Visiting Lubbock

We took a weekend trip to Lubbock in mid June to visit our families.  We haven't all been home together since Christmas so we were long over due!  We flew in Friday afternoon and hung out with my parents for a little while before heading to my grandparents house for dinner.  (I was terrible and didn't take any pictures.)  After dinner we went out to the race track to watch Seth race.  This was Cade's first time at the races and he loved it!  I have to admit that I kinda love it also!  It is so much fun to watch all the cars and really exhilarating to watch Seth race!!!

Hanging out in Uncle Sepee's car

Cade and Uncle Sepee

Grumps and Cade cheering Seth on 

"Oooh"  (He got so excited every time the cars went by!)

Grumps and Cade with Seth in the Winner's Circle

Seth and JuJu celebrating Seth's victory

Saturday we went over to Gregg's Sister and Brother-in-law (Misti & Cody) house to see his side of the family.  Cade and Landry were able to play together all afternoon before going out to dinner.  It is so much fun to watch the boys together now that they are a little older!

Cade building a tower

Landry turned 2 the weekend after we were in town so we took his birthday present to him since we wouldn't be able to make the party.  One of our next door neighbors has a little motorized 4 Wheeler and Cade loves it so we decided to get one for Landry.  It was a huge hit and Landry LOVED it!!!

cousins out for a ride 

Cade doing a little digging in Landry's yard

We had a great time in Lubbock seeing our families!  We miss everyone tremendously and love getting to go and visit.

Cade playing in the airport

sweet boy sleeping on the plane back to Dallas

Early Summer Fun (June)

We have been having lots of fun this summer.  Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to!



Art Time

Practicing with a spoon

Having fun in the water

Eating steak!

Running in the Rain

Cooking goldfish

Memorial Day Weekend Get Away

My Best Friends and I all turn 30 this year and so we decided to get away for the weekend to celebrate!  We actually started planning this trip right after we got out of college.  At that time we all thought we would all be married with a couple of kids and able to go on some tropical get away.  Well, most of us are still working on growing our families and so leaving the country wasn't really ideal so we made plans to rent a house and go to Lake LBJ for the weekend instead. 

This was only my second time to leave Cade and the first time that Gregg and I would both be away from him so I was a little apprehensive!  My Mom came to town Thursday and we were able to get off Friday morning.  I shed a few tears as we drove away but the excitement over the weekend helped calm me!  Gregg and I drove to Stephenville and met Craig and Susan for lunch there at Hard 8 BBQ (super delicious) before heading on to the lake.  We got checked into our beautiful house and got ready to go out to dinner at a yummy Italian food restaurant with beautiful views.

Cute koozies I had made for everyone to celebrate the weekend

My Mom was great while we were gone.  Her and Cade had lots of fun making cookies, playing and doing a little shopping.  Best of all she kept this Momma really happy by sending lots of pictures and even a couple of videos of the boy!

Cade helping Grinna make some cookies after we left

 our beautiful house

We decided that we really wanted to be able to relax and just spend time with each other over the weekend and not have to worry about constantly getting ready to go somewhere.  Staci and Kelly were charged with grocery shopping for all of us before leaving town.  We talked several times about a menu and grocery list and then everyone was responsible for bringing their own alcohol.  The girls did a great job and our fridge and pantry were very well stocked!

 We stocked the place and had really good food and drinks for the weekend!

Playing a little game of Flip Cup!

:)

The house that we rented had 4 bedrooms plus a loft upstairs with 2 twin beds and trundles.  Since their were 6 couples in attendance we decided the only fair way to decided who slept where was to draw for our rooms.  We assigned one person to draw to see what order the couples drew rooms in and then each couple drew for their room.  We started out lucky and got to draw rooms first but our luck ended there and we ended up stuck blessed to be in the upstairs loft with twin beds!  (I thought this was only fitting for us considering we spent part of our honeymoon on bunk beds!!!)  Kelly and Walt were the lucky couple also stuck blessed to be in the loft with us.

our sleeping arrangements

 

We decided to spend Saturday out at the pool just relaxing and soaking up the sun.  It was the perfect day and just what we were all needing!  We enjoyed the day lounging, swimming, listening to good music (courtesy of Brynn) and enjoying the company of great friends!

 



My Dad flew into Dallas Saturday morning to meet up with my Mom and Cade and they went to the Rangers game that afternoon.  Cade loved all the extra attention and being spoiled by the grandparents!  I loved knowing that he was well taken care of, having fun and making memories!

Cade before heading to the airport to get Grumps

Grumps and Cade practicing batting

Saturday night we made burgers and hot dogs and played some cornhole!  We laughed A LOT and had a really great time!

SMORES!!!



We packed our coolers up with sandwiches, chips, cookies and plenty of beverages and headed out onto the lake Sunday.  We had rented a boat and jet ski for half a day to play on.  We had lots of fun cruising around the lake and looking at all the amazing houses!

Susan, Brynn, Kelly, Courtney, Chelsey and Staci

Casey and Court, Walt and Kelly, Travis and Brynn, Keith and Staci, Craig and Susan, Gregg and I

Courtney finishing off the Sangria we made

Travis and Brynn

Keith and Staci

My parents and Cade went to another Rangers game Sunday!  (My Dad loves baseball and jumps at any chance to go to a game.)  In addition to loving a good baseball game they also love any chance to do a little tailgating !

Grumps and his little helper

Fun times in the cheap seats!

Worn out boy!

One of my Dad's cousin (Sherri) and her husband (Luke) was also at the game that night and after the game ended Luke suggested they go to Bone Daddy's for supper.  My Mom texted me to say they were headed there to which I replied "you do know they have very scantily clad waitresses running around there right?"  My Mom laughed and said that Luke had failed to mention that!  Gregg immediately called my Mom and requested that she get a picture of Cade with their waitress!

Back at the lake house, we made fajitas and all the fixings for supper and enjoyed our last night together. 

Our crazy neighbors made their own parade down the street

Gregg and I hit the road pretty early Monday morning to head back to Dallas.  I was anxious to see the boy and wanted to relieve my parents since they had to drive back to Lubbock.  Mom, Dad and Cade were outside playing and packing up when we pulled into the parking lot.  Cade immediately ran to our car and yelled our names when he saw us.  It was so sweet and brought tears to my eyes knowing he was so excited to see us!

Playing in the ice and water

We had such an amazing time over the weekend celebrating all us girls turning 30!  I feel truly blessed to have these girls in my life and treasure our friendship.  I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays and other life events with these great friends!

Hico Steak Cook-Off

We went to Hico for the 9th Annual Steak Cook-Off on May 19 with my parents.  This is one of my families favorite things to do and is the 4th time that we have entered the cook-off.  Our team name is "Steak Medics" since most of us on the team are somehow involved in the Medical Field and all the guys are EMTs or Paramedics. 

This year my parents built ambulance doors to go at the front of our tent and make it look like we were working in the back of an ambulance.  It turned out so cute and go us lots of complements!

the decor

Dad chopping wood for the smoker

We entered the appetizer round again this year as well as the steak cook-off.  Last year we won the appetizer round and so we really wanted a repeat!  We didn't end up doing any good this year and were quite shocked when we found out that the appetizer that won was almost the exact same thing that we had made last year. 

our appetizer

We were a little disappointed with the quality of meat that we were given this year but still excited about our steak that we turned it.  It had beautiful grill marks on it and tasted good.  But we didn't do any good this year with our steak either. :(

the steak

We were one of the teams chosen to cook for the public this year so that was a fun and new challenge!  After all the steaks are turned in then people who purchased a ticket are able to choose which team they want to cook them a steak.  We cooked a dozen or so steaks and also went to other teams to sample their steaks.  We had some pretty decent steaks but still think that ours was one of the better ones.  Hopefully we'll have better luck next year!!!

taking a little break for a family picture

Sunday morning we got up and went to eat breakfast at a local Mexican food restaurant in Stephenville.  After breakfast we decided to go to a park and play for a little while before everyone had to head home.

Cade playing on the zylophone

having fun in the tunnel

Gregg and Cade playing

Dad and Mom with Cade

family fun at the park

Bailey and Cade

I just LOVE this picture (and this little boy)!

We had such a wonderful weekend and really enjoyed the steak cook-off!  I love being able to do these type of things with my family and pray someday that Cade will want to do these types of things with us when he is all grown! 

Support Gregg in the Dallas Memorial Stair Climb

September 11th will always mark the anniversary of a day that most of us promised to never forget. In order to honor New York’s bravest who sacrificed their lives on September 11, 2001 , and help support the families who survived them Gregg has signed up for the 2012 Dallas Memorial Stair Climb on September 8.


Firefighters from across the nation will come together to participate in an extremely physical challenge and intense reflection of the events on September 11 as they climb 110 stories in 40-60 pounds of their protective bunker gear. This climb is symbolic of the 110 story climb that many NY Fireman made as they responded to the attacks on the Twin Towers.

The Dallas 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb is not a race, but rather a tribute honoring the sacrifices of the fallen firefighters. The event features numerous symbolic elements specific to 9/11. Some of these elements include:

- Participants will be given a biographical sketch and accountability tag of a NYC firefighter who gave their life on September 11th (343) or who has passed since due to their response and exposure at “Ground Zero” (69 as of 9/11/11).
- Climber groups will be assembled based upon the name they are climbing for, with all of the fallen’s names placed into the same company assignments as those on 9/11/01. Groups will remain together throughout the climb arriving at the top together.
- The moment that each tower fell (9:59am and 10:28am) climbers will stop, activate their PASS devices (firefighter distress alarm), taps will be played and a moment of silence observed.
- The ringing of the last alarm 5-5-5-5.
- As firefighters reach the top they will pace their accountability tag on a board and ring a bell indicating that the firefighter they climbed for has made it to the top.

Please support Gregg in his climb by donating at the website below. The money that Gregg raises will be given to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, the Texas Line of Duty Death Task Force and the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.

http://www.active.com/donate/2012dallasstairclimb/GGroves2