Surprise! We are going to Disney!

I'm back...

(me, babe, walker, alli, griffin, and uncle will)

Well, it's been a year!  I can't believe I went a year without blogging!  But since I've dumped fb, I've been asked to please at least blog.  Soooo, because I love this person I will blog...just for him (Hey Uncle Will)  ;)

We just returned home from a surprise vacation with the kiddos!  And while away we were able to visit with my brother.  He moved 6 months ago and we've only seen him once since his move so it was great to be able to see his new home and hang out with him!

About the surprise....we actually pulled off the biggest surprise!  We booked, planned, packed and prepared for a trip to Disney without the kids knowing anything!  It was exciting!  If I can figure out how to post a video I'll add it later!  So over the next few days I'll add some highlights from our trip!  The best part for me was just being with my husband and kids for an entire week!  I wasn't ready to return to "life".  I dreamed of running away and it just being us!  But...life goes on and here we are home!  And really there's no place like home!  And tomorrow it's up at 6 am and back to the real world!

Meet our sweet Ranger!

Our golden retriever.

8 weeks old soon.

Has lived with us for 2 weeks now.

Has quickly become best buds with a couple of members of our family!

Who is so stinkin' cute!

I'm hoping he stays "stinkin cute"!

Reflection

The Reflection contest is going on at the school again this year.  And both kiddos entered again!  Last time Walker's piece one 1st place!  I was a proud mama!

The theme was Diversity means...we opted to go the nature route since we were hiking ;)

If you've read my Facebook you can tell who took what!  But if not try guessing!

Which is Walker's and which belongs to Alli?

Mt. Magazine, Ar and Petit Jean Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving in the mountains!  That was our plan this year!  

Traveling up the mountain we went thru many different conditions!

Clear, to foggy, misty and then quickly it was sunny and clear!

The leaves were still changing in some places!  I was so thankful that all the trees hadn't dropped their leaves!  It was beautiful!  

I highly recommend Mt. Magazine Lodge.  If you have never heard of it, look it up!  It was beautiful!  It had a Great Wolf Lodge kinda feel to it!  And it was set right on the edge of the mountain!  Beautiful!

We plan on going back sometime next year and staying at the lodge and hiking around it!

The friday after thanksgiving we took the kids over to Petit Jean State Park and hiked!

We did a long hike and a short hike of course, the short hike was their favorite!  But they did GREAT on the long hike!  It was a 2 mile hike down to a waterfall.  The falls were huge because of all the rain they had gotten!  

I enjoyed listening to the kids recall some of the other places we had been while hiking.  The photo above reminded them of "the fat man squeeze" at Rock City in Tennessee!  

And at other parts during the hike they all talked about their hike this summer up to the waterfall at The Tetons, up hill in snow!

Thankful for time with my little family, because time is flying right by.

The picture below is of the short hike to Rock House Cave, that we have renamed "Indian Cave".  This cave has pictographs on the ceiling that the indians drew!  How cool is that!  

Anyway, our weekend didn't end up like we planned.  You see our camper has an electrical short in it and we couldn't run our heat.  And up top on that mountain it was windy and chilly.  So one night in a camper without heat was roughing it in my opinion!  Plus it wasn't safe!  So home we came after our hiking.  :(

Thankful for our thanksgiving though!  Stuck inside a camper playing board games is my idea of family time!  It was worth it!!!

just some pics...

of my sweet girl and her silly daddy!

Hooray the shoot is OVER!

My silly hubby!  He cracks me up!

Our little pilgrim

Yesterday our little man had his Thanksgiving day feast at his little school!

He looked so stinking cute while he sand his little song!

I think his favorite part in the song was shaking his tail feathers ;)

He's got some of the sweetest little friends in his class.

The little girl next to him (on the right) went to church together for a few years.  They are only 5 weeks apart.

He couldn't wait to get his "pilgrim" clothes off!

His teacher begged them all to leave them on so mom and dad could take pictures :)

Finally, pictures were done and the collar came off!

My boy was all about that feast!  He was hungry!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

When was the last time you skated?

Mine?  

Oh, it was Thursday!

I haven't skated in YEARS!  I honestly couldn't tell you the last time!

This is Walker's little friend Alyssa and her mom Kathryn.

These 2 kiddos are sweet!

(Jason wanted to know why our boy wore pink helmets and pads!  Well, apparently he has a small head...who knew!)

Blessed

I've been super busy taking pictures lately!  It's been so much fun doing what I LOVE to do!  Praying that God will use this love and passion to share His love!  I have a photography blog too.  If you are interested you can check it out too!  If you are interested in pictures please leave me a message!  I'd love to work with you!

Krystal Holt Photography

Yamboree season

The East Texas Yamboree was here recently and me and my little sidekick attended!

You see growing up around here it was just natural to go to the Yamboree.  For me it's not about the rides. Even though as a child I'm sure it was.  And for my kids it is.  But for me it's about the parade!  The Yamboree parade means fall has arrived!  Love the sound of the firetrucks, ambulances and police cars at the beginning of the parade.  The air is usually crisp!  And it just screams FALL!  LOVE...

So, off we go to the parade.  Griff was allowed to ride a few rides before the parade started.  And luckily for me when his tokens were gone he didn't argue...which is very unusual ;)

He had a blast riding with his cousins too!

Kam had a great idea...we will race to the bottom.

Everyone got that memo except for one...

He apparently is in it to win it baby :)

Parade time!  

Griff had the best seat in the house!  Kam's lap!  He sat still for the whole thing!

Gotta love the clowns!

Some of the spectators!

My precious Granny with her first cousins from Galveston!

Frank and Glad

With my Aunt Mamie and Ava and my dad in the background!

Ava LOVED the parade too! 

After the parade, Griff and I did something I have NEVER done...I'll post pics from that later :)

pumpkin pumpkin

I love autumn!  It's my favorite time of year!  Love love love the colors and the crisp weather!

I'm also chomping to go to a pumpkin patch.  Hopefully before October ends we can get to one!

So today, instead of a "pumpkin" patch we sat in front of Brookshires and took pumpkin pictures! Ha!

If I hadn't of told you where we were you would have never guessed uh!

Also my free lightroom expired so this picture is SOOC.  I'm chomping to edit my pictures too!  And have to wait now :(

Patience, Patience!

I have none!

And this isn't all we did today!  Can anyone guess where we went this morning?  A hint...it involves a vegetable!

The Crum Family

This morning I met my running buddy, Michelle, on the running trail.  NOT to run, but to snap some pictures of her sweet family!  See Michelle knows that when we run I take mental snap shots of the scenery...I know it sounds strange but I do.  

Michelle and her hubby had triplets and then 2 years later had Miss Samantha!

Can you say HANDS FULL!  I can't imagine!

They were so fun today!  Full of energy!  But that's what makes it fun and interesting!

Sweet Jenna!

This one I wasn't sure was going to turn out.  But after cropping it might be my favorite!  I love it!  I think it captures each child perfectly!

Jordan

Joshua

Samantha

who was a little bashful at first.

Michelle and Mark!  Thank you soooo much for letting me hang out with you this morning!  Your kiddos did fabulous!  See you Monday on the trail M!