Deep in the Heart of Texas

Boy do I love summer! A break from school, time with friends and family, and fun vacations. One place I never thought I would be visiting on a vacation was...Texas! That's my little reality now that I live up north (still sounds so funny!) and I was super excited about heading down at the beginning of the month.

Mark and I drove down to Great Falls, Montana to attend his cousins wedding, and afterwards we caught a flight to Dallas. It was soooo nice to have him along with me this time. Especially since I am a tiny bit of a nervous flyer:) Anyways, we got in pretty late that night and were excited to see my mom and uncle at the airport to pick us up.

During our first week, we enjoyed relaxing with my family and doing a few little day trips here and there. One of my favorite things to do while visiting family is just to relax and enjoy each other. I don't have to go lots of place or see lots of things, just simple family time is perfect for me!

We saw the cutest movie, The Secret Life of Pets, with mom and Maleah and really enjoyed it. Our favorite part was the cute little dachshund who looks just like Bella! Maleah bought me a sweet beanie baby toy of that character and Bella is dying to get her paws on it:) We also cooked out one evening with family and enjoyed that good ol' Texas heat!

Mark had bought Maleah one of those really neat water balloon kits that blows up a ton at once, so they both really enjoyed throwing those at each other. I took lots of pictures and somehow managed to get this hilarious video of Maleah hitting Mark with one. We have laughed at it many times!



Mark went home on Friday afternoon/evening since he had to go back the next week. We planned to watch his plane take off from the observatory area right outside the airport (if you have never been before, it's a MUST! check it out here) but due to overbooking he decided to take a voucher and take a later flight that evening. So...we just ran right back over to the terminal and picked him back up:) We decided that Grapevine Mills would be a fun place to visit so we headed there. Back to the airport we went just a few hours later. Unplanned fun for sure!

I stayed the following week and had lots more fun with my family and friends. One of the highlights was our day trip down to Waco to visit Magnolia Market! We had such a fun (and hot) time looking at all kinds of pretties there. I think I'll save more about that for another post!

I had such a great time at home visiting friends and family. Many memories that are super special. Can't wait to go back again!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

A Day in the Life of Bella May

We have quite the spoiled little weenie dog living at our house. She makes us laugh on a daily basis, and truly has the best little personality! I thought it would be fun to post a little about her and let everyone see just how sweet she truly is. 

Each morning she is super excited to see Mark come downstairs for breakfast! She sits with him on the couch EVERY morning and waits for him to finish his breakfast. Mark always gives her tiny bit of his bagel and a little leftover honey after he is done, and she waits for it patiently. She knows exactly when he is done, and gets off of the couch at record speed to eat it off of his plate that he sits on the floor for her. What a mess! 

When Mark leaves for work, she runs upstairs and sits on the chair by the window ready to wave goodbye to him! We started this a few months ago, and it didn't take her long at all to get into the routine. 

After that, she's basically a lazy bone for the rest of the morning! She absolutely LOVES any blanket she can find. She burrows herself as deep in them as she can manage, and will stay there for hours. The only this that will get her up is if she hears a kiddo outside, or if she thinks I am going somewhere. 

I never have to cover her, she does that all herself. Sometimes it looks so funny. She's truly just a little baby!

Around mid afternoon when the sun starts shining in, she changes things up a bit. She loves to lay in the sunshine and will follow it anywhere! Even if it means laying on the stair steps and moving up or down them depending on which ones have the most sun. She's a smart gal! 

She has loved that chair in our bedroom since day one! I'm sure my Maw Maw and PaPa would get a good kick out of that! It was their chair that I got to bring with me. Super special memories! 

One of my favorite parts of the day is right before Mark comes home. Once I start working in the kitchen Bella knows Mark will be home soon. She usually starts crying at the front door. She recently stopped this, but for a while, each afternoon around that time she would go to her toy basket and drag out every toy. She would have them all laying in the kitchen ready to play! 

She absolutely loves her stuffed animal toys! They must have a squeaker in them to make them a favorite. She seems to enjoy them even more after she has torn some part of their body! It's her little trademark! Ha 

She also LOVES playing with her cousin Nike the cat. They have a love hate relationship! Bella would play with Nike nonstop all day, but Nike gets tired of her pretty quickly. Their best playing days were at the very beginning when we first moved here. I posted a few videos on Facebook a while back.  

At night time Bella loves to come upstairs and lay in the bed a while before going to sleep. She's quite the snuggler and would gladly stay upstairs all night if we would let her! She absolutely adores Mark, and he spoils her quite a bit. Aren't they so cute?!

When we first moved here, Bella slept in her little crate at night and didn't mind it too much. Thanks to her "dad", she now sleeps on the couch wrapped in a blanket! She likes to lay her head on the armrest like it's a pillow too. What a stinker!

She's such a spoiled little one, but we love her big! Mark is looking into lab puppies so that maybe Bella will have a "little" friend to play with. We'll see! 

Hope that you all have a great weekend!