A Picture (or Ninety Billion) To Tell a Story (Or Two, Or Three)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I said I was gonna space out these pictures, didn't I?

Well, I fibbed. I have SO many pictures to share (vacation, anniversary, Quade's 5 month pics, etc.) that I figured I might as well overwhelm you now. 

It will cultivate patience in your life, trust me. 

Either that, or fine tune your photographic memory.

Or...make you cross eyed.

 Just depends. 

(Please be aware that these pictures are in no particular order. As much as I'd love to think I have time to sit here and rearrange pictures (thanks to bloggers numskull picture arrangement PROTOCOL...) I do NOT, and therefor these pictures will be far from chronologically ordered, much to my oldest-child-orderly-tendencies demise.)

Quade loved his new big-boy car seat and was a champ the entire 10 hour trip.

Granted, we did break 3 state laws by getting him out whist the motor vehicle was in operating mode...but STILL! Thank goodness for large pick up trucks that sit about eye level with, um, NO ONE, and for tinted windows. Tinted windows are a nursing mothers fwend. 

We arrived safe and sound, and  tired. Very tired. 

Did you know that the drive from Oklahoma to New Mexico is one that lacks scenery? 

Unless numerous correctional facilities count as scenery. 

Quade insisted he touch Quintin. Or, pull his ear. Whichever was handy at the time. 

The day after we rested, we did THIS. 

Jen read her camera settings. 

Jenn played with her camera.

Annd, we took pictures of the boys. All. Day. Long. 

Don't they look like trouble? 

Sunday it rained. In the desert. 

They say it never rains there, but every time I've gone to The Desert, New Mexico, it has rained. 

HMMMM.... 

This picture of The Desert is over by Ranch Wife's country. It's prettier over there, and less desert-ish than Jenn's house. 
Just a peak at what it's like to sit at Ranch Wife's kitchen table. 

It's like being home. 

The food is great, but the company is what makes it wonderful! 

I spilled two glasses of ice water on her table.  

Two of the three Jennifer's I hold dear to my heart. 

They've been friends for a long time, and I met Ranch Girl through Jen. 

We're all BFF's. 
This is Ranch Husband (ha ha ho ho) Ranch Wife's man. He's Quintin's Pappy, for those of you who can't do the math. 

Quade didn't know what to think of him. His Grampy has a mustache, too. 
Oh! Oh! Reverse order shock! Hang on while I get over the fact that this next picture happened BEFORE all the previous pictures....

Okay, I'm over it. 

Jen and I cooking some spank-your-spinach-pita-pocket. 

Or something like that. 

Oh, I remember.

Spanikopita.

It had spinach and mushrooms and other girly food in it.

John (Jenn's husband) didn't eat any. He'd rather eat beef.

Or M&M's.

These two pictures CRACK ME UP. 

We, being Pentecostal and all, are teaching Quade to lay hands on people. 

As you can see, he has the thumb-in-between the eye technique down pat. 

Quintin wanted some holy oil from Israel, but we didn't have any. 
Marquita said maybe he's going to be a preacher.

I'm cool with that, as long as he's not the next Joel Osteen.

I'll have to spank his hiney a lot if he wants to be one of those preachers. 

(Totally random side note: Did you know Joel Osteen has a line of Fathers Day cards? They're called...7 Steps to Be Your Best Father Now Even If You Aren't A Father Or Ever Will Be a Father Pretend You Are And Smile Big Anyway

GLORY, NAME IT CLAIM IT, BLAB IT TILL YOU GRAB IT, FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT AMEN!)

Anyway.

Quade liked Quintin's bald head. 

I guess Quintin liked it to be rubbed, from the looks of it. 

This is a picture for the teenage years if you ask me. 
Oh man, they did not like the Hola! shirt photo session. Way uncool. 
Quade looks to be telling Quintin a story about a big scary hand-thing. 

Our last picture of the trip. The only one of all three of us girls (besides one from the pedicures we had...) We were wind blown big time. 

The wind blows in New Mexico like it blows in Oklahoma when you're on a hill. Only it's grainy from the sand and there's no where to hide. 

Aren't we just glowing from the wind scrub we're receiving?

After all that, there was:

THE RIDE HOME 

The ride home is always faster and crazier than the ride there. 

I should explain. 

That is my brother Zachary. He's 14. He's 6'1". He's a nut. He almost got his hiney whooped by ME for having a smart mouth. 

However, he is great entertainment. 

HE came along  for the first 6 hours of our journey because he has a friend who lives in Farmington, NM and they drove halfway to meet us. Unlike ourselves, he got to go river rafting, tour Aztec ruins, have a crawfish boil, and sleep in a sleeping bag at night. 

A SLEEPING BAG. 

He's fun to hit with paper towels. 

Oh, yeah! Before we made the final drive from Amarillo, TX to Oklahoma City, we stopped at the Cadillac ranch. 

I'm sure you've heard of it. 

A bunch of Cadillac's stuck in the dirt in the middle of a field. 

It was hot. Windy. Hot and windy. 

However, we wrote our names on our random Cadillac of choice, took pictures, and left. 

Our lives were made complete. 

Oh, do I have more pictures. I have so many pictures it would make your head hurt. I've put them on facebook, too. So, if you have facebook, you can see them on there. 

All in all, the trip was a blast! It was great meeting Quintin face to face. He's a little chunk compared to Quade. We didn't weigh them, but I'm pretty sure Quintin would have won. It was fun to see their little personality differences, and watch them interact. 

Three people asked us if they were twins. 

I laughed three times considering they look nothing alike! It was funny, still. One lady asked if they were cousins. Marquita said it was because white babies are a rarity in New Mexico, and so to see two of them in living color, it must surely have been because one woman gave birth to two at a time.

That Ranch Wife, she'll crack you up. 

It was sad to leave, but Quade was so ready to see his Dadda and vice versa. He just grinned and stared at him when we got home. So precious. 

I'm sure we'll see the Ranch People again soon. Hopefully their Ranch makes it to the finals rodeo in Amarillo this year, and we can get together with them there. I'd love to keep up our tradition of twice yearly visits. It would be such a great way to watch the boys  grow and hopefully foster a friendship between them. Although boys really aren't into pen-pal's so we might just have to have girls next to fulfill that dream. ;) 

Monday is upon me, and I have so much housework to do. SO MUCH I tell you. Laundry and dishes, and floors that need mopped and swept and vacuumed (not in that order...) and dusting and laundry and dishes, and did I mention laundry? Woe is me. Brandon will be out of the door at 5 a.m. and the house will be my lonely pet monster for the day. I've seriously got to lay off the chocolate and chocolate laden coffee this week, too. 

Boo.

Well, this week I'll be posting more pictures. Jen took some great family pictures, as well as some adorable 5 month pictures of Quade (can you believe he's FIVE months old?) that I'll be showing off. He's such a cute little turkey, I just have to share them. 

Ya'll have a great week. Eat a snow cone if you made it to the end of this post, and be thankful you don't have to read pictures like you do blog text. :)