{Nascar}

This past weekend was Nascar weekend here in Texas and because we live across the street from Texas Motor Speedway we try not to leave our house unless absolutely necessary.  Our neighborhood only has one exit which becomes a nightmare during the beginning and end of the races.  On Friday Chloe and kaidee came home from school with 14 tickets to the big race on Sunday.  I was bummed because we don't do things like that on Sunday because its the Sabbath.  On Sunday it was raining, which meant no race.  They tried to start the race later in the evening but they could never get the track dry enough. So the race was postponed until Monday.  Lucky for us that meant we were able to go but the kids would have to miss school.  I don't mind them missing school for things like this especially because Nascar races are always on Sunday so this could be the only time they ever get to see a race.  We had enough tickets for Tad, Carys, Gray, Cody, Celeste, Ezra, Elliot, Chloe, Kaidee, Cole, Paisley, and I all go for free.  My Dad and Darian had tickets but they weren't able to go because of work, they were super bummed and so was I.

When we got to the race we found our favorite driver on the side of the truck.  Of course we had to take a picture with him.

This was taken from where we were sitting.  We got there early so that we could see all the pre race stuff.

The Grand Marshall was Si from Duck Dynasty.  This was the first Duck Commander 500.  This jumbo tron or Big Hoss as they call it here in Texas is the worlds largest high definition TV.  At night it will light up our sky and if its cloudy its really bright.  This is the first race with it.  It was pretty cool because it was like watching it on TV but being there in person too.

Jeff Gordon had his car specially painted for Texas A&M.  He did really good this race.  He led for quite a while but in the end he took 2nd place.

Here they are at the very beginning of the race.  I have watched the race on TV but it is nothing compared to seeing it in real life.  I can't believe how fast the go and they are so close to each other.  It was so cool.

only a few laps into the race Dale Earnhardt Jr lost control and ran into the wall after going into the grass with his left tires.  The back of his car immediately went up in flames.  He was ok but Jimmy Johnson who was behind him broke his windshield from some debris and lost a few laps.  He was our second favorite driver.  Both Jimmy and Jeff are teammates from California.

Carys and Kaidee were like this almost the entire race.  They were getting so excited and every time Jeff Gordon would pass someone getting closer to the lead they would cheer loud and give everyone high fives.  Jeff started in 12th position and moved all the way up to first.

#24 in first place.

Cody and Tad rented these headsets which allowed us to listen to the drivers and their crew chief's.  All we had to do was put in their car number.

Jeff Gordon leading the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr's truck left about halfway into the race.

The winner was #22 Joey Logano who is only 23 years old.  I'm so glad we were able to go, we all had so much fun.  Hopefully they will have more races that aren't on Sunday.

{nan and pops big move}

My parents were finally homeowners yesterday. We went over to see their new house but the moving truck wasn't able to get their until the middle of the night so we didn't have anything to do until today.  Its still doesn't feel like my parents are living in Texas, in fact it doesn't feel like were living here yet either.  It still feels like a long vacation.

My parents house is about 30 minutes away.  They are in a different ward and stake.  Their neighborhood is all houses with at least 1 acre lots.  The lots are not flat either so it makes it feel larger than it is.

All the family came over Saturday morning to help unload the truck.  My mom was worried most about the piano but it survived all intact.

The guys loaded most everything into the garage then the girls moved stuff into the correct rooms.  This house is almost three times as big as their old house.  It has three large bedrooms, an office, a huge game/media room, walk in pantry, large kitchen, dining room, laundry room, and four full bathrooms.  Once the house is put together I will take pictures of the inside.

This house has so much storage too.

The kids have so many places to play and ride bikes.

Chase and Cody made a bike jump.  The little boys were in awe.

Last night my mom invited all the kids to come over for a sleepover.  There wasn't any beds for them to sleep on so all slept in the game/media room.  I don't think they cared that they had to sleep on the floor.

This is the the living room and part of the dining room.  The kitchen is to the left.  We were able to get the truck unloaded now there's just lots of boxes to unpack.

{ a tribute to Shyann}

Since School was cancelled yesterday so was the boys basketball game so they played it tonight instead.  Thanks to social media everyone knew to wear Orange because it was her favorite color.  Both were on the girls varsity basketball team so that night was all about the girls.  They had a moment of silence before the game.  The boys basketball team all were wearing orange socks and even the players on the other team were wearing orange too.  It gives me goosebumps just thing about it.  I also noticed that fans on the opposing team were wearing orange too.  I love that a school, city, and even rivals can come together during such a sad time.  One other thing happened too.  During halftime the girls team from the other school presented orange roses to our girls team in memory of Shyann.

At school today these flowers were left on Shyann's desk.

I know its blurry but you can see all the orange in the crowd.  Shyann's family went to the game and after the game was over each of our players came into the stands to give her Dad a hug.  I will never forget this night.

{Fort Worth Stockyards}

Today a big group of us all went down to the Fort Worth Stockyards.  Michael had never been, and when you come to Texas its a must see.  I mean when you think of Texas don't you think of Texas longhorns, cattle drives, horses, and cowboys?  You can see all of those things here.  We got caught in some heavy construction traffic on our way so we missed the cattle drive which only happens twice a day at 11:30am and 4:00pm.

So we decided to eat lunch a Joe T Garcia's.  We had 16 people with us so they put us in a room all by ourselves which was perfect for our family.  The menu was simple we had two choices, fajitas or enchiladas.  They served us rice, beans, nachos, and homemade guacamole family style.  The tortillas were homemade and their nachos were to die for.  They basically fried a corn tortilla then covered it in cheese and some green tomatillo sauce, they repeated this with each tortilla and layered them all on a plate it was delicious.

After lunch we headed over to the stockyards.  It still has a lot of the original charm, brick streets and lots of old brick buildings.  You can still see some of the original train tracks that were used to bring the livestock here from all over the U.S.  We found some ponies on our way to see the longhorns, Michael found some hay and let the kids take turns feeding them.  The kids loved it.

We saw this old round about used to turn the train engines around.  You don't see these very often and they still use it today.  We were hoping to see it used today but we left before the engine came.

Next we made our way over to see the longhorns that were used in the cattle drive.  They were all so mellow and they just laid there.  I had Sydney and Michael pose in front of them.

Can you imagine carrying around horns like that on your head everyday?  I can't stand a headband for too long.  I can't help but feel bad for them.

They all were just laying around watching us.

After we left we found this longhorn that you could sit on and take a picture with.  Zoe wanted a picture.

At the stockyards they had these huge warehouses that must have been used to store cattle and horses back in the day.  I would love to open this one up and use it for wedding receptions just like the building we had Sydney's reception in.

The last building we went to had horses, cattle, and a camel that thought he was a goat.

The kids enjoyed petting all of the horses.

This white horse had the prettiest blue eyes.  I wish you could see them in this picture.

Here is the goat camel.

See he wanted to eat Rowdy's coat.  His neck was so long and you had to make sure you stood back because he would get you.

Elliott and Garrett also took pictures with the longhorn.

Kaidee's arms aren't even as long as a longhorns horns.

As we were leaving we passed by one of the cowboys.  The kids all took turns petting his horse.  We had a great time taking Michael hopefully next time he is here we can see the actual cattle drive.

{2013 annual family soccer game}

Yesterday we had our annual family soccer game.  Soon we will be able to do it more often because we will all be here in Texas, except for Sydney, Michael, and Garrett.  We had so much fun, lots of laughs, lots of falls, and lots of goals.  The final score was Pops, Tad, Garrett, Sydney, Chloe, Zoe, Carys, Miles, and I 7 all the others 6.  It was a close fun game.  I can't wait to do it again. Thanks Amelia for taking all the pictures.