"Aunt Sissy" is My Name

And Spoiling is My Game

JUNE 15-18, 2014

Lubbock, TX 

Sunday, June 15th

Happy Father's Day Chris! We love you! Today is Father's Day and we are getting in the car to drive 9+ hours to Lubbock, TX to see our new niece Madisyn Maelyn (and her parents of course)! We had been planning this trip for about 3 months and the time had finally come to get in the car and make it happen.

We left at about 9 o'clock and within 20 minutes we had to make a pit-stop... FOR ME! Chris and I were still drinking tons of water and despite being close to home, we went ahead and stopped. Then we pushed on to get to just south of Dallas for a Rest-Stop. This was a very well kept Rest-Stop and I was impressed with the cleanliness of it. We made a few more stops to get food and let the kids stretch their legs before we made it to Lubbock around 6:15.

Our first pit-stop just south of Dallas! The kids were doing great! 

As soon as we got there I immediately went inside to take over of the "holding and spoiling" duty. In fact, I don't think I even said hello to John or gave him a hug... I just went straight to the baby! Sorry John and Leeanna (But you better get used to it). After unloading the car, Chris, the kids and John went exploring  to see what was out there. Chris and Natalie even found a horny toad.

Natalie and daddy went exploring the West Texas countryside and found a horny toad! 

Aunt Sissy is here! Wow... This was so much better than I expected! I love this little girl so much! 

Natalie's first time holding Madisyn! She absolutely loved this girl! 

Monday, June 16th

Today we went into town so John and Leeanna needed to go and weigh Madisyn at the Women's Hospital. After that they took us on a short tour of the growing Lubbock town and even took us by the beautiful campus of Texas Tech. I have been to this campus numerous times including 2 times while I was in the PRIDE of Oklahoma Marching Band. It really is a beautiful campus and I enjoyed looking at it once more.

After that we  decided to eat at Chick-fil-A and then head on over to Legacy Park, which was a HUGE and elaborate park and playground for kids. John and Chris took the kids to the playground while Leeanna, Madisyn and I went to Target to get some things we forgot to bring with us. The kids (and the boys) were worn out and hot after about an hour so we decided to head home after a short pit-stop at a Lubbock tradition of Bahama Bucks (a fancified Sno-Cone Shack).

Luke kept saying "my mommy" and was pretty jealous most of the time but he finally came around. "love baby 'Mads'" as he would say! So cute! 

We then prepared for the cookout John had been planning! This was pretty neat because I am not the camping kind and have not really experienced this type cooking. Chris's Uncle and Aunt Bill and Brenda joined us as well as Leeanna's parents! This made the evening EXTRA special. We began by cooking the hotdogs over the open fire. This seemed to take a lot longer than I would have thought but they tasted good nonetheless. Luke really enjoyed this but his was COVERED in dirt and ash from the fire by the time it was all said and done.

Natalie having fun with uncle Bill and Aunt Brenda. 

It's time to roast some weenies. 

Everyone gathered around the fire!

Daddy trying to teach Luke how to roast the weenies... Notice his is in the ash! Poor guy... We cooked one for him in the microwave! 

After we cooked the hotdogs we waited for the 20-25 mph winds to die down before we attempted to roast our marshmallows for the S'Mores. Once again, this is something I had never gotten to experience at a real campsite. This was such a cool experience but I did not care for the actual S'Mores too much. I am not a chocolate fan at all but the roasted Marshmallows were INCREDIBLE! Next time I have a campout I will just eat these! YUMMY! Natalie and Luke like the roasted Marshmallows too! Thank you John and Leeanna for such a great evening of memory making!

Time for mommy to do some roasting... Of marshmallows! Yummy! 

Playtime is over for me... Back to spoiling this baby! 

Tuesday, June 17th

Today Leeanna had to go to a teacher's meeting for her school so I was the babysitter! YAY! This lead to an all-day event of me holding the baby and taking care of her! Chris, John and the kids did a lot of playing outside and even playing on the Wii but I was more than satisfied to just hold and cuddle the baby! That evening John made some AMAZING steaks on his fancy grill and even Luke chowed down on them! In fact, I think John and Leeanna were shocked at how much steak Luke can eat. The evening concluded with watching movies and just fellowshipping with each other.

All the cousins together! Luke even gave her a kiss! So sweet! 

Wednesday, June 18th

We left Lubbock today to head to Norman, OK to see our friends Jeff and Wendy amongst many others. We left around noon after a morning FULL of baby snuggles! The drive to Norman from Lubbock was the shortest of our 3 drives and probably the least scenic but our kids did FANTASTIC!

This was just half of our Family Vacation 2014 and the best and WORST is yet to come! But nonetheless, we had a GREAT time in Lubbock and cannot wait to see Baby Madisyn again! Thanks to John and Leeanna for hosting us! AND Thank You, Lord for getting us there safe and having such a GREAT time!

We all love being "Aunt Sissy", "Uncle Chris" and cousins!
We love you Madi! 

God is good... ALL the time!