Maddie Mae's 1st trip to Texas

Maddie Mae's Texas debut can be summarized in a couple of different ways. I guess we could say that there is a glass half empty version and a glass half full version. Considering the fact that I would like to leave everyone reading this on a positive note we will begin with the negative. I just spent several minutes chronicling the multitudes of people on this trip who suffered from a particularly fast and furious form of the stomach flu, including myself and Maddie Mae. Upon reading this excessive account I feel that reliving every moment of illness on this trip does not really do anyone any good so I will just say there were many many sick family and friends and when I say that we can define our trip in a glass half empty way I am referring to the plague going through Texas that ran into us in every city we visited.

Now, on to all the wonderful things we experienced (they far surpass the glass half empty version referred to above).

My brother Jon and his oldest daughter Addison picked us up from the airport and we spent the first night with them in Mansfield. It was so very much fun to hang out with the girls! Aubrey is crawling and is constantly exploring the world, already following her big sister around and wanting to do everything that Addison does. Addison and I had our first real opportunity to play and had so much fun! Usually there is so much going on when we are together that we do not interact much, it was great to get some quality Aunt/niece time with her. I also had a great time with Jon and Emily, I value them getting to meet Maddie so much and they really loved on her (happy sigh)! Here are some great cousin pics from their house.





The next leg of the trip began with my dear friend/cousin-in-law Tyne picking me up in Mansfield and going to lunch with our former roommate Adrianne. We then went to College Station where I lived for 10 years before moving up to MT... 10 years, wow! We started with some Pho Johns and meeting Lenna Marie, the precious babe you see to the left, born to Ryan and Beth Evans. I was able to spend dinner that night and the next afternoon with them, dear sweet friends who I miss so much! I stayed with Matt and Christine Martin, ate lunch at Cheddars with Sarah Malone and Janine Kirk, ate dinner at La Bodega with Jarrod Edwards, George Ward and the Martins then spent some quality time with that group plus Scott and Katrina Westphal. Dear friends and great food with lots of laughs! Not as many pics as I would have wanted but that is traveling with a baby :) Due to the previously mentioned stomach bug Tyne was not able to participate in many of these things (truly sad) but at least we had time to really talk on the drive...







The next stop on our Texas tour was Longview. We stayed with my mother and were joined by Jon, Emily and their girls. We went to my Uncle's new restaurant, T. Blancos for dinner on Saturday night (if you are in the Longview area you should definitely check it out!), the ceviche was amazing and I know that Jeff cannot wait to try it out on our next visit. On Sunday my cousin Leigh, Tyne and my mother threw Maddie a baby shower and the whole family came over to meet her. Leigh made the best white (tinged with pink) cake with seven minute frosting and there were beautiful flowers and wonderful food. It was great to have the opportunity for my very large family to meet our sweet little Madeline Mae and they blessed us with sweet little outfits, books and gift cards. Thank you!! Jon and Emily left that night and gave my mother some good Grandma time with Madeline and good mother/daughter time with me for the next couple of days. While my mother was at work on Monday we went over to Leigh's house to eat and play for the day. We were then confined to my mother's house for 2 days while the three of us worked through our stomach issues... my mom took care of us just like she did when I was little and we were blessed to be at her house when that happened. Here are some pics from this leg of the journey.







Our last stop was at my brother Randy's house. We arrived there on Thursday and had some quality hang out time with my sister-in-law Emily and their children, Seth, Abigail and Levi. On Friday my mom arrived and we were able to celebrate her birthday with an apple cake that I fully intend to get the recipe for from Emily :) On Saturday we attended a carnival at Levi's preschool. It was very well done, a train, pony rides, jump houses and lots of little games, it was a great time! On Sunday we were able to just hang out and play some games. My nephews and niece have grown up so much, it was incredible to reflect back on the day they were born and then see the people they are becoming... makes me feel a little old :) I really enjoyed the time we spent together! On Sunday evening my good friend Jenn that I have know since high school came over and we attempted going to dinner together. Maddie Mae was having a rough time (I think that teething has begun) so dinner was cut short but it was wonderful to see her! Here are some pics from this part of our trip.













That is the tale of our journey to Tx. Tx will always feel like home in so many ways, but I missed Jeff so much... home really is wherever he is (cheesy but true). When we arrived he greeted us with dinner and an amazing surprise. Jeff's brother Tim came here for a week while we were gone and helped Jeff get work done on our master suite. It is looking so good! You can actually see what it is going to look like, it is an amazing and wonderful surprise. Here is the link to a video of where we are now upstairs if you want to see. Thanks for sticking with me on this long long post.