a Texas Thanksgiving

each year, we rotate spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families

This was our year to have Thanksgiving in Texas with the Taylor crew

and a fine Thanksgiving, it was!

we first drove to Huntsville to stay the night before trekking onward to Austin.

a good little break in the drive, plus I always love staying at GTs folks house

learning the art of making a perfect pot of coffee

one they learn early

you know, to keep the adults mugs full as we play dominoes (wink)

and playing with their toys

they rented a farm house for us to stay at near GTs grandparents house, since our crew has outgrown all other houses (not a bad problem to have!)

the house came with a golf cart to drive around their land

and these two had quite the time going on adventures

the place was gorgeous and we loved spending some time in central Texas

we only had one day with sunshine before the rain came, so we all took turns riding around on the golf cart

and possibly getting it stuck in the mud

don't worry....Judson drove while they pushed

i mean, someone had to take their picture, right?

i absolutely LOVED the house we stayed in and am ready to move in 

 watching the boys play in the backyard was enough to convince me to sell our house (i kid) (kind of)

the house even had the perfect wraparound porch with the perfect porch swing

that my perfect husband rocked our perfect baby to sleep on

ok. i'll stop.

but, you get it, right? the house was perfect.

it was over 100 years old and beautifully restored.

we filled it with lots of people and gave it lots of love

we soaked up being with all of our family

and the boys enjoyed playing with their aunts, uncles, Grammy and PaPa

and i couldn't get enough of these little sweet cheeks of Gracie!

we cooked and ate all weekend

the kitchen was full of busy hands, nosey guys, needy toddlers, and domino players

GT helping me mash the taters 

Pioneer Womans recipe

I've made them a few years in a row, so i think it's my "thing" now...maybe.

lots and lots of deliciousness made by all of the family

and my beautiful sisters-in-law

let me tell you one thing.

you get to know a lot about someone by working beside them in the kitchen

and I thoroughly enjoy being with these three preparing meals, washing dishes, or cleaning up.

they're the good ones

and i'm so incredibly thankful that we're stuck for life (i mean that in the best way possible!)

they're good cooks, happy, hilarious, hard workers, and i think that's a pretty good combination.

especially when it comes to Thanksgiving meal prep.

there was a lot of chatting

and some serious napping

later that night, GT and I took Judson to his first Longhorn game

it rained off and on the entire game, but he was loving every minute

around 830, i asked him if he was ready to go

he said, "is the game over? i want to watch the whole thing"

so, we stayed 

and all three of us were happy little campers

i'm not a burnt orange fan, but i sure love my guys and they are strongly opinionated about the horns...so, "hook 'em", i say!

i mostly loved our little date 

the next day we ate some breakfast, played more dominoes, cleaned up and everyone headed their separate ways

GT headed out for a work/hunt trip 

the boys and I went back to Huntsville to Mark and Dels for the night, along with Garrett and Cristie

i know i've said it one million times, but i'm so thankful for GTs family.

even though our holidays spent together are short, they are always sweet

and maybe awkward, ha!!!

love these crazies