Happy Holidays! I’ve had so much to be thankful for this year, especially over the last few months. I wish I had posted more recently, but life has been full of busy moments outside, at work and in our little house.

I’ve managed to get outside some, but there is always room for more (planning on more in 2016, stay tuned for my next post.)

Several of the highlights of the last few months include:

Sunday morning runs on the beautiful boardwalk with my friend Whitney.

Sleeping outside at my friend’s cabin with my boys under the bluffs of the Hill Country in the Medina River valley.

Pumpkin outings with friends and family

Live nativity with the cousins

Additionally, I’ve spent a significant amount of time the past few months learning more about the incredible migratory journey of the monarch butterfly.

This fall, the butterflies made their yearly migration back to Mexico and I was honored to volunteer at two events for Texan by Nature, a conservation organization founded by former First Lady Laura Bush, that coincided with the butterflies return south.

In early October, the annual gala for Texan by Nature was held at the president and Mrs. Bush’s ranch in Crawford. It was a beautiful day set in a restored native prairie to support conservation efforts across the state – the monarch butterflies even arrived to help celebrate conservation.

Here is a group shot of the Texan by Nature advisory council that helped out at the event.

Later in the month, I attended a press event at the George W. Bush Presidential Center to announce a multiagency monarch butterfly conservation initiative.

In November I decided to create my own butterfly garden in our back yard. BW helped plant wildflower seeds from Native American Seed. The rye grass seed we planted for nursery cover crop has come up and the areas he dropped whole cup full of seeds on is especially lush. Stay tuned for updates next year on the progress of our pocket prairie and native landscaping.

To round out my fall of monarch butterflies, I watched the Flight of the Butterflies movie in 3D at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. The coolest part of the movie was seeing the elementary school kids reaching out for the butterflies that seemed to be flying right over their head thanks to the magic of 3D glasses.

Even though it is too cold and wet outside right now in Texas to enjoy beautiful butterflies, I’m still learning and dreaming about nature by watching documentaries in the toasty warmth of my living room.  I have several books and movies on my list to go for the next few cold and dark nights. I can’t wait until February to watch National Parks Adventure.

Here’s to many adventures through stories in film and books inside the warmth of our homes and in the beautiful world outside in the new year!