Michael's 34th birthday!

For Michael's birthday, we surprised him with a trip to see his cousins in Frisco!  I told him a couple days before we left where we are going...

Ryan was comfy in his seat :)

Natalie had a sign on their door and their garden flag to tell Michael happy birthday :)

 We got supper ready while Peter and Michael took Ryan to the park...

 We had taco salad and yummy chocolate cake for Michael's bday dinner and had fun opening gifts :)

On Friday, Peter stayed home with us and we picked up Caroline early from school!  We had our first In and Out Burger experience...yummy!!!

We went to the mall and Caroline and I went bathing suit shopping while Peter, Michael and Ryan went to Dave and Buster's to play games.

 Caroline and Peter have 2 dogs and Ryan really liked them...once he got used to them :)

We went to Gloria's for dinner and Ryan ate the famous black bean dip :)

 They have a pond with ducks and geese...

Ryan slept so well while we were there...think we may need to move in :)

Ok...so this trip WAS for Michael buuuuut I had some fun too!  Natalie texted me the week before we went that Pioneer Woman (REE!!) was gonna be in town doing a book signing. I was SO excited!!  We went with a friend of her's and her girls...so fun!

We got there 2 hours early and were about #200 in line. They said 600 people showed up!  Poor shoppers of Sam's that day! The line was weaving all through the store and up and down aisles...in front of the merchandise.  Some people were not too happy!

Ok, so Ree is even prettier in real life and skinnier.  I think she's a doll on tv but she is gorgeous in real life!  And most importantly, she was SO nice!  And warm and personable and kind!  We had waited for 3-1/2 hours when we finally got about 10 people from the front...and a lady tells us that she is gonna take a break real quick.  We were thinking like 10 or 15 minutes...nope, she was back in less than 5 minutes (think she took a short potty break:) and got right back to the line!  Very nice. 

I realize that if you don't know who Ree is then you could not care LESS!  But I do care and I am super excited that I got to meet her! We were all so impressed with her people skills. As she was signing, she was talking to us and asking us questions!  That takes skill, people.

Here's the play by play:

This is her singing Ryan's book (she also wrote a childrens book and Natalie had gotten one for Ryan:). She asked me how old Ryan was as she was signing.  

I was the last one in our group to go through, so this is her asking me who I was with...

This is her listening to me explain that I was with my cousins and their friends...

I told her we were in town visiting our cousins so she asked me where I was from.  

This is the blurry picture of us :(  Wish it would have turned out better...

Natalie, Caroline and Ree

Here are a few shots of Ree...look how cute she is with her cowboy boots!

Wow. Typing all that out really makes me fee like I am in high school with a crush on a boy band. I just like her, ok?! :)

Moving on...

The boys went to a gun and knife show while we were gone.  Peter got a new knife and Michael enjoyed being there with them! Ryan had fun and was worn out!

We had a great weekend!  Besides the few hours on Saturday, we really were able to just hang out.  We so enjoyed it! Happy birthday, Michael!  Hope you have a great 34th year!