Visiting Texas

This delightful young lady turned eight, and we flew out to Texas to visit for her baptism. It was a bit cold outside, but inside was warm and cozy and we had a great time making delicious treats, fun crafts, and fantastic memories.

Along with the traditional headlamp and compass (to help her remember the Holy Ghost is a guide), her birthday gift included a field trip to the fabric store, where she selected fabric to make a new dress. It was a tough decision - so many fun options - but it finally got narrowed down to the shiny "mermaid" fabric with a coordinating ribbon.

Since we arrived on her daddy's birthday, we got to end the day by sharing in his birthday steak and cake. The next morning, we worked together to prepare baptism refreshments before heading off to the church.

Read all about her special baptism here and here.

While browsing the aisles of Hobby Lobby, we discovered a few new crafts we thought would be fun to try. I need to remember that this is the perfect age for making pony bead key chains. We all had a great time following patterns and creating our own.

She even got help from Grandpa! (Technically, in this picture he's helping make progress on a long-forgotten cross-stitch project discovered hiding in a desk drawer.) 

Giving, and receiving, a tour of the Lego room.

Someone waited very patiently - it was requested months in advance - to have Monkey Bread for breakfast. It's such a fun tradition that we had to have it twice! Another breakfast favorite in this family is Baked Oatmeal, which we enjoyed on our last day there. We're looking forward to keeping these traditions and creating new ones on our next visit!

There wasn't time to make the dress while in Texas, but fortunately it didn't take too long to finish it at home and send it back.