Homecoming

McKenzie was really looking forward to Homecoming. Any excuse this girl has to get all dolled up is very welcomed. She went over to Brielle's to get ready with some friends. 

It may not have gone as smoothly has she had hoped, but thank heavens for Lily for saving the day! These girls are currently in the best friendship and I am so grateful for her. 

Look how amazing these girls all look! 

The seminary crew. Goofballs all of them.

McKenzie's dress was giving me Cinderella vibes and I am in such awe of her natural beauty. 

After pictures they went to dinner and then the dance. She was really hoping for a date this year to homecoming and was awfully close to securing one with a boy from her L2K class.  I think if they had one more week he would have been brave enough to ask. As it was they talked for a bit at the dance and she came home incredibly giddy. I'm glad that she gets to have great high school experiences like this. It makes my momma heart happy.

Proof of life at Purdue

It is so weird not seeing Cambrie regularly. I try not to text or call her enough to annoy her, but some information about her life would be nice! Every now and then I'll get a surprise call from her and get to hear her talk about her new friends and what they're all up to. And even though she's not really into social media, she'll occasionally repost a friend's post that happens to include her. When I see those posts I immediately screenshot them because getting pictures from her is nearly impossible. That girl doesn't like pictures at all. 

But from what I can gather here's how life is going: She is loving playing on the women's rugby team. It has given her a core group of friends, and a potential new best friend on campus, Shannon. They have practice five days a week, and are in the middle of their 15's season so they're also playing weekly. She's been able to play in two games and is improving really quickly. 

Another core group of friends are her physics friends, Gwena, Jack and Avery. They study together, hang out, and apparently dye each other's hair just for fun! 

I know McKenzie is getting more details than I am about Cambrie's life because they text all the time. I'm just grateful for these little glimpses into life and can see that she is enjoying herself. 

Mountain recovery

I absolutely love it! When I get to go to the mountains for some recovery training. A few mile hike on a moody day, it was glorious.

 

2013 Boys Extreme

Kelton is loving soccer. I can see how much his knowledge of the game is growing and how good he's becoming. His passes and shots are always so precise. He knows exactly where he wants the ball to go. He's not afraid to go up against any player, and is crazy dedicated to making sure no offensive players get past him. It's fun to watch. He plays defense and is very good at it, but this last game he was given the opportunity to take a PK and scored! It's his first goal in years and I was so excited for him!

 

Bits of September

Bits of September.

McKenzie was invited to go to HoCo at Holy Family with her friend, Bella. They both look so beautiful! She said it was fun but so different going to a private school event versus a public school dance. Her dance is a just a few short weeks away and she can't wait.

Another Skate City even with Meridian. Even though Daxton isn't on student council this year, I think we'll still be attending a lot of these. He has so much fun skating.

Silly faces

Backwards day at school

Daxton picked up tennis this fall and is absolutely loving it. Looks like I need to learn another sport for my kids!

Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry. Wow. This was the final stop on our few days of fun in Nashville. The Grand Ole Opry started as a regular country music radio broadcast back in 1925. As it grew in popularity it had to move to a few homes over the years. It was at the Ryman for about 30 years, and for the last 50 years it has it's own home at the Grand Ole Opry house. Membership in the Opry is one of country music's crowning achievements, just 225 acts have been invited to be members out of the thousands that have performed there over the years. Just as the Ryman felt special, this had it's own flavor of special. 

It's the 100 year celebration so they have live performances every night. We were able to listen to seven different artists, but I think my favorites were Avery Anna and Dustin Lynch. I would love to attend a full concert there with some of my favorite artists. 

There was so much history in Nashville and it was so cool to be able to experience it with this handsome cowboy.

Country Music Hall of Fame

After the surprising success our visit at the Ryman was, we walked down to the Country Music Hall of Fame to see what else we could learn. There was more history and less history all at once. It is a collection of multitudes of stage outfits, guitars, and paraphernalia from the country music stars of the last hundred years or so. While it was cool seeing outfits from Taylor Swift, Laney Wilson, Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, and Blake Shelton among many others, it didn't feel as personal. Still very cool to see these things, but we didn't linger long. 

The car though, insane! It was personalized by Nudie's (a shop that personalizes and blings out all of the stage outfits), and it was wild. Guns, holsters, silver coins, long horns...every inch of the car had been decked out for an outlaw. It was wild!

I think the Hatch Show Print Shop at the end of the tour was very cool though. While we were at the Ryman we commented how cool it was that all of the promo posters all had the same style. Well that's because they're all made by hand by the same print shop. We got to watch them work and that was awesome. I wish I had place for a Hatch print somewhere in my house because there was something about the nostalgia of them that spoke to me.

Hall of Fame walk right out front. Nashville was a surprisingly bright city.