fredricksburg

last week dustin and i headed to fredricksburg on thursday morning. 

the kids stayed with big daddy & much and pops & meems while we were gone.  they were bouncing off the walls all morning while we got packed and loaded up.  they couldn't WAIT for much to come get them.  

dustin and i always miss them wayyyy more than they miss us.  :]



it’s about a six to seven hour drive to fredricksburg from home.  that’s only about half way across texas.  crazy how you can drive fourteen hours and still be in the same state. 



our flat and dusty roads turned a little greener and little more hilly and more and more trees everywhere.  it really is so pretty in central texas.  green grass.  flowers in the ditches.  hugeeee oak trees.  but it’s also hot and humid as crap.  so … ya.

random picture of my feet.  i get bored.  



we made it to the cute little town and found where we were staying.  it was called Main Street Bed and Breakfast and it was adorable.  right on main street where we could walk to all the little shops.  and then right below it was a little sandwich shop and bakery.  so, we put our stuff up in our room and then ran down for a cupcake and cookies since it was a while before dinner.  and someone, ahem dustin, didn’t eat lunch when i did and was hungry.  no complaints though … that cupcake was delish.



we didn’t have any wedding stuff to do until friday night.  so we shopped around thursday afternoon.  drove around the area.  walked through a little farmer’s market.  had dinner at a german restaurant … fredricksburg is a little german town and they have lots of german food.  and then sat outside for a little while listening to a musician play. 






this was my german dinner.  i have no idea what it was called but it was some sort of pork chop with mushroom gravy stuff.  it was pretty good!





this was our bed and breakfast … cute, right?



friday morning we got up fairly early and made our way to the Trade Days.  it was filled with tonssss of old stuff and new stuff and handmade stuff and junk and such nice people.  it was super hot outside and we were glad that we got there early.  so we shopped around til after lunch sometime and then headed back to town.



we stopped at Das Peach Haus for some fresh peaches … SO good!



and then walked across the street from our hotel so that dustin could tour the National Museum of the Pacific War … which, honestly, is not really my thing but it turned out to be pretty interesting.  he loveddd it though!



after the museum we were nice and sweaty from our hot day of walking a million miles.  so we ran back to the hotel and showered before we had to be in luckenbach for the wedding rehearsal. 

luckenbach.  made famous, i guess by the willie nelson song … “going to luckenbach texas with waylon and willie and the boyssss”.  or maybe willie was made famous by the song.  haha!  i don’t really know. 

whichever.  luckenbach.  was off the main road on a little winding dirt road.  there was a dance hall and some bathrooms.  and you bought t-shirts in the post office.  so i don’t know if that was the post office or not.  there was a big longhorn that you could take pictures with.  and roosters just running around loose.  like right by your feet.  and apparently the roosters were named.  so … ya.  it was … different.





the wedding was in a big grassy field under a hugeeee oak tree.  it really was beautiful.  and we were in the shade.



so they got all rehearsed up.  and then we headed back into fredricksburg for the rehearsal dinner.  more german food.  i ordered a club sandwich.  haha!  which was far from german, but still delicious. 

the best man and the groom … dustin & randy.  bff’s forever ... haha!



dustin and randy were at station 8 together until they both promoted to drivers and had to go to different stations.  sad day for them.  but i'm glad that they’ve remained friends. 

friday night was fun.  after supper we all went out and met some other friends of randy and megan’s til way too late for me.

saturday morning dustin woke up pretty early and went out to luckenbach to help with wedding stuff.  i slept in and since i was stuck in town without a car i just walked and shopped and walked and shopped some more.  i stopped for a sandwich at lunch.  then shopped a little more.



i pretty much was a bum all day.  but i did make it to the wedding in time.  early, actually.

it was a beautiful day.  overcast.  not too hot.  dustin looked handsome.  the wedding was nice.  lots of friends and family.  i didn’t know a soul … well, except dustin and randy … but everyone was so friendly!  it really was a happy day for randy and megan.











dustin giving his best man speech.  he was SO nervous.  but he did really well.  and not too many can say that they got to stand on the stage in luckenbach. 



mr. and mrs. lammons … their first dance as a married couple.



and us.  strapless dresses … always make you look like a crazy naked person in pictures.



the wedding was beautiful and fun!  we wish megan and randy a lifetime of happiness!

and clean-up crew.  worst part of weddings!



we were out wayyy too late saturday night, too.  but we woke up bright and early sunday morning and started the long drive home.  west texas welcomed us back with lots of blowing dirt sunday.  thanks west texas!  missed you, too.

we had a blast but it sure was good to see that flat land again. 



mainly because i knew i was a little closer to these TWO goobers!  we missed them like crazy.



they said they didn’t miss us though.  HAHA.  it was probably all that bike riding and flower planting and movie watching that they were doing with grandparents while were gone.  thanks guys … they had a blast with y’all!

mother’s day

sunday was filled with lots of HAPPY MOTHER’S DAYs. 
coffee and cake with my mom and granny. 
supper with dustin’s mama and family.
tight hugs and kisses.
two sweet, little canvases … a flower and a bouncing octopus. 
cards.  and sweet gifts.
an awesome sermon based off deuteronomy 6 … the love the lord your god with all of your heart and your soul and your strength and repeat these commands to your children when you are walking and when you are getting up and when you are going to sleep verse.

it was just a good, good day. 



these two goobers … who would i be without them?



watching them grow and laugh and learn and play and love is definitely the ultimate highlight of my life.

feeling so blessed.

and thankful. for my own mom and mother-in-law.  my granny.  my nana.  my sisters and sister-in-law.  and all of my friends that i get to be a mom along side. 

and then praying. for a mom from my little town who is laying her six-year old son to rest today ... i truly cannot fathom her pain.  for my sister-in-law, lisa, as she cares for my little nephew for the next six weeks while his broken leg heals.  for my friend, steph, as she waits to go get her daughter in korea next month.  for the women that want nothing more than to be moms and just can’t.  for the brave women that choose life for their children but know that they can’t raise them.  and for those that are choosing to raise them.

being a mom is hard.  and it’s amazing.  somehow.  all at once.

♥

i officially celebrated mother’s day #5 yesterday.  so here’s a look back …

2009. 

2010. 

2011.

2012. 

2013.  feeling more blessed than ever!

happy mother’s day, friends!

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.  And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.  Repeat them again and again to your children.  Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

instafriday

crazy week and lots of instagram pics!

saturday morning … amy is officially a LCU grad!  lookin’ cute in blue and yellow …



we had a little graduation party at mom’s afterwards … complete with cupcakes and picture napkins!  so of course, she had to tuck herself into her shirt.  duh.



lots of turquoise and yellow and and tissue balls and chevron and bunting.  just because.  :]



and wrestling with luke in the living room.  because that’s what luke does best.  get them all riled up and then leave to go hang out with his friends.  it’s awesome.



the remainder of saturday was spent doing absolutely nothing.  thankfully.  i needed a night of nothing-ness. 

however, dustin did try out some weird man project that he saw on, ahem, pinterest.  a fire pit made out of the inside of a washing machine.  don’t ask me where he got the inside of a washing machine … i have no clue.  you know that it worked great when he used a whole bottle of lighter fluid. 



i was crackin’ up at haden’s hands on his hips … it’s serious when he does that.



then later dj and dustin were talking outside on the porch and these three kiddos were running around like crazy when it got a little chilly outside.  so they came in and we ate popcorn and watched Super Why while the boys chatted.  obviously it was a riveting episode of Super Why.



sunday was church.  then we ate mexican food for lunch with some friends for cinco de mayo.  i ran to the grocery store.  cleaned up the house. prepared for discipleship.  dustin went to work.  me and kids went back to church.  came home.  ate a quick supper.  then prayers, kisses and bed time.

big hugs before bed … 



monday morning.  all ready to go to dylan and kyndal’s house with miss mary. 



a little rain!  so nice.  so needed.



then tuesday evening we ran to lubbock to see amy’s new big girl apartment … we loved her balcony ... and her blue bubblegum!  ate supper with daddy.  then he took the kids home and me and amy ran to see my aunt in the hospital.  dad’s sister, bev, had a stroke last week unexpectedly … but she’s doing really well in therapy and is expected to make a full recovery.  thankfully!



wednesday was fun day at masyn’s preschool.



then bunny holding and playing outside that afternoon while i worked on mother’s day gifts.





then, thursday.  ugh.  how i don’t love you thursday.

it started out pretty good.  me and lisa made supper for a little family that just had a baby boy.  while it was cooking the kids rode their scooters and drew on the sidewalk.  it was so pretty out.





the family that we took the supper to lives just right across the street from pops and meems so afterwards we walked over there.  the kids were jumping on the trampoline when dylan fell weird and broke. his. femur. 

it. was. horrible. 

i have watched that moment and heard that sound over and over and over in my head.  i hope that as long as i live i never have to hear that sound again.  ever.  

ever, ever, ever.   

but that kiddo is the absolute toughest kid!  he hardly cried while dustin and dj loaded him up in the ambulance to take him to the hospital.

he had surgery this morning and will be in a spica cast … from his foot to the middle of his chest … for the next six weeks.

so please, please, please pray for my sweet nephew, dylan, and his parents while they try to keep him comfortable so his leg can heal. 

then later that night miss mary, our babysitter’s, father-in-law and a six year old boy were killed in a car accident. 

a six year old boy, y’all.

many of my friends are teachers and have had gabriel and his older sister in their class.  each one of them talked about how sweet he was, how he had the best smile, how much he and his sister loved one another and just how devastated she is. 

today i couldn’t watch masyn and haden play and giggle without tearing up and just thinking and praying for his family, and especially his sister.

life.  it’s just so hard sometimes. 

and i suppose our weeks will always be full of sidewalk chalk days and heartbreak days. 

The sun comes up
Its a new day dawning
Its time to sing your song again
What ever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

10,000 Reasons

so, today i am thankful for a new week.