Snow Days in Texas

Usually once a year, Texas experiences a cold front that leaves us with a few snow days. Mind you, we know that it is actually just ice, but it is worth cancelling school and playing around in nonetheless ;). My husband and I had the privilege of being in our friend's (Kent & Lindsay) wedding, and the day of their rehearsal ended up being one of those snow days. Plans were changed for the evening, and we had the chance to go sledding at our in laws. I am an embarrassingly worried person when it comes to the weather, so after being sent home early from work, driving slow on the roads to avoid any accidents, and watching hours upon hours of news reports saying "If you don't have to get out in this, don't.", I was anxious. So of course, the minute my husband gets home and tells me he wants to drive over to our in laws (less than 10 mins away), I start crying and panicking. Embarrassing, I know. I somehow pulled myself together, put on bundles of clothes, and allow Jearen to drive us in the ice. This is were I tell you how much of a fool I am for being such a worry wort. Jearen drove us there just fine and I'm so glad he did. We carried our cookie sheets & pizza pan just like we do every year to the top of the hill, and began to slide down. So much fun. So much laughter. So much snow!

The next day we had to drive over to Keller for our friend's rehearsal and lunch. The roads were slick, but once again, I have the best person driving me around that it made it less stressful. The wedding was planned for outside, and on the day of, the bride and groom got their wishes granted. I will say, that being in an outdoor wedding, near a lake, with no jacket, in weather conditions right above freezing is quite memorable. There aren't too many people that I would have done that for, but The Scroggins were with it! :)

The following day, Jearen had to drive out to Vegas for work, and I was going to fly out Wednesday night to join him like I have done the past two years. Tuesday night, I am all packed and ready for work the next day, when the only thing on the news was how another cold front was coming our way, with the possibility of 2-4 inches of snow. Trying to be mindful of everything, and not stress out, I prayed that God would give me wisdom in this situation (with me being a person who worries about the weather) and I knew what to do. I called the airline and had them change my flight from 8pm the following evening, to 9 am the next morning. I am thankful that at 11 pm that night, my boss was available for me to talk with, and was understanding about me having to take off work and fly out early. My father in law picked me up bright and early Wednesday morning, and I had a good 45 minute before flying out to relax and trust that I just made the right decision.

As soon as I arrived in Vegas, it was sunny and in the high 60's. All flights that were scheduled that night out of DFW were grounded, and the metroplex got over 6 inches of snow in some places. School was canceled Thursday, and I knew I made the right choice in bumping up my flight. Without someone telling me to, or having my husband do it for me. I felt proud to make a big decision instead of getting discouraged and fearful and anxious. Glory to God!

Stay tuned for the blog about our Vegas trip :)

Becky

DALLAS BIG Scavenger Hunt : Valentine's '15

Love this one!

In the years past, our Valentine's Day consisted of a home cooked meal, a decorated & cleaned house, and a surprise or two throughout the day. Of course there would also be sweet love notes, texts, and emails between my husband and I too. This year, things were a little different, and to be honest, I wish Valentine's Day ALWAYS fell on a Saturday, because having the whole day together without work was pretty sweet. Jearen had told me mid-January that he had made plans for us for Valentine's Day, that would include another couple and that would last all day. I was pretty thrilled to know that he had something up his sleeve for us, and that the pressure was taken off of me to plan anything. (Not that I don't LOVE to plan a date, but you know what I mean :)!) I eventually found out that we would be with our friends Caleb & Rachel, but I had no idea what we would be doing.

Saturday morning we drove out to Dallas, and met up with our friends. We pilled into one car, and off we went. We arrived at an unfamiliar area to me, with nothing but a closed off field and a run down neighborhood. Then the boys get out of the car, told us to stay put, and walked away. Talk about freak out moment! We had no idea what was going on, but found out later that there was suppose to be one of those BG signs there. GPS was wrong. As the day moved on, we made several pit stops around Dallas, and after the second stop, I realized what was going on.

This is how our date started: stranded in the car haha

And there they go, just walking away

We were on a scavenger hunt! In Dallas, there are 14 signs (more like statues) of the letters BG, where you stand in the middle to form the letter I, to stand for Dallas Big. (You know the saying, everything is bigger in Texas!)  I'm not exactly sure the significance of it, or how it got started, but here is a map (incase you want to do the hunt yourself!) http://www.visitdallas.com/big/b-g-locations-map/

To be honest, any time I had seen the BG sign, I didn't want a picture with it. I guess in my head, a "big girl" standing in a sign that spelled out big was a 'no thank you' in my eyes haha. But I got over it quickly, and let me just say, it was SO MUCH FUN! We were able to explore a lot of Dallas that we had not been to before, we ate a delicious brunch at Oddfellows in Bishop Arts, and it as the perfect sunny day. Seriously, the weather was amazing!

Brunch @ Oddfellows

The Rustic

Klyde Warren Park

Klyde Warren Park

Winspera Opera House

After we completed our little BG hunt, we went to our house to change and get ready for a night out. Again, I didn't know what was planned, but I had just bought a long black dress for $10 (thanks Goodwill) and was ready in no time. We drove down to my favorite date night place, Sundance Square. The traffic was awful & parking was a nightmare, but what else would you expect on this day. The guys surprised Rachel & I by taking us to The Petroleum Club (no not like a dancing club, but more like a you have to be on the list kinda place). There was a live jazz band playing current hits, a yummy buffet of fish & rib eye, and a dessert bar. It kind of felt like we were attending a fancy wedding, only we were the youngest people there, and had a good laugh about it. After dinner, we walked over to Four Day Weekend, where the guys surprised us with tickets to the improv comedy show, and it was the icing on the cake of a perfect date day. We laughed so hard, and Jearen's picture of the day he cut his beard off before church made it into the second act. What a fun & memorable time.

40th floor of the Petroleum Club 

Dinner @ The Petroleum Club

Dinner @ The Petroleum Club

Sundance Square- Ft Worth

Sundance Square- Ft. Worth

Four Day Weekend

Four Day Weekend

-Becky

Being Transparent: Being Happy for Others

Sometimes, it's scary being transparent. I want to share from my heart, be honest with what's going on, and hopefully encourage as much as I can. But with putting yourself out there, there are those who will judge you, discourage you, mock you, and not like you. So when I go to blog, or post a status, or share a photo, I want to share about my life, but in the back of my mind, I feel like there are those who could care less about what I have to say. Anyone else ever feel that way?! That when you go to share something on social media, even though no one is necessarily saying things about you, your mind begins to wonder off in that direction? I hate that. There are so many times when I share a photo of my husband and I that I have to fight off the "what ifs." "What if they think I'm bragging? What if no one cares? What if people are tired of seeing me happy? What if they think I am faking it?"And then I am reminded: If I feel good about sharing something, I should share it. And you should too! I know I am not the only one in feeling this way. One day I was talking to one of my sisters, and we were talking about how we get so happy/excited about something that we want to share it with the world, but fear that others will think we aren't being grateful enough, that we are bragging, that we are trying to show off. Oh, how far off from the truth that is. 

As a woman who so desperately wants to start a family, I can't tell you how many times I have scrolled through social media only to see hundreds of smiling baby posts, pregnancy announcements, etc. A few months after my ectopic pregnancy, there was a baby announcement literally EVERY day. I didn't WANT to be jealous, and I didn't want to be upset at the person posting such a happy moment in their life, but that is where I found myself, and I knew I had to get my heart right. I had to get rid of bitterness and jealousy before I could truly be happy for someone else. It hasn't been smooth to come to this point in my life, but I truly believe that I've made huge strides in learning how to be happy for others. Please don't think that this is for anyone specific. I'm just sharing this as an example because it's come up in conversations lately, and I don't want people to think that they have to tip toe their happy life with a baby around me! SHARE THOSE SWEET MOMENTS. The laughing, the cooing, the crying, the crawling, the sleeping. Share away and I will love every moment you share with me. I know when the day comes for me to share pictures like that, I want you to like seeing them too, haha (just being honest) :)!!

And in this season of my life, whatever I have, whatever I do, I want my life to point to Christ. There are days I will fail at this, but I want to be free to be myself. And you have every right to be yourself! I want to share with others what makes me happy. If that is my husband, my home, my dog, my family, photos of the sky, and Jesus, then I shouldn't be afraid to share that. I'm learning to be content with the things I do have, instead of being upset by what I don't. Can you relate? My challenge to you (and myself) is to be HAPPY for others. Truly. Encourage others. Share in their joy. Because it's easy to share in each others sufferings, when the world seems to be against us, and all we want to do is wallow in sadness. But can you share joy with someone who is experiencing something amazing in their life? YES, YOU CAN! If we are there for each other, we are there for the good and bad. The moments that bring tears to our eyes, and the moments that make us want to shout from the rooftops with gladness.

Just wanted to share that this afternoon. Keep posting & let your hearts be free to share with others what brings you JOY! :)

Becky

Garth Brooks Concert in Tulsa.

Back in late October/early November, my husband discovered that Garth Brooks was going on tour. You wouldn't have known he was a big fan just by looking at him. I mean, it's not like Thunder Rolls is his ringtone, he talks about him all the time, or even owns a cowboy hat. But let me tell you, he LOVES his music. So when he mentioned to me that it would be cool to see him in concert, I was on board. I knew he would be filling one of his bucket list items by seeing him in concert, it would make a fun date night for us, and Christmas was right around the corner, so we could purchase the tickets as a gift for each other. And then the hard reality came...Garth wasn't going to be playing in Texas.  

So, we made the decision that would would drive to Tulsa, OK since that was his closest show. We purchased the tickets (stressful thanks to the overload of ticketmaster fans trying to purchase tickets too, that the site kept freezing up on us.), and then we waited for the weekend of the show.

On the drive down, Jearen played Garth's greatest hits, and I remembered so many songs that I had forgotten about. I fell in love with some. I learned the words to some (like Baton Rouge!), and had fun singing (or I should say yelling) along with my husband as he drove us. 

We arrived on time to the concert, but I was SO out of it. I had no appetite, a headache, my body ached, no energy. Not exactly how I wanted to feel going into a high energy, highly anticipated concert. It was so bad that when Jearen left to get me some sprite, I started to fall asleep in my chair. With thousands of people around. At a concert. Ha, I must have been embarrassing. 

Despite feeling totally off, I still wanted to make the most of this trip we just drove all the way out for. We sat on the very last row, which sounds like a bummer, but turned out to be perfect. We got to stand to any song we wanted to, without anyone behind us telling us to sit (this happened to people in front of us down the row, who kept being told to sit by some REALLY old fans, haha). We got to sing at the top of our lungs to our favorite songs, and had so much fun.

I must say, I was HIGHLY impressed with Garth Brook's performance. He had put out a new cd earlier in the year, and I wasn't sure what he would play. Besides playing two songs from his neweset album, he played his GREATEST HITS, which was perfect, since I just had a crash course on all of that songs. That man can sing and entertain a crowd!

After the concert, I was running to the nearest gas station for some headache medicine. I didn't have any medicine available since I have been using Young Living Essential Oils (and haven't had any medicine since that night). I was desperate to feel better, and nothing seemed to help. 

Still don't know why or what made me feel so bad that Friday, but I am so glad we got to go to that concert. (And felt fine the next day)

I left a bigger Garth Brooks fan than when we first arrived, and got to make memories with my husband.

Who is on your bucket list to see in concert?! If the opportunity arrives to see them, GO! You won't regret it! :)

Becky

3rd Annual 12 Dates of Christmas.

After much planning and researching, I mapped out exactly how I wanted to do our 12 Dates of Christmas this year! Then... life happened, and some of the dates got changed around. Over the years, I have SLOWLY learned how to just go with the flow, but I am a planner at heart, so "going with the flow" hasn't been an easy lesson to learn.

I was so excited when a few people started doing their own 12 Dates of Christmas, and they would share with me their dates, ideas, photos, etc. Granted, this whole 12 Dates of Christmas was NOT an original idea by yours truly. Several years ago, I was just brainstorming on things to do for my husband at Christmas time when I came across a blog with ideas, and have been hooked on doing these dates every year since then. Through these dates, I've laughed as people have told me "You are like the Pro at Christmas Things to do in the DFW.".....something like that. I can't recall the exact words at the moment. And as much as I wish I could say that I am, I'm totally not! I just look up a few things, like City Events for Dallas/ Fort Worth, Grapevine, Irving, etc (anywhere close to our general area). I take into account our budget, and things we have going on at church. I consider when the Cowboys play (because Heaven forbid my husband miss watching a game :)!) I also see what we have that we can use, like our season pass to Six Flags, movie giftcards that were given to us, groupon deals, etc. I tend to repeat some dates, but will also try something new (as long as the price is right).

The following will be the dates that I did this year, with some of my thoughts on each date. Maybe you want to do something for Valentine's Day, or a Birthday for your loved one, and just need some ideas. Granted, these are Christmas dates, but don't let that stop you from getting some creativity flowing in that brain of yours! 

Date 1. Setting Up Tree/ Dinner & Homemade Cookies. (FREE)
- This date required hardly any money. Our decor has been the same for Christmas ever since we got married, so every year we just pull out our two storage boxes full of Christmas decor, and set it up around the house. I made bbq chicken sliders for dinner (here is the recipe: Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Sliders: 6-8 Chicken breasts (I usually just use two since it't just the two of us), Frank's Red Hot Sauce, Package Ranch Dressing, Put in low crackpot for 5-6 hours. Shred, remove extra juices and add additional Frank's sauce to taste. Serve on King Hawaiian Rolls and ranch dressing.) I also made chocolate chip cookies but that recipe is a family secret ;)! We also danced around with our dog, Maggie, and I about died from laughing.

Date 2. Grapevine Parade of Lights. (FREE)
This was our first year to attend this event, and it did not disappoint! I was (and still am) obsessed with watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix, so going to this event felt like I was stepping into a small town (which I grew up in) and captured my heart. We brought lawn chairs (I would recommend this) and parked ourselves on the corner of the street an hour before it started. There are several restaurants around to have dinner at before or after the parade, and so we ate at Esparza's right behind Main Street. 

Date 3. Dinner & Games at Home w/ Friends (FREE)
I made Mississippi Roast from a recipe I found on Pinterest. My friend brought over Reese's chocolate chip cookies (so good!) and we played a round of What's Yours Like. I love having people around our table to share a meal, conversation, and laugh with.

Date 4. Grand Prairie's "Prairie Lights" ($20? with a Groupon, but the friends we went with already had the Groupon, so we got in FREE)
This was a fun night, that I brought my big canon with me to take pictures, and I'm glad I did. We drove around to look at all of the lights, and had a good time. We had tickets to get into the laser show, and let me just say, if you don't have kids with you, don't go to this. The four of us sat there with a look of "ugh, are you serious?! this is a joke" when it started. Granted, your kids will probably love it, and it only lasted ten minutes, but still. It's definitely worth the trip out there, and the hot chocolate they sell for $1 is surprisingly really good!

Date 5. Christmas Movies at Home. (FREE)
It's not Christmas for us until we watch Home Alone 1 & 2.

Date 6. Truthical the Musical at Gateway Church in Southlake. (FREE)
This is a MUST. It was our very first time to see this production, and I could rave about it all day. It was SO GOOD! Plus we joined several of our friends for the event, and caught dinner at Palio's down the road for pizza afterwords (with a Groupon).

Date 7. Bahama Bucks Snowcones ($8) and Addison Vitruvian Park to look at lights. (FREE)
This date was kind of a whim, because other plans that I had fell through, so Jearen totally took the reins of this night. He knew that Addison had lights, but we were blown away by how awesome it really was. Tons of trees were covered in lights, we caught a string ensemble playing Christmas music (like All I Want For Christmas is You). The weather was a little chilly, and if we would have known about the free concert, we would have brought a blanket to sit on. This is for sure a date I will want to repeat next year, and maybe bring some friends along with us to have a picnic.

Date 8. Dinner at Texan Station inside the Gaylord Hotel to watch the Cowboys Game ($10 for parking plus food).
I wasn't thrilled to have to pay for parking, but once you're inside the Gaylord, it's worth it. They have  lots going on during the Holidays, so if you haven't been to ICE, you should go. We have gone for several years, and always have had a good time, but I was trying to do something a little different, and since the Cowboys were playing for the night I planned, I wanted to catch the game. The food was pretty good, but the atmosphere is what draws you in. After dinner we walked around the hotel, where there are lots of lights and decor to catch your eye. I had a hard time getting a good photo of the lights though, so we captured one of us thanks to huge mirrors near the exit.

Date 9. Dinner at our House w/ my In-Laws. (FREE)
I made a big batch of Texas Chili, and we shared a meal around the table with my husband's dad & step mom. After dinner, we introduced them to Mad Gab, and it was HILARIOUS! I can't wait until they come over again for dinner & games. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the four of us, but took one of my five minutes of rest & reading this book before they came over.

Date 10. Cowboys Game (FREE)
Yes, free! One of my friends at work offered me the tickets back in October, so I planned to make this one of our bigger dates. Who knew the boys would do so well in the season to WIN the game we attended, the NFC. It was literally the best game I have watched, and had my attention the whole time. I'm slowly loving watching football more & more, all thanks to my husband and his patience to explain everything to me :). We had a blast! And after the game, we went straight over to Six Flags to check out the Holiday in the Park (we have season passes). We met up with our friends and the weather was just right. It was chilly, and we had to bundle up, but it wasn't miserably cold. 

Date 11. Christmas Lights over the Ft. Worth Skyline (Gift from Sherry). I am unaware of the price for this event, because this was a gift from Sherry. We went with Jearen's dad & step mom, and three of his brothers in a C47 WWII plane to look at Christmas lights in Downtown Ft. Worth. I was a little nervous of flying in a smaller plane (I guess I was expecting a lot of turbulence), but it was smooth sailing. Once you get in the air, you are allowed to get out of your seats and walk around the plane. I camped out near the huge window & took in all of the sights. If you have the opportunity to do this, DO IT! My only wish it that it would last a little longer. It was about a 30 minute flight, and a really cool experience.

Date 12. Christmas At Home! (FREE)
My husband and I spend Christmas evening opening gifts for each other, cleaning up around the house, and watching A Christmas Story. It was a nice ending to a fun filled month. 

So, I write all of this to say, use what you have to make a fun experience. A lot of my dates were free and didn't require a lot of planning (other than picking out what meal I would make). I know there will be new things we do next year & I am so grateful for all the things we got to experience due to giving friends & family.

Happy Planning!
Becky