John and his friend Shepard

Precious boys

We are blessed to live by the Knox's - who provide us with plenty of laughs, a lot of great fellowship and have three boys that our kids love to play with. Over the last few months, John has really fostered a special friendship with their oldest son, Shepard. From the moment John wakes up he begs to go over and see his friend Shep and play with him. Thankfully I have a close enough friendship with Erika that I am comfortable letting him run over there several times a day knowing that she will shoo him away when it is not a good time.

Micah, Shep, John and Matt went out to Bertram to go deer hunting one Fall day

Thankful 2014

Will and Alivia both made turkeys with feathers that expressed what they were most thankful for. I thought they were so cute so I thought I would share them. Thanksgiving for me was a blur since I was struck with the flu while Matt and I were with Mimi and Grandpa at the TCU/UT game. Right after halftime I just suddenly felt terrible. . . by the time I got to the car I had terrible rigors and chills. That set the start of a horrible 10-day illness that literally left me bedridden. I am just now getting back into the full swing of life again. . . I am so thankful for my amazing husband who took over the job of Mommy and Daddy while I was so sick.

Alivia's turkey - my family, God, pets, my friends, nature and Jesus

Will's turkey - God, living, holidays, toys, Tanner and Jesus

Aunt Emily and Matthew looking especially cute on Thanksgiving

We all gathered at Mimi and Grandpa's for an amazing spread of food

John had a cute Thanksgiving production at his school earlier that week 

Incredible box seats for the UT/TCU game - it was such a beautiful evening - I am so sad we had to leave early!

Before the flu hit. . . 

Christmas Card Pictures

This year my dear friend, Jill Baumhover, was not available to do our Christmas card pictures. She has moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan! So we used my good friend, Erika Knox. It was so strange to not have Jill do the shots, but I got her to agree to design our Christmas card even though she did not take the pictures. I love getting good shots of our family and the kids every year. Erika even came over and helped coordinate our outfits. I think they turned out great. Thanks Erika!

Family trip to Carrizo Springs

Matt really loves Carrizo Springs. It is in deep south Texas about 3 1/2 hours away. It is a beautiful part of Texas. There is a "container" on the property that is a modified shipping container that has been converted into a doublewide trailer with a bathroom, running water, kitchen, two bunk beds and a double bed in the "master bedroom." I think it is the closet to camping I am going to tolerate in my old age. The kids absolutely love it and this year John got to come for the first time. We left baby Matthew in the hands of Mimi and Grandpa (who I must say spoiled him quite a bit - not sure he missed us that much!)

First stop - Cabela's! 

The kids love riding in the Mule. They even started to request to drive. . . oh boy. 

In the middle of the afternoon Matt shot this doe as he was driving around with Alivia and Will! They saw the whole thing go down. I thought it might upset Alivia but Matt says she was the first one to encourage him to shoot the deer!

John, Alivia and I attempted to get into the stand one afternoon. John was really restless and each stand had been filled with wasps, so we did not stay long

Clearing brush from the road during a mule ride

A giant crazy storm came in on Saturday evening with lots of lightening and hail so we retreated inside for awhile. This is the "master bedroom"

View of one of the bunkbeds

Bundled up for s'mores after dinner!

I love this shot. John looks like he is in his element.

Fall Break Trip to Mexico

Somehow we talked my parents into watching the kids for an entire week while Matt and I met my TCU friends and their husbands in the Maya Riviera. We had so much fun. It was just so fun to sit on the beach, have food provided for me every day, sleep in and be with good friends. The place that we stayed - Riu Palace Mexico was nice, but the rooms were a little weird and got tiresome after the week. Other than that, no complaints!

Red really wanted the girls to get some professional pics taken - these are a few shots. I wish we had had more without our sunglasses, but they turned out pretty cute. I just love the girls so much!

The whole group - we marveled how blessed we were to have such good friends that we could travel with. The guys all get along really well, too.

Me and Matt - Austin, TX

Red and Brian - Shreveport, LA

Mandy and Shane - Austin

Anna and Sam - Denton

Alison and Jason - Springfield, MO

One day we left the property and went to this cool place called Xel Ha. Lots of locals and tourists were there. They had snorkeling, zip lines, and walking trails. It was hilarious that we all walked around all day in nothing but our bikinis. I actually loved getting to do that! Mandy and Shane had already gone back to Austin so they missed this part of the trip.

There were spots along the way that you could get pics taken

Awesome zip lines

This is cracking me up

Don't forget the iguana

Hilarious shot of us

The whole gang snorkeling.

Matt and me upon arrival. It was so glad to be there. Let the vacation begin!

Catching up with my BFF, Alison. She can make me laugh so hard

The food was really good! It was so fun to just sit at a table and TALK and have no agenda or place to be

The water was gorgeous the first day - then some seaweed settled in for the last couple days

We would dress up every night for dinner. So fun!

Red coordinated these shirts for us. I think they are adorable.

My girls!

The boys!

This is how we spent A LOT of our time

Walking to the beach

The entire crew

Anna and Sam

Matt, me, Anna, Sam and Brian all went deep sea fishing one day. It was quite the harrowing experience. The water was VERY ROUGH and tested my equilibrium quite a bit.

Sam was turning green at this point but hid it pretty well

Fishing off the back. It was so rough that the fishing was not that good.

Thankfully Sam pulled in this sail fish or we would have been disappointed!

Al and Jason relaxing at Xel Ha

View of the property.