Hello World

On Friday, August 28th The Bird Family welcomed Mason Charles Bird to
the world.

I had te honor of going to visit everybody in the hospital and I got
to hold my first newborn. I fell in love immediately. He is so
handsome. He is perfect. He even has little baby finger nails! Precious.

They even let me stay in the room when big sister Madelyn got to meet
her baby brother for the first time. It was something I'll never
forget. Madelyn ran straight to her mom saying "baby Mason". So
stinking cute.

Ryan, Derek, and Madelyn- thank you for letting me meet your precious
bundle of joy. He is as cute as can be.

Happy Birthday, Mason!!!

To all my mom friends

This past Friday night T and I went to the North Texas State Fair to
watch the rodeo and listen to The Randy Rogers Band. We also got to
meet up with some good friends AND see old friends, Rachel and Matt
Schafer. We had a ball. Travis even made a new friend with Rachel's
hubby. They both like hunting...go figure :-)

We found a great place to stand for the concert.... Which means we
actually had elbow room. For a while I felt like I was at a frat
party. Seriously. All the UNT students were out in full force.

This brings me to my reason for posting this picture. The group in
front of us was full of early 20-somethings who apparently forgot how
to properly clothe themselves. This young lady felt it would be
appropriate to wear this "dress" that barely covered her hiney and
then sit on a guys shoulders. Wow. Everytime she lifted her arms or
the wind blew she showed us her butt. Classy. She also had 3 beers and
shared a turkey leg with 10 people.

If we ever have a daughter I sure hope she remembers that her mom
taught her how to dress appropriately.

And to all my friends with kiddos: don't let your kid dress like this :)

Riley Family Lake House

T and I headed to the ranch to do some routine maintenance to the deer feeders and deer blinds in preparation for deer season and attend the wedding of a good friend of mine in Austin.

When we arrived at the ranch, we also found out that his aunt and uncles would be at their lakehouse on Horseshoe Bay for the weekend and they invited us over. We could NOT pass this opportunity up. This house is GORGEOUS, right on the lake, has an awesome pool and we got some great fellowship time with his family.

We headed out to the lakehouse as soon as we were done with our chores at the ranch and spent all afternoon and the evening on the lake. We capped off the evening with fajitas and ritas on the back porch. We had to head back to the ranch Saturday night so we could attend Katie's wedding which was on Sunday (more on her wedding in a later post).

Due to her wedding falling on a Sunday night, I had to take Monday off of work...this allowed us to spend ALL day Monday at the lakehouse, too! This time it was just us and the Brown Family (Trav's cousin Kellye and her hubs and twins). We had an absolute blast and are so thankful we were able to spend the day with such awesome peeps!

This is a pic of T and I with Travis' 2nd cousins Emily and Scott (twins)

Emily and Scott being taken over by T

The aftermath...all in the water

The house is equipped with a boat and 2 jet skis. Travis and I rode around for a while...until he threw us both off doing donuts going 45mph!

Travis and his cousin, Kellye, on our sunset cruise

A look at the pretty pool

Scott, T, and I on the boat

The lakehouse....just kidding. This is Michael Dell's house (as in the CEO of Dell Computers). This house is around the corner from the Riley lakehose

T and I on our sunset cruise

The pretty sunset on Horseshoe Bay



The fabulous weekend had to come to an end and we headed home on Tuesday morning. Thank you Riley clan for allowing us to come play at the lakehouse!

My Best Friend's Wedding

In just 30 days I will have the honor of standing by my best friend’s side as she says “I Do” to the love her life. I cannot wait to be a part of such a special time in their lives, wear a gorgeous bridesmaid dress (really…very cute), help her slip on her RED Jimmy Choo’s under her tailored ivory gown, dance the night away at what will probably be the reception of a lifetime, and witness 2 people who are very much in love become one.

 

Erin, I cannot wait for September 12^th to get here! I have no doubt it will be a wonderful and unforgettable weekend. Thank you for letting me be your Matron of Honor. I am truly blessed. This also means that Chocolate Chip will no longer hound you about wedding details! T minus 30 days and counting. Thank goodness I have finally mastered the spelling of your new last name: Szalkowski. That’s an A+ for me!

Keeping the Cows in and Fun with the Mower

Due to our escaping cows, we had to devise a way to block any access down the creek that runs through our property. It's amazing that Travis has had this place for 4 years and we've never had an animal escape, nor did the folks before us think of making a water crossing for the creek. Oh well, at least I have an amazingly creative and skilled hubs to build a device to keep our funny farm intact.

This is the crossing that blocks the creek on the north side of our property

This portion of the crossing blocks off the south side of the creek

And while Travis worked hard on the water crossings, I mowed for 2.5 hours, but I decided to get a little creative at the end and this is what I came up with:

It's hard to tell what this is, but I mowed an 'R' into the pasture. I think it's cute, but Travis wasn't sold on the idea. I like the idea of a monogrammed pasture, don't you?

Gulf Shores, AL part 2

Here are some pictures from our 2009 Huey Gulf Shores vacation:

The pretty beach of Gulf Shores, AL

The signature feet in the sand picture

Dad and Travis playing with the frisbee

Daddy laying under our rainbow umbrellas that mom bought for us.

Me and my friend, Megs, who joined us for the trip because Trent and Kourt were unable to go due to their new jobs that brought them back to Waco (really Crawford).

Me and Trav at Lulu's


Mom and Daddy at Lulu's

Trav and I waiting at Lambert's. Please notice there is NO beard on his face. This was the first time for me or my parents to see his 'naked' face in over4 years!!!! wow. It was really strange to see him sans the beard, but he's still pretty handsome :)



Megs and I waiting at Lambert's

In my spot

Travis doin' his thang on the boogie board

Trav and I on the beach

That pretty much sums up our trip: laying out, eating, laying out eating, rinse and repeat! It was a fabulous trip and I'm already looking forward to next year. Thank you mom and dad for such a fabulous trip!

Gulf Shores , AL

We just returned from a blissful 7 days at the beach. My parents
started taking us there in 2004 and we've been back every year.

We have found a GREAT place to stay: The Beach Club. It is a beautiful
facility with 4 high rise buildings full of 2,3, and 4 bedroom condos.
There are 5 swimming pools, direct beach access, tennis, basketball,
spa, workout facility, shuffleboard, etc.

It's a wonderful place for families to take their kids. I know my
parents are itching to have grandkids to take, but they'll have to
keep waiting!

I'll post more pictures once I get the
loaded on the computer

On another note: cow #2 might be returning home. A neighbor rancher
thinks he saw an extra black steer with his herd. We are going to
check o it tomorrow! Wish us luck!!