our friends are the best...

 This past weekend we went back to Dallas to visit friends that we haven't seen in a while, take a few pictures and visit the Gaylord ICE exhibit. 

Friday night we enjoyed a great housewarming party with our friends and old neighbors.  For a brief moment their view of downtown made me want to live in a high-rise...

On Saturday we got up and drove into The Colony to see Ms. Rhonda.  We adore Ms. Rhonda and her whole family as if we were truly related.  She helped us raise Marley for the first 5 years of her life and we cannot think her enough for the influence she had on her young life and Adam and I as parents.  She will always have a special place in our heart.  

For lunch we met some of our old church Life Group for lunch and got to laugh and catch up.  It's hard going from getting together every other week and then being apart for 6 months.

Harlow, Taylor and Marley

We have used the same photographer since Marley was a baby and we promised her when we moved we'd be back...and here we are ready for some Christmas/Family pictures.  Marley loves Bobbi and somehow she manages to capture Marley's personality every time. 
We ended Saturday with dinner with some of our longest and dearest friends while in Dallas. "Uncle Monty", Laura (a rare siting in itself), Olivia and Cody.  (I'm realizing we pretty much ate our way through Dallas...)
We made so many amazing friends in our dozen years in Dallas and hate that we couldn't see them all this past weekend, but we'll be back and will continue to eat our way through town.

On Sunday we made our way to the Gaylord in Grapevine for the ICE exhibit.  The smile on Marley's face throughout the whole exhibit was worth every penny!  She hadn't quite understood what we were doing or where we were going but I think she thoroughly enjoyed it from the ice slide to the snow-tubing.

     

    

   

  

  

  

   

  

  

    

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Before we headed back to Waco we had two more people to see, which obviously meant another meal to eat...;)  We met our dear friends Carmen and Brooklyn for lunch.  Marley has talked nonstop about Brooklyn since we moved and could not wait to see her and "Miss Carmen".

We miss our dear friends from Dallas immensely, but we are loving our new slower paced life in a much smaller town.  Our friends will still be our friends wherever we may go...

proud...

Adam and I are always proud of Marley, but it's great when others recognize her as well.  This year at school she has received two awards.  First she got her GRIT Squad award for showing GRIT in class.  I am so glad this is something they are really teaching in her school.  She is always telling us how when something is hard she just uses her "grit".  I love that they teach the importance of not giving up when something is hard and that things aren't always going to come easy.

Then she got a "PRIDE" award for the first 9 weeks for showing excellence.  As her mom, I know she's excellent...but it's good to know that she shows that to others as well.  Marley, daddy and I are so proud of you and I'm glad that others get to see your light too!

halloween 2018...

We most definitely missed our Dallas neighbors this year and our pizza party before Trick-or-Treating, but we had a blast making new traditions and memories. 

Marley was Vampirina this year and looked so adorable!  She insisted on blue eyeshadow with "white highlights" on her lids to look just like the real thing...Lord help us!

Luckily Marley got to wear her costume a lot over the past week.  She got to wear it last week to dance class.  Then on Tuesday they wore them to school and even got to go Trick-or-Treating Tuesday night at her school with all the teachers.  On Halloween we went to First Baptist Hewitt for their Trunk-or-Treat and then to Grandma and Grandpa's.  While we were there our friends Toni, Justin, Cameron and Paige happened to come by and we ended up making the rest of the neighborhood with them.  This is why we came back home...getting to Trick-or-Treat with my childhood bestie and her family was so much fun and what I had dreamed of as a kid. It was so nice to actually get to see all of the family last night and I hope that Marley remembers all of these great times with our family and friends!

Cameron, Paige and Marley