiles from Lila Lou!

This girl is a pumpkin fan!

J doing a little pumpkin surfing...

and all three just being their silly selves.

After playing in the pumpkin patch, we walked over to feed the goats.

You'd think that the goats would be pretty full after eating all day, but they were hungry!  Lila was a big fan--here she is saying "Hi!" and waving to this big white goat.

The kids were looking for the barrel ride that they have riden in years past, but this year it was replaced with a fun train.  They hopped on up, but didn't go anywhere because the driver was no where to be found.

No prob!  They hopped on off and went over to take a silly pic as a big pumpkin and two flowers.

After that it was time to go for a fun hayride.  Lila loved the "truck" that pulled us around and all the kids enjoyed the ride.

After the hayride we sat down for a picnic lunch and then moved on to see some animals.  These horses were too busy eating hay to come say hi, so they just waved to them through the fence.  I'm pretty sure Lila would have climbed over if not for Gigi hanging on to her!

On our way out we checked the train station and found a driver this time.  Even though the ride only consisted of going in a big circle three times, the kids loved it. 

We ended the day letting J and M play on this big bale of hay.  The boy got some air!

What a great afternoon.



The New Mr. and Mrs. Hays!

Our whirlwind weekend continued on Saturday and by 4:20 that afternoon we had cheered on Jackson at his tee ball game, went by my parent's house to finish up the decorations, bathed all three kids and gotten ourselves dressed and ready for the wedding!  Phew!  Just thinking about it again makes me tired.  Anyways, after we got to the church, it was time to get the little girls dressed.

Miss Maddie in her first appearance as a flower girl.  Love the tulle!

Jackson standing with all the big boys during pre-ceremony pictures.

While we were waiting for Lyndsie to get ready, our family snapped a few quick pics on the altar.  I was so excited to get a good one!

Memaw and Poppi with the three musketeers.

Uncle Andrew got in on the fun, too, and when the kids wouldn't stand up, he just laid down on the steps with them!

I really have no words for how adorable I think this is--simply makes my heart melt.



While we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, the girls had fun doing puzzles.  It was a nice change of pace from Lila's sprinting the night before!



Mrs. Jared Hays, the almost Mrs. Scott Hays and Mrs. Warren Hays.  Lyndsie made a beautiful bride!
The wedding went really well.  Lila got stage fright and opted not to walk down the aisle.  Oh well, maybe next time!  I did the reading from 1 Corinthians and didn't flub up any lines, so that was a plus.  And then I spent the rest of the time trying to make sure that Miss M didn't get too crazy up on stage!  She wiggled a lot, got down on the floor a time or two, whispered to Jackson about how excited she was that they were going to get to pick out a new DVD after it was all over, but overall did pretty good for a 3 year old!  It was really cute watching them onstage and I was very relieved when it was over:)



After the ceremony was over, we headed to my parents for the reception.  Here's the happy couple before they made their grand entrance.  Their get-away car was this awesome 1955 Thunderbird!



After we all ate dinner, it was time for the fun stuff.  Bring on the cake!

Then Lyndsie's maid of honor gave a sweet toast...

followed by Jared's funny one.  Cheers!





After the toasts, we had the three first dances.  This is one of my favorite pics of the night.  Scott and his mama.  So sweet.  I tear up even thinking about how that will be me and Jackson one day.



We could not have pulled this off without all of the help from these three awesome ladies.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mom, Dale and Louann!



When the dances were done, the party moved outside to really get going.  DJ Maria did an awesome job:)



Everyone had a great time gettin' down.



And Jared even got his mama out on the dance floor, I heard!



Right before we wished them well with sparklers galore, we got one last pic of us three couples.

  We had a fantastic night celebrating with everyone. 

Congrats, Lyndsie and Scott Hays!



Uncle Scott's Rehearsal Dinner

Wedding, wedding, wedding!  Lots of wedding activities this weekend!  Uncle Scott got married and the kids now have a new Aunt.  We began the festivities by going to rehearse at the church on Friday night.  These three goofballs were the flower girls and ring bearer and all very excited about their roles--well, I guess the older two were really excited.  Lila was way more interested in running around the church.

 This picture really sums up the kids that night:)

 J man was really good throughout the entire rehearsal--I was very proud of my little stud muffin.

 After about five attempts and a few different poses, we finally got all three kids to at least look towards the camera.  Too bad I had to hold two of them in order for this to happen.  It's no wonder I've developed a new pain in my lower back!

 The big kids did pretty good standing on their names and listening to instructions about the big day.

 Meanwhile, wild woman Lila was on the run for at least a  solid hour!

 It is truly shocking that she slowed down long enough to walk down the aisle.  Although she totally dismissed big brother's attempt to hold her hand.  Miss Independent.

 After that, she was on to roam the halls some more, so the big kids were on their own for round 2.

They both did great and we were able to go have some good Italian food at the rehearsal dinner.  Gigi and Boom met us there and we all had a really enjoyable night. 

After Lila had finished her meal, she was set free to visit all the tables.  She made several stops at Uncle Scott's just to give him some sweet kisses on the cheek.  It was so cute. 

Stay tuned for wedding pics!

Long game, Longhorns

October 8th, Gameday! 

 Jackson's ball game was at 9:00 this morning.  Happy to say that the Cubs won!  The girls got ready to cheer on the Longhorns and put on their uniforms to wear to the game.

 Even Hoppy, the class mascot who is spending the weekend with us, helped root for the Horns today.  Maddie taught him how to get his horns up:)  But alas, it was not enough! 

Oh well, we had fun wearing our orange and white, and there's always next year.

Now we are ready to cheer on the Rangers tonight.  Let's go Rangers!!

Pumpkin Time!

Fall has arrived!  And we are oh so thankful!  This week the kids and I stopped by a pumpkin patch on our way home from school.  I let them all pick out a few small pumpkins and they loved it.

 While there will definitely be more pumpkin pictures to come, I just had to document their pumpkin love.

 They all picked out a spot to pose with their cool new pumpkins.

Yay for Fall!  Now bring on some cool temps!

Rowdy Ranger Fans

A few Sundays ago, Boom took Jackson to the Rangers last home game of the regular season. 

 Jackson was more than excited after experiencing the awesomeness of a Ranger game a few weeks before.  He counted down every day during the two weeks leading up to it.

 After all, he knew that he'd get to go early and do all the fun hitting games beforehand.  He'd get to eat hot dogs, cotton candy and ice cream.  What he didn't fully grasp was how great his seat was going to be. 

 They were literally 12 rows behind Nolan Ryan!  What a view!  Both my dad and Jackson brought their gloves to try and catch a foul ball.  While they didn't catch one, a really nice lady who worked for the ballpark saw them trying to and ended up giving them an official Rangers baseball.  How cool is that?!

They had a few professional pictures taken at the ballpark.  Here's one of the best.  Thanks, Dad for taking J to the game.  Thank you also for staying after the game was over and letting him run the bases.  He will remember it for many years to come. And I love that.

Go Rangers!!

Baby Luau

Our real address is on Swan Ct., but you can really just remember it by this short phrase: Party Central!

 This past weekend we hosted a couple's baby shower for our good friends, Price and Taylor.

Since we already had lots of luau decor, we decided to stick with the same theme.  Who doesn't love a luau?!  The guys really enjoyed hanging out, drinking some beer and watching the Ranger game.

 Us girls hung out indoors and really enjoyed getting to catch up with each other, without kids!

 After Jared got the sliders ready, it was time to feast.  And what a feast it was--everything was so good!  Thanks, girls for all helping out with the yummy food:)

 It's been quite a while, but it feels like not that much time has passed since us 5 were cheering for GHS.  Go Owls!

 After dinner we all started making our way out back. I had to get one pic with my hawaiian honey.

 Then it was time for some fun gift time.  Here are the happy parents holding up the present we got them.  I love this little winter outfit and had Temple's name embroidered on the back.

Perfect patio evening and the Rangers won! It was a great night with awesome friends. Congrats, Price & Taylor!  We can't wait meet Pointer Sister #3!!