Gary Allan Concert

Last weekend my friend Sarah and I went to a Gary Allan concert in Oklahoma. Yes, I went to Oklahoma! Gary Allan is a country singer. A few of his more popular songs are "Songs about Rain", "Nothin on but the Radio", "Tough Little Boys", "Best I ever had", and "Life ain't Always Beautiful." There isn't anything like going to a country concert in the country. The fans were a little crazy!

Our seats were only a few rows back, but we rushed the stage when Gary came out and ended up right in the front against the railing. It was really fun to be so up close and personal with the singer. All of these pictures are pictures we took!

We had a blast screaming the words to each song and dancing. After the show we even got to go backstage and go on the tour bus. We met each of the band members and Gary himself. I wasn't too star-struck but it's always kinda fun to meet a celebrity.Thanks Sarah for inviting me to tag-along!

Pioneer Park & Cemetery

After the farmer's market we stopped by Pioneer park and cemetery. Set on a raised area of downtown Dallas, the cemetery was originally known as the Masonic Cemetery, and dates back to the early days of the city's history. It became the final resting place for four Dallas mayors, as well as heroes and early businessleaders of the Texas revolution. The earliest grave dates back to 1853. The last burial here was in the 1920s.

This landscaped park has an enormous bronze sculpture of forty larger-than-life longhorns on a cattle drive. The whole cattle scene is supposed to be the largest bronze monument in the world.

In 1961 there was an addition to Pioneer Park of a 60ft marble and granite Confederate War Memorial. Built in 1896, it is believed to be the city's oldest outdoor sculpture. At the top of the memorial is a Johnny Reb soldier. At the corners stand statues of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Albert Johnston.

It was a pretty amazing site and Vance thought the cattle and various waterfalls were pretty cool too!

Dallas Farmer's Market

Today my friend Dana and I headed down to Dallas to check out the farmer's market. It was pretty cool. There were 4 huge sheds lined with vendors on both sides. You could buy all the fresh produce you could ever want. They also had meat, spices, nuts, pumpkins, honey, flowers, and more.

At first Vance was pretty uninterested. He had fallen asleep on the car ride to Dallas and definitely wasn't thrilled about all the fruits and vegetables.

We took our time walking down the aisles. The best part? All the food you get to sample!!! We sampled tomatoes, cantaloupe, pear, strawberry, orange, cucumber, watermelon, peach, and more. Everything was delicious but our favorite were the tomatoes. I am not even a huge tomato-lover, but these were by far the BEST tomatoes I have ever had. We stopped by every vendor who had samples of tomatoes! One guy put a little bit of lime juice and salt - yummy!

Vance did liven up when he realized he could eat some of the food. As we walked by the vendors he would hold his hand out. Just about every time he did that some one put a piece of fresh fruit in his hand. Vance's favorite were the oranges. When I took him out of the stroller I found a piece of orange rind that had more than a few bite taken out of it. I guess he likes the rind too?!

They had a lot of flowers and plants too. I'm not sure the names of any of them, but I loved walking around and enjoyed the great smell.

I didn't buy a whole lot (how much fresh produce can a family of 3 really go through?), but I had to get something. I ended up with some tomatoes, oranges, peaches, and an avocado. I wish it was a little closer because I would love to go back more often. I'm also not sure how much more expensive it was. You buy everything by the basket so I don't really know the cost per pound of the stuff I bought. I figure it's all organic and delicious so the price was worth it!

Thanks Dana for coming with me. It's always great to have company!

Blinky, blink

Every night we read this book. It has little instructions like clap your hands, touch your nose, etc. One of the instruction is blink your eyes. Chad and I always look at him and really exaggerate our blinking. He finally started copying us and it is so funny. He basically just makes this funny face and moves his lips. I tried to get a picture and video but this is the best I can get.

What a corncob!!!

You know you're in Texas...

when football is basically a religion. EVERYONE talks about football..men, women, and children. Of course there is a lot of support for the Dallas Cowboys and University of Texas, but people like other teams too. The BYU vs. OSU football game was at the Dallas Cowboys stadium and it was the talk of the town. That fast Sunday a woman actually bore her testimony about the BYU coach.

When you drive around on Saturday, you see little boys playing pop-warner football at almost every park and there are a lot of parks. They aren't ever playing flag football either. These little boys are in their pads playing tackle.

Chad and I haven't quite caught the football spirit, but we definitely watch and talk about it way more than we used it. It's kind of impossible not to. Last week the kids took it upon themselves to set up a little football game upstairs. I walked upstairs to check on them and found this:
I don't think Vance gets it but he had fun running around. Now if I can just teach him it's actually not okay to hit people!
Chad tried to teach Vance a couple plays. He thought he was pretty cool. Watch out folks - Vance is getting bigger and better in the great state of Texas!

Freeze Dance Party

On Sunday we were looking for a little entertainment and decided to have a freeze-dance party. For those of you who may not know what that is everyone dances when the music is playing. When the music is turned off everyone freezes and tries not to move a muscle. Vance was having so much fun. I'm not sure where he gets his dance moves from but he is definitely a white boy! Check out the move he busts out at like 13 seconds.

Prosper Party Place

On Saturday Chad and I took Vance to Prosper Party Place. Prosper is a small town about 10 minutes from where we live. It is basically a bounce house with some arcade games. We thought Vance would love the bouncers. He thought they were okay but was way more into the arcade games.

Labor Day in the Country

I took way too many pictures so I am going to try and limit the text! For Labor day we went with the Hendrix's and the Nate's to Adam Hendrix's dad's house. It is in east Texas. We had a blast. Everything was SO country. You'll see as you look through the pictures!This is Lovers Lookout. It's the highest point in the area. You can see tons of trees no matter which way you look. It was beautiful. We enjoyed the scenery and played a game of football. They had this crazy plant that if you rubbed the leaves and smelt your finger it smelled like peanut butter - yummy!
There was a little waterfall, a kiddie pool, and a spa at the house. The water was too big of temptation for Vance, so we finally gave in and let him swim in the kiddie pool.

Then the other boys decided to swim in the spa in their boxers. Vance stripped down and stood there until Nick was nice enough to play with him in the water. When they all got out the water was filthy!

Vance loved this little Jeep. For some reason he couldn't figure out the pedal thing so Matthew helped press the pedal while Vance steered.

Kelton, Adam's dad, made us the most delicious brisket ever!!! He started cooking it Saturday night in the smoker and it wasn't done until Sunday afternoon. He stayed up all night to add wood chips with a specific mixture of flavors.

We also rode the 4-wheelers a lot. We learned "trail riding" is a loose term in Texas. It basically means everything in your path is small enough to be run over. In most areas you could hardly see a trail. The guys went on a night ride and got chased by wild hogs!

They had the coolest 3-story tree house. It was complete with couches, recliners, pulley, rope swing, and more!

All the guys brought their shotguns. They shot skeet and quail. Chad was excited because he had never used his shotgun before. He did really good! Vance thought it was so cool and quickly learned how to say "bam!"

Adam was training his dog to hunt. It was actually pretty cool to watch her run to the quail, stop, and point at the bird. After they shot it, the dog would go fetch the bird for them.

Vance could've sat on this red tractor for hours. He played with the steering wheel, every button, and the shifter. He made some pretty impressive sound effects too!

This is the pasture. Adam's dad lives on 30 acres. This piece of land is just behind the house. We had a HUGE bonfire on Sunday night. The plan was to roast marshmallows but there was no way we were going to get close enough to roast anything with that fire!

This is the barn. Inside is a horse and a bouse (a barn house) along with some different equipment.

They even had a chicken coup. Vance quickly learned how to imitate the rooster. While we were there Adam's dad decided they had 3 too many roosters. Chad helped kill and gut it. Warning: there is 1 picture with a rooster without its head!

Below is a video Chad trying to catch a quail. He was in there forever trying to get one. I was laughing so hard just watching.

The weekend was so fun. It is really a different culture out there! Life is so simple. You live off the land and sit on the porch at the end of the day just enjoying the silence.

Thank you Kelton for letting us stay at your house and thanks to Aimee and Adam for inviting us to tag along!

You know you're in Texas...

if hunters line the freaking HIGHWAY! Chad and I's mouths dropped when we saw hunters with their backs to the highway on the first day of dove hunting season. We are talking a major highway here people. We almost turned around to make sure we actually saw right. Only in Texas!!!

Vance - 18 month pictures

I made an appointment at Picture People to get Vance's pictures taken. When the photographer took us into the studio, Vance TOTALLY freaked out. He started screaming and wouldn't stop. I tried taking him out for a few minutes to let him calm down. He immediately started laughing and running around. I took him back in to Picture People and he started crying again. I was irritated to say the least. I don't know what his deal was. He has had his pictures taken a lot and hasn't ever freaked out. Instead of fighting with him, we went home. I decided to try and take some pictures myself the next morning. I don't think they are fantastic, but definitely good enough. Enjoy!

What's your favorite? I need to do some enlargments and print wallets still.