{Currently // Vol 1}

I've posted a few 'currently' posts on this blog before, but I want to make it a series. Maybe an every other week thing? We'll see....

Loving // That it's Fall. Pumpkin all day err'day!!!!!

Making // Lists. All kinds of lists; to do's, blog post ideas, crafts to whip up, recipes to make, events coming up, etc.

Reading // The bible/she reads truth // The Good Girl by Mary Kubica {still! It's taking me a while to finish this one} I like what I have read of this book, I just haven't had much time to sit and read lately. Fall is a busy season for us.

Looking forward to // All things Halloween/Fall related. Camping at Jellystone Park, Halloween parties, field trips at Mason's school, the pumpkin patch.

Wishing // It felt more like Fall temperature wise. I'm ready for boots and scarves!

Enjoying // The amount of family time we've gotten lately!

Wondering // How we're going to fit in all of our Fall bucket list in the 2 short months of Fall.  Since Hubby doesn't get home from work until almost 6 every evening it will be mostly weekends that we have to get in our Fall-ness.

Hoping // To start a diet and exercise regimen and stick with it.

Marveling // at the grace God gives daily.

Smelling // Caramel Pear Crisp in the Scentsy

Following // My lists.

Thinking // About anything and everything. This mama brain never shuts off.

Feeling // Grateful, yet undeserving.

Praying//  For peace about Mason's upcoming dentist appointment and his oral sedation.

What's currently going on in your world? 

{Our weekend // dentist, wedding, church, ranger game}

Happy Monday!!! I can't believe it's already Monday! Feels like this weekend flew by!! We had a good one, though. 

It started with a 6 month dentist check up for our little man! Mason saw a new dentist this time and did great. I mentioned in my post {here} about our last dentist trip that we loved the dentist,  but other parts of the apt were less than pleasant. Well, we decided to move Mason to Clark Dental for kids. We go to Clark Dental and they share a building. We loved our experiences with the practice and had a good feeling about the kids side. We were right! We loved Dr Ben & staff. He was so great with Mason! Mason does have a cavity on one of the very back teeth. Dr Ben said it's going to be tricky to get to and thinks that Mason would do best to have oral sedation for the filling. We have to schedule that and go back. It's going to take several hours and both Nate and I need to be present. Prayers are welcome for that apt! 

Friday evening I got to check an item off our Fall Bucketlist.  I somehow convinced Mason to let me take a few Fall pictures of him and he obliged! All it took was mentioning that we'd be in the area of the feed store and the big red train! Mason quickly agreed as long as I let him play on the train. Easy enough! Of course he kept asking if he could go to the train with every picture we took. I managed to get some good ones....sneak peek...



More pictures to come...

We spent the rest of the evening at home and it was nice! {that doesn't happen too often on a Friday night}

Saturday was a lazy day for us. I'd love to say that we slept in, but Mason was awake at 7:45am which is quite rare for him on a Saturday. My boy usually sleeps until 10 at the very earliest. I'm just glad we were able to be lazy!! We went for a late lunch at one of our favorite local spots Oma's Jiffy Burger. The weather is getting to be nice enough that we can eat out on the patio. They have picnic tables and two big screen tv's. It was a nice lunch! 

That evening we went to a very, very unique wedding. The couple met through baseball and it's one of their greatest loves...so they got married on a baseball field. It was very cute!! I only managed to get a couple of pics, and neither were of the wedding. Fail!

Sunday morning we started our day off in the best way possible...at church! We got to listen to an amazing band The Sherman Mountain Boys and heard a great message! I love our church!! Afterwards we raced home to get ready for the Ranger game. Nate's mom got tickets for the entire family {11 of us} through her work and we were going to make a family day out of it. Our seats were in the blaring hot sun! Texas didn't get the memo that it was late September and was scorching hot. Luckily, we found some seats at the top in the shade! There was also a nice breeze! After the game we had an early supper at On The Border. It was a great day!










How was your weekend?

{Adult getaway // Galveston, TX}

I mentioned yesterday in my Grateful Heart post that the hubbs and I recently went away for an adults only trip to the beach {Galveston TX}. To sum it up....

It was great!
It was needed.
It was refreshing.
It will happen again.

We went with two other couples. Both of which were friends that I met on the Internet {I know!} and their hubbies.  If you've read my blog for any length of time you will know that Amanda and I are great friends and met through our blogs 3 or 4 years ago. We've met in person several times since then and our hubbies have met a time or two. The other couple is a friend we met through Instagram. It was our first time to meet them in person. 
 
We didn't have a specific agenda other than to hang out, relax and have fun. The forecast called for downpours the whole time we were there...so we were just going to wing it. We all wanted to go on a chartered fishing trip but couldn't make any solid plans due to the rain. We got there on Thursday and it only rained until Friday afternoon and cleared out! It was fabulous!!


 We had plenty of girl time {and the boys had their time}, we walked the beach, fished, hung out, drank pina coladas out of coconuts, had delicious meals and more laughter than we can count. If it's any indication of how much fun we had we were already planning our next trip a day into this trip!  We scoped out houses that we might like to stay in and talked about other places we could visit. We also created many hilarious hashtags for our trip...but I will refrain from putting them on here since it would be like morse code to anyone that wasn't with us.

Cheers to stronger friendships and new traditions!

There's nothing in this world that I love more than being a Mama, but it was nice being a fun married couple again for a few days!! Not that Nate and I don't have fun regularly...it was just a different kind of fun to have conversations that didn't include legos, zombies, or monster trucks and to be able to actually finish a meal with no interruptions. We stayed up later than we have in years, actually go to sleep in the same bed together and had lots of adult conversations {even if we talked about our kids!!}. It was fun. Too much fun.

But come Sunday, I was so ready to get home to my sweet boy. I may have had a breakdown in the truck when we got in the road. I realized that vacation was over and 4.5 hours {with no traffic} separated us from Mason and it brought me to tears. Like crocodile tears. But I do want to say how much I appreciate my in-laws for keeping Mason. We know we don't have to worry about a thing when they have him. He enjoys going to their house and being with them. And that makes it easier for us to have dates!

Have you been on an adults only trip?

{A Grateful Heart // VOL 5}

 
Linking up with Ember Grey for A Grateful Heart. 

We just returned from the beach for a 4 day weekend trip with great friends. The sand, saltwater and sun were good for my soul. There's nothing in this world I love more than being a Mama...but this adults only trip was needed. Being a mama it's easy to lose yourself. And sometimes you need a little getaway to recharge your batteries. And that I did.

This week I am grateful for...{beach edition}

+ sand
+ sun
+ salt water
+ good friends
+ new traditions
+ making memories
+ fruity drinks in a coconut
+ laughter
+ navigation
+ sunsets 
+ inlaws that kept our sweet boy
+ girl time
+ road trips that allow ample time to talk with my love

What are you grateful for this week?

{Fall Bucketlist // 2014}

Happy First Day of Autumn!!! And boy did it feel like Fall this morning. I went to take Gunner outside and had to come back in for a sweater. It made me so darn happy!! I just love this time of year! If you had any doubts just check my Fall Pinterest board {here}

In honor of the first day of Fall I wanted to share our 2014 Fall bucketlist.

+ visit the pumpkin patch

+ go on a hayride

+ make caramel apples

+ decorate my porch {crates, hay, pumpkins, etc}

+ carve pumpkins

+ make fall crafts

+ decorate the house for fall

+ pick out halloween costumes

+ stay in a cabin somewhere

+ make a thankful tree

+ share the Thanksgiving story with Mason

+ find a corn maze

+ bake fall goodies

+ go to fall festivals

+ go to an aggie football game

+ roast marshmallows

+ lots of fires in our chiminea

+ go apple pickin'

+ have a scary {but mason friendly} movie night

+ make lots of crock pot meals

+ do my bible study on the porch

+ host a fall party/get together

+ make a pumpkin chunkin' game

+ stock up on my favorite fall scentsy bars

+ take a scenic drive {where the leaves actually turn pretty colors}

+ go to the farmers market

+ go on a nature walk

+ take fall pictures of mason

What's on your Fall Bucketlist this year?

{Life Lately}

Hi friends! Just a random, catch up post here. 

Well, I had fully intended on participating faithfully in the Blog-tember challenge...but life proved otherwise. I was inspired and ready to roll with the daily challenges, but life got so busy that I was rushing through the posts. I was writing just enough to get the post up, but didn't get to fully say what my heart wanted to say. I may pop in here and there for some of the topics, but I am not putting the pressure on myself to do every challenge.

Last week Mason had a 'crazy hair day' at school. We spiked his hair like crazy and sprayed it green with one of those Halloween hair colors. It's almost a week later and I still can't get all of the green out of his hair! He was mid haircut on Saturday when I remembered his green hair and had to inform the hairdresser that his hair isn't usually green! ha. He looked cute though...

We had the best weekend this past weekend! We didn't do anything special, but it was just one of those good ones. Friday I had a hair appointment. I went to a new hairdresser and fell in love! Her shop is in downtown Waxahachie and is such a neat building. Plus, I really really liked her. She's someone that I can see myself being friends with. And, she is awesome at hair color. I went from blonde blonde, to a darker color for Fall. It's almost an ombre because she let some of my blonde come through. I love it. This is the picture she posted on Facebook.

That evening hung around Waxahachie and helped Nate's parents with a few things. Nate's dad had back surgery on Friday. Saturday we took our little Gunner boy for his shots. He didn't even flinch and did really well. After his shots we went to the RV and Camper show in Dallas. We had so much fun just strolling through and checking out all of the different layouts. And it was just one of those days that made me so thankful for my sweet little family. And every time Nathan moved or spoke I just fell more in love with him. Sunday we went to church and it was amazing. I just love the Cowboy Church and how much it feels like 'home'.

After church we went back to Nate's parents house to visit and check on his dad. That evening was spent getting ready for the next week.

It's hunting season!!!

We just started a new study in She Reads Truth called Open Your Bible. I'm so very excited for this one. Friends, if you haven't checked out She Reads Truth yet, I encourage you to do so. This particular study is free on the app and always free on the web site. 

Thursday we are leaving for the beach. Just Nathan and I. We are meeting four of our friends there for a long weekend. I am excited. Very excited. But anxious and sad too. We will be leaving Mason home with his Grandparents. It's an adult only trip this time. This will make 2 total that Nathan and I have ever gone on without Mason. And the first one was only 2 days!! 

That's pretty much what we have been up to lately. What about you? What's going on in your world lately?

{Blog-tember Challenge - Day 13 // Relationship Status}

Sept 13th: Your current relationship status. If dating/married, give us a glimpse of your story! If single, share about this special season.




I am very happily married to my best friend!! Nathan and I met when we were just teens in high school. We were best friends for a year before we actually started dating. Now we are celebrating our 18th year together this November 1st and we just had our 8th wedding anniversary on August 25th. Nathan truly is my soul-mate and completes me in every way.

{Blog-tember Challenge - Day 12 // Traditions}

Sept 12th: Tell us about a favorite tradition. It could be a family tradition or from a holiday, university, you-name-it. What makes it so special?

{Blog-tember Challenge - Day 11 // How I stay inspired}

Sept 11th: How do you stay inspired? Who inspires you the most?

My biggest and best inspiration is my boys, of course. I try to think about them in everything that I do and to always put them first. They both push me and make me want to be a better person, mother and wife. They encourage me. They give me the drive. They are my everything.

For the other things...music, Pinterest and Instagram inspire me. 

What inspires you?

{A Grateful Heart // VOL 4}

Last night I went to bed with a very, very anxious heart. I tend to let worry take over me to the point where it becomes anxiety. Worry has always been a part of my life. And it became worse after I became a Mother. I have a constant need to protect and when that is out of my control fear takes hold. All day long yesterday I heard talk about threats to our country, saw Facebook post after post about these threats and how people were preparing for 9/11. It terrified me, honestly. Also, as I was praying last night I saw my phone light up and it was one of my really good friends of 25+ years asking for prayer. I didn't sleep much to say the least. I tossed and turned. Mason also didn't sleep very well. I worried even more that maybe he felt my anxiety. It was a long night.

But...

This morning I woke up to a friend posting this scripture...

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

- John 16:33 

It was just what I needed to hear. It immediately gave me peace. Then I went to take Gunner outside and saw the most glorious sunrise...

THEN...as I am driving to take Mason to school I see a huge rainbow....THEN as I am leaving Mason's school I round the corner to see the rays in the sky making the most perfect cross.

When my anxious thoughts multiply within, Your consolations delight my soul.

-Psalm 94:19

 Thank you God. Thank you. 

Our God is so faithful and I am so grateful for the reminders he sent me this morning. This week I am also grateful for...

+ family
+ fall pretties on pinterest
+ cooler weather headed to texas
+ good eye dr reports {post here}
+ allergy medicine
+ our roots and where God has led us
+ freedom
+ prayer warriors
+ friends that are more like family
+ imaginations

What are you grateful for, friend?