Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Ellie Meets Some Horses

I try to take Ellie (and now Liam too) once or twice a year to visit my two sisters and my brother-in-law that all live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex (DFW). Our latest visit a few weeks ago was full of noteworthy stuff (a stomach virus! Ellie meeting horses! Liam meeting his grandparents and great grandmother!). I decided to post about our trip a little at a time so that there's not an overload of information. If you get sick of reading about our trip to DFW, don't worry...our trip to Louisiana to visit E's family is coming up after this!

While we were visiting, my sister Jodi bought a gorgeous palomino mare named Summer. Jodi kept the pretty little mare for a few nights at her friend Maddie's horse facility until she could transport Summer to West Texas. Ellie was so excited that Jodi let us tag along to check on her new pony.

We stopped by the barn to say hello to Maddie's yearling Flynn and talk to the woman who was in charge of feeding the horses that week. Flynn was sweet for such a young guy. Ellie still talks about him and his toy apple!
 Next we marched on over to see Jodi's horse Summer. Ellie wasn't certain about Summer at first, but Jodi reassured her by showing her Summer's mane and letting Ellie pet Summer.
 Our last stop was the pasture on our way off the property. Maddie's little miniature horses were rather adorable and much more Ellie's size! She didn't seem nearly as intimidated by them as she was the larger horses.
Thanks for the fun time, Jodi! Ellie still talks about meeting the horses almost every day. She'll be begging to go again next time we head your way for a visit!

Monday, August 22, 2016

Meeting Your Best Friend

Meeting your best friend only happens once for most people, but if you consider your siblings to be your best friends then some people get a few opportunities! I remember very vividly meeting my little sister Jodi when I was only eighteen months old. My dad drove me to the hospital that was about an hour from our home in West Texas. I remember getting out of the car and holding his hand as we walked into the stark hospital building. We walked into the room and my mom was sitting in the bed with my little sister. After proper introductions, my parents let me sit in a chair and hold my new little sister. IT WAS AWESOME!

I really thought about meeting Jodi when I thought about how I wanted Ellie to meet Liam, but ultimately the crazy Texas storms that were rolling through Houston dictated their introduction. Esquire and I hired the lovely Crystal of Gilded Sun Photography to take photos of this special moment.

Since the flooding in April, we've been incredibly blessed by my aunt and uncle opening up their home to us while our house is being rebuilt. My wonderful aunt watched Ellie for us when we were at the hospital with Liam. We coordinated with Crystal to meet us at my aunt's house when we were released from the hospital. Esquire stayed in the car with Liam while I went in and loved on Ellie.

We called Esquire to bring in Liam and Ellie finally got to meet her little brother.

Just press play!