Life Lately - Fall Photo Dump

As we near the end of the year, I found a few random photos leftover from fall. And you know I love to share photos! Just trying to play catch up before this month gets away from me between 2 birthdays & Christmas. First up, volleyball. Her last game was actually October 30, and it was bittersweet. As much as she really wants to play in high school, I don't think she will. Guess we'll see:

Bryan has been traveling A LOT but he usually sacrifices with late night & early morning flights to try to be back for her games on Wednesday nights. So far, I think he has only missed one game & one of his colleagues sent me this picture because he was streaming her game at their business dinner. That's a good dad, right there:

They quickly transitioned from volleyball to cross country to basketball:

Outside of school, she always has soccer. Lots of league games & tournaments:

And she's even had more time to hang out with one of her best friends. They go to church together but not school so they try to see each other whenever they can:

And she has gotten so see a few of her other friends at a different school also:

Of course both of the girls stay busy with K-Life. They still go to early morning bible studies before school:

And their favorite night of the year - Progressive Riot!

Sophies had a lot going on also, but not many pictures this time around except for cotillion:

They had their instructional dinner in November where she learned manners during a meal:

They get a break in December but will start back up in January. 

That's it for today - I will have lots more to share this holiday season!

Thanksgiving 2025

We were fortunate to stay home for Thanksgiving, so we kicked off it off Friday night with a Wicked party with Sophie & her friends:

Afterwards she had a sleepover with a few of her friends:

Saturday was our big party that we hosted for Bryan's parents:

Sunday, Bryan & I went to the Cowboys game, and I didn't take any pictures, but we were surprised to make a comeback win!

My dad stayed with us all week since they were here for the party, but my mom came back with my sister's family & we spent the week together here celebrating. The boys golfed while we shopped, cooked & went to see Wicked again:

The girls did each other's nails:

I cooked a lot & one night I surprised the kids with s'mores outside:

We all woke up early for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, which I already talked about, but what I didn't mention is that afterwards, they all came home & jumped in the hot tub:

They might have taken turns jumping in the pool for the polar plunge, but ultimately, they spent most of their time in the hot tub:

This kind of worked out perfectly because I was able to finish all of the cooking inside. Thankfully I set the table the night before & had most everything prepped & ready to go on Thursday so that made it easier. I never took a picture of the final meal, but I did snap a pic Thursday morning of our table because we did use our china & you know that doesn't happen very often:

Thursday night we surprised Max with an early Christmas present - we took him to:

To say he was happy was an understatement! He literally jumped up & down the entire time with the biggest smile on his face. The rest of us enjoyed it too:

I hate to say we kicked everyone out the next day, but by Friday before lunch, we were all on the road. They headed home & we headed to Austin for the big game. We usually go to this game because it's one of the few games all year where the girls don't have sports & we can actually go. But surprisingly, Bryan & I hadn't been to a game either, so we were all SUPER excited. Even my Dad came too:

It was cool but not terrible. But night games are awesome - just the energy & the excitement in the stadium. I was blown away by just the opening show before the game. The use of lights, drones, fireworks - all so cool! I took a lot of pictures because I was so impressed:

You can't tell from the pictures, but the band had these LED lights on their cowboy hats, so the stadium was bright lights until they dimmed & then all of the sudden the band lit up! Then the drone show came next:

I think this is the most engaged the girls have ever been at a game. First off, they are older, but also, it was a really good game:

And guess what - we won! We have been mediocre this year, but A&M was undefeated so needless to say, I think we surprised most fans out there on both sides of the stadium! But it was AMAZING!!!!

Needless to say, it was a fun walk home that night through the city back to our hotel, but Sophie's favorite part was seeing the cheer & pom squad gym:

Being at that game was just the icing on the cake after a fun filled week. Lots of good food, lots of downtime & lots of extra family time. Thanksgiving was fun but we are ready for Christmas next - let's go December!

Turkey Trot 2025

Hi! This is Sadie and I am this blogs daughter. You will be seeing some more of my amazing writing in the upcoming months, and I hope you enjoy it. Sadie Out.

After our big party last weekend, my family came to spend the week with us for Thanksgiving. I think this is the first time we have officially hosted & I knew right away what I wanted us to do:

We have done this for years but never with my family & it was even more special because our Turkey Trot benefits the Miracle League. Sadie & I volunteer with them quite a bit so I reached out to the volunteer coordinator to see if we could sign Max up as an athlete & of course they said yes! So, I signed all of us up & we got there bright & early Thanksgiving morning:

There were 9,000 people registered but most of us walked the miracle mile, which is at the very front for the miracle league athletes with their families:

We all walked with Max:

Except for these 2 - Sophie & Zoe took off & ran the mile & waited for us at the finish line:

At the very end, they took Max out of his stroller & he was able to walk/jog/run the last part through the finish line:

He was so excited & I couldn't have been prouder of him:

After us, these 3 started towards the back of the race:

I signed up Kason for the mile and at the last minute he decided he wanted to go for the 5K:

Not bad for someone who never trained - he just showed up & ran! 

These 2 were a different story...... Sadie has ran the 5k but that is the farthest distance she has ever ran so this year she wanted to go for the 10k. Bryan on the other hand has ran several 10k's but he doesn't run much anymore but he felt like he had to since Sadie was. Ha! I didn't take any pictures of them crossing the finish line because I was taking a video, but Sadie finished first & I was shocked - she sprinted the end & she didn't even look tired!

Sadie ended up getting 2nd in her age group for girls under 15 and 48th out of 366 athletes. She ran it in 51.48 which was about 8.21 mile pace. Not bad for her first time! 

It was a little chilly to start the morning but it actually felt good in the sun & it was such a fun way to kick off the holiday. Not only was I so excited to do this with our family, but I was especially thrilled for Max to compete in his first race. Afterwards, we had fun seeing friends & family and celebrating with all who participated: