Baylee's Sweet 16

Baylee's 16th birthday finally arrived. I had an idea for a party about six months ago, so I have just been slowly planning everything since then.  

Here are the invitations we sent out.  

Her birthday fell on a Friday, so we didn't do much that day except for the traditional morning donuts and then Richard hand delivered flowers to her school.

Then, on Saturday, everything started about 10 AM.  I took her to have a pedicure and then we went to lunch. 

I had found a cute sash for her to wear so that everyone knew it was her birthday!

Then, we met all of her friends at the mall.  They thought we were there just to do a little shopping, but I also had planned a photo scavenger hunt for them to complete before time to leave the mall.

They completed eight out of the 10 tasks within two hours, and all left with a new dress! They are some fast shoppers!

Brightest lipstick find

Ugliest prom dress find

Best accessory find

Baylee had to get a makeover from the cosmetic counter

Highest heels find

How many girls can you fit on a kiddy car ride?

By the end, they were getting desperate to finish as many as they could so instead of walking all the way back to Hollister to find the hottest hunk sales man they just found the first guy sitting alone in the food court!

Then, we were headed back to the house to start to get ready for our dinner plans.   Luckily, Troy and Teague where at their dad's and Kelby and Koby were playing outside, so the girls were able to take over all three bathrooms upstairs for hair and make up.

The guy guests that Baylee invited showed up at about six and we were able to take a few group pictures.

The timing worked out perfect because as we were walking outside to take pictures on the porch, the limo pulled up to surprise them. They all seemed very excited to ride to dinner in style!

We went to the Mexican food restaurant in town for dinner where we met up with all of the grandparents and cousins.

After dinner, the limo was able to take them around Waco for about an hour.  During that trip they stopped at the historic suspension bridge for a few pictures! 

Then, it was back to our house for cake and presents and ice cream.

It was a fun, exciting, exhausting 12 hours, but it was so worth all the memories that were made.  We love you, Baylee and hope the day made you feel as special as you are in our hearts!! 

War Room

This morning as I got up to do my quiet time my heart was heavy.  Today would have been my 12 year wedding anniversary.  The date always comes and goes, along with many others, and I think back and wonder and grieve again. 

Last night we saw War Room with our youth and I think, in light of that movie, I'm grieving a little more than usual today.  It was a great movie, but it was a hard movie for me to watch. I felt like I was watching my life 6 years ago play out with different characters. No, Daniel and I didn't fight and we weren't chasing our careers, but we left room for satan to come in and, wow, did he ever.  As I watched the main female character fight for her family, I cried remembering the pain, like it was yesterday. I did every single thing she did. I even memorized some of the same verses she did! On one hand I felt encouraged that my efforts were on track, yet on the other hand I felt even more sad because my ending didn't turn out like hers.

The majority of the movie I was identifying with the wife, but there was a scene towards the end of the movie where Mrs. Clara shares her testimony and God spoke to my heart that I should be identifying with Mrs. Clara!  No, I didn't get the ending God, myself and everyone around me was hoping for, but God will not force Himself on anyone. We always have a choice; to choose Heaven or Hell, to choose His way or our own, to choose life or sin. He wants us to choose Him, but we are never forced.  Through that scene God brought to mind Titus 2:3. This verse keeps popping up in my life and it's just confirmation that He will use me and my past to help others.  

So as I start my week with my heart a little heavier than normal, I still have so much joy in there, too. Despite tragedy in our lives He fights for us, even when He shouldn't fight for us He does, when our hearts are turned toward Him.  I am thankful for all that I have been through and pray that He will continue to use me to help others.

Texas Tech Game

Troy has been asking for several seasons to go to another Texas Tech football game and this year I found tickets for $15  so I jumped on the opportunity! It was a quick trip, but we saw everything that was on my list to see. It has been close to 6 years since my last visit so I was so excited to go back and share it all with my family!

The drive up there became much more interesting once we started seeing windmills. The loved how big they were and how many there were and that they went for miles and miles along the interstate!

Once we got into town we went straight to campus to look around and to eat. Kelby chose the Baylor Bear symbol and Teague chose the Axtell longhorn symbol!?! 

I also took them by Greek Circle to see my sorority house. Such fun memories!

 Then it was off to the stadium!!

My college years at Tech hold some of my greatest memories! I'm so glad I was able to share that with Richard and the kids and I hope it inspires them to one day be brave enough to go off to college and make their own irreplaceable memories!  Wreck Em Tech! 

2015 School Year

With one week behind us, I am excited to start this school year! This summer was so great! I felt like we got to do everything  we wanted to do along with just some time at the house to relax. Before the school year started, the kids got to do some back to school shopping at the outlets in Hillsboro. They were all looking great on day 1!!

Baylee is in 10th grade.

Koby is in 7th grade.

Troy is in 3rd grade.

Kelby is in 3rd grade.

Teague is in 1st grade.

I'm praying they all have a fabulous year and that God uses their lives to better someone else's life! 

Reality Rangers Game

We took the youth group to the Rangers game and had the best time!! Some of the kids had never been to a game before so they loved seeing everything there was to see at the ballpark. And the game itself was a very exciting one with several home runs accompanied by fireworks, Beltre making the cycle and then getting in the jumbotron twice!it was a fun filled night!

GG's Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated GG's 86th birthday! Mom chose the mixed up theme, so we all loved dressing up in different costumes!

We had soups salads and sandwiches all done up very fancy followed by un-cake. Which was a wafer type filling instead of cake. It was very filling and a great party celebrating a great GG!! 

After the party, Richard decided he wanted to go to the Ranger game so mom was able to get us tickets last minute and we were able to see Cole Hamels debut game.