A year later.. I'm back!

So, I've been gone a while. A lot has transpired and life is getting even busier.  Through the chaos, I'd like to remember some of the day-to-day happenings, so blogging it is.


I'll start with the biggest news.. Remember this post? At Least One Day a Year.  Well folks, we will be celebrating a new birthday in March 2015!

The hubs and I are pretty pumped about our new little addition- Oliver is really excited too!   The official due date is March 8th.

The mean doctor says we can't find out the gender until 19 weeks, which luckily is only 10 days away.   I used to think that I would just wait to find out the gender until birth - I thought, "sure I could hold out.. it will be extra special to be surprised and the anticipation would be so special".   I WAS WRONG.   The control freak in me cannot handle not knowing! After all, how would I decorate the nursery if I don't know the gender?  Or buy clothes, or a car seat, or bedding? What was I thinking?!

I want a girl, hubs wants a boy. I'm putting it out in the universe that it will be a girl. The truth is that above anything else, we want a HEALTHY baby.  (but... think pink everyone!)

Tornado Relief Concert

If you recall my Life Planner post here... I marked July 6th with the Toby Keith benefit concert.  

In May, Oklahoma had several devastating tornados.  I wrote a little about it here. We actually had 2 concerts to raise money for the victims.  The first one was sponsored by my boyfriend, Blake Shelton.   This one was actually nationally televised, so maybe you saw it.  I actually was on 2 computers and 2 cell phones 10 minutes before these tickets went on sale... and still didn't get any.  They sold out in less than 5 minutes. How does this happen?  

I set up multiple devises again to make sure I didn't miss out on Toby Keith's concert. I was lucky to get 4 tickets, but I contribute my great fortune to my good karma :)  Anyway, I digress..  

The line-up included: 

Toby Keith

Garth Brooks

Trisha Yearwood

Kelly Coffee

Mel Tillis

Wade Hayes

Ronnie Dunn

Sammy Hagar

John Anderson

Our governor, Mary Fallen was there too.  And for good measure, our beloved football coach Bob Stoops made an appearance.  Apparently, Toby Keith has connections.

The concert was jam packed with celebrities, so the party got started at 3pm.  Did I mention that this concert was in the University of Oklahoma (Boomer Sooner!) stadium?  OUTSIDE.  It was only 95 degrees in the cool open space in my front yard, but it had to be 125 degrees in the stadium.  For real. Oh, and we missed the first couple of artists because we had a 2 mile walk to the stadium from the nearest available parking spot. I should of known better - it's not like I didn't attend every dang football game there for a couple of years.

We arrived just in time for Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood!  Trisha sang "She's in Love with the Boy". I know every single word.  Garth sang several songs, but my favorites were "The Thunder Rolls" and "The Dance".  So incredible.

Ashley, Jessica, Kendall

After Garth, Ashley and I went down to the concession area for a Margarita/Daiquiri mix.  After 45 minutes in line, we scored the very last ones!

$12 gets you 20 ounces.

Willie Nelson came out.   That's when I started to feel sick and immediately regretted the margarita.  I had to leave the stands and find a cool area - I thought I was going to join the 50 other people we saw pass out.  I stayed down in the concession area and enjoyed people watching for a while.  I've seen Willie Nelson a couple of times in concert, so I wasn't too upset.

Look at all those people!

 They said that this was the largest concert ever held in Oklahoma. 65,000 people.  That's a lot - even more than the U2/Black Eyed Peas concert we went to a couple years back.  Our stadium actually holds 90,000 people, so can you imagine what our football games are like?!  One thing that really stood out was all of the colors of clothes in the stadium. We are used to solid crimson throughout the entire stadium.

Not sure which artist was on.. not the greatest seat

It finally cooled down around 7:30pm after Sammy Hagar and the weather was PERFECT.   I had no idea who Sammy Hagar was, but everyone else seemed to.  If you are as dense as I am when it comes to rock music.. Sammy Hagar was the lead singer of Van Halen.  I have heard of Van Halen, but wouldn't be able to name one of their songs if my life depended on it.  Judge away.

Pregnant Kendall holding a beer.
Relax, it was mine :)

 Ronnie Dunn (from Brooks & Dunn) was awesome!

Oh, let me give you the line-up: 

Carrie Underwood joined us live from the Grand Ol' Opry. I was sad she couldn't be in Oklahoma with us, but she looked and sounded great. I just love her new song, "Until I See You Again". 

Lighting wasn't so great for pics

 And then there was this lady... she was a super star, let me tell you.  She danced and held her beer up for every. single. song. I loved her!

Toby Keith wrapped up the concert and of course sang "Red Solo Cup".  Not even close to my favorite Toby Keith song, but it sure does have a catchy tune.  They should have had red cups, but my guess is the clear ones are cheaper..

"I love you Red Solo Cup, I fill you up, let's have a party... "

 And the grand finale was fireworks - great show!

8 hours and $200 later (only a single t-shirt to show for it), we ventured back to our car.  Overall, a fantastic evening with some of my favorite people!

Weekend Wrap Up

Not a single home cooked meal was had all weekend long.....


It all started on Friday night. James's sweet grandma, Phyllis, turned 78 years old on Friday.   I called her earlier in the week to see where she wanted to celebrate.  She chose Furr's.  Furr's used to be a cafeteria style restaurant; I remember as a kid getting so excited over the Jello. Ah, times have changed. I was pleasantly surprised that Furr's has upgraded to a buffet...

Is Furr's just an Oklahoma thing?

And what's a birthday without candles and a Happy Birthday jingle???

She is orchestrating as we sing her
"Happy Birthday". So stinkin cute!

After dinner, I met my mom and Aunt Ethel for a little casino fun. We wrapped that up around 2 o'clock in the MORNING.. oh. em. gee.  

This is my Auntgranny Ethel.  Not a great shot, but I was afraid the casino
police would kick me out for taking pictures.

It was a late night full of great fun - the drive back to Henryetta was long, but I had the BEST company.   

The next afternoon (when I finally drug myself out of bed), I went to "town" for some food. My aunt and I love to have what we call "fast food buffets".   Let me illustrate what that looks like:

First stop: Mazzio's Pizza

2nd Stop: Sonic

3rd stop: Kentucky Fried Chicken

4th stop: Arby's (forgot a pic of the sack)

Menu:

• Mazzio's: Large order of cheese dippers accompanied by a family size order of Ranch.
• Sonic: Footlong chili and cheese coney, cheesy tater tots, 2 chocolate shakes
• Kentucky Fried Chicken: 5 buffalo wings and a side of cole slaw (sadly, cole slaw was the healthiest thing I picked up).
• Arby's: Cherry, Apple and Chocolate turnovers

This should be illegal.  My mom would have had a complete meltdown if I ever suggested doing this with her, but Aunt Ethel totally embraces it :)

Don't worry - this was split between 4 adults and eaten over a 48 hour period.

I came home today and picked up Chinese take out for lunch and then after church, picked up Braums hamburgers for dinner.  I think I need a home cooked meal.. if only I could talk myself into the grocery store.  Heck, I'm so full I should probably just skip meals on Monday and Tuesday.  No chance.

Hope y'all had a great weekend.  And that's a wrap!!

Life Planner

I used to be organized.

I fell off the organizational wagon, so I'm looking for ways to get my life back in order.  Last year I bought a Life Planner by Erin Condren.  I used it on occasion, but really didn't utilize it as much as I should have.  I purchased a new one this year and I am determined to use it!

It takes a few weeks to come in, but it is well worth the wait!

Super cute, right?

There are a quotes throughout the planner that I love :)

You'll notice that July 6th I am going to the Toby Keith benefit concert for the tornado victims.  I'm so excited to help contribute to these worthy families and the concert line up is awesome!  You'll see a follow-up next week on the concert.

The planner comes with these fun stickers - there are a ton of them and it gives

just enough of a color splash to keep me excited, lol 

No, I am not getting paid to say any of this. I just like it better than any other planner I've purchased.   It is a little pricier than the others, but I love it!   Occasionally, Plum District and Zulily have a special where you can buy a $25 certificate for $50 worth of Erin Condren products.  If you get a chance - do it!

As if I didn't explain it well enough... here's a fun video of all it does, Enjoy!

Scrapping Success

I told y'all I was preparing for a Scrapbooking trip.  Last week I spent 3 days finally utilizing the supplies I got nearly 3 years ago!  I went with my SIL, Jeni and 3 of her friends, Rhonda, Sunny, and Caroline.  I could not have asked for a better group of ladies to spend a few days with. They were so helpful and generous.. funny too!

The place we stayed at was perfect for a group of scrapbookers. We each had a couple of 6 foot tables to work from and we pushed them together so we could see each other.  There was also a ton of lighting, check out all those lamps!

It may look like a bunch of stuff, but I definitely had the least amount of products. I was amazed at how much my fellow scrapbookers have accumulated throughout the years! Thankfully we shared between each other and they helped me with ideas.  

We stayed up until about 3am each night and were back at it by 9am the following day.  We even had our food catered, so we didn't have to worry about leaving to get anything. Turns out that this was a good plan because we were literally in the middle of nowhere off of a dirt road.

You would think that with 3 solid days of scrapbooking, I'd have 5 complete books made... wrong.  I'm not even done with my first one.  This trip I worked on my wedding events - turns out I had a lot of them.... my poor bridesmaids!!! 

I completed engagement photos, bridesmaid brunch, bridal shower, couples 50's "sock hop" shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, and the slumber party the night before the wedding.  

You're seeing 2 different pages, the top one is just a different size. This is called an "insert".
 Just a little srapbooking lingo if you ever need it :)

I put together the flowers myself (pat on back)

This picture is a little blurry, but it's one of my favorite pages. 

I didn't even get to the actual wedding or our honeymoon! I guess that will be my next project in November when we plan to go on another trip.

I think I may have actually found a hobby that I'll stick with.  I really wish that my parents had something like this that I could look at, so I think my future kids will appreciate it one day :)

At Least One Day a Year

I'm not sure if I've shared or if you've gathered that I am a control freak.. so, I'll just come out and say it, "Hello, my name is Jessica, and I. am. a. control. freak."

There has been more than six hundred and twenty two times one time that I've been in the middle of explaining my thoughts to someone (thinking that they are completely rational) only to find the person I'm talking to drop their jaw and shake their head at me.

Here's an example, and I promise I'll go somewhere with this story... eventually.

I've been married for almost three years. Because of this, every single person I come into contact with asks "when are you going to have kids?".  Sometimes I respond with "I already have two - James and Oliver".  Sometimes I respond with, "when your kids are old enough to baby-sit mine".  Sometimes, I just don't respond.

I get the baby question daily.  A few days ago, I'm actually engaged in the conversation a bit.  It went something like this.

Begin story -

Person I work with: "Jessica, it's about time you have kids. When's that gonna happen?"

Me: "That came out of nowhere." (awkward pause) "I guess I'll have kids once I get a new job. This one takes up way too much of my time." 

Person I work with: "Oh, that's not a good excuse. You'll find a way to make it work."

Me: "Well, I just need to plan it out right." (here's where I think I'm being rational) I've decided that I can't wait until I'm financially ready, because I'll always find something else to spend money on." 

Person I work with: "Yep."

Me: (still being rational - this is where I lose her) "There is so much other planning involved.  For example, I want to make sure I get pregnant in the right month." 

Person I work with: "Huh?"

Me: "Well, I want to avoid having my child in December, because their birthday gets merged with Christmas.  And I really don't want to have my child in the summertime, because I want their friends to come to their birthday party. And let's just face it, your friends and their family vacations overlook you in the summertime.   I think March and April are ideal.  So, I need to make sure I get pregnant around June or July." 

Person I work with: (shaking her head at me) "You are crazy - that is ridiculous." 

End Story -

Okay - so, I know that having a child is all in God's timing.  But if I have a chance to sway when that is, why not try? 

You're probably thinking, "Who cares? It's just a birthday. One day in a whole year."  

I think that birthdays are so incredibly important. It is an entire day to celebrate YOU - everyone should feel special at least one day a year.

Okay, so there is a point to my long winded build up.  My aunt MaryBeth's birthday is December 21st.  Like many December birthdays, hers was not forgotten, but it took a backseat to Christmas and all the planning the holidays entail. 

So - my SILs and I decided we were going to have a HALF birthday for MaryBeth.  A surprise birthday party!

We made arrangements at the famous Cattleman's Steakhouse since MaryBeth loves steak. It took quite a bit of finagling to get her there, but we did it!  The family was waiting on her when she arrived. She was so shocked - in fact, she thought we were there to celebrate Grandma's birthday a month early! 

They usher you via horse and carriage from
the parking lot to the restaurant.

My SIL, Maggie and BIL, David anxiously waiting
for MaryBeth's arrival

We taught Roman and Olivia the joy of helium and chipmunk voices!!

They LOVED it!!

Such a great memory!

Happy HALF Birthday, MaryBeth!

Confessions of a Hobbyist

Let me make a confession.

When I get my mind set on a new hobby - it inevitably results in spending a whole lotta money.  I get really excited, get everyone else really excited, then go out and buy everything that a professional in said subject would own. 

Sometimes I follow through; most of the time I don't.  Here are just a few of my adventures:

• Making custom cakes: Success - but I'm pretty sure I've invested more than my car is worth in products.
• Selling Advocare: failed. Great product - still have a membership for discounts only. 
• Sewing: This only lasted 1 night, but at least I have a picture to prove I tried!

I only tampered with sewing for a minute,
but I would really like to learn.  I'll table that thought for now.

• Scrapbooking: started buying supplies 2.5 years ago, and haven't put a single picture to paper.
• Selling Scentsy: Eh. I've got it if you need it, but I don't plan on having any house parties anytime soon. I finally got the Scentsy logo off my car yesterday. Since James drives us to work in my car (and is notorious for road rage) I didn't want anyone to be able to contact me to complain. 
• Blogging: Started off strong - faded; Making a comeback
• Couch 2 5K: Womp, womp womp...

And for those of you who knew me in college, I purposefully excluded that escapade. What was I thinking?!

Well, ladies and gentlemen... after 2 years of saying I'm going to start scrapbooking, I've actually committed.   I will be going on a 4 day trip with my SIL and her friends.  FOUR days.  Did I mention that I've never put a single picture to paper?!

More to come on those preparations...  Hope y'all are having a great weekend!