Dallas Shopping Trip

Neil's parents are just so generous.  They are so giving of their time and resources!  They were so sweet to take Rebecca and me to Dallas for a fun Spring shopping trip.

We began our journey on Friday when R and J picked me up in Shreveport.  I joked that I'd be waiting by the interstate for them!!  I was so excited to not have to be responsible for anyone but myself!  We went straight to Knox Henderson for some kitchen store shopping.  We headed to the hotel that was being overrun by a teenage Indian dance competition.  We met Gary for dinner at the fabulous Cafe Pacific.  We had a great time!

The pecan ball dessert was YUM-o!

I guess Gary was date!

Rebecca flew into Dallas as we were finishing up our meal.  She said she felt like a Kardashian flying to Dallas for a shopping trip!  me too!!

Neil sent this sweet pic of my clean babies all snuggled up on the couch!!

We began our day at Dry Bar for blow-outs and Blushington for make-up!

Before

This is the make-up I chose, but I ended up with a dark purple smokey eye.  Something must have gotten lost in translation.

After! Our hair looked good!  Leslie and Amanda met us for lunch and a little shopping.  We even got to see Leslie's new apartment!!  It was super posh as I expected it would be.

Brunch at Origin before we headed to our last stop...Central Market

2 grocery carts full or delicious, organic groceries!!  

Thanks, Nana and Granddad for the best trip ever!!!  Can't wait to go again! :)

Henry's field trip

I got to go on Henry's fun field trip last week!!  It was "R" week so we went to Regions Bank.  His teacher's husband is the bank president so that's why she chose it.  I am partial to Red River Bank.  

We got to go to the big conference room where Mr. Evans gave each child a 50 cent piece.  Then, he passed out 4 pennies to each child.  We walked down to the fountain and got to throw pennies in the fountain.  After the fountain we got to go inside the big vault,  Lastly. we went to where the tellers are and got suckers!  What fun!

He would close his eyes and then turn around really quick to see where the penny fell in the water.

Z and Henry in the vault.

USS Razorback camping

Neil and Bennett went on a really cool camping trip to Little Rock and stayed on the USS Razorback.  Neil wasn't really looking forward to sleeping in such tight quarters, but ended up having a great time!  They left Shreveport around noon and headed up to the submarine.  The plan was to arrive around 4, take a sub tour with the troop, eat pizza and watch a movie on the deck, and go to bed.  They had so much fun!

The next morning they woke up, had a continental breakfast, and were back home by noon. Short and sweet trip.  Bennett even got a new patch from his travels!

Captain Bennett

His very own dog tag

Sweet cub scout t-shirts

The whole group!

Bunk-Mates

Bennett's First Tennis "Match"

Bennett's school started a tennis team and it is a big ole' cluster.  We had our first "match" was isn't even a math.  It is the parents throwing balls to their kid and watching them maybe hit it.  I was glad Carrie was there to help Bennett since I had Henry on the sidelines.  Way to think, Querbes!  

Bennett loves sports so much, but it is super exhausting going to all the sports!  I kind of like the idea of tennis because once you are in the business world people don't say "let's go play football!"  We shall see where this takes us.  I would rather him play tennis than play on the iPad that's for sure!

Bennett, Tripp, and Owen

Pops came to watch for a minute and brought gatorade!

Nice stance!

Spring Fling

Bennett's school fundraiser was a blast this year!  The committee worked so hard and did a great job raising $ for the school!

I was especially thrilled that Amy was presented with flowers for being named teacher of the year.  Way to go, Ames!!!

Bennett ad a blast with his friends

Gammy even came and that makes everyone happy!

So did Pops.  He ended up winning some sweet 265 lessons for a great deal!  He was pumped!

Fleur de lis face painting

I got my hair done by a new girl this day and it is waaaaaaay too dark!  Next time=lighter!

Amy and me celebrating her teacher of the year winnings!

The proud hubby and his teacher of the year. :)

Bennett loves Mr. Hall.  He is the security guard at school and everyone's favorite!

Neil and Henry didn't get to attend because Henry was burning up with fever by the time it was time to head to the event.  Poor baby.  He had puked on the couch, wet his bed, and then pooped all over the bathroom floor.  We couldn't handle anymore of his bodily issues!!!  So glad he feels better!

Krewe of Brew

For the past few years we've talked about wanting float in the Highland parade.  This year was the year we said let's do it! With the upcoming opening of the brewery, we decided that we needed to make a Red River float.  We turned our shop into a float den for 2 months and got busy.  Once a weekend for 6 weeks we had a crew of design (Margaret and Nikki), construction (Chris, Neil, Beau, and Jay) and helpers (Leigh, Erin, Andre, Katie, and Jared).  I was the float lieutenant so I was the manager of all operations.  You know I loved this title.

We had several pow wows on how to make the float look amazing and then we had to keep coming back to the drawing board...an actual white board we used for the sketching.  Once the construction crew got the frame built we were able to get busy.  I handled all the ordering of throws, supplies, and random items.  I maintained the budget, too.  It was a full float operation.  We now know how much work goes into Mardi Gras floats.  I will never take the look of a float for granted again!  They are pieces of art!

We decided we needed a port a potty on the float and thank God we did!  It was a definite necessity! We were on the float unable to get off for 6 hours.  I recruited Bobby to drive the float.  He was the best!!  Beau's dad picked me and the float up at 8am on parade day.  We were escorted by Chris in the front and Beau in the back.  We only hit a couple trees on the way to the staging area.  We arrived and were immediately moved to the large float area!  I felt that it was because our float was so cool!

We got everything ready, went to sign our float in, and had Bobby take his breathalyzer.  They were super serious about breathalyzing everyone!  The drivers were also tested at random on the parade route.  Thankfully Bobby blew a 0.00 every time!

The rest of the crew arrived around 11am and enjoyed the floats and other krewes.  We were excited for the king and queen to judge our float at 12:30.  Sadly, we didn't win best float even though we knew we won!  We got honorable mention.  

Our float front was supposed to look like a Red River tap handle pouring beer into 2 large glasses. Margaret did the painting of the logos and did an AMAZING job!  Chris built the tap handle and it just looked TOP NOTCH!  We all contributed to the beers using barrels from Porter's, chicken wire, , and spray insulation. Nikki came over during the day to work on the float.  It was truly a team effort.  Beau and Chris went on numerous trips to Home Depot.  Margaret, Nikki and me went on several Hobby Lobby runs.  Amazon was weekend favorite.  Katie and I cleaned out several Dollar Tree's of their pretzels.  Leigh did lots of ordering!  Jared loaded all the beads in the proper areas.  Neil was the best cleaner, builder, and all around float guy!

The main thing we wanted to accomplish was great exposure for the brewery.  I think it is a great showing of friendship that all of these people took their weekends to build a float for their friends expecting nothing in return except for free beer. :) I am so proud of my friends!

the gorgeous tap handle

float renderings and new logo with hops in between

The theme of the parade was Rocky Highland Picture Show,  The back of our float!

float inside

Margaret's fabulous logo!

We had a float loading party with jambalaya and beer the day before the parade.  We loved showing off our hard work and hearing how great our float looked!

Dad brought a king cake, too!  These 2 don't even rink beer and are wearing our signature throw.

Not sure how I feel about a 4 year old wearing a got beer hat!

Float Krewe chiefs!

Gammy and her favorite girl

Top construction krewe

Great one of the Bevilles

Sweet Sissy

Our family of 5

Ready for parade day!!!!

Our fabulous krewe!  We were thrilled that Amy and Daniel were able to ride last minute.

the girls

Andre had a selfie stick and took some great photos on parade day!

Bennett got to ride in the truck with Drew and Jake,  He was so excited!

ready to throw you something mister!

Dicharry's plus me

Ready to roll!

There was no shortage of 90s rap music and dancing.  James was in charge of the playlist.

some of the parade goers

I love this pic!  This was after my sweet pep talk!!!

One thing that stands out is how everyone had to find childcare for their babies.  We were so thankful that Rebecca ad Daniel chose to come to town and keep our kids from 10am-6pm!  They were troopers and we love them so much for it!