Tent Camping + August = HOT

After 2 years of talking about camping, we did it....in August! Not only was it hot, but the mosquitos must be in breeding season as they were as thick as honey. Inspite of those 2 things, it was a great time!!! I thought I would be scared to death and wouldn't be able to sleep for fear of Freddy or Jason coming up and slicing our tent open with a knife but it wasn't at all like that. I slept sooo well. I guess my body really enjoyed all of that fresh air.
For those of you that haven't been to Possum Kingdom, you must go. Just not in the summer or at least August. If you must go in August, bring a fan like we did. Kelly told me that you don't use fans when camping but he sure wasn't complaining when I plugged that thing in. It kept us so cool while we were sleeping that we even had to cover up.


The view of the entrance into Hell's Gate. It sounds scary but it is just a party cove. No parties during the weekday but we heard it gets crazy in there!


This would be us taking a picture of ourselves while on the lake. This would also be the day before we got so burnt that it took days for the skin to actually fall off. Yes, we did use sunscreen!

Sunset on PK Lake. It was so pretty!


Kelly is a wonderful cook. He can create something delicious from anything. I really appreciate him in the kitchen! While camping, he whipped me up some shish-kabobs with melt in your mouth steak. We don't do hotdogs when we camp out!


This would be our tent. It came from either Sam's or Costco and is awesome! It sleeps 8 people so we had plenty of room. It was easy to put up too. We would definately recommend it.

Let's Go to Vegas!

Driving back this past Sunday from a family reunion in Rockdale, my family decided to take a potty break in Lott, Texas. Lott is not a very big town. In fact, some might not even call it a town but just a dot on the map. We stopped at the only gas station and Paul bought 2 loteria scratch off tickets. One for his car and one for my car. I told Paul that if we won big we were going to buy an RV then giggled and drove off. Carey immediately started scratching. She saw one bean, then two beans, then three beans, and finally four beans in a row. She started screaming!!! We had won $3000! I didn't believe her. She read the rules again. Checked the card. Screamed some more. I grabbed the card and looked at it. I could not believe it. We won $3000!!! She checked one more time and called Paw-Paw so they could pull over. We could tell that they did not believe us but we finally persuaded them to pull over. My mom started screaming and insisted that we stop in the next town to scan it. Sure enough, the little gas station in Robinson confirmed.

WE ARE A WINNER!!!!

Moral of the story: It might be some podunk town with a gross gas station but you never know if you will be a winner unless you stop.

Carey picked up the check today at the Lottery Redemption Center today. The boys were so excited and wanted to hold the check. Carey let them but made sure they were very careful. Off to the bank!

Rollin on the River

My friends and I just celebrated our annual river trip extravaganza. This trip was a little more subdued than the past. Yes, Bryan showed a little too much, Kelly got hurt, ate at the Gristmill but nothing really crazy happened. I guess that is a good thing. The one big thing that we did not get to do this year was to listen to some really awesome Texas country music underneath the big Texas sky. Sure we saw Mickey and the Motorcars and Reckless Kelly but we missed out on hearing the Tyler Hatch Band. We even all had our THB t-shirts ready to rock. Hopefully next year we will get to catch their show. (Fellow bloggers - if you have not heard of THB, get on You Tube and check them out!)



Being the foodies that we are, we found this wonderful hole-in-the-wall breakfast place in little Mexico in Austin. It is great and cheap! Fresh salsa too! I would definately recommend hiding all of your valubles in the car prior to going in the restaurant though.



Guess who got hurt? Ashley and Lacy and......My man. AGAIN. There was no rope swing involved. Just a super low river and some moss covered rocks. The dang rocks took out Lacy, Ashley and Kelly. We were literally 20 feet from getting out of the river and heading home for the day when it happened. Ashley fell out of her toob going over a waterfall and got all banged up. Then Kelly fell trying to get out of his toob to walk up the bank. When I saw fall, he fell hard and really messed up his ankle and knee. Did we bring our first aid kit? no. We did have Dr. Bryan and Dr. Justin though. That is really all you need when you are hurt. They made the infamous splint last year out of tape and plastic forks. This year, they bagged up some ice and seran wrapped Kelly's ankle. It made him feel much better! Thanks Docs. Please send the bill to our insurance.


Twin elbows. This was the least of their scratchs and bruises. I was not able to show were the other boo boos were b/c this is totally a PG blog.

Kelly was able to play in the 1st Annual River Trip Extravanganza Washer Tournament. He had to play Ashley in the finals and took her out. He is now the washer PIMP.

One of the many fishies that Kelly caught. This was the only catfish though. We put it in the cooler to take back to Waco but some creature made ate it overnight. Hope it was tasty!
I promise Kelly's ankle really did hurt. These activities just really didn't aggravate his ankle.

We are all waiting for Reckless Kelly to perform. Give us a little Wicked Twisted Road please!



We had a great trip. A little too short for me though. I guess when you are at the river, time just rolls on by. Next year, I am bringing a first aid kit, crutches, a sling and hopefully nurse Heather!

E-Harmony....Jenny Style

I have taken it upon myself to find my friend, Ashley, a date. This is kind of like an E-Harmony/Want Ad/Pimpin' Out type deal. I write a fun bio, you find the guy...Presto!

Name: Ashley

Age: 29

Hometown: WACO

Current Residence: Farmers Branch (FB for the locals)

Occupation: Transponster for a brokerage house (if you know what a transponster is or what is it is from, then you are on your way to winning Ashley's heart)

Height: Tall...5'9

Bats: Right

Throws: Right

On E-Harmony, they would now make your write a few words about yourself. I am about to one up them and do a brief but very interesting Q&A with Miss Ashley. Sit down, grab your self a cold one and enjoy. Hopefully this will make YOU, the reader, reach out to the guys in your life to see if they would be interested in meeting Ashley. Should you have any takers, please comment on this post and I will pass it along.

me: Hey Ash. Ready to begin our Q&A? This will not be the normal boring questions that E-Harmony usually serves up. Mine really dig down deep to get to know the real Ashley.

Ashley: I am ready. Bring it on!

me: If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

Ashley: Christmas Red.

me: Why?

Ashley: I love red and I love Christmas. I think I just made up that color....

me: Would you rather be frozen to death or eaten by a polar bear?

Ashley: Polar Bear (it took her less than 2 seconds to answer). Being frozen to death is a stupid way to die. It would make for such a better story to be eaten by a polar bear.

me: If it were to only snow one color, what color would it be?

Ashley: I would want it to fall ice blue. Similar to Michelle's bridesmaid dresses. It would really go well with my eyes.

me: If you were to be a cereal box character, what one would you be and why?

Ashley: The Lucky Charms guy. Have you seen all of his charms? I would also like to speak with his accent.

me: I know that you enjoy a good hot dog. What is your topping of choice?

Ashley: Ketchup. Every once in awhile, I will throw in some chili but ketchup is my staple.

me: Would you rather live like Sponge Bob under the sea or like the Jetson's in space?

Ashley: Jetson's. I could just fly down to the water if I wanted to see it instead of always being in it. Plus I have always wanted to be a pilot but poor vision has kept me from my dream. Living in space, I would think that everyone would be able to get a license to fly.

me: Would you rather live outside 24/7 or be stuck indoors 24/7?

Ashley: Have you been to Texas in the summer? It is way too hot to be living out there. So I chose indoors. I have windows and can look out there. Plus I don't like bugs.

me: Since we are on the outdoors theme, what is your favorite season?

Ashley: Summer. I like it hot.

me:What is your favorite drink at Sonic?

Ashley: Cherry Limeade. Boring I know but you just can't go wrong with a classic.

me: That just about concludes our Q&A for today. Thanks so much for being a good participant in my first ever Q&A on E-Harmony Jenny Style. Hopefully we will get some responses.

Ashley: I kinda feel like a mail order bride??? Granted, I haven't ever seen a website about being a mail order bride but this is what I think it would feel like. Maybe a mail order bride-hooker. Thanks Jenny!

me: Anytime!

What I Like About Texas

This time next week, I will be home and exhausted from a perfectly wonderful trip to the river. What river you might ask? It is the one and only Guadalupe. I look forward to this trip so much every year. It doesn't get much better than sitting in a toob while floating underneath cypress trees on a hot summer day. Ohhh I can't wait.

As I sit here thinking about the cool water of the Guadalupe, I am reminded of all of the other things that I love about Texas.

* Gruene Hall * Hometown Parades
* The Hill Country * Football
* People waving as you pass them on country roads * Willie Nelson
* George's Bar * The Brazos Belle
* Friday Night Texas High School Football * Southwest Airlines
* The Poop Deck in Galveston * Joe T. Garcia's
* Cameron Park Zoo * Frio and Brazos River
* Bluebonnets * The Alamo
* Sayings such as Ya'll and Fixin' To * Swimming in the tank
* Fightin' Texas Aggie Anything * Highway 6
* Lake Whitney * Kitok's
* Strecker Museum * The Strand in Galveston
* Sitting on the porch * Drinking out of Mason Jars
* Washers and Horseshoes * Ford Trucks
* HEB * Ninfaritas
* Port Royale * Catching lightning bugs
* Concerts in Helotes * The Tyler Hatch Band
* Salt Lick BBQ * Ranger Baseball
* East Terrace * Blue Bell Ice Cream
* George Strait * Lake McQueeny

These are just a few things that come to mind as I had to limit myself as the list could go on and on. Now back to packing.....

The Week of Walker

This week has been so fun. Why? Walker! Walker got to spend the week at Kelly's because he is in a Rangers All-Skills Camp at the Youth Ballpark. This kid is so funny and is definately not shy. He loves to talk and just tell us every little thing that is going on in his mind. The main thing that he has been sharing is all of the firsts that he has done this week. One of the first things was getting to hold a baby. Not just any baby, but sweet Emery. We met up with Blake, Amy and Emery on Tuesday night for dinner at Grimaldi's. Walker was excited to see the baby and even wanted to sit by her. He told us that he has never held a baby baby so first thing, I gave him little Emery to hold. He thought she was so cute but a little heavy for his arms. (We are working on beefing Walker up). Here is a picture of Walker getting in some good bonding time.

Father's Day Fun

Imagine the perfect Father's Day. Does it include being outdoors? Baseball? Golf? Good food? Swimming? Maybe a trip? If you answered yes to all of the above, then you would have loved the Terrell Family Father's Day Extravaganza. We did all of that plus the girls got to go shopping!

Being in baseball for as long as Kelly has does have some perks. He knows alot of people that are able to provide us with many complimentary things such as first row seats at an Express game and a round of golf. Thank you Kelly for such a fun trip. I know that the kids had a really fun time and enjoyed being with you on Father's Day.

Walker dressed for the occasion. Check out the new pimp hat.

Cousins hanging out together in the pool. Walker was so good with Elijah.

Walker is attempting to dunk Kelly. Kelly just wouldn't go down.



The brothers are laying out. That is right. Whitney and I were swimming while our guys were tanning. There is something so wrong with this picture.

Hanging out in the pool. Trying not to get our hair too wet.

Happy Father's Day Popeye! You are a great example, provider, and father.

We had dinner at Salt Lick right beside the ballpark. They have my favorite chopped brisket sandwich. Walker and Kellissa really enjoyed it.

Meme and the E-Train are ready for some baseball.

Kellissa and her silly Daddy. Check out the Zoolander face.

O say can you see? Elijah is such a big boy and was very attentive during the anthem. Isn't this such a sweet picture?

The Terrell Family at the Ballgame. Let's go Express! Too bad we left in the 11th b/c of extra innings. Do we even know who won?

Another find from the Food Network. We waited 30 minutes for donuts. They were pretty good. This will be a keeper!


This monster donut cost $5.50. It is massive. Check out the donut compared to the other pastries. This would be definately something to share.

The girls on the trip. This is after a long morning of shopping and a big ol' lunch. Good thing none of us have to drive home. We were tired and super full.

Happy Father's Day Popeye, Kelly and Kasey. We are so glad that you shared your day with us.

Apparently, Walker takes after his dad and his aversion to bright lights.

Thanks Whitney for letting me use your photos. You took some really great pictures!