Senior Night, Clemson, Corey, Seven OTs, & Spanish Shoutout!

As we began to round out the year with one more month to go and the holiday season ramping up, school sports were in full effect! Hanleigh wrapped up her soccer season, and Brayden had her field hockey senior night, which was such a surreal experience. After seven years of playing field hockey and fostering some of the closest friendships, it all culminated with this very special evening. The seniors were dressed in beautiful, regal purple capes and flower tiaras as they were introduced their by the emcee announcing some of their favorite quotes, hype songs, plans after high school, and other fun information. Parents and family members were introduced on the field and we brought her some flowers as well. It was an awesome evening and extremely moving and emotional. Just one more right of passage before she spreads her wings next fall. 

That weekend, we drove to Raleigh for the NC State vs. Stanford football game, where we were the chefs for the tailgate. Hanleigh’s best friend, Alexis, joined us while Brayden stayed back home to attend a Halloween party. It was a noon game, so we fixed up some delicious food for breakfast including ham and swiss cheese sliders, fruit, sausage, and mimosas. Later that week, I went with Brayden to school while she had her senior yearbook and cap and gown photos taken. Talk about another rite of passage. She looked so beautiful and grown up. Hold the tears in, Becca! The next week, yet another big milestone in her life…she participated in her first presidential election! I’m so proud of her for using her privilege as an American to express her opinions and voice via casting a ballot. Keep it up, young lady! 

Kendall and I had our monthly best friend dinner at Whitaker’s in Fort Mill, delicious sushi restaurant. The next weekend, all four of us went to Raleigh for the NC State vs. Duke football game and had a great time, of course. This would be the last football game that all four of us would be at together before Brayden goes off to school. Kind of crazy to think that the next time she goes to a football game will be whenever she is back home during a college break or just visiting for the weekend. Again, it’s hard to process. In typical tradition, we made a post-game visit to Lily’s Pizza in downtown Raleigh and colored paper plates while we waited for our food. The next morning, Brayden participated in an epilepsy walk for one of her schoolmates named Molly. It’s great to see all the kids come together to support someone and a great cause. 

The next day, the four of us drove to Clemson to visit Emilia. We brought her a fun care package and she gave us the most awesome tour of campus! We learned so much about how the campus is structured with the classrooms in the center, then the dorms in the next outer circle, then the sports and other extracurricular fields in the outermost area. We really knew nothing about Clemson, other than the fact that I used to go there to watch the Panthers play in Death Valley when they were waiting for their stadium to be built in downtown Charlotte. We were all thoroughly impressed with how beautiful the campus was and how intimate it felt, even though they have 29,000 students that go there. We took her to dinner at a place called Traditions, that is on Lake Hartwell. It was absolutely delicious and we had such a great time. Brayden ended up spending the night with Emilia in her dorm and we scooped her up the next morning for an official tour where we explored the library, student center, another facilities. Overall, it was an awesome weekend and we were so happy to spend some quality time with Emilia, someone who we consider a daughter. She is excelling there and we couldn’t be more proud!

We made a quick trip back home for the end-of-season field hockey celebration where the seniors were honored for their great accomplishments. Later that week, Hanleigh, Brayden, and I had dinner with Nana, GG, Abby, and Aunt Patty at Firebirds. It was delicious and even though we had a bit of a hiccup with our server, we had a great time. In other news, Charlie was spayed and instead of giving her one of those Elizabethan collars, Trent ordered her a jacket that wrapped around her body and was held on tight via a hole that her tail goes through as well as Velcro to keep it snug. She had to wear it for about two weeks, so I think we all got very used to the fact that she had it on and did not always pay attention. One evening Hanleigh let her outside to go potty, but forgot to remove the fabric from around her backside and she pooped in the outfit! We got it on videotape and we’re all dying laughing. I have to admit that I did the same thing, but instead she peed in it. Needless to say, that outfit was in the laundry quite often toward the end of the time she wore it! Too funny. 

Brayden attended a National Honor Society blanket-making event to benefit underserved communities, Trent and I went to Taco Boy for dinner with Nina and Keith, and it was great to see them, We celebrated Landon’s 13th birthday (by the way, how is he already a teenager?) at his house with the rest of the Buford clan, and Brayden had her powderpuff football practice. For those of you that are unfamiliar, this is when both Junior and Senior girls play flag football while the Junior and Senior guys are the cheerleaders. They had a blast and per the usual, the seniors won (this may be rigged). Thad celebrated his 55th birthday, and Brayden and I had an awesome evening together where we went to Culinary Dropout for a tasty dinner and then made our way to Coyote Joe’s, and 18-and-up country music venue for an incredible concert. This would be Brayden’s first time at an 18+ event since she has been of age. We arrived after the first opener, but got there just in time to see Max McNown, a musician that neither of us were very familiar with and he blew us away! His voice was incredible and he had an amazing stage presence. We definitely would go see him again. But, the real person we were there to see was Corey Kent. We heard of him a year or so ago when we went to see Mitchell Tenpenny and Jason Aldean in concert. He opened for both of them and we told ourselves that if he ever came to Charlotte, we were going to be there. We bought tickets the minute they went on sale! And in typical Becca fashion, we got super close. I had told Brayden during the opener that we were going to get to the front and she gave me a bit of a stink eye and told me to chill out, but I told her, “Don’t second-guess this girlfriend. I’ve been doing this for years and you won’t regret it.” In between Max and Corey, we scooted our way up towards the stage and settled in about 10 ft away. The crowd went crazy when he got on stage, he sounded absolutely amazing! Once he was done performing, the house lights came on, but his stage crew did not start taking the equipment down, so Brayden and I were a little suspicious that he was not done performing and maybe there was a chance for an encore. We continue making our way close to the stage just in case that was happening. However, it was something totally different. He came out to sign autographs! Brayden and I frantically looked around for something that we could get him to sign, but we couldn’t think of anything. Then, Brayden got this look in her eye: my jacket! We had just bought her an early Christmas present of an Anthropologie blue jean jacket. She took it off, looked to me and said, “Can he sign this?” I said, “Absolutely, but on the inside!” She handed it to the bouncer and he signed it! We were both freaking out! She even tagged him on her Instagram story and then he tagged her back! So cool.

The next morning, Trent, Hanleigh, and Brayden got up around 5:00 a.m. to make the five-hour drive to the University of Tennessee and attend the football game. They got there early enough to do some tailgating, watch the Vol Walk, and attend the game. They said Vol Walk the was super impressive and it was pretty amazing to see how many people stayed just to watch the band walk to the stadium. The weather was partly cloudy and chilly, but they had a blast in Neyland stadium! Of course, Tennessee won against Texas El Paso. Brayden got to see her high school friend, Cam, who is a freshman there, and then the three of them went to dinner, spent the night and headed back home the next day, but not without the requisite stop at Buc-ee’s! While they were out of town, I went over to my friend Geralyn’s house for a girls night, sitting around the fire and eating appetizers. It was great. The next night, Trent and I had dinner with Kyle and Cammy at Optimist Hall. It was great to see them! 

A few days later, Brayden, Trent, and I did the Southpark Turkey Trot, bright and early on Thanksgiving morning. We did the five-mile run and it was Brayden’s first official race where she got a medal at the end. The weather was perfect for running and we had a great time. We are so proud of her! We came back home and prepared for Thanksgiving dinner at our house where we were hosting Terry and Fran. We cooked the traditional turkey and Fran brought over scalloped corn and her famous stuffing, but we like to do things a bit different around here, so we also made cheese fondue as our appetizer, a broth for the entree where we cooked steak, chicken, and shrimp, and a delicious chocolate fondue where we dipped marshmallows, fruit, and cookies in it. It was so good and a departure from what is considered traditional Thanksgiving Day food. I think we enjoy starting our own traditions and we all thought this was super fun, so we’ll see what we do next year!

The day after Thanksgiving, Brayden and I decided to make another trip down to Athens, Georgia to visit UGA and to attend the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech football game. We got there in time to have a delicious lunch at the Trapeze Pub, walked around campus for a couple hours, and went to our Airbnb to get ready to tailgate. We hopped in an Uber back to campus and hung out for a bit before going to the Dawg Walk, which takes place two hours and 15 minutes before every home game. The band, cheerleaders, and football players walk from Lumpkin Street, past the student center and into the stadium. It was really cold out, so afterward, we decided to camp out in the student center with a bunch of other people while we waited for the game to start. We met three brothers who all went to Georgia and they gave Brayden lots of tips in case she goes there. We still were waiting to hear whether she had been admitted or not. We made our way to the game and it was so much fun and full of energy. To top it all off, the game went into eight overtimes! It was the second longest game ever in college football history and we didn’t get out of the stadium until 12:15 a.m. and in typical college fashion, we ended up at a pizza dive spot for some late night grub and didn’t get back to the Airbnb until 1:30. a.m. It was such an awesome night! The next morning, we grabbed a delicious breakfast at Mama’s Boy before heading back on the road. While we were gone, Trent and Hanleigh attended Aary’s (neighbor’s son) birthday party. 

We also got an awesome shout out from Hanleigh’s Spanish teacher. She said, “Good morning Jones family! I want to tell you how much I appreciate Hanleigh in our Spanish class! She is thoughtful, hard-working, and organized. Hanleigh also helps her classmates think through the materials so that they can do it independently. We will miss her next year, but she will be ready for high school! Gracias!” That was such a sweet note to hear from her teacher and I know she’s proud of herself.

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