Summer Fun...Here, There and Everywhere!

We have really been trying to squeeze in a lot of fun this last month before school starts.  From Dallas to Houston to Port Aransas we have been some traveling fools.  And I have LOVED it!

I have taken a long break from social media.  I just realized one day I didn't want my face in the phone all the time so I made an intentional effort to take a break.  It has been really nice but the downside is that without my phone on me all the time I have not had immediate access to a camera.  I did capture quite a few fun memories though and I definitely want to share them here on the blog.  Hope y'all enjoy!

Random

The kids have been learning a lot of new things.  For instance, Ethan learned how to play dead in the bath tub.  I joke.  But really, he asked me to take this picture and send it to Ki Ki (my sister).  I try not to judge because I was quite the weird kid myself.

Dallas Trip

We took a week long trip to Dallas for Garrison to participate in the World Series.  That part of the trip didn't really go as planned but we had so much fun spending lots of quality time with family.  Kicking myself for not getting pictures of the boys with all of their grandparents.  Next time!

This looks like PaPa is teaching the boys how to play chess.  And you might think he let Garrison win a time or two, right?!  Wrong!  PaPa taught Garrison how to play chess a few years ago and he taught him well...I am pretty sure they ended up tied by the time we left.  

Ethan must have partied too hard the night before.  This is how I found him in the morning.  Very Wizard of Ozish, right?

Sweet Cousins!  So glad we got to spend some time with these sweet kids (and Kyler)!

Addison and Ethan

Garrison and Keaton

Garrison had his best friend spend the night and they had a blast playing in my parents' pool!  And we had a blast with his parents (our best friends) the night before.  Miss them so much!

We went to Jump Street the next day and these boys had a blast!

Back in Bandera...

As much fun as we had in Dallas, NOTHING beats this view!  This was my Monday morning view driving out of my neighborhood taking Ethan to daycare.  I mean, c'mon!  How can you have any regrets moving to a place this beautiful?!

We have been wanting to turn Ethan's room into a Cowboy Room.  So after we closed on our house (Woooohooooo!!! Hallelujia!!!) Garrett and I hit the antique store in town and picked up some really cool things for his room.  He was one happy boy!!!

Cowhide Rug

Love this sign!

Cowboys Only...except Mama of course!

Authentic horse shoes

H-Town

After Dallas my mom took Garrison to Houston for a sports camp with his cousins.  

Ethan and me heading to H-Town!

These dogs cracked me up.  One (don't ask me which) is Charlie, my sister's dog, and the other is one they were dog sitting.  They look like twins!

These kiddos had so much fun at sports camp!  And the E's (Ethan and Ellie) loved seeing each other, even though it was only for a day.

You know we squeezed a girls' dinner in.  We closed that Italian restaurant down...what, what?!  Seriously though, haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time!  Love these girls and definitely feel so blessed to have them both in my life!

Port Aransas

The Thomas family loves us some Port A!  We decided to take a quick weekend trip and had such a great time!

So, Ethan asked me to do a "Kings and Queens" video of him.  Not sure if y'all have seen Audio Adrenaline's Kings and Queens video but you really only need to watch the first 10 seconds to know what he's talking about.  Feel free to keep watching though for a great song/video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAlE2EnUP5A

And here is E's version.  This is his absolute favorite song by the way.
Love that kid!

Some skim boarding action from Garrison.  He LOVES this skim board Nana and PawPaw bought him a while back!  

We went out to eat Saturday night and Garrison decided to put some "muscles" aka rolled up paper in his shirt.  Oy vey.

Of course little bro couldn't be left out!

So when we went to Dallas we boarded the dogs at a place in Kerrville.  I was not happy with the setup and of course Sox ended up getting bit by one of the dogs.  It was a terrible, awful, horrible experience and so I was SO grateful to find another place in Pipe Creek (closer to home) for our Port A trip.  The dogs LOVED it!  And they even printed me out this sweet evaluation after their stay.

We loved Port A so much we decided to plan another trip with my parents over Labor Day weekend.  They were supposed to come see us that weekend anyways so we figured why not?!  Can't wait for more beach time!

Back to Normal...

My cousin posted something about her health journey on Facebook the other day and it really inspired me to get moving again.  I feel SO good when I exercise and how can I not exercise in this beautiful scenery?  So, Garrison and I have been taking breaks in the afternoon and I trudge drag climb walk while he rides his scooter.  I am not a complete lazy butt.  I say that because our hills out here are CrAzY so it's a killer workout!  

And then there was today...

Let me just tell ya about my day.  I left the house at 7 to take Ethan to daycare.  I'm about 3 miles from my house (where I get NO cell reception) and my tire literally pops and starts spewing out air faster than a man who just ate three bean burritos.  Truth.  I had about three seconds to decide what to do.  An image of me carrying Ethan 3 miles back to the house (up those crazy hills) flashed into my mind so I floored it back to the house, cruising on almost the rim by the time I got into the driveway.  I'm pretty sure it was a nail because I found one in the driveway later this afternoon.  I come home to get Garrett's truck keys and they are nowhere to be found.  I call him and he tells me he has them.  <Insert Juliana's "what the hell?" face>.  So I worked from home today with my 10 year old and 4 year old home with me.  About halfway through the day Ethan asked me to make him a puppet.  When I didn't do it right he told me he wanted to go to Ki Ki's (my sister) house.  Really?!

About an hour later I call to check on the status of our AT&T rewards card (close to $900 to pay off our T-Mobile bill from when we switched providers) and was told we were not eligible because we did not have a trade in.  The salesman clearly told us we just had to purchase new devices, not have a trade in, to get the reward card.  After calling the store, speaking with the salesman and giving him some not so nice feedback I hung up and called the store back.  I spoke with the manager who assured me he will take this to his manager and see what they can do for me.  Dang right! 

THEN I find out Garrison very likely has ringworm on not only his foot but his belly button and scalp.  Awe.Some!

At least Ethan had fun playing doctor.  #scarydoctor

I saw this picture later in the day and it made me laugh out loud.  

The only thing that got me through today was knowing that I leave tomorrow ALL BY MYSELF for H-town for our Adult Girls' Cousin Camp.  Did you hear me?  I said ALL.BY.MYSELF!

Stay tuned for more summer fun from the Thomas family...

~Jewels*

Cousin Camp 2016

We had such a blast at Cousin Camp last month. It was so fun to be able to host this year! As always my sister worked so hard and planned a fantastic few days packed full of fun!  And Mama got to come this time too!  Yay!!!

I am so grateful God chose this girl to be my sister.  And these kids just make my heart happy.

This year we did something a little different and did video recaps of each day. Garrison went through my phone and deleted all the videos last week because he thought we didn't need them anymore. Sometimes I wonder about hat boy. Haha. But I went back and recreated the videos...and he's not allowed on my phone anymore for the record. :)

Wednesday night we just hung out at the house and Garrett let the big boys shoot the bee bee gun.

Thursday we went hiking in the state park right behind our house. We had lunch in town and then went to an awesome little water park at a local dude ranch. You read that right.

Friday we went to the Alamo, had lunch and a boat tour of the Riverwalk and even made it to the Wildlife Park.

Saturday we went to a creek near the house, watched a fantastic thunderstorm from the house and then went to dinner.

Sunday we went to church, had lunch and said goodbye.

Another successful Cousin Camp in the books with lots of laughs and memories made!  So grateful for my family!

~Jewels*

City Family Gone Country

Oh my gracious! I cannot believe it has been five months since my last post. Let me fill y'all in on the recent changes for the Thomas family.

We sold our house in Wylie that we had lived in for TEN years! I was offered an incredible opportunity to work from home and took that job at the end of March. My husband was offered a transfer to the San Antonio office and he is loving it there. All of these things allowed us to fulfill a lifelong dream...we made the move to Bandera and got a house on 5 acres with a breath taking view of the hill country. 

I have gotten so many questions about our recent decisions so let me just answer those here. 

1. Why?

You laugh but I have seriously gotten this question so many times. 

We have always loved the hill country. Most of our weekend getaways have been to Wimberly, San Marcos, Fredericksburg or Bandera. 

We have been wanting land for a long time and couldn't afford it in Wylie. 

We were oh so tired of the 1 1/2 hour commute (for 20 miles) to Dallas for work. 

We desperately wanted our boys to grow up in a small town with a more simple way of life. 

And why not? Why wait until our boys were grown and gone to fulfill one of our dreams? Why not let them experience this with us and see how possible it is to follow your dreams? 

2. How are y'all going to move away from your family?

When we got married 13 years ago I left my family and moved 3,000 miles away to start  a life with Garrett. It was hard. Very hard. And I knew it would be hard again this time, especially having kids now. But we truly felt like God was calling us out here. For what reason I still don't know. Dallas is less than 6 hours from here though and in the last  (les than) month of being here we have seen my dad once, mom twice, sister and family twice and my in-laws are here this weekend. And we are going back to Dallas in three weeks. We are blessed to have family who supports us, loves us and even helped encourage us to follow this dream.

3. How do you stand being so far away from everything?

I love it! We are 15 minutes outside of town. There is a higher priced grocery store in town, a few restaurants, shops, salons, etc. and I truly don't mind driving 40 minutes to HEB for my weekly grocery trip. After all, that's half of my old commute to get to work and that was five days a week! 

4. What about all your friends?

The good friends I have are friends for life and me living six hours away won't change that. And I know as soon as we get plugged into a church and baseball we will make even more friends. 

Speaking of church we tried a cowboy church...yes I said cowboy church last weekend and loved it. We tried two other churches before that and they were okay but finding a church like we are used to in a town this small is not an easy feat. We are excited about getting plugged in there.

I have so much more to say - some of my (hilarious) experiences about transitioning to life in the country and of course our amazing cousin camp but I will save those for separate posts.

I wanted to share some recent pictures with y'all.

Our first dinner out as Bandera residents

My parents came the weekend we moved in and helped A TON!

Beyond grateful for them.

Sweet moments

A little back porch sing-a-long session.  I had no idea these two knew SO many songs...from the 70's!  Haha!

Our sweet neighbors brought us flowers from their own garden to welcome us to the neighborhood.  I am loving this country hospitality!

The boys on one of our afternoon walks (before it got too hot to take afternoon walks).

We finally have a flag!  Love it!

Where we do all of our front porch sittin'!

My sister came in town and helped me decorate the house.  She did an AH-mazing job!  It's not all completely finished yet but I am loving the way it's coming along!  We got this entry table at a cute little store in Fredericksburg and it's one of my favorite pieces in the house!  It now holds a really cool record player - my husband's Father's Day gift.

Our dining table we got from the same store in Fredericksburg!  Love it!

Open concept and I love it.  The kitchen is most definitely my favorite part of the house with the chef's gas range/oven setup.

View from the back deck.  Who knows what we will have in the cross fenced section some day...goats, chickens, donkeys?! :)

I thank God every morning for allowing this to be my drive to Ethan's daycare.  I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy His beauty every single day like this!

Garrett installing back porch lights.  This guy works SO hard all day in the heat and has been coming home every night to work on something at the house.  So grateful!

Lovin' this final result!

A little checkers at Cracker Barrel

Right before our tour of the Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio.  It was 99% humidity in the caves so trust me when I say you do not want to see the after photo.  ;)

This is what my buggy (yes, I said buggy) looks like after a weekly trip to HEB.  Loaded down.  And this crazy kid is licking a bag of chips.  Whatever keeps him entertained! :)

I can't wait to share more of our adventures with y'all.  Ethan is loving his daycare and making lots of new friends there.  His favorite thing to do is some front porch sittin' and enjoying the "biew" (view).  Garrison goes to camp (for the first time ever) in a week.  We go to Dallas in three weeks and then Garrison will get to go to Houston with my sister and her family for a week.  Prayers are much appreciated as we continue to adjust to this new way of life! I am soaking up His truths!

~Jewels*

You need to hear this...Just Do It!!!

Once again it has been far too long since I have posted.  I went back to glance at my last post and found it ironic that the theme carries over into this one.  But not really.  I know God has been putting some things on my heart over the last several months and each seed He has planted has carried me to different phases of following dreams.

Go ahead and breathe a big sigh of relief because this is not a Plexus post.  Ha!

People used to talk about dreams.  I would often ponder the idea of my dreams and....nada.  Nothing.  Zip.  Zilch.  Some would say they always dreamed of being a teacher.  Or a singer.  Or a missionary.  Or whatever.  Seriously, I felt like something was wrong with me for not having a big dream I was striving for.

I always knew I wanted to be a wife.  And I'll be honest...the first 7 years or so of our marriage was far from what I had pictured in my dreams.  Anyone with me?  Anyone?!  Good thing we have learned A LOT and are in a great season in our marriage right now.  I truly am married to my best friend.  And we are now working toward big dreams together!

Being a mom did come very naturally to me and I was so blessed with a great first baby.  Garrison changed my life.  He made me grow up very quickly.  He made me much more selfless, patient and nurturing.  I am forever grateful to him for that.

My "dream" was to have another biological child.  Little did I know God would be planting seeds in mine and Garrett's hearts for the next several years about adoption.  The truth is I never could have dreamed of something as precious and dear as adopting.  Ethan was truly a dream come true.

I don't know if it was a matter of not thinking I was worthy of more or if God just knew I could only handle so much at once (fighting for my marriage, becoming a new mom, going through the adoption process).  I don't really need to understand why I didn't dream big earlier in life though.  Because I have seen time and time again that God's timing is perfect.  Always.  Perfect.

I don't have a big announcement or purpose of this post really.  I simply want to encourage every single one of you to follow your dreams.  Life is ENTIRELY too short to sit back and watch other people live life to the fullest.  YOU live it to the fullest.  Enjoy being in the moment with those you love.  Take that trip that may break the bank this one time.  Go on that mission you have always wanted to go on.  Want to adopt?  DO IT!  Want to foster?  DO IT!  Shoot, do you want a dog?  Get one!

I fully believe I am on this earth to serve Jesus and bring glory to Him.  And I also know that He wants to fulfill the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4).  I kept encountering the scripture Psalm 46:5 for the longest time.  So much so that I decided to get the phone cover.

I absolutely love another version I saw of this verse.
"God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns."
How comforting to know that we will NOT fail with God by our side.  We will NOT be moved or shaken when God is in us.

Read that back to yourself and let it soak in.  And go follow that dream.

~Jewels*