Labor Day Weekend

…better late than never!

This year we headed to the ranch for Labor Day weekend with the Sorenson Family.  Originally, we were supposed to head out on Friday, but Jarrad came down with a stomach bug.  I really thought we were going to have to cancel the whole trip, but by Saturday morning, Jarrad felt better and we headed out.  Seth, Suzanne and the kids met us out there.  I didn’t tell Meg that they were coming, so as we were pulling onto the ranch road, she saw their car and got super excited.  It was great. 

Both of us brought our yellow labs.  Dixie is 10 years old and Emma is 10 months old.  I was surprised that Dixie did so well with Emma, but they both just kept to themselves.  We took them both out for the afternoon hunt on Saturday.  Dixie was a fetching machine and got every bird that Jarrad shot.  Emma on the other hand, was a little gun shy and hid under the mule until Seth drug her out and took her with him. 

Dixie hunted so hard that she could barely get around, so she had to spend the rest of the weekend locked up in Joey.  She just can’t do it like she used to…poor girl!  

***Dixie***

 

***Emma***

***Colton, Tanner and Meg***

 

***Meg and Tanner***

 

***The kiddos perch while we were hunting***

 

***My sweet girl***

 

On the second afternoon hunt, we had to have the kids fetch the birds since Dixie was out of commission.  This was such a cute scene…Tanner, Colton and Meg were around this bird.  I can only imagine the conversation that was going on was one for the memory books. 

It seemed that finally a decision had been made.  Meg picked up the bird and ran it to Jarrad as fast as she could.  The look on her face is priceless. 

 

***Meg, Tanner and Colton***

Meg and Tanner were pulling feathers off of birds in Jarrad’s bag.  I’m not even sure he was aware what was taking place behind his back. 

 

***Seth and Emma***

 

***Two peas in a pod***

We had a great weekend with the Sorensons and hope we can make it out there again during deer season. 

Christmas Day

After celebrating with Jarrad and Megan on Christmas morning, we headed over to Boompaw & Nawnaw’s house to celebrate Christmas with them.  Nick, Michelle & Parker were there as well as Leigh Ann, Eddy & Jackson.  We were sad that Stacy & Bryan couldn’t be there – they were definitely missed by Megan and me. 

The house was very busy with two infants and a six-year old girl who just had to bring her babies (Reagan, Rachael, Sarah & Travis).  Boompaw looked very comfortable in his recliner with his boys.  Parker (left, 5 weeks) and Jackson (right, 3 months) were right at home in his arms too. 

Around noon, Meg was in the kitchen with Boompaw and she saw Santa and Mrs. Claus pull up in the driveway.  She immediately started screaming and yelling and ran straight for the front door.  I love her enthusiasm, it’s contagious!  Meg is so thoughtful that she even thanked Santa for her gifts at the house earlier that morning.  I love this girl of mine! 

***Santa & Meg***

***Mommy, Santa, Meg & Daddy***

***Boompaw, Santa, Megan & Nawnaw***

***Boompaw, Jackson, Santa, Megan, Parker & Nawnaw***

***Parker, Santa, Jackson & Megan***

***Beautiful Megan***

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we spent the evening with Nina in Dallas.  Meg, Jarrad and I got to Nina’s house around 5:30.  Meg was very happy to see Nina, Auntie Lee Lee, Uncle Eddy and Jackson.  Unc, Aunt Michelle and Parker got to the house a little later in the evening.   

Meg and I had baked Christmas cookies the night before, so they were ready for decorating.  We all decorated a few cookies and ate a few too.  Right as we were finishing up cookie decorating, Nina’s power went out.  Thankfully she has a gas stove, so we were still able to cook what we needed.  The power was probably off for over an hour.  As we were sitting at the table, enjoying the meal, the power came back on. Nina is a candle burner, so we had plenty of light. 

After dinner, we exchanged Christmas presents.  Meg got lots of great stuff this year, including a cook book, apron, Juicy crayons and a box full of money.  It was a great Christmas Eve.

***Parker Ramsey***

***Jackson Bradley***

Helping Hand

When Jarrad asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year, I knew the exact answer.  I wanted a pair of boots.  So, on Sunday Jarrad took me to Cavendars Boot City to shop around.  As luck would have it, I found the perfect pair. 

Jarrad wouldn’t let me have them until Christmas.  While Jarrad and Meg were busy wrapping my boots, I snapped a few pictures of them working together to get my gift ready to put under the tree. 

It was the sweetest thing to watch Meg helping Jarrad.  She would help hold the paper and pass him the tape.  These two can get a lot accomplished when they work together. 

I can’t wait to see what’s wrapped under the tree for me this year!

Merry Thanks-mas!

While we were in San Antonio for the Thanksgiving week, we celebrated Christmas with my parents, brothers, sisters-in-law and nephew.  The year that Jarrad and I got married, we started spending every other Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family – alternating the years from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  It has worked out perfectly! 

Thursday morning, we opened gifts after Kyle got to the house from working around 11:30am.  We usually take turns opening gifts, but this year was more of a free for all.  I don’t think I even saw Meg open all her gifts. 

Everyone was completely spoiled (again) and had a great Christmas. 

***Luke snuggling up to Jarrad***

***Meg got a Looney Tunes collection from Meme and Poppy***

***Megan playing with her v-Tech reader from Meme and Poppy***

***Meg got her very own bow & arrow from Kyle and Sheryl this year***

We had an amazing week!  I was sad when it was time to pack the car up and head back to Mansfield.  But, I start a new job on Monday and Meg starts a new before and after school program.  We needed to get home so we could get settled back in for the changes we are about to face. 

Happy Birthday Parker

On Nov 16, Nick and Michelle welcomed Parker into the world.  Jarrad, Meg and I made it up to the hospital the next day for a quick visit.  Parker is so adorable and has so much hair!

Adorable Jackson

Leigh Ann and Jackson came into town for a quick visit.  I was so glad we were able to finally meet Jackson.  He is a cutie! 

Camping continued

Saturday morning, Jarrad had to go into work for a few hours, so Meg and I decided to go exploring.  She grabbed a walking stick and we headed out on some walking trails in the park. 

After breakfast, we both got dressed, put on our boots and hit the trails.  Meg had picked out a perfect walking stick the night before and grabbed it before we left.  Of course, we got about 20 feet down the road and she decided to turn back and leave her stick behind.  I don’t think she wanted to carry it around. 

   

We got back to Joey about 2 hours later, just in time for some lunch.  Meg asked me to fix Reagan’s hair.  After I was finished with Reagan’s hair, Meg liked it so much that she asked me to do hers the same way.  I’m pretty sure that the 15 minutes that it took me to fix Meg’s hair was the only time that she sat still the entire weekend. 

After doing Meg’s hair and cleaning up our lunch mess, Meg and I headed down to the bridge so she could run around.   While we were down there, Jarrad and Dixie drove by and we went back up to the camp site.  Dixie was so excited that she barely let Jarrad get out of the truck before running to us. 

The weather on Saturday was absolutely beautiful.  After Jarrad had some lunch, we put Dixie on her leash and headed out to go walking again.  We walked through some of the “neighborhoods” in the park. 

Once we got back to the camp site, we decided to start a campfire and play some ladder ball.  Meg slowed down enough for me to snap a quick picture of her and her daddy, then it was off to explore a little more. 

Meg took a quick break to have a cookie and spend some time with her girls.  Rachael (baby) and Reagan went camping with us.  I love watching Meg interact with her baby dolls.  She’s so sweet, but doesn’t take any of their attitudes.  I actually heard her say “don’t roll your eyes at me little girl” to Reagan.  It took all my strength not to laugh. 

 

We had a great weekend camping and can’t wait to do it again!