back in god's country

saturday morning we got up even EARLIER and drove to the great state of texas for a family reunion.

just seeing that sign brings a tear to my eye...{sigh}

we had a blast at the reunion!  it wasn't because we spent a lot of time catching up with relatives, though.  it's because the reunion was at "the ranch" and we got to ride 4-wheelers and go fishing!!!  i was in redneck heaven!  this was the first time colby and spencer had ridden 4-wheelers, and they LOVED it!  colby didn't even lunch because he was having so much fun!  spencer enjoyed going up in the hills and exploring more than colby did.  

colby just liked to go FAST....................he even scared me a couple of times because we were flying down the trails!

at one point colby was singing at the top of his lungs, "i can't drive 55!"

after lunch i went fishing with the varmints, pappy, andy and marcus.  {yes, i was the only girl!} marcus caught the first fish just a few minutes after we got to the pond.  then i quickly caught the next one!  it was a little mud catfish.  andy took it off the hook for me, and then asked me if i wanted to kiss it!  of course i didn't want to kiss it, but i DID want a picture with it for my photo of the day.  it was hard to take the picture AND watch andy to make sure he didn't shove the thing in my mouth!

photo of the day #80

my fish

{for the record i caught 3 fish, pappy caught 1 and andy caught ZERO!}

i think it's funny i caught more fish than my dad or brother because they would NEVER let me go fishing with them when i was little.  they said if you couldn't pee over the side of the boat, then you couldn't go.

there was something about being outside all day in the texas country.....i was thinking all the way home that i would love to have a few acres of land with an iron gate over the drive. i'd name my little place peaceful valley.  {that was the name of our street growing up.} i'd have one of these in my yard:

and these would be flying in front of my house:

being in texas also got me in the mood for country music again!  it's been years since i've listened to it, but all the way home i listened to some CDs i have...george strait, trisha yearwood, garth brooks and alan jackson.  i guess i really am a country girl at heart.

quote of the day: Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word. –John Steinbeck