Memorial Weekend!

I hope you all had a safe and fun Memorial Day and weekend. I know we did. My goal was to relax and enjoy the outdoors.

Friday night, Aaron's brother came into town to spend the weekend.

Saturday, we went to Greer Spring for the first time. We hiked to the spring and took in all the pretty scenery. That night we hosted a cookout at our house with a group of our friends.

Sunday, we went to the creek. I swam and soaked up some sun while the boy's fished. Then, I attempted to fish and I actually caught one! He was little and cute. 

 Aaron caught these 3 small mouth bass.

My little perch friend.

Monday, we headed to the lake with some of our friends and spent the day boating and enjoying the water. It was the perfect weekend and exactly what I needed. 

FYI- this Sat I'm having a garage sale so if you live in the local area, please come buy some stuff. I'll be selling two headboards, all the stuff in my booth, tons of clothes, bridesmaid dresses, purses, shoes, etc. Come check it out!

My New Kitchen Table

I was not in the market for a new kitchen table. I had a big wooden table with six chairs and it worked great for us and fit all our guests, but I had dreams of a table with antique white distressed legs and a barn wood top. My plan was to re-do our table by myself. It was a project that intimidated me and I kept putting it off. Then, one day I was antique/flea market shopping in the area and I laid eyes upon the most gorgeous table that was exactly what I was looking for. I thought it was a reasonable price and I ended up buying it that day. The only problem was that it didn't have chairs. At first I thought I would keep my chairs and just paint them to match, but I really didn't like the way they went with the table. I had trouble selling my old table without the chairs so I finally decided to start looking for some new chairs. I knew I wanted parson chairs, but I didn't want to pay the price (I'm a super tight wad).

I got online to browse Facebook and a set of parson chairs on an online yard sale page popped up on my news feed. I knew it was meant to be. I messaged the girl and scored these two parson chairs for $25. I was pumped. They needed some TLC...the springs were broken, I wanted to stain the legs, and recover them.

The chairs before

I researched fabric for hours trying to find exactly what I wanted. Finally, I stumbled upon a website called Warehouse Fabrics. They had tons of fabric to choose from and they are super cheap. I got my fabric for less than $9 a yard. Shipping was free on orders over $35, and it shipped to me in less than a week (and that was with it being back ordered). Needless to say, I was super impressed and I will for sure be using them again.

I found the sweetest lady locally that is a saint and a pro at reupholstering. I'm so glad a friend referred me to her and if you need her name and info, please let me know. I'd be glad to give her more business and I know  you will be happy with her work. She fixed the springs, recovered the chairs, and stained the legs all for $66. In my opinion, after getting quotes from many other places back home, that price is unheard of. I picked up the chairs tonight and I was so pleased. They are exactly what I wanted.

The chairs after

I wanted 3 parson chairs and a bench, so if anyone finds a good deal on a parson chair, please let me know. I'm on the lookout. I found a little bench at a local antique store a few weeks ago. It was cheap and had a rustic, shabby chic look. I'm not quite sure if I'll stain the wood like the top of the table, or if I'll just leave it be. I'm kind of liking it as is. It has white chipped paint on the legs, but I think I'm okay with that. What do you think?

I guess I'll stop boring you with all my explanations, and just show you the finished product. Just imagine it with one more matching parson chair. 

I'm super happy with the end result and I'm so glad I found the table, chairs and an awesome new upholstery friend. I will be using her again! Oh and I'm happy to announce that my old table sold this weekend...YAY!!!

It's Mother's Day, I'm Not a Mom, but I'm a Mess!

Church today was good for my soul. Not that it always isn't, but it really was today. You see, the older I get, the more sentimental and emotional I am about certain things. Motherhood is something that has always been emotional and amazing to me. I love nothing more than watching the bond between a mother and child. Hence the reason why I love doing newborn photography.


I am not a mother. I am not ready to be a mother yet, but I constantly dream of that day and wonder what it would feel like.


It all started at church today when the preacher asked everyone to raise their hand if they were sitting in church today with their mother. It seemed like almost every hand in the sanctuary went up.....except for mine and Aaron's. And then, I cried. I looked over at Aaron and I could tell he was feeling the same way as me. We missed our moms (and of course our dad's too).


Then, the preacher asked for all mother's to raise their hands. Next, he gave flowers to the oldest and youngest mother's in the room. The oldest was 80 and the youngest was 21. Then, he gave flowers to the mother with the most children with her at church....she had all 4 grown children with her. And I cried.


All of that got me thinking. I began thinking about everyone in that room and in my life who has lost their mother this last year, or in year's past and how hard this day must be for them. And I cried.


Then, I noticed the mother sitting in front of me with her baby who was of a different ethnicity than her....assuming he was adopted, I began to think of all my friends and family members who would make the most amazing mothers, but are struggling to conceive and those who have chosen to adopt...and I cried.


Then, a group of women and their children went to the front of the church to take the offering and a woman standing next to her mother and daughter was asked to pray and she couldn't get through the prayer without crying. It took me back to Easter Sunday when my mom prayed over our lunch and she boo-hoed during her prayer thanking God for having both her children home. Her tears were contagious...and again, I cried.


Then, I thought about all my friends who were given the gift of motherhood this year and year's past and all their precious babies whom I love dearly...and I cried.


I don't know what got into me, but once I started, I just couldn't stop. When we got into the car after church, Aaron asked what was wrong with me and I explained it to him just as I have on this blog and I was bawling.


All this to say, I am thankful for my mother and all other mother's out there. The way you sacrifice and provide for your children is a beautiful thing to me.


Who can find a virtuous woman? She is far more precious than jewels...
Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the activities of her household and is never idle.
Her sons rise up and call her blessed.
He husband also praises her:
Many women are capable, but you surpass them all!
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
~Proverbs 31:10, 25-30

I love you mamma!!

My Birthday & Easter!!

I had the best birthday and Easter weekend. It was spent with my favorite people in the entire world.

Aaron didn't tell me what he had planned for my birthday, but I knew we would do something. I figured we would probably drive 30mins and go to dinner and a movie, but to my surprise, I got home from work and I could smell that he had made dinner. It was all packaged up in our picnic basket with our picnic blanket. He surprised me with a picnic for 3 (me, him & the dog) and a long walk around the spring. Perfect. Couldn't have asked for a better evening. Exactly my kind of date night. Afterwards, we went to our neighbors Easter Eggstravaganza and hung out with some friends and their kids.

 Love these boys so much! They mean the world to me.

Our picnic consisted of grilled chicken pasta salad, potato salad, grapes, wine, and a cookie cake. YUM!

We left Friday after work to go my hometown and stay the weekend with my family. It was the perfect weekend, but way too short. We woke up Saturday morning, had a wonderful breakfast on the patio, took the dogs on a long walk, then we met up with almost all of my dad's side of the family at a local park and hunted Easter eggs and hung out all day. The weather was gorgeous and we pretty much had the park all to ourselves. My dad's family came in from out of town so it was great to spend some time with them.

 On our morning walk around the wilderness.

These cousin pups love playing together!

An intense game of peanuckle. We also played dodge ball & wall ball. It's been a while since I've played those games and I forgot how much fun they are.

  

 We also had pillow case races. They are too cute. The little ones did the best.

The adults had to get in on the action and accept the challenge. Husbands VS. wives. It was a close race.

 Cuties!

All the great grandchildren.

 Almost the whole gang.

After the park, we went to Rudy's BBQ for dinner then back to my parents house to watch the Thunder game.

Sunday morning we woke up, went to church (which was amazing....Easter is by far my most favorite Sunday of the year), had brunch at a local restaurant, and then we went to see the movie God's Not Dead. If you haven't seen it, GO!! Great movie! After the movie, we loaded up our stuff and headed back home. It's so hard to leave every time we go back home and each time we do it we always wish we were WAY CLOSER!

Love my siblings!

My family with my Me-Ma at brunch with the creepy Easter bunny.

Happy Easter from us!!

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special. The calls, texts, messages, cards, and gifts were greatly appreciated and made my day. I am so very lucky to have you all in my life.

I am so excited about my newest purchase for the house. It is my birthday present to myself and I'm in love.

I found it at a flea market in the local area for a really good price. My goal is to find 3 parson chairs for the ends and one side of the table and then a rustic bench for the other side. I got lucky this evening and found two parson chairs for $25 on a Facebook online yard sale page. I'm going to buy them and have them recovered in a cute fabric. It's just too good of a price not to. I will be selling my old kitchen table and 6 chairs if anyone is interested.

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Ever since we got home from the Lady Antebellum concert, these two songs have been on repeat and have played over 15 million times. Just ask my husband, he will vouch for me. I'm always a sucker for a good heart break song that you can belt out and sing super loud. These two are perfect for just that.








I've been belting out "It Ain't Pretty" during random times when I do something that's not pretty, like the other night when I was absolutely bawling because we boarded Samson (my dog) for the first time ever. Aaron was in the middle of thinking how incredibly pathetic I was and in mid cry I started singing "It Aint Pretty"....he thought that was pretty great because when I cry it's definitely not pretty.














And they just came out with the American Blogger trailer. You better believe I will be buying it on iTunes the day it comes out. So excited to see it!

Fayetteville Trip!

This past weekend we made the 4hr trek to Fayetteville to tailgate and watch an Arkansas Razorbacks baseball game. We picked a great game to attend. They were playing the No.1 team South Carolina and they just so happened to beat them 7-0. It was a great game, a beautiful evening, and we got to see some of our favorite friends! We road tripped with a couple from here & we met up with three of Aaron's friends from college. After the game we all went out dancing and had a blast. The girls also got a little bit of shopping in :)

March Madness & Where I've Been

I apologize for my lack of blogging. It has been a crazy month filled with work, photography shoots, visitors, weekend getaways, & a few fun surprises. Not complaining about that one bit. I have been looking forward to March & April for a long time because of all the fun things going on. So here's a recap of what we've been doing:

- In February I traveled to Springfield, MO to watch my cousin Parker compete in a tae kwan do tournament. He came home with four medals and two of them were 1st place! He did awesome. I got to visit with my cousins and learn a lot about tae kwan do. It was a short visit, but I loved every minute of it.

-Then, in that same day, I traveled to Tahlequah, OK to surprise my cousin Blondell. She was in a theater production that her town put on and we completely surprised her by coming to the show. My mom, three aunts, and my uncle came along. Afterwards, we hung out at her house, spent the night with my aunts & mom at a lodge, had breakfast together, and went shopping afterwards. It was a great trip and I was so happy to spend a weekend with my family.

-In March, I made a weekend trip to Branson, MO to hang out with my best friend and her family. They had a time share in Branson for Spring Break. Alli and I shopped till we dropped and had a blast catching up.

  These are some of the purchases I made in Branson. The "D" yard flag and the gray headboard are from Kirkland's, the Happy Easter banner is from Target, and we made the wreath in Branson during a snowstorm.

-The following weekend, we had some last minute visitors from Oklahoma. My friend, and co-worker from JCPenney Salon and her two daughters came. We had so much fun and I'm so glad they decided to make the trip. We did a photography shoot, played darts, went bowling, saw the movie "Divergent" (it is so so good, by the way), had a campfire and roasted s'mores and hot dogs, and toured the town.

-Later that same day, we had our second set of visitors. My great friend from college, Laura and her husband came to visit during their Spring Break. They went trout fishing while we were at work, then we hung out, went to dinner, and caught up on life when we got home from work. The next day, we went on an antiquing adventure. She loves to antique and has the cutest taste and ideas. She is my kind of shopping partner. I loved having them in town. We don't get to see each other very often so it was really nice & we had a lot of fun!!

-Our visitors left on Tuesday afternoon & on Thursday after work, we headed to Tulsa, OK to surprise my best friend. Little did she know, we had this trip planned for over 6 months. It was so hard to keep it a secret from her. We surprised her at lunch and got to have lunch with her parents too! That night, we went to the Lady Antebellum concert. She had been telling her husband she wanted to go for so long now. He called us and asked if we would like to join in on the surprise. Of course, we were in. She had absolutely no clue and thought they were in Tulsa for a soccer tournament. It was seriously the best weekend. We had so much fun, the concert was amazing, and we were with the greatest company. We were also able to stay with Aaron's parents for the rest of the weekend so we killed two birds with one stone.

The video of me surprising Alli. Can you tell she was completely confused and shocked? That was for sure an Alli reaction/response, haha. It took her a good 5 minutes to figure out what was really going on. 

We are looking forward to more fun things planned in April & I promise to be a better blogger about those things. I'm off to catch up on laundry, unpacking, grocery shopping, & then a maternity shoot this afternoon in this perfect weather.