annual spooky dinner

We had our annual spooky dinner.  It's one of our FAVORITE traditions.  

This year we changed our dinner up a bit.  

Our menu consisted of

BONES

WITCH POTION

GHOST potatoes

VAMPIRE BLOOD

 RIBS

 And for dessert, DIRT & WORMS.

 

 It was a tad crazy this year (as it always is Sunday dinner with all the cousins) BUT it's always memorable listening to spooky music, reminiscing on favorite Halloween memories and just enjoying the spooky food!

homecoming parade

I'm in LOVE with our new little town of Prosper. 

 It's little (for now) and full of friendly people who all want to unify and be a part of the community.  On a regular basis you see or hear the phrase "We are Prosper, we are one."  Which honestly, can get annoying at times BUT the phrase has played it's part in making this town come together.  You gotta love that.  One of the BIG events of the year for this town is the Prosper Homecoming Parade.  The whole town comes together for this big parade.  A bunch of Boston's football buddies were getting together beforehand to "tailgate" and play football.  It was good for Boston to hang with some new friends.

The parade started and Boston went with his buddies and Hudson stuck with us catching every piece of candy that came his way.  

 Afterwards, the boys both admitted that they got MORE candy than they do at Halloween (I'm not sure this is true but hey, let them believe it if they want to).  They LOVED our town's cute little homecoming parade and we can't wait to make this an annual tradition in years to come (Boston has dreams of being on the PHS football float one day).  

preschool fall field trip

Hudson's preschool (Sprouts Preschool) went on a fall field trip this year.  We went to downtown McKinney (which is adorable) where they set up a fun little fall activities area for preschools.  

Hudson got to pet and feed goats,

 Pick out and decorate his own mini pumpkin,

 Make and taste the butter they churned,

 Played a few games and then had story time.  

I also found out that Hudson's favorite friend to hang out with is Liza!  All he cared about while I was taking him from station to station was where Liza was.  He didn't care to eat lunch by all the boys in his class, he wanted to sit by Liza!  I think I'm in trouble!

Side note, don't you just DIE at their shirts!  "Wanna 'taco' about Jesus? 'Lettuce' pray!"

Gotta love a little creativity!

utah trip #2

Back in July, Brandon called Kent to tell him his plans for Amanda's big 30th birthday!  He wanted to have all her friends come to Utah and surprise her.  I didn't have to hesitate to say YES!  It just so happened to fall on the weekend AFTER my grandma's 80th birthday celebration, so I booked flight number TWO out to Utah (bless my husband for taking on the boys two weekends in a row).

I had a little extra time after flying in, so after doing a little solo shopping, I met up with my friend Katie that I grew up with!  It's basically been 6 years since we saw each other last.  You know who's a life friend when you can pick right up where you left off like no time has really even passed!

Love that my southern friend hasn't let Utah take her southern charm away!

That night, was the BIG surprise!  Brandon had recruited quite a bit of Amanda's friends from over the years.  Her face when we walked in and saw us all there was priceless!  We had one big slumber party that night, doing what girls do all night.  I don't think I've stayed up until 4:30 since PRE-kids.

The next morning, we peeled open our eyes to get ready for our pedicures that Brandon treated us all to (SO nice of him).  A few girls had to leave after pedi's but we were going to go until we couldn't go any more.  So, for those who could, we went to lunch (at Cubby's---DELICIOUS.  Texas needs one asap) and kept the party going.

We then headed to do some SHOPPING!  You can't have a girls weekend without some.  We also tried a Mexican restaurant for dinner in Salt Lake.  Apparently it's THE Mexican restaurant called Red Iguana.  We heard that the MOLE sauce was their thing and after getting some recommendations from the waiter, we all ended up ordering the SAME thing.  Well, when the food came, we all took a bite and came to the same conclusion----YUCK!  It was quite embarrassing when Amanda told the waiter that it was NOT our thing....so she kindly took ANOTHER order for us---fajitas (always a safe bet).  MUCH better choice for us.  I still think that mole sauce taste is still lingering in my mouth...blah!

I don't think we were quite ready for our weekend to come to an end, so we decided to catch a late movie to see "The Intern".  I will say, from what I saw, it was an adorable movie but it is SO hard to stay awake after only getting a few hours of sleep the night before and you are sitting in reclining, lazy boy chairs.  I'm pretty sure 3 of the 4 of us conked.  

Afterwards, we said our goodbyes to Lindsey and Jenn, then I headed back with Amanda to stay the night since my flight didn't leave until Sunday evening.  

It was nice having some one on one time with Amanda before I flew out.  It's been 4 years since we have seen each other last and so catching up was completely necessary.  

She's a lifer for SURE.  Being able to pick right up where you left off, means something.

Happy Dirty Thirty, Amanda!!

So happy I could come celebrate you!!

It was a BLAST! See you in NYC!!!

ent

Last December, Hudson had an ear infection that for the life of us would not fully clear up.  After a few rounds of amoxicillin and 3 rocephin shots, his fluid still hadn't gone away and our doctor wanted us to see an ENT to possibly get tubes put in.  

I scheduled an appointment, brought him in to the first ENT and after failing a hearing test (I already knew his hearing wasn't normal) and one QUICK look into his ears, the doctor said he needed tubes, adenoids removed and tonsils out.  I can't say in the moment I was completely educated about all this but I will say I didn't feel GREAT about the news or comfortable with it.  I went home, talked to Kent about it and we decided to go ahead with the surgery.  After all, this is a fairly common surgery.  Well, the day before the planned surgery, Hudson came down with strep.  This meant the surgery couldn't be performed and we had to cancel the surgery (this was the first red flag).  

Since I didn't LOVE the first doctor and since I didn't feel 100% comfortable anyway, I decided to take his strep as a sign and scheduled a second opinion instead of just rescheduling the surgery.  This time, the doctor did a MUCH more thorough look into his ears and said that he didn't need his tonsils out but would recommend tubes and adenoids.  I decided to schedule the surgery a second time not really paying attention to my gut to NOT go through with it.  The night before the surgery this time, Hudson woke me up in the middle of the night and started puking.  Again, the surgery had to be cancelled because he was sick (a sickness that literally lasted those few hours--he was back to himself with no other symptoms by mid morning).  

After all this and a little bit of research, we decided to put a halt on the surgery and wait 6 months when we moved to Dallas to see if the fluid cleared up on it's own.  What I learned after some research was that often times, doctors RUSH to surgery when in fact, if  you give the fluid a little bit of time, it will fully clear up on it's own with little to no damage to their hearing.  I was a little hesitant to hold off but we just didn't feel right about surgery.  Fast forward 6 months and took him to a NEW ENT in Dallas.  He passed his hearing test (which almost brought me to tears) and then the doctor looked in his ears and saw very little fluid in his left ear with nothing left in his right ear.  This doctor agreed with my research and said that they are trying to educate doctors now to not rush straight to surgery because of this.  He also said that in all his research, he's also found that saline spray and Nasonex can help clear up the fluid as well.  With that, we decided to try saline and Nasonex for 6 weeks to see if that cleared up the rest of the little fluid left.  

In a few weeks, we will go in for a quick check and then will be on our way surgery FREE!

I'm so glad we finally listened to that little voice telling us not to go through with the surgery.  I'm also so grateful that we found a doctor here in Dallas that didn't feel the need to RUSH to surgery right away and didn't think that I was CRAZY!

utah trip #1

My grandma is turning 80 so to celebrate her wonderful life of 80 years, I headed to Utah with my sisters to join in on the fun.

My mom wanted us to do a session at the Brigham City temple for some of our ancestors. The temple is BEAUTIFUL and it's always neat to go to the temple with your sisters and mom.

My poor mom and her hurt knee.

Later for lunch, we stopped by Cafe Rio.  It's a must at LEAST one time while you're in Utah.  It never, ever disappoints.

That night, I convinced my sisters to drive down to Gardner's Village because it was the weekend of their Witch's Night Out.  I was a little bummed we weren't prepared for the occasion to dress up as witches like everyone else BUT that place never disappoints with all it's cute little shops.  Last minute, I also asked my long time friend, Amanda, to come meet up with us since they now live in Utah.  I hadn't seen her in a FOREVER so I'm so glad she agreed to come on such a whim.  I was sad we didn't get to spend more time together but knew the following weekend I would be BACK for her suprise 30th celebration!  

My only disappointment for the night was that I didn't buy a thing.  All I did was leave upset that I don't have a "Down to Earth Home" in Texas so that I can furnish my whole house!

The next day was time to celebrate my Grandma and her 80 years she's spent on earth!  

She's the cutest, most thoughtful, selfless person there is.

It was so fun going down memory lane and hearing all the grand kids' memories of her.  Picking raspberries at her house, singing songs while she played on the piano, the most delicious homemade meals, her handmade chocolates she makes EVERY year, playing kickball with cousins in her beautiful green backyard, Bear Lake memories and more!  She's a very LOVED woman who loves her family.  It was such a fun night hanging out with all of our Bennett cousins who we don't get to see very often.  Family is the best!  

I tried to convince my sisters to go to Park City Sunday after my cousin blessed her sweet little baby Bode but I was unsuccessful.  Instead, Monday, we decided to head to Provo and hit up the BYU bookstore and drive around the campus.  I loaded up my shopping bag with LOTS of BYU gear!  We are trying to brainwash our boys to have to desire to go to BYU one day if they want to stay in Papa's will.  I think I almost have Boston's dream to play LSU football changed to play BYU football by explaining to him that HE may be THE one to get BYU a football championship one day!  I know, I'm awful.  BYU campus really is a nice one and not to mention the cost of the tuition for the kind of education you get it UNBELIEVABLE!

And of course, swig is a must stop after I had one this summer.  A dirty DP is now my addiction.  You can imagine my excitement when I learned people in our ward are planning to open up THREE in Dallas in the next few months!!! 

Before heading to the airport, we stopped by City Creek in Salt Lake and did a little shopping at Deseret Book and Albion Fit (I'm obsessed).  City Creek is BEAUTIFUL!  Can an outdoor mall be beautiful?  Well, it was.  Especially when the Salt Lake Temple is RIGHT there.

And then I was UBER excited when we got to the airport and I spotted CAFE RIO in the terminal!  I wasn't going to leave without getting one to eat on the flight home!

birthday celebration

Kent surprised me with a little night out for my birthday.

I was a little surprised AND hesitant to go at first but then realized how much it was needed.  

We left in the early afternoon and headed down to the Galleria for some SHOPPING.  Kent doesn't LOVE to shop, but I will say, he was VERY pleasant to shop with this go around.  We did a little house furniture shopping which in the past he's NEVER thrilled about so it was nice to see him excited about it for a change.  Then we did a little clothes shopping.  I have to appreciate his patience and because of that I decided to try things on.  He HATES when I don't try things on first.

Then we headed for dinner at a yummy little Mexican restaurant we hadn't tried before.  

Afterwards, we hurried to the hotel so we could watch the BYU and then LSU football games.  Yes, on my birthday, we spent a lot of the night watching football.  Kent's lucky to have a wife who loves football almost MORE than he does.

It was so nice to get away even if it was just downtown.  

Kent was so sweet to think about what I REALLY needed----a night away.

Can't help but love that guy.

Happy Birthday to me!

garth! garth! garth!

When it was announced that GARTH BROOKS was coming to the DFW, I knew tickets were a MUST.  Kent even promised to come along if the tickets didn't get too pricey.  He's not much of a concert goer (in fact, in the first years of our marriage he only promised me FOUR concerts in this life....well Garth was my FOURTH but I can promise it won't be his last concert with me) and ESPECIALLY not a country boy.  

The night of the concert, Kent came out dressed like a TRUE cowboy.  He didn't just buy some cheap-o gear either.  He went head to toe for the REAL cowboy stuff.  The only thing missing was his cowboy buckle (boots not pictured).

I died. 

Our seats were all in different places (that's what you get when you try to get 6 seats together to a sold out show) so we had to scream by our lonesome as our husbands sat quietly and watched.

 This man doesn't stop.  He's amazing and seriously LOVES his fans and LOVES what he does.  It's why you can't help but love him!  

 I stood up, screamed, sang loud and danced like a crazy person the WHOLE night.  EVERY song was the BEST.  I love my husband for putting up with my craziness for the night.  He did end the night with appreciation and respect for the man who was doing SEVEN back to back shows in Dallas.

Also, you know you are getting old when you go to the concert of a musician you grew up listening to and EVERYONE around you was OLD.  Like OLD.  Like, me being 31 was probably one of the YOUNGEST people there.  

The night was one for the books and he was JUST as good as I remember!!! I would see him over and OVER again.  

I LOVE GARTH!!!