Hug a Veteran

Today we celebrated our favorite veteran--Papaw!  Cami and I picked him up after breakfast and headed up to the big kids' school for their Veteran's Day Parade.

They are about 85 years apart, but Cami took to him right away.

We joined all of the veterans in the school library, where Cami immediately spotted one of her favorite friends.  Hi Nash!

Lila and Jackson joined us...

and then the parade began.  They got to walk with him through all of the halls in the school.

We waved to Mrs. Pool as her class went by...

and saw lots of cute first graders that we knew, too.

Papaw didn't quite make it the entire way outside, so the kids brought him back to the entrance to meet us.  He was a good sport, though!

The rest of the group was outside singing patriotic songs.

It made me proud that my kids are Hunt Hounds!

And proud that I got to hug my Papaw and spend the morning with him.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Mighty Little Bumblebees

She shoots, she scores!  The crowd goes crazy!  This was a very familiar scene this season for the Murphy Bumblebees.  They were undefeated, scoring a whopping 70 goals in only 8 games.  Maybe even more impressive, they only gave up 5 goals.  Wowsers!

Go Brooklyn!  She's a beast on the field!

Of course, this little blonde on the left is still my favorite to watch.  She really blossomed this season.  Lila's always been very strong on defense--she is seriously fast and is tough, too, but she has finally started scoring goals.  

After Brooke got another goal, they did a chest bump to celebrate!

That toothless smile--priceless.

The Bees won 7-2!  First place in the first grade league.  Way to go, girls!  All of them have seriously improved this season.  They have started spreading out, playing their positions, and passing the ball.  They enjoy the game and make their coach look good, too!

This little girl makes us two very proud parents.  I'm so thankful that Jared has been able to coach Lila and help her develop into a strong soccer player.  

After the game, we invited all the players and their families to celebrate at our house.
Coach said something nice about each girl and then gave them their trophy.

These girls love some trophies!

Then it was the girls' turn to show their appreciation for Coach Jared.
They gave him a gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods--perfect!

While I went inside to meet the pizza guy, these crazies hopped into the pool!
The hot tub was warm...

but the pool most definitely was NOT!

Go big or go home, I guess!  Congrats to all 12 of the Bees.
They inspire me with their intensity and ability to win. When you give 100%, good things happen! 

Wedding Bells

Jared and I have been to many a wedding, but never an outdoor night-time one.  We were at such a picturesque venue on Friday in Aubrey, TX and the wedding was supposed to begin at dusk--right at 7 pm.  Sometimes you have a good plan and then the party bus is a half hour late bringing lots of wedding guests.  So, it didn't start until 7:30, when it was pretty much pitch black!  The large tree was illuminated with lights, and we could only see their silhouettes as they recited their vows.  

The stars were out, though, so it was a very pretty night!  

Casey (the groom) and I grew up together, since our moms have been good friends for at least 40 years.  Five of the Yayas got to be there to see him marry Jillian--such a great group of ladies!
The bride was stunningly gorgeous, too.  

The reception was inside this big red barn, which was much more fancy than you would think.
I enjoyed hanging out with my fab date...

and loved visiting with Erin and Emily, too.  Since we all cheered at GHS, they were asking all about the pep rally.  We watched a few videos and reminisced about old times:)

Shannon was also an Owl...

and so was Cody, the groom's brother.
Our parents loved the tradition at GHS, and I'm so thankful that all of us got to experience it together.  There's something about seeing your life-long friends that is just good for your soul.
Congratulations, Casey & Jillian!

Monkeying Around at the Dallas Zoo

It's early November and the temps are still in the 80s most days.  Imagine our delight when we awoke to a cloudy, 74 degree day for the zoo.  It was perfect!  We picked up Nash and his mama and drove past downtown to the Dallas Zoo.

We got to park in the first parking lot, walked right up to buy our tickets and then were greeted by these beautiful birds.

Their colors are simply magnificient.

We said good morning to all the flamingos and then consulted our map to find all of the super cool animals.

Zoo South is where it's at!  The Giants of the Savanna are our favorites.

Before we got to all of the big animals, though, we made a pit stop to see the penguins.  So cute!

Then the real fun began. Get this--we found Rafiki!!!

She kept saying, "We have to tell Madison that we found Rafiki."

Next up--some of my faves, the elephants.  As a bonus we got to see this brand new baby, too.

Then we were on to the giraffes, ostriches and antelopes.

Our main goal was to feed the giraffes.  Just look at this majestic creature!

We bought some lettuce and Cami walked right up to the giraffe.  She may have been terrified to say, "Trick or Treat" to strangers, but this girl had no fear of feeding a gigantic animal.

At first, I held her as she fed him...

but then she did it all on her own.  She told us later, "I was so brave!  I fed him all by myself!"
Yes, you sure sure did.  I was impressed.

Sweet friends.  She has stopped calling him Baby Nash, since he turned two a few months ago.  She still treats him like a little brother, though.  So cute.

We said hello to the cheetahs...

and then let the kids take a ride on the small elephant...

and big one, too.  Look at me, mom!

After that, it was time to go check out the gorillas.  There were three big ones, all doing different things.  This big guy was having a healthy snack and watching us very closely.

He was such a beast!

He moved over to the glass area when we walked around there, but kept his back to us.

Another one did not shun us, though.  In fact, right after I snapped this picture, the gorilla in the background charged at us!  He ran up and hit the glass.  Hard!  Tara was so startled that she scooped up Nash and jumped back five feet!  Cami and I just watched in amazement.

Then he sat down very calmly and began munching on some lettuce, while keeping an eye on us.  Easy big guy!

After lunch, we decided to tour some other parts of the zoo via train.  It was so neat!  

It took us over many different enclosures and gave us a birds eye view of anything from crocodiles to chimps.  We even caught a glimpse of the Dallas skyline.

I gotta say, the Dallas Zoo is impressing me every time we go back.  

We ended our afternoon by spending time in the Children's Area.  This girl thought getting inside an enormous nest was pretty funny.

She ran around and checked out the gigantic spider web...

and finally joined Nash in the water.  

By the time these two were done, they were soaking wet.
Thank goodness we had brought a change of clothes!

One of my goals this month is to spend more time outdoors.  Zoo on Wednesday and bike rides last night.  So far, so good.