A few times a year the Dallas Stars host a practice that is open to the public. We were lucky enough to get to attend this past weekend. It was our first one, so we weren't sure what to expect. Now we know to get there early, bring something for autographs (and a sharpie), and know the prime spots. We still had a good time and it was fun to see the team a little up close and personal.
Mason joined his Nana and his cousins for trick or treating on the historic downtown square. I had to work and was not able to join. I'm thankful for Nana to help carry on this sweet little Halloween-time tradition.
Over the weekend Mason attended an open hockey session with his friends. He has met the greatest friends and I just adore the bond that they have. I can't wait to watch them play together for years to come.
Mason had a DSMHL (Dallas Stars Metro Hockey League) hockey game over the weekend and played so well. He also had a big fan club for this game! I'm so grateful for those who support him in his passion and love him so well.
This past Saturday we attended Family Day at Nate's work. We always look forward to this event every few years. They have so many activities for the kids, giveaways, crafts, hands-on stem-type activities, cool military vehicles to climb in, robotics, and so much more. It's always fun to see where Nate spends his work days and what they do! The place is incredible!!
Nate and I took Mason and two friends to our local Halloween Park for a night of scares and fun! These boys were hilarious to watch and so much fun. We had VIP passes so we were able to skip long lines and enjoy the haunted houses as many times as we wanted.
One of the coolest events we have ever attended was the Dallas Stars Green Carpet! Nate and I took off work to take Mason and it was well worth it!! We weren't sure what to expect since it was our first time and it far exceeded any of our expectations!!
Nathan and I heard about this really neat thing the Dallas Stars do called "The Green Carpet". It's where the players walk the green carpet up to the arena and often times they will stop for pictures or autographs. Nathan and I bought tickets for opening day (game) and took off work to take Mason to the green carpet event before the game. We decided to surprise Mason about the game & event in a different kind of way...
It's my favorite time of the year!! The "ber" months and all things fall have my heart. I'm a little later this year, but starting to get out my fall decor. Here are a few bits of fall on my porch.
Mason and his friends attended another open hockey at our home rink. I love it when they all get together to put in some extra time on the ice. They work hard but they sure have fun! They practically had the whole ice to themselves.
After the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Nate, Mason, and I decided to explore the area a bit more. We drove around Santa Cruz, visited some thrift stores, and then decided to find a beach.
On day four of our California trip, we headed over to Santa Cruz for a day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk!
Day three was a day dedicated to our Prosperity girl for her sweet 16 birthday celebration! We spent the day getting ready together in the Airbnb before heading over to the venue.
On the morning of our 2nd day, we went our separate ways again. The family of the birthday girl had party things to take care of. So, we got out to explore some more. We started out at the Shark Tank (SAP Center) where the San Jose Sharks play hockey.
We arrived in California mid-morning yesterday. After a stressful couple of hours in the rental car line and at the desk, we got our rental and were on our way. Long story short, they were low on cars. The original car we rented wasn't available so they upgraded us to a Tesla at no extra cost to us. We didn't tell Mason because we wanted to surprise him. He's always been a Tesla fan!
Warning!!! There will be tons of hockey posts on this blog from here on out. :) I think it will be so fun to look back at these posts a year or two to see how far Mason has come in his hockey journey!
Mason joined in another open hockey session at his rink. These are such great developmental sessions for him. Kids that have been playing for years come to these sessions and they seem to take the newbies under their wings. They've been so kind and have helped Mason so much.
Our nephews play baseball and we love catching as many games as we can. We are a baseball family, through and through. Nathan played from like 3 years old through college. Unfortunately, Mason didn't care much for the sport. We are happy that we still get our baseball fix through our nephews.
Our hockey rink is the home ice to a couple of different college teams in our area. After the parent/child open hockey, we stayed to watch the Texas A&M vs TCU hockey game. The college games are so excited and we have enjoyed watching them when we can.
We had a busy Saturday! It kicked off with Mason's hockey game. Mason played so well and might have even earned himself a penalty! I mean, it's a right of passage for hockey players. Right?? You can see the penalty in the video below. Oh boy! This is going to be a fun season.
Another neat thing our hockey rink does is "parent/child open hockey" sessions. It's a block of time where parents can take the ice with their kids. Mason tries to talk Nate into it every chance that he can. Nate is always happy to oblige. It's fun to watch them on the ice together and it's such great bonding time for them.
If Mason isn't at the hockey rink, he's usually outside in the driveway practicing. This kid has been known to spend 6 hours a day outside practicing. Nate and I are so proud of his determination and his drive!
No matter how long I've had chickens, collecting eggs will always be one of my favorite things!! Especially when you finally have a flock of hens that leave you beautiful eggs!!
In between practices and lessons, Mason likes to go to open hockey at the rink. They have scheduled blocks of time where you can take the ice and practice whatever skills that you want. They have nets set-up at each end of the rink, other training equipment, etc. We try to attend these as often as we can.
This morning we went to our nephew's soccer game. That's always a fun time! After the game, Nate's parents had the boys over and since we live right behind them, we got to visit with them too! We had a sweet little time playing outside, holding the chickens, gathering eggs, and even a little frog catching.
We were invited to a very special event in Northern California later this month. It's a formal event...which means my boys will be in suits! After searching many places, we ended up having to order Mason's suit. It fit okay, but there were some areas that needed taken in. I couldn't believe how grown he looked!
We traveled to the Texas hill country for Labor Day weekend and had so much fun! Nate's parents booked a VRBO and invited our sister-in-law's parents to join. It was such a sweet time with tons of precious memories made!
Mason had his thirteen-year well-check this week. Yes, it's about 3 months late since his birthday was back in May. COVID threw our well-check routine off. We couldn't get an appointment until later in 2020 and then our insurance will only cover a well-check annually. So now, our well-checks fall around this time each year. Mason's doctor hasn't been worried about it since he is a pretty healthy boy.
Mason and I have been going on walks every evening after supper. He brings his hockey stick and a ball and practices his stick-handling while we walk. He tells me all about hockey - what he's been working on, what he's looking forward to, his hopes, his dreams, his favorite players and why, all about the friends he has met through hockey, and so much more. I can't help but think about the song "Just Fishin" by Trace Adkins.
"He thinks we're just walking"
Happy Tuesday, friends!! Hope your week is off to a great start. Ours has started out busy - but what else is new? Today I am sharing about our weekend. Spoiler alert!! It was a good one!
Mason had a hockey leveling tournament over the weekend. They played other 14U teams around the metroplex to determine what level each team would be on. Our team is primarily first-time players but we are looking forward to a fun season.
Sometime early last week, Nate sent Mason and me a Tik Tok about Kincaid's burgers in Fort Worth! It had been on our radar all week because it looked so amazing. Saturday after hockey we decided to give it a try...
Happy Wednesday! It's been quite a week already and thus the reason I am just now getting to share about our weekend. Work has been absolutely insane this week. I told Nate that it feels like it's rapid-fire email week. As soon as I finish one, seven more come in. Monday evening we had Mason's first hockey practice with his team he will be on for league. More on that later! But for now, here is a look at our weekend.
Happy Friday! For whatever reason, this week feels like it flew by in a flash. I'm not mad about it! We had a pretty good week! Today I am sharing five random things for Five on Friday...
Sweet, sweet summertime. How I love you so! I do not love the Texas heat (I feel like a broken record over here - but it's miserable here) but I love the freedom that comes with summer. We have put a pretty big dent in our Summer bucket list in June & July. Here's a look at all that we have done!
Happy Monday!! Hope you all had the most incredible weekend. While ours was jam-packed, we had such a good, good one. It was filled with so much family and friend time and so many moments that were good for the soul. Here's a look at our weekend.
Happy Thursday!! Linking up with Marsha in the Middle for 10 on the 10th. I love these kinds of posts and I'm so happy I saw this link-up on Dara's blog.
Happy Waxahachie Wednesday! Today I am sharing about one of my favorite places in Waxahachie, Farm Luck Soda Fountain and Dry Goods. It's the cutest place in downtown Waxahachie!!
Happy Monday! Hope you all had a beautiful weekend. We sure did! It was the perfect mix of going & doing and staying & being productive! I love those kinds of weekends when you feel like you had some fun but then you were really productive at the same time. Here's a look at our weekend.
Back in February, I started over with a whole new flock of chickens. My hens are all getting to the "laying" age, so I have been on egg watch like a crazy chicken lady. Although, I haven't been too hopeful due to the heat in Texas right now. You can imagine my surprise this weekend when I found THREE eggs in my chicken coop!
Happy Wednesday!! Today I am linking up with Jennifer for the August edition of "Currently". It's a two blog posts in one day kind of day because I had already scheduled my Waxachachie Wednesday post. Anyhow, today I am sharing what I am currently loving, looking forward to, starting, thinking, and wearing.
Waxahachie has been deemed the "movie capital of Texas" with over thirty movies filmed here and three Academy Award films. One of those (Oscar-winning) features was "Places in the Heart" featuring Sally Field. It's because of this film that Waxahachie adopted the slogan, "Waxahachie: A Place in Your Heart, Texas."
Our sister-in-law threw Nate's brother a surprise birthday party this past weekend. It's his last year in his twenties so the theme was the "Roaring 20s". Everything about the night from the location, the decor, the attire, etc. was just perfect!
Happy Monday!! Hope you all had a beautiful weekend. We sure did! I took off work on Friday so that I could spend the day with my boys. We had some appointments and errands to run so I took PTO for the whole day. Here's a look at our weekend...
Happy finally Friday!! I hope that you all have had the most beautiful week. We sure did! Soaking in these final summer days before our lives start to get even more busy!! With school and league starting, I know that we will have a busy schedule. I am excited about those two things, though. Mason will be starting 8th (gasp) grade! One more year of junior high and then it's high school. Goodness, that happened fast. And before I start crying, let's move on. Here's a look at our week as well as some randomness.
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Another fun Waxahachie attraction (playing off the "A Place in Your Heart, Texas") is the Love Lock Wall located in the downtown area. This fence is located on a 100+ year-old crumbling retaining brick wall. Instead of tearing it down, they came up with this fun and unique idea of a place where visitors and residents could publicly display their love for each other, or for the town by placing a heart-shaped lock on the fence.
Today marks one week since I decided to get my life back on track, health-wise. I noticed that my body is getting "soft" in most areas and I'm losing muscle everywhere. And overall, I was just feeling 'blah'. I'm always tired and have no energy to want to do anything. I was tired of feeling that way, so I made a plan to change that. Last Tuesday morning, I began by going on a walk.
Happy Monday!! Last week seemed to fly by (which was really good) but then I feel like the weekend went by even quicker. And here we are, already at Monday again. Despite how quickly it went, we had a great weekend. Here's a look at what we did!
If you make a trip to the downtown area of Waxahachie you'll notice giant painted hearts in various nooks and crannies throughout. This public art project is called "Hachie Hearts" and features twenty-one unique painted hearts by local artists and each heart is sponsored by local businesses. This project is part of the city's "A Place in Your Heart, Texas" campaign. You can click here for an interactive map.
Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was pretty good, just not near long enough! I did soak up every minute that we got, though! It was filled with good food, family, friends, sports, and Jesus! I love those kinds of weekends. Here's a look at what we did...
Happy finally Friday! This was my first normal week (working all 5 days) in a while and it felt sooooo long!! Can we go to four day work weeks? Please and thank you! Wishful hoping. Nate is off on most Fridays (unless he picks up an overtime shift) and I'm so jealous! Well, maybe I'm not so jealous of his 4 am wake-up call. ha! Anyhow, it was a pretty good week. Here are five things from our week!
Hi!! I am Crystal. Daughter of the One True King, wife to my high-school sweetheart Nathan and Mama to a 13 year old boy named Mason. We're the Halls and we love to travel around Texas {or anywhere, really}. I blog about our daily life, traveling, DIY'ing, and everything in between. Welcome and thank you for stopping by!
