Texas Forever

I made a trip this summer (feels like forever ago) to see some of my favorite friends! I went to Austin to visit Lauren and Jamie and to celebrate Jamie graduating with her PhD!  I had such a fun time!

I flew to Austin on Thursday to hang out with Lauren before the graduation festivities.  We spent lots of time at Abel's, watching soccer, playing old school video games, and turtle racing.

It was also so fun to get to visit with my friend Chad who just moved to Austin!  He is so fun!

 

I always have so much fun with these girls!  On Friday we went to the Salt Lick with Jamie and her whole family!  On Saturday, the celebrating continued at Jamie's house for a party!

So proud of you Jamie!

Twins

I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog..... but until then here are some awesome pictures of me and my twin Kaitlin!

My niece Kaitlin and I have a long history of taking great pictures together!

But recently, I thought we were getting better at taking pictures together!  Here Kaitlin decided she wanted to be like her cool aunt Ray and carry my purse! So sweet and cute right? But it was way too heavy for her so she decided to drag it around the driveway.  Awesome.  THEN she decided she wanted to dress like me and put on the same shirt!    Progress!!

A few weeks ago, I went to visit my twin in her new hometown.  We went to the zoo where we got some more great pictures together!

I just love her so much!  Even if I make her take all these lame-o pictures!  They are too funny not to share.  :)

Beach Babe

Dad and I just got back from a week at the beach!   We had a great time.  I LOVE THE BEACH!!

The highlight of our trip was when we when Stand Up Paddle boarding (or SUP boarding as now we are experts in this field).  It is much MUCH harder than it looks.  My legs were so sore, I could barely walk down steps for days.  I am so glad Dad and I got to do this together!

I can't explain how much fun this was.  I can't wait to go SUP boarding down the Cumberland ha!

Don't you love our surf shirts?  We look so legit.

On our way back home from Florida, we stopped to see my favorite baseball team!  We were sooo excited to see the Braves!

It was a perfect day for a game and we had awesome seats.

It was the best trip!!

Catching up

In between all the stress of school and life, I have found some time to have some fun! A few weeks ago, I got to go with the UT Young Alumni to the Orange and White game in Knoxville.  We got to visit the UT football locker rooms and basketball facilities!

It was so fun to watch the game in the skybox with the other young alumni.  And of course the highlight of the tour was seeing Peyton :)

I also have been lucky to spend sometime with Dad.  He is teaching me how to be more like Katniss....

And we had lots of fun on the star of Knoxville this past weekend.

And finally, no weekend is complete without a s'more flatbread (YUMM) and a little bluegrass jam at the Station Inn!  Always so fun with Dad!

Success!

I am so happy TCAPs are over!  When I went to turn in all our school's tests, I was freaking out.  It was kinda a lot of pressure to be responsible for all of those answer sheets and booklets.  But I got a perfect score!  You either make the wall of fame or the wall of shame at the group testing office!

Obviously, this is us in front of the wall of fame!  I was so excited I HAD to take some pictures!

After I turned in all of our tests, I slept all weekend.  No joke.... all weekend....and I loved it.

TCAPs

TCAPs have been taking over my life.   I am so ready for them to be over.

A huge thanks to Dad and Katie for helping me this week!!  One more week and then I can turn them back into our district and I can go back to my normal life!

I was pretty proud of my bulletin board!  You can't see it but it has cute sayings like "B # (sharp) - eat a healthy breakfast"  and "Drum up confidence by thinking positive thoughts."

Spring Break 2012

Where to begin? A lot has happened in the past few weeks. I will write them later as time goes on. But for now, I want to remember a fun week I had with Amy and Dad in Arkansas!

Spring Break started when Dad got to Nashville. We had the best day going to trendy music stores, watching the NCAA tournament, going to BA prom and visiting my favorite local brewery. We got to go tour Yazoo Brewery which is here in Nashville. It was SO much fun. I highly recommend it.

Then we made the trip to Northwest Arkansas to visit my favorite niece and nephew. I had lots of fun with them playing outside, hiding Easter eggs, and just being silly.

I was so glad Dad got to go with me because we got to do some fun things on our own. Dad and I both read The Hunger Games and we finally got to see the movie on Spring Break. I LOVED IT! I thought they did a great job of turning the book into a movie. I might have liked it too much.....

And Dad (aka Gale) seemed to re-kindle his interest in archery.

Also, Dad and I went to visit this swanky art museum in Bentonville called Crystal Bridges. Um wow! It was amazing. It is the prettiest and coolest museum I have seen!

And some of the art there was inspiring! It was soo great. And of course I had to take a picture of Dolly! :)

Spring Break ended back in Nashville for Easter. Me and Dad on Easter:

And me and my roommate Julie:

It was a great break. I am so happy I got to spend so much time with my fabulous family.

Baby Colin

I just got back from Arkansas where I got to meet Baby Colin and hang out with the rest of his sweet family! I was so happy to get to be there to help Amy and Kory and to get to spend some quality time with Kaitlin too.

It is not easy trying to get from Nashville to Northwest Arkansas. I am so thankful for wonderful friends to take me EARLY to the airport and all those who offered to pick me up. It makes the travel process so much easier! And who wouldn't love to be taken to the airport by Mr. Chester and Katie? Love them :)

It is so fun to hold a sweet baby. Colin was so good and sweet and I just loved getting to meet him!

His mom and dad are pretty fun too!

I had so much fun with Kaitlin this weekend! We were buddies all weekend and did lots of fun things. We played dress up....

We played outside (She loves soccer).

And we danced and chased this balloon around all weekend!

It was such a wonderful weekend! I can't wait to go back!