Cowboy Baby

I left a few of my favorite pictures out of my last post because I felt they needed a post all their own since there's a special story to go along with them.

With no knowledge of our upcoming photo shoot, my mother-in-law came over the night before, and with her she brought a box of shoes.  In this box were several pair of Ryan's old baby shoes that she had kept all these years and each box was labeled; Ryan's 2nd walking shoes (because his first pair had been bronzed), Ryan's 1st tennis shoes, Ryan's 1st sandals, Ryan's 1st flip flops, etc.

The shoes were all in excellent condition, in their original boxes and some even had the original receipt attached. Wow!  I was not only excited about seeing my husband's sweet little baby shoes, but amazed that his mother had cherished them so that she kept them in labeled boxes for almost 30 years and was now handing them over to me and to my boys.

The first box she pulled out, however, contained Ryan's 1st cowboy boots.  They were brown leather, in perfect condition and a size 9.5.  I couldn't wait to try them on Austin and see if they fit, which of course they did!  Austin loved them and knew exactly what they were from the moment he saw them.  He put them on and started walking heel-to-toe around the house saying "daddy's cowboy boots!"  It was such a sweet and special moment and I just knew we had to take these with us on our photo shoot the next day and have his picture made wearing his daddy's 1st cowboy boots!