Thankful

Today I'm thankful for this guy!

He was newly installed yesterday. Our old dishwasher had been on the fritz for awhile, sounding like it was going to explode every time we ran it. It got to the point where we were afraid to run it so we started hand washing. Hand washing = no fun so we finally broke down and purchased a new one. Hand washing every single dish for a month really makes you appreciate the luxury of a dishwasher. This guy has an adjustable top rack, back sprayers and a stainless steel inside with heating coils to help dry faster. It's the little things people, the little things!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Food For Thought

Have any of you ever tried the Fruit N' Yogurt Parfait from McDonald's? Yum - I am hooked! I was always hesitant to try one because I thought it might mimic their hot fudge sunday which has a lot of ice cream but is lacking in the hot fudge department. What a pleasant surprise; lots of fruity goodness in the middle and crunchy granola on top. The best part is they're only $1 so cheers to being a dollar menunaire ;)

Another food I wanted to bring to your attention are the new granola thins by Nature Valley. My friend Karla turned me onto them. I haven't tried the chocolate (pictured below) but I can vouch for the peanut butter, they are delish!

The problem is they are a little small. I think you're supposed to eat them as a snack so being small is actually the point but it sort of defeats my purpose of eating them for breakfast. By mid-morning I'm scavenging around at work for pork rinds and cheese puffs! JK! Not about the fact that those are the snacks offered at my office (can you believe that?) just about the scavenging part. I would rather go hungry than eat a pork rind for breakfast, or any time of the day for that matter.

Pumkin Patch Visit (I'm Behind!)

As usual I'm behind in posting current events so they really aren't too current but it's the thought that counts right? A couple of weeks ago we received a visit from this cutie!

Photo Courtesy of Addie Scott Photography

Oh yeah, these two may have been with him :)

Photo Courtesy of Addie Scott Photography

My brother Andrew, his wife Erin, and their son Jude came down for a visit. It was the weekend of OSU Homecoming so we decided to meet in Stillwater Friday evening to partake in the good food and ogle at the awe inspiring house decks that make up Homecoming Walkaround. Even if you are not an OSU fan, this is a must see event. I don't even know how to describe a house deck but lucky for you I was able to find a blog with lots of nice pictures: http://www.thestoryofjory.com/2010/10/22/homecoming-house-decks-2010/

On Saturday we got up and headed to Carmichael's Pumpkin Patch in Bixby where my friend Addie snapped some great photos of Jude. She also took some photos of these two sweeties. Don't we have the cutest nieces and nephew?

Photo Courtesy of Addie Scott Photography

Addie is an amazing photographer! Check out her website: www.addiescott.com and if you are interested in viewing more pics from our pumpkin patch visit click on proofing, then enter the password pumpkin.

The rest of our weekend was pretty relaxing, lots of college football and entertainment courtesy of Jude :)

Rollin' With His Lady

While driving home not too long ago I approached a low riding truck with tinted windows. Emblazoned on the driver’s side rear window was “Shadow” and emblazoned on the passenger’s side rear window was “Shadow’s Lady”. My first thought was how Shadow would be a good name for a horse because Shadow’s Lady sounds like something you might hear while attending the Kentucky Derby. Of course when I pulled up next to Shadow, lets just say he was not someone I pictured sipping Mint Juleps at Churchill Downs. Then I started thinking about Shadow and his Lady. I loved that he not only made himself known but he also acknowledged the fact that he was rollin’ with his lady. Forget the fact that she has her own name, she is HIS - Shadow’s Lady, and by now she probably doesn’t even remember the fact that she has her own name. Wouldn’t it be fun to roll like that? I want to be known as my husband’s lady but AB and AB’s Lady is a little too milk toast. Then there is my husband’s high school and college nickname, Doo Doo. I’m not really digging Doo Doo and Doo Doo’s Lady either. Well, it was a fun thought but I guess I’ll just stick to being known as myself :)

Football on Crack

AB recently purchased the NFL RedZone and I'm not sure how his brain doesn't short circuit at the end of each Sunday. The point of this channel is to flip to an NFL game when a team reaches the RedZone (inside the 20-yard line) this enables the viewer to see each and every touchdown made during the day. While eating lunch I sat down to experience this phenomenon, only to have my head hurt after 15 minutes. It's like football ADD! Within the 15 minutes the screen switched about 50 times, sometimes showing two games at once. After the first couple of flips, I couldn't keep up with which game we were watching...it was awful! AB on the other hand loves it! He is a fantasy football fanatic so he doesn't care about any particular game, just the players and how many points they are scoring for his fantasy teams. If you have the attention span of about 3 seconds I would highly recommend it :)

Between NFL RedZone, Thunder basketball games and the MLB Extra Innings package, AB has become quite the TV hog! I've been begging him to buy a nicer TV and a 2nd DVR for our game room so I can squeeze in a couple of shows now and then. Lucky for him I'm studying and not watching that much TV, but once this exam is behind me there are going to be some issues because my love of sports doesn't exactly equate to his.

Out of the Mine...What I Would Do First

Have you been as mesmerized by the story of the trapped miners as I have? What an amazing story! 69 days. 2,000 ft underground. Can you imagine? I can't imagine all of the "what ifs" going through their head the first 17 days they went undiscovered. To know you are trapped underground and nobody even knows you are alive down there. How scary and unnerving! Thankfully they were discovered and all 33 men were recovered in decent physical shape thanks to the strict daily regimen they kept to. I’m sure there will be psychological effects and hopefully time will heal those. This ordeal got me thinking about what I would look forward to most when getting out. The obvious would be uniting with my husband and family, seeing the light of day and breathing in fresh air. Then there are the little things, like using toilet paper, brushing my teeth and sleeping on a pillow. Besides those, I think the one thing I would look forward to the most would be taking a hot shower and pampering myself with my favorite bath and body products.

First off I would scrub my hair clean and condition it with my favorite shampoo and conditioner from Bumble and Bumble

Gentle Shampoo

Super Rich Conditioner

I would then move on to all of my favorite Origins products, starting with the best body scrub ever made. This stuff leaves your skin feeling so soft, it's amazing!

Ginger Body Scrub

To make my skin even softer and to stay relaxed I would use the Calm To Your Senses bath and body oil. I can see why they named it that, it has a very soothing sent.

Lavender and Vanilla Bath & Body Oil

After my nice hot shower I would keep myself smelling good and feeling hydrated with this great body cream.

Ginger Souffle

Last buy not least, the only perfume I'll wear (most give me a headache).

Ginger Essence

You can see why I mourned the closing of the Origins store in the mall! If I were trapped underground for 69 days, I think feeling clean and smelling good again would be at the top of my list for starting my new beginning. What about you? What would you look forward to the most (besides being united with your family, I hope that is a given!)? Are there certain products or foods you would have a hard time living without?

Marshall Getting Married

As I've mentioned AB and I traveled down to Texas for a wedding last weekend. The wedding couple was AB's cousin Marshall and his new Bride Ashley. I thought I'd share this picture of the cousins when they were cute little boys. That's AB's brother Chris in the back, cousin Marshall in the swing and trend setter AB with one pant leg down and one rolled up.

We left T-Town after lunch on Saturday and made our way down to Denton, TX where the welcome dinner was held. The dinner was at the hotel we stayed in. It was so nice to enjoy the evening then walk to our rooms! Here is a picture of AB and I with the newly minted Mr. and Mrs.

This is Marshall with his mom Linda and my MIL Melissa. Melissa and Marshall's dad, Kay are brother and sister. They have another sister, Jan, but unfortunately I didn't get any snapshots of her :(

They hired a jazz band to play at the dinner. I happen to love jazz so I really enjoyed the entertainment. Kay joined the band for a couple of numbers. He has a great voice, as does Marshall. Melissa's entire family is either musically or artistically gifted (this includes my very own husband who retired from his art career to chase his accounting dreams ;) ).

Linda and Melissa were able to get AB out on the dance floor (not an easy feat). Of course, I had to get record of this!

The wedding took place on Sunday and was held at the beautiful A&M Gardens just outside of Azle, TX. This was one of the views from our seats.

This was another one :) I wish I had a picture of the back of Ashley's dress. The ribbons that laced up the back were their wedding colors, sage and chocolate. I thought that was a neat way to incorporate color into the wedding dress.

Here is a pick of The B clan. Andy's brother Chris, his wife Shawnna, their girls Elliot (8 months), Lilly (3), my MIL Melissa, my FIL John, AB and I. Of all the beautiful backdrops, we picked a camper...LOL!

Elliot is wearing the same dress Lilly wore to our wedding. It's hard to believe Lilly was only 8 months old when AB and I got married!

Thank you to Marshall and Ashley for a great weekend! It was so much fun to see everyone and we really enjoyed spending time with our immediate and extended family!