Weekend get-away!!

This past weekend was our 6th wedding anniversary!! And for the first time in 6 years, Wes and I went on a trip! It was a much needed and way long overdue trip! I'm not really sure why we waited so long to get away, I guess somewhere between I do and the present time, life happened along with kids and work....making it next to impossible to get away. I have been lucky enough to know Wes for the last 9 years. We had a lot of common friends in high school, but we didn't meet until college. We are both from small towns, and I worked at the local mall in high school with almost all of the kids in his high school, but we didn't meet then. Wes and I met through a friend of mine, who just so happened to be his cousin Carrie, she set us up on a kind of blind date. She brought him in one day to the Gap where I was working at the time so we could meet. When we met it was like the universe came to a complete stop, and our future lives flashed before our eyes. And after our first date, I knew with all of my heart that I couldn't spend the rest of my life without him. Of course I had to wait awhile before I clued him into how I felt (I didn't want him to think I was nuts!) So after two years of dating, and a year of engagement we were married! And now we have our two beautiful little boys. These past 6 years have been wonderful, I am so blessed to be his wife. He's walked beside me in the good times and carried me through on the bad times. The last three years have been the hardest for me by far, with loosing three grandparents, having two boys in two years, and watching my mom battle cancer twice...he's been my rock, carrying me through it all. So with the last three years being so crazy, I decided that this year was going to be better! I was going to be better, no more grieving, no more crying every time someone died on TV, no more crazy emotions. So this year I suggested that we go to our family cabin in the mountains and go four wheeler riding! Which he LOVED the idea, Wes is a huge hunter, camper, hiking woodsmen. I swear he should have his own survival show out in the woods! I am not much of a camper, or hunter. I definitely wouldn't survive out in the woods, I am more of a glamper than a camper...but our place in the mountains is one of the most beautiful, magical places I have ever been to. I spent a lot of my childhood there riding four wheelers with my family. The last time I was there I was pregnant with Brody, Wes and I went for the day to look at some hunting land, and he too fell in love with it. I haven't been back since, mainly because it reminds me so much of my grandpa, he died when I was pregnant with Brody. I just haven't been able to bear it. But this is a new year, and I can handle anything with Wes by my side. So off we went...we had the best time, we rode four wheelers all day long, and I got to show Wes all of the fun trails, and how to get to the lake, and show him the big foot sightings! We had such a blast, and it was so much needed. We decided to take the scenic route down there and back, I love going that way, and driving through all of the cute small towns along the way, and eating that good southern home cooking along the way.

This is Wes as we were driving the long way up the mountain! He looks so serious here! haha

This is the view as you are entering the cabin, isn't it amazing. I remember the first time I saw it when I was a little girl, I thought it was so magical. And of course you have to have one cheesin it! This is the cabin my parents built. This isn't the original cabin here, it burned down when I was in high school. Right before my grandpa died my parents built this, I am so glad they did. I am glad we can go back and have a nice place to stay and remember all of the good times we had there.



This is the home of Big Foot!! BEWARE!! There are lots of really good Big foot stories told in this area, lots of weird sightings! I used to be terrified to ride alone in the woods in fear big foot would snatch me!!haha!



Here Wes and I are riding around lake Pappy Kirk!

It was an awesome get away, and hopefully we won't wait another 6 years to do it again!

Snow

It's snowing here in Oklahoma!! And for me it came just at the right time. Right in between Brody's birthday and mine. However the snow isn't stopping so my birthday may be ruined a bit, but that's okay because Brody's was awesome!! We had all of our family over and some of Brody's nearest and dearest friends over. Okay so maybe it was my nearest and dearest friends and their sweet little children. But it's only inevitable that our kids will become best friends too. The party was great! I made and designed my first dessert bar for the party and it turned out so cute! I was really wanting to take a lot a good pictures of it so I could post them but I ended up getting so busy with the party that I didn't take one darn picture of it. Luckily my Aunt Nancy was the only one to get a pic of it.

Its taken from kind of far away, I wish I would have gotten some up close. But it turned out so good, and it was such a hit!! We had sour apple gumballs, strawberry cake pops, birthday cake, ice cream, rice crispy pops, orange slices, and some candied trail mix. It was all so good!! Brody loved it, he is such a sugaroholic that it was perfect for him.

This is Wes and I with our sweet little Birthday Boy!! Not sure if you can tell from the pictures but we had a dinosaur Birthday party!!

This is the Birthday cake I made for my sweet Brody. The bottom layer was German chocolate cake with marshmallow cream filling, and chocolate frosting. And the top layer was a little more riskier, I really wasn't sure if anyone would like it or not, but I loved it so wanted to make it. It was Banana Cake with the same frosting and filling! It was so delicious. It is kind of like Banana bread, but with a cake consistency......it was so yummy!!! The party was so much fun, I love being around our friends and family. It was a good day, the kids ended up falling asleep from a sugar induced coma...it was lovely!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is here!! This year I have so many things to be thankful for...for me the thing that I am most thankful for is my wonderful husband. He has endless faith in me. So when I told him my crazy plan to stay at home with the boys, instead of saying your crazy!!! NO WAY!! He went with it! And even when our plan didn't quite work out like I had planned, he didn't even complain he just said we will figure it out... and then he did! Staying home with the boys is probably the best gift he has ever given me, I am loving it! Even thou we don't get to see him as much as we would like, staying home is working out really well for us. The boys are happier, and so are Wes and I, it was the best decision we have ever made.
Our house is smelling so wonderful tonight! I have lots of sweet treats baking tonight for our dinner with my mom's side of the family tomorrow! This year we will be going to my Granny Ree's house and to Wesley's mom's house on Sunday for another Thanksgiving celebration. So that means lots, and LOTS of great food to eat!! We are very blessed in our family with some very wonderful cooks, over eating is a huge problem when we get together! Which can be a good thing sometimes.
So in honor of Thanksgiving what are you most thankful for this year??? Here is my top 10 list....
1. Wesley~his love, support, endless faith, strength, & kindness

2. Brody & Marak~ their love for us and each other, sweetness, stubborn, onry, & kindness. For their timing, they came when I needed them most and didn't even know it.

3. My family~immediate, distant, and even in-laws!

4. My courageous mother~ her strength, faith, wisdom, dependability, love, & her ability to move mountains with her prayers.

5. Blessings~ For all of the unexpected ones we have received.

6. Acceptance~ The ability to accept things I have no control over and the strength to move past.

7. 25 years~ The time I had getting to know one of the most wonderful men on the planet...my grandfather.

8. 2 in 2~ having 2 boys in 2 years

9. Chocolate- It's just a daily necessity

10.Timeouts!~ Like Chocolate it is a daily necessity with a 2 year old and a 1 year old. :)

Hope you all have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sooner Nation

If you do not live in Oklahoma and you are waking up this morning hearing a faint roar in the distance, do not be alarmed! That sound you are hearing would be the chanting of the Sooner Nation yelling out BOOMER..SOONER...BOOMER..SOONER over our TEXAS victory!!! If you do not live in Oklahoma you may not understand why this game is so important. But if you do, then you are as excited as I am for the victory!! This year was my first time ever to go to the game. And up until now, every Sooner fan I know has told me that before I die it is a must do on your bucket list! And I would have to say that I would agree! It was by far such an amazing experience. The whole day was fun, there is nothing like taunting the other team with Texas SUCKS!!! I went this year with my 7? year old grandmother (the "?" is becuase I am not allowed to discuss her true age, she knows she is old but no one is supposed to know...not even I) You are probably wondering what an 7? year old grandma is doing at such an event, but you have never met my grandmother. She has had season tickets to OU since the sixties. And since then she has only missed two games. Both because of my grandfather being sick, which she was not and I repeat NOT happy about!!! If you are in our family you know NOT to plan anything on a home game or she will not be there. And if its an away game, you better not think about it either! She once came to my cousin Johnny's wedding with a radio headset so she could listen to OU vs. Nebraska while the wedding was going on. I am pretty sure she even yelled out a big YES when they said I DO because OU scored!! She has been known to leave the birth of her great-grandchildren to go to OU vs. Texas!! She is the meaning of die hard fan. So going to the games with her is a lot of fun! She does the wave, the OOOOOOOOUUUUU!!!, the BOOMER SOONER, high fives when we score, and chants " hey ref you suck!! She can name off any football stat, or any information on the players and their family! She has amazing football knowledge!
So going with her made the game even better. The game is held at the cotton bowl while the Texas state fair is going on. So when you get there you can ride the rides, eat the fair food, and enjoy the great game. The game was awesome we stayed ahead the whole game which is always nice. We almost gave it up in the end with the two fumbles, but then our SOONER magic came into play and we recovered it. Thank goodness!! All in all it was a great day!

Staying Home

It is official....I am now a stay at home mom!!! I finally made the leap to leave the corporate world for the potty training world. Monday was my first official day at home, and we celebrated with a trip to the zoo! We had so much fun. My grandmother, mom and little brother came with us. The boys were so good, they hardly made a peep! They were so excited about seeing all of the animals. It was such a wonderful way to celebrate being a stay at home mom. The rest of the week has been pretty busy, much more than I thought it would be. It is so relaxing to not have to plan anything and not worry about the silly things like, pricing hose kits and planning productions schedules. My days used to filled with such stress, if I couldn't make things happen then a major oil company would have a unit down and be out tons of money. Now may days are filled with potty training, the wonder pets, baking cakes, and two precious little boys. SO MUCH BETTER!

The cakes have picked up so much. Next week I have a baby shower cake, wedding cake, grooms cake, and a birthday cake...oops make that two birthday cakes. So it will be busy and the little boys will be excited to taste test the cake batter and the frosting. And I will get to anxiously await hearing Brody say... "Mom this is really good birthday party!" As he is licking cake batter off of the whippers. He says it every time I make cake, and I just love hearing it! I have started a website for the cake business, if you would like to check it out you can go to http://www.katycakes.org/. I am also thinking about opening an account on etsy.com and selling fondant cupcake toppers. Does any of you use etsy to sell anything on it? Or have even heard of etsy?

Well now that I am staying home be looking forward to much more smelly boy stories, and some baking too!!

Family Night!!

Tonight we did one of my favorite things...Family Night. Now that the boys are a bit older I like to do something together as a family. Usually Family night occurs right before Wes has to work out of town. It's a good way to send him off, and it gives the boys something fun to do with their dad. So tonight we decided to take the boys out for pizza. It is hard to go out to eat with the boys, there are limited places we can go because Brody is such a picky eater. So we usually have to go somewhere where we can get pizza (and that has to look just so so or he won't eat it) or somewhere where he can get chicky fries (chicken & french fries). We have LOTS of issues with Brody and food so you never know if or what he will eat. So he normally determines where we go.

This is Wes and Brody before we ate.

This is Wes helping Brody eat, his pizza was too hot so he made Wes hold it for him while he ate. Even after it cooled down, he still made Wes hold it. I was cracking up, it was too cute!

Brody saw his dad putting the "fake" Parmesan cheese on his pizza, and he had to do it too. He liked it so much that he had to sprinkle it on every time he went to take a bite. He even started to pour it on his hand and lick it off. Which really surprised me because the kid likes his food very bland, or it has to have sugar poured all over it before he will eat it. I am afraid he gets the sugar thing from me. He was just born to be that way, while I was pregnant with him, I kid you not the only things I wanted to eat were chocolate, sugar, french fries, and cheeseburgers. I had to have chocolate every day!!

This is what Marak was doing while we were eating. Don't let this picture fool you, he scarfed down his pizza. But while he was doing so he was turned around in his chair watching football on the big screen. Which is really funny because we can't get him to sit down and watch anything at home. I guess he really likes football, he should, he is built like a line backer.

After we got done eating we had to do some grocery shopping. Out of everything in the store Marak latched onto this bottle of coke and wouldn't let it down. He even had to have it with him in the car, and play with it before he went to bed. Nothing like cheap entertainment :) It was a great night, great way to spend it before Wes is out of town. Now the kids are passed out and Wes is packing...that's right I said packing. He is even doing some last minute laundry so that he can pack it too!!! Men! When will they ever be prepared??