Three weekends ago, Mom, Melissa, Annabeth and I headed north to Dallas-Fort Worth. Our co-worker’s son was getting married and we were excited to make a girls weekend out of it. I realize the relevance of this post has now dwindled, but it’s been sitting in the draft folder for a couple of weeks and I would hate to waste it.
As always, we had many “That’s going on the blog!” moments, some of which I will document for you.
The first was when we passed the giant statue of Sam Houston just outside of Huntsville on I-45. If you’ve heard Beth tell about the night she thought she saw our Lord on the highway, you will appreciate this. At night Sam is lit up against the pitch black background of pine trees.
Too many hours later (Mom was behind the wheel and she drives like a granny), we finally arrived in the Metroplex. We went through Irving and got one last look at Texas Stadium. It was already very stripped down in preparation for Sunday morning’s implosion.
After a much needed stop at Starbucks, we stayed the course of our long journey until we arrived at the perfect Moore Girls Weekend destination – a hotel at Southlake Town Square. Praise the Lord and amen.
In this spot, please imagine a picture of Melissa and me unloading our overpacked bags and toddler paraphernalia out of the car while Mom visited with two really cute ladies who seemed a little surprised to be seeing her.
Right here, please imagine a picture of my mom’s face when they told her that their church was hosting a women’s retreat at that very hotel and – you’ll never believe this – Mom was the retreat speaker! Yes, you read that right. They were using the Revelation DVD’s for their women’s retreat. Isn’t that ironic/hilarious/crazy?
We didn’t waste much time unpacking. There was eating and shopping to do before bedtime!
We had a great time exploring Southlake and just being together. We met lots of really neat ladies and even a few Siestas!
Our time flew by and before we knew it, it was time for the Mattingly/Simpson wedding. We all got dressed up. Mom wore the gold dress that she’s worn to almost every wedding in the last 8 years. I wore a “new again” black dress that hadn’t fit since Annabeth was born. I also wore a brand new pair of heels that quickly became my nemesis. Melissa took a fashion risk and wore something less conventional. Halfway through the night, she saw a picture of herself and suddenly there was no convincing her that she didn’t look exactly like the wedding cake in her voluminous, tiered white blouse. She said she feared people would begin approaching her with their cake plates. I believe this was Melissa’s first time to experience fashion remorse. Unfortunately, all pictures of it have been destroyed. (I thought she looked beautiful!) Annabeth wore a sweet little dress that had pink tulips on it. Unfortunately, a toddler really limits one’s participation in a wedding celebration. Annabeth and I just walked up and down the halls of the church during the ceremony. Our time at the reception ended up being short and sweet, seeing as how my daughter was two hours past her bedtime and nothing could make her happy. At least she was cute!
The Lord allowed us to have a couple of unexpected moments with Adam and Laura, the beautiful bride and handsome groom, on our way out.
There happened to have been some red and pink tulips nearby that matched Annabeth’s dress. What a great photographic opportunity, right? Annabeth did not agree.
The next hour held one mishap after another. I got us terribly lost, Melissa dropped a room service tray on the floor and broke some plates, and Mom and I accidentally ate her dinner while she was cleaning it up. (We thought it was an appetizer for all of us.) Bless her heart.
Soon we called it a night. Early the next morning I woke up to a rumbling sound. I glanced at the clock and realized it must have been the stadium coming down. You can see a video of the implosion here. People cheer at the end but I thought it was pretty sad to watch! (I used to live by this stadium and even though it was u-g-l-y, I felt sorry for it.)
We dropped Melissa off at DFW airport so that she could fly home to Atlanta. Then Mom, Annabeth and I made our way toward the stadium so we could see the pile of rubble. It was so freaky! It looked like there had been an earthquake. I tried to imagine how horrifying Port Au Prince must be with most of the buildings looking like that. Awful.
A highlight on the way home was stopping for lunch at the Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana. One word – YUM! There was a big field of bluebonnets (our celebrated state flower) next to the parking lot, so we did what every self-respecting mother and grandmother in Texas would do. We plopped ourselves and our baby down in the middle of it and took some pictures! Ideally, these would not have been taken with an iPhone and Annabeth would have been wearing a cute summer dress. We also had to hurry because we could tell the church crowd was about to arrive at the restaurant.
And this concludes the semi-annual Moore Girls Weekend recap. Our DFW trip was a great success. Thank you, Adam and Laura Mattingly for getting married and giving us a great reason to get away. We love you guys!
Great story. You ladies have so much fun together but also give us all great laughs! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Lawan
Phil 4:8
I agree. I needed to hear a great story like that today. My son came home with a couple of not so good papers today. He’s only 8 and feels like he should go to bed without dinner. God love him. He’s a smart boy and gets A’s & B’s. He has a very sad face today.
Thanks for making me laugh.
I want to see Melissa’s wedding cake blouse so bad!! 🙂 Tell her she’ll have to take another picture it in and show us like she should have in the first place! 🙂
I can just imagine the looks on those women’s faces when Beth showed up at the hotel. Expect the DVD and get the flesh and blood real deal, if only for a few minutes’ chat!
Sounds like a great time! Wishing I had flesh and blood sisters, but praising God for my siestas!
I agree with everything “Heatherly” said. I wish I had flesh and blood sisters, and it would be so awesome to just run into you 4 in a hotel!
Thank you so much for sharing this post!
You are all too much fun. I am so thankful that you get to have that kind of fun, because you all work so hard for all of us.
P.S. I think AB’s outfit matches perfectly with the blue flowers. I honestly thought it was intentional.
Already left a comment – now checking to see if the Gravatar works – sorry
I almost did the same thing right after I registered with Gravitar. HAHAHA
Then you will understand my 3rd comment on the same post – trying to figure it all out. LOL
Loved the picture of Annabeth and the flowers… in both pictures she matched perfectly 🙂
Great story! I laughed out loud when I read you ate Melissa’s food thinking it was an appetizer. After all the other things you shared that was just the icing on the cake! Sorry Melissa, I hope they shared their meals with you:o)!
It was potstickers from Cheesecake Factory. They were divine! Don’t tell Melissa.
Cheesecake factory is my most favorite restaurant, great choice
I am glad that y’all had such a great time. I love getting away with my 3 girls even if we have to bring all 5 grandyoungin’s!
I bet Melissa’s blouse was just adorable! That was a great picture of Amanda and Melissa. So beautiful.
And Beth looks fabulous as always. She just exudes the beauty of the Lord.
Love to you all – Beth Herring
Yeah. What Cheryl Barker said.
I know this might sound silly, but you don’t know how affirming it is to know y’all wear the same outfits for special events!! yeah!
So glad you got a girls’ weekend. sounds eventful, fun and full of laughs which makes great memories! (and even AB losing it will be laughed on in later years.) Thanks for sharing with us!
love,
rachel
Too bad there arent any pictures to prove that even Melissa makes fashion mistakes! Glad you girls enjoyed your weekend away – as always we enjoy sharing it.
You are hilarious Amanda! Thier wedding gave you a chance to travel! I love the pics and can’t help but have a sneaky suspicion that Annabeth’s cry is the way Beth cries! Full out.
So sorry for Melissa, not for the Seinfeld-pirate-puffy-shirt-moment, but that you and your mom ate her dinner. Poor thing!
Amanda, I loved hearing about your girl trip and seeing the pictures, especially the ones in those beautiful bluebonnets! I know those ladies at the retreat were absolutely delighted to see y’all! What a blessing!
i would have DIED if i saw you girls at the hotel – especially under those circumstances (when the retreat “speaker” was your mom)! hahahahaha – that is pretty darn funny… love the pics – thanks for sharing 🙂
Well Praise the Lord over and over for the fun you girls put into the lives of your “siestas”….I enjoy seeing you all enjoy life!!!! I am a 60 year old grandma with 2 beautiful daughters (and one handsome son) so I can relate to all the fun you all have together. God be praised that you so transparently share it with the likes of us, your siestas in the Lord who are all at different stages of being secure, insecure, needy, strong, serene, maniacally menopausal (I call it MENTALPAUSE!)and assuredly chipped vessels for the Lord to use for His glory. Thank you for your servanthood!!!!
Dear Amanda,
Thanks for sharing the pictures and your great time together with us. So fun!
Can I share something with you and the Siesta’s? I had encountered a very difficult situation and I asked some Godly woman to agree in prayer with me about it. Their response was we’ll pray but we just don’t see any way that can change. Later when I was praying by myself I looked up and said Lord I believe you are bigger! Do you know God turned that situation around in less than 24 hrs!
Not just a little, completely and totally resloved! Isn’t God Awesome?!! Love you gals!!!
Annabeth in her tulip dress reminds me of the good ol days with our daughter!!! She DID NOT like her pictures made–and she wore the same face AB has in her adorable tulip dress.
The bluebonnet pictures are great! Love all the blue!!!
That Sam Houston statue does it to me too! My brother’s lived in Huntsville for years and whenever we visit the statue is a memory in itself!
You are taller than Melissa?
You ARE taller than Melissa.
She is actually one inch taller.
Word. 😉 I love you Noogster Yone.
I realize this is probably not where to post it, but I just had to let it out! Beth, we are finishing Esther and I just wanted you to know how blessed I was. GOD brought me thru so much and even though it is bittersweet to say goodbye to “my girls” ( I was a group leader for the first time this year) I love that GOD is a mover! Thank you for your obedience to HIM!
PS: I thought of another ironic for the PURIM chart – when I was reading the story about your dad last night.
– He liberated a concentration camp…WHO KNEW, that his daughter would be a liberator too! Peace out Saint
Thanks so much for posting the picture of the Sam Houston staue…I recently heard your mom tell that story on the Revelation dvd’s I am watching! Such a great story and now it is forever seered in my mind after seeing the real deal! LOL
I also loved the picture of with the blue bonnet flowers. So beautiful!
Road trips are so much fun. Thanks for sharing your adventure.
Blessings,
Michelle in VT
Love the pics of the bluebonnets. I was in Houston several years ago and they were in bloom…beautiful…what an artist we serve. BTW, love the hairbow, Annabeth!
I agree with Cheryl…I HAVE to see that blouse!!! It’s only fair that we get a glance at it too…..I can’t imagine Melissa looking anything but beautiful. My worst fashion faux paux (sp?) was in junior high. I found a silky floral dress I liked that had a ‘tube top’ type top and wide straps. I though it was lovely. I wore it to school and later found out it was actually a nightgown!!! No lying, that’s the truth!!
I tried to find one online to link to, but had no luck. Now we are just at Melissa’s mercy but I don’t think she’s gonna budge. And bless your heart about the nightgown!
SHE is most definitely NOT going to budge. This is dignity of which I speak.
“This is dignity of which I speak.” You just quoted your mama, didn’t you? LOL!!!
My rule of thumb, I don’t wear anything white to a wedding.
Do you not like the shirt now? or you just feel that maybe it wasn’t the best place to wear it?
Melissa,
Are you sure it’s dignity or is it insecurity? (ha)……….love ya gal!
Melissa, I can’t imagine how anything would look bad on you!! We’re all Siestas here!!
I thought your mother’s gold dress was lovely. So what if we don’t get enough occasions to “dress up”? I finally found a little black dress to replace the one I’ve been wearing for easily the past eight years. Of course, it’s still in the hangup bag I bought it in, but surely someone’s about to invite us to a black tie, right? I say, be prepared, especially if you got it on sale. I even showed my husband that sales tag. He was duly impressed. Thinkin’ about framing it.
Loved the visit, Amanda. So glad life feels normal enough this week to post pics of flowers and flowery gals. Good thing I didn’t run into you all shopping. Mall security may have picked me up for stalking. How embarassing!
Random piece o’ trivia about me. Sam Houston is my great great great great great great great uncle. And I had to re-count that to make sure there were 7 greats. So, technically, you saw my family that day. Ish. Kinda.
🙂
Hey MamaBeth and all you coffee lovers – CNN ran a story saying coffee is good for you!
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/28/coffee.studies/index.html?hpt=C2
I’m cracking up because I’m seeing Jesus too!!! Pretty sure I would have been rededicating my life!!! I am so glad to be back, I’ve missed you all!!! 🙂
Love these kinds of posts with pictures!! I look forward to having special times like these with my daughters when they grow up! Thanks for sharing!
I love the stories…especially the one about dropping the room service trays & breaking the plates & then eating your sister’s supper! That’s great!
You were right down the road from us eating at the Collin Street Bakery…that is a great place to eat!
That was fun…thanks for sharing.
I checked out the bakers site………OH MERCY!
i think i gaine 2lbs jsut looking at it.
I want me some of that.
Annabeth gets the “Best Dressed Award” and “the Cutiest”!
Mother and daughter relationships are so important. Thankful to God you have such a close relationship and can enjoy spending such good times together. It is such a blessing!
Like a little child
We must be
To trust and obey
To let God lead.
To have the faith
That is so gentle and sweet
To give all at the Master’s feet.
Beautiful people, wonderful places and faithful God!
Thank you, Joyce for that little poem. I hope you don’t mind that I share it with my friends on Facebook?
Christine,
Let the Lord use my poem however He wants to; it would be a blessing to share with your friends of fb. Thank you.
Thank you for being so transparent and allowing the siestas to join in celebration of life – your life and His miracles!
Cathy
Hmmm, pictures of me when I don’t look so great seem to disappear as well. Isn’t God good, Melissa?
Indeed. 😉
Great post and I second the request to see the wedding cake blouse! : ) You made me laugh with the comment about people starting to approach her with cake plates!
The Moore girls look so great in the big sunglasses, might have to go out and get me a pair!
It was fun to get to travel down the road with you, with granny driver behind the wheel, and enjoy a fun weekend “with the girls!” Love you all!
Okay this is my second comment, but I have to say that I clicked on the Collin Street Bakery and saw the picture of the blueberry cheesecake and almost fell off my chair!
I can almost taste it, that is just torture..I just may have to make cheesecke this weekend…Nummy..
Sounds like great fun! I can very much relate to the toddler at a wedding situation. When my oldest was 15 months we attended a wedding in a church with beautiful, old wooden pews and floors. Sarah thought it was great fun to bang her dress shoe covered feet on them. I actually had a wedding coordinator give me the ugly look. I thought we could make our escape during the prayer, but we were sitting in the section with the hearing impaired. They all had their eyes open watching the interpreter while I made my escape!!! I will never forget that wedding. 🙂
I love random don’t see it coming kind of posts and I love this one for some reason I can’t explain!!!
And baby girl is rockin the warmup/sweatsuit with your mom in the blue bonnets. Is that one word or two? I’m just jealous y’all have that beauty right there.
Thanks for sharing. And, can I just say I fell in love with that Nancy Mattingly over the weekend while serving at the merch table. Being a momma to all boys I really just wanted to grab her and go talk for hours. What a neat, neat woman she is. You can just tell. I wish I would have congratulated her on the wedding.
Anyhoo…
Hugs and blessings~
Fran
Bluebonnets, dear Fran. One word. 😉
Fran! I loved talking to you too – but wished there were time for more! You are so sweet – enjoy those boys!
Thanks for sharing that with us!!! I just love you Moore girls 🙂 Blessings on ya!
I think your sweet precious girl looks perfect in her tracksuit in the bluebonnets!
Such a fun post…
I wanna see Melissa’s cake blouse too!
: ) Love hearing about your fun girls weekend! You are such a sweet mom to that adorable baby girl!
Love you : )
Chesney
I’m SO glad you didn’t throw this post away! That would have been a travesty! Approach her with their cake plates! HAHAHAHAHA!!
Having never had the privilege of taking a road trip with a mother, a sister, or a daughter, this sounds just heavenly! Thank you SO much for taking time to share this EVENT with us. I, for one, simply adored “going along for the ride”!
Marilyn…in Mississippi
hahaha – good post – the annabeth tulip pictures made me laugh out loud!
PS – totally was at that bakery over Christmas break – YOU ARE RIGHT – so good! YUMO.
Thanks for sharing :O)
So fun to get a glimpse of the Moore girls’ weekend. I doubt very seriously that Melissa did not look Gorgeous in her white blouse! Wish we could see that pretty pic. Love the pic of Annabeth in the tulips and in the bluebonnets! Have one of my girls almost every year in the bluebonnets. Enjoy taking the pics now…because my teenagers WOULD NOT do it the last two years. So…just the youngest by herself. Of course, she almost NEVER turns down a pic! Thanks for sharing moments of your life:0)
Is this my College Park Cutie friend Tina B????
Fun to see you on LPM blog! Wish you had been at Living Proof Live with all of us in Tampa! The Holy Spirit was WILD in that place! Love you! If…this is my Tina! Kim B.
And of course…STILL Love you, if it’s not!
Annabeth seems much more delighted with bluebonnets than tulips. A true TEXAN! Thank you for sharing.
How fun!! Thankds for sharing your weekend. Annabeth is so big and cute as a bug even though she was screaming in that cute dress. My sis lives in the Dallas area and it doesn’t take much to get me interested in a road trip. There is something special about mom, daughter/sister, and grand-daughter times. (I got mine in Houston in January.) Sharing random moments like this are delightful.
Can’t wait to hear about the summer Bible study.
Love you guys,
Jan
God took me book shopping at Borders last week, and He picked out “So Long Insecurity” for me :-). I’m 20 years old, attending college, and I just finished reading the book this evening. I can’t even begin to explain how much I needed to read it, and I didn’t even realize that insecurity was something I was facing!
I enjoy reading the blogs by your family, I don’t even know you, but I love that you’re my new-found sisters in Christ. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for sharing your journeys with me!!
Love,
Rebekah
Dear Rebekah,
Welcome to Siestaville!
: )
Christian
Thank you so much!!! 😀
Rebekah,
I know you just got the book but by chance have you gone back in “blog time” and checked out Beth’s study questions that go w/ the chapters? VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING and definitely take you a little more beyond the read. Just wonderin’…
: )
Christian
Yes welcome…we are the funniest group of saved saints! Welcome to the family!
I lived in Texas for about 4 1/2 years and I love the Texas bluebonnets.
Annabeth looks about how I feel when I miss my nap!
Just devasted isn’t she? Full out Wail! If you are going to cry, I suppose you gotta let it loose!
Hmm, maybe I should try that tactic on my family LOL!