Canadian Fall Festival

Just like last year, this year the fam headed up to Canadian, Texas for their annual Fall Foliage Festival!  And, just like last year, (minus our best friends), we had a complete blast!!!  The weather was beautiful, the craft fair was awesome (thanks Mom for the purse) and spending time with family and friends was wonderful and JUST the re-charge we needed!

On the way there, we had the most BIZARRE experience, in the little town of Miami (my-AM-uh, for those of you NOT from around here...NOT my-AM-ee).  This gentleman is a volunteer firefighter raising money for breast cancer research and awareness!!  One of them was even holding a sign saying "Saving Second Base!"  SO funny!!!

Both times we've gone, we've headed to the same restaurant for lunch.  Both times we've gone we've been disappointed.  We won't make that mistake again.  However, we had to get pictures again!!  Just for the sake of comparison - I've put a picture from LAST year and from THIS year!  Boy - we've changed!

 And, just because I LOVE Black and White!!  (This one's going on our picture wall!)

At the restaurant we let the kiddos play on a really cute staircase they had (it led to storage, so it wasn't a big deal) while we waited!!

   

Kadi Jo and Malachi LAUGHING their heads off!!!

 

The Three Amigos.  (Kadi - 4,  Karter - 5 and Malachi - 2.5!)

I hate that this picture is so dark - but these are my two handsome men!!! 

And, again, for comparison sake - Malachi THIS year...

Malachi and Aunt Donna - LAST year.  My BABY is GONE!

After lunch we headed out to Lake Marvin for a horse drawn carriage ride and the kiddos got to run around a little! Here's me and my baby boy waiting for the horses!

And...last year!  Look how FAT he was!  Man I miss those cheeks!

After the horse ride, we headed out to the historic wagon bridge right outside of town for some more pictures!  And, we got some good ones, if I do say so myself!

My sweet husband and I!

Karter, Kadi and Malachi running off some steam!

Pops, Kadi, Malachi, Lolli and Karter!

And finally, my baby, Daddy's big boy and Lolli and Pop's Handsome Prince!  (Yep, this one's going on the picture wall too!) 

It was a wonderful treat for us to get away for the day and just enjoy God's beauty! 

Where in the world is???

The Allen Fam-i-ly?  Okay...work with me, it's been WAY over a month since my last post.  Reason?  Frankly, 50 hours at work per week + general busyness with family = my blog being WAY down on the priority list!!! 

Do I have anything super exciting to post about?  Nope - not really!  We've had some doors that the Lord has closed in our lives so we're currently looking for some open windows...preferrably with nice hot pies cooling on the sills...think that'll happen? 

Malachi has been relatively healthy, other than a minor case of strep and an official diagnosis as being actually allergic to mosquitos...Thomas is doing well - I'm going crazy, but doing okay!  Life really seems to have sped by over the last 3 months so my contact with the outside world has dwindled down to facebook and an occasional phone call!!  But, the holidays are coming and that's my FAVORITE time of year so I'm hoping things will calm down enough that I can really enjoy the moment!

Almost a month ago Thomas and I took Malachi to Dallas for a good friend's wedding and had an absolute BLAST!  Strangely enough, it was the first time that the three of us had ever gone out of town alone.  Without Lolli and Pops!  And yes, there was much crying for them...but their "handsome prince" survived the weekend unscathed!  Malachi was so fantastic on the trip, even though he went without naps a LOT of the time and could have been quite a little stinker!  He was great on the plane ride there and back (thanks to the help of suckers and brand new dollar store toys!) and LOVED Aunt Net and Uncle Frankie's longhorns! 

Waiting at the airport for our DELAYED flight!

I seriously need this one blown up!!

He decided he needed to get wise to the emergency procedures just in case he needed to assist anyone!

We were headed to the Stockyards to take a trip on their train, but because of our delayed flight, we pulled in JUST in time to see the train take off!  So, we made the most of it and went to the petting zoo!  (and yes, there was TONS of hand sanitizer involved)

See the train t-shirt?  Yep - see, I way planned ahead!  So much for planning.  Oh, and yes, that is a goat walking around freely!  It was really quite sweet!

Petting the "Hee-Haw!"

Watching the cattle drive with Daddy in the BLISTERING heat!

THEN we went to play with the misters!!!

He thought that was just about the coolest thing next to powdered donuts!

Love those sweet chubby cheeks!!

When we missed the train, we thought it might be fun to spend that money on a horse-drawn carriage.  Not sure it was worth it completely - but Malachi had fun and it gave us something to do!

Here's our sweet horse, Eloise! 

We finally made it to Aunt Net's house where Angela (my cousin) captured these precious photos of Malachi...

...and his cousin (Angela's daughter), Sophie!  

The next morning we got ready to head out to meet up with my other aunt and cousins (of whom we didn't get ANY pictures...dang it!) - but not before visiting Josie!!  (Right Aunt Net?  That IS Josie right?)

He would've climbed in there with her if we would've let him!

Literally fixing to give her a kiss!!!  Now, he can't see a longhorn picture without yelling JOSIE!!!

Other than that - we've had a really boring few months!  (Which I guess we were due after all the excitement this summer!!)  We've got some hopes on the horizon that we're waiting for God to fulfill...but until then, we'll keep going, knowing that His way is not our way and His thoughts are not our thoughts!!

Oh, and one more thing - congratulations to Amy and Chris on their new little bundles of joy still growing in their mommy's tummy!!!  Love you girl and we're so excited for the Lord's blessings on your life!!!