2014: A Year in Review

This has to be my favorite blog post every year. I read the previous year in review before I begin writing the new one and it is always so fun to see where I've been, what I've done, what friends & family I was surrounded by & all the memories I made. When I read my 2013 year in review post I forgot just how busy that year was. This year was definitely much more relaxing and quiet....and I'm totally okay with that.

In January, we rang in the New Year with these friends from Mammoth, whom we miss oh so dearly.

At the end of January, we welcomed Beth into our home and gave her the grand tour of Mammoth. She was our first friend to visit.

In February, we celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. We kept it low key with a dinner date and movie. 

Muffins for breakfast on Valentine's Day

Valentine's date night

The candy bouquet I made Aaron.

I did a lot of weekend traveling in February and March to visit friends and family. It was so much fun and I looked forward to these weekends for a long time.

I traveled to Springfield to watch my cousin's taekwando meet.

And in the same day headed to Tahlequah to watch my other cousin perform in a play.

March was a busy month for us. I traveled to Branson to spend a snowy weekend with my best friend and her family.

In the same week, we had our second and third round of visitors. We had a blast hanging out with these friends and showing them around. 

Two days later, we headed to Tulsa to surprise my best friend with a weekend getaway and the Lady Antebellum Concert. We had so much fun!

The first weekend of April we traveled to Fayeteville, AR to attend a Razorback baseball game with some of our friends we hadn't seen in a long time. 

On my birthday, Aaron surprised me with the sweetest little picnic at the park. It was so sweet and thoughtful and I couldn't imagine spending my birthday doing anything better.

We traveled home to spend Easter with my family and my dad's side of the family. We spent the entire day at the park playing games and having fun.

In May, Aaron's brother visited and we took our first trip to Greer Springs.

We spent Memorial Weekend fishing on the river and enjoying the lake.

In June, I headed to the Fayetteville, AR area again to photograph a friend's wedding and I stayed the weekend with my family and college friend. 

On June 29, 2014, we celebrated our first anniversary in Red River, NM.

Our 1st annual anniversary pic. 

Our wedding day 2013 vs. Our 1st anniversary 2014

We had our 3rd annual family reunion in Red River with my dad's side of the family. It was seriously such a fun trip.

We spent the 4th of July in Branson with Aaron's side of the family. It was a fun, relaxing weekend spent near Big Cedar Lodge in a wonderful log cabin.

We also traveled to St.Louis with two of my childhood friends and their husbands. We attended a Cardinals game, visited the Anheiser Busch plant, and ate lots of yummy food.

In July, we found out that Aaron got a job back in Oklahoma. He accepted the job and we moved almost 3 weeks later. It was very bittersweet and we were so sad to leave Mammoth so quickly, but so excited to be closer to family and friends.

We loaded up our U-Haul, said our goodbyes, and moved back to OK on August 11th.

P.S.- Aaron and I are both counting down the months until we come back to visit Mammoth 

this summer. We cannot wait!

The majority of August and September was spent working on our  "love shack" and making it into our warm, cozy home. 

Guest bedroom before and after

Living room before and after

In October, we soaked up lots of time with family and friends.

November was a super busy month for me. I was swamped with photography sessions and editing, trying to get every one's Christmas card pictures ready in time. I traveled to Arkansas to visit my college friend and celebrate her little boy's 2nd birthday.

We also spent Thanksgiving with both of our families. Unfortunately, I only got a picture with my family. 

We had a wonderful December, filled with Christmas parties, birthday celebrations, family traditions, fun with friends and even some snow! Aaron even managed to get a boys hunting trip in with his best friends from college.

Now that I look back on 2014, I can't help but think I spent a large majority of my time in the car and on the road traveling places. I also spent a lot of time taking pictures and editing them. I thought it would be fun to compile a collage of all my photo sessions since last January. 

Thank you to all my amazing clients for trusting me with your photos. I have enjoyed getting to know all of my new clients and I loved getting to take all my returning client's pictures again. You guys have helped me grow my business in 2014 and I want to remember you all. I think it will be fun to do it again in 2015 and see what all has changed. 

Wow! If you made it through this whole post, you are awesome. I know it was really long and believe me it took ages to write. These posts are my least favorite to write because they take so long, but they are my most favorite to look back on and read the following year. 2014, you were an amazing year. I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store. A huge thanks to all my blog readers. You do not know how happy it makes me to know that you read my blog. Thank you for all the sweet comments and encouragement. You are the best! 

Here's to a fantastic 2015...CHEERS! Have a Happy New Year :)

My Creative Itch

I've been doing a lot of crafting in my free time and it makes me oh so happy. There's not a whole lot that makes me happier than crafting....it is also relieves a lot of stress for me. I've done a few projects recently that I thought I'd share on the blog.

source: target.com

I've been wanting a Boxwood wreath for a long time now. I needed one to hang on the door in our bedroom, but I was not about to pay a high price for it. I saw some that were $120. That to me is crazy. The cheapest I could find was this one pictured above at Target for $44. I'm super cheap and still couldn't justify paying that price. I decided I would attempt to make my own.

 Here is my version. It looks very different from the Target version, but I think it will do just fine. I bought a wire wreath at Hobby Lobby for $3.99 and then I used floral wire to adhere four boxwood greenery stems around the wreath. I bought the greenery stems when they were half off at Hobby Lobby.

I needed a $15 gift for a secret Santa gift exchange and I decided to go with chalkboards. 

source

 I found both of these prints on Pinterest and decided to put them on the chalkboards.

source

I bought the chalkboards at Hobby Lobby. They were originally $6.99 a piece, but they were 50% off when I bought them. I used a chalk paint pen to write it. Here's how they turned out.

I've also been working on my sewing skills. My cousin bought me a sewing machine and my mom gave me a quick lesson on how to use it and I've been practicing by making baby headbands and leggings. 

 I made the headband, hand stamped the monogrammed onesie, and hand stamped the triangles on these leggings. It was so easy and quick. I can't wait to find some more solid color leggings and try some other stamps. 

 This was the first pair of leggings I made. I was pretty proud of myself for lining up the pattern, but the elastic waistband was a huge challenge for me and when you look up close it is totally messed up.

This was my second pair of leggings. This time around, I learned how to do a much better waistband, but I completely botched up the crotch area in these. Now if I can only make a pair that fixes both of those issues, I'll be in good shape. I need to practice, practice, practice. I've been working on some more headbands and I'm using a different pattern that is cuter and easier. I can't wait to show you the personalized headband I'm working on right now. It's a gift for a friend so I can't share it until she receives it in the mail.