A Texas Getaway

We finally got to take our one family vacation for the summer, and boy were we ready! Since I had school all summer we had to wait until the end to take off anywhere. We headed down south to Dallas, TX to see my family and spend the week in my dad's backyard oasis. All we wanted was to relax and lounge by the pool, and all of the extra hands loving on Macy were an added bonus!

I was SO nervous about flying with Little Miss. When we flew down there over Christmas she was so easy. But she was also only 7 months, took a bottle still, and could easily sleep anytime. We had plenty of snacks (squeezies, yogurt melts, goldfish, water and juice), our ipad downloaded with tons of new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes, her blankey and her bunny. This was a recipe for success! Both there and back we changed planes in Kansas City so the flight was broken up a little bit. I think that helped too.

Drinking a squeezie on take off. (no, we didn't buy a seat, there was an extra!)

Wahoo! Made it to KC with no tears, screaming or breakdowns!

Daddy on duty in the airport.

I think another huge factor to our success was the fact that both times we flew it was first thing in the morning. Macy is her most calm/sleepy/chill in the mornings so that helped.

Once we got there we headed straight to my dad's house and set up shop for the week. His backyard is truly like a resort, a free resort, so it just seems silly to go anywhere else when we can spend the week here!

The pictures just don't do the landscaping justice.

I also loved that we got to spend time with family all week. My dad, step mom, little brother and sister all ADORE Macy and fight over who gets to feed her, hold her, change her, walk with her, put her in her car seat, sit by her in the car/at a restaurant, etc. Them loving on her makes me feel loved AND it gives me a break!

Playing on the piano my grandma brought over for her. She loved it!

I wanted to make sure I kept up with my training schedule while I was gone too, especially since I skipped last weekend when we were in Nashville. I texted my friend Brandi a couple weeks before hand and told her I needed her to go run with me while I was down there to keep me accountable. She put a running group together and we all met early Saturday morning for a 9 mile run around White Rock Lake. Oddly, the weather was perfect. It was cloudy with a cool breeze which NEVER happens in Texas summer! I had only planned on running 7 miles, because that's all I needed to according to my training schedule. Once I hit mile 7 I stopped my Garmin and started walking. About 3 minutes later I hear Megan approaching me and says, "How are you doing?" I said "Ran my 7 miles. I'm good" and she was all "Oh heck no, you can't waste this awesome weather... let's go!" So off I went with her for the last 2 miles. It was nice getting to run and chat with her since I have read her blog for awhile but had never met her. She is super sweet and was a great motivation. If preg-Meg can run 9 miles, dang it so can I!

Skinny Meg's picture of our group after our run. I didn't have one on my camera

That night was the annual Fields' pool party. Boy do my parents know how to throw a party! First and foremost is the food, the Texas bbq that my dad starts cooking the night before. Next comes the margarita machine, their best friends' helped and brought their DJ booth set up with lights and karaoke machine, and the rest is history! We ate, drank, and danced in to the wee hours of the night. It was so fun hanging out with family and friends in Texas that we don't get to see often.

My Texas family

The girls! And of COURSE we had to color coordinate our outfits!

My handsome hubby and handsome little bro, also matching

Fun with the Laughlins

Dance party on the patio!

The rest of the week was spent relaxing poolside. Macy LOVED the pool and would often go to the backdoor and scream and cry to go outside.

Besties

The beach entrance in to the pool was absolutely perfect for her. She is not a fan of being in a float, or in deep water. She hung out right here all week.

Water baby

A little naked piano playing. Completely normal.

It was such a great week relaxing and enjoying quality family time. I loved being able to go watch Taylor at her tumbling class and take her to cheer camp in the mornings.  I was 15 when Taylor was born, and Taylor was 12 when Macy was born. Taylor and I are so close and I can't wait for her Macy to have a relationship like ours one day. Trevor and Kyle got some good QT together as well and did their own "guy" things during the day together. It definitely makes the geographical distance between us sad!

Basically the same person, 15 years and a hair color apart.

Eventually we had to head back home and get back to our daily lives. We are moving in a mere short week and we should probably start packing. Although, I could have stayed for the rest of the summer!

The ultimate set up on the way home. Lucky for us, we got another seat for her!

Annnnnd they're out.