Fourth of July in Texas

I took Gus to Texas to visit mom and Papa T over the Fourth of July this year. It was a fun trip and I have so much to share I'm sure it will take more than one post. Just a few things: we were there during hurricane Alex, played at the ranch on four wheelers, swam in puddles everywhere, and saw some totally awesome fireworks! Now my problem is where to start? Well... it was the fourth, lets start with fireworks shall we!

Ohh... Ahh! With all the rain all the city fireworks were canceled. Luckily the rain stopped most the evening of the fourth so driving around to see fireworks was a ton of fun. Now fireworks are not allowed in city limits in Lubbock, but as soon as you hit that city line they were everywhere! We had the radio on and they were asking different artist how they liked to celebrate the fourth. Josh Turner said that in their neighborhood the family kind of competed with each others firework displays. However, his dad would only spend about $20 and they would watch everyone else's. (Smart guy!) I think what we saw that night was exactly what he described.

OK this isn't the best looking picture of us, it was really humid guys! and I don't know why guy kept putting his fingers in his mouth. But hey!! I have to have a pic of us in here too! :)

This is Gus with mom and Eileen (AT's sister). We spend most of the evening at Eileen's house in Lubbock, BBQ, fire, roasting marshmallows, you know that fun stuff. Oh... and her house is SO nice! I want her kitchen, but thought it would be rude to take pictures of it.

Papa T was able to stay out of my shutter this night, but he's in more to come. We sat at the edge of this neighborhood for 20 minutes before we actually drove into it. Once we got in the middle of all the houses it sounded like WW III. There were fireworks every direction you looked. We were there for about 45 minutes when we finally decided they weren't going to stop anytime soon and we had to head back to Floydada. It really was an awesome night!

Duddley comes to visit

This is Milk Dud, isn't he just the cutest!? Yeppers, he's a buffalo. My cousin April's kids (Ty, Triniti, and Ruger) have raised him since he was a calf. He's still such a gentle soul, and cute as a button! For fathers day we had a picnic up at the arena with the whole family. While we are out in the field the cows and buffalo usually go to the other side and keep their distance. After a while they'll start to move in, but still stay clear of people. Not our Dudley though! He wandered right over to everyone, shares some lunch, sat in the shade.
Then when he was finished with us he was on his merry way. I was actually putting Gus in the Jeep to go when he wandered through, but had to go back for some things. Little dude walked right up to me. :) He came over said hi, licked my hand a few times, took a pat on the head, then decided he was done with me. I didn't have my camera, but grabbed my phone really quick to take a picture of him. although I know I can get more of the cutie.

He's just such a beautiful creature. That he's friendly, makes him that much more special! What a way to wind up a wonderful day.

Mommy likey

OK, so this is totally about me.... but I got new wheels on the Jeep!! (I couldn't not share with everyone!) Thanks to Layne and his ingenious ideas, I sporting these sexy beauties. The Jeep needed tires; yes, bad! Well, when Layne starts the hunt for tires what else is he going to look at??? Wheels! It took him a while to talk me into buying wheels for the Jeep. Come on what's wrong with the stock ones? They still look good. But then dangle something shiny in front of me... and I melt like a popsicle on a hot summer day. DANG I'm a sucker! At least I get to look even sexier in my awesome Jeep!! Thank you honey!

Mudding...

OK I know there are a ton of pictures here but this was hilarious! We were having a Scentsy/purse party at mom's house last Saturday. Seriously ten minutes before the girls showed up to set up everything I walk outside to find this. So what do I do... pull out my phone and start snapping pictures.

On any normal day I'd of had to play with him, but since I was in a white sweat shirt and heeled boots... I had to pass! But tell me this doesn't look like so much fun!?!

No worries though, I did get him in the house and presentable before anyone showed up. Only not until after this beautiful slide stop. {In announcers voice.} "And here comes Gus! He's rounding first base...
and the slide into home!" OK he was technically still at first base, but hey, he was having fun. I'll call it a home run for him! :) After this he decided it was too cold and wanted to go in. (It was quite cold!)

He did revisit the puddle after the party, only this time with his bike. Sorry no pictures for that one!

Bubble Bubble boys in trouble!

OK I know this sound like a post I should be doing in October not in May. But I don't know what else to title this one. You'll see why... It starts out all innocent and fun. A simple bubble bath at the end of the day. Gus, using his cunning charm, talked his cousin Otto into "swimming" with him in grandmas tub. So to respect his privacy, I excused myself to let the boys play. Enter the shampoo bottle.... this mixed with turning on the jets in the tub.......

Well my sister Jeni checked on them to make sure they didn't drown the entire bathroom, and then told me and my mom that we had to see it for ourselves. The three of us peek in, (picture the seven dwarfs looking into the room on Snow White). All we see is bubbles! EVERYWHERE!! I'm talking on the floor, down the cabinets, everywhere. Plus, the six inches or so that was still in the tub with them. It was hilarious!! A brand new bottle of tear free shampoo was now empty, and they were loving every minute if it!

I don't think these two have ever been so clean before in their lives! Well if I have learned one life lesson from this its gotta be: "bubbles make even the best things in life a little bit better!" It's OK to leave kids alone to do what they are going to do. Even if they do make a mess, the fun of it is the doing. Maybe next time we're at moms I'll see how many bubbles I can get in the tub. now that would be awesome!

Easter monster?

OK I had to add just one more picture to the Easter egg post. Dakota decided to create the Easter monster by making crazy eye eggs and a funky tooth egg. Then the genius duck taped them to his face to pose for this picture!

Getting ready for Easter

Coloring Easter eggs is a favorite in my family. Something we get together to do every year. You start out with an outrageous number of clean boiled eggs, a dozen or so egg coloring cups, and clean happy kids. As Gussy and Otto clearly demonstrate, excitement is in the waiting. Then, softly place an egg in your desired coloring cup. Spoons or egg scoops are recommended but not required. Once you are happy with the color your egg has taken on, remove and start a new egg. (Again spoons and egg scoops are not required.)

Wait... I thought we were coloring Easter eggs, not fingers. Gus ended up with a green right hand and a purple left hand. These were later dubbed the "monster hands!"

Really though, Easter is another time when family's get together. We are planning a big Easter egg hunt this weekend, and Papa T is even going to be here for it. Gus is starting to understand things like holidays and traditions so I'm really excited for him to try out Easter this year. The nore we do the more he learns. The little turd is just getting too smart for his old mom!