Jolly July

We've made it to July. Continued summer fun! 3 in-state family trips, cheer camp, Take Your Kid to Work with Brent, and Trent started his FIRST JOB!!!

July 4 was a subdued affair as we were all reeling from the floods in Texas and the loss of so many lives not too far from us. It rained really hard at our house but nothing like what other parts of the state got.

We didn't get to do the golf cart parade but still decorated the cart!

Our neighbors adopted 2 new kitties - the girls were so excited to go meet them!

Our newest cheerleader had her first cheer camp. She is loving it!

Take Your Kid to Work Day at LJA!

Trent also started his first job in July. He applied at a LOT of places around our little town and got hired by his #1 choice, H-E-B {which is a Texas-based grocery store chain that ALL Texans LOVE}. He's saving up to pay for some of the expenses we'll have once he gets his car {if he ever finishes his driving hours!}.

We went to see Brent's cousin, Philip, for a quick weekend trip. I didn't take any pictures except the below - we had Brent and Drew recreate a picture from a trip we took 7 years ago. These kids are growing up TOO fast!

Brent's parents and I took the kids to an exotic zoo in Johnson City. We toured LBJ State Park and properties and then spent 2 nights on the zoo property. Was great to get away for a few days - the kids had fun swimming, the zoo, being spoiled by grandparents!

Our last trip of July was our annual Swope family vacation. We added my cousin, Hagan, and her family {3 boys!} this year, so we had 8 adults and 10 kids. We rented a cabin that held everybody, had a pool/hot tub, and was a short distance to Lake LBJ. {We've stayed at this resort before with Brent's family and then for a wedding on my side of the family.} We haven't hung out as much with Hagan's family, but the kids had a great time together and all want to get together again! The kids ages were 16, 16, 16, 14, 12, 12, 12, 9, 8, 1!

We never got a picture of everyone together, but we managed to get some assorted groups, ha.

All 10 of the kids! My grandparents would be so tickled to see this picture!

So much fun and family time!

November Happenings

We had a busy second half of November, and because I fell off the blogging wagon, I'm going to share it all in one post, ha.

Work lunch when one of our teammates from Cincinnati was in town!

Annual A Christmas Affair shopping

Annual Book Club Dinner at Maggiano's with our White Elephant gift exchange - this year we had a theme with trucker hats!

The Gurley Gurls (including the OG, my mother-in-law) went to see Wicked. To say it was AMAZING would be an understatement - full review coming soon!

My cousin, Hagan, came into town at the beginning of Thanksgiving break, so we were able to get together at my parents' house AND celebrate Patty's, my dad's, and her son's {Luke} birthdays.

The Swopes!

All the desserts!

Swope cousins

And of course we put up our tree!

I also took the girls to see Kacey Musgraves with our friends, Dez and Hattie! We had a BLAST. The concert was incredible, and it was such a fun experience.

The girls and their souvenirs

And, of course, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Gurley family {no pics though, oops} and the Lindemanns!

Sawyer - just shy of 1!

Our whole crew!

So much fun but exhausting too ha! And straight into December with all the amazing holiday adventures.

Nashville '24

We finished off the month of October with a super fun trip to Nashville with Brent's cousins and some friends. We left on a Thursday morning and stayed through Sunday and packed in a lot of fun.

Obligatory airport drink picture - whose is whose? {grin}

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We stayed in an apartment over a ice cream/coffee shop with Brent's cousin right off Broadway in downtown Nashville and it was so cute and right in the heart of things.

The first thing the girls did was go to Rustler's and make custom cowboy hats! The impetus for the trip was Philip's wife's {Kristi} birthday, and this was something she wanted to do and the rest of us thought it sounded fun too.

Having a drink before hats!

Kristi ~ Carla ~ Misty ~ Heather ~ Allena

The experience was so cool - there were so many hats to pick from and then a million ways you could customize. I always get overwhelmed when I have a lot of choices but ended up loving what I did with my hat!

I had my initials branded into it, it was so cool to watch the process.

All the girls with our new hats!

Carla and I were the 2 Aggies on the trip and got a maroon-ish band around our hats.

You can see some of the branding I did - this in addition to my initials.

Brent looking like Howdy Doody in my hat!

We hung out that evening in 2 bars - one on Broadway called Redneck Riviera and one in Painter's Alley. We ended the night getting Raisin' Cane's chicken and going back to the apartment!

Friday, Philip had booked a pontoon cruise on the Cumberland River {which I had to google to find out what river ran through Nashville, ha}. It was a beautiful day, and we had a blast!

Brent and David getting cozy {grin}

That night we had reservations at a restaurant but ended up just bumming around Broadway and hopping in and out of a few places.

I had to try the coffee/ice cream shop so Saturday morning Brent and I went down there. He got a root beer float and I got, of course, a chai.

Yes, we were sleeping in bunk beds ha.

Our big activity Saturday was brunch at White Limozeen, a Dolly Parton themed restaurant. Kristi asked us to wear pink, and we happily complied!

And then in a twist of events no one would have ever expected, I went and got 2 tattoos! I'm going to save the story for another post, but I'll share one pic of the 3 of us who got tattoos that day.

Gig 'em after a Fighting Texas Aggie WIN!

We stayed out pretty late on Saturday night but luckily didn't have a SUPER early flight on Sunday. We made it home in 1 piece and our babies were happy to see us! This was definitely a vacation to remember!