Family fun

Last week my parents and sister came to the ranch to play and boy did we have fun!! They arrived Tuesday night and we woke up Wednesday going full steam ahead. It was so wonderful to be with my family, I miss living in the same town as them so much. They were such a huge help with Parker, thank you, thank you!! It was nice to have my hands free for a while! ;) Luke and Meredith's family came out for the weekend so we got to have fun with them as well!

Here are some pics from our week...

By the way, if you are looking for pics from our Possum Kingdom trip, so sorry. I did not take ONE picture. Shame on me! We were around the water and in and out of the boat way too much to drag my camera around! :) Rest assured we had a great time and got some great water skiing in!

Love the hair!!

Not sure why Waco chose to lay on the hot concrete as opposed to swimming in the pool!?

Big splashes in the little pool!

He LOVES the water if you can't tell!

Here is sister doing what she does best! :) She has no idea I took this!

Sleepy boy

Cuddle time in the hammock. There are some serious naps that take place in this hammock!

Parker swimming with Neesie and Grandad

Kisses to Neesie

Four wheeling with Aunt Sissy

Already sucking his thumb and ready to call it a day. All that playing is hard work!

I love my sister!

Me and my little man

All grins with Neesie!

I can push this jogger all by myself!

Swimming with Grandad

We were trying out this little ring float but he didn't like it too much. I think it's because it was pink!

Goldfish break!

Look at those teeth coming in!!

Cruisin' the pool furniture

These storm clouds rolled in on Friday night and they looked incredible!

Saturday morning the boys shot skeet on the dam of the lake.

Here is dad in the middle of a shot.

Lindsey getting pointers from dad. She had a great shot. I on the other hand hate guns and refuse to shoot. I don't like the way it kicks my shoulder...I'm a self proclaimed sissy when it comes to guns! :)

Go Lindsey!

James

Luke

Parker had so much fun playing with his cousins at the pool!

Katherine, Faith and Adelynn (Luke and Meredith's girls) riding their "boat".

Me and Lindsey with Faith, Parker, Katherine and Blake

This giant green slide is hilarious! We blew it up on Saturday and had a ball sliding down it into the pool! The adults even had fun with it!

Wee!

Another birthday weekend

This past weekend we went back out to the ranch to celebrate Liesl's birthday (James's cousin). The whole Austin fam was there along with Liesl's boyfriend, Sloan, her roomate, Hannah, and Hannah's boyfriend, Ross. We had a great time!

On Friday night after dinner, we played tennis until midnight and then went swimming until 1 am. We had plenty of pool time and of course awesome food. That place is so relaxing but somehow I always come home needing a nap for several days! :) As usual, I didn't take near enough pictures!

Parker's first trip to the Redriver Steakhouse.

I use the term "steakhouse" loosely. This is a cool barn restaurant in McLean, TX about 14 miles from the ranch. It's basically the only place to eat nearby and the Austin family has been going there forever. The food is great and the beef is very fresh! :)

Celebrating Liesl's birthday Friday night.

There is a live band in the background and Parker kept turning around in his high chair to watch them play. I think he likes guitars!

Waiting on his steak...just kidding! He had a grilled cheese and cucumbers off my salad! :)

A beautiful evening Friday night.

The men eating, I mean cooking the bacon.

The hot cook! :)

If you look closely, you can see duck tape on Ruben's rubber boot. A deer blind fell on them last weekend and sliced it, good thing his foot wasn't hurt!

I think he likes the tape look, it goes with the boots, the hat and glasses! If you can't tell from Ruben's outfit, he's quite the funny guy... he keeps us laughing for sure!

Hanging out with Hannah on the porch waiting for breakfast.

Love those baby blues!

Big yawn, it was only 9 am but we had been playing hard already!

Playing with Ruben's cool cowboy hat!

Playing with Uncle Luke

The guitar behind Luke is what Sloan gave Liesl for her birthday. Sloan is next to the guitar.

That was fun!

We are off to Possum Kingdom Lake this coming weekend to water ski with friends, pictures to come!!

Parker's first birthday: Part two

The fun continued through the weekend celebrating Parker's first birthday! We headed out to the ranch on Friday and my parents, grandparents and Ryan and his family drove up from Dallas for the fun! It was so special having them all there!

James's family was there as well, we had the whole gang!! It was the most beautiful weekend, not too hot, sunny and just perfect! Not only did we celebrate Parker, but we had plenty of pool time, riding four wheelers, games in the evenings and of course, tons of food!! It was a fabulous weekend!

My birthday boy eating his first "Flinson". A family recipe that is like a cross between a pancake and a crepe. It's tradition to have them on Saturday mornings.

Everyone just hung out and played Saturday morning. This is Leah with her eye on the pool!

And there she goes!

Bad shadows I know, but here is Mema and Papa enjoying the arbor by the pool.

Me and my sweet mom

Ryan and mom

Ruben and Olivia

Their little "bunny" is due August 4th!

My water dog doing her laps in the pool. She gets in and swims laps back and forth from end to end. She is part otter I always tell her.

Dad filling up the basketball goal...some serious games take place in this pool!

For the birthday lunch we had grilled chicken sandwiches on ciabatta rolls with basil pesto, roasted red bell peppers and avocado...a delicious sandwich if I do say so myself! :)

Love the colors of the fruit salad

Sweet boy enjoying his lunch

Mommy and daddy with the birthday boy

The little barnyard cake and cupcakes I made!

This picture cracks me up! It's like he's licking his chops and knows exactly what his plan of attack is going to be! By the end of this whole deal, we were all laughing until we were crying!

A little dip of the finger and taste of icing.

Forget using my hands...

I'm going for it!!

Awesome!

I'd say he enjoyed every single bite!

We went straight to the bath tub after this!

I have video of this...does anyone know how to take video from my little Sony camcorder and put it on my blog??

Present time!

It was really me doing all the opening, Parker was busy chewing on the cards and playing with the bows!

Parker and Leah having some serious fun in their own little pool!

They provided some great entertainment for everyone! :)

This was Mema and Papa's first trip to the ranch, it was so much fun having them there to join in on the fun!

Cute Mema in the mule.

James, Ruben and Steve launching the canoe into one of the ponds.

A Saturday at the ranch can't be complete without a project!

Wee! Ruben looks a little scared going in!

One of the overflow pipes was clogged, James was trying to unclog it with a pool pole...he was successful!

Mom, Carrie, Mema and Leah watching the fun!

Sweet niece!

Neesie and her grandbabies.

The ranch house

I love how green everything is! The ranch has had 16 inches of rain since the beginning of the year!

View of the pool house from the ranch house yard.

Parker and Friday watching all the action! He will be on a tractor or mower helping out before I can blink an eye. :(

Hot hubby on the tractor