September & October Fun!

We've had some fun weekends recently so here is a little recap of all we've been doing:

- The last weekend of September I attended my high school friend/volleyball teammates wedding. It was GORGEOUS and she was such a pretty bride. Aaron was out of town for a wildlife expo all weekend so I took my mom with me as my date.

I also got to have dinner and celebrate September birthdays with my best friends from high school!

-The first weekend of October, Aaron went out of town to go hunting with all his college buddies so it was only fitting that we had our annual girls shopping weekend. My mom and I have gone with my childhood friend, Rachel and her  mom every year for almost 20 years (unfortunately we didn't do it the last two years because life got in the way- I got married and she had a baby, but we started it back up this year). We went to Canton this year and Rachel's little girl joined in on the fun. We had such a blast and it was great catching up with them!!

- The second weekend of October we spent the weekend at my parent's house and hosted a baby shower for my best friend!

 

-This past weekend, we went to dinner and saw The Band Perry in concert. It was my birthday present to Aaron. It was so much fun and we really enjoyed the concert.

 

-We woke up Saturday and cheered on the Memphis Tigers! My cousin coaches football at Memphis and we are so thrilled about their amazing season. For those of you that don't know, they are undefeated and they beat Ole Miss on Saturday. I put my Memphis t-shirt on and got so excited when they took the lead....I also screamed way too loud and jumped up and down when they showed my cousin on TV. It was such a great game and we can't wait to watch the Tigers play in Tulsa this weekend! Congrats Brad, we are so excited for you!

 That's my cousin, without the hat on with the big grin on his face. His sister took these pictures from her TV screen. Thanks for the pics Steph, hope you don't mind me stealing them :)

Can you tell he was excited? We are so proud!!

-Saturday afternoon my sweet friend, Sabrina came to visit and spend the night. We spent the day shopping, getting pedicures, and enjoying some yummy food and drinks at a local eatery/hang out. I was so glad she came to see us and as always, it was great to catch up and hang out with her.

- We woke up this morning and made Cinnamon Roll Pancakes. I've been wanting to make them for a long time now and thought it would be best to make them when we had company so Aaron and I didn't eat them all. They were delicious and we will be making them again!

Our pancakes were no where near as pretty as the pics on the recipes, but they sure did taste good! You can find the recipe here:http://life-in-the-lofthouse.com/cinnamon-roll-pancakes/

 

Hope you all had a great weekend!

My Best Friend's Baby Shower!

 

Hosting showers and parties might be one of my favorite things to do. I love all the planning, crafting, & celebrating, especially when it's for my best friend and her sweet baby boy. This past weekend I hosted a couples shower with three of my best friends from childhood (one was hosting from afar- we missed you Rachel). It was so fun to spend the day with them setting up, cooking, laughing, telling old stories, and catching up on life.

 

We may have even gone by our Elementary School to reminisce. I met these girls when I was just a young pup and we have all remained friends ever since. We may not see each other as often as we would like, but when we get together it's like nothing has ever changed. They are my ride or die and I know they will be there for me to celebrate during the good times and to support me during the tough, hard times. We have celebrated many milestones together with graduations, weddings, births, etc. and I'm so blessed with their friendships. While we were on our way to get helium for the balloons, Megan had the brilliant idea to go by our Elementary School to see if it had changed. Of course we couldn't leave without a picture first. So many great memories there.

 

Okay, back to the baby shower....

The hostesses (minus Rach) with the adorable mamma-to-be.

 

We went with an Aztec/Tribal theme since that's what Baby B's nursery will look like.

 

The Invites:

I ordered the invites on Etsy. You can find the seller here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/242801257/metallic-gold-white-and-black-tribal?ref=hp_mod_rf 

I would highly recommend using her. She was quick and did an awesome job customizing it for a baby shower. I ALWAYS use Etsy to purchase invitation templates (and Christmas cards) and then I ALWAYS print them at Office Depot. It is by far the cheapest and easiest way to go.

 The front

The back

 

The details:

 My friend Rachel's mom made the delicious Italian Crème Cake. It was fantastic. I stole the cake topper idea from a picture I saw on Pinterest (imagine that).

 I got the gold "baby" letters on Amazon. The tissue poms and fans are from Hobby Lobby. All the silverware, cups, paper plates, and napkins were also from Hobby Lobby.

 Since it was a couples shower, we provided some brewskis for the men in order to convince them to attend (just kidding)

 

 I bought this plain wooden "B" when I went to Canton from a store called Build-A-Cross. If you need any unfinished wooden items, you should check out their website. It's a cool company and the people who cut out the wood are recovering addicts. They have everything from shapes to alphabet letters to monograms, etc.  Here is their website: http://www.build-a-cross.com/

 I found this cute quote on Pinterest. It reads "popsickle kisses and big bear hugs, little red wagons and jars full of bugs. Grass stains, soccer games, lots of toys...oh the joys of little boys."

 I made a onesie banner and "Oh Boy" banner for the fire place.

I'm excited to open my Etsy shop back up and add these new designs to it. I'm planning on opening it back up after the holidays. For now, I'm enjoying my break :)

 

My mom's friend made these adorable cookies. She is amazing and did such a good job. They tasted as good as they looked!

We served little piggies in a baby blanket (little smokies in crescent rolls), bow-tie pasta salad, training wheels (pinwheels), strawberry poppyseed salad, and fruits & veggies.

 

Games: We didn't go crazy with the games, but we did do a few things. We played the shoe game. You ask a series of questions where the answer is either him or her and depending on who they think it is, they will hold up that person's shoe. For example we asked, "who will be the better lullaby singer?" "Who will be the one to cry at kindergarten graduation?"

I think during this picture we asked, "who will be the one to lay down the law?" They both answered Alli, haha.

 

We also had a calendar and everyone guessed when they thought the baby would arrive and wrote their name on the date.

 

We also gave everyone a piece of paper to write a note to Baby B for him to read when he graduates high school...kind of like a time capsule.

I'm so excited for these two and I absolutely cannot wait to meet Baby B. He is so lucky to have such wonderful parents and he is going to be loved and spoiled by so many. I can't wait to see who he will look like and who he will become.

 

We may have even toilet papered my brother's house after the shower. I bet you have never Tee-peed with two pregnant women. You know it was a fun shower when that happens afterwards....good times!

 

Hurry up December!! I'm ready to squeeze & love on Baby B!

Last Weekend=Good for my Soul

 

This past weekend was PERFECT! Exactly what we were needing. The only thing we had on the calendar was Aaron's family coming to visit. It was so so nice.

 

Friday night we had a date night. We went to dinner and rented the movie "Unbroken".

 Date night selfie :)

We watched this gorgeous sunset from our front porch. That's one thing I really love about where we live. Our front yard has the most beautiful sunsets!

 

We didn't set our alarm for Saturday and we finally got to sleep in....it was GLORIOUS! I made some snacks for football watching. Aaron hasn't watched a single college football game until Sat so he was pumped about it.

 I had the sweetest snuggly boy to watch football with.

I was sporting my OU attire...you Normanites should be proud.

 I made my favorites....chips & queso and pigs-in-a-blanket....you can never go wrong with them!

 

Aaron's family arrived and we watched football...

 Played with these golden pups outside....they became fast best friends. Since Oakley is getting bigger, Samson is starting to pay more attention to him.

 

 

 

 What a pretty boy!

The boys practiced shooting their bows.

 

Then we went to dinner at The Grand Buffet inside The Winstar Casino. All you can eat crab legs were on the menu and we left stuffed. We loved getting to spend the day with family!

 

Sunday was another relaxing day full of nothing. It rained all day so I took full advantage and spent the day inside crafting for my best friend's baby shower. Hooray for a great weekend, I probably won't see another one like that for oh, about 5 months! One can hope though :)

Hooray for Fall!!

Fall is by far my most favorite time of the year. I love everything about it. I'm always in a better mood in the fall, I'm more motivated to do things in the fall, and I never want it to end. This week I worked on getting our house in fall mode. I don't have a ton of fall décor, just one measly tote full, but I love the coziness it brings to our home. We've got a fall bucket list in the works. We made one when we lived in Mammoth and we really enjoyed having a list of fun things to do throughout the season. When we decide on our bucket list items I'll post them to the blog.

 

I've already completed two things that will be on my fall bucket list. #1. Make a fun fall craft. We really needed a new door hanger/wreath for the front door and I found a plain wooden pumpkin for sale at Hobby Lobby so I decided to paint and personalize it. This project cost me a total of $9.

 

 

 #2. Make a new fall treat. I saw these white chocolate pumpkin snickerdoodles on Pinterest and I decided to make them this week. They were very rich and tasty!! Aaron gave his approval and said we will be making them again! You can find the recipe here. Pretend like mine look as pretty as theirs.

 
 

 

 

Here's a few pics of my fall décor.

 Traded the hydrangeas in for wheat.

 Can't wait to snuggle up and watch movies when the weather gets cooler!

 I got the painted pumpkin fence art this weekend. Look how pathetic my monogram pumpkin looks. It got just a tad faded while in storage. I'm going to have to freshen it up with a coat of paint.

 I got this cute scarecrow this weekend. Now I just need some hay, pumpkins, and mums for the front porch!

 By the front entryway

We got this pretty centerpiece as a souvenir from our friend's wedding last weekend. We found the perfect home for it on our fireplace!

 I added all my favorite things about fall to the chalkboard and swapped my spring flowers for little white pumpkins.

 

And here are a few of my favorite fall finds on Pinterest:

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Did you count how many times I said fall in this post??? Way too many times. I'm just a little excited. Aaron's family will be in town all weekend! We are going to celebrate his birthday with a yummy crab leg dinner (his choice), watch lots of college football on Saturday and eat snacks (also his choice), and just enjoy time spent with his family. Looking forward to it!! Hope you guys have a great weekend :)