Trip to Texas

Since all of my sisters and now my parents are living in the Dallas area now we decided to make a vacation and visit around Brooklyn's birthday. We were in Texas for 10 days and loved every minute of it! It is the best to be around all of my sisters and their hubbies and kids! And watching the cousins play together just melted all of our hearts. I felt like I hardly saw Brooklyn during those ten days because she was always occupied playing with her cousins.

Brooklyn has the sweetest girl cousins! I love their personalities.  They will all start kindergarten at the same time!

These two are just a month apart.

Alex knew just what to do to make Brooklyn laugh

Coloring with the big boys.

Bathtime.  Doesn't Brooklyn look like she could be their sister?

We decided to only do carry-ons to save on money and to not have to worry about losing luggage. Haha that became kind of ironic because we ended up leaving one of our bags in the boarding area in the Boise airport. We got to Salt Lake and realized we were missing one of our bags! Luckily we had an hour and a half layover (originally it was only going to be like 45 minutes) and I was able to contact the Boise airport security. A super nice officer had my bag and went to the Delta service desk and got them to put it on the next flight that day to Dallas! I was so worried because this was our bag with all of mine and Brooklyn's clothes, including her clothes for her one year photo shoot, and some birthday decorations that we needed the next day! Luckily they got it to us that same evening. Such a relief!
Brooklyn did so well on the flights, much better than either Thomas or I expected. We had gotten her little headphones and she liked listening to some of her favorite songs and watching Baby Einstein on the laptop. I hadn't reserved a specific seat and next time I will for sure request a window seat because that would have been helpful in occupying Brooklyn. I had also bought a few toys from the dollar store that were new to her. Our little lady who never falls asleep in our arms even slept on the flights!
Our visit was full of fun every day.  We had a couples Bunko night, went to a minor league baseball game, the Dallas zoo, had Brooklyn's first birthday party, went on a date night with my sister and brother in law to the movies, took the kids to the splash pad, went swimming and had bbq,  attended my cousins violin recital and Thomas' nephews seminary graduation, and had family pictures taken. Whew!!

Not sure how she feels about the cold water.

Loves from Dada

Showing off her walking skills

These two!!!!! So yummy.

It was great to have spend time with both Thomas and my families.  Thomas has a sister and aunt that live in the same area and we were able to do quite a few activities with them as well. We discovered that Brooklyn won't let any woman hold her except for her mama but she is fine with men.  Uh-oh are we in trouble already? Her poor nana just wanted to snuggle her and she would have nothing to do with it.

Gazing adoringly at Uncle Russ

In addition to all the running around and activities, I loved that we all could sit out on the porch in the evening and chat.

Nice summer night, relaxing on the back porch.

Enjoying her families company.

The Chatwin kids, myself, and my mom.

My sister in law and her family met us at the Rough riders stadium to watch a game. The stadium is AWESOME! We sat in the grassy area in left field and it was perfect for people with kids because they can run around and play the whole time. The stadium even has a swimming pool you can rent out to watch the game from. Brooklyn loved playing with her cousin Adam. I'm telling you, this girl loves her some older boys.
 Love my family so, so, so  much and am looking forward to being able to see them again hopefully in the not too distant future.