The Rodeo and the Busbys

After much deliberation and schedule shifting we figured out our only day to go to the Rodeo as a whole family was last Saturday, and to make things even better our friends, the Busbys, from way-back-when at BYU were in town and were going to come with us!
We got to the Rodeo super early to see and do everything with Chris before the rush of people came.  It was great- except for Elise not doing well after getting shots on Friday and that it was freezing (Houston standard of freezing...in the 50s). It wasn't too bad until the wind came- that darn wind was bitter cold, and maybe if we had planned ahead better we would have been more prepared, but hey- it's Houston in March, we were supposed to be wearing shorts!  
-We started off the day by getting the kids branded (and the ink on Abby's hand rubbed off a bit onto Chris's neck making it look like he had an intense hickey that whole morning- wish I'd gotten a picture before it wore off!)

-We saw tons of animals (and farm stuff) in all shapes and sizes.

See how tired Elise was? First of our kids to not handle shots well...

-Went to the petting zoo

-Rode a horse

she's pretending she has a lasso :)

Chris took the two older kids to the farm

-Went and saw some sweet mutton bustin'

-Ate lunch and then the kids rode some rides,

All while I headed back to the car and met up with our friends Devin and Cathy! (also fed Elise, found some coats and another blanket for the kids, and swung by another friends house to get some ibuprofen for our poor, struggling Elise- thanks Kim! )

Devin and Chris were roommates the infamous and amazing "sophomore year", we got married a few months apart and we lived in the same complex right beneath them afterwards while finishing school.  We haven't seen Devin and Cathy since we stopped by their house during Christmas time in 2009, and since then we've both added two more kids so it was high time everyone met! Thankfully they were in the area and made their way down to come see us.  One thing I love about old friends is how things pick up right where you left off years before- Nathan and Kylie became fast friends, Abby and Emmy did their own crazy 2 year old stuff, and the Elise and Preston did great being cute little babies.

We went headed over to the Stadium for the rodeo, sitting in our sweet nose bleed seats :) We must have looked like a sight- 4 adults, 6 kids (and it must have looked even worse when we first got to the seats.  Chris and Cathy took the strollers to the parking area and Devin and I headed up with the kids to the seats- we were getting some crazy looks and it dawned on me later that people were probably thinking all those kids were in one family! So glad Chris and Cathy made it back quickly!)

After the rodeo we got some BBQ, then the kids entrained themselves in the strollers while the adults snuck in a treat- deep fried cookie dough! It was amazing.  And the kids never noticed we got it so we didn't have to share- even better.

The kids went on some rides with the guys, unfortunately they were sticklers on the height requirements so no Ferris Wheel like kids wanted, maybe because of that person who died last year? Oh well, the carousel was a good consolation.

all while Cathy and I did this:

lots, and lots of talking :)  and keeping the babies warm- very important too

We headed back to the cars, thankful they hadn't been towed (turns out the old apartment complex we used to live in, and go there now for the free, close parking, is finally cracking down on people like us- lame) We are sooooo incredibly glad our cars were still there! We had a great time and are sad we don't get to more of our old friends more often, so thanks for coming Busbys!