We kicked off the month with our annual Super Bowl party. The turnout was great and everyone brought over delicious food. The game was pretty uneventful, but we really enjoyed watching the halftime show, as always. Hanleigh was picked from a raffle to participate in Girls on the Run, which is a program designed for girls to train, complete a 5K, and also learn how to support other fellow females in a positive way. She is really excited about it because some of her friends are in it and even though there was a little reluctance at first, it seems like she’s having a blast and it’s very proud of herself as indicated by the number of laps she completes at the YMCA track on both Tuesdays and Thursdays. Both girls continued taking tumbling classes and Haneligh is loving hip hop classes as well.
I spent a weekend visiting my dear friend, Laura, and her growing family in their new home in Jackson, Mississippi. When I arrived, we took a great walk along the shores of the local reservoir and then went to a delicious place for lunch and did some quick shopping. That night, we went to one of the city’s best restaurants and then out to see Amanda Shires (part of The Highwomen) in concert. She is such a talented violinist and singer!!! The next day, I enjoyed hanging out with Levi, her and Jay’s son. I brought him some Legos as a gift and he really loved them. That afternoon, we went to a rodeo—the first one I’ve ever been to and, wow, was it an experience! There was everything from barrel racing to capturing calves and lassoing them down, to bull riding. I’m pretty sure my jaw was open for a good portion of the event. We had a great time and even dressed the part. During my last day there, I was fortunate enough to go to their church where both Laura and Jay lead the worship service and the musical program. They are both amazing singers and Jay is a great guitar player. It was awesome to see them in their element!
During that same weekend when I was visiting Laura, Trent and six of his F3 friends flew out to big sky Montana for a five-day ski trip to shred the slopes. Most of them were snowboarders, but two of the guys were skiers. They got really lucky with some of the best snow conditions they could have had. Big Sky got 48″ of fresh snow about five days before they arrived, and then another 8″ while they were there. The temperatures were pretty frigid though (around 0°F). They had such a great time that they are planning on going back again next year.
While we were gone, Trent’s parents watch the kids and Terry was brave enough to take Hanleigh to the Valentine’s day sweetheart dance. That is pretty much where a whole bunch of kids are running around screaming and it’s like a complete circus. He’s pretty bold to do that. Thank you! Since Hanleigh’s birthday falls during the summer, she never gets the luxury of having the rock at school painted for her birthday, so I painted the rock for her nine-and-a-half birthday and she was super excited to help out with that! Brayden had her monthly Cotillion class and we observed Hanleigh’s performance at her hip hop class. I had dinner with Kendall one evening, which was awesome as always and we booked our flights to a fall college girls’ trip to Barbados. I’m so excited for that trip!
We went over to Abby and Justin’s house to celebrate Nash’s third birthday, and that evening a bunch of us ladies went out to the local hip bowling alley for a surprise 40th birthday party for Renee. That led to a bar crawl along Montford Drive, which ended in dancing like crazy it Angry Ale’s. We had Mom over for dinner one night, which is something we are trying to do more regularly now (invite the grandparents over).
The month culminated with a very special and fancy evening out to watch Julie perform during her Dancing with the Stars charity event that raises money for the Pink House, a local home that provides a place of refuge and support for women undergoing cancer treatment. It helps them to survive and thrive!!! Julie did an amazing job dancing and her custom, handmade outfit was absolutely stunning. We went to an after party at the Mimosa Grill and it was so much fun!!! In order for her to even participate as a dancer in the performance, she had to raise over $30,000! She surpassed that amount and did incredible. We are so proud of you, Julie!
Hanleigh enjoy the birthday party with her best friend, Lila, at the local ice skating rink. In other news, we sold my Acura to Carmax and are now just a single-car family. We are actively searching for another car, but so far, it hasn’t been too big of an issue to only have one car, since we both work from home. I’m sure we will run into situation where we will definitely need two cars. Trent and I went to dinner to a relatively new restaurant called Link & Pin and it was absolutely delicious!