Happy Thanksgiving!

I am currently sitting on the couch in my pajamas watching the Macy's parade and enjoying the smell of onions and butter cooking (the BEST) and thought it would be a great time to pop in and share some of our memories from the past week. We have had so much fun. 

I'm going to attempt to use as few words as possible because there's lots to do today....so we will see how this goes!

We headed to our dear Lubbock on Friday for a busy weekend. On Saturday, me, Judy, and Lily Mae ditched the boys and went to one of my FAVORITE events of the entire year: Holiday Happening!! Like every other year, this year did not disappoint one bit. Geez I love Christmas music and shopping.

Lilybug was in her Christmas best and actually did really well---mostly on account of a much-needed stroller nap that allowed us some uninterrupted shopping. 

I am aware that this scene makes some people crazy, but I am not one of those people. 

There is nothing better!

We shopped till we dropped (and collected and few new favorites for my closet!), and then headed home to freshen up and head over to Friendsgiving with our fabulous Lubbock crew. 

I don't feel too left out yet thanks to our running group text, but being with these girls (and their husbands) in person is so bittersweet and makes me miss them even more! We love this bunch.

And we love ALLLLL of these babies. 

We left Parker and Hayes at my in-laws house so I felt like a really awesome parent only having to pay attention to one child.

The whole group! (Minus the Taylors and the Allens and about half of our kids!)

Lily and her future husband, Easton.

We loved getting to see our Grammy and Bee all weekend as well! Their house still feels like home and makes me so happy.

On Sunday, we got the treat of going to Monterey and enjoying a great worship service before catching up with so many sweet friends. We spent the afternoon eating, napping, watching football, and selling stuff on Trading Up because I really like to haul junk from Dallas to Lubbock and add unnecessary things to my to-do list but hey! I made like $160 so I was excited about that. 

On Monday we DROVE THROUGH THE NIGHT (yes) and arrived in CO exhausted and happy for my parents to take our crazy kiddies off our hands!

They made a park trip and probably did a bunch of other things while me and Bryan slept and then we got ready for: FAMILY PHOTOS! Yay. Actually it went fairly well with the exception of Lily is was determined to keep both paci and blankie in hand for all photos.

After photos we drove over to Hacienda for our usual (and now sentimental) dinner of Quesochangas and my new favorite: bacon-wrapped-shrimp. We also got to meet Laura's BOYFRIEND John who is every bit as nice as I hoped he would be! It's so weird to have grown up sisters. 

After dinner the "big kids" went to see the new Harry Potter movie which we thought was AWESOME.

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Yesterday, I caught the cutest moment with Lily Mae curled up beside her Nonnie on the living room floor fast asleep. 

SO DANG SWEET.

We mostly just hung around the house (and it was amazing) and then Bryan and I snuck off on a date! We were *super* creative with our date and headed to the mall to eat at the Cheescake Factory and enjoy some pre-Black Friday shopping. We had so much fun and I always love to be reminded of how much I like being with my husband! I also love Park Meadows decorated for Christmas! (I have no photos of this outing but thought it was worth the mention.)

While we were gone, the kids "helped" with Thanksgiving preparations which I'm sure required ample amounts of patience from their aunts. (Pictures are once again courtesy of my Mom.)

And that's about all I've got. I LOVE this time of year and I LOVE THANKSGIVING!

More videos on YouTube!

Dove Group Goes To Fredericksburg

Last weekend I was able to escape to the Texas Hill Country with some of my most favorite girls in the world! We planned this trip right after I moved (well, I didn't plan it--the other girls did--I just did a lot of responding "Yes!" and "Sounds good to me!" in our group text). 

I headed out on Friday morning, shortly after discovering that Lily had gotten into the (un-washable) markers and drawn all over herself and the living room rug. The kids all had Halloween hangovers and the house was a mess and this trip was perfect timing, HA!

So proud of her messy ways!!

This was my first time to stay in an Air BNB and it did not disappoint! The house was older but renovated and sat on the most BEAUTIFUL land overlooking a vineyard (and beautiful farmhouse). And DON'T YOU WORRY, I have my nerdy videos I took of the scenery posted on YouTube so you can enjoy the goodness, too! ;)

Spending time with these girls is always like a breath of fresh air! Once they arrived, it was if no time at all had passed (the marker of true friendship, in my book) and we got right back to where we left off. So thankful! A few of us ran to the grocery store (I went but was very little help, because HELLO, there were friends to talk to!) and picked up junk food and pizzas from a local pizza place and headed back to the house to enjoy late into the evening.

The three newest babies joined us and did nothing to help my baby fever! (I don't actually have baby fever, but I do LOVE tiny babies!) I was so thankful to see them but was sad to see how much they have already grown in the last couple of months! (There are 16 children between our entire group--and more to come, I am sure! ;)

On Saturday morning we and a long breakfast/coffee/talk session (of course) and then got ready and headed out to the adorable downtown Fredericksburg!

For those not from Texas: Fredericksburg is a very cute historical town (and very German, as many old Texas town are) that has great food and shopping is kind of a go-to for weekend getaways. This was actually my first time to see Fredericksburg in person, and it did not disappoint one bit! I love historical towns, I love to shop, I love good food, and I LOVE good company, so this was a bit of a dream vacation--not to mention we were able to enjoy the PERFECT fall weather while we walked and talked.

Here is our whole group for the weekend. I would be remiss not to mention that this is NOT all of the girls in our "Dove Group"--four of them had to stay at home and they deeply missed! 

Also, I feel the need to clarify--mostly for my grandmas and other confused family member reading this--why do I call these girls "Dove Group"? Well, basically, I think like five or six years ago, several of the husbands formed "Eagle Group", which I think started off as an accountability/mentoring group (I made fun of the name at the time!), and then the wives kind of started hanging out and they started referring to themselves as "Dove Group" because I guess a dove sounds more feminine than an eagle? Ha! I could be wrong but I think that's right! (I came in to it later, although Bryan went to Eagle Group originally.) SO there's that. I probably used way too many words to explain.... Dove Group is made up of people I knew in college and new friends that we have all bought in--we do bible studies together almost every Monday, we have a running group text, we do something for every holiday together, we throw baby showers for each other, do birthday dinners for each other, bring meals to each other, do pre-school and church together, and just in general support each other! I LOVE these girls and am so thankful Tristan invited me into it all! (Except now I only participate from afar which is NO fun and talking about this is actually super sad--but we are making it work!!)

We ate a DELICIOUS lunch in the basement of a very cute (and expensive!) boutique. Best turkey sandwich and homemade chips I've ever had!

Look at all these cute babies! (Josie, Barrett, and Sadie.)

And cute Amy, ha!

(Amy is my friend who babysat my kids last summer--she is the baby whisperer of the group!)

In case you didn't know, Circle E Candles (some of my FAVORITE candles) is based out of and made in Fredericksburg, so we were able to go to their original store which I absolutely loved. I purchased two candles for Christmas and can't wait to start burning them (I chose "Christmas Cheer" and "Wassail"). 

I also bought some Fredericksburg fudge and sweets for Bryan and the kids as well as the CUTEST pair of booties (they look at little like cropped cowboy boots) and have already worn them three times this past week.

Baby Josie was a trooper and is obviously destined to be a great shopper (like her mama). She hung in with us till the very end! (The other girls headed home early because shopping and nursing babies is usually a bit complicated!)

The old hospital is now the coolest kitchen store. I had so much fun walking around and looking at everything (Really though, I was mostly thinking "I bet a lot of people died in here!"....y'all I am so weird.)

I liked this door and the old hand knocker. Again, I am weird and look at these kinds of things. It lead to a private residence. I think it would be a dream to live above a shop in a cute town like Fredericksburg. 

We shopped till we dropped (almost literally, ha--I had back spasm like and 80-year-old it was super weird) and then ordered a whole lotta pasta from one the Italian restaurants in walking distance and once again headed back to eat the house. 

We got on our comfy clothes STAT and enjoyed the sunset (and some selfies) for a bit.

We ate all that pasta, talked LATE into the night, and then got in bed....and just like that, the trip was over! The rest of the group headed out early in the morning (waaaahhh), but I stayed a bit longer and headed back into town to go to a few more shops. (And didn't buy anything except for caramel corn HA, but it was still fun!)

You better believe I read every historical sign as I walked during my solo stroll. This was one of the most interesting and I had to take a photo for Bryan because he loves stuff like this (as do I!)

Admiral Nimitz was born right in there.

I left around lunch time and was able to enjoy my kid-free car ride back listening to MANY podcast episodes (mostly from The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey, duh!) and got home just in time to surprise Bryan with an In-N-Out burger and see my VERY excited babies! They were hyped up and adorable and I so wish I had a video of Hayes and Lily running down the hall when I walked in. Must be what it feels like to be Bryan every evening. (How nice!)

(More videos of the weekend and my crazy/sweet babies can be found on You Tube.)

So very thankful for weekend getaways and GOOD girlfriends and an amazing husband who kept our home running and kids fed while I was gone. He's a keeper.

I am pulling out the Christmas this weekend! It is time!