Category: Family

  • Memorial Day Road Trip

    Memorial Day Road Trip

    What happens when a Cajun girl marries a West Texas boy? You develop a love for a medium rare steak, brisket with a good smoke ring and an acquired taste for good BBQ. Saturday morning, Josh told us to be ready in 20 minutes because we were going on a road trip. We decided to add a stamp to our Texas Monthly top 50 book by trying the original Truth BBQ in Brenham.

    Let me tell you, the hour wait was more than worth it! J waited in line for food while I waited in the car with the boys. We definitely ranked it in our top 5!

    I am pretty picky when it comes to BBQ sauce, my father in law taught me how to make our family sauce recipe when J and I were dating. This girl right here has been making our own BBQ sauce for at least 12 years. Truth’s original recipe is good, but their tangy mustard sauce is AH-MAZING with their pulled pork!


    We ended our trip with a trip to the Southern Flyer Diner and enjoyed some Blue Bell ice cream while we watched planes take off. Seriously, you have to stop here if you are in Brenham. Its a 50’s diner with a screened in back patio right on the runway of a small airport. My boys LOVED watching the planes take off! On our way home, we stopped by the Blue Bell Factory for some pictures and promised the boys that we would return on a weekday for a tour and a treat!

  • My Biggest Job in Life

    My Biggest Job in Life

    My nephew recently shared this video to Facebook and it really hit home for me. We live in a day and age where it’s always important to share the best of the best. I am guilty of doing this, but I always will try to make a conscious effort to share things that we are struggling with as well.

    My biggest job in life is to make sure that I raise hard working, compassionate, thoughtful and loving boys. If they don’t make good grades but worked really damn hard, that is ok. If they gave 100% on the field but didn’t win, that’s ok. If they don’t want to play sports and want to be on the robotics team, that’s ok. If they don’t want to go to college and pick up a trade, that’s ok. I want them to know that money isn’t everything and the real impact that you have on someone’s life is the memories that you leave them with. Money doesn’t matter, memories do.

    When my mom passed, the one thing that touched my heart the most were the ladies who came up to us during her quick stay in hospice and at her funeral. Those ladies came up and hugged us and let us know that my mama took them under her wing. They were the new kids in school, they didn’t have any friends and my mom took them under her wing and became friends with them. Some of those ladies she kept in contact with on and off for years, another she reconnected with closer to the end of her illness. That is the impact that I want to leave on this earth and pass onto my boys. To always be kind, to treat others how they want to be treated. That you can be inclusive and be apart of more than one group. That even though you may be friends for a short season, you left that person with a kind impression of yourself.

    Money, trophies and popularity won’t be what you are remembered for. It is nice to celebrate these moments but they won’t be what you are most remembered for. Trophies are nice in the moment, but then they collect dust in the attic. Be the one that is remembered for being kind, being compassionate and being inclusive. You never know what the other person is going through. This is my biggest job and I can only hope that when they fly out of the nest, they soar.

  • Mother’s Day without Mom

    Mother’s Day without Mom

    This year is my first Mother’s Day without my mama. I have to say that the closer we get to Sunday, the more emotional I feel. See, it isn’t just her not being here physically for Mother’s Day. Last Mother’s Day was the last time that I saw my mom alive and laughing. Josh bar-b-que’d a brisket for her (by request) and the whole family came over. We laughed and joked, the kids played at her feet, she held her youngest grand babies and great-grand babies, my kids all piled in the recliner with her and I took the last photo that I have of her. Unfortunately, she didn’t have her hair done or makeup on, so I can’t post it here because I know her spirit will appear to pinch my toes like she promised! I wish that we knew that it was our last visit, the last time my babies would see her alive. I wish I had known! Had I known, I would have had my babies hug her a little harder and love on her a little longer.

    My mom with my youngest, Hayes

    Grief is a funny roller coaster. There is no way to prepare yourself for the after. The first year of firsts without them. The last few months, I’ve felt at peace. I’ve embraced my butterflies and my random pink flamingo sightings. Tonight, as I was stuck in TJ Maxx during a severe thunderstorm, it hit me! That damn roller coaster that I was climbing decided to go over the steep slope and turn me upside down. I broke down into tears because I didn’t get to buy a Mother’s Day card this year. I didn’t get to buy anything with the word mother on it, because my mama is in heaven. I was angry that I didn’t get to buy her a night gown this year, the one that I had to go to three or four different stores on opposite ends of town to find, because she only liked a certain cut that was almost impossible to locate. In the middle of the gift wrap aisle, it hit me that the last time that we were all together and happy was on this day last year.

    Saturday will mark 11 months since she gained her wings. This weekend will be hard, but I will enjoy it with my babies. I will love up on them until they tell me to stop, and then love on them a little more. I will focus on making new memories and celebrating all the years that I had with her here on earth. And mom, If your spirit is looking over my shoulder as I’m writing this through tears, please send us a butterfly on Sunday and know that we will be celebrating you here on earth.

  • West Texas Road Trip

    West Texas Road Trip

    Last summer was a blur. July rolled around and we made the call to take the boys on a road trip to West Texas to say our goodbyes to his grandfather as he was on hospice. We made the most of our time by driving into Waco and staying the night so that we could kick the first day of our road trip off with a trip to Magnolia Market and the Dr. Pepper Museum. They were literally one block apart and we had an absolute BLAST! We began our morning with the most amazing cupcakes and coffee at the Market and had an old fashioned Dr. Pepper for our snack before we hopped back on the road to our lunch destination!

    My advice for those tackling these places with a time constraint, get there a little bit before Magnolia opens! Seriously, we parked with ease, strolled right into the market and hopped into the line for our cupcakes and coffee. We ate, I shopped, and the boys ran off a ton of energy and we were finished and walking out by the time it was really starting to get miserably hot. We walked over to the Dr. Pepper museum and used Groupon for our tickets. I was skeptical given the reviews that I had read, but we did like it. Mostly because my boys are all huge Dr. Pepper fans. I wish I were still a fan, but my first pregnancy ruined that (ha)!

    Josh and I started the Texas Monthly top 50 BBQ tour a year and a half ago, so when it came time for lunch, we drove up through Ft. Worth and stopped in to eat at Heim BBQ. Their bacon burnt ends were amazing and the best that I’ve tried thus far! Of course once we hit Post, TX and saw our first Allsup’s, their chimichangas and burritos became our food group for the rest of our trip! We still have a huge stash of their taco sauce in our pantry!

    We spent the majority of our trip in the small town of Vega, Tx. It is about 45 miles west of Amarillo. The boys loved seeing their great-grandpa’s farm and the homestead where their grandmother grew up. It is so important to Josh and I to let the boys experience the different parts of their heritage. We spent a day doing touristy things. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch , took pictures on old route 66, and then headed out to Palo Duro Canyon. We absolutely loved being down in the canyon!

    This post has me thinking of other different road trips that we could take with our boys this summer. We aren’t huge fliers. Josh would rather drive than get on an airplane, and well airfare for 6 is just outrageous. This summer we are thinking a trip to Orange Beach, AL or maybe head back to west Texas and possibly New Mexico? Either way, we will make memories and have fun!

    xoxo-

    Mitzi