Our small neighborhood consists of mostly retired people who do not participate in Halloween/Trick or Treating. Not to mention that even if they did, the houses are so spread out. So, every year we have to drive into town to go trick or treating! We don't mind it, though. It's become a tradition to trick or treat Gingerbread Lane (main street in our town with old Victorian homes)!! My sister and her family joined us this year.
We were so excited that our church was going to host the annual Fall carnival this year! It was cancelled last year due to Covid and we were so bummed. It truly is so much fun! The Avenue goes all out...from Texas State Fair rides & concessions to pony rides, to food trucks, a DJ, tons of inflatables, etc. There's something for everyone!
Some of our friends invited us to an adult-only costume party at their house. Nathan and I never do anything like this (including dressing up) so we thought why the heck not? We decided to go with a classic theme...
The town next door to ours hosts a haunted carwash each Halloween. Nate and I didn't get to attend it last year, but Mason got to go with my sister & family. He loved it! So we hopped on the opportunity to go this year! We went with Nate's parents. It was such a fun night!
Earlier in the day, my sister texted me to see if we wanted to trick or treat the downtown square. With all that had been going on with Diesel, I was so out of it. I didn't even realize that was the day for the trick or treating! I asked Mason and we both agreed it would be good to get out of the house. So we met them downtown for some trick or treating on the square.
We had to say goodbye to our sweet Diesel boy today. My heart is shattered and I am completely broken!!
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| Photo from earlier this summer when Diesel was happy and healthy! |
Decorating my porch is one of my favorite things to do with each season! I always love fall decor and the way my porch comes out. It's a close second to my Christmas porch! Here was this year's fall porch...
Nathan's parents invited us all over for an afternoon of fall fun! NeNaw (Nate's Grandmother) was able to come as well, making it that much more special. We ate, we carved pumpkins, and just hung out and had an amazing time.
On our second (and last) day in Big Bend, we were on the road by 8:30 am. We were trying to fit as much into these two days that we could. We weren't able to get pictures at the Big Bend sign the day before because there were too many people there. So we made sure to stop on our last day there.
The second day of our trip included a full itinerary all in Big Bend National Park! Keri was so great to create us an itinerary to go off of. On our agenda was Santa Elena Canyon, Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, Mule Ears Viewpoint, Lower Burro Mesa Pour-off, Panther Junction Visitor Center, and the Window View Trail at Sunset! We were so anxious to finally see B I G B E N D!!!
B I G B E N D has been on our radar/bucketlist for quite some time. At the beginning of this year, we kept saying we would plan a trip for October 2021. Then life happened and we never truly planned it. When our friends, The Chiles, told us they were planning a trip the 14-17th of October, we knew we had to join them! They were so gracious to let us tag along!!
For the last few years, Mason and I have been going to this sweet little pumpkin patch in a town next to ours. It's hosted by a church right next door to where Nathan's grandma lives. They always have the best selection of pumpkins. I love that this has become our sweet little tradition!!
I shared how we were BOO'd by Keri and her family recently on the blog. Well, Mason and I had been collecting little treats to BOO her family as well! We were going to drop it off on their porch, but then I thought of a better idea. We were going to be traveling with them in a couple weeks and there were so many fun things in there that could be used for entertaining during a long road trip! So, I planned on sneaking it into their truck during our first fuel stop!
Anyhow, here's what we included in their BOO bucket!
Yesterday I got a random text message from my best friend that said, "come to your front porch quickly and bring Mason" or something along the lines of that...
Sometime last week I got a text from my mother-in-law telling me to be sure to take off work the week after Christmas. I knew it was for a family vacation, but I wasn't sure where we were going. My mind immediately went to a cabin in the snowy mountains because we loved our trip in January so much. And we had talked about spending Christmas in a cabin before and how awesome that would be. Fast forward to Saturday evening when my in-laws invited everyone over for a dinner. I had a feeling they were going to announce the trip to everyone.
The minute we got there and I saw balloons hiding under a bag, I figured it out! I knew where we were going...
You may have noticed the "hello" sign in my post from yesterday about our fall porch. I have found a passion for making these round wood signs lately and had an idea for our front porch!
One of my favorite things about our home is our front porch! While I wish it was a wrap-around porch, I do love the space we have. I enjoy decorating our front porch with every season...especially fall and Christmas-time!! I kept it pretty simple this year, but I love it all the same.
I used to think Pinterest was dangerous (making me want to do all the things) but now Tik Tok has taken the cake! There are so many awesome crafts/diys on there! And, I love that there are so many Dollar Tree diys/crafts/hacks on there. Fun and inexpensive crafts are my jam!
Between traveling and quarantine, it had been a few weeks since we had seen Nate's Grandma. So we spent an afternoon at her assisted living, visiting. It was so great to hang out in the courtyard and spend time as a family.
The stars aligned and I finally got to attend another Jeep Girl Mafia meet!!! It was on a Sunday evening at a town just down the road from us. I was so excited that we were able to go!
The first Thursday evening of every month is reserved for the Ellis County Jeep meet! We love getting together with our Jeep family for a night of eating and fellowship. For this particular meet, we went to Beef O Brady's in Midlothian. It was a great turnout!
No matter what the calendar says or the temps read, Sept. 1st will always be the start to fall for me! I just love the "ber" months so much and can't wait to see what they bring for us! To kick off the start of fall, I got myself a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks!!
When transferring my photos from my iCloud to my external hard drive, I noticed so many pictures that deserved a permanent spot here on my blog. While they may not warrant a full blog post, I want them here. So, here's a random dump of moments from August.
I decided to get a little jump on some fall crafting this year! Usually, by the time fall rolls around, I am so ready for Christmas. So, fall craftin' in August it is.
One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday afternoon/early evening is to fire up the CJ and go for a Sunday cruise! It's such a fun ride. We've been letting Mason ride his Polaris as we drive behind him. We usually go down to our private lake and all around our small little neighborhood.
Hold me...
How in the world do I have a SIXTH grader? A middle schooler? Time is flying by too fast for this mama's heart. We opted to do homeschool again this year, using Texas Connections Academy as a platform.
Who in the world ever thought I would be a crazy chicken mama? But here I am...and I am loving it! They are so much fun to watch and learn. I am enjoying getting to know each one a little better.
On our last full day in Florida, we rented a pontoon boat. We did this once in Destin and we had a complete blast! We wanted to get out on the water a bit and check out some areas you couldn't reach otherwise.
On Wednesday, we took Mason to an indoor activity center called Wonderworks. There were all kinds of hands-on exhibits, a ropes course, and even a few rides. It was a fun place to spend the morning!
On Tuesday, we decided to go check out Pier Park. This is an area that offers all kinds of shopping, restaurants, and of course, a pier. The entire family went, but we kind of split up based on what everyone wanted to do.
On this day, we spent the majority of it in the ocean and at the beach. All 27 of us loaded up and went down for the day. Well, some very awesome men in our family woke up at sunrise and went down to stake out a spot for us. Bless them!
Our next day in Panama City Beach, FL was another pool day! We decided to just hang out around the condo and wait on the other 22 family members to arrive!
After sleeping over in Hattiesburg, we got up the next morning and made the next leg of our drive! We were Panama City Beach bound!! The drive was smooth and we got there right after our check-in time.
Several months back we began planning a big family summer vacation to Florida. Twenty-two of my family members were going, plus us three, and Nate's parents...making it 27 of us total! We stayed at Shores of Panama, but we all had separate condos! The five of us left a couple days early so that we could break up the driving into two days. We had hoped to stay in Laurel, MS where they film the show Home Town (one of my favorites), but a baseball tournament had all the rooms booked up. We did take a little tour through the town, though! I was bummed we didn't see Erin and Ben! :)
It's an EGG-citing day here at Hall farms! We got our first egg today!! I have no clue which hen laid the egg, but it's so exciting nonetheless! I knew that we were in the time range for them to start laying, but it's just been a waiting game!!
We finally got to see the new Globelife Field and we were impressed!! Nathan scored some awesome tickets from work for the three of us. We were so excited to go!
Texas summers are nothing less than brutal! Unless you're near a body of water, they are just miserable! One of Mason's favorite things to do is to jump on the trampoline while playing with the water hose. I couldn't resist taking some fun photos of him.
This is my 8th (glorious) year to get to work from home! Since we started working from home, my coworkers and I meet every few months for a breakfast date. We catch up about projects we are working on as well as all of our personal lives. It's such a great time to spend with them. We normally meet in Bishop Arts and I love it. There are so many neat homes, businesses, and murals. I couldn't pass up an opportunity for some pictures.
I've been so busy catching up on the blog (since St Patrick's Day) but I wanted to post something a little more recent. A weekend wrap-up! It used to be a common thing around here and I miss posting a little of our day-to-day. I love weekends with my favorite people!
I have finally named all of our chickens!! I've had a list of names in my phone for the longest time, but have been waiting to learn their personalities more before assigning them to the chickens! It's been so much fun to watch them grow and watch their little personalities develop! So, without further ado, here's our chickens by name!
Several members of our Jeep family have recently started attending our church and it has been so amazing!! We love having them there. It makes Sundays that much sweeter!!
Nathan's mom had the boys on Saturday and brought them over to visit. We just so happened to be outside working on the chicken coop and they wanted to help! They are the cutest little farmers ever. We had such a sweet time with our nephews!
Our local Jeep club was invited out to be a part of a benefit for a children's home. Nathan, Mason, and I were so fortunate to be able to be a part of it. It was such a sweet thing to be a part of! Thousands of dollars as well as toys, diapers, paper goods, and supplies were donated. We had an amazing day with our Jeep family!
One of my favorite things to do midweek is to chase the sunset with Nathan! We have a secret little spot out at the lake that we love to go to! On this particular night, we grabbed some Slurpees before driving out to the lake. It was the perfect little date with my favorite person!
On the fourth day of our Port Lavaca vacation, we decided to go back to Matagorda to spend the day at the beach. We enjoyed it the night before and knew we wanted to come back...with swimsuits this time.
On day three of our trip, the morning started out rainy. We played some card games in the camper until the rain passed. The crew was hungry for some seafood, so that landed us in Matagorda! There wasn't much in the small town our KOA was at, so a quick Internet search took us to a place called Waterfront in Matagorda.
On day 2 of our Port Lavaca camping trip, we decided to hit up the beach. We searched a couple that were close and decided on Magnolia Beach. This was our first time in this area, so we were not too familiar with the nearby beaches. Magnolia sounded like it would be nice...
Nate's parents booked a camping trip for the 4th of July weekend down in Port Lavaca, TX. Some good family friends of ours joined us as well. Nate's parents, Ty & Michelle got there on Thursday afternoon and we met them there that evening. Nate worked a half day and I worked until 4pm. We were packed and ready to go the minute I got off work!
Mason got to attend his first ever Midweek on Wednesday! Midweek is for 6th - 12th graders only and they meet on Wednesdays at our church. They have all kinds of activities for the kids, worship, a sermon, and small groups! It's such an amazing night for these youth.
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!