Texas was invaded by the Partin's!

Texas was invaded by two world-class, phenomenal, life changing, fun-lovin', gettin-in-trouble, best people ever - I'm sure they could scale walls in their sleep, fight off armies of ants with their rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, bake an apple pie with nothing more than brain power, and teach you everything you wanted to know about the Bermuda triangle. Who are these people? Well, none other than the Partins! Ok, so maybe they can't do those amazing feats but they are our best friends and we think the world of them. They may not be able to scale walls in their sleep or fight off armies of ants but they sure can love people to pieces and give of themselves like noone else. As you can tell, they have become family to us. For those of you not from South Carolina, we met Mark and Gayla when we lived in Sumter, SC for the first part of our marriage. It's history from there. I'm sure you all have "those friends". You know - the ones you feel like family when they come to visit and the ones you never miss a beat when you talk with. Gayla and I could probably talk about nothing for hours on end. One night in SC we met them in Columbia to eat. We all kept talking so we went to Marble Slab...and we kept talking so we went to Starbucks...then we talked outside our cars and finally went home. Needless to say, we were excited when they came to Texas. Here's a little of our visit:

Of course, Bella loved playing with Aunt Gayla.
My best friend and I with sweet Miss B.

Only in Texas do they decorate the trees with antlers...uhm, Gayla hadn't seen that before.
Bella's first horse ride.
I love this picture!
This was the Partin's first trip to Texas...so we took them to eat Texas BBQ - complete with rodeo signs and animal heads.
Texas BBQ is very different than South Carolina BBQ - we had to show them the true way to do BBQ. And, it was good!
Gayla and I ordering our Texas BBQ in front of the huge pit-o-meat. (Notice Bella's adorable hat given to her by Mark and Gayla.)ark and Mike are both techies but Bella was trying to get their attention.

More cute pictures of Bella and Gayla.
The morning they were scheduled to fly back to SC, Bella was being held/loved on/kissed/hugged by Gayla. Bella got a little fussy so Gayla started walking and I heard her say "that's ok, you can have whatever you want" and "we'll do whatever you want". A minute later I turn around and Miss B was getting little bites of chocolate chip cookies at 10:30am! We are going to have to retrain Bella from all the attention she's gotten this Christmas season from the family and then from Mark and Gayla - but, that's ok. She can have whatever she wants from great friends!