State Fair of Texas

SOOOOOO excited to finally take my kiddos and hubby to the State Fair of Texas for the first time! What a gorgeous day we had, cool & sunny, to enjoy the last weekend of the fair. Corn dogs? Check! Fresh squeezed lemonade, funnel cakes, and potato swirls? Check! We also ate fried avocado slices, fried pickles, corn on the cob, a massive turkey leg, ice cream for kids, chocolate covered strawberries for mama, and my personal favorite, fried Oreos! Yummy! The midway games were challenging for our littles this year, but we did manage to win a very pink unicorn! Rides were fun too, although how did we miss the carousel? Add in some fancy face painting, some cold beers, including the one and only Funnel Cake beer by Community Beer, powdered sugar rim and all! and we had a pretty great day at the fair with friends! Thank you Muirs for hosting us for the weekend and spending the day with us at the fair - great memories!





Quite the day...the worn out littles crashed hard after a pasta dinner, baths, and a movie!

Also on this trip, we were lucky to have the Hill family join us for dinner Friday night, who knew eating out with 7 children (including the twin baby boys, two two year olds, and a 4,5, and 7 year old) would actually be enjoyable! Thx to Chuys' for hosting our large party, the margaritas must have helped us make it through! Loved seeing Bo and Joe, who are doing so well and growing up fast, since our last visit to see them when they were still in the NICU. Congrats on your beautiful family Chris and Amy! Loved seeing you guys!

Laredo Wedding

As I walked out on the streets of Laredo,
As I walked out on Laredo today...
-Johnny Cash, The Streets of Laredo

I have been to Laredo before, as a little girl, I remember visiting family, shopping and eating in both Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, but hadn't been back in awhile. Always interesting to drive so far in one direction that they highway you are on ENDS. The city was still old, filled with pretty buildings, churches, and a pretty downtown square, and we found a fantastic hole in the wall place for lunch (no sign, just a door on a side street off the square) thanks to our concierge. Our beautiful hotel, La Posada, sat right on the banks of the Rio Grande, and was a gorgeous hacienda filled with hidden courtyards and huge balconies. Breathtaking!








The wedding was beautiful, a very traditional Catholic Ceremony in Spanish, yet bittersweet to celebrate since everyone is still grieving my Uncle Charlie, and his presence was definitely missed as father of the groom. The reception was quite the party with T W O bands, Mariachis, a Mexican candy bar, late night snacks bar, fireworks during the first dance, not to mention dinner, drinks, and dancing to name a few! Our little crew partied hard, making it to almost eleven...as we were leaving, more folks were heading in with coolers and the bride & groom still had not cut the cake!!! I heard the party went on for most of the night, impressive! I happily watched family & guests arrive back at the hotel while enjoying the view from my balcony (my mom & aunt arrived back and brought us cake, hooray!) Marc & Sandy, congratulations! Love to you both, cheers to a great night spent with family & friends! *Just for the record, Mike's work called and emailed him, telling him that he was not authorized to leave the country!!! Apparently his phone GPS had him IN Mexico, and sent messages about using out of country codes to make calls and send messages, funny now, a little crazy at the time! Viva Mexico!