Marks birthday!... and the goat

in early August, we spent the weekend in Huntsville to celebrate Marks 60th birthday!

If you know me at all, or have read this blog, you know that I LOVE going to GTs parents house.

so, knowing everyone would be there-except for my new sis-in-law, Cristie (we missed her!)- 

i was super excited for the weekend.

  

reason numero one: dominoes

we all love to play 42 and it might be one of my favorite things to do

especially with my Taylor fam

for his birthday, Mark wanted us to go with him to a goat auction in a neighboring town

to which we all obliged

and i was super giddy

my first goat auction and all

sweet little Hutch!

i have been telling GT that I wanted a goat. seriously.

so when this little group of little Tennessee fainting goats came out, i sort of lost my marbles.

i told GT to buy me a goat, but $30 was my max bid. i was kind of joking, thinking that he would blow off my request and i also thought they would sell for more than that.

well, the bidding began and ended. that group was sold.

then this lone little one came out for bidding.

i noticed that someone behind us was getting the nod from the auctioneer for their bids, but i didn't turn around and look at the bidder.

well, that goat sold for $40 and i turned around to look at the winner 

i just about kissed the man, i was so excited

he had been bidding with a card i didn't even know he had!

made me want to marry him all over again

isn't that the cutest little goat you ever did see?

His name is Murray and he is a pre-Madonna.

does no favors for anyone. only likes to eat the short, good grass. not the weeds and brush we intended for him to mow down.

unfortunately for GT, i've grown rather fond of the rascal

so we are keeping him as my pet.

after the auction and our livestock purchase, we headed next door to the CowTalk Steakhouse for some good home cooking.

the rest of the day was spent napping, domino playing, talking, playing with the kiddos

and celebrating Mark!

isn't my niece the cutest thing?!?!?

after Sunday church, we had a delicious lunch then parted ways

and left our goat, until GT returned the next day with the truck to haul him home

when i first met Mark, he brought me a basket of fresh peaches

I knew right then that we would get along.

not only did he raise the awesome man that is my husband, but he is the best PaPa to my boys.

he has also taught me so much about raising animals and encouraged me in learning more

we really did have the perfect weekend celebrating him (i sure hope he thought so, too!)

Simply (a great) Tuesday

Last week, my mom hosted the annual "Grand Camp". 

Tuesday morning she had to attend a funeral so the boys had got to attend "Kate/Mama Camp"!

We went for a long adventure ride on the gator

Let the chickens out

Watered the chickens

Played at our house

Then headed for Chick fil a

Major sweating at this point. Mainly because I put on jeans in 278 degree August heat and had to put an extra booster and car seat in my car

mom and Mamaw Lou met us there and the boys loaded up on prizes, chicken and suckers

After getting back home, GT arrived with our new goat- yes, we bought a goat

 My boys napped

I made banana Nutella muffins and cleaned a bit

then

Dropped the boys off at moms for more grand camp and met GT at the movies for a little 5:25 Jason Bourne

Even better, tickets were only $5!

Our popcorn and drink (singular) cost more than our tickets

The movie was excellent and so was our little date. When we came out of the movie, it was still daylight

 Tuesday evening movie is where it's at

On the way home, I was listening to a podcast with an author and she was talking about her book "Simply Tuesday".

Our obsession with bigger and faster is spinning us out of control. We move through the week breathless and bustling, just trying to keep up while longing to slow down. But real life happens in the small moments, the kind we find on Tuesday, the most ordinary day of the week. Tuesday carries moments we want to hold onto--as well as ones we'd rather leave behind.- (Amazon description)

Perfectly summarizing my day

After getting the (tired) boys from my parents, GT fixed up Townesys big boy bed

I collected 7(the largest daily collection yet!) eggs from the girls

And checked in the ever-bleating goat. He's a cutie

We had a super sweet book and bedtime

Then watched an epic night of swimming and gymnastics of the Olympics. Go USA!

this past Tuesday was pretty great, too

we spent the morning outside playing and tending to the chickens and the goat.

we currently just have the goat tied to a T-post and let him loose when we're home.

i wanted to move his T-post to another area, so he would eat all of the brush there.

i did not realize how much effort that required, but i was super proud once it was complete and sent this photo to my husband so that he could know how much more value i bring to the family now

one of GTs friends from Huntsville came in town

he is a cook and we spent 2 nights eating his awesome cooking at my cousins house

wood-fired pizza Tuesday night

we stayed late visiting and the kids playing with their cousins

we left kind around 9 or so

when i got home, i was hurrying to check on the chickens since they were still out and i'm worried some critter will get them

i was happy to find them tucked nicely in their coop, untouched

I start my new job next week and the boys start school (WEE school and Mothers Day Out) in 2 weeks. I know that our slow days at home are drawing near the end, so we are savoring each one.

Especially a Tuesday


(i apologize for the number of "selifes" in this post. specifically, selfies of me without any sort of make up. have a nice day)

summer reading and listening

the first few weeks after graduation were spent studying for my certification exam (which i passed, whoopty whoo!) 

after that exam, i kind of didn't know what to do with myself

i have been so accustomed to studying, writing papers, a variety of school related "chores" that I found myself at a loss for what to do with the now-available time.

 After i rearranged the living room furniture, converted the guest room into a shared room for the boys, made Judson's old room the guest room, got completely caught up on laundry (and i'm behind again, everyday, of course)....i just kind of looked around and decided to start reading for leisure again. 

(we also got some chickens and a goat- more to come on that later...for sure)

i have found that i really enjoy reading books on my phone.
that way, my book is always with me
i can even read it while i'm laying down with the boys if they're having trouble going to sleep!

as you can see, there really is no consistency in the type of book that I read

I have also read a few paper-books- Wild and Free to name one.

and i do recommend that one to all females everywhere.

if you'd like my review of each book, let me know.

i don't promise anything profound, but i will let you know if it changed my life or left me wanting more.

see that top left book?

it's a non-fiction by blogger Monica Swanson

i learned about her book by listening to her on a podcast and knew i had to read it

i don't really struggle (right now) with my body and eating (still i'm a girl so i'm not unfamiliar with that struggle) 

i really loved what her book had to say about how we view our bodies and how to take care of it. 

I HIGHLY recommend this book for all females, as well. It's a short read- do it.

speaking of podcast, i love them.

if i'm ever in the car by myself. even for a quick drive to gym, i'm listening to a podcast.

also, while doing laundry, cooking, or whenever the boys aren't needing me (which is almost never, right?)

here's my current list of podcast to which i subscribe

some, i obviously listen to more than others, but i enjoy them all

 

and 4 of my favorite episodes (is that what they're called?)

1. Sam Jones with Connie Britton
2. Bon Apetite with Ina Garten
3. Tiffany Castleberry with Shannan Martin
4. Jamie Ivey with Monica Swanson

so, in case you have some downtime and don't know what to do with it.
or you would like to hear something or read something to challenge you or give you something different to think about.
or if you have a trip coming up.
theres my recommendations for books and podcast.

a sweet trip to Sugar Land

on one hand, it's a wonderful thing that some of our friends live in Sugar Land (near Houston)

there are lots of fun things to do there!

on the other, it's a super sad thing that they live there

we don't get to see them as often as we'd like (which would be every day)

when we saw Tommy and Brice in May at Garretts wedding, we made a plan to see them later in the summer so the kids could spend some time together also.

Judson and Tate are big buddies and we want them to stay that way!

Tate is 1 year older than Judson 

and Sloane is 4 months older than Townes

GT had a meeting planned for a Tuesday morning in Katy, which is 20 minutes from their house in Sugar Land.

So, we headed down to their house Saturday morning and we had 3 and a half awesome days!

we spent Saturday playing at their house and their neighborhood pool

just having that one day made the trip worth it!

but, luckily...we had more!

after church Sunday

i mean....

the sweetest

Tommy and Brice took us to this cafe in a neighboring town and it was delicious

and the building was really neat 

Judson and Tate were pretty much inseparable

even at nap time

and even though they tried to talk their way out of napping, we told them that they had to so that we could go to the zoo!

they fell asleep quickly then

this was our second trip to the Houston Zoo with the boys and we all loved it

Townes was super fun and had hilarious reactions to each animal

when we brought him last year, he was still just hanging out in the stroller

so, this year was fun watching all of the kids

the boys

and sweet Sloane

the only girl and she is sweet as pie

the guys gave me a hard time when I asked them to recreate this picture from last years trip to the zoo in April

but, i'm glad we did!

they'll probably give me a harder time when i ask them to recreate it in 10 years, ha!

funny little monkeys

after the zoo closed, we headed to a nearby burger place and inhaled our burgers and fries

kiddos included

the kids crashed around 10:30, then us crazy parents stayed up until 1:30 playing dominoes

crazy, i tell ya!

we spent a few hours Monday morning playing at an inflatable playground thing...or something like that

it was super fun, for everyone.

and wore the kids out

i think all 4 of them were asleep by the time we pulled out of the parking lot

what it really looks like trying to get a pic with the boys...

and that's only a few of them

we're already planning our next trip to get together

it sure is a sweet thing when your kids love your friends kids a much as you love your friends!

know what i mean?