Garth in Arlington

Over the weekend, the Welte 5 headed off to Arlington, Tx to the Garth Brooks concert. DJ bought us all tickets last Spring, and we decided to make it in to camping trip rather than getting a hotel. Megan had her mock meet Friday night, so DJ drove up with the camper Friday afternoon and got everything set up, and then Megan and I drove up Friday night after her meet. 

Saturday morning, DJ cooked us "camping toast", eggs, and bacon, and then I headed 2 hours east to pick up Adalyn and Gretchen from my parents. We had lunch, and then we headed back tot he campsite and got ready for the concert. 

Two adults taking 3 kids to their first concert. 

We ended up buying a parking spot in advance, and got there in plenty of time where traffic wasn't crazy, but we did park on the wrong side of the stadium for our entry gate. Whoops! 

The girls were a trooper though. This was our 2nd time going to AT&T Stadium; our first was for the Big 12 Championship game back in 2018, and hopefully we'll be back this December. 

DJ and his girls. 

We grabbed dinner and headed right for our seats. 

2nd row, 3rd level.... compared to most of the stadium and standing room only areas, I was thrilled with our seats. 

We also had some super kind peeps behind us that we chatted off and on with while we waited for the concert to start. 

Love this guy. 

These girls weren't sure what to expect for their first concert, but I think they loved it. They definitely loved being back together after a week of Camp Gee. 

Adalyn is our big country music fan. She sings to all the songs on the radio. She said "take my picture and put it on my Instagram." She doesn't realize she doesn't have an Instagram, just a hashtag wtih all of her pictures ;) 

The concert started late, but I feel like they rarely start on time. We listened to a few songs from a songwriter, and then Trisha Yearwood opened with a few of her songs. Gosh, I don't think I realize how much I love her music until I actually hear her. Singing to "She's In Love with the Boy" while my daughters were there was just so fun. 

Garth came out and did his thing and it was incredible. DJ and I had been to a Garth concert before, but this one was so much better. He played for a solid hour, then came back on and played requests that people had written on posters in the crowd. Then his band came back, he and Trisha live recorded Shallow, and it was fabulous. 

We made it back to the camper around 1, after sitting in the parking lot for a solid hour trying to get out! The girls were exhausted, but such a fun first concert!

Only 2 of our 3 know that they're going to see Carrie Underwood in November! Adalyn is going to freak! 

 

A Week with Megan

Last week, Adalyn and Gretchen went to my mom's house for their annual "Camp Gee". Megan wasn't able to go, because of gymnastics, but that left us with an entire week of our middle child being an only child and she loved every minute of it! 

When I came home from work on Monday, I took her bowling and she totally beat me by 2 points! 

She was a little proud of herself! 

After bowling, she played some arcade games. DJ joined us and we headed to Torchy's for dinner. 

Then we stopped by Crumbl cookies for dessert. 

It was such a fun afternoon with her! 

At one point during the week she was my "mini me". 

She had gymnastics, was my buddy at work one day, and played wtih neighbors. 

We finished the week with her mock gymnastics meet. 

It's rare that we get 1:1 time wtih the girls, but a whole week was extra rare! We loved every minute of it! 

 

40th Par-Tea

My sister in law and I both turned 40 this July, and my mom wanted to celebrate. When we turned 30 we went on a birthday cruise, which was fabulous and we said that we would do it again when we turned 40. But, with work and health, and all of the other things that get in the way, we just weren't able to make that happened. So, my mom decided to throw us a surprise tea party. Except, it wasn't a surprise for me. Ha! She had to tell me so she could convince me to make the drive home to Arkansas. We told my sister in law that I was coming up to drop off two of the girls for their annual "Camp Gee" and that we would go shopping Saturday to celebrate our birthdays. When she walked in the house, she was surprised with a tea party with so many of our close friends and ladies that have impacted both of our lives. 

My mom did a fabulous job setting everything up. She use to collect tea sets and has a great collection and was able to decorate 3 different tables. This one in her kitchen had blue tea cups and flowers. 

The kids table had a smaller tea set with a few flowers. 

Her dining room table had more tea sets, hat boxes, rose bowls, and flowers. It was gorgeous.

She picked up a strawberry cake for my sister in law. 

And a chocolate cake for me. 

We were "kissing our 30s goodbye" and all of our guests were able to take home hershey kisses. 

Another table view, along with the balloon garland. 

She served chicken salad, fruit, scones, chips, cucumber sandwiches, pimento cheese sandwiches, and pinwheels. 

She also made the most delicious punch. 

We were all there waiting on my sister in law to arrive so we could "go shopping."

My mom had crowns and made sashes for us to wear. 

I was so thankful that my mother in law could make the drive down to join us. 

We had the best time eating and chatting. 

Big thanks to my mom for throwing a 40th birthday bash! It was so much fun and worth the drive home. 

 

Amazon Lately

It's been a while since I've shared an Amazon Lately haul, but with summer winding down and back to school around the corner, I've found some finds that I thought you'd enjoy!

Here's a look at what we've grabbed off Amazon Lately. 

Gretchen asked for a soft pencil case. She looked on line and found this one, so we ordered it for back to school. It has lots of different pockets and space to hold everything she'll need for high school! 

Have you heard of dry brushing? I had heard of it years ago, and thought it sounded cool, but never got around to doing anything about it. In May, some of team young living was doing a lympatic challenge, and talked about how dry brushing can help your circulation and support your lymph system, and it's great for cellulite. So, I hopped online and ordered this dry brush. I've been using for a few weeks now, and just taking some time to self care has been so nice! 

We ordered this inflatable bowling set for Adalyn's birthday and it's definitely something we'll use over and over again! 

I love using roller bottles to make rollers with my essential oils. Plus, these are great to give as gifts to friends who might need to try something, or when the kids need a roller whipped up for school. are my favorite! 

I know I'm not the only parent that has a hard time finding goggles for their kids. My kids are so incredibly picky about goggles. This set was recommended by another blogger, and I immediately ordered them. Once the girls received them, they fell in love with their new goggles, and I'm not hearing them complain at the pool anymore. 

Rustic Maka is my favorite deodorant brand with clean ingredients that won't leave a rash under your arms. 

And finally, I ordered an immersion blender to mix quick drinks and supplements in. This one came with two different attachments. 

That's it for Amazon Lately! I would love to hear what you've ordered lately! 

 

DJ's 42.....

Over the weekend, DJ turned 42. We low-key celebrated his birthday, but we were just thankful to have had him home over the last two weeks. 

Saturday night, we went out to see Where the Crawdads Sing. I read the book when it first came out and loved it, and had been waiting for the movie. I honestly thought it would be one that I would just go and see myself, but when he said he wanted to see it too, I was like, heck yes! Let's go. So we went to see it Saturday night, and it was good. 

Sunday morning we slept in, so I didn't have time to cook breakfast, but we did make it to church. He said he just wanted to go out to eat for his birthday, so we opted to go after church. When we were walking in, Gretchen grabbed his hand, and I knew I needed to snap a pic, because this may not happen much more as she gets older. 

We went to County Line BBQ, and fed the turtles while we waited for our order. 

Adalyn loves turtles; they've been one of her favorite animals since kindergarten, so she totally loved this experience! Once again, she asked for a pet turtle for Christmas. We just can't convince DJ. 

We were able to walk right in, and our wait for food wasn't long at all! In fact, we were busy feeding turtles, and Megan ran back to the table and found our food waiting on us. 

I ordered the half pulled pork and half chicken, two service of potato salad. (I hate cole slaw). 

DJ is basically a barbeque connoseiur. 

After lunch, the girls had ice cream. I had peach cobbler, and DJ had banana pudding. Admittedly, he does judge BBQ restaurants based on their banana pudding. 

We went home and enjoyed a quiet and somewhat lazy afternoon. 

We were so full from lunch that we opted to skip cooking dinner, and just have cheesecake. His other favorite dessert. 

Here's to turning 42! 

DJ we love you bunches. We are so thankful that you are ours.