It's been awhile....

So.....life has been so crazy that it's been awhile since my last post.   Like, over a year type of awhile!  Let's not dwell on that!  In the past year I've been getting in touch with my crafty and creative side.  Thank goodness for pinterest!   Here is a little something I painted yesterday.

A friend of mine sent me a similar flag painted pallet that she saw on pinterest.   Since I live at the lake I have been making and buying coastal decor.  I love this twist on the American flag!  The pin my friend sent me had only one starfish,  but that resembled the Texas flag a little bit and since I live in Oklahoma I couldn't chance that!

Stay tuned,   I hope to start posting more of my fun projects!

A month with my niece

It has been a busy summer in our little casa, which is why I've been MIA for awhile now.  Sorry!  We had the honor and privilege of having one of our nieces come stay with us for a month this summer!  Having always wanted to have a little sister, I was so excited for her to come so we could stay up late, braid each others hair, try out new make-up techniques, and gossip about boys!  OK, just kidding!  Although that is what I thought life with a little sister would be like.  In reality we:  watched a lot of movies, went out on the boat, went to the beach, went shopping, took a trip to the zoo, made a few visits to my mom's house, got sick, drove around on the golf cart, and she even shadowed me at the real estate office a few times.  We had a lot of fun, but I will admit, I spent a lot of time worrying that she was going to be bored.  After all, I am a working mom and wife, so I knew I couldn't devote all of my attention to her.  Luckily, she knows how to keep herself entertained (by texting)! 

These are a few things I learned by spending the month with my 13 year old niece:

1.  Teens text.  A LOT!
2.  Even though I think I'm pretty savvy about music for my age.....I am not.  She even let me listen to a song by one of my favorite bands that I didn't even know existed! 
3.  She knows way more about fixing her hair and make up than I did at her age.
4.  Teens have much better fashion sense now than when I was growing up.
5.  They eat a lot of pickles!
6.  They are more than happy to show you a cool dance move if you don't already know it.

Playing with Parker in a bounce house at the mall.

Swimming in Lake Texoma.

Tackling a pinterest project: fingernail polish with newspaper ink on top.

Our nails!

A trip to the amazing Warren Theatre.

Eager to watch Snow White and the Huntsman.

A trip to the zoo with more of her cousins!

Aunt and Niece.

Our only "family" shot before we said our good-byes.

Braylee, we had a great time with you this summer, and hope you had fun as well.  My only regret is not taking more pictures! (*TAQUITOS!*)  We love you!  (*Do you need anything from The Home Depot?*)  (*Sorry, inside jokes, I couldn't help myself!*)

Family Pictures

Last month I got to do something with my husband that we've never done before. We took family pictures!!! For those of you who are on our Christmas card list (probably the only people who actually read this blog!) I know that you have been receiving photo cards from us for the last few years. I can assure you that none of those photos have been taken by a professional photographer. This really was a first! I had been planning our outfits for months! (Yes, I am such a girl). You see, when I knew we were going to be remodeling our (beach) house I wanted to have accents of aqua, turquoise, green, and orange. I also knew that whenever we took our family pictures, they had to be taken on the beach, and those colors had to be incorporated! I am determined to have a "traditional" family photo hanging on the wall behind our couch, so the colors in our clothing had to match our decor. Making sense now?

I know I've mentioned my friend Misty on this blog before, but she recently began doing photography (and I'm jealous...it's always been a hobby I would love to get into as well). Lucky for me I got the best friend discount, but I assure anyone reading this who may live in South East Oklahoma, she is a great photographer and her rates are very reasonable! Be sure to check her out and like her on facebook here. (And tell her I sent you!)

These pictures were taken at Lake Texoma, just a short walk away from my house (jealous?) Sadly the lake is closed right now due to blue green algae in the lake from lack of rain. The upside is that meant we had a deserted beach! Thank you, blue green algae!

With that being said, here are a few (OK, more than a few) of my favorite pictures:

A Leap of Faith

I know it's been awhile since my last post and that's because life for our little family has been nothing short of hectic! We have totally begun a new chapter in our lives. Here's the scoop: we won the lottery!!! Nope, just kidding, but that would be awesome, huh? OK, now this other stuff probably isn't going to sound as cool and exciting, but that's alright. Here we go.....

1. Greg quit his job. Yup, my husband is no longer a wind turbine technician. To catch some of you up; we packed up and moved from Colorado to Texas back in April so that we could be closer to our lake house. As you'll recall, we were not having any luck finding a new house to purchase. Perhaps this was fate, because a few weeks into his "new" job (which was with the exact same company that he worked for in Colorado) he began to hate it. I will spare you the gory details, but lets just say that poor management can really make or break a work place.

Ever since I've met Greg he has talked about being his own boss and having his own business. But, we all know that having your own business is a little scary. OK, it's REALLY scary! Once Greg began loathing his job, we started plotting a way to change our lives. It kind of happened faster than we anticipated, so things are kind of a crazy mess right now....read on.

2. We moved back to Oklahoma!!! To our lake house, that is. This happened just under two weeks ago when Greg quit his job. Don't get me wrong...we had been plotting a move so it wasn't completely sporadic. All of our stuff that we had in storage when we moved to Texas was slowly moved into the shop here at our lake place. This past week has involved unpacking and trying to attempt to fit all of our stuff into a house that is smaller than any of the other homes we've ever lived in. To add a little more confusion to the mess.......

3. We are remodeling our house! This began almost a month prior to Greg quitting his job. The living room and dining room are finished, the kitchen just lacks the backsplash being tiled and a little trim work, and Parkers room was just finished on Tuesday. We plan on remodeling both bathrooms soon as well, but they will have to wait. I want the house to look "beachy" so it has a little different feel than any of our other houses. I think my decor will make it more beachy and I haven't had time to shop for un-tacky beach accessories yet, but it's on my never ending to-do list! Don't worry, I will post before and after pictures in a future post. Now I mentioned that this is the smallest house we've lived in; it only has two bedrooms. Our last two houses both had four bedrooms. Are you starting to understand why I said unpacking is slightly difficult. Because of this, Greg is currently building a guest room/hobby room in our shop that's next to the house. If everything goes according to plan that space will be finished by next weekend. (I'm telling you our list never ends). Everyone who knows me well, knows that Greg and I always finish remodeling and then sell a house. We are busting our butts so we can have this house finished so we can actually live in, and ENJOY, our remodel! We are also trying to work quickly because....

4. Greg is starting his own handy-man/remodeling business! The guy has skill, let me tell ya! Although a few people have not been very encouraging about this move because of the economy, Greg is optimistic enough to believe that he will be able to stay so busy with work that people will hire him to do that he won't have enough time to work on our house. With that thought in mind, we are doing every thing we can to quickly make this "house" feel like a "home". Finally, this whole "new chapter in our lives" wouldn't be complete if we didn't also throw in the fact that...

5. I have re-activated my Oklahoma real estate license and will begin working full time next week! I hung my license with a broker in town back in July (told ya we'd been plotting) with hopes to buy up a couple of rental properties before Greg quit his job and we were both self employed (ie: no lender will probably touch us for a loan for the next few years). Unfortunately, I forgot how long it actually takes to get the ball rolling when you first hang your license with an office and by the time I was able to start scoping out properties, there weren't any we were interested in and we weren't willing to wait around for them to pop up either. Things have changed since 2007 when I put my license on in-active to travel around the country with Greg, but I'm excited to jump right back in! My office is extremely small: just me and two other ladies. In a weird twist of fate, one of the ladies who used to work there just quit to work in another aspect of real estate, and they said I could have her office!! This is a bonus for me, because if I ever have to take Parker to work with me, I can somewhat corral him! And, since I know you're wondering, no, I don't plan on putting Parker in a day care just yet. Greg will watch him on the days that I'm at the office answering phones (which is two days a week) and if I'm showing properties and Greg is off on a job, I'll just take him with me. However, we are both prepared that if both of our businesses take off, we will have no other choice but to put him in day care.

Whew! I feel like I can breath better now that I'm able to tell the world what we've been plotting/scheming/dreaming about for the last several months. What is odd about our whole situation is that I'm not stressed out about it at all. And let me say, I can get stressed out pretty easily! I know that we're taking a leap of faith by Greg quitting a job that more than provided for our family, only for us both to begin working without a guaranteed steady pay check. I was more stressed out when I couldn't find a house I wanted to purchase in Texas. Maybe I'm being completely naive, but I know that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. And I have faith that we are exactly where we need to be, doing exactly what we need to be doing.

My newest crush!

Wanna know what my latest obsession is? It's pinterest! And I am in LOVE! First, who doesn't love looking at awesome pictures of items that peak ones interest? I know I sure do! But this website takes it one step further. I can plug in a word, say driftwood, for example, and it pulls up all kinds of pictures with driftwood. Pretty cool, huh?

I discovered pinterest when a friend of mine suggested I check it out after I posted a question on facebook asking where I could get ideas for remodeling our lake house. When I think of a "lake house" I picture a cabin with lots of decor involving fish. Maybe because that's what every lake house that I've been in at Lake Texoma is like. Since I'm not that into fish, I figured I had to do something different. Since there is a beautiful sandy beach within walking distance from our lake house, I figured why not have our "lake house" look like a "beach house"? I may not be able to see the beach, but at least I'll know I'm close by and can still feel like I'm "at the beach" or "on vacation" when I'm inside!

We're going to begin a total renovation of our "beach house" beginning in late August and Pinterest has absolutely been a good source of inspiration for Greg and I. I'm not the type of person who can instantly visualize what a room or house will look like. I like to see pictures and drawings. This is where pinterest has been a huge help. My thinking is that we'll have the main area of the house painted in a pale gray (my new favorite neutral) and hopefully we can find some cool "beachy" flooring. Then, I'll accent with pops of turquoise and orange, along with some lush greenery. (I'd love some actual palm leaves if anyone wants to mail me some!

With that being said, here is the board I curated on Pinterest with ideas for our "beach house"!

A bittersweet weekend

I had been looking forward to last weekend for several weeks now. Our good friends Corey and Christina were driving down from Colorado to meet us at our lake house. Greg took Thursday and Monday off so we could enjoy a long weekend with them. Items on the agenda included fishing, boat trips, hanging out on the beach, the amazing catfish buffet restaurant we all love, the Sand Bass festival, and a few adult beverages along the way.

However, things didn't turn out as expected. On Wednesday afternoon Parker threw up his snack. He then proceeded to throw up his dinner and his bedtime cup of milk. It was stressing me out and next thing I knew I was throwing up. And, I also had diarrhea (gross, I know). I assumed it was just because I was worried about Parker and left it at that. I fell asleep on the couch (Greg put Parker down to bed for the first time ever) and was miserable. I was freezing cold, yet I wasn't running a fever. Eventually I dozed off, but would wake up hot and just couldn't get comfortable. Around 3 A.M. Parker woke up crying and hungry. As much as I was afraid to give him milk I did just that. Seconds after he had a sip he snuggled in my arms and was trying to fall back asleep. That's when it hit me all of a sudden. I broke out in a sweat and I thought I was going to poo my pants (gross, I know. I'm sorry for being so disgusting). I yelled out for Greg and told him he needed to help me and to take Parker. As soon as he did I took off for the bathroom. That's when I began to feel dizzy. I stumbled to the bathroom like a drunk person and tried unsuccessfully to sit down on the toilet. I knew something was wrong with me when I was too dizzy to sit down where I kept aiming for. I finally made it to the toilet and I remember thinking that I was going to die. I remembered praying for God to help me and that I couldn't die for Parker's sake. (Yes, maybe I was being a drama queen). The next thing I knew Greg was placing a wet shirt on my forehead. I say "the next thing I knew" because I passed out and apparently I was yelling for Greg to take me to the hospital and he got in the bathroom just in time to see me have a vacant stare, my eyes to roll back in my head, and for me to slump over and hit my head on the sink. I'm sure it was a scary sight for Greg. As I sat there I still didn't feel quite right and knew that there was something wrong. Since I'm the type of person who always daydreams and over-thinks things I instantly thought I had some form of cancer and envisioned tons of CAT scans and MRI's and doctors telling me I would only have two months to live. Needless to say, we loaded Parker up and off we went to the ER. No, I don't have cancer, and as far as my health is concerned I'm pretty sure I'm A-OK. Apparently I was dehydrated. 4 IV's, a liquid breakfast, and a nasty lunch that I didn't upchuck, later I was able to go home. I still felt weak and tired but we decided to go to the lake anyway. I had asked the nurse if I was contagious and she said no. Corey and Christina were leaving that morning and they had decided to chance it and head South anyway so we hoped everything would be OK the next day. Parker had no other problems and held all his food down that Thursday.

We roll into "town" at the lake several hours later and stopped at a gas station to grab a bite to eat. (That's a lake community for ya!) Their kitchen was closed so we had to go someplace else. When we got back in the truck Greg said, "I've got bad news. When I got out of the truck I felt really dizzy." My response was, "Uh-oh" (proof that I spend all day with a toddler). I hoped maybe he would feel better after he ate since my husband is hypoglycemic. Unfortunately, I thought wrong. By 10 that night Greg was throwing up and had diarrhea. I was still exhausted from my day so we all went to bed fairly early that night.

On Friday Greg still felt bad and spent all day in bed. I was feeling a little bit better so Corey, Christina, Parker and I ventured down to the beach that afternoon. I made a lasagna for dinner and by the time it was ready Greg was feeling a little bit better. He noticed that Eric, the guy who lives behind us, was home so he said we should invite him over for dinner. We told him we had both been sick so he said he wouldn't stay long and that he would wash his hands. At this point Greg was feeling good enough to plan a fishing trip for the next morning. We had other friends who were showing up at our place later that night, Mike and John. I asked Greg if we should tell them not to come since we had been sick but he said, "Nah". (Typical guy for ya). Since they planned on getting up at 4 in the morning to begin fishing we all went to bed early again.

Parker and I stay at home while everyone fishes, it's just too much for me to force a toddler to tag around for an activity I don't really enjoy anyway. So, imagine my surprise when at 9:00 A.M., Corey and Christina pull into the driveway. Apparently Corey suddenly broke out into a sweat and began feeling dizzy and nauseous, and Christina wasn't feeling very well either. Within an hour Corey was throwing up and later that day Christina had as well. They spent all day closed off in the guest room and I felt horrible. So much for me not being contagious. In fact, as horrible as this sounds, later that afternoon Greg, John, Mike, and myself were sitting at the kitchen table. Corey walked out of the room and we all took one look at him and started laughing. Greg said he wished he had a camera so he could take a picture of him so later Corey could see it to see just how bad he looked. I feel bad for laughing but, well, he looked like crap. Again, I felt horrible.

That evening was The Sandbass Festival in Madill. One of my favorite bands was performing, Steel Magnolia. Originally I was going to ask my mom to come down and babysit Parker so we could have a night out with our friends. However, I quickly decided that my mom didn't need to catch whatever bug I had and decided Parker could tough it out and go with us! After all, a late bed time never killed anyone! ;) We left Corey and Christina at the house and Greg, Parker, John, Mike, and myself headed into town. The festival had several booths to check out and even this cool beaver!




Now, one of my weaknesses is fair food. I had full intentions of scarfing down something utterly unhealthy. But, since being sick, I still didn't have my appetite back. I didn't eat a single thing, which I guess is for the best. Eventually Steel Magnolia took the stage and they rocked!!! I'm not the biggest country fan, but they have that "newer" country sound to them. They actually won the reality show "Can You Duet" that Greg and I watched. I was so happy when they won and was excited to get to watch them in concert. The bonus was that the concert was FREE! Unfortunately an hour and a half into the show Parker just got to be too much to handle and we left before they finished their set. Luckily I got to hear them perform the few songs that I know, so I was happy.




The following day was Sunday and since Corey and Christina were feeling better that whole crew went fishing again. They came back around lunchtime and we made plans to go out to eat that evening because Christina had "cabin fever". I can't say that I blame her! Mike and John were leaving that afternoon, so we made plans for the 5 of us to take the boat to a marina where you could eat. We ventured by boat over to Lowe's High Point Marina. I had never been there before, and it was awesome! There is a yacht club there, and boat slips full of huge, beautiful boats. The restaurant was on a dock overlooking the water and featured yummy food and a full service bar. I couldn't believe Greg and I had never been there before, but am now looking forward to going back for years to come. Parker was so good on the boat ride there (probably because he was sleepy and hungry) but not so good on the ride back. As in, he only wanted dada to hold him and had a fit if anyone else did. We capped the night off with a few smores back at our place, and then off to bed.





The following day was Monday and it was spent relaxing and then cleaning (Me, wishing I had Lysol spray and that it wasn't so stifling hot outside so I could have opened the windows to let out all those germs!) Sadly we found out that our neighbor, Eric, got sick as well. It just blew my mind how quickly something like that spread. However, here's the kicker. I kept waiting to hear that Mike and John got sick after they left. Go figure, they smoke like chimneys and drink almost a 12 pack of Coke a day, and neither of them got sick. Figures!

Now you know why I had a bittersweet weekend. It was sweet because our friends came down to see us. Yet, it was bitter because we all got sick!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Click here to see what others are loving this Wednesday!




It's hard to believe that just two weeks ago I blogged about what I was loving that particular Wednesday. Little did I know that just a few hours after posting that blog my husband would receive an unexpected phone call saying that his Dad passed away.

It's strange how such a normal Wednesday can take such a drastic turn. Greg received a phone call that his Dad wasn't doing well after a surgery to remove a hernia. He decided to come home because he thought we may be making a trip to Oklahoma. I was completely unaware of what was taking place and was out running errands with Parker when I got a phone call from Greg asking where I was and when I'd be back home. I knew that his dad was having complications after his surgery but I never once thought it was something that was life threatening. However, I could tell in my husbands voice that something wasn't right. Once I got home Greg said he thought we should head towards Oklahoma, where his Dad lives. I frantically began packing and shortly afterwards we received the phone call that no child wants to ever get. His dad had a massive heart attack and passed away.

The 8 hour car ride to our grandmothers house in Oklahoma was long and depressing. It was also pretty quite since Greg was driving and I didn't want to ask questions and get him upset. I thought about what I had done earlier that day and inwardly scolded myself for blogging about something as trivial as a scrapbook.

Several days later we had the memorial for Carl. The chapel was packed and several friends and family members spoke about memories they had of Greg's dad. Some of the stories were humours while others were touching. Greg's dad lived on Lake Texoma and after the service that is where Greg and I headed to spend a week. During that drive I had more thoughts crossing my mind. In the end, I realized that I shouldn't have berated myself for blogging about something as simple as a scrapbook. Carl lived life to the fullest. And I realized that part of living life to the fullest is embracing the small things in life that give us pleasure.

With that being said, this Wednesday I'm loving:

That Greg had the honor of having his dad stand beside him at our wedding and proudly serve as our Best Man.


I'm loving all the fun memories Greg and I have with his dad at Lake Texoma.


I'm loving that we were able to make one of Carl's wishes come true: He became a Grandpa in April. The cherry on top of the sundae was that I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Parker. Greg was the last of our family name, and now Parker will continue to keep our name going. (Hopefully he'll have a wife who will give birth to four boys just to insure our name doesn't end soon!)


I'm loving that Carl drove eleven hours to meet his grandson when he heard I went into labor.


I'm loving that despite the distance between us, Carl was able to spend time with Parker on a handful of different occasions.


I'm loving that Greg and I will keep Carl's memory alive with stories that we'll be able to share with Parker as he gets older.


Happy Wednesday, ya'll! Enjoy and embrace today and make all the small things count!

Showing Off!

A few weeks ago we made a journey to the Sooner State so Greg and I could show off our most prized possession to our family. (That would be Mr. Parker in case you didn't know). He did as good as you can expect from a 10 week old baby during our traveling (although Greg would probably say otherwise!) He got to meet a lot of family! As in, two great grandmothers, a grandma and grandpa, three Aunts and Uncle, and lots of cousins!!! I had a great time showing him off to everyone but of course there was never enough time for me to meet up with all of my friends...which is why I didn't even tell many people that we were going to be in Oklahoma. There's always next time!

The last part of our trip was spent at Lake Texoma. Greg actually planned a huge fishing trip for a bunch of our friends. We had friends from Oklahoma, Texas, Tennesse, and even some of our friends from here in Colorado that met us at the lake. I spent most of my time with Parker, but from what I hear everyone had a great time. It will be fun to take Parker to the lake this time next year; I can't wait! Luckily I had two of my really good friends come down to my father in laws house so they could meet Parker and so that I could visit with them. My friend Misty just purchased a professional camera and so we had an all day photo session. I was eccstatic that she was willing to do that and I had to show off a few of my favorite shots of me and my little man! Enjoy!!!

Lake Texoma

One of my favorite places is Lake Texoma. I mentioned in the post below that my father in law lives at Lake Texoma. We recently had a chance to spend a few days at his house, which I love because it is just so darn relaxing! Of course, he always tends to put my hubby to work and this time was no different. The chore: cleaning and organizing a huge shop. I wish I would have taken before and after pictures! I helped when I could but most of the time I just felt like I was in the way. I was pretty content to simply pass the time on the front porch with a Danielle Steel novel!

The cool thing about where Carl, my father in law, lives, is that it's a short three-minute drive on the golf cart to the sandy beach! And yes, you read that right! Everyone at the lake drives golf carts! It's quite comical! Now, for some reason whenever we go down to visit, it seems that we never go to the beach until the evening. However, this time I was determined to spend a full day on the beach and get some sun! I invited my sister and her two munchkins down for the occasion!





After they left, I moseyed back to the beach with the before mentioned novel, along with my dog, and together we enjoyed the sun and the relaxing sound of the waves.

That same evening Carl organized a small cook-out on the beach. On the way to our "spot" we passed this cute little sand turtle creation!



Apparently Carl wasn't as impressed as I was since he ran over it's foot on the golf cart! Here's a few more random shots from that evening. And, just fyi, this isn't even what I consider the "pretty" part of the beach!











Oh, Lake Texoma, how I wish you weren't eleven hours away....