[life] I Can't Live Without... the Texas Rangers #3

I'm linking up with Katie at "...for Lauren and Lauren" for another "I Can't Live Without" link up!

 

Now I know I have quite a few Texas readers/subscribers, but I'm not sure of how many other states and countries are represented. Also, I am not sure of how highly you may view your area sports teams... but at our house, we BLEED Jesus and the Texas Rangers! 

Since Nate and I are both native Texans and lived in North Texas (me)/East Texas (him) for the majority of our lives, we have been bred into the Texas Rangers fandom. We both remember attending games as children and that devotion hasn't withered into our adult-age.

If the game is on TV, we are either watching it live or recording it to watch later. I am not a big "sports aficionado", but Nate has been an excellent instructor, teaching me the ins and outs of the game. I have always known the gist, but to know plays and positions... I feel pretty professional! 

My parents live about 10 minutes away from the Ballpark in Arlington (it is now called "Globelife Park", but throwback Rangers fans will ALWAYS know it as the Ballpark), so any time we go to visit my family and the Rangers are in town, we make a point to attend the game. So much fun! Baseball really is America's Pastime and I love the history, class, and nostalgia that goes along with a good ol' baseball game. Plus the food... you MUST indulge in ballpark food when attending a game! My go-to's are always a bag of cotton candy and some garlic Parmesan fries. Delish!

So what about you? Are you as devoted to your hometown team as we are? Where do you live, and what team(s) do you support? We also BIG HEART the Dallas Cowboys (football), and of course we support the Dallas Mavericks (basketball) and Dallas Stars (hockey), but we don't avidly watch those two sports as much as we watch baseball and football. Oh, to be Texan :)

[life] I Can't Live Without... Photography #3

Linking up with Katie at ...for Lauren and Lauren for the "I Can't Live Without" link-up!

I am a HUGE fan of photography! I'm not a professional photographer: I have no idea about light quality, ISOs (?), or how to work those fancy cameras. I'm more of a point-and-shoot gal, knowing how to have "good" light w/no shadows, and how to crop a photo to get the captured moment perfectly.

I love how photos tell a story and help remember a moment in time. Lately, Nate and I have tried to not be as "technology"- dependent and focus more on being IN the moment rather than have a phone or camera attached to our face the entire time... But I just really enjoy going back and looking at photos to see a fun or beautiful moment in time!

Here are a few of my favorite photos and moments in time:

Sunset in Destin, Florida (celebrating our 4-year wedding anniversary)

 The gorgeous landscape of our favorite Caribbean location: Roatan, Honduras

 Sneaking a kiss with Nate in a private, secluded cove in Honduras

Listening and enjoying an awesome Dave Matthews Band concert with Nate (his favorite band)

Family vacation in Cozumel, Mexico

Of course, our wedding day: this is one of my favorite photos from that day. The way we are looking at each other and how we are still so completelyyyy in love. Blessed.

One of our favorite places in the world: The Ballpark in Arlington (it will always be called that to me, although it is now called Globe Life Park)

Another favorite place: WALT DISNEY WORLD #kidsatheart

Enjoying the company of my favorite furry children friends: Chloe and Oliver

 Getting ice cream on an incredibly HOT Texas summer afternoon with our best friends

Graduating college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education: #lifegoals

And us, today: still can't believe he's all mine!

While reminiscing and looking at these photos, I couldn't help but smile. These moments have captured just a second of an amazing day, week, or life event. Looking at these glimpses in time help me look back on what memorable moments they each were and help me remember the event(s) in full.

What are your favorite photos? We all have the obvious: vacations, marriages, babies, etc. Any out of the ordinary?

Have a great week!

[life] Spring & Summer Bucket List 2015

We have been enjoying beautiful weather in Texas so far this spring. A few scattered storms, here and there, but the temperatures have been lovely! Upper 60s in the morning to mid-80s by the afternoon. We Texans relish in this time, because before we know it, it'll be summer and the temps will be in the 100s!

I compiled together a list of the 10 things I want to do more of during the beautiful spring and summer months. They are in no particular order, but I think you'll notice #10 is my favoriteee. Read on!

As Texans, we enjoy a variety of scenery. My favorite? The beach. No, they aren't the Bahamian beaches I have come to know and love, but they are beaches nonetheless. The closest is a little over two hours away from us, which would be perfect for a day trip.

We have an amazing group of core friends here where we live. We have the best times getting together, talking, and of course- EATING. Recently, we have had everyone bring over their meat of choice and we have a big ol' cookout: each couple brings a side or dessert. It is the best!

There are some fabulous local venues that have live music events on the weekend. Nothing on a major scale, but low key: acoustic, small crowd, fabulous views at the different venues. There's nothing like enjoying a cool beverage with some live music playing in the background. Nate will actually be singing/playing at a winery this summer, so I'll definitely dedicate a blog post to that when it happens.

Remember that group of friends who loves to cook-out? The girls are BIG into crafting and I love it! Hopefully we can get some more crafts worked into our schedule this spring/summer.

Y'ALL. Last week, I learned how to make HOMEMADE JELLY. It is divine! One of our friend's mom's has a jelly/jam machine and we made apple jelly. It was so fun, we vowed to do it again and again this spring/summer. Yum!

One of the local wineries near us shows movies every Saturday evening during the summer. You can bring a picnic, chairs/blankets and of course they serve their beverages too. It makes for a fun evening with friends... just bring bug spray!

Nate and I are blessed to live in an area of Texas with lots of little "treasure" towns nearby. We can take day trips in a variety of directions and explore cute/quaint towns that we have never visited before. We hope to add a few new stops this summer!

As our church's ministry assistant (and also the pastor's wife), a lot of event planning falls on my shoulders, such as Vacation Bible School (pictured above: our dear friends who helped volunteer during the week). Lots of fun events are on the calendar this spring/summer, including after church luncheons, a church water day at the local water park, baseball games, small group events, concerts, youth camp, and of course VBS. Whew!

Usually our spring/summer is full of wedding activity. We currently have two, possibly three on the calendar this year. My cousin is marrying a gorgeous gal that we have already basically had in our family since they started dating in high school (10 years ago)! Another wedding is a cute couple from my home church, and Nate is actually conducting the ceremony. My mom is close friend's with the bride's mom, so it will be an extra-sweet ceremony.

 

Of COURSE this will be on our spring/summer schedule! TEXAS RANGER BASEBALLLL. Unfortunately, we missed Opening Day last Friday (sadness... I don't EVEN want to talk about it), but we already have 3+ games geared up between now and July. Can't wait to cheer them on! We are actually watching them on TV right now! #devoted

What are your go-to events for spring/summer? Of course, I could add and add on forever, but 10 seemed like a good starting point. There will be some snow-cone and ice cream consumption as well!

Happy weekend!

[travel] I Have Always Wanted To Travel To...

[using blog post ideas from College Prepster]

Travel. I really enjoy the concept of visiting new places, eating at local restaurants and hole-in-the-wall locations, and traveling with my best friend (that would be my husband)!

If I had alllll the money in the world and was able to go ANYWHERE... that's such a hard call to make. There are SO MANY PLACES in the world. How could you choose just one?

I think it goes without saying that my all-time favorite way to travel is by cruise ship. It's relaxing. Accommodating. And you visit multiple countries within the span of a few days. Grant it, you don't spend a long time at any one place (just a day), but it's a great way to see lots of places for an inexpensive price.

To make things simple(er), I have decided to narrow down my choices by way of how I would get there: air, land, and sea. Cute, right?! [If you want to "pin" the photos below, please click the source link and go straight to the source. Thanks!]

Air
Maldives: Doesn't this look magical? I'm all for clear water and relaxation. Especially if there is no sand. Yuck! When we go to the beach, if the water isn't clear, I'm not getting in. I don't like critters. This clear gorgeousness is right up my alley.

 [source]

Land
Charleston, SC (USA). It would definitely be do-able to take a summer road trip from TX to the East Coast and visit this quaint town. I have always heard great things (and the food is amazing, I'm sure of it) and I am a fan of historic buildings and culture. Definitely on my to-do.

[source]

Sea
St. Maarten/St. Martin. This island getaway, again, would meet my criteria of clear water. There is sand, but I will survive! Those palm trees and that secluded land scape? Take me there now! I'm sure the cruises that travel here most likely depart from Florida, so I may have to check into that.

 

[source]

See more of my travel to-do's on my Pinterest board "Vacation Spots"!

Now it's your turn: where would you like to travel? If you could go ANYWHERE? Or, where is a must-visit place that you have already traveled to?

Happy Hump DAY!

[teach] Oh SNAP! Blog Hoppin' Scavenger Hunt

I have followed a few of the Blog Hoppin' gals for some time (Kacey, Cara, Abby, Amy) but didn't know about Blog Hoppin' itself until July 6th. That is when the Scavenger Hunt started!

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you will have noticed MANY of my pictures have had this strange sign entitled "Blog Hoppin' 2014". Weird, huh? Well, the gals (like I'm friends with them, that's what we call each other ;)) have teamed up to share amazingly amazing prizes, one of which being a Canon Rebel camera (say what?!) if you choose to participate in this hunt. There are over 200 items, plus many bonus points that are offered daily. If you get at least 105+, you will be entered into a drawing to win one of the prizes. Eek!

I'm so pumped: even if I don't win, it has been so fun participating in this scavenger hunt! A)I'm a sucker for scavenger hunts, B)I'm a sucker for Instagram, and C)I'm a sucker for PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNTS. So this was right up my alley! Here are a few photos from my collection (you can see the entire collection at #chrissydj, or see EVERYONE'S photos at #bloghoppin2014):

Someone with an ice cream cone:

A teacher doing a cartwheel (I was SO sore the next day: embarrassing!):

"Bloghoppin'" spelled out in Play-Doh:

Five friends laughing (love these people):

6 pairs of flip flopped feet:

It has been so fun to have my husband, family, and friends participate with me! Nate even said once, "This scavenger hunt is taking over my life." #commitment

See everyone's linked up blog posts at the Blog Hoppin' site! Thanks girls for the opportunity: this has been so fun! Again, sorry to be blowing up your Instagram feeds with my pictures: the hunt is over August 6th! Wish me luck!

[make] Family Yearbooks #24

24. Create yearbooks filled with photos from throughout the year (build book on Shutterfly or something of the like)
First yearbook arrived at our house on May 7th, 2013

Developing film/photos is slowly becoming a thing of the past and digital scrap-booking, etc. is starting to become more and more popular. Shutterfly (promise this is not an ad for them; I'm just a fan!) makes it SO easy to make beautiful albums and to make them quickly! I used their "Simple Path" method where you upload your photos, select a theme for your book, and it uploads the pictures into the book. So easy!

However, I wanted my photos in chronological order, so I had to rearrange a few, but that process was easy as well. Also, a few of the pictures were a teensy tiny bit fuzzy, but that was most likely due to the size I chose. Normally, a "warning" sign pops up on the photo and they advise you to select a different photo with a different quality, but sometimes they don't catch them all... and with differing screen qualities, it's hard to tell when you place your order. But overall, it's such a cute book!

I stole this idea from John and Sherry at Young House Love: instead of photo albums, they make a family yearbook commemorating the events from the past year (they use My Publisher)! A great way to display photos beautifully and in fun ways! I want to go in order of our marriage, so I began with 2009 and will add on with 2010 (which I've already started), 2011, and 2012. I'll do 2013 next year! I'll probably order one/month until I get to 2013: don't want to blow my cash in one spot! Here's a peek!

 

Just realized I took photos of two of the exact same backgrounds: I promise there were a variety of others, ha! I used the "Confetti" theme for this book. It's so cute: bright colors and punchy patterns like polka dots and chevron. 

Cute, right?! I'll use different book themes for each book. I ordered the 8x8 hard cover book and I really like that size. It's not TOO big, but a nice size and easy to hold. Who else uses Shutterfly for their photo needs? Their company is so fun, modern, and produces good quality products. I am definitely a fan!

Happy Wednesday!

"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Hebrews 8:12