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.

Friday Favorites!

Hooray it's Friday!! Here are a few of my Friday favorites today:

#1. This new centerpiece. I decided I needed some pretty flowers on our kitchen table and I'm loving the new look. Makes me happy and more excited about Spring.

#2. I tried a new recipe this week and it was a SUCCESS. It requires very few ingredients and is very easy. Start with 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Put them in a crockpot on low heat. Pour in 1 whole bottle of BBQ sauce, 1/2 cup Cherry Cola, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Stir it all in and let cook on low for 5 hrs. Shred the chicken a few minutes before serving. I served ours on Hawaiian rolls with a slice of cheese and a pickle. YUMMERS!

#3. Waking up every morning to this guy on the couch. He sure does make himself comfortable and thinks he owns this place. 

#4. I'm so excited to spend this weekend in Branson with my best friend and her family. Can't wait for some girl time and shopping. We have so much to catch up on. It's been 7 months since I've seen her. I think that's the longest we've ever gone. Not okay!

Can't wait to see them!

#5. I'm also super excited because these two cuties are coming to visit us!!! There will be lots of fishing, antiquing, grilling out, catching up, and showing them the town. Excited is an understatement.

#6. Aaron and I have three more super fun weekend getaways coming up soon. I'm not going to share much on that now, but you will hear all about them after the fact. These next few months are going to be packed full of great times. I'm so excited. 

That's all for now. Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!!

Come on Spring!!

I'm trying to think happy thoughts of Spring today. We are right in the middle of a nasty winter storm and they are calling for 1/2 inch of ice and 2-4 inches of ice and snow. Not going to be good here. If we loose power, we can pretty much bet it will be a week before we get it back. Praying it doesn't happen. So instead of sulking about how annoyed I am with this crazy long winter, I'm dreaming of Spring and all the pretty happy things that come along with it. My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall. I love everything about them. I've made a few small changes around the house trying to get it more springy...nothing big, but I like the changes.

 I changed up the front door hanger to this.

 When I think of Spring, I think of green, moss, burlap, and pale pastels. I had my eye on this moss topiary that I saw in a flea market booth. I finally decided to buy it. For some reason, I have a thing for moss topiary's.

 I also needed something to go above our TV. It was a big blank wall and it was driving me crazy. I didn't want anything too crazy because I didn't want too much going on seeing that our gallery wall is next to this wall. I didn't want it really busy and cluttered. I've been wanting a moss and burlap wreath and I like the look of window panes and wreaths. It reminds me of vintage, rustic, and spring. I'm happy with how it turned out. I made the wreath and bought the window pane at a garage sale. It's not in the greatest condition, but I like the way it looks old and vintage so I decided not to do anything to it.

 I also found this D at a flea market last weekend and knew it would be the perfect addition to our gallery wall. 

 I brought out my dried wildflowers and burlap mason jar. 

 I went to TJMAXX yesterday in hopes of finding some Easter decor. Easter is my most favorite holiday, but I'm sad to report that I don't have one single Easter decoration. I was hoping to find some stuff at TJ. TJMAXX is my weakness and I never leave the store without spending $50 and yesterday I left with these three dish towels. I was proud of myself and I'm so in love with these fun, bright kitchen towels. They were $10 for all three. 

 I'm also a huge sucker for stationary and dollar bins. I don't ever pay more than $1-$3 for stationary. Why would you when you have the Target and Michael's dollar bins? The notecards, stamps, and stickers are all from Michael's and the pins and pencils are from Target. 

I've already switched over all my candles to fresh, fruity, floral candles. This one is my current favorite. It's called The Smell of Spring from Aromatique. It smells amazing. You should get one NOW! 

So we will continue to stay warm inside and wait on this storm to hit. Aaron says he already has cabin fever and it's only 9:30am haha. Samson is enjoying it and hogging the entire couch, but he sure is cute! Stay warm friends and pray for warm weather.

Love Them Anyway

I was sitting in church the other day, browsing through my Bible looking at different scriptures and I decided to flip to my favorite Bible verse: Romans 12:12. It has always been my favorite Bible verse, in fact, I even had it written on my bedroom wall in my parent's house. It is one that I constantly try to live by and remember. It is my mantra and my motto. I think if we all memorized it and applied it to our daily lives, this world would be a much better place.






Christian Ethics- Romans 12:9-21
Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs, pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in every one's eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves, instead, leave room for his Wrath. For it is written: vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing, you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.


Wonderful, powerful words. I sometimes get aggravated and annoyed when I try to live by these words and people refer to me as a pushover or a people pleaser. I was always taught by my parents to kill people with kindness and not to stoop to their level by joining in their silly games. All too often, I am amazed by the lack of respect people have for others and the childish/immature games we play.


I found this article on Facebook the other day and I absolutely loved it. I thought it fit in perfectly with this Bible verse and I think it's something everyone should read. I know I fail daily at loving people anyway and I really want to try harder to follow these words.




No One Is Perfect; Try To Love Them Anyway
By: Stephanie Althoff   
http://thoughtcatalog.com/stephanie-althoff/2014/02/no-one-is-perfect-try-to-love-them-anyway/#bKEPcT8wd3UGfpwe.01


They’re funny creatures, people.


They’re going to hurt you. They’re going to let you in and shut you out. They’re going to lie to you. They’re going to manipulate you. They’re going to say things that they simply cannot take back. They’re going to earn your trust and they’re going to betray it. They’re going to confuse you. They’re going to drive you crazy. Love them anyway.


They’re going to surprise you. They’re going to leave you speechless. They’re going to put a smile on your face when you least expect it. They’re going to make you laugh. They’re going to make you cry. Love them anyway.


They aren’t always going to be perfect. They’re going to have bad days, and they might even take it out on you. They’re going to shoot a frown your way, they’re going to follow your car far too closely, and they’re going to conspicuously cut you in line at the grocery store. Love them anyway.


Because people are people. And at their core, there is an inherent vulnerability. We’re vulnerable to bad moments, to bad days, and to bad weeks. We’re vulnerable to taking out our emotions on other people. We’re vulnerable to prejudice, hatred, and bullying. We may be strong enough to work past these vulnerabilities – to not give in to our downfalls. But we’re people. We’re human. And we all have bad days.


A bad moment turns into a bad hour. A bad hour turns into a bad day. And a bad day turns into a bad week. It’s cyclical. It continues. Unless, that is, something breaks the chain.


A smile. A reassuring text message. A tight bear hug to remind us that the world is still full of comfort. Chain breakers. Small, subtle, and instantaneous.


People are going to make you angry, sad, confused, and upset. Don’t fight fire with fire – break the chain. That woman who just gave you the bird on the interstate? Return her gesture with a small smile. It might just make her rethink her afternoon. That man who just cut you in line at the gas station? Cut him some slack. He might have somewhere exponentially important to be. We don’t know everyone’s stories. We won’t ever know everyone’s stories. But we know that everyone struggles and everyone is human. Cut them some slack. Love them anyway.


You’d be surprised at how relaxed your own life can become when you begin to let go of others’ imperfections. There’s no need to get angry about that rude comment someone made or that unsightly gesture. Let it roll. Shake it off. It doesn’t make you a pushover, it makes you strong. Because as soon as you let the negative emotions rise, you’ve continued the chain, and you’ve taken on the hurt and the anger yourself. You let someone else’s bad day become your own. Be confident enough to accept the downfalls of human beings. Be confident enough to accept the downfalls of yourself.
Because you’re a person too. Love yourself anyway.


And if you haven't heard this song, or watched this video, you must watch it now! She is amazing. Gives me goosebumps. I believe she is on the Voice this season. I'm already a fan!!