Last week I drove from Kansas City down to Dallas Texas. I have a lot of family down there and since I had to work Thanksgiving, I took a few days before turkey-day to go hang out with the fam.

I have discovered that I really do like driving by myself. If I can get a good audio book, music, snacks, and coffee, I’m good to go.

This is my favorite picture of Asher. He’s quite a character!

I stayed with my Grandma, Aunt, Uncle, and three cousins, and two dogs. It was great. We went to basketball games, watched movies, made pies, played outside, saw cows, pet horses, and ate good Texas food. I even saw a scorpion!

We did some exploring in the “woods” at Aunt Shary’s house.

We did “Thanksgiving” early since I had to be back in KC by Thursday for work. We packed up tons of food and headed out to the middle of nowhere to my other Aunt’s house for dinner.

Nathan helped Grandma make sticky buns for breakfast. They were AMAZING. My grandma makes the best sticky buns. I was in charge of making pies. I made apple, pecan, and chocolate.

This trip was different because usually when I visit my family I’m with lots of other people. But this time it was just me. I got alone time with my Grandma, and both of my Aunts & Uncles. That has never really happened before. It was great to just be able to sit and chat with them and get to know them even better.

My Aunt Shary has some beautiful horses out on her ranch!

We went to a western wear store and I got my very first pair of cowboy boots! Aren’t they so cute?? I love them!

Nathan is the cutest cowboy ever.

It was a sweet time with family and a refreshing time away. Its nice knowing they are only a few hours away and I can drive down there anytime I want! Isn’t my grandma the cutest?

This past Saturday neither of us had to work so we decided to take a day trip. We have been wanting to see some wild buffalo, so we chose to drive out west and find some! We started early in the morning. Stopping at Hi Hat for some delicious lattes. And were on our way. We drove for about two hours. The roads were flat. The hills were gently rolling. We were driving through vast nothingness! The further west we got, the more open the space, the farther you could see. It was a bright clear and cool day with the sun shining and the skies blue.

We finally arrived in a small town called Emporia. There we got off the highway and turned onto long country roads that went right through the prairies. We passed ranch after ranch of flat pastures and black cows. When we got to the Tallgrass Prairie National Park we could barely contain our excitement. We went into the visitors center and asked the tall Park Ranger where we could find the buffalo. He pointed out an 11,000 acre square in which they usually roamed. He mapped out some trails and said maybe, just maybe, if we hiked in this direction, we would catch a glimpse. We set out. Not daunted by 11,000 acres at all! It was gorgeous! The hike was invigorating. We walked for over an hour. Enjoying the grassy prairies, the sunny day, and the wide openness. You could see for miles and miles and we were the only people. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Finally I spotted some dark figures far in the distance. I zoomed in on them with my camera, you still couldn’t see very well, but the shapes were definitely not that of a cow. Liz practically sprinted in their direction. We hiked another half hour or so, around lazy hills and through grassy paths and then right in front of us was the herd. Twenty-two buffalo stood in our path. Grazing, roaming, rolling in the dirt and eyeing us cautiously. We were ecstatic!

We slowly approached them in awe. They were HUGE! We got to about fifty feet away from them and just watched. (And took about 500 pictures) There was nothing separating us from them. We were IN their pasture. We could have walked right up to them if we wanted.

We stood there for a good half hour just soaking in the beautiful scenery and the amazing wildlife grazing in front of us. We only left when two of the bulls got in a fight and started charging right at us! We had to run off the path to get out of their way. I don’t think either of us have ever been more scared for our lives than at that moment!

We walked back to the visitors center and began our journey home. Stopping in the small town for some barbecue was the perfect end to our trip and we came home exhausted, but satisfied with how our day had turned out.

Liz got her dream! And we had one of the best days off ever!

I made my gluten-free pumpkin bread again and altered the recipe a tad. I used fat-free greek yogurt instead of the oil and applesauce (only because we didn’t have applesauce) and I halved the sugar. I made muffins this time instead of bread because Liz and I are taking a day trip tomorrow and I figured muffins would travel better instead of bread. So…if my calculations are correct each muffin has .5 grams of fat (from the eggs), and roughly 9 grams of sugar (from the sugar, chocolate chips, and orange juice) and they are gluten-free, so they are pretty darn healthy! I am so excited. They turned out delicious!

For the original recipe, click the link below!

https://cragsandclay.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/gluten-free-pumpkin-bread/