My Last High School Graduate, Seriously Delicious Pizza and Terrifying Twisters!

Mellow Mushroom was the setting for last night's first of many graduation celebrations in honor of our sweet "baby" Brenner! It is just NOT possible that my last child has finished high school. Oh the pride, but OH the tears from this very emotional Mom!!!

CONGRATS, my precious son - we are SO proud of you!!!

We were thrilled to have ALL of our immediate family and closest friends joining us...
Brenner and Chloe!
Grandpa, Braydon & me!

My three AMAZING children and my EXTRA AMAZING Scooty Bug!

Wow - what more could a gal ask for???

Can't forget to add Chloe to the mix! We sure wish Brian could have been here too!!!

Scooty Bug and Uncle Braydon ADORE each other, quite obviously!

Jarrod, Jess & Baby B!

Brenner and Scoobs checking out one of the many mushroom statues throughout the restaurant. That place is COOL!

Jim, Jarrod and Boston snacking on some DELICIOUS cheese bread!

Jessica and Pat!

My handsome Braydon with his beautiful Chloe!

Grandpa, Bailey and our Delicious Little Man!

Grandpa love!

Bring on the chow!

YIPPEE FOR PIZZA!!! I must say that Mellow Mushroom, hands down, has the most incredible pizza on the planet. DIVINE!!!

Happy, happy, HAPPY Graduation, my "little" Brenner. You have been an outstanding student throughout your schooling and we know that you will go on to do GREAT things!

WE ALL LOVE YOU SO MUCH and wish you a fantastic future!

Now....please note that, in nearly every picture, we are happily seated outside enjoying very nice weather. Shortly after the last picture above was taken, however, all hell broke loose. It started with a slight sprinkle that quickly turned into a torrential downpour. Once the rain stopped,the hail started. When the hail ended, things got very quiet and we thought we were in the clear...NOT!!! Both Brian and one of Brenner's friends called to tell us that even larger hail and a tornado were headed our way. Within seconds, the skies darkened unlike I had ever seen them and things got very eerily still. It was almost as though everything around us was filled with electricity - so strange and so hard to explain in words. Then, the rain and hail REALLY let loose. At this point, we were still outside, although we had been moved under a porch cover. The sound of the hail/rain on the metal restaurant roof was deafening. We obviously headed inside quickly. Things were a bit crazy in the restaurant with everyone unsure of what exactly we should do. There were TV's scattered throughout the bars inside and all of them showed orange, red & purple filled radar over the entire TV screen, along with three tornadoes on the ground in areas just surrounding us. YIPES! I have never really feared weather before but, at that moment, I was truly scared - really, really scared. We were in a huge restaurant surrounded by windows, glassware, chaos etc. I was, however strange it may sound, comforted that all of my family was with me. My mind would have been in even more upheaval had I not known where my children were at that time. For a good 15 minutes or so, we all just stood around listening to the storm swirling outside because it was by far too dangerous to leave. It was very surreal - I just watched everyone with their eyes either glued to the TV screens or glued to their Iphones grasping for more definite information on our situation. Soooo many thoughts went through my mind. Most of all, I just wanted to cling to Weston and protect him with all my might. It makes me cry even now just to think about it. Finally, things settled enough for us to feel somewhat safe about heading home. One of the restaurant exits wasn't even usable because of all the water that had accumulated outside. Walking to the car was another crazy time. The sky was SOOOOOOOO freaky - dark, dark, DARK - not just night dark, but creepy tornado dark with a big wall cloud looming before us, the tornado sirens screaming and lightning that just wouldn't stop. Bailey, Brenner & Weston in Bailey's car and Braydon & Chloe in their car followed James & me in our car. The plan was to swing by Bailey's house to get her two dogs and then all hunker down at our house until the final storms passed. On the way home, we had the car radio on full blast to stay on top of all of the alerts. The drive seemed to take FOREVER, especially when a bulletin came on announcing that a tornado was on the ground in Benbrook just south of us and heading directly our way. GULP. Even worse, the meteorologist kept saying that this particular tornado was the kind that didn't slowly form, but would suddenly just be on top of you before you could even know to take cover. Holy Cow. James kept on telling me to keep my eye out the window toward the south. All I really wanted to do was close my eyes and wake up from this nightmare. I even remember saying that I just wanted to live back in San Antonio where it hardly ever even rains, and I NEVER thought I would say that! By the time we got to Bailey's, we had been spared the worst of things and it seemed like our area was, once again, in a safe zone. Bailey decided to brave it out on her own at home with Weston and her pups so I reluctantly agreed and headed home with James, Brenner, Braydon & Chloe. Our dogs were sure glad to see us! We watched the radar until we felt like Braydon and Chloe were safe to head home to Arlington, which they did. Shortly thereafter, yet another storm system started brewing and slammed us once again with heavy rain, strong wind and hail. By about 11 p.m., things settled for good - whew. WHAT A CRAZY NIGHT! I am just beyond grateful that all of us are safe and sound, and am so sorry for others who might not have fared as well. We will most definitely NEVER forget this graduation celebration - your big night was certainly a BANG, Brenner!