For Thanksgiving, we headed back to Texas. This is the fourth year we've gone. For some reason Andy and I can never get our act together and check in for our Southwest flights 24 hours ahead of time. It literally never even occurs to us until way too late. Being in boarding group C, the girls and I were thankful to find three seats together, even if they were in the last row of the plane!

Ellie's love of cows continues so she was excited to see this in the Houston airport. Notice her shirt.

This is what was waiting for us in our Lake house. I think I know why the kids love going to Texas so much. Breakfast of Champions!

This year was extra exciting because Andy's parents' house was finished. So far there is the Cabin and Lake house, so they called their home the Lanzone Lodge. It was funny to think that it was only a year ago we were tearing down the old trailer to clear the land for the house.

The Lodge has a loft really high up for the kids to sleep in. The ladder was a little intimidating to climb, but the kids loved it.

This year we did something different, and we went to a nearby lake to go kayaking.

There are only three kayaks, so we took turns. Steven, Andy and Joey went on the first trip on Tuesday.

It was beautiful!

Meanwhile the girls and I enjoyed our little lake.

Also quite beautiful!

Hannah and Ellie spent lots of time kayaking around.

Apparently Uncle John is getting lazy in his old age because he had Ellie tow him around the lake for a while. It was pretty funny.

At one point, Steven got out his clay pigeon thrower, and we took turns trying to shoot the clay pigeons as they were launched over the lake.

It was loud!

This was the whole group this year. We added one to the mix:  Lexi, Steven's girlfriend (far right).

After clay pigeons, Steven took them to the other side of the lake for some pistol target shooting.

I went on a couple of ATV rides following Ellie around. She sure is cute to ride ATVs with. She had a funny ATV story this year. Hannah and Ellie were driving the ATVs from the Lodge to the Lake house after dinner one night in the pitch black. They had their headlights on and were going pretty slowly. Hannah, who was in the lead, noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye and saw something heading right towards Ellie out of the darkness. She turned around thinking Ellie would freak out. All of a sudden a little baby deer ran into the front of Ellie's ATV and then ran off. The funny part is that Ellie didn't even scream, she just watched the deer run off and kept going. I guess Texas has made her pretty tough!

This guy is my favorite. He only wears flannel shirts and jeans in Texas, and I love it!

Now that there are two main houses, we took turns having dinner at each place. This was our first night having dinner at the Lodge.

Bad news, the new dishwasher didn't arrive in time. Good news, I know three really good dishwashers!

One of Andy and Joey's jobs when they arrived was to install this porch swing. The girls' job was to try it out. Success!

There was much excitement about the new Lodge, but we still love the cabin, especially the fireplace room!

Thanksgiving dinner was at the cabin. John and Judy made so much yummy food! 

We have so much to be thankful for!

Ellie wanted to try her hand at fishing.

Within a couple of minutes she had caught a fish, which she immediately regretted.

Thankfully Trent was there to help her out!

This picture makes me laugh. This is what regretting catching a fish looks like.

Since Steven took Andy and Joey went kayaking on Tuesday, Andy took Hannah and I on Friday.

Again, so beautiful!

We brought our rain jackets because it was supposed to rain a little, but it never did.

It was a little chilly, but we got nice and warm paddling.

It took us over an hour to paddle the whole thing.

After we came back from kayaking, we found out that they were doing a bonfire to clear out some wood. Of course we had to join in that fun. It is so magical watching a big bonfire!

During the bonfire, Joey found this huge magnolia tree and climbed way up high. You can barely see him!

One of Ellie's favorite things to do at the cabin is to clean out the ashes from the fireplace. Just call her Cinderellie!

Our last dinner in Texas, we made sure to get in a few more games. Cthulhu is definitely a favorite. 

We also randomly ended up playing charades.

It was really funny.

These two were a hoot!

The next morning, we got up, packed up, and cleaned up. It's always so sad leaving Texas.

 

Joey got his driver's license on November 8th! He passed on his first try and only missed two points. I don't know who was more excited about it, Joey or me. It is definitely life-changing for both of us. I had been counting down the days until his test. I was so focused on all the great things about Joey driving that I was kind of in denial about the scary parts. It was definitely weirder and harder than I thought to watch him drive off to school by himself the next day. 

Really though, it is so wonderful having him drive. The first day that he drove he got gas, drove to school, drove to basketball practice, stopped by his grandparents' house to bring in their trash cans, came home for a quick dinner, and then to water polo practice until 9:00 that night. He's a busy guy, so just having him take care of his own schedule is amazing!

If you ask Joey, his favorite part of driving is probably the stops he makes for fast food. He got several fast food gift cards for his birthday, so it's been fun for him to stop by and get food whenever he wants to. 

Believe it or not, we have a 16 year old in the house now! I've been SO looking forward to Joey turning 16 and being able to drive. Then it hit me the other day that next year he'll be 17, and that just seems way too old. :-(

On his birthday, we picked him up from water polo practice and went out to dinner at In-N-Out where he ate two double doubles.

After dinner, he opened a couple of presents, and we watched Spiderman with Tobey Maguire.

He decided to save his birthday cinnamon rolls for the Saturday after his birthday.

He basically had the exact same birthday party as last year, starting with water polo in the pool.

It was chillier this year, so they spent a little extra time in the Jacuzzi.

The boys came back to our house for pizza. Then they went outside to play "Capture the Flag" and "Ghost in the Graveyard," and some neighbor friends joined in the fun.

After playing outside, they came in for creamy cookies.

The World Series was on so they watched a bit of the game.

Then it was time for Werewolf. 

After everyone left, Joey opened his presents.

One of Joey's friend's moms texted me later that night and said her son commented on how the party was pretty much the same as always, and he said "why change perfection!" So cute! 

Three of Joey's old friends from Double Peak have a hard time coming to Joey's birthday parties now that they are in high school because they are in the marching band and their schedule is pretty intense. I found out that they didn't have marching band on Veteran's Day weekend, so we had them come over for a game night. It's been a long time since Joey got to hang out with these friends, and he had so much fun. They played Magic the Gathering and some video games.