Centennial Celebration!

In June, my dad's side of the family gathered in West Texas to celebrate 100 years of ranching in Texas--a centennial celebration! My great-great grandfather started ranching the land known as the Hayter ranch 100 years ago, and we celebrated with a weekend full of fun activities and good times with family. All of my sisters and their husbands and children came too...it was so great for us all to be down there together. Below are some pictures from the weekend:



Packing up the truck! Since Ryan was unable to travel with us, my mom flew into Houston and drove with Jack and I out to West Texas. We packed up the truck with all sorts of snacks, water, toys, beach towels and more!


Me with all of my Kenley cousins and Hayter second cousins.

My dad with his siblings, Hayter cousins and great Aunt Margaret.

The Kenley Clan!

We stayed at Balmorhea state park for the weekend and had so much fun splashing around the natural, spring pool in the middle of the desert.

Jack and I at the entrance of the Hayter ranch. A legendary photo spot as I have had many a photo taken there.

Jack with his cousins. We are at Ft. Davis getting ready to explore the fort and museum there.

After a yummy bbq at the Hayter ranch, Bob hooked up his horses Mike & Ike and took the kids for a wagon ride on the ranch.

My sisters and our children at the entrance of the ranch.

Jack and I.

The Kenley girls with my parents and Katie's new baby, Max.

Jack and I outside of my great-grandparents home. Joe Bob and his wife, Amanda, now live there and have done some amazing work on the house and ranch!

Joe Bob and Amanda hosted a ranch rodeo and Jack even got to participate in the stick horse race. It was so cute watching him run to the barrel! We also enjoyed the other rodeo events earlier that day....team roping, barrel racing, goat tying and more!

Ryan was able to fly in for the day and take a little time off from the oil well for the ranch rodeo. It was so good to see him and spend time with him at the ranch! It was also so sweet of him to make the trip with all that is going on!

Jack at the ranch rodeo! That hat not only made him easy to spot in the crowd but also provided much needed relief from that hot, Texas sun!

My parents with the grandkids at the entrance of the ranch.

Jack and his cousin Gretchen.

April/May....

Well, it has been some time since I last blogged, so I thought I would do a catch-up post of sorts. I must say that April and May have been anything but ordinary as so many different events have affected our lives. Soon after we returned home from Easter, Ryan left for London for a business trip. What we thought would be a 5 day trip turned into an 11 day trip all due to a volcano in Iceland. This particular volcano was spewing ash into the atmosphere shutting down most of European airspace. We lived in a state of limbo wondering when and how Ryan would make it back home. He finally did on April 21st! We were so grateful and so excited to see him!

Below is a picture of that volcano that impacted our lives:



When Ryan boarded the plane to come home, he received an email from a friend whose husband had been working on the Deepwater Horizon. She wanted us to know that he made it out safely but that the rig had exploded and was in flames with 11 people missing and who were soon presumed dead. A day into Ryan's return from London, he was working in the crisis center dealing with an oil well that was spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the explosion. Another incident that again deeply affected our daily living. It has been 45 days now since the explosion, Ryan has been working long, hard hours and I must say that we have grown a lot during this crisis. Just today I was reading Ephesians 5:15-21. In verse 15-16 it says "be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity...." I feel that even though this crisis is difficult and makes me anxious, I know it is preparing Ryan and I for the plans God has for us. I find that trusting in Him, keeping my eyes on Him and knowing He knows the end result has given me a certain amount of peace and contentment. He has provided us moments of joy in the midst of all of this and below are some pictures of those blessings:

Ryan and I had scheduled a getaway to the Florida keys back in February knowing that we wanted to take a trip together before the arrival of our second baby in October. Ryan's parents graciously agreed to watch Jack, and we planned our trip for the last week in April. With Ryan stranded in London, we wondered if we were going to be able to even make the trip. Then with the oil well crisis we again wondered if we were going to be able to go. We were able to getaway, and we had a fabulous, relaxing time. Above and below are pictures from our beach side balcony.

We enjoyed sitting by the beach, kayaking, playing tennis, golf and eating lots of good food! The time together was also so very refreshing!

At the end of May, Jack had his last day of school. We had such a wonderful experience at Holy Covenant and were so blessed to have had Ms. Michelle and Ms. Juanita as teachers. Jack learned and grew so much over the course of the year. They made a special memory book for each student with pictures from the entire year. I cried looking over it and seeing how much my precious Jack had grown!

On May 19th, Ryan and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary! We were able to go on a dinner date to one of our favorite restaurants and celebrate!

I don't think I have mentioned this on my blog yet but we are expecting baby #2 in early October! On May 25th, we had the ultrasound and we have a precious baby girl on the way. Below are some pictures of her profile. We are so excited to meet her and for Jack to have a baby sister. She is a blessing from the Lord! A precious gift!




Memorial day weekend we were able to go to the ranch for some rest and to celebrate Ryan's mom's 60th birthday! We had such a nice time. It was so good to see Michael and Barbara and to spend some time by the ranch pool.

Jack was fascinated with Uncle Michael playing the guitar.

Uncle Michael and Barbara

Jack and Ryan pictured with the birthday girl! We enjoyed a yummy Italian cream cake that night! Delicious!

Jack playing in his blowup pool. He loved it so!

Jack with Grandpa Texas.

Well, that wraps up April and May! Despite all of the unusual circumstances and the events that have affected our lives over the last 2 months, God has been good and blessed us with so much! To Him I give thanks and glory!! I pray I make the most of every opportunity!

Easter

The Easter Bunny cake Barbara and I worked hard on. It was yummy!

Hunting Easter eggs on the court house lawn in Sonora. Jack loved filling his basket with eggs and climbing one of the live oaks. It was cute! He also enjoyed hunting Easter eggs at the ranch on Easter morning. By the way, Jack loves that orange hat! He wore it the entire weekend!

Jack with the Easter Bunny.

Jack's first horse ride! Ever since he saw the trail riders in February, Jack has mentioned more than once that he wants to ride a horse the next time he goes to the ranch. In fact, he even specified a white horse (fortunately, the Malone's had a white horse!) and he also insisted that the name of the white horse was "Bob." So, even though his name is Cisco, we happily obliged Jack and called the horse "Bob." He had such a great time and loved it! He rode first with Sterling (pic below) and then with Daddy (pic above).

Jack also got to help work some of the baby goats and lambs. He had fun opening gates and shuffling them from place to place.

We spent Easter weekend at the ranch with the Malone's this year. We had such a nice time, and it was so good to spend a long weekend there; especially since we had not been to the ranch since Christmas. It was so good to see Grandma & Grandpa Texas and Uncle Michael and Barbara. Above are some pictures of our time there.

I did not get any pictures of this activity, but one of the things Jack and I did leading up to Easter was Resurrection Eggs. We opened them the 12 days prior to Easter and each one contained an object pertaining to the Easter story. We would read the scripture based on that object and talk about it. Some things were a little over his head, but he really enjoyed it! Every morning (and still on most mornings) he would request to open the Resurrection Egg. I hope to make this a tradition year after year and as he grows, it is my prayer and hope that he one day understands the true meaning of Easter: Christ dying on the cross for our sins, conquering death so that we might have eternal life with Him.

The Cabin

Ryan was away traveling during Jack's spring break, so Jack and I met the Malone's at their cabin in Cloudcroft, NM. We had a wonderful time! Jack enjoyed playing in the snow and spending time with Grandma & Grandpa Texas. He called it, "playing in winter." =) He threw snowballs, built a snowman and even rode on a sled! He took a tumble on the sled, but the next day he was right back on it. He was fascinated with the "Christmas Trees" and wanted Grandpa Malone to put Christmas lights on them. The Malone's outfitted him in snow gear, and it was so cute to see him walking around in snow pants and snow boots. Below are some pictures of our time there!


Jack with Grandma & Grandpa Texas


Walking in the snow with his grandparents.

Jack was fascinated with the shed in the background. He called it "Jack's cabin," and he really wanted a key to it.

Jack on his sled.

Eating dinner at the Lodge in Cloudcroft. It was St. Patrick's Day, so we enjoyed green punch! Jack especially loved the ice cream for dessert! We had such a great time! Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Malone!

Florida/Disney

We had such a nice visit to Florida! Jack and I headed there early to spend some time at my parent's condo on the beach. We overlapped with my sister Juliann and her kids. It was so good to see them! Jack had so much fun playing with his cousins! We also had a good visit with my grandfather. My mom, dad, Jack and I then headed to the Magic Kingdom at Disney and Ryan met us there. It was a blast! Jack loved it so much, and it was so precious to see him meet the characters. He thought they were all real....it was a perfect age to take him! He was very impressed with the castle and loved riding the rides. We also spent a day at Animal Kingdom, which was fun, but my favorite was the Magic Kingdom! It was so good to spend that time with my parents. What a great vacation! Below are some pictures of the fun:


Jack fell asleep in his stroller both days we were at the Magic Kingdom. He was exhausted from all of the fun!

We went to a dinner show called the Hoopdedoo Review. It was awesome! Jack loved playing the washboard and was so baffled at the beginning when he was happily eating his dinner and people started singing and dancing. The look on his face was priceless! At the end they pulled people from the audience to participate, and they picked me to be the can-can dancer. Below are some pictures of my silly costume!

Jack loved meeting Donald Duck, Micky and Minnie as well as Pluto and Goofy!

Jack at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom with Grandma & Grandpa Indiana on his first day!

Jack and I with my Grandpa

Jack with his cousins, Luke, David and Olivia.

Fun at the beach!

David and Jack having fun together!