Stephen is so my romantic! He got home from work and had these beautiful roses for me with a sweet note. There were 5 white roses (significant of our 5 precious children) and the remainder were 7 red roses. He is to indescribably wonderful! I just love him so much!
A cool front had just blown in, and he was getting off for 5 days and un-benonced to me, he was trying to plan a trip for us to go on. He did some calculating, and calling, and announced our plans. We were all so excited...so excited in fact that the kids and I spent the next 30 minutes packing their backpacks. We gathered an extra change of clothes, 2 books, a toy, 3 crayons, some paper, and a little baggie of animal crackers. They were beside themselves. They were ready to go...only one small problem, I still had to pack everything else. Thankfully it was naptime, so while they slept or laid down, I packed, and Stephen took care of all the chores outside. We were going to head to Oklahoma to learn from some people who have organic pasture and rotationally graze their land. We were hoping to learn some things.
Here we are at Grandma and Grandpa Hawk's house. We decided to stop by and surprise them since we were going right by their house in Dallas. We got there around 8:00 that morning. Here they are anxiously awaiting someone to answer the door...
Nellie with a few of our little ones.
Elaina sat on the counter and helped me make breakfast. We brought some sausage, eggs and english muffins to make breakfast. Grandma pulled out all sorts of delicious fruit to go along with the egg sandwiches. We all enjoyed it! Thanks Gram and Gramps!
The girls loved trying on all of moms hats. They were partial to the ones with sparkles on them.
Elaina was tired of smiling.
Enjoying breakfast together. The chair Millie is sitting in is special because I sat in it growing up, as did mom, as well as her dad I believe and I think it goes back even one more generation. I'll have to get the facts straight from Gram. I also remember using that high chair Elaina is in growing up.
Nell's holding our little James Wyatt.
Grandpa took the kids and the dog out to the alley to play ball. They had a blast watching the dog retrieve it every single time.
Getting a tour of mom's bathroom upstairs in Grandma and Grandpa Hawks house.
Mom taught the girls how to make flowers out of tissues. They made a whole bouquet!
Papa playing with the 2 littlest ones.
Elaina and Gram have the same expression on their face.
Here is our whole family with mom right before we left their house. All the kids are sporting a hat Mamageese gave to each one of them. Thanks mom!
Here we are in Oklahoma. We found the ranch and were eating lunch outside letting the kids run off some of their stored energy that they always seem to have an abundance of.
We had enchiladas one night for supper. It is so fun cooking in our little camper kitchen. Stephen is so sweet and usually takes the kids outside to play while I am preparing the meal. There are the roses in the background from Stephen. I just had to bring them on our trip.
James playing on the kitchen table made into a palate while I prepared supper.
The ranch was nestled in-between the red river and the blue river. Some of the property was in Texas, but the majority was in Oklahoma. We were currently on the Oklahoma side looking back at Texas.
After visiting with the foreman and his son, we all went out to eat at the "Bear's Den". They had great hamburgers! It was so special to spend time with them like that.
On the way home from OK, after being on the road for a while, we decided to take a walk at the park. So off we went looking for a park...looking and looking, driving and driving....well, it started to get dark, but wouldn't you know....we found one! After we get jackets, socks, boots, hair re-done, bathroom breaks...we finally were ready to head out on our nice little walk. Wouldn't you know that it drizzled the entire time we walked. It was a nice little city park with a big pond and a fountain and cement path all the way around that was probably a mile and a half long. We all walked every step of it, continually reminding the children to "be careful not to slip in the mud puddles", and "keep your hood on" and "go around the water, not through it". What a memory! It felt nice getting to be outside though. The picture is of all our jackets hanging out to drip dry.
We stopped off at "Buc-ees" to get some gas and stretch our legs. We ran into an Indian man and I thought it would be nice to take a picture with him. It was challenging trying to get Martin and Millie to turn their back toward the statue for just a split second to snap a picture, and Bella didn't want to have any part in it. She stood by my side.
Here they are at the meat counter picking out some beef jerky.
We had a nice trip and as always were so grateful to come home to our home. We learned some from the people at the ranch, but we were mostly encouraged at how well things here at our home have been going since we started rotating our cows. We'll keep learning, trying new things, document them, and most importantly being together having a good time doing it!
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