Red, White, Blue & TEXAS

The first week of July, we packed up the car and headed on our 13 hour journey to Texas for some much needed friends and family time!

Our first stop was Jackson, MS. Here we stopped to see our good friends, Morgan and Brandon! They have been in Jackson for a couple of years and I finally got to see there awesome house. It was so good to hang out and catch up with them. Thanks for letting us crash at your place! Maybe we will be able to do it again someday...

Thank goodness for movies on the iPad and snacks (and Daddy's beach towel to block out the sun)!

We made it! Saturday evening, we arrived at Neal and Cindy's house then hopped right back into the car to head to meet Mimi and Pawpaw for dinner! We were so excited to see everyone! We went to this really neat strip of restaurants on this little main street in Roanoke. We had to give in to Ainsley and bend down to her level in this picture. She was not having it being picked up and held for one!

We loved Roanoke so much that we went back a second and third time to try a couple of the other restaurants. There was also this adorable little bookstore/coffee shop we went to check out. Camden and Ainsley didn't know what to think about being on the little wagon.

We also got to meet our friends, Tyler and Ashley, for lunch on Sunday (in Roanoke, again). It was so good getting to see them and catch up! We sure miss having them live literally right behind us and meeting for dinner at Blue Coast every week.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture with Tyler and Ashley, but here's a fuzzy picture from my phone of Ainsley's ADORABLE dress her Lili (my mom) made for her.

Sunday afternoon, we headed over to B's Uncle Paul's house for some swimming and food with Patty's/Mimi's side of the family. A few people had never met Ainsley before or if they have it's only been once or twice. So it was good seeing everyone and being able to relax some!

Patty and Kenneth got me some goodies for my birthday! Cute door hanger note pad, a book of baby crafts (Crafty Mama), 4 pretty hanging candle votives, a decorative tray from an antique shop, and an absolutely beautiful 4 generation necklace Patty made using a picture of my Mimi, Mom, Ainsley, and me (I don't have a picture of the necklace at the moment, but you can see it here: http://pattyapearce.blogspot.com/ It is her June 30th post). My MIL is SO CREATIVE and I love the stuff she does!!!

Aunt Alyssa and Ainsley

Aunt Amanda and Ainsley

Ainsley had a good time sitting by the pool and an even better time with Mimi's dog, Ashley!

Nana, Mimi, and Baby A

Shooting some hoops...

My cutie-pa-tootie!

Ainsley enjoyed watching the volleyball game...

from the outside of the pool!

Pawpaw and Ainsley

I could just eat her up!

Ainsley decided to take Nana for a walk.

And then check out the guys dominos game.

While daddy took much needed nap...

Back to Camden's house for some play time!

Sweet boy :)

Time to go see the Great-grandparents and Aunt/Uncle! On Monday, the 4th, we headed to Midland, TX. I was definitely looking forward to the fish fry that night. Ainsley loved watching all of the dogs! There were 4 total (including Bella), but they spent the whole time on the porch. She spent a lot of time at those doors watching them!

Getting some long overdue Aunt Terri lovin'

Happy Fourth!

The next morning, Ainsley decided she had some work to do on her computer with Daddy. She was very busy!

Then we asked her to blow a kiss, so she turned away from the camera and blew a kiss to Daddy. Of course.

Nanny and her great grand-baby getting some hugs :)

The night of my birthday, we went to eat at The Barn Door. We went to eat here when we visited last August and this is also where Brantley's Mom and Dad went on their first date in high school!

You can get a block of cheese with some delicious bread as an appetizer. I knew Ainsley would be down for that! She LOVES cheese.

Some play time with Aunt Terri, cousin Amanda, and Daddy the last night.

Saying "hello" on the phone, aka as the lipstick from her book.

Trying out Brantley's Uncle Shane's rocking chair from when he was little.

Yummy coconut cake for my birthday!!!

And then we had a sick child on our hands...

The night before we headed back to Fort Worth from Midland, Ainsley had been acting funny. She started running a fever that evening and into the day Friday. Saturday night was rough and that morning she was running a pretty high fever. We decided to go ahead and head home by way of Memphis (instead of back through Jackson) in case we needed to get back to Nashville Sunday in time to take her to see her doctor. Of course we got stuck in stand-still traffic for over an hour on the way out of Dallas with a baby who was dying to get out of her seat, be held by her mama, and then threw up after eating a cracker! I had about had it at that point and was ready to just be home and hold my baby as much as possible.

There's nothing like seeing your baby look this pitiful and you can't do anything for her to make it better! I shed some tears those couple of days because I felt so bad for her and we were far away from home.

Playing with Mommy's sunglasses just before getting back to Nashville!!!

Although it was a long week and A LOT of car time, it was great seeing everyone and we started missing them as soon as we got home. It'll be a while before we make that trip again, but hope to see everyone somehow and at some point (sooner rather than later)!

***Don't miss my other new posts of pictures below!