Valley Vacation Part II

I know it has been a while since my last post. We have been oh so busy, but who isn't these days?! We went and floated the river and had an awesome time, had a garage sale, my parents came to visit, Mr. T's parents came to visit, playing softball, and just all the other every day things.





Anyhow, I wanted to finish my post on the valley... my step dad likes to read it and see pictures of himself. ;) BTW, keep them in yours prayers this next week as he has another CT Scan on the 4th and then he meets the new doctor and gets the results on the 5th. Just lift him and my mom up a little if you don't mind. :)

On Sunday we headed out to the farm and got the grand tour from Grandpa J. He was SO excited that my parents wanted to come and see it all. He talked about how the farm was started, passed down and what all they have done with it since they have taken over. It was very interesting to hear him talk about it all. He was full of information and I have not heard a lot of the stuff that he talked about, so it was a learning experience for me as well.

**Note: Late fall/winter is the best time to go to the Valley according to Mr. T, so we were a little worried that we would get to pick much or how well everything would taste, but we got lucky!

We went to all the different pieces of land that they own and got to see lemon trees, various orange trees, grapefruit trees, sunflower patches (which are planted just for the boys to go dove hunting...they are spoiled), onion fields and I think that is all. A particular piece of land it down on the Rio Grande River right under the bridge you take from Texas to Mexico. Due to illegals swimming across, the border patrol is real heavy down in the area. The border partol followed us and then questioned us on what we were doing. Grandpa J "explained" to him and then he left us alone. Bobby got to experience the BP coming after him.... it was a highlight for him. :)

After a long hot day of picking fruit, we were all pretty worn out and decided we had enough. On the way back, we passed a beautiful tree just FULL of oranges.... probably the best one of the day. Bobby could not resist and he jumped off the gator and went to picking again. We just sat and watched him and finally told him that if he didn't come on we were going to leave him. He did not want to leave.

All in all we had a wonderful trip and we are so glad we took time and went. We got to see family and just hang out. We enjoyed it so much and it is for sure a different world down there. :)

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Valley Vacation Part I

This post is going to be pretty long just because we had such a good time, so I am going to break it up into Part I and Part II. :)

Orange Tree on a Beautiful Day

As many of you know, my step dad was diagnosed with Stage 4, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer the Monday after Christmas. It was a total shock to us. He has been through chemo since and is doing well. We did have a scare with a blood clot back in April, but he seems to be doing good. Lung Cancer does not have a cure and the life span of course, is different for everyone.

Mr. T's family is from the Valley and one set of grandparents farm and have an orchard. Many of you probably eat fruit and veggies from them. :) My parents got to meet Mr. T's family when we were having wedding showers and then of course at the wedding. With his family being SO wonderful, my parents just adored them. After visiting with them the little they got to, Bob-O decided he wanted to go down to the Valley. He has never been down there, just heard our stories and tasted all the yummy fruit that we would bring back from our trips down there.

My mom and Bob-O in the Orchard.

We decided no time was better than Memorial Day weekend. We loaded up and headed south on Friday after work and picked my parents up about 2.5 hrs south of us and then continued on the journey. The Valley is about 6 hrs from my parents house. About 3 hrs into the trip Bob-O asked if we were almost there, and little did he know we were only half way!

We finally got to Meem's house Friday night at about 11:30. We were all exhausted, but we stayed up a while and visited. It worked out well b/c my MIL and Mr. T's aunt had been visiting Meem and helping her all week, so we got to see them too! We spent the day with Meem and everyone on Saturday and just had good food, fellowship and a little bit of shopping at the Bazaar.....boy was that interesting! We went to dinner with Mr. T's other uncle and his family and then we got home and gambled a little. ;) Cousin Matt taught us a dice game called Liar's Dice and it was so much fun. Meem was winning all the pots and I finally won one. It was great just to have some good family time. I am so blessed that I married into the family I did. I had to ask my mom if she ever thought she would be hanging out with my in-laws. That just shows how fabulous they are!




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Astros & Rangers Game

While my parents were up in the area, they wanted to go visit a close friend of the family. While they were visiting we went to the Astros and Rangers game. Of course the Astros lost, but we always have next year! It was SO HOT, being that it was at 2 in the afternoon in Texas. Despite the heat, we still had a good time. After the game we got to see Reckless Kelly. The concert was included with the game. Mr. T LOVES them and was really excited they were playing around here.

Lauren and Mr. T

Mr. T and I

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MIA

So sorry that I have been MIA! We have been busy and have had lots going on in our world.

My parents came into town on Friday and stayed with us until Monday morning. We enjoyed their visit and can't wait for them to come back. We grilled and hung out Friday night and my mom helped me go through garage sale stuff. On Saturday we had a garage sale and it was also our community sale as well. We did really well and made some $$! Saturday was also my mom's birthday, so we took them to dinner. We ate at a place we have never tried before and it was WONDERFUL! Mr. T and I are going back soon.

I have been doing some DIY things around the house though! I purchased this corner shelf on CL and I am in the process of redoing it. I can't decide if I want to paint it black or a blue color. Any ideas?! I am scared that everything in my house is going to either be black or distressed white. :)

While my mom was in town we went to a indoor shopping area that has different booths set up and browsed around. I found some shutters that I fell in love with, but I couldn't bring myself to pay $12 A PIECE for them. So Monday on my lunch break I ran over to the Habitat ReStore and found some for $5!!! I was way excited. I can't wait to get these painted and hung where I want them. They are going in the guest bedroom that I am over hauling. It is almost ready to show you!

I also found a baby bed for $20 and I am not sure yet what I am going to do with it. I have seen several projects floating around and I am going to have a hard time deciding which one to do.

My awesome and way crafty friend over here at The Autocrat hit 100 followers! I am so proud of her and I am always amazed at how she finds time to do some many things. I think its because King is out of town. I am trying to plan a weekend so we can go craft together. Way to go Friend, I am proud of you!

Until we meet again, happy crafting!

"The best changes often start as single, simple thoughts. Think big, and discover how to make your dreams real."

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Introducing my BaBiEs!

Mr. T and I don't have any human babies yet, however, we do have our dogs. These pups mean the world to us. They are spoiled rotten and get their way for the most part.

Introducing Old Man Dalton.... Mr. T got Dalton from a shelter. He has had him since high school. Dalton is one of the best dogs I have ever seen. He is laid back and just lets the other 2 jump on him and do whatever. Dalton is estimated to be about 13 years old. He is spoiled rotten and loves to eat, however when he goes to his "grandparents" he puts on a show to not eat b/c he knows they will feed him other stuff. Big D LOVES to swim and he does every chance he gets.



Prissy Izabelle... I got Izabelle my junior year in college. Mr. T was not happy about the idea of me getting a puppy since I worked so much and he knew he would have to help more than he wanted. When I first brought her home Mr. T hated her and complained about her all the time. This little dog has him wrapped around her paw now. I will walk in and catch him "baby talking" to her. SO sweet. Izabelle is also very spoiled and she is one of a kind. She never eats at her bowl, always gets a mouth full of food and comes to where I am in the house to eat it. She follows me EVERYWHERE I go. She always greets me at the door jumping and whining like I have been gone for forever. Makes you feel special. She got her name b/c my grandma was very ill with cancer when I got her and I wanted a name that linked to her name. Her middle name was Bell, so that is how she got her name. She is my little girl and I don't know what I would do without her. Yes, she has her own drawer full of clothes, bows and collars. :)



And now introducing our newest member.... within the past week! Meet Belle Star! We dognapped her this past weekend from my MIL. She is a puppy from a litter that my MIL's Fiona had. Belle has a heart problem and so she kept her to care for her. She had a study done at A&M and she has been going strong for 2.5 years now! She has always been mine and Mr. T's favorite out of all the dogs. We always talked about how we could get her and we finally did it! We are doing a trial run with her until July to make sure we can handle her and that my MIL can handle not having her. She is full of energy and LOVES to eat. She loves to run when you are trying to catch her or when she knows she is doing something wrong, and then when you walk up to her, she darts away really fast. She is a mess and has made our house a little more fun this week. I am glad we got her! :)





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Wooden Crosses

While out and about in craft malls and such I have been seeing these crosses everywhere. They are gorgeous, but I am not paying what they are priced for. So I have been talking to Mr. T about what we would need to cut these bad boys out with. Well about a month ago, we went to our local Trade Days and found the wooden crosses already cut out! They ranged from $4 up to $10. I bought 3 of them and was so excited to get home. Well they sat on my bar in my kitchen and I couldn't decide exactly how I wanted to do them. I kept looking around to see other ideas and I just never say anything that took my breath away.

My parents are coming into town this weekend and then my in-laws are coming in 2 weeks, so I made myself get these done so they won't be laying around.

So here is what I did...

I first got 3 different colors of craft paint that I already had. On the bottom cross I just used a dark brown. I just squirted the paint directly onto the wood an spread it with a foam brush. Make sure you get the sides covered. On the second one I used a gold/tan color for that one, but I did not rinse out my brush from the brown one. So the brush made brown streaks in the gold color. For the top cross I got scraps of paper and Modge Podged them on.






After all the pieces were done drying I put Gorilla Glue for wood on them and placed them how I wanted. I let that dry overnight and then I got a couple of screws and put them in threw the back just for extra support.



I still haven't found the right place for this to hang, but I love it! I am going to get some more unfinished ones and make more for gifts, super easy and budget friendly. :)

Until we meet again, happy crafting!

A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks. ~Charles Gordy





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Thrift Store Tray

So last week I mentioned that I bought this beauty at the local thrift store. When I saw it for $1.99, I knew I HAD to have it.

Well I took it home and got out my spray paint and went to work. I put an ivory color on it and it only took 2 coats to cover it well. I then cut out a stencil with my Cricut and painted it on with brown craft paint. I saw the "Nest" on a pillow from PB and I thought it would look fab on this tray in the guest bedroom. After I let that dry over night I got the RL Glaze and added that. I LOVE how it turned out. This weekend while shopping with my MIL I found the saucer and cup, bell and tea towel.






Total cost for this little beauty was $1.99. I had all the paint and glaze already in the garage. :) Love when I can make things budget friendly, so does Mr. T.

Until we meet again, happy crafting!

A happy heart makes a cheerful face. - Proverbs 15:13