{Our Quarantined Life // Week 5}

Week five has already come and gone? That blows my mind! Five weeks of being still and just hanging out. A good part of me is loving quarantine and just being home with my boys, but another part of me is definitely ready for things like being in church, hugging my parents, and going to Mexican food restaurants! For now, I am going to soak up every single second of time that I can with my boys. It's not often that we are home, so I am counting it as a blessing.

{Easter Sunday 2020 // The Quarantined Edition}

While Easter looked a lot different this year, we still had an amazing one! I woke up around 9 in order to watch our church's Easter service at 9:30. I didn't expect Mason to wake up before service, but he actually did. He came into the living room around 9:20 to find his Easter basket. 

{Our Quarantined Life // Week 4}

It's hard to believe we just wrapped up week 4 of this quarantine! Some days feel really long while others just fly right by. One half of me loves all of the quality time we are spending at home, but the adventurer in my soul misses the trips, Jeep events, etc. It's such a weird thing. Mason and I are in a pretty good groove as far as school goes. Some days we start early and knock it out early and some days we start way later. That's the beauty of E-learning...we do it when it's best for Mason and I. Sometimes I can tell that he needs a little more time before we start, and that's okay. Also, if my workload is heavier in the morning we will get a later start. But, we have been knocking it out just fine. They are working on a points system to turn back in for rewards when (if) they go back to school. Mason has been in the lead for his class since the points started! So proud of him for taking this transition in stride and excelling! Home school life is the life for us.

{Mason got egged}

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to a text saying "Mason has been egged by his Mimi and Papa" from my sister. Nate and I were exhausted from binge-watching a show on Netflix until 2 am the night before, but I was too excited to let that stop me from getting up. I knew we had a chance of rain and I wanted Mason to find his gift and hidden eggs before the rain came! Also, all the neighbor's dogs love to visit our yard! I got up and got ready and then woke Mason up! He was so excited.

{Currently // April 2020}

With all that is going on, I missed one of my favorite link-ups...Currently with Anne in Residence. This month we are sharing what we are currently sharing, writing, wishing, investigating, and buying.

{Our quarantined life // Week 3}

This documents week three of our quarantined life!

{Bluebonnet Drive / March 19, 2020}

After being stuck in the house for several days we were needing to get out and get some fresh air! We knew that we didn't need to be around people (quarantine), so we decided to do one of our favorite things ever and take a drive out to see the Bluebonnets. It's still a bit early in the season for them, but we did find some beautiful patches.

{Chasing sunsets 2020 // vol. 1}

Note:
This was before our shelter in place and quarantine.  Just late in posting it!

One of my favorite things to do in the spring & summer is cruise the backroads around our town. It's this time of year that the wildflowers start popping up and the sunsets are indescribable. The day after our spring break trip we decided to go eat at our favorite little old-time soda shop on the square and then drive to chase the sunset!

{Our quarantined life // Week 2}

Another week of recording our quarantined life for memories' sake! I know that we are all going through this, but this blog is our family scrapbook and I want to record how and what we are doing through this bizarre time. I can't wait until this is all in the past and we are looking back on it. Praying for everyone's health! Please stay safe and stay at home!!

{Our quarantined life // Week 1}

It's a really strange time that we are living in right now due to COVID-19 and I wanted to try to document our days the best I could. I honestly cannot wait to get past all of this and I have faith that we will. While I know that we still serve a very sovereign God, I can't help but worry about this virus and the destruction it's causing in so many homes. My heart breaks every time I scroll Facebook and see how much more the virus has spread and making people ill, or people posting about no work for three or so weeks with no pay, or Mama's saying they can't find the necessities for their babies because of people stockpiling. I just can't imagine and my heart hurts for them. I pray that everyone can do their job to flatten this curve so that lives can go back to normal.

{God painted the sky}

A couple weeks ago we were on our way to get Mason some froyo when God painted the most perfect sky! I asked Nate to pull over so that I could take some photos! He happily obliged! He's used to my shenanigans and sometimes even encourages it! Goodness, I love that man.

{Spring Break 2020 // Camping in the Texas Hill Country}

Our scheduled spring break for 2020 was March 9th through the 13th. Nate's parents were headed to the Texas Hill Country to camp for a few days and invited us to come along. We love the hill country and will take any opportunity to go there! We weren't able to stay the whole week but were able to go Friday through Tuesday. It was a great amount of time to escape and just enjoy family and a beautiful area.

{Around town // Texas Independence Day}

Back on Texas Independence Day I remembered a mural in a neighboring town and wanted to go get a picture in front of it. It was perfect for the occasion!!

{Dirty Acres Grille Inserts}

Some really great friends of ours run an awesome business called Dirty Acres in which they make custom grille inserts! They recently reached out to Nate and I and asked if we'd like to be ambassadors for them! We couldn't say yes quick enough! And, they wanted to sponsor both Jeeps. How awesome is that??

{Unlimited Off-Road Show 2020 // Midlothian, TX}

Back on February 29th, we attended one of our favorite yearly events; the UOR show. For the past several years this event has taken place at the Texas Motor Speedway, but this year it was practically in our backyard! They moved it to an off-road park in Midlothian, TX...just twenty minutes from us! We were so excited to have this event so close.

{Harlem Globetrotters Game // February 22, 2020}

For Nate's dad's birthday, his mom got the guys' tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters. Nate's dad hadn't been since he was a young boy, and the other guys had never been! While I was sad to spend a Saturday without them, I was super excited for them to go to the game!!

{GT field trip to Austin TX // February 18th 2020}

I'm still blogging February and trying to catch up here. Back on February 18th, Mason's gifted & talented class got to have a field trip to Austin, TX. Nathan and I were so fortunate to be able to take the day off of work and join him! I couldn't imagine him traveling to GT without us. I've never denied being a helicopter mom. Plus, it sounded like a really fun time.

{Sunday Funday with friends}

It's so nice to have friends that share all of the same interests as you! Those friends that you can just do life with! The Chiles family is also a 2-Jeep family and we love hanging out with them. One Sunday after church we met them in town and then hung out for the rest of the day. Surprisingly, we were all without kids as they were visiting with Grandparents.

{A very special birthday party // meeting Aaron Watson}

A few weekends ago we had the honor to attend a very special birthday party. It was for two precious twin girls; one of them battling a terminal rare form of brain cancer. One of our friends attends church with this sweet family and asked if some Jeepers would be willing to ride convoy style to the church in honor of this precious little girl. She loves Jeeps and our friend wanted to do something special for her.

{Valentine's Day 2020}

We had a pretty low-key Valentine's Day this year. I worked, Mason went to school, and Nate worked around the house during the day. We had to take the Jeep to Best Buy that morning to get a sound system put in (Happy Valentine's Day to me!!) so it was a waiting game all evening, waiting for it to be done.

[Hidden Falls Off-Road Park // 2/8/2020}

Back on February 8th, we went to Hidden Falls Off-Road Park in Marble Falls, TX for some wheeling! It was actually a date night/weekend because Mason opted to stay back with his Nana and Papa! We drove down on Friday night, checked into our hotel, went to dinner, and then back to the hotel to rest up for a full day of wheeling! We started the day off by joining in with a group called Jeep It. We had somewhere close to twenty Jeeps in the group!

{Currently // March 2020}

Happy Wednesday! I haven't had much time to blog lately but wanted to join in with Anne in Residence for the Currently series. I always enjoy this one so much. Today we are sharing what we are currently fixing, hearing, borrowing, feeling, recommending.

{This thing is legendary!! // FWSSR // 2020}

Family traditions are my jam! And the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo is one of my favorite family traditions!! Every year 15-20+ of us get tickets together and it's an amazing time. This year we got to see the new Dickie's Arena and we were all so eager and anxious to do so!

{Lake Whitney with friends}

After the NBJC meet, we decided to go tool around Lake Whitney! Keri got a new Jeep recently and we wanted to take some pictures of them together. Yeah, Jeepers are a little weird I guess...

{No Boundaries Jeep Crew Texas Chapter Meet // January 2020}

On January 25th we went to our first Jeep event of the year! It was a customer appreciation at an off-road shop, but they also hosted the first meet-up for the NBJC Texas chapter. We convoyed with some of our friends to the event. It's always fun traveling in Jeep groups!!

{Del Rio, TX // January 2020}

Back in January, my birthday weekend to be exact, we headed down to Del Rio, TX for a very special occasion! Nate's best friend since they were little was taking Command at his AF base! It was such a blessing to be able to attend the ceremony and spend the weekend with this incredible family!

{Ruidoso, NM Vacation // Day 4}

On day four of our vacation, we decided to go shop in the downtown part of Ruidoso since we hadn't done that yet! They have some really neat shops. It's such a cute little mountain town.

{Ruidoso, NM Vacation // Day 3}

Thursday morning was our third day in Ruidoso. We gave Mason the option of either going to a mountain tubing place or going sledding at our kind of secret spot. He chose sledding at our spot! I honestly thought he would have chosen the tubing. But, we were so okay with going to that beautiful secluded spot to sled some more!

{RUIDOSO, NM VACATION // DAY 2}

In case you missed it, last week (I think) I posted about day 1 of our mountain/snow vacation. Today is all about day two of our trip to Ruidoso, NM.

We hoped to wake up to it snowing, but that wasn't the case. Before we left on the trip there were a couple chances of snow on Wednesday and Thursday. But by the time we got there the chances were more on the slim to none side. We were hoping the weather app was wrong!

We decided to spend the morning driving to Cloudcroft. It's one of our favorite little towns in the area...

{Ruidoso, NM Vacation // Day 1}

Try as I might, I am not sure if I will ever get caught up over here. Tis' is life.

After Christmas again this year we decided to go play in the snow and the mountains. We came thisclose to going to Colorado but were scared of getting snowed in/stuck there. So, we just went back to Ruidoso, NM! We know the area pretty well now, it's an easy drive, and we knew we could find snow there.

{The Arcade // December 2019}

One of these days I may be caught up on all things 2019, but today is not that day. I was doing really well at catching up, but then Mason contacted the Flu (type A) virus. So, we will try this again! Back in December after a family gathering, we decided to take Mason to this new place in town called The Arcade. We have heard so many cool things about it and wanted to check it out.

{Dallas Cowboy game // December 29th}

Our sister in law won 2 tickets to the Dallas Cowboy game on 12/29 and wasn't able to attend. She asked if Nathan and I wanted the tickets! I had never been to an NFL game and Nate had only been to a play-off game. Neither of us has watched a football game at the new stadium so we were excited! We went to church and then hung out with Mason a bit before the game. We only had 2 tickets so he went to the movies with his Nana while we were at the game. I was excited to have a little date with my man!

{Christmas Bucketlist 2019 //Update}

Grace upon grace upon grace upon grace! That's what I gently told myself throughout the Christmas season! There were so many circumstances beyond our control that kept us from many family traditions. If you know me, then you know traditions are my thing. So, when we have to skip one a little piece of my heart would break off. And that's when I'd have to remember to offer myself some grace! We still did a ton and even did some new things. And? We made so many beautiful memories throughout the season. Here's a look at all that we accomplished from our list.

{Christmas Day // 2019}

I was on a roll getting out all of the Christmas posts, but then the flu hit our household. Mason was diagnosed with Flu Type A. It's been both a physically and mentally and emotionally exhausting week! I hate to see my boy sick. Anyhow, backing up to Christmas Day. It was such a beautiful day!

{Christmas Eve // 2019}

Mason and I had our Christmas tree campout the night before, so we woke up next to the glow of the Christmas tree. That was such a wonderful way to wake-up on Christmas Eve. I checked my work emails and didn't have much to do, so we continued watching Home Alone 2 Lost in New York from our air mattress. We lazed around the house in our Christmas pajamas for the rest of the day watching Christmas movies. Work was extremely quiet, which was nice. I got to spend some quality time with my boy. Nate worked overtime and got off around 2:00.

{Christmas Eve Eve // Reindeer food // cookies for Santa // Christmas Tree campout}

Mason's last day of school was 12/20 which meant that I got to have my boy home with me on the days leading up to Christmas. I still worked, but I am so blessed to work from home full time. Work was extremely slow, as you can imagine, so we hung out in Christmas pajamas and did all things festive.

{Christmas dress-up week at school}

I've mentioned before that Mason wears uniforms to school daily so any time he gets a dress-up day it's more than welcomed! Give us a whole week of festive-themed dress-up days and we are HERE for it! Especially the last week before break!

{Mason got to play Max at the Grinch's Lair}

On December 10th the owner of the Grinch's Lair messaged me and asked if Mason would like to play the part of Max that upcoming Saturday! I already knew what Mason's answer would be, but I needed to talk it over with Nathan. I already had plans with my family for our annual baking party so that meant Nate would be flying solo with Mason. It's an almost two-hour drive there and back. I knew Nate wouldn't mind but wanted to discuss it with him first. Of course, he was on board and excited for Mason! So we asked Mason and he couldn't say yes quick enough! He was so happy!!

{Other festive stuff // lights at Deerfield, Campo Verde, family baking party, board and brush}

There is something about the Christmas season that just makes you want to pack in all things festive! And we did just that. While we didn't do near as much as we normally do this year, we still did so much. Our season kicked off with a camping trip to the Polar Express and the Grinch's Lair, then we joined our local Jeep club for the third year in the Christmas lighted parade, next we broke tradition a bit and bought a fake tree & decked our halls, we took Mason to breakfast with Santa, and yesterday I shared about our trip to the Gaylord Texan and Ice Exhibit. And I still have so much to share! After our Gaylord Texan and Ice adventure we were in the mood to keep the Christmas festiveness going on, so we drove to Plano to see the lights at Deerfield.

{Gaylord Texan / Ice Exhibit 2019}

Happy New Year! I know that Christmas feels like forever ago at this point, but I have so much to share about the season. I took an unintentional blog break to be intentional with the ones I love so dearly. 2019 was definitely a year of change {more on this later} for us, but through that, I learned to give myself some grace. While traditions are nice and good for my soul, it's okay to skip a year if needed. It's okay to break traditions for the sake of family first, and it's okay to make new traditions. Speaking of new, we did something new this season...we visited the Gaylord Texan and did the Ice exhibit. The last time we have done this was when I was about 4 months pregnant with Mason. Nathan and I wanted to have a special family night with Mason and thankfully he thought of the ICE exhibit! I'm so glad he did because we had the most incredible time.

{Currently // January 2020}

Man, it feels weird to type 2020 on this blog! I took the week after Christmas off of work to go on vacation with my boys. So all week long I've been typing/writing 2019 and then having to go back and correct that! Anyhow, linking up with Anne in Residence for "Currently". This month we are sharing what we are currently resolving, reading, cleaning, creating, and planning. 

{Happy Howl-idays // 2019}

You know I couldn't let this season pass without taking Christmas photos of my pups! Lexi is always pretty cooperative as she lives to please, but Diesel is so stubborn in his old age. ha! He will not look at the camera unless there is a treat directly in front of it. Hey, whatever works! Here are our 2019 Christmas pictures of Lexi and Diesel!

{Breakfast with Santa // 2019}

Saturday, December 7th was our annual breakfast with Santa at our local high school! Normally we hear about this event weeks before it happens, but this year we found out the Thursday before. Not sure what happened there! The event was from 8-11:00am on Saturday and we got there just before 10:00am.

{I "deerly" love Christmas // Christmas craft}

One day after school Mason and I decided to work on a craft I had bought from Hobby Lobby! I love hanging out with my boy and working on Christmas crafts. The pups decided to join us as well.

{Deckin' the Halls and Trimmin' the Tree // 2019}

Our traditions were mixed up something fierce this year! Normally we go to the Christmas tree farm and get a real tree there, but that didn't happen this year. It was the day after Thanksgiving (the day we normally go to the farm) and it was rainy with a chance of it being that way all weekend. I didn't want to have to wait until the 2nd weekend in December to get a Christmas tree! And, we wanted a very specific tree this year. We have been swooning over flocked trees for quite some time. The Christmas tree farm does offer some flocked ones, but again, rain. So I threw out the idea to Nate and Mase about getting a fake flocked tree and they both liked the idea of that. So, I suited up and ran to town on black Friday to find a Christmas tree...

{Waxahachie Christmas Parade // 2019}

I'm just a bit behind on this blog! We have been doing ALL the Christmas and having a blast this season! On December 2nd we joined our local Jeep club in the lighted Christmas parade. This was our 3rd year to join and it just gets better with each year. We had a complete blast!

{Currently // December 2019 edition}

I totally spaced on getting this post ready the day it went live, but better late than never. Right? I'm going with that. Joining in with Anne In Residence for a monthly "currently" series. This month we are sharing what we are currently wrapping, baking, lighting, sending and enjoying.

{Thanksgiving 2019}

I know, I know...things are a little backward on my blog! Christmas festivities before Thanksgiving...that's just how we roll! We have to fit it all in somehow. But, that doesn't mean we don't enjoy our Thanksgiving. We really do.

{ALL ABOARD THE POLAR EXPRESS / 2019}

I've already shared about our camping in Palestine {here} and visiting the Grinch's Lair {here} so the only thing left to share about this trip is the Polar Express! This was the 5th time to ride the Polar Express in Palestine, TX {for most of our group, at least} and it never disappoints. It's the most magical and amazing evening and I can't get enough of it.

{The Grinch's Lair // Palestine 2019}

We all know that a trip to Palestine is not complete without a trip to the Grinch's Lair! I think this was our 4th visit to the lair, maybe the 5th. Whatever the number might be, it never ever disappoints. Mason looks forward to visiting his favorite Grinch each time we are in the area. It's so fun and festive and the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!