Cupcakes!

As many of you know, I've been on a journey to find some new hobbies. Well, I have a new-found love for cupcakes. This past month, two of my friends have had babies, and I have attended a few "get-togethers" and parties, and I have made cupcakes for each event. Here are some of the cupcakes I have recently made...

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting for Katie, and sweet baby Ava.

Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting for Allison's baby shower for Baby Michael.

Chocolate and Pumpkin Spice cupcakes that I made for Mike & Laura's Halloween party! 

Marriage Retreats, Football, & October festivities!

Wow, I didn't even realize how long it's been since my last post. There's a good explanation for that. We've been super busy! Here's a little update of the past couple of months...

In September, Justin & I attended our Strong Bonds Marriage Retreat that his Army unit gave. It was held at The Sooner Legends hotel in Norman, OK and it was awesome! It was filled with useful tips & info on managing a strong and healthy (military) marriage. On the last day, we attended church and renewed our vows. It was so special...We even got to stay in the Barry Switzer room, that (as you can tell) Justin was VERY excited about.

We also took time to visit our family in an overdue trip to Tahlequah. We (along with our four-legged, furry children) left on a Saturday evening after Justin got off work and stayed until Sunday afternoon.  It was a quick trip but it was well worth it & much needed. While Justin was busy bow-hunting, I enjoyed some quality time with our precious nephews, Cy & Lane.

We enjoyed one of the days we look forward to all year long, OU v. TX. We watched the game & ate some AMAZING food with The Kamermayers at their home. They were such gracious hosts :) After the game, we played Rock Band (duh!) & made Peanut Butter & Banana s'mores, how could it get any better, right? Thanks again Ryan & Amanda! We had so much fun :) BOOMER SOONER!

Last weekend, we went to Frontier City's Fright Fest with The Kamermayers... It was a blast! Being in the spirit, I got busy decorating our home for my favorite holiday...HALLOWEEN! We went to The Hill's Halloween costume party last night and it was so much fun! Spooky foods, games, drinks, and great people made for an awesome evening. Justin got really creative with his costume. He was Randy "Macho Man" Savage and made his costume, complete with paint, tights, combat boots, wig, baby-leg warmers (that acted as his sleeves), and streamers, while I was nice and boring as a witch :( My original plan of dressing up as Miss Piggy was short-lived when I realized that no costume stores had pig ears or pig noses (LAME). Justin was awarded the "Best Costume" award this wear that was given to him by Mike, his P.I.C. (partner in crime) for the evening who was dressed up as Hulk Hogan.

My coworkers and I :)

Laura (Cowgirl), Me (Cat), Katie (Princess Peach), Dawnyale (Bumble Bee), Leann (Punk Fairy), Dr. C (as an Oklahoma Redneck)

As many of you know, Justin is a HUGE hockey fan & his favorite team is The Buffalo Sabres. Well, when I found out that they were coming to Dallas, TX and playing the Stars at the end of the month- I HAD to find tickets for him. I got a great deal on them, and I surprised him with the tickets :) He has never been to one of their games, and we are so excited to go!

A wedding? Aren't you already married?

Howdy folks! So...as most of you all know Justin and I have been married for almost 2 1/2 years (2 years, 4 months, 1 week and 4 days to be exact). Since we did the whole "Courthouse Wedding" thing, and never had a "real wedding", Justin came up with a brilliant idea, to have our wedding on our 5 year wedding anniversary. I cannot believe it's already been 2 1/2 years! So, since we're on a budget and I want to hand-make as much as I can for our wedding- I decided that now is the best time to start planning it. I've never dreamed of a "fairy-tale" wedding. It's not appealing to me. I'd much rather have a casual, intimate wedding with just our close friends and family. I know we both want an outdoor wedding (ceremony) with the reception in a barn or tent, in the summer, and at night. I think the perfect setting would be in or around Justin's hometown of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. It's so beautiful and green in the summer. I know we want lots of lanterns lighting the ceremony along with bold reds, oranges, and yellows (and lots of sunflowers!). After all I'm still in the brainstorming phase but here are some of our ideas for our "rustic-country wedding", enjoy! :)

The invitations (I thought this idea was soooo cute! It reminded me of old Johnny Cash music posters)











          

Beauty Amongst the Chaos

Is it June yet? The month of May has been stressful to say the least. However, I'm trying my best to stay positive, and to count my blessings :) A loving husband that makes me feel special even when I'm having the worst of days, three awesome little brothers who mean the world to me, a sweet mother & grandmother that love me more than anything, two crazy dogs that bring me joy, a great job, and a few close friends that bring me comfort & laughter. What more could a girl ask for ;)

My 21st birthday is coming up soon! & I'm so excited! This whole year I've been trying to figure out what I want to do to celebrate, (and being the total nerd that I am) I decided the perfect way to bring in my big 2-1...with "Eclipse" of course! Yes, that's right. Then of course dinner, drinks, and a night to remember. So, yes. You all are invited :)

I have been on a search to find a new hobby. So...I tried gardening. I found it surprisingly relaxing & I enjoyed it very much. I planted gerber daisies, dahlias, petunias, and ranunculus. The colors were beautiful, and I loved sitting on our porch swing admiring them...however, that was short-lived. I watered them accordingly & planted them in adequate sunlight but they only lasted about two weeks. Good ol' Oklahoma weather, rock-hard red dirt, and the crazy wind got the best of them :( I watered them accordingly & planted them in adequate sunlight. I guess I'll try to plant bulbs next year.

Since it's been awhile since my post, here's a little update: we finally got our bed & the rest of our bedroom set and here is the end result of our bedroom makeover...We absolutley love it!

Oh, Hi There!

So, I cannot remember the password to our last blog to save my life, so I had to start a brand new one. Here our some of our updates:

...as many may know, the past year we've been working on our house & making it home. Well, we've come a long way! We went from sitting in camping chairs in our living room, to having a full-furnished home! We are really loving it. We just bought our first lawn mower & Justin is pretty excited about mowing, don't ask me why. lol. We finally purchased a bedroom set and recieved the dresser & nightstand & our TempurPedic mattress- however, the bed itself is still being shipped. Our mattress is heavenly! If anyone is mattress shopping- TempurPedics are the way to go! I hardly move at all now when I sleep, and when I do get out of bed, Justin doesn't move. Heck, I could jump on the bed and he would'nt know :) This isn't a very exciting post- but we are very excited about all of these wonderful little things in life.