Our Trip To East Texas.

It began with a 6 hour drive from Fort Worth to Orange, TX.

We passed by a lot of really old historic towns on our way there.

Then pine tree forests that go on FOREVER. So peaceful.


Kimber and I hanging out at the hotel room eating trail mix. :)


We went to a couple of cemeteries to pay respect to our loved ones we miss so much.




My Paw-Paw.





My mom's cousin, Bobbie Lee who was hit by a drunk driver while walking down the road with her friend and sister-in-law, Vickie.


She looks a LOT like my mom.



This case actually went to the U.S. Supreme Court on my mother's birthday, February 22nd, 1982. You can read the story here.

My Maw-Maw. (My Mom's Mom)

My Great Granddad, Emery Lee Folks. He was awarded a Carnegie Medal. His story found here.

We went to Trade Days in Orange. It's a indoor/outdoor flea market and farmer's market. They had pony rides!! Kimber was pretty excited.

Meet Oreo. He's the cutest miniature horse EVER!!



Orange Lions City Park. This is a fantastical wooden castle wonderland. Holy crap. If I could fit in there, I'd have a blast.







Little Miss Ryelee.


We had a fantastic visit with my Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Peanut.


On our way back home we decided to stop at the Lutcher Memorial Church Building to take pictures. This building was the first public building West of the Mississippi River with air conditioning.




Two hours into our trip going back to Fort Worth, we passed by a small town with old buildings EVERYWHERE. I had to stop at this one abandoned shop with no roof and take pictures of Kimber.







PHEW! Lots of pictures. This isn't even half of them. OH! I did get some goodies at the Trade Days and at the local thrift store. I will save that post for tomorrow.

Baby, It's Cold Outside.

Welp, this Christmas was pretty eventful. I managed to catch my oven on fire while cooking my turkey.

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Luckily, Jason put it out before things got out of hand.
The good news is my dad was already planning on cooking his own turkey, so it only turned out to be a small road bump and a great story to tell the grandkids. Bad news is that I am now scared out of my mind to use the oven again.

I'm SO happy to announce that my sister-in-law is pregnant with her second baby!! WOOHOOO!! They have an adorable family and I wish them the best through this pregnancy.

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We had family over on Christmas Eve night. We watched all the classic Christmas movies while we pigged out on turkey, ham and stuffing. My dad and I drank a little bit too much eggnog and began talking about music. Here are some pictures from that night.






Once everyone left, we got Kimber ready for bed. We set out a cupcake and milk for Santa Claus and I read her Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer story before bed.

She was really excited that Santa was coming to bring her toys.


The next morning:



Kimber was blessed with a LOT of toys this year. All together, she got 24 presents. This was a great Christmas, but I'm sure glad it's over.