This Ain't My First Rodeo....

But unfortunately, this IS my first blog post for July, and July is almost over. It has been a little dramatic over here the past few weeks, but I've pretty much come to the conclusion that life in general is just dramatic! (But fortunately we serve God who specializes in handling drama, right?)  Ha! 

So LONG story short, J and I are under contract for a house SHOULD close in about 3 weeks! Even so, I am going to save all the details for a blog post until after we close, ink is dry, and keys are in hand!  I'm not really a superstitious person, so it's not like I feel like I'll jinx myself if I write about it.  BUT, for fear of anything happening, I'd rather not have to delete a blog post about "our wonderful new house" if something does go wrong!  HA! I'm sure that ANYONE who has ever purchased a home understands what I'm talking about.  This is not our first rodeo with the home buying process, which obviously has disappointed us in the past, so I will save all the thrills and frills for later.  

On a lighter note, I DID attend a real rodeo this month and it was fabulous.  Morgan, my dear friend from Tallahassee, came to visit for a week and we did all things Dallas. We shopped, went to Southfork, Dave and Busters, Downtown Dallas, rode the Trolley to Uptown Dallas, went on a historical tour, ate at the Food Park, and played cowgirl for a day at the Ft. Worth Stockyards.  

Southfork Ranch, where they film the outdoor scenes for Dallas was SO much fun and beautiful!  It is indeed much smaller than they make it look on TV; it's amazing what you can do with a wide angle lens. But it was still fun to see everything and hear the story of how it came to be the location for Dallas. The family that owned the home finally had enough and moved out after J.R. got shot on the original series and people were all over their property leaving flowers and get-well cards. Nice.

The Food Park in Ft. Worth has several food trucks lined up and you take your pick.  Morgan and I sampled several things, but the "Back Breaker", which is a grilled cheese with Mac N' Cheese and pulled pork, definitely took the prize. 

 I think they should call it the Diet Breaker, but it was worth it. Good thing we don't live in Ft. Worth, because I would probably getting one of these at least twice a week and my butt would be this big...

Don't worry, it's a chair.

The historic Stockyards in Ft. Worth were awesome and definitely a must see if you come visit us! It looks like something out of a movie.  They have cattle drives and gun fights by day and rodeos by night. We had a blast and even took "a spin" on a mechanical bull. I did pretty good, but every major muscle group hurt the next day. 

This definitely was not my first rodeo, but it was probably the most exciting!  The bulls and broncos were SUPER CRAZY! One "buckin' bronco" literally did a head-over-heels somersault in front of Morgan and I. And the bulls were throwin' the cowboys off like rag dolls and then going after them with their horns, which actually was pretty scary at one point.  

When we weren't touring, we were cooking at night, and as usual, Morgan ran circles around me in the kitchen, so J was well-fed for the week.  I really believe that the timing of her visit was God-ordained, because it definitely kept me distracted a midst all the drama with the house negotiations! We had a great time and I just might have made a Texan out of her.  : )