A little town called Weatherford

Ever since I was a little girl we have gone to my grandmother's house (yes, it has to be grandmother, she won't have it any other way :)) and celebrate what we call our Cooper Christmas. We celebrate it a week before Christmas day. When we lived in Texas we went every year, but since we moved to California we go as often as we can. We were fortunate enough to go there this year. It is and will always be one of my favorite places on earth. My grandmother lives on a farm so when we were young we would play in the barn, walk to the tank (pond) and play in the creek. My grandmother and Big Dad raised cattle, sheep and chickens. I have seen my Big Dad deliver calves and have seen them branded. It was just one of those places that will forever be engraved in my childhood.

This is my grandmother and the kids LOVED her. She handled the chaos of children really well, since she lives on her own usually.

Looking at her house from the barn.

Inside the barn! There was a ton of hay and there was a rope from the ceiling that I would swing on from hay bale to hay bale when I was a kid. The kids were too young to swing but they had fun jumping in the hay anyway.

Going to see the cows!

My mom and the kids! Cooper kept saying "Ride them" and try to walk up to the cows. There was one bull that was eyeing us, so we kept our distance! :)

My Aunt Kittie! She is like my second mom. I seriously ADORE this woman.

My dad with the kids!

Throwing rocks into the creek. Cooper couldn't get enough of it! I wish we had a place like that for him to go to all the time!

OOOPPPPSSSS! Duplicate! :)

He's hilarious! Cooper got his name because it is my mom's maiden name.

Picking up pecans in the orchard. My grandmother and Big Dad grew the pecan orchard and would sell their pecans for a little bit of profit. I was raised on pecans! :)

Our profits!

Cracking and shelling the pecans!

This is actually where I got engaged. Chris asked me right in front of this silo while we were sitting on this old tool box (which isn't there anymore). We sat and talked forever and then at the end he popped the question. He said he wanted to ask me at my grandmothers house because he knew that this was one of my favorite places. I love that I can say this is where I got engaged. And right after he asked me I ran in the house and told my family and my grandmother. She was so PROUD that he did it at her house!

The pecan orchard. Obviously not in season!

I loved this wheel barrel.

The back of the barn.

Just a few of my 2nd cousins. There were 58 of us that came to my grandmothers house. It is all my mom's siblings and their kids and grandkids. It was so fun to see all our family that we don't see very often.

After lunch we always go on a hay ride! Pulled by a JOHN DEERE tractor of course! :)

The barn.

My brother with the kids. I love him so much and wish I saw him more often!

I just loved this picture of inside the barn.

A Texas sunset!

My grandmother is one of the strongest women I know. She has had more trials in her life than any one I have ever known and she still has an unwavering faith in our Lord. I love her so much and consider it pure joy to call her "Grandmother".

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

I have other pictures that I need to post that happened before this, but I will post those after this one. Last weekend we went to Lombardi's Ranch and had so much fun. Kinsley rode on her first horse (which I didn't get a picture of because my camera died) and she loved it. Cooper loved looking at the animals and playing on the hay hill.

I know, this kid is in desperate need of a haircut! :)

We also had a great Halloween. Kinsley was Dorothy and Cooper was the Scarecrow. Kinsley couldn't wait to be Dorothy, she has been wearing the dress at home for the last two weeks. We went over to our friend's the Wertz's and had pizza and went trick or treating. Cooper loved trick or treating, but Kinsley kept getting scared of the "scary" costumes. So she spent a lot of time being held by daddy so he could "protect" her. She's funny.

I had hay to put on Cooper's wrists and around his collar, but he would not have it. So the only place I could put it without him knowing was his ankles. Hopefully people got the idea that he was supposed to be a scarecrow.

Kinsley kept saying I could be the tin man and daddy could be the lion. I don't know how attractive that would have been, so I had a tin man doll to take my place! :)

Cubbies and Dance

Well, it's official my little girl is growing up. She is now old enough to participate in Awana at church. I loved Awana's growing up and I couldn't wait for my kids to start. So this fall Kinsley started at our church as a Cubbie and she LOVES it. It has been good for me having the accountability in making sure we teach our kids God's Word. I can't believe that I have a child old enough to be in Awana's. Where have the last three years gone??? They are going by way too fast, they need to slow down! :)

Kinsley has also started a dance class. It is a combo class with ballet/tap/tumbling. She is going with her friend Reagan and they are absolutely precious to watch. Her teacher is Ms. Holly, and she has got to have the patience of a saint trying to get 6 three year olds to tap their toes. It is very entertaining to watch! As much as I love her in dance, I can't wait to get her started in sports. I always tell people I like that she is a girly girl, but she also better not mind shooting a basketball or diving to the floor to dig a volleyball! I think Chris and I are going to wait a couple years to get her into sports, but I can't wait till we do. Until then I LOVE watching my sweet girl twirl!

This is a typical Cooper face when we are at dance. He is stuck in his stroller, and those of you that know Cooper, he is NOT a fan of being strapped in.

Her whole class from left to right: Kinsley, Ashlyn, Mikaela, Reagan, Madison and Emmy. Precious girls and very sweet mommies that I get to talk to.

Summer Recap

I just have to laugh when I realize my last post was 4th of July! Wow, am I little behind or what?? And since Erin is now a blogging queen, it motivated me to do a little posting. But like I have said from the beginning, I probably won't be great at keeping up with this but I know you all still love me! :) So I decided to wrap up a few of the things we did this summer all together in one post. Sorry that it is kind of long! One of things we did was go to the Santa Barbara Zoo with the Brookes. I ADORE this zoo and it was Melissa's first time, so it was even more fun showing her and the kids all the animals. It is a much smaller zoo so there aren't a TON of animals but the ones that are there are super close!!

Seeing how big an eagle's wing span is.

Going anywhere with kids is always a little difficult but ALWAYS so fun! Melissa and I also drove to Bakersfield and saw Staci! We had soooo much fun seeing her and kids. We went to Chick Fil A for lunch with all 7 of our kids. This is a picture of the kids in one of slides they had in the play area. Staci was pregnant here and she just had her second boy Daxton James! Congrats my sweet friend!!

We also took a trip to Palm Springs with Kurt and Becky (with no children). It was VERY last minute and VERY short, but anytime with them is priceless. The boys golfed and Becky and I went and vegged at the pool. It was so nice to catch up without the distraction of kids. We adore the Fillmore's and hope we can make this an annual event!!

Can you believe Kurt's beard??? He had to grow it out for work, but it is shaven back a little bit now.

We also took a couple trips to the beach, one time with the Brookes and another time with just us. We had a blast and the kids LOVED playing in the sand. Chris and I have said we need to take advantage of living by the beach more. We don't go very often but when we do we always have a great time!!

Love this kid!!

We buried Kinsley and Jake in the sand. Better her than me, I can't stand having sand in every crevice of my body! She loved it!

Let's just take notice of Kinsley's hair. Poor thing, her mommy does not know what to do with it because her baby hairs are growing out and they are at a very awkward length. I can't wait till those hairs grow out and I can do some fun things with her hair!

I adore this sweet girl!

The best picture out of all our attempts to take a family picture. You should have seen the other ones! :) The Lord has blessed me immensely with my wonderful family. Thanks for looking at my long overdue post!! Love you guys!!