Mama Shad in Texas!

My mama came to visit me.  First time visiting, and first time in Texas (other than my cousin's wedding 3 years ago in Houston) We had fun.  Well, at least I did.  I hope she did too.  She said she did, so I'm going to go with that.  haha

I asked her when she got here what she wanted to do.  She said that she didn't care.  She just wanted to spend it with me.  Awwwww....she is so cute.

I made a color coded schedule of what we would do, could do, and should do.  I was just a little bit excited. It was also nice to be on vacation and not have to be the one traveling.  That never happens.

We visited with my cousins who live in the next little town over.  Literally like 20 minutes from me.  You have probably never heard me talk about these cousins.  It's really just because I didn't know them well growing up.  They are cousins from my uncle's (my mom's brother) first marriage.  Not that that would make me not see them, but my uncle is 11 years older than my mom, had all of his kids at a young age, and my mom had us (primarily me) when she was older.  This makes these cousins a lot older than me.  They were all in college, moved out and/or married by the time I was 5 years old.  And all over the country no less.  You get the picture.  My mom hadn't seen most of them in 15+ years.  So that was fun.  They reminisced about funny stories, grandparents, and who-is-where, and doing-what.

We ate lunch one day with my "Texas family" Tom, Debby, and Breanna (my old roommate).  She really likes them.  She also spent some time with Jason, and Jason's brother (who was also visiting for a few days), and met Jerald.  Jason might like my mom more than he likes me.  Which says something.  ;) When I asked what his plans were for when my mom would be here, without even thinking he said "my schedule is free!!" He wanted to pick her up with me, from the airport.  And he calls her his mother-in-law TO HER FACE! Who does that??

Jason, my mom, and I went to downtown Dallas one evening.  We walked around and ate at a spaghetti restaurant.

Next we went to the Fort Worth Water Gardens (minus Jason).  They are very cool!

 My mom says in the picture she just looks "hot!" As in its 105 degrees and we are outside! She does NOT like heat.  Therefore, she will not be moving here anytime soon.

 This is the "Active Pool" and you can go down inside it.  I was terrified going down those steps.  My mom really had to hold my hand.

 This is the "Accelerated Pool".  The water spraying up is supposed to look like they create flat tiles you can walk on. (If you could walk on water I suppose.) It is easier to see in person.

 This is the "Quiet Pool." This one truly looked like an oasis away from the world.  Fabulous.  And it was quiet which was a little weird because we were in downtown FW with highways on all sides.

And then we went to the Stock Yards.  This is the cattle being driven in.  Cool.

My mom also helped me cover some new chairs I had just bought off craigslist (with matching table).  The wood is a cherry.  You cannot tell me this fabric is not hideous.  It just looked so bad with the color of the table.

Before

 What we found when we took the fabric off.  Nasty!!!

 After! I love it!

Then I also painted part of my wall in my craft area, with magnetic paint.  It was a serious pain!

And then made my mom some kabobs! Delish!

My mama oversaw all the projects.  :) She also read 3 of the Twilight books in her spare time.  What?!?! My mom is seriously a speed reader.  She swears she skipped "some parts." Im not buying it.

I wore her out.

And I totally cried when I dropped her off at the airport.  Once I was alone, of course.  Love love love her!