here's to one year

It has been a whole year since Austin and I vowed before God and everybody to love each other forever and ever.  It feels like it was just yesterday, but at the same time I can't even remember my life before marriage!  Of course I remember it, but it just seems like an eternity ago. 

It is crazy how much one year can change things.  I remember the first "meal" I ever cooked in our house.  I diced up chicken and cooked it in a pot on the stove with very little seasoning.  I think I made some instant mashed potatoes to go with it and Austin didn't eat it because he thought the chicken was raw!  I don't even know who that girl is anymore and why she was dicing up chicken for supper. 

The me before marriage would leave my leftover lunch in the fridge at work for days on end.  Whenever I finally did get my lunchbox from the fridge, I would leave it in my car for awhile. Sometimes I would eventually hide it or throw it away so I (my mom) wouldn't have to clean it. It wasn't just the dishes that I didn't think much of.  Whenever Austin came over to my house to see me, I remember him complaining sometimes because I would have so much stuff piled up on every surface of my room that he couldn't even sit down. 

A year ago, I could probably count on my fingers how many loads of clothes I had washed in my lifetime and probably wouldn't use a whole hand to count the meals I had prepared! But today-- 365 days later-- I can half way hold my own in the kitchen (Austin says I do not season anything), our house stays rather clean and I do laundry like it is my job.  I guess it is my job.  Except ironing-- I don't iron like it is my job.  I really despise ironing. 

Austin has always been very neat, clean and organized.  He thinks way ahead about everything and always has a plan.  He has always and probably will always have it all together.  A short time after we got married, we were laying in bed and I got up to get something to drink.  He hollered from the bedroom into the kitchen and told me to bring a napkin so that my cup wouldn't sweat on the furniture.  I couldn't help but laugh at what I had gotten myself into.  I love that he is like that and hate it all at the same time.  I am also aware that his tendencies may be rubbing off on me a little bit.  I drive myself absolutely crazy about some of the smallest things now.  I hate clothes being in the floor, knowing that dishes need to be unloaded from the dish washer, anything on the cabinets, dirt on the back porch, etc.  These are all things that the me before marriage would have never given a second thought. 

Whenever we were on our honeymoon, Austin was adamant about washing clothes in the room while we were in Hawaii.  He did so much laundry that we didn't take a dirty article of clothing home with us.  I remember wondering what in the world he was doing.  It did not even cross my mind to do laundry on our week long vacation & I did not understand why he was doing it.  But....on our latest trip, I had taken on his role and I made sure we didn't bring any dirty clothes home. 

I have always heard people say that whenever you have children, you just know what do.  You fall right into the roll of mom and go with it like you've been doing it your whole life.  I feel like that's kind of how being a wife happened with me.  Once it happened, I just knew what to do and now I don't really even know the person I was before.  I do know that she worried wayyyy less about trivial things like no clutter in her car and spotless floors.  I think it has a lot to do with these things being my own and wanting to take care of them.

While all of that sounds a bit uptight, Austin and I have had a whole lot of fun in our first year of marriage.  After we got married, people always asked "how's married life?!" I always responded- "it's fun!" And it is! It is so much fun.  I love coming home to Remus and Austin and Bandit and Daisy. I feel like being with Austin is my safe place!  Whenever I pull in at home after work, it's like I've reached the finish line or something. 

I am so thankful and so proud of the life Austin and I are building together.  It is a simple life, but it full of the purest kind of happiness.  A few months after we got married, I remember laying in bed one night and telling Austin that I was living the life I had always dreamed of. That is something super special.  

As cliche as it sounds, Austin is my best friend.  He can read my mind and he knows my quirks, but he loves me just the same!  Sometimes I wish I had a camera in our house to record some of the funny stuff we do!  If I feel like busting a move in the living room to no music at all, I do! And sometimes he pulls his pants up to his chest and walks funny just to make me laugh. We don't take things too seriously, and I love that!  

Don't get me wrong, there have been times throughout this year that I could have screamed because he was driving me absolutely nuts, but the good times far exceed the not so good.  

I am thankful to love and be loved by Austin Byrd, and I look forward to all that the Lord has planned for our future.  Good or bad, I know we will face it together.  

God is real good.

 

a year ago today

This post from Facebook came up on my memories today and I thought I would make it a blog post because I want to keep it forever!  

September 18, 2015

Whenever I was a little girl, I sat in one of the pews of this church with my head bowed & shyly raised my hand whenever our pastor asked if there was anybody in the room who felt like The Lord was calling them to be saved at the end of a week of VBS. In a room off the back of this church, I nervously said the sinner's prayer & committed my life to The Lord. Days later, I walked the aisle of this church & made public the decision I had made & in the evening service I was baptized & friends & family made a line and hugged my neck to welcome me to the family of God- something my eleven year old self had dreaded for days!

Over the last few years, I've slept in the pulpit of this church in a sleeping bag surrounded by youth, I've sat on the front steps of this church and taught Sunday school lessons because my crew wanted to have class outside, & I've danced around this church like a crazy person with vacation Bible schoolers.

I sat on the far right, second row of this church with Austin for years on Sunday mornings,( we recently moved to the back) & spent rides home from this church discussing what we got out of the day's message. I've seen myself and Austin both mature in our faith and understanding of who God is and the life He has called us to largely because of the influence of this church. 

And in this church tomorrow at 6:00, I will become Mrs. Austin Byrd & nothing makes my heart happier than that!

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church & in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:21

#lacyandaustin2015

Jackson Hole- Part 3

    On Wednesday morning, we were up for the third straight morning around 5am.  I struggle to get out of bed before 7:00 for work every morning.  I guess it was the adrenaline that kept me going.  I decided a shower was a good idea since we would probably be late getting back.  We gathered up our cameras, maps and snacks and we headed to Creekside Market a few miles up the road.  In all of the reading I had done before the trip, I found this little place.  It's a hole in the wall convenient store/deli and they open at 6am for people like us who were headed out to Yellowstone.  They'll fix you a mean sandwich for a pretty reasonable price.  I brought a lunchbox, so we put our cold drinks and sandwiches inside to save for a "picnic" in Yellowstone.

    Since the South entrance to Yellowstone was closed, we had to go through Idaho and Montana to get to the west entrance.  It took two and half hours to get there, but it was not an ugly drive.  I think Austin loved the scenery on the way as much as he did in the park.  There were miles and miles of land as far as you could see.  The man checking us out at Creekside warned us of road construction on our way into the park.  About an hour from the entrance, we passed a sign that said we could expect a one hour delay.  Ughhh.   Thankfully after ten minutes, we were moving again. 

Whenever we entered the park, everything was super smokey.  I was worried we may be breathing in smoke all day and I was about to choke.  I think this smoke was coming from controlled fires, but it was still pretty rough.  Super glad it didn't last long. Shortly after entering the park, we had spotted bison on the side of the road.  It was awesome!  The whole place just took my breath away.

     Since we knew our time was limited, we really tried to be particular about the places we stopped!  Our first big stop was at Old Faithful.  It killed our time!  We waited for it to go off for over an hour.  After arriving at the visitor center, they let you know an estimated time of the next time it will go off.  If I am being honest, there were a lot of other things in the park that I enjoyed more than Old Faithful.  Maybe it was the wait, I don't know!  Besides the wait, I was trying to record and by the time I had it on video, it was over.  Womp womp womp.  We got there super early so we had a good seat, but there were a ton of people watching Old Faithful with us.  The Old Faithful area is one of the most developed.  They have a visitor center there as well as places to eat and a lodge to stay at.  We should have checked out the lodge.  Maybe next time.  There were also a lot of other small geysers around the area that people were checking out while they waited on Old Faithful.  Austin and I were too busy holding our seat.  

Other big stops along the way included the Grand Prismatic and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  I have seen much better pictures of the Grand Prismatic, but this is the best we could do.  It is a body of water that is is bright blue with different colors around the outer rims.  

    The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was without a doubt our favorite stop.  We stopped at the first turn out that mentioned it, and whenever we got out the view was of just the waterfall.  I was pretty disappointed because I had seen pictures and knew there was a better view somewhere!  We set out to find it, and I am very glad we did. This was one of our last stops and I think Austin wanted to keep going and forget it.  I was right.

Oh and remember that picnic I mentioned?  That turned into sitting in the car near picnic tables.  We were hungry and hadn't seen a good place to stop for a few miles.  We finally decided to forget the picnic with a view and just pull over and eat the sandwiches.  There were some sketchy vehicles where we pulled in so we just stayed in the car.  #picnicfail

The whole park was absolutely stunning.  I am super glad we decided to take one day to see what we could of it.  We were also happy that we did it ourselves and didn't do a guided tour.  If we ever do it again, I think we will stay in the park for at least one night in order to give ourselves more time.  

We made it back to our room before dark and walked down to McPhail's Burgers just off of the square for supper.  Austin had a buffalo burger and I got a chicken sandwich.  Austin pretty much at burgers the entire time. 

    Thursday was our last day and since we had done a lot of what I wanted to do, we didn't set an alarm and were planning for it to be a little more laid back.  We were still up at 6am. That was fine by me because we got an early start at Grand Teton National Park.  GTNP is just a few miles up the road from the town of Jackson Hole.  Since we went early, I knew we were bound to see some animals. The place was BEAUTIFUL.  

We had a map with the top 10 things to see in GTNP and we hit all of the stops except Jenny Lake.  The lady at the visitor center told us there was some renovation going on there and parking was cramped.  I was okay with missing it because at this point I had seen a ton of pretty scenery and I didn't think there was much that could impress me more than what I had already seen.  GTNP took about half the day, and then we headed over to Teton Village to ride the tram.  We took a pig trail of a road to Teton Village.  At one point it was dirt and one lane.  Austin almost had a heart attack.  When we made it Teton Village, I bought the tickets for the tram online on my phone because it saved us $20.  Before we got out of the car, I started to tell Austin the real truth about the tram.  It is a popular attraction because when you get to the top, not only is the view spectacular, but there are lots of hiking trails.  Some folks like to do it because the tram takes you to the top and you hike down, making the hike not quite so hard to accomplish.  Austin informed me that he had no plans to hike and I could forget that!  After making it to the ticket line to redeem our vouchers, we spotted a map of the hiking trails available.  My plan was to take the tram up and hike 3.5 miles to the gondola to come down.  We both looked at the hiking map and I laughed until I couldn't stand up at the thought of how miserable Austin would probably be hiking 3.5 miles.  (We were delirious by this point.) I decided to let the hiking thing go and just make it to the top.  

Once we got on, the ride only took about 12 minutes.  It took my breath away a few times.  I think I may have a small fear of heights.  Once on top, the view was very much worth it.  It was awesome. I wanted to spend some time taking it in, so we found a super small loop to make before we headed back to the tram.  After our small loop, I was thanking my lucky stars we didn't hike.  Some of it was uphill, and that was killer.  Also, I almost busted my tail a few times.  I insisted we get the selfie stick out despite Austin's wishes.  He REALLY hates the selfie stick.  

This place is open for skiing during the winter.  After some discussion, we decided that Jackson Hole may not be a great place to ski for your first time.  Where are the beginner slopes?!  On the way up, our guide pointed out a mountain that expert skiers ski down.  It was a slope I doubt I could even walk down.

I think we did the "top of the world loop"- a whoppin .3 miles. 

A tram went back down the mountain every 15 minutes and I was practically running to make it.  I caught my breath on the way down and we found a spot close by for lunch.  I had cheese pizza and Austin had yet another burger.  

After lunch  we went back to the room and then headed to the square for ice cream and shopping.  I love the Jackson Hole square.  It is the cutest.  I took a picture with the stuffed moose the last time I was there, so I thought it was necessary I reenact that.  

I didn't buy anything at the candy shop but just being there made me happy.

Austin and I both picked out a tshirt and I got a Christmas ornament and magnet.  I am going to try to do that on all of our trips!  So far we have Hawaii and Jackson Hole.  I hope one day whenever I'm old and I put up my Christmas tree, I'll get out these ornaments and it'll make me happy.

After the downtown shopping, we went back to the room and relaxed for a short time.  We headed out to the Million Dollar Cowboy bar early to eat and then take dance lessons.  I was probably a little too excited about this.  Whenever we got back down to the square, a dinner theatre group was acting out a "shoot out" downtown.  The setting was perfect and it held our attention until it was over.  We got our picture made in front of these antlers that are at each corner of the square and then went onto the bar for supper.  

 Whenever the class got started, lots of couples made their way to the dance floor.  We first learned swing dancing.  These folks were not playing and really wanted you to learn!  It was quite informative, but since we haven't practiced I don't know if we will even remember what we learned!  All I know is I had a ball.  There were several men and a lady teaching.  If they saw you having trouble, the lady would take Austin and the man would take me.  They would work with us a little bit and then put us back together.  After the swing dancing, things started to get a little crowded.  We didn't catch onto the two step quite as well because there were so many people.  Austin was a trooper, and I was super proud.  He really did just as good or better than I did at catching on!  When the band started up, we went out and showed off our newly learned moves.  Everybody was doing the two step and swing dancing on the dance floor.  There was no swaying back and forth.  We tried to fit right in! ;)  Whenever 11:00 rolled around, I was almost sleep in my chair and we decided to walk back to the room.

We slept later the next morning than we had been and then got our things together to head to the rental car lot for a shuttle to the airport.  BUT, not before we hit up McDonald's for some chicken nuggets.  Yes, we went on vacation and ate at McDonald's.  The Jackson Hole airport is super little so there weren't many eating options.  We made it in plenty of time to the airport this time, and waited to board.

All went well on our first flight and then we got delayed a few times in Dallas.  I'm not sure if I'll ever get Austin on a plane again after our missed flight and the delays coming home.  It doesn't bother me much to hang out in an airport.  I got baskin robbins ice cream and then hit up the candy store for some jelly beans.  I was pretty happy.  Austin isn't really a sit in the airport kind of guy.  I guess we will find out how serious he is about the airport the next time I get ready to go somewhere.  

Words and pictures really fall short whenever it comes to describing a place like this.  It was a great trip and I hope we will make it back to Jackson Hole one day, even if we are old and retired.  

Jackson Hole- Part 2

Our flight to Dallas was only about an hour and 15 minutes, and we had a short layover.  We left Dallas on a really big plane that was about half full.  Austin and I had three seats for the two of us, so that was nice!  I really wanted to sleep, but sleeping on trips isn't priority and the screen in front of me had Tetris.  It took around 2 and half hours to get from Dallas to Wyoming.  Whenever we landed in Jackson Hole, we got out on the tarmac and it was cold.  I knew instantly that I probably didn't pack appropriately.  We waited on our luggage and then found the shuttle to the rental car dealership.  Whenever I booked the rental car, I didn't realize it was offsite.  That was a little inconvenient but whatever.

After convincing the lady behind the desk that we did not want the rental car insurance for $30 extra per day, we drove away in a white Equinox.  We quickly found our resort and checked into our room around 11:00pm, Jackson Hole time.  The time difference was one hour, so it was midnight at home.  We stayed at The White Buffalo Club.  I searched the internet over trying to decide on where to stay.  I picked the White Buffalo Club because it is conveniently located a few blocks from the town square, the room had a washer and dryer (score), kitchen, living area, and from my understanding, they also provided a free shuttle. I beg to differ on the free shuttle, but that is neither here nor there. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures at all of the resort or our room.  It was super nice, but not somewhere I would stay again if we ever go back to Jackson Hole.  Honestly, I didn't see anywhere I would like to stay except a few cabins on the side of a mountain.  All of the resorts are right in town.  Our resort looked "rustic" from the outside, but on the inside it was just like any other room I've ever stayed in.  It was very nice, clean and modern.  Whenever I think Jackson Hole, I imagine being on the side of the mountain with a fantastic view and not a soul in sight.  Next time, I'll skip the resort and close to town convenience and probably rent off of VRBO.

After getting settled in, Austin and I both were super ill, tired and ready for bed.  We enjoyed what little sleep we got and woke up at the crack of dawn.  Our scenic float trip was scheduled to meet at 5:50 about 20 minutes from our room.  We were up at 5:00am.  Waahhh.  In hindsight, we probably shouldn't have done the sunrise float trip on day one, but I thought maybe that would lift our spirits after such a rough start!  Austin is a morning person anyway, and we were given a better chance of seeing animals on the trip at sunrise than any other time.

I booked the trip trough Solitude Float Trips.  Whenever we met the people who would be floating with us, I knew quick I was under dressed.  They looked like they were ready for a blizzard.  We took about a 10 minute drive up the road to get to where we would put the float in at.  On our way, we spotted a moose so that was really neat!  When we got to the location, they gave each of us a life vest, which I was happy to wear (hello extra layer).  We got in the float and got ready to sit back and soak it all in.  It was BEAUTIFUL.

Austin spotted a few deer before our guide did.  He has a lot of experience in that.  Other than a few deer, the only other animal we saw was a coon.  Those are obviously a rare species to some folks.  We did see a few cute little ducks.  Animals or not, it was still enjoyable.  

  We talked with the people in our boat enough to get a little information about the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone.  I had noticed a sign at the airport whenever we arrived about the South Entrance at Yellowstone being closed.  I panicked a little but they let us know that there was an alternate route, so that put our questions to rest.  After leaving the scenic float, we went back to the room to take a nap. I was quite reluctant about the nap, but I knew we needed some rest to make the remainder of the day a little more fun.  

  After we napped, I called and booked a reservation for us to go to the Bar T 5 covered wagon cookout that night and then we walked into town.  We had lunch at the Million Dollar Cowboy bar and then walked a ways to the visitor center.  We had asked a few people about going to Yellowstone and they were just no help.  Our concierge printed us a google map.  Not helpful.  Austin was a little uptight with the whole idea.  On vacations with my family, everybody is super laid back.  If you get lost, so what.  I am learning quickly that Austin is not that way.  He didn't know where he was or where he was going and he was stressed.  Thankfully the visitor center provided us with a detailed map of Yellowstone as well as Grand Teton National Park.  The map provided must-see locations, and was very informative.  Thank you, visitor center.  I think we both felt a lot more confident in what we were doing when we left there.  

   After the visitor center we went back to the room to freshen up and get ready for the covered wagon cookout.  I had read a ton of reviews, and this was one of the 3 things I knew I wanted to do on the trip.  The wagons picked us up about 5 minutes from the room.  We were assigned wagons and table numbers.  There were two couples in our group who were super sweet and we enjoyed getting to know them.  One was celebrating 27 years of marriage and the other had been married for 49 years.  They both enjoyed giving us their marriage advice.  Buck and Shot were the 2K pound horses pulling our wagon.  We rode about 20 minutes to the "camp" where we would have dinner and a show.  Dinner included BBQ chicken, roast beef, corn, rolls, salad and a brownie.  It was yummy.  After dinner, we enjoyed a show that reminded me a lot of back home.  There was a lot of pickin' and grinnin' and Austin and I love that.  We did have a bluegrass band at our wedding reception.  The show was a little cheezy, but fun and I managed to be pulled in as a "volunteer."  Austin was videoing it, so there are no pictures of my 10 seconds.  

We left on the wagon around 6:00 and got back to our car at 8:30. We went back to the room and called it an early night so we could get up bright and early for our 14 hour adventure in Yellowstone!

Jackson Hole- Part 1

We flew into the Jackson (MS) airport around 9:00 last night and I have spent the day unpacking our stuff, reading a book I started on the trip and sitting in the recliner catching up on Bachelor in Paradise!  I am TIRED!  I explained to Austin the difference in a vacation and a trip whenever we were gone.  On a vacation, you relax, sleep late, and get rejuvenated!  On a trip, you see everything you came to see, take in the destination and explore!  Lets just say we went on a trip.  No rest for the weary.  The next time we leave Leake county, it will be for a vacation, per Austin's request.

Straight talk- the trip started out really bad.  We debated taking our vehicle to the airport or my parents dropping us off and coming back to get us. We decided to save the $$ it would cost to leave our vehicle at the airport and take advantage of the convenience of someone just dropping you off at the front door.  Austin drives to Jackson everyday, and he thought leaving my parents' house at 6:00am Monday morning would get us to the airport in plenty of time for our 8:15am flight.

Monday morning rolled around, and we had no problem getting up. I packed some last minute things and found myself still drying my hair whenever we needed to be leaving.  Drying my hair put us 10 minutes late getting to my parents' house.  So we left Edinburg at 6:10am.  Still plenty of time to get to the airport, right?!  Side note-- I had just gotten a short hair cut a few days prior or I would have totally been okay with leaving home with a wet head.  A few miles down the road, we realized that I had left my camera's zoom lense behind.  It was at mom's because I never got it whenever I moved out.  We turned around to go get it.  That delayed us another (almost) 10 minutes. This is the point where I can blame being late on someone else!  If we didn't have time, why did they let me suggest we turn around for a camera lense?! My daddy was driving and he thought it would be faster to go through Forest and try to miss the 8:00 traffic on Lakeland Drive.  Long story short, road construction and an insane amount of traffic backed up caused us to get to the airport at 7:55-only 20 minutes before our flight left.  I was SICK whenever I realized the reality of the situation!  I had booked the trip through Expedia, and I really wasn't sure that our credit for the flight would transfer because the flight was non-refundable.

We jumped out of the vehicle in a hurry and got to the front desk.  (I was super relieved we had someone dropping us off at this point.)  I told the lady behind the desk that our flight was at 8:15 and asked if we were going to make it.  Without hesitation, she said "no mam."  Heart sank.  Since I had checked-in online, we heard them giving a last call for us over the speakers.  Obviously, we could have made it on board if we had not had a bag to check.  They quickly gave us the option of taking a flight at 4:00 that afternoon out of Jackson (MS). I was super thankful that we would still make it to Jackson Hole that day, but pretty bummed that we would be arriving at 10:00pm instead of 1:00pm. We took our new boarding passes and headed outside to call my mom.

My parents had already told us they were going to stay close by because they knew there was a pretty big possibility of us missing the flight.  I called mom and they circled back around to pick us up at the front door.  I am really glad my parents were with us.  If they hadn't been, I'm scared  Austin and I would have killed each other!  We were really frustrated, disappointed, etc but at the same time, trying to laugh it off!

After leaving the airport, we went to Chick-Fil-A and got breakfast.  We obviously had plenty of time to spare.  We made a return to Belk for mom and went to the Wildlife and Fisheries building for my daddy.  In the meantime, I was booking a rental car and the scenic float trip for the next morning since there would be no time to spare once we got there. After walking around Bass Pro and getting lunch at Applebees, they dropped us back off at the airport in more than enough time to catch our flight.  I'm pretty sure we will never be late for another flight, good Lord willing. ** I would like to take this time to thank my parents for always having my back and spending practically their entire day in Jackson hanging out with me and Austin.

Pictured is airport drop off, Take 2.  There were no time for pictures on the first go round.

To be continued... 

Jackson Hole 2006

In a few weeks, Austin and I are flying out to Jackon Hole, Wyoming.  I hope it looks just like it does in the picture above.   Jackson Hole was in our top three or so for honeymoon destinations, but ultimately I was pretty set on Hawaii.  I knew we would make our way to Jackson Hole sometime or another!  Ten years ago (whoa) my family took a trip to Jackson Hole that we still talk about today. So in honor of our upcoming vacation, I thought I would backtrack and share some pictures of my Family Thanksgiving Vacation 2006!

This is baby Jake about to board what was not his first flight, because I remember us going to Disney whenever he was smaller than this!  We flew out of Jackson and had two layovers.  From what I remember, one of them was in Salt Lake City, Utah.  

This is Kea, Landon and I at the resort before heading out into the cold.  We stayed at the Snow King resort in Jackson Hole.  Something fell through with the room we had booked, so we were upgraded.  I don't recall ever staying in a room so nice!  I remember a big long table that we had shrimp at for Thanksgiving Dinner.  

We spent some time in downtown Jackson Hole checking out the town square.  The Jackson Hole town square is super cute! I would describe it as a cowboy town!  

I obviously found some stuffed wildlife and stopped for the photo op.

We rented a vehicle and drove for miles and miles.  The scenery was reallllly pretty.  We drove up to Yellowstone, but it was closed due to the cold weather.

We stopped whenever we saw something worth getting out for and for the big animals (that I don't remember what they're called) crossing the road.

One afternoon we went to a big hill that had snow on it and "sledded."  We originally took the trip as a ski trip, and whenever we got there they had not had enough snow for us to ski.  My daddy was not excited about the idea of skiing and considered this a blessing.  It saved him some $$ on not only the expense of skiing, but also some doctor bills (according to him).  

Aside from scenic drives, sledding, ice skating and shopping on the town square, we spent a lot of time doing this:

That's me texting on my pink Sliver that I thought was the bomb.com.  I was probably talking to Austin.  Around the time of this trip is when Austin and I became such good "friends"... This was Thanksgiving of my senior year of high school.  A few people in the family joked that he should have come with us because they felt like he was with us anyway.  I felt like they kind of got to know Austin on that trip because I spent so much time talking to him.   But we were just friends, yall.  (side note-the following October is when we started officially dating) 

I'm not sure how you go on vacation with your family of ten and not get a picture of everyone.  My photography skills were lacking.  I am thankful for the pictures I do have and even more so than that, the experience!  I LOVE traveling and I LOVE my family, but I love nothing in the world more than traveling with my family.  That's another post for another day.

Since Austin and I are going in summer, I have a feeling it's going to be completely different than this winter trip with my family!  We are planning to take a scenic float down the Snake River, try our hand at a Texas Two-Stepping class (OMG I'm so excited), take in the sights of Yellowstone, have a chuck wagon dinner and enjoy some time off the grid!  Expect that on my next blog post ;)

The Fair 2016

The Fair is an annual event that is always much anticipated for Austin's family and mine. Once upon a time, I got SUPER excited about the fair. I spent my fair days sleeping and the nights a lot like this..
I didn't even realize that life went on outside of the Neshoba County Fairgrounds. Something about being at the fairgrounds makes you forget that real life is happening out there. I guess that is what so many people love about it.

The first time I ever missed any part of the fair was back in my college years whenever I was taking a summer class at MSU.  I thought it was the end of the world that I missed Fri-DAY and made it in on Friday night.  From what I remember, I skipped the majority of the next week.

I think we took these pictures after my Friday evening arrival during the Fair of 2011.

Since then, I obviously enjoy the fair, but I also semi-participate in life outside the gate. Last year, the fair was a little off for me and Austin because we were doing what we could to help get our house ready by September 19th (our wedding day) and.... priorities.  Last year's fair looked a lot like this...

We were both really excited to have some time off this year to enjoy the fair and spend uninterrupted time with the people we love.  On Friday night, we took family pictures at the Byrd's. I took the opportunity to get a few pictures of me and Austin.

Friday after our picture, Ally Byrd wanted to walk with me and Austin down to the rodeo, and that she did.  Afterwards, we took her to the camper to visit with my family, back to the midway to Allen and Jamie to ride and play games, and we rounded out the night with a short visit to the pavilion where Southbound was playing. The next morning, Tiffany asked her if she danced and she said, "I was almost about to fall asleep."

I went to the flea market with the Dowell's on Saturday, and took no pictures.  #bloggerfail
Mattie Kate walked with me and Austin to the rodeo on Saturday night and we laid low since we were planning to make it to Sunday School on Sunday.  By laid low, I mean we went to bed at midnight. On Sunday, we came home for Sunday School and church and spent Sunday night at home. Bandit and Daisy were super excited to see us.  They have my heart!

Austin and I both worked on Monday, and went back to the fairgrounds Monday afternoon.  We kidnapped Joy and took her to the camper for a little while.

Mattie went to the pageant with me, and afterwards we hit the midway.  We found Ally Byrd and they had a lot of fun! After we left Ally, I bought some tickets and rode with Mattie until the SeaRay made me sick.  There is a first time for everything!  After I got nauseated, she did the trampoline, picked up some ducks and we called it a night!

We worked again on Tuesday and made it back in time to hear Donald Trump, Jr speak at the grandstand.  It was HOT.

These two formed a sweet little friendship.  Instead of Mattie Kate, Ally says Mattie Cake and it is the cutest!  On Tuesday night, we found ourselves back on the Midway!  Austin wanted Mattie to ride with him on the bumper cars, but she refused.

We enjoyed the rest of the week off from work. We stayed up late, played cards on the porch, danced at the pavilion, watched the horse races and went to see Jana Kramer and the Charlie Daniels Band.  As we were watching the fireworks on the last Friday night, I got in my feelings about what a special place the fair is for so many people.  With all of the bad stuff going on in the world, it's nice to just escape to a place like the fairgrounds where life slows down and everybody spends time with the ones they love. The Fair is different than it once was for me, but I think I'll always love the tradition. I'm thankful for the memories I've made on the fairgrounds, new and old.  Until next year!