Vacation - Texas

My wonderfully smart and determined husband finagled an 18 day vacation beginning in August. The timing of this vacation was perfect as it allowed us to meet with both sides of the family. We traveled first to Fort Davis to join the annual P&M Jones Family Ranch Meeting. This year marked my 30 consecutive year to spend a late summer weekend in the Davis Mountains. I was so happy my family of three was there together!

We later traveled to New Mexico to visit friends and ended up in Telluride for the Kirkendall family vacation. This post is part one of three reporting on our blessed time in nature with family and friends. 

This might seem like a meaningless picture to post but these Barn Swallows and their nest are one of the many memorable icons of Fort Davis. These birds fly everywhere busily feeding their young. Their lives and noise always play in the background of the memories made. 

Sweet Aunt Caydee and Elle, Elle is in good hands ;)

We were so glad that Maw-Maw and Elle and got to spend more time together. Aren't they beautiful!

Elle loved her play time with Paw-Paw. She was so impressed with his agility at 86 years of age. 

Happy in his arms. 

Elle enjoyed all of the family. She of coursed was passed around all weekend. Here she is with Aunt Barbara and cousin Albany. 

This is what we do, we sit and chat and sporadically climb mountains. Oh, and yes, we eat too ;).

Elle just loved playing with the boys, here she is with cousin Zane. 

Time with Maw and Paw.

More chat time. 

These are the rocks right behind the Indian Lodge where we stay. They change colors withe the tone of the rising and setting sun. 

7 Months

Elle and I had a great time in Dallas between the wedding trip and our trip to meet Annie at the end of June. We spent a lot of time finding air-conditioned places to visit - our new fancy neighborhood grocery store is a favorite as well as our Walgreens plastic waiting pool. Some of my favorite moments are captured below.

Our Cousin Sarah, UTSW Health Admin. Resident, & Sam at  St. Paul Hospital. Elle was thrilled to have lunch with such important people!

One of our favorite outings  and one of the staffs favorite visitors. Elle and  Gina at Davis St. Expresso! 

I am so grateful that our daughter loves the grocery cart as much as she does. This was a 7 month development, and aren't we thrilled with ourselves. :)

Elle braved one of Charlie and Evie's playgruops. You can tell which of these two is used to a crowd.  

This is how we make it through the long summer days. Thank God for a waiting pool at 4 in the afternoon!

Elle had the privilege of being an honored guest at one of Sam's post-call brunches. As you can see she developed a crush over the course of the meal. 

Finally! We took Elle to Austin to visit the Reins. Elle was thrilled to share the Bob with Walter.

We took full advantage of the awesome Austin City Pools, Elle was in disbelief!

We of course had to dress the girls alike for their playdate. Never too lame!

Meg and Annie relaxing poolside. 

Dada teaching Elle how to kick!

On the way home we stopped to visit the Skaggs Family. Elle was enamored with her older cousins, she couldn't get enough! Here are Jane Anne and Charlotte, they were so sweet with her. 

This expectant happy look is exactly how Elle interacts with the world. What a great 7 months! 

Update

It has been an entire season since I last posted!!! My excuses are mixture of true procrastination and true business. To recap, we started our summer of with Jenn and Toby's wedding which I posted about. We had a few weeks of relaxing in Dallas before we went to Austin meet Annie for the first time! While we were visiting my mother was unfortunately hospitalized in Pecos, Tx - nearest town to my grandparents. She was in serious condition so we stayed with her a week to get her back on her feet. Thankfully she is now doing great! We arrived back in Dallas on the 4th of July and just a few weeks later we began our long vacation to Fort Davis, Red River, & Telluride. We had a short two weeks together in Dallas before Sam left for San Angelo for the month of September. Elle did a good job of acquiring her immunities over those two weeks, we stayed sick for the majority of them. I began my fall classes and our computer went out of commission for about a month. Things now seem to be somewhat back to normal! The last few months have been incredibly enjoyable. We have watched Elle really blossom into more of a toddler. She is crawly, standing, talking, and in to everything. In the next few post I aim to share some of that joy.

My loves at Three Rivers Trainhead, New Mexico

Vacation Preparation

 The Kirkendall's are getting vacation fever! We are slated to go on vacation during the first two weeks of August. We will begin our vaca. in Fort Davis, Texas with the Jones family. From there we will drive North to New Mexico were the three of us will camp for a few days. After that we plan to visit my best friend Becca and her husband Ronnie in Red River, New Mexico. And our final destination is Telluride CO to vacation with the Kirkendall's!! That being said, Sam and I are getting in hiking shape and working on acclimating Elle to her tent, her outdoor get up, and outdoor hiking.

Here is Elle in her "hiking boots".

 Ahh and I got a little carried away and thought it best to fit Elle with her mountain shirt and outdoor hat.

 Papa and Ahh bought this shirt for us when we were expecting. It was so fun to think about who our little baby that would fill this shirt out would be. We could have never imagined such a delightful little girl!

  We need to get Elle acquainted not only with her hiking boots but her cowgirl boots too. We want her to be properly equipped for the West Texas mountains!!

 Sam bought Elle a great sun protected breathable hiking outfit as well as some sunglasses for our bright summer days. She could not be more thrilled.

Two peas in a pod!

 We "hiked" to our neighborhood nature center. It was bursting with life.

We are looking forward to our summer adventure!

Maw-Maw & Paw-Paw

As I was typing my last post I began to see glimpses of what these blog post will mean to Elle when she is older. This thought inspired me to make a special post about her meeting Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw (Punk and Mary Belle Jones Parents to Elle's Ma, Ray Moore) for the first time. This was such an important and cherished moment in mine, Sam, and Elle's life. One main reason is that Punk and Mary Belle are her only living great-grandparents. Elle unfortunately did not have the opportunity to meet the late Jewell and AJ Moore parents of Elle's Pa, Stan Moore. Nor did she have the blessing to meet Walter and Margret Kirkendall parents to Elle's Papa, Bud Kirkendall and Elam and Adeline Scull parents to Elle's Ahh, Alice Kirkendall. 

Elle is so blessed to have so many loving relatives as well as rich stories of the life and times of her great grandparents. They were all wonderfully unique individuals full of life, love, and great joy. We are so grateful to be able to introduce Elle to one set of her great-grandparents. Even though Elle will not remember this moment the union of Elle's skin on Maw-Maw and Paw Paw's, her laugh and cry enclosed in the same room as their weathered voices is one that will live in in my memory.

 

Elle sitting in Maw-Maw's lap

 

When we were young one of our favorite things to do was sit in Maw-Maw's lap let her "pinch" our neck. She would just lightly touch the skin of our necks with her index finger and thumb.  The Jones cousins all coveted this individual time with our esteemed grandmother.

Maw-Maw said she wore that necklace just for Elle. She knew she would love playing with it. ;)

 

Here Paw-Paw is singing a little song. As you can tell Elle was captivated by the sound of his cowboy tune.  

Six Months

I am sure you are all surprised to see Elle's excitement over her  her 6 months! We have really begun to slow down and savor these moments as we realize she will not be an infant for much longer. Elle's 6th month was filled with new developments and lots of activity. We did our best to capture these adventures.

Elizabeth Enck Kirkendall

15 lbs. 2 oz.

25 1/2 in.

with tiny, tiny feet ;)

I just love this picture, it perfectly captures her happy, content disposition.

One of Elle's favorite things is sitting up! She doesn't seem to have any interest in crawling around the house, as long as she is sitting up she is happy to play with her toys all day long.

I caught Elle looking at her clothes this month. She really loves her hearts ;)

Elle is so glad that mom gets a break from work so we can spend more time with Charlie, Evie, and Ford  in Lakewood!

Elle is still enjoying the world of solids

One of our big excitements this past month was Dad's birthday. He turned the big 29. We were THRILLED to have acquired a family tent as a gift from Papa and Ahh.

Ashley Tuggle, one of my childhood friends, stopped in for a visit, we so enjoyed our girl time.

Although Elle is content with sitting she does love to rumble and tumble. This is what I found one day when I walked into the living room.

Elle also got to visit one of her long time friends Zion Albertson while we were in Amarillo for Jenn and Toby's wedding.

She also got to meet new family! Here is a picture of Elle and Alice Lowrance meeting for the first time.

The most anticipated meeting of all was when Elle got to meet her great grandparents, Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw. They have been so anxious to meet Elle that Maw-Maw has been dreaming of play time with her and Paw-Paw named one of his calfs after Elle.

Here Elle is very proud of her biggness, riding in the cart all by herself.

We are so grateful for our Elle Belle. What a wonderful 6 months!

Aunt Jenn's Wedding!

My family and I had the pleasure of planning and hosting my sister's wedding. Her and Toby decided about 6 months ago that they wanted a small family wedding at my parents house. I know for sure none of us knew what we were getting into however it came together quite nicely. I don't have many pictures because I was so caught up in getting things ready as well as the beauty of the ceremony. Here is what I do have:

Our good friends Mimo (who is hiding behind the tree) and Gina played at the ceremony. They sounded amazing!

Mom and dad coming down the isle with some of the Jones clan in the picture.

Elle sat with Aunt Barbara, cousin Sarah, and cousin Vivi. She talked and giggled the whole time, she is so excited to have a new uncle ;).

Some of our close friends sitting on blankets at the ceremony. It was a perfect backyard wedding. 

Play time during the ceremony. 

The beautiful bride! We are so happy for you Aunt Jenn!