Herron to Rivera

Whew, what a whirlwind of events! The build up from October into Thanksgiving and finally onto Christmas always seems to sneak up on us and blink twice and it's over! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and remembered the reason for the season. One of my favorite things is seeing how full the bottom of our tree looks and then in one swipe it all be gone because giving gifts is so much fun the older you get. An empty tree at the end of the day is how I like to see it, even if it does look a little lonely. We spent the days leading up to Christmas getting caught up with Star Wars (or in Robert's case, getting educated), and enjoying the last tidbits of our tree as he also gets a little work done.  Our tradition as a family was always to open our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, and then wake up Christmas morning and pack into the cars for an 8 hour road trip to Mississippi, where both of my parents hail from. Mississippi State or Ole Miss is always the first questio

Well hello! I couldn't go a whole month without squeezing in a post, even if there is no theme. The theme is Christmas, I decided. Can't believe it's next week and then on top of that, the end of 2015 altogether. What a Christmas season it's been, and it's not even over! I decided not to make a Christmas bucket list, because I'm notorious for not fulfilling it, so I sat back and enjoyed where our Holiday season has taken us. I was feeling a little scroogy at first and wasn't willing to put up our Christmas tree this year because just wasn't feeling it, but I'm glad I did! It's so pretty, and there really is nothing better than Christmas lights against the dark. Especially when Elf, The Santa Claus, or The Polar Express is on. I haven't seen Home Alone-am I missing something?!  We started off the month celebrating my dad's 21st birthday, and in between have squeezed in some last minute Stars action, my sister's graduation from For

As tradition holds in our household, I am usually the one who is responsible for the dessert, even if desserts and baking aren't my forte. Put me in the kitchen and your dinner will be amazing, but I'm not the best at when it comes to sweets, so I'm not sure how this tradition started? Luckily social media is filled with plenty of ideas these days, so it was a pleasant surprise to see a short and sweet video of said dessert and my decision was made! I present the "Easy" Chocolate Chip Brownie Cheesecake, via Tasty (side note-if you don't follow them on FB you should! They make super cool looking things-all at record time. No really, the video is sped up so it really is super fast cooking ;))!  Behold iPhone quality photos: Here's what you need: -1 box of brownie mix (which usually requires and egg or two, water, and vegetable oil) -1 cup of sugar -16 ounces of cream cheese (I used low fat) -8 ounces of whipped cream (sugar free cool

Awkward? Us? Usually we are alright, but the family photo we tried to attempt with the newly found self-timer on the cell phone turned out quite hilarious, if I do say so myself. Complete with the dog:  Pre-awkward family photo, we had a great meal. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope it was filled with warmth, laughter, and many many things to be thankful for. This year has been the busiest yet-new families added and changes galore-and I am so grateful for everything that has happened! Thanksgiving Day brought upon a wave of non-stop rain post meal, which perfectly set the mood for our afternoon napping during the Cowboy's game. But since the rain did.not.stop. until the wee hours of the morning, I was woken up by a lovely "flood warning" courtesy of my iPhone, kindly reminding me to watch out for flooding at 3am, which also did me a favor and made me EXTRA thankful that I was all warm and snuggly in my bed and not out galavanting around fighting crowds for th

Holiday weekends have officially started! This weekend was full of Thanksgiving #1 with hubby's family, which was full of food, family, and plenty of laughter followed by a dash of glam, an old prom dress, and plenty of hair spray and lip gloss.  We were fortunate enough to be invited by a friend to attend this year's Margarita Ball in Dallas, which is something I'd always heard of but really never knew what it was. All I knew was that it was by invite only, and fancy clothing was required, though I was always a little confused how these things all came together. Turns out it's just not a margarita fest, like the name would suggest (though they did serve free margs-I'll take it!), but it's actually this huge charity thing that is put on by the Dallas Margarita Society to benefit local children and to help them have a better Christmas. Toys and people and dancing and lights and glitter and balloons and wow-it was an experience!  Obligatory couple pict

Well here we are one year into this thing called "blogging." At first it started off as a way to keep family and friends included with my wedding planning (hence the name...), but now that that's over and done with it's been a welcome challenge to not only get out and enjoy life and do things that I think are worth documenting, but also provide a challenge for me to try new things TO document. I hope to someday be able to look back at these times and remember the who's, whats, whens, wheres, and whys, and hopefully have a good laugh about it! My life isn't perfect, and sometimes being positive isn't my first instinct, but blogging has been a way for me to reach out of my comfort zone and instill the habit of being positive first off and looking at things a different way and to implement that in every day life. (awesome run on sentence, right?) I've also had the chance to see/know/visit other bloggers that I incorporate into my daily routine that a

Happiest of Birthdays to my 24 year old!! 24?? Wasn't I just 24, like a year ago?!!!! It wasn't too long ago that I was yelling "eat it! eat it!" during a shielding drill at soccer practice our senior/freshman year of high school, as I sprint tackled my sister and was forcing her face to the turf-all in good fun I promise. Or that she was giving the Maid of Honor speech at my wedding, referencing said "eat it" example. Remember that time when I couldn't stand you because you wanted to wear all of my clothes, be friends with all of my friends, and like the same guys I liked? Not to mention being in half of my classes all year because you just had to do the same electives and athletics that I did? What were we thinking!!? I missed out on many years because of my constant companion, but I would go through all of that all over again to get to where we are today! My best friend! My sister from the same mister!  My proudest accomplishment, because-and let