Memorial Day Recap & A Yummy Recipe

 

My brother and his wife came to visit us for Memorial Day. When they got into town Saturday night, we had dinner on the patio and played a game then watched a movie. We got up early Sunday and took their boat and our kayaks out on a fishing adventure on Veteran's Lake (a fitting name for a lake on Memorial Day).

 

 My brother got the catch of the day on his third cast. He caught a few smaller ones after that. Aaron and I didn't get so lucky :(

 Yes, I believe in flotation devices. Especially when the water is high and there are storms brewing in the distance. I don't take any chances.

 It was so relaxing and I managed to get quite the sunburn despite the clouds.

 Love these two and so thankful for the relationship we have with them.

Cuties!

 

Sausage and Shells Recipe:

I made a new recipe for them on Saturday night. I have been following Mix and Match Mama's blog since I found out she was Sean Lowe's (the Bachelor) sister, but I've never looked at her cooking blog or tried any of her recipes. I always drool over her pictures of food at the end of her posts, but I decided to try one of her recipes and it was SOO good and easy.

 

 

You can find the recipe here. I will definitely be trying more of her recipes soon.

Currently....

Since I've been struggling to get back into the weekly blog post routine, here's my latest monthly update.

-My mom and I took a girl's trip to Galveston, TX to photograph the vow renewal of my friend/previous boss Robbin and her husband Rick. They celebrated 35 years with a beach vow renewal and then a cruise. It was fun to celebrate with them and capture their sweet day. Their daughter and her husband also participated in the renewal after 3 years of marriage.

 

-The following weekend, we were supposed to have another girl's weekend in Ft. Worth with my  cousin and aunt, but we had to cancel due to the weather. Although Aaron and I had to hang out in our storm shelter for a while and we lost power, we still had a wonderful weekend at home. We got to relax and get the house unpacked and situated some. Here are a few pics of the house, it is still a work in progress, but it's starting to come together.

 This might be my favorite part of the living room. I found a new use for my mattress springs and I love the way it turned out.

The dining room.

 The back patio. This is probably the space we have used most. We bought a small patio set and put up patio lights for cookouts and gatherings. I read in the hammock all the time out there since it's now covered and I've caught Aaron sleeping out there a few times. We have pretty much eaten every dinner outside since we moved in. It is glorious!

 The den. This room still needs some work. I've got a lot of blank space to fill and I have to figure out the best way to arrange the furniture and fireplace mantle.

 Our bedroom. Wish I had the guts and time to tackle painting the bedroom set, but I don't know if that will ever happen. I would also like to find another night stand for my side of the bed.

 The guest bedroom. Also still needs some work, but I can decide where to hang everything yet.

 This is in the front entryway. We really don't know what to do with this formal living space because we don't have any furniture to fill it so this is pretty much all I've got for now. I have some ideas in my head, but I don't want to buy a bunch of new stuff for a rent house.

 The front entry way table, also in the formal living room.

I did find these clear acrylic chairs for the entryway. I told Aaron I found the exact chairs I was looking for and I couldn't pass them up. I found them for a really good deal at Ross. When I brought them home Aaron was appalled. He thinks they are terribly ugly and serve no purpose. It is now a running joke and every time he walks into that room he acts like he stubbed his toe on the chairs since they are "invisible." You probably also think I'm crazy for buying these, but I plan on getting a cute table to put in between the chairs and I want to get white fur pillows to put on them. I think they will be cute once it all comes together....we'll see.

 

-Last weekend we had our first over night guests. Our friends from Mammoth came to visit us as well as our friends Nick and Paige. The boys went fishing while the girls went shopping. We stayed up way too late both nights and we took a swim in "daddy's secret pond." You would have had to been there to catch on to that one. ;)

Samson got lots of attention all weekend and he was so exhausted after everyone left.

 

-This weekend my aunt came to stay with us. We just relaxed and stayed inside most of the weekend due to the rain, but we got to show her around and try out some new restaurants. She brought her three doggies and they played and played and played.

 The sweetest cousin pups!

Handsome boys.

 

-Now, we are waiting on my brother and sister-in-law to get here. They are coming to see the new place and then we are going to spend Memorial Day kayak fishing on the lake.

 

Please say a prayer for everyone in Oklahoma (and everywhere else) dealing with all the flooding. I have seen so many crazy stories and pictures and I pray that everyone stays safe and the rain subsides.

 

Hope you all have a happy and safe Memorial Day!

The New House: Before Pictures

I thought I would share a few before pictures of the new house. My blog is one of the best motivators for me to get things done and put together as far as my home is concerned. I'm hoping this will help me get things marked off my to-do list since I will be sharing after pictures. Since it is a rent house we won't be doing a lot of stuff to the house, mainly just decorating. It is killing me not to paint the walls and wood work because I do not like the colors at all, but I'll just have to get over that. So far we've moved all our big furniture in and we have all the boxes and stuff put away. We still have a few more loads of small stuff to bring over from the "love shack" and we have to unload the rest of the small things from our storage unit. 

 

 Here is the backyard and the patio. Please ignore the jungle....this was before we got it mowed. Aaron bought a riding lawn mower because there was no way he was going to push mow the whole thing. Samson is so happy here because he finally has a yard to run free in and he has taken full advantage of it. He never wants to come inside and he waits by the back door a lot.

 Another view of the patio. We bought a patio set yesterday and we got that and our hammock set up under the patio. We are looking forward to grilling out a ton this summer.

 Here is the kitchen. We finally have a kitchen that holds all of our stuff. Behind the fridge is another back door and the laundry room. The laundry room also has tons of storage and a pantry.

 This is the front formal entry sitting area. We have no clue what we are going to do with this space because we don't have any furniture to put in it so right now it's just a big blank room.

 Another view of the kitchen and dining room.

 If you go right from the front entry way, you will step down into the den. I'm so excited to have a fireplace!! This room is huge and it makes our furniture look like Barbie doll furniture.

 Another view of the den.

 Here is one of the three bedrooms. They all are pretty much the same size and look like this.

The guest bathroom. I'm loving all the storage because I have WAY too much hair/makeup/bath&body stuff.

 The master bathroom. Hooray for having two bathrooms again!!!

The master vanity/sink.

 

Anyway, as I get the house put together and decorated I will post the after pictures. Now that we have the space, we would love to have visitors and we can't wait to host a house warming party/cookout this summer with friends!

Always on the go....

We have been out of town every single weekend since the middle of March and it has been so much fun traveling around and seeing different groups of friends, but I must admit that I'm ready for like 15 weekends at home doing nothing. Not going to happen anytime soon, but a girl can dream right? Not sure how I'm ever going to get our new house situated and unpacked, but I'm not going to stress over it.

Here's what we've been up to on all our weekend getaways:

The weekend after my Grandpa's 90th birthday party, we traveled to Tulsa and stayed the night with our sweet friends Nick and Paige. The next morning we woke up and headed to Tahlequah for a weekend of fishing and hanging out. We didn't catch a single fish, but it was still a really fun weekend with friends.

 I'm playing the redneck part pretty good here in my rubber boots.

The first weekend in April we visited my family and stayed the weekend to celebrate Easter. Aaron's family joined us for church and lunch afterwards and it was great to have both of our families together for the holiday. I completely failed and didn't take one single picture. It was a yucky, rainy day so that's my excuse.

The second weekend in April I traveled back to my hometown to do some wedding hair for some of my favorite clients.  We also had a cookout with my family to celebrate the April birthdays. After the wedding I headed to Tahlequah to visit my cousins that were in town from Virginia.

 Loved getting to spend time and play with these pretty princesses. They are the cutest and most gorgeous little girls ever.

Isabel calls me Princess Quincee because she was in ourwedding and she saw me in my "white princess dress". She asked me while we were playing if she could come stay in my castle and watch me dance with my prince. Oh, Isabel, you are too funny. Of course, I also loved seeing their awesome mamma and catching up with her.

 

In between my two night stay in Tahlequah I drove to Tulsa to do a maternity shoot with these pretty friends.

They were so photogenic and fun. Can't wait to meet their little girl.

 

The weekend after that, we went back to my hometown yet again to celebrate my birthday with my family. We went to dinner and saw the Nicholas Sparks' movie, The Longest Ride. It was a really good movie, I would highly recommend it. The next day we went camping with some of my best girlfriends from high school. It was Aaron and three girls and it was seriously so much fun. We decided we are always going to go camping together and I think we should turn it into an annual birthday trip. The weather was supposed to be severe all weekend, but we lucked out and had some beautiful weather.

 Love these girls big time.

I will never camp again without Chef Steph. She made us a wonderful gourmet breakfast by campfire and it was oh so delicious!

 

Aaron bought me a kayak for my birthday. He is a smart man. He knew that once he got his kayak, he would be fishing in it all summer long and in order for me to not complain about it, I would need to go along as his sidekick. I am looking forward to many kayaking trips this summer. I plan on bringing a book, a drink, and sunbathing the day away in my kayak....sounds like Heaven to me.

 

This past weekend we visited Aaron's college buddy in Southeastern Oklahoma for a weekend of turkey hunting and relaxing. While all the boys were out hunting, I got to play with  Aly and catch up with her mamma. It was such a relaxing weekend and I enjoyed getting to see where they lived for the first time ever. They are expecting their second baby girl in the next few weeks and we can't wait to meet her.

 This was Josh's first turkey ever and it was huge. Needless to say, they were all pretty pumped! Love these boys. Aaron is blessed with some really awesome friends and I'm so glad that we live closer so they can hang out and go hunting together again.

Aly blowing bubbles. I think she could have done it all day.

She has the cutest spunky personality and cracked me up all weekend long.

 

We got home Sunday afternoon and started moving into our new house. On Monday, Aaron's family came down and helped us move. I took a few loads Monday morning and then I had to drive to the city for a newborn shoot. A huge thanks to Aaron's family for bringing their muscles to help us move all our big furniture. I felt bad for not being able to help them move everything, but it was really nice when I got home at midnight to have all the big stuff moved.

 Baby Abigail was only 3 days old during her shoot.....love capturing newborns and all their sweetness.

 

Speaking of babies, it seems like every one I know is having a baby which is also keeping me really busy. I'm trying to keep up with my Etsy orders and baby gifts for friends. I've got 4 or 5 baby gifts that I need to make in the next few weeks.

 These are my latest creations that are for sale in my shop.

 

 I'm looking forward to the next two weekends. This upcoming weekend I will be traveling to Galveston with my mom to photograph my friend and previous boss' vow renewal on the beach. I can't wait to see her and be a part of her special day. The following weekend we are having a girl's weekend in Ft. Worth with my mom, aunt, and cousin to celebrate my aunt's birthday. THEN, I AM GOING TO DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THE LAST FEW WEEKENDS IN MAY. Phew!  Did I mention I don't like sitting still?

 

Stay tuned for more regular blog posts and some updates on the new house!

 

 

We're Moving.....AGAIN!

 

Yep, you read that right. We are moving yet again. And yes, you counted correctly....that makes three moves since we got married almost two years ago and I'm definitely OVER it. My life has been absolutely nuts and I apologize for neglecting my blog, but there has been no time for reading or writing blogs.

 

We knew when we moved into the "Love Shack" nine months ago that we would eventually be moving out within the year. It was a temporary place to live while we found something more permanent. We were looking for houses to buy and almost got to the stage of making an offer on a townhouse when we got the news that we had to be out of our house by May 9th because the new intern would be moving in. That gave us 4 weeks to find a place and move out. To say that I panicked and had a small mental breakdown is an understatement. We knew then that buying would no longer be an option because there wasn't enough time and we didn't want to feel rushed into making that big of a decision. We immediately began looking for rent houses. Just so you know, the rental market here is AWFUL. No one allows pets, everything is out of this world expensive because of all the oil workers that rent and therefore, there is almost nothing available for rent. We lucked out and found a house listed online for rent. We went and looked at it last week and loved it. However, there was already someone with an application on it and they had until last week to put down the deposit. We were on the edge of our seats waiting all weekend to hear if they paid the deposit or not. Luckily, they didn't and we signed the lease today! HOORAY. You have no idea how relieved I am.

 

The house is a HUGE upgrade from the "Love Shack." It is 3 bed/2 bath with a huge fenced in backyard, a large patio, two big shop buildings for all of Aaron's outdoors stuff, and a storm cellar. It is extremely clean and recently updated and we will have so much storage. Obviously after living in the "Love Shack" we have become extremely humble and will be looking forward to having a dish washer, a kitchen sink that drains, bath tub, laundry room, etc. I am so thankful that Aaron's job provided us with a home to live in rent and bills free for 9 months. It really was a huge blessing and life saver because we could not find anything else at the time. However, I must say, I will not miss the "Love Shack" one bit. I will miss how relaxing it is out here and all the wildlife there is to see, but our new rent house is on 10 acres so I'm sure it will still be very relaxing. It is also 10 miles closer to my work place.

 

I still remember how shocked and panicked I was when I first saw the "Love Shack" and realized that we would have to live there for a while. I never imagined that we would live in it for all of 9 months and I must say I think I deserve a pat on the back for it. I'm pretty sure there will never be another wife that lives in that house that long, but we made it our home and it worked out great and for that I am very thankful. I can promise you that I will be in heaven in our new house. Who knows how long we will be in it, but there is one thing I do know....I am so sick of moving and I'm ready to buy a house and live in it FOREVER!! Stay tuned for updates and pictures of the new place. I'm off to go search Craigslist for a riding lawn mower and a patio furniture set :)

 

 The back patio and yard.

 Any ideas/suggestions on how to style this large brick wall/fireplace? Wish it had a mantle.

Aaron's future shop. I bet he fills up every bit of it.