Happy Monday!! We had a pretty chill and low-key weekend and I am okay with that. From here on out, our weekends will be filled to the brim with all things fall, Halloween, and then Christmas festivities start! I am here for it, though! This is hands down my favorite time of year!! Here's a look at our weekend.
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Happy Friday, y'all! Did this week seem super long to anyone else? I felt like it was dragging. Anyhow, I am so glad that it's Friday and so ready for the weekend. We have a couple of things planned and I am excited. But first, it's time for Five on Friday.
There are very few things that get me as excited as the fall season! It's been a while since I have shared our Hall Family Fall traditions! And, they've changed a bit since I last shared them. That's the beauty of traditions - some go away, some stick for a lifetime and then you make some new ones along the way! Traditions truly are my jam. I love the nostalgia of revisiting something each year but also making new memories with that tradition. There's so much beauty in it!
For the Hocus Pocus night, I made a Halloween themed charcuterie board. I think it came out so great. Nate and I just went through the seasonal sections and picked out everything we thought people would like! I found these little witch hats at the dollar tree. I just broke off the picks and put them throughout the board.
I mentioned on my weekend wrap-up post that we attended the most epic Hocus Pocus watching party for our dear friends daughter's 15th birthday. It was the most perfect night and will definitely be one that we remember always! I can't get over how awesome everything was!
What a weekend we had! It was chock full of family, friends, fall goodness, and football. All the things that are such a sweet source of joy for my soul! Here's our weekend wrap-up...
Way back when I used to do a "Five on Friday" where I would share about five random things. It was a great way to share those things that don't necessarily warrant their own blog post. I'm trying to get back to being an "in the present" blogger - so here we go!
It's no secret that autumn is my favorite season! I love when the leaves start to fall and when the weather gets crisp and cool! While the calendar may state an official "first day of fall", for me it's on the day of the first college football game! I mean, what screams fall more than college football? And it's then that I want to pull out all of my fall decor, sweaters & boots, light all the autumn-scented candles, and get busy on our fall bucketlist. We have so many fun fall traditions and I love it. Here's a look at our 2022 Autumn Bucketlist.
We headed to Tyler, TX for a weekend of camping at Stillwater Resort. We went back in back in May but due to unfortunate circumstances, we didn't get to enjoy the pool/water amenities. This was our redemption run!
Nate's Grandmother's assisted living facility had a Grandparent's day event and we were blessed to get to go! They served mimosas and desserts and it was a great time of fellowship! Nathan's Grandmother, who we so lovingly call NeNaw, is so special to all of us and we love her so. She was so happy to have the majority of her family there!
Nate and I decided very last minute to go on a cruise for our anniversary! Nate found a fairly inexpensive cruise that just so happened to be the dates we needed! All the stars aligned somehow and we were booked in a matter of an hour or so.
Our dear friends over at Wicked Trendz Jeep Club invited us out for a friends and family day at one of the member's houses. We were so excited to get to see and visit with these precious friends of ours. The drive out (it was in the country) was so beautiful and soothing to the soul! Then as we were driving to the back of the property to park, I literally saw my dream - a farm!!
Pancho was in need of some crickets so we loaded him up and went to the pet store! We love getting to take him to places around town. We haven't done a big trip with him yet, but he does well on the smaller ones. He loved the Jeep and wanted to explore.
We spent Saturday morning celebrating the 1 year anniversary for 4 Wheel Parts - Lakeworth with Jeep Girl Mafia! 4WP - Lakeworth has been amazing to our Jeep club and we love to celebrate them any chance that we get.
When Nate and I first moved to Hachie one of our favorite things to do was check out all the local spots around town. Oma's quickly became one of our favorite breakfast/lunch spots and we have been going ever since! Nate and I were able to go for a little lunch date today.
Meet Pancho...our bearded dragon...
Day five on this cruise was a day at sea. Nate had to take Mason for a covid test. While he did that, I went to a debarkation show. It was pretty informative since the debarkation was a lot different than the Disney cruise! Then we went out to the lido deck where Nate and Mason did the ropes course!
On day four, we had another day at port. This time it was in Progresso/Yucatan, Mexico. We were excited since this was a place in Mexico that we had never been to before. We weren't sure what to expect, but we were thrilled to explore! We got off the ship as soon as we were able to and found our meeting spot for our excursion. For this one, we chose an all-inclusive luxury resort called the Reef.
Day three on our cruise was a day at port in Cozumel, Mexico! We had an excursion booked for this day, so we went straight to check-in for that excursion! This was our first time getting off at port on a Carnival cruise, so we weren't 100% sure what to do. Our tickets had a number on it, so we just looked for that sign with that number. It wasn't too bad!
On day 2 of our cruise, we literally stayed in the hot tub most of the day! We happened to find them by accident! We were on the lido deck looking over and saw some hot tubs on the 5th floor! So we went and changed and messaged the rest of the family to meet us there! We met so many awesome people in the hot tub!
Back in December, we had a huge family cruise planned for the whole Hall family. However, due to unfortunate circumstances, we were not all able to go. We wanted a do-over with at least some more of the Hall clan...so we planned a Carnival Cruise together! We had never cruised with Carnival before, so we went with an open mind. Especially just coming off a Disney cruise 7 short months prior! However, we were pleasantly surprised by Carnival. More on that later. Here's a look at our first day on the Carnival Breeze!
On July 3rd, we were invited out to my aunt's lakehouse to hang out. We had the best time hanging out with the family, playing games, swimming, and watching the sunset & fireworks! Even though it wasn't actually the 4th, there were still a ton of fireworks. I didn't get many photos of the day/night, but the memories will be held in my heart for a long time.
I just wanted to give an update about our precious Willow Jade! She is the sweetest little thing and we all adore her so. She's curious, vocal, and so spunky!! We all have heard her on many occasions meowing "mom". It's mostly when we are in our room going to sleep or in the mornings. She comes to our door and yells "mom" over and over! It's the wildest thing - but all three of us have heard it, many times!! I need to try to capture it on video sometime.
We joined our local Jeep club, Ellis County Jeeps, in the 4th of July parade in Midlothian. We met at our staging area and started decorating the Jeeps. It was so hot and humid, but we made the best of it. We got to see a lot of our Jeep friends as well as other friends that were in the parade also. It was such a fun time!
Nathan and I took off on Friday to have a family day with Mason! We took him to the Lego store, had lunch, and went to the Stranger Things pop-up at the Grapevine Mills Mall. When looking at the pop-up online, it appeared that you had to have tickets ahead of time. So, we got our tickets for a time-slot in the afternoon.
Our sweet Birdie hatched five baby chicks!! She is the sweetest mama and these chicks are just precious. We spend time with them every day, holding them and loving on them. I want them to be friendly as they grow! They are just too cute for words.
The stars started to align and Mason finally got on a good schedule. He was waking up when I did, which is out of the norm for Mason. So, we started making the most of our mornings together before I had to start working. One of our favorite things we did was go to the church down the road to shoot some hoops!
Sunday morning, Nate had to work so Mason and I got donuts and took a topless Jeep ride out to the sunflowers. We took all of the backroads from town to town until we reached the area where I knew there were sunflower fields. All in all, it was about a 45-minute drive. Just Mason, me, the Jeep, and the back country roads. Mile by mile, it was filling my love tank to the brim! I will forever cherish this precious morning with him.
For Mason's birthday this year, his uncle Ty and Aunt Michelle gifted him a gift card to an arcade and another gift card to a comic book shop. They picked him up for an afternoon of cashing in on those gift cards!
One of my sweet friends and her best friend opened up a dog bandana shop. They make the cutest bandanas for dogs! They were so kind enough to send Lexi one. Look how cute she is!
For Memorial Day, we went camping at a brand new RV resort in Tyler TX. We were so excited about this campground and its amenities. This RV Resort has a lazy river, pool, adult-only pool with a swim-up bar, a pond with obstacle courses, an arcade, a restaurant, and so much more. However, unfortunate events happened the week we were supposed to camp and closed down many of the amenities. There was some flooding that washed sod off into the lazy river, family pool, and pond. The only thing open was the adult-only pool & arcade. Such a bummer, but we made the most of it.
How can this sweet boy be 12 already? He's now a preteen and my heart is not okay with that! These 12 years may have flown by, but what a treat it has been. I have loved every minute of watching him grow into the sweet little man that he is. For his birthday, Nate took off work to spend the day with him. We started off the day with gifts at home. Mason had already received his big gift before the weekend (a new XBox).
While we were gone for the weekend at Go Topless, Mason shopped and got us some welcome-home gifts! He went shopping with his Nana and used his own money to buy us gifts! How sweet and precious is this boy??
Nathan and I didn't plan on going to the Jeep Go Topless event at Crystal Beach this year, but we got an invite that we couldn't pass up! We were invited to stay in the house with the Jeep Girl Mafia president and a few others! The house was right on the beach and wouldn't have to "drive" which is a plus! We were so excited that an opportunity came open for us to go! We had a complete and total blast!
For a Jeep meet for Jeep Girl Mafia, we went to a Texas Ranger game! It was so much fun to take up an entire section or two and cheer on our Rangers! We had such an amazing turnout, too!
We were invited by some friends to go to Del Norte for a life Texas Country show. We of course obliged! We love live music and this venue was beyond amazing!! We can't wait to catch more shows there in the future.
Y'all, this is what over 34 years of friendship looks like...
For Mother's Day this year, we started out the day at church and ended the evening with dinner with Nate's family. It was a sweet day of celebrating the mom's in our lives.
Nothing screams TEXAS like a Jeep meet at Bucees!! Am I right or am I right? It's honestly the best place to host a Jeep meet! Everyone can go and get whatever they want, and then we gather in the parking lot to talk Jeeps and look at Jeeps! Always a fun time. And, the sunset sure did show out for this particular night/meet!
On Saturday we celebrated NeNaw's 84th birthday with a fiesta!! Everything came out so cute and we had the best time celebrating our best girl! We cherish every minute we get to spend with Nate's Grandmother!!
When the weather is nice I like to take my Bible study out to the porch. I always bring Lexi out with me. Well, this was one of those days when this happened...
We joined some of our friends for a night out at the ballpark! Even though some of our friends are Braves fans (how rude, lol), we still had an awesome time together.
Nathan and I were blessed with a little date night and we spent it doing some of my favorite things! We went to eat on the town square at Farmluck and then capped off the evening by watching the sunset over the lake. I love this time I get to spend with my sweet man!
After celebrating Easter with the family, we came home and had a sweet little evening out on the porch! We talked, Mason played with his skateboards, and Lexi got all the pets!
Easter has quickly become one of my favorite holidays. I love celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior! We had a weekend full of Easter festivities. Friday was the Easter carnival at church, then an evening of worship at the Good Friday Service, then Saturday and Sunday were spent with the family.
Our church had a Good Friday service and I barely have any words to describe how amazing it was! It will forever be one of my favorite days I have shared with Nate. It was such a beautiful and moving night of worship.
NeNaw's home had a family Easter gathering today and it was such an amazing time!! They supplied food, drinks, and had an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos! There was even a special appearance from a Peep!! We enjoyed all of the family time together.
Linking up with Anne in Residence for her Currently series. Today we are sharing what we're currently getting, going, planning, posting, and thinking.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Sunday so we decided to take a topless backroads drive to see the bluebonnets and pick up some sushi! This is one of my favorite spring-time traditions of ours!
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!
