back in the saddle again.

so, we're back. we spent all of last week on a family roadtrip from texas to kansas to minnesota and then back! we had so much fun and got to see so many of my favorite far away friends and family, even got to help celebrate my grandpa's 89th birthday! so fun! we had planned this trip a few months back, for many different reasons. 1. we haven't been back to minnesota in over 2 years and that is just way.too.long. i have so much family up there that i absolutely adore and needed to go home and visit! {i was born there and only lived there for a few months, but it still feels like "going home"} 2. we wanted to help welcome my cousin's baby into the world! {little did we know, he waited for us to arrive! coming into the world about the same time we drove into minneapolis! and we thought he would be around a week old when we got there...already has a mind of his own!} 3. perfect excuse to stop in and see my bestie and her sweet husband in kansas, although i am definitely in need of some one on one girl time with her...that will have to wait until summer!
i have so many pictures to share from our trip of all the fun we had and people we got to visit, but that will have to wait for another day. i am exhausted and have been trying to catch up on laundry and housework for two days and getting back into our own routine around here.
i really just have so much grattitude for all of the special people in our lives, near and far. i don't know how we got so incredibly lucky.

so for now, i'm going to share this short and sweet clip of ava holding her new second cousin. maybe third...not quite sure how all that works. he is gorgeous, and perfect and seriously, i wanted to sneak him home in my pocket! ava adores him and alex and kirstin were so sweet to let her hold him for a bit. she did so good and even sang him a little twinkle, twinkle in the softest sweetest voice that only he could hear {and if you've met my girl, you know she's loud, this was just way too sweet!}...which i must say, made this mama so proud. she is growing up so much. more photos and memories from the trip coming up later this week! xo

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lazy blogger....

so i totally ripped off this awesome collage from jen's blog! {hope that's okay}...i would normally just link ya'll over to her blog to see the collage of our stockyards day....but i love our little family picture too much & had to have it on my blog, too! {seriously, both kids smiling, the husband looking mighty handsome in his denim work get-up, & a picture of myself i don't think it too eww..that's a good day for us!} you can still see what she thought about her stockyards experience over here though!

{click to enlarge}

we had so much fun spending the afternoon walking around the stockyards with jen and jon when they were down for a visit. {besides a little mama frustration with a certain two year old that was determined to do everything during lunch BUT eat...looking back, me thinks she was wanting some extra attention and being naghty was how she decided to go about getting it} ate at riscky's, swung through billy bobs, and enjoyed a "cattle drive"! ava had a blast riding EVERY automated pony ride available...some of them twice. then we headed down to granbury for some rest and relaxation!
i miss you.
xo,
a

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