Movie Review: You, Me & Tuscany

Allison and I decided we needed to go to more movies this year - we were slacking for a little while, but there's actually several movies that we're excited to see. So we started with a little rom-com fun!

Plot: When a woman crashes at an empty Italian villa, posing as the owner's fiancée, she discovers an unexpected romance that could transform her life.

Review: OMG, this was so cute! Cheesy and silly definitely, but we both enjoyed it a lot! I was kind of anxious how this would all work out in the end, but of course, it all DID work out and was just so much fun. We both walked out with a smile on our faces!

Monthly Musings: Spring Holidays and Fun

Doing another Monthly Musing post because I like this topic too! I used to love summer the most as a kid - I loved being off school, my birthday is in the summer, I loved going to the pool, and I HATE being cold. However, as an adult, I really love spring and fall - when the temps are milder. I'm very excited we're in the early days of spring and am looking forward to this season.

1. Does it feel like spring yet where you live? I think we skipped spring and went straight to summer, ha. We've already hit over 90* several times in my part of Texas, and I'm scared about what summer is going to look like! I will say it's largely in the 80s and we still have some random days forecasted in the 60s and 70s, but we are definitely marching briskly towards summer. Trying to soak in every day where I'm not covered in sweat!

2. What spring holidays do you celebrate? Easter! I sometimes go to church with Brent's mom, but we always spend the Saturday before Easter with my family and then Easter Sunday we have lunch with Brent's family.

3. Any spring trips planned? I guess this trip is technically in the spring {but it's in June} - we're going to Greece!!! I am beyond excited for this trip - it is my first time to Europe and we're close with some of our closest friends. It'll be the longest I've been away from the kids, but they'll be with our parents, so I know they'll be well taken care of and will have a great time!

4. Favorite foods to eat and share for spring holidays? Nothing jumps out at me as being especially spring-focused, but I will say we get amazing peaches in Texas in the springtime.

5. Are there any spring festivals in your area? Lots! I just went to a little art festival last weekend, our town has a big one called Poppy Fest {our town's flower is the red poppy}, and I've heard of many others.

6. Best spring allergy relief tip. Brent is the king of allergies and lives by Claritin D 12 hour. You have to get it behind the pharmacy counter since you can make Meth with it, but it helps him so much. The oak pollen coating everything in our lives right now is insane, ha. He also showers twice a day when it's really bad and uses Flonase year-round.

7. What makes you think 'ok, now it's finally spring'? This is jumping the gun a little {since it can start happening in late February} but it's the return of BLUEBONNETS! This year I didn't see any until a few weeks into March, and I still need to get the kids in them {via bribery}.

8. Spring rain...love or dislike? I love spring rain because we almost always desperately need it in Texas. What I don't like are spring STORMS with tornado warnings. We are not truly in 'tornado alley' but we do get bad storms with hail regularly in the spring and an occasional trip to hang out in our half bath - it always seems to be at bedtime - when a tornado warning comes through.

9. Special spring holiday dessert or treat? Cadbury cream eggs! I absolutely LOVE these. I don't let myself go overboard with them, but I always love to eat 1 or 2 in the springtime.

10. Favorite spring cocktail or mocktail? A few Easters ago we drank champagne on Easter with lavender simple syrup and that was incredible. But I wouldn't say I have a specialty drink specifically related to fall. Moscow mule is my go-to drink yearround!

1st Quarter 2026 Book Review

Oops, I let the first quarter of the year get away from me, and I haven't talked about books once! I read too many books to do a post about all of them, so I thought it would be fun to do a summary of my favorites and least favorites. If I can get my act together I do want to go back to monthly reviews, but no promises. I am on Goodreads and also post my books to my Instagram stories so if you want to see everything I've read, let me know!

I read 39 books in January, February, and March. 7 of them I gave 5 stars to. As I was looking at my spreadsheet {because yes, I have a spreadsheet}, I was a little surprised that SIX of the seven are non-fiction/memoirs! I always talk about loving 'chick lit' - and I do - but my stats are showing I gave the best ratings to real stories.

For the worst books I read during this period of time, sadly, they all fall somewhat into the category of romance - fantasy romance, YA romance, and a rom com. Am I getting pickier? I don't know!

I will say I've been struggling with Nora Roberts for awhile {she used to be a go to author for me} - I think she is just recycling ideas and not for the better. I had also been told 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' series was not as good as Jenny's Han's other series, but man, I wasn't expecting it to be as annoying as it turned out to be. And I've really enjoyed Jesse Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong series, but I will NOT be continuing with this series, boo.

I can't finish this quarter without giving a shout-out to the Game Changers series. I read 5 of the 6 books in 2026, and I loved all of it! They were all 4 star reads {with The Long Game getting 5 stars}. Who doesn't love a queer hockey series? The second book, Heated Rivalry, was released as a show at the end of 2025 and took the world by storm. I cannot wait for the 2nd season!

And there you have it! My first quarter of 2026 in books!

Trad Wife

I don't know what has gotten into me, but I have taken up some new hobbies that are VERY unlike me - I'm making my own sourdough bread {and am starting to explore discard recipes} AND I'm making my own butter. How very 'trad wife' of me! {grin}

This all started with my company making changes to our wellness subsidy - we get money every year to support our well-being. A lot of includes fitness related items (it covers gym memberships, for example), but every year the program gets expanded and kitchen appliances got added this year! I've always wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer, but given I'm not much of a cook, the expense never seemed worth it. BUT when it's free? Heck yeah!

Isn't she so pretty?!

One of my co-workers told me about how easy it is to make your own butter with a KitchenAid, so I had to try!

You can see the buttermilk separating from the butter, yay!

And here's the finished product. It was SUPER easy, and I've continued to make it. I want to see if there are recipes for honey butter, cinnamon butter, stuff like that.

THEN at one of our Girl Scout meetings, we had a dad come teach the girls how to make sourdough, and we all left with a little of his starter. I decided I wanted to keep this starter going and learn how to make bread. {This dad is the dad of Drew's bestie, so we've enjoyed his sourdough many, many times, so I was very excited to get some of his starter.}

I got off to a rocky start with bread that wouldn't rise.

Womp, womp

I did some internet sleuthing and had some help from a friend who makes her own, and I figured out my starter needed some help, and I didn't NEED this, but I decided to use more of my wellness subsidy to buy a bread oven! Who am I?

Growing starter, yay!

Beautiful bread oven

With those tweaks made and following THIS recipe, I finally had some success! I've now made at least 5 loaves and I think I've got it down. I want to do add-ins here as well {jalapeño cheese sourdough bread, anyone?!?}, but I'm so excited about being able to make my own bread and butter.

My first successful loaf

Can't wait to see what tempts me for next year's wellness subsidy, ha.

Monthly Musings: Ways We Make Our Weeks Easier

I haven't answered one of these Monthly Musings in forever, but I liked this topic -Ways We Make Our Weeks Easier. I am not an organized person by nature {thanks, Dad!}, but having a family of 5 it really is so much better when I try a little harder to fight my nature, ha.

1. Paper planner, digital calendar or other option?

I LOVE our digital calendar from Skylight. We've had it maybe 2 years now, and it's awesome. Everyone has a color, I can add to it from the calendar or an app on my phone, I can assign chores, make lists. It's the BEST. 

2. Meal planning, meal prep or wing it?

I try to meal plan, it doesn't always work {see above about my disorganized soul}, but life is definitely better when we have a plan. It usually ends up being 2-3 meals/week with leftovers or thrown together 'things'. {The girls love to ask for a 'plate of food' and that's just me throwing a protein, a fruit, and a veggie on a plate.} I do have a goal this year of trying more new recipes, but that's hard with the picky eaters I have. {Last week I made tomato soup and a dumpling bake, neither were big hits. I've got spring rolls, sausage & chicken jambalaya, and baked chicken tzatziki up next!} There are 2 things everyone will eat - spaghetti and tacos, so it gets really discouraging to try new things...and no one eats it. 

3. Do you choose your outfit the night before?

Nope. But given I work from home and wear workout clothes, there's no need! I do try to get Paige to pick her outfits out as she is D.I.F.F.I.C.U.L.T. about clothes. She can derail the whole morning.

4. Tips for managing laundry and ironing

I don't iron on a regular basis, so I just do it when needed. What's great about having older kids is Drew and Trent are now doing their own laundry!! The downside to big kids is they are great about washing/drying, but they are NOT great about getting them out of the dryer and back in their rooms. Ha! Working from home is great here too because I can always throw a load in during the day and keep things moving. 

5. Grocery shop instore or online?

ONLINE all the way! We have a Texas-only grocery store chain that everyone in Texas LOVES. Their app makes online shopping easy peasy, and you can choose curbside pickup or delivery. I usually do curbside as there aren't any outrageous additional fees - a slight markup for the groceries themselves {unless you need it super quickly} but some days delivery saves me. I do just about anything to avoid actually going inside the grocery store. {grin}

6. Best tips for getting out the door in the morning without chaos?

Do as much as you can the night before! I pack lunches, tell the girls to pack their backpacks, try to get Paige to get her outfit organized, etc. The more we have done the night before, the easier the morning is to manage.

7. Share your easiest dinners for crazy weeks

The crockpot is your friend. The easiest meal I make in the crockpot is frozen chicken breast, salsa, corn, and black beans - you can cook it all together, add some grated cheese, and serve over rice or tortilla chips or eat in a tortilla. We've also done fun grilled cheese sandwiches or quesadillas for quick meals.

8. Best tips to keep your house organized during the week

3 tips: 

1) Start the week off in a good place. I try to get the house cleaned up on Sunday {making everyone pitch in!} - it's so much easier to keep it nice if the week starts off good. 

2) Do a little bit throughout the day. Again this one I'm lucky to work from home because I can wipe down the counters or organize the pillows on the couch, etc. while on a call or while I'm warming up lunch, etc. 

3) Get your kids involved! I'm not great at this, but I'm really working on making the kids pick up after themselves RIGHT AWAY. I will go get a kid out of their room to put their plate in the dishwasher. And then go get them again if they left their silverware out. It shouldn't be all on me!

9. Share your easiest breakfast.

I love to make sausage balls on a Sunday. Then I can warm them up {or not because they are delicious cold} and pair with a fruit for the girls. {Trent doesn't eat breakfast.} They're also great in their lunches too. Or a quick 'I'm not cooking dinner'. Basically they're perfect.

10. Share your Best overall tip not covered yet.

This one is going to seem so silly because it took Brent and me 20 years to start doing it, but we now make our bed every morning. It makes our room look so much better and gets my mind right to keep moving in a positive direction.

Broadway Across America: The Sound of Music

Sunday I took the girls to see The Sound of Music. This season has been tough with timing of plays, so this is just the 2nd musical I've been to! {We had tickets to Six but it was canceled when we were iced in a few weeks back}

Plot: A young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.

Review: Mixed feelings here - the play itself was great! Actors were wonderful, especially the children, singing was awesome, it was entertaining throughout. BUT I didn't love some of the changes that were made from the movie - which is my problem having seen the movie a bajillion times. They rearranged some of the songs, cut some songs, made new songs {so other characters got to sing}...it all made sense, but I couldn't help comparing to the movie! The girls both enjoyed it, and that's really what counts! 

9 Year Comparisons!

Time to check in on how these cuties stack up against each other at 9! It's the last year I have a kid in single digits. Hold me, I don't know how this is happening.

Trent:

Height: 52" {54%} 

Weight: 56 pounds {31%}

BMI: 14.7 {16%}

Drew:

Height: 49.5" {12%}

Weight: 49.6 pounds {6%}

BMI: 14.23 {11%}

Paige:

Height: 50.3" {20%}

Weight: 55.2 pounds {20%}

BMI: 15.3 {29%}

We're on a pretty consistent trend of Paige being just a bit bigger than Drew at the same age, so I think they're going to end up like Patty and me with the little sister being bigger ha. Trent now towers over everyone but his growth stalled for a long time so not really surprising that he's barely taller than the girls - although I'm a bit surprised Paige is almost the same weight!!

I also think they look a lot alike in these pictures? Their hair color is very similar now that Paige's has darkened so much.

Holiday Season 2025

Going to do a big holiday photo dump and cover Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas for the Gurley Crew since January is almost over ha.

Halloween

Halloween looks a little different with bigger kids, and I'm not sure how I feel about that! Paige was the only kid who trick or treated with us this year, and she was an adorable bear. Drew was in a group costume with her friend group {Wizard of Oz and she was the Scarecrow} and spent the night at her bestie's house, and Trent hung out with his friends.

How cute are my girls? Paige wouldn't smile because 'bears don't smile' ha!

Drew is wearing my doc marten's from 1997! Also, long story short, we thought she broke her wrist but 2 x-rays, an MRI, 6 weeks of wearing a brace...it was just sprained ha. This pic is at the doctor's office.

We trick or treated with neighbors

Thanksgiving

I took almost no pictures at Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving Day with Brent's family, the day after with my family, watched the Aggies LOSE Friday night. 

The beginning of Thanksgiving break is always A Christmas Affair, yay!

Happy 74th birthday, Pops!

The Lindemann crew

Little Bit also got her nails done! She LOVES getting fake nails. Such a diva!

We also had the AmpedUp Favorite Things party - 

so ended Thanksgiving break with Christmas just like we started it, ha.

One last thing we did over Thanksgiving was decorate for Christmas!

The girls love to design the Christmas tree island, and I love how they make it look.

Christmas

As I started looking at pictures, holy cow there's a lot to cover in the Christmas season, so maybe take a bathroom break and get a new beverage to get you through. {grin}

It wouldn't be the holiday season without a trip to Houston for Brent's work party. We had a great time celebrating with friends {as always}!

The day school got out we met up with my BFF and goddaughter for a little gift exchange at a French patisserie! We always have fun together, and I love that our kids get along. Neither of our boys came but our girls always have fun!

Not Christmas related, but Brent and I snuck a trip to College Station in to watch the Aggies lose (ugh) in our first playoff game EVER. It was still fun to go to my old stomping ground!

Always fun to run into cousins!

Great seats and great company for a NOT great game

My fabulous mother-in-law treated me and the girls to The Nutcracker! I had never been and was so glad to experience it with some of my favorite ladies.

Christmas morning was a fun time at home with lots of big surprises for the kids - Paige got an iPad, Drew got an iPhone {her first!}, and Trent got A CAR!!! He took his driver test on Dec. 29 and passed, yay!

We spent Christmas dinner with Brent's family and had yummy food and a great time!

We celebrated with the Swope side on December 26 at Patty's house. The kids love being with their cousins and I love spending time with my parents and sister.

Creativity for the win for all our stockings!

We got the reaction we wanted from Mom for the Swope Seven photo shoot!

And we wrapped up 2025 by ringing in the new year with our neighborhood besties!

Happy holidays!