Beautiful Home Furniture!

Thanks to the most wonderful neighbor in the world, Austin and I are now the proud owners of the most beautiful home furniture!!! It took us a few minutes to decide how we wanted to arrange the end table and the coffee table, but once we were finished, it looked just right! Plus, now we feel like we have an official living room, just perfect for receiving guests! :)

Here is the coffee table in our living room where my pink chair used to be, and some blue tubs that we are storing things in currently. Doesn't this look so much nicer??? :) I did a little arranging with our little lamps, and the pretty needle work that Austin's grandma gave us for our wedding. We LOVE it!!! :)

Here is the more full shot of our living room (I'm sitting in the glider in the corner of the room to take this picture). So tell us...what do YOU think? I hope you like our new "look"! :) We sure do!

Camping Part IV: The Lake

I wanted to dub the lake swimming area "The Beach" since that is exactly what it seemed like. The beach front you can see behind Austin is one of the larger parts...the other large sandy part just like this is on our left (they're both connected though)...it was a BIG swimming area, and so much fun! :) We spent most of our Saturday here after hiking, and Austin proclaimed it his very favorite part of the park! :) It was REALLY fun, and the weather was even warm enough to swim! We didn't take any pictures of us swimming out there because we didn't want the camera getting sand in it. However, the water was WARM!!! It was a lovely day swimming. (And I'm not that big of a lake swimmer even!) :)

We didn't have our campfire anymore, so we cooked up the last of the hot dogs on our camp stove (Austin's pride and joy). There was a great playground right next to the lake...I mean, after all, this place has it all! :)

It was slightly difficult roasting hot dogs on the camp stove...but, Austin knew just what to do. :) Here he is with our roasters, roasting away on the hot dog. Isn't he so smart? :)

Above all, the sunset was GORGEOUS. We specifically chose our picnic table to face right towards this beautiful scene, and ate as we watched everyone playing around in the lake before the sun set. I love nature!

This picture was taken not too long afterwards. What a wonderful end to a wonderful trip! I hope you liked the pictures as much as we liked out campout! :)

If you enlarge the picture you can see the sign we saw as we drove out of the park--"Y'ALL COME BACK." Since we had such a wonderful time, I have to agree...I can't wait to come back! :)

I think we just might too...Austin bribed me (not with Fruit Stripe gum but with a state park pass) to swim out to the buoy and back with him. I did it! :) I will most always respond to the right kind of bribery after all. Hurray!!! State park camping, keep a lookout for us, we won't be gone long!!! :)

Camping Part III: The Hike

We were finally able to pack everything up and take it back to the car. It only took 2 trips! :) Here is Austin at our campsite with the last of our camping things...we loved you, little camp!

This was the trail by the Headquarters station we saw after checking out for the day. It's called the "Lost Pines Trail." It is a short loop that intersects with a long, LONG trail going all around the south side of the lake (Isle Du Bois--the southern part of Ray Roberts Lake State Park...also known as the part of the State Park we went to). Needless to say, we decided to take the shorter loop, rather than hiking the 3.5 mile trail.

Here is Austin at the start of the Lost Pines Trail next to a--what? You said it...Pine Tree! :)

I'm here too! We were both ready to get hiking, and enjoy some more beautiful sites in the state park. :) Here we go!

Here we are as we started the trail. You can see just how wooded and hilly it was here. I give it two thumbs up!

This is a picture we took along the trail in one of the more open spots. Pretty flowers, and a fun-loving husband! :) Hooray for camping! :)

This nature trail had some different facts about early settlers along the Lost Pines (nature) Trail. This spot was a settlement built in the late 1800s that was occupied until around 1948! Can you imagine? This is the original chimney before the rest of the house was knocked down.

I took this picture of a beautiful plant along our trail for Momma, since she is the picture-taking queen! I thought this was one of my better up-close nature pictures! :)

And of course, Austin had to pretend to eat the berry bush. He is so silly! :) That's okay, I still love him. :)

Remember how I said we were taking the SHORT trail??? Yep...we definitely veered onto the longer loop at the intersection of the trails accidentally...without even knowing it! We probably walked about 1.5 miles before we turned back around. However, the longer trail came close to the lake, and what a beautiful sight it was!

This is what we saw, so of course we had to document it! :)

Isn't it pretty? We loved hiking, even if we hiked longer than we were expecting to! :)

Camping Part II: The Campsite Panorama

This is the trail that lead down to a better lookout over the lake. This is what you saw when you walked past our fire pit and picnic table. So pretty!

This is was the view from behind our tent, off to the right side.

This was the view from our picnic bench. If you look carefully, you can see the little trail off the main path that we took that leads to our particular campsite. Its the little trail between the big tree closest on the left, and another tree on the right...if that makes any sense with so many trees all around. :)

Closer shot of that trail...and this was the left side of our campsite. Beautiful, wouldn't you say?

This was further left than the picture right before this, and shows the lantern pole provided for our tent site. We would have brought the lantern we got, but we unfortunately found it didn't have a handle, so we're working on that one. :)

This is off to the right from our picnic bench, but without the neighbor's tent in the shot. Trees, trees, everywhere!!! I LOVED it!!! :) We will definitely be coming back here!

The nice thing about these particular sites is the fact that they are the least expensive (but I like all the close-up nature without the gravel needed to park your car in, as well). :) I was a little unsure about the "hike in" to set up the tent, but the trail wasn't a trail so much as it was a path where sand had been brought in to make it easier to walk. This also made it easier to see in the dark, by the way. :) Fortunately no close overhanging trees konked us over the head. :) The trail that you hike in to your campsite is anywhere from 1/8 mile to 1/4 mile (for the 40 sites in this area)...but we got a site about halfway out, and it wasn't a big deal like I thought it might be. The bathrooms were a short walk away, as was the water spicket between the camps. Very enjoyable, very clean, and a must see! :) If you ever want to relax feeling like you're alone in nature (while being protected by Park Rangers), here is the place to go! :)

Camping Part I: Starting Out

This weekend was quite the exciting one for Austin and I. We both needed a break that included plenty of nature in it--so we decided to go camping!!! :) Nothing huge, just a little overnight at the local Ray Roberts Lake State Park where we could roast some marshmallows and hot dogs, go swimming and hiking, and see the beautiful stars at night. Fortunately, this was a great state park, and so we got to do all of these things, and enjoy relaxing in the fresh outdoor air!

Here is a picture of our camping spot! :) We stayed at campsite 34A, and loved it!!! :) You had to hike a ways in to get to the site, but it looked right over the lake. Also, we went camping in the "primitive" tent site areas, so the water was a little walk away, but nothing too far. :) What a wonderful treat! Everything was beautiful, and everyone that we met who worked there was very friendly and helpful. :)

I love this picture because it illustrates so well how excited both Austin and I both were to get to go camping this past Friday! :) Even though we were in the "primitive" camping area, the site still had a picnic table, fire pit, and a pole for hanging a lantern on. All in all, not bad I thought!

This is the view looking out to the lake. This is what we saw when we woke with the sunrise (sort of). :) The state park here was beautiful, with tons of trees, and lots of little critters. In fact, the night we stayed there, a little animal came creeping right up next to our tent! We never figured out what it was, but from the footsteps, it sure sounded like a deer. :) Before we went I read all up about the different types of animals here at the state park, and it did say that white-tailed deer were spotted around here. Hurray! :)

This campsite was divided into two spots: 34A and 34B. These were our friendly neighbors next door at 34B in the orange tent. We didn't really get to meet them since we got in so late, but they seemed like a nice little family, with the parents there with their son and daughter (probably around 9 and 11).

Here is Austin building our fire in the morning. We got to the state park too late to buy firewood there, so when I went shopping at the store for some camping food (those healthy hot dogs, buns, and marshmallows), I checked to see if the store was selling firewood yet. We were in luck! Only $4 for a nice big bundle, so that we had enough firewood for a big night fire, and another fire in the morning! :) Luckily the weather was just cool enough that a fire was a treat (but not too cold so that a fire was an absolute necessary to stay warm). Austin was our fire person in charge of building and maintaining so that we could enjoy the fire as long as we wanted. :)

This is actually so you can take a closer look at the tent that we set up in the dark (with the help of a flashlight) around 9pm Friday night. The rain fly is so nice, if it was hot or rainy you could sit underneath and stay cool and dry. :) Here you can see we put our camping chairs underneath the fly for the night. Then in the morning when we woke up, we could sit in them and put our shoes on! Pretty nifty, we thought. :)

This picture is to show the inside of our tent a little. Here Austin in on our air mattress huddled up in his sleeping bag being silly. :) It was the perfect weather for camping...not too cold at night, and just right during the day!

Austin has been dying to try out the camp stove we got for our wedding this past June. Here he is cooking the breakfast sausage that we ate with our scrambled eggs. Yum yum! :) Everything is even more delicious when you're camping.

Here I am, eating the delicious breakfast! The camping chairs we also got from our wedding, and made the camping trip MUCH easier, and a great place for our water bottles to rest. :)

Austin, in his element poking the fire. Ever the eagle scout! :)

We were in the middle of packing up after breakfast, since checkout is at 2 ( we wanted to hike and swim without worrying about getting out in time). Austin looked so cute as he packed his backpacking camping backpack so seriously. :) I just had to grab the camera and take an action shot! :)

This was pretty much one of the nicest, cleanest state parks I have ever been to. Austin and I loved it, and can't wait to go back for more camping! :) Stay tuned for the next segment of our camping trip!!!! :)