{Camping in Palestine, TX // annual Polar Express & Grinch weekend}

This past weekend was our 5th annual trip to Palestine for all things festive and magical! It's literally one of my favorite weekends of the year. Every time I try to explain this weekend the only word I can come up with is magical, and it truly is. From camping in a magical forest to visiting the Grinch's Lair, and then capping it off with a trip to the North Pole via the Polar Express, it really is a feel-good-get-in-the-spirit time! I'm forever grateful for this weekend with my people and for all of the special memories we have made in Palestine, TX.

{Christmas bucketlist // 2019}

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Making this list made my heart so giddy and oh so happy. I'm sharing today because this weekend kicks off our Christmas season with our annual Polar Express weekend! I love this weekend more than I could ever begin to express. It's so magical and just pulls at my mama Christmas lovin' heartstrings so fiercely! Anyhow, I know it's before Thanksgiving, but we have to schedule this weekend months in advance and this is what seems to work for everyone. So from here on out it's all things Christmas! You've been warned. Here is our 2019 Christmas bucketlist.

{Deckin' the halls // a home tour before the tree}

If you've been around this blog for any amount of time you know that we do the whole Christmas tree farm experience and get a real tree each year. It's a tradition and I am a sucker for a good tradition. Plus, I love to smell a fresh tree every time I walk into the house. And I love how unique each real tree is. I could go on and on. But I won't. You're welcome! ha. Anyhow, we do not get our tree until after Thanksgiving as that's when tree farms typically open for the Christmas season. We just couldn't wait that long to decorate this year! So, we started deckin' our halls a couple of weeks ago. Christmas decor just makes for such a cozy home. I have loved spending the evenings with my people by the glow of twinkle lights!! Anyhow, here's a very rough draft of our "deckin' the halls". I know once we get our tree I will rearrange and add some things.

{DIY Christmas Stocking Name Tags}

I recently met my friend Keri at Hobby Lobby to exchange a few items we are putting together for a giveaway {follow us here for more on that} and to do a little shopping. She mentioned she was looking for some wooden tags to make some DIY Christmas stocking name tags and I knew I had to copy her!! I have been swooning over Julie's name tags for quite some time and have been wanting to make some! So glad Keri reminded me! Is it just me or does anyone else draw a complete blank about all the projects they want to complete once they are actually at Hobby Lobby? Or maybe I get distracted because there is so much to look at! Anyhow, here are my DIY Christmas Stocking Name Tags...

{Frank Kent's DreamPark}

I mentioned in my train post that we scoped out a really awesome park that we wanted to go back to! Well, after lunch that day Nate and I took Mason to find that park! It was crazy packed, but so much fun. A friend told us they call it the Dr. Seuss park and that is such a great way to describe this park.

{FOREST PARK MINIATURE RAILROAD // FAMILY DAY}

Last Sunday Nate's mom planned a family day in Fort Worth. Nate, Mason and I went to the early church service and then met them at the gas station down the road afterward. We started the day off by riding the Forest Park Miniature Railroad. We have lived in the DFW all our lives and have never taken a ride on this train! It was so enjoyable, inexpensive, and lasted over 45 minutes.

{2019 Autumn bucket list // Update two}

Not too long ago I shared our first Autumn bucket list update and today I am back with another update! We are rockin' and rollin' on our list and having so much fun this fall. We are about 72% through our list. Here's a look at what we have done so far...

{Jeep Safari at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center with Texas Jeep Adventures}

This past Saturday we joined Texas Jeep Adventures for a Jeep safari at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center! We were so excited to have Nate's parents join us in our Jeep and we convoyed with another Jeep from our area! We all met at an Expo center not far from the animal park so that we could all convoy over together. If I had to guess I would say there were over 75 Jeeps in total for this event. It was so much fun!!!

{CURRENTLY // NOVEMBER EDITION}

Happy November!! I'm not quite sure where October went, but here we are. Joining Anne in Residence for another round of "Currently". This month we are sharing what we are currently picking, preparing, trying, feeling, following. I love this link-up and enjoy joining in each month. I hope you'll join us as well. 

{BAERTRAX/LONESTAR JEEP CLUB HALLOWEEN PARTY}

This past Friday Nathan and I celebrated 23 years of being together!! TWENTY THREE! And how did we celebrate? By going to a Halloween party that a local Jeep club put on along with a shop owner that is a friend of ours! Mason opted to stay with his Grandparents, so it was a date night for us. We missed him, but enjoyed our time together.

{HALLOWEEN 2019 // TRICK OR TREATING}

Are we over Halloween, trick or treating, and pumpkins? I know the minute we got home from trick or treating I was ready to ditch the pumpkins and bring out the Christmas stuff! Maybe because it was in the 30's here and that's more like winter for Texas and not very fall like! We skipped right from summer to winter! Anyhow, we decided to go Trick or Treating in our town this year and we had a good time! We started early around 5:45ish, but it worked out pretty great for us.

{Mason's got jokes // pumpkin joke 2019}

I shared this on Instagram, but wanted to put it here on the blog so that I can look back on this years to come! This is our family scrapbook after all.

{Pumpkin Patching at Shadow Creek Pumpkin Farm // 2019}

Last Sunday we were able to finally carve out some time to go to the Pumpkin Patch. October was jam packed and a billion degrees. Who wants to visit the pumpkin patch when it's 96 degrees outside? That just doesn't feel right to me. Anyhow, we had declared Saturday, October 26th as our "pumpkin patch day". It was going to be a glorious high of only 64 degrees and just perfect. Only it rained and rained on the Thursday and Friday before so they closed the patch for Saturday. Womp. Womp. We already had plans for Sunday as we were celebrating my Grandma's birthday party at my aunt's house. Monday would have been her 74th birthday and we wanted to celebrate her. We were able to get together with my family for a few hours and then head to the pumpkin patch for a few hours.