High Five for Friday

1.  Fall is Finally Here!

2.  Orchestra Concerts

I could seriously listen to this amazing music all day long.  Megan is the third chair bass on the right.  She's been practicing with this group since August and they sound like professionals.  I loved this concert.

3.  Halloween Decorations

Have I mentioned how much I love Halloween??  Well, I do and it's officially sprinkled around my house and I love it!

4.  Pumpkin Swirl Bread

My cute bloggy friend Billie Jo found this in her Northeast grocery store weeks ago and I've been looking for it ever since.  And guess what! It's finally here.  Hooray for pumpkin everything this time of year.  

5.  Song of the Week...Demons by Imagine Dragons.  I love this band and my kids have this song set permanently on repeat on their iPods so it's everywhere this week.  <3

Weekend Update

The girls and I had an awesome weekend road trip to Round Top and Austin.  We piled into our rental car at 9:00am and set off for a great adventure.  

First stop...Jamba Juice!

Armed with a little juicy sustenance, we were on the road...

This trip was quite a bit longer than we expected, and we had a teeny little bit of rental car trouble.  In the 5 hours that we were on the road, we filled up a slowly leaking back tire a handful of times.  Savannah and I became pretty well acquainted with this little machine...

When we finally arrived in Austin at 8:00pm on Friday night, we took a quick detour to the airport and traded out our Chevy Malibu for a Chevy Impala with all four tires adequately filled with air.  Huge relief...

Just before we got to Round Top, we stopped in Brenham, TX at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory.  What a beautiful place that was!  We didn't go through the tour, but we did stop into the little ice cream shop and each of us grabbed a scoop of our favorite flavor.  Awesome treat after a long drive.

And look at all these flavors we had to choose from!...impossible decision.  

 Finally, late in the afternoon, we rolled into Round Top and got to stop and wander around all the amazing treasures there.  We could have spent days in this place and not seen everything...seriously.

About three hours later, when the sun started to set and all the little tents started to close, we reluctantly left and headed toward Austin to find our hotel (and trade out our pitiful vehicle.)  I so wish we had gotten to Round Top earlier and been able to explore more, but the girls and I loved it so much that we might just have to make this an annual event!

On Saturday morning, we drove to the University of Texas campus and wandered around.  I have wanted to stop and explore here the last few times we've driven through on our way to or from San Antonio, but we've always been so short on time that only a quick driving tour was possible.  This time, I made sure that it was our first stop so we could get out and walk around.   

Our first stop was the Fine Arts building so I could show the girls where I spent half my life during college.  We wandered around the lobby and the practice rooms and the gorgeous concert hall and I was flooded with memories of a million choir concerts and music classes.  There happened to be a mini Strings Camp going on this weekend, and when we wandered into the lobby, some cute little Strings Boosters were selling last year's t-shirts for $1.  Megan had to have one of those!!  

From the Fine Arts building, we drove to the football stadium, the second most memorable place of my four years at that school.  

And then the Tower.  Gorgeous.  Regal.  Right in the center of campus.  And right next to all of my Psychology, Architecture and Latin classes that I took before I decided on an Elementary Ed major.  I was so flaky, but I learned so much about so many things.  The amount of useless knowledge I still have floating in my head is pretty awesome.  :)

 

We ended our little tour at my dormitory!  Oh, I can't tell you how strange and wonderful it was to walk back into that quad and into that building with my three daughters in tow.  We saw the piano in the lobby that I spent hours playing during my (very few) free hours.  We saw the rows of mail boxes that held excitement, anxiety and heartbreak, depending on who did or did not write to me.  We saw the dining hall where I ate nearly every meal for two whole years.  And we saw college girls who are closer to my daughters' generation than mine, but who look remarkably like I remember myself looking and how I mostly still feel.  

I loved taking my girls back with me to my pre-mom/pre-wife years.  It's so hard for them to imagine that I ever even had any of those.  I love that they are just as excited to see anything UT-related, and that their blood now bleeds as orange as mine!

After a little pizza lunch, we started the trek back home.  It was a great weekend.  We talked and ate and laughed and we all like each other a little bit more because we spent two whole days together doing something out of the ordinary.  

Wanna see what the boys did?

Craig bought McKay a hiking backpack and they went on a two-mile hike around Cedar Bayou and camped in their new mini tent that Craig got last year for his birthday and has never had a chance to use.  He's doing this same hike with his scouts on the 18th, so he wanted to try it out with McKay first.  They had a great weekend, too, and are looking forward to their trip in two weeks.  

Hooray for safe, fun, adventurous weekends, and for bonding with family!   Hope you had a wonderful weekend, too.

October Excitement

This is my absolute favorite month!  I'm so happy it's finally here.  I love the change of seasons.  I love the official beginning of the holiday months.  I love transitioning into long sleeves and boots.  I love all things apple and cinnamon flavored.

We have yet to see a leaf fall here in Dallas, but I'm holding out hope that it won't be too long before the weather cools a bit and the trees start to give in to winter. 

I've been trying to resist buying pumpkins until at least the 15th...but we'll see how that goes.  I've already talked Craig into fetching the Halloween bucket out of the attic, and as soon as I see those decorations...that will lead to pumpkin purchases, I'm sure.  

What is General Conference?

This weekend is General Conference, which I've already gushed over so much.  But I really, really love it.  The missionaries in our ward are coming over to watch it with us this year, so it should be even better than usual.  Great food, interesting conversation, and a spirit-filled home.  I can't wait.  

But...before we get to Conference weekend, the girls and I are going to take Friday off and go on a little adventure.  

Junk Gypsies

Have you seen this show??  Well, it's my latest obsession.  These adorable sisters live in Round Top, TX and create treasures out of flea market finds, and they have a show that occasionally appears on GAC.  They make me want to wear cowboy boots and drive a truck; they are ridiculously cool!

Well, it turns out that The Texas Antiques Week is in Round Top, TX.  There's a 6 mile stretch of little rural towns between HOU and Austin that hosts this giant flea market fiesta twice a year on the first weekend in October and the first weekend in April.  The girls and I decided it would be fun to take a road trip to see if we can find some junk gypsy treasures.  On Friday, we're taking the day off of school and renting a fun little car to drive from here to Austin via Round Top.  We'll do our treasure hunting all day, shop, eat, and drive some more, and then we'll stay in Austin overnight.  The girls have all been dying to take a walking tour of the UT campus, and I haven't wandered around much there since I was in college, so I'm all over that idea.  And while we're driving home, we'll listen to the Saturday sessions of Conference on the radio.   Perfect weekend, huh?  

Road trips, apple cider, Antiques Week, pumpkins, Halloween, falling leaves...how can you not be thrilled about October?  

Throwback Thursday

I went with another random selection today from the iCloud for tbt.  My mouse scrolled and scrolled and happened to stop at September 2009.

One day, in the middle of the fall, the Scout Master and his brother decided to take all the cousins (minus Flowering Buttercup) to Antelope Island.  Those two are impulsive and adventurous like that.  They can cook up a snow cave expedition or a hike for the kids or a fishing trip in a matter of minutes.  They're pretty fun dads.  I packed a picnic lunch and loaded five kids into the van, and off they went for a day long adventure.  They spent the entire afternoon hiking, exploring, wading in the warm water, and bonding.

yikes!  is that my baby up on that giant rock????

Do you know what I thought about when I looked at these pictures?  I could not believe how much these cousins have changed in 4 years!  But, as grown up as they've gotten and as smart as they're becoming, they still LOVE being together.  It doesn't happen as much as we would like, but when it does, it's bliss for everyone.  These guys are more than cousins...they're FRIENDS.  I love that our 7 years in Utah seared in all of us that eternal bond.  I love these kids so much.  

 And I SUPER LOVE their adventurous dads!

The Last Home Game

Last night was the last home game of the season.  It was also Senior Night.  This is always a sad night for me.  Even though we'll play another handful of play-off games and even though the seniors will still be hanging around for another 6 months or so, I always get a little glum at the end of this game.  It means the end of another season of football games, spirit wear, socializing with Allen Eagle fans, and watching that amazing halftime show.  It will be way too long before next fall rolls around and we get to do this all over again.

Look how gorgeous the stadium looks at night!  I LOVE this place!!

It was an absolutely perfect night for football...70 degrees and breezy.

Tuffy the Eagle

It took awhile to make that first touchdown, but we finally did it just before halftime.  Phew!

The stadium was completely packed last night with Allen and Plano fans. 

Tonight's was the first home game that we've had in a month, so this was the first opportunity the band had to dress up for their traditional Boo Bowl.  It's pretty hilarious to see the costumes they come up with.

This is our favorite Tallenette and Flowering Buttercup's BFF! 

Here's what happened after halftime that I didn't take any pictures of because I was too busy biting my nails.  The score was close through the whole game.  In fact, they were leading for a good chunk of the first half.  By the last minute of the 4th quarter we were up 35-28.  With 35 seconds left they scored a TD...eek!!  And then they went for the 2 point conversion...eek!!  But thankfully their receiver dropped the ball and the game ended with Allen 35 Plano 34...Phew!!  We were already the district champs, but holy cow! that was way too close.  Super fun game though...the kind where no one leaves the stadium until about 10 minutes after the game ends because they're all trying to remember how to breathe.    

Football players shaking hands with their adoring fans...and tons of security to keep us all from rushing the field.  :)

This was the first game that we've been able to talk Spell Girl into coming to.  She's strongly opposed to hanging out with us at football games.  But since Flowering Buttercup was babysitting and June was at a birthday party, we convinced her that she would have so much more fun with us than just sitting at home alone.  Hooray for Spell Girl!  I think she even liked it a little.

We have had so much fun in this new stadium with this awesome football team.  Unfortunately there haven't been enough Rodriguez moments for us this season, but hopefully next year we can coordinate our tickets and sit near them.

Congratulations Allen Eagles on winning the District Championship!!  <3