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Sunday, November 28, 2010

My Jr. High/High School BFF and Her Children

 Meet Christy.
Meet her children, Melynda, Brandon, and Brooke.

Christy and I were best friends while in school.
Christy has become the swan.
It was great getting to meet back up with her and
see how life has treated her. 

She has become a very empowered woman who
puts her children first.

She was an awesome basketball player in school.
Now, she is a marathon runner.

We both agreed that we wouldn't trade our lives
now and go back to school days.
We have finally grown to love ourselves. 
We hadn't seen each other in almost 20 years until yesterday.
The years completely vanished as soon as we hugged.
Christy, you have a beautiful family and have made
your bff proud!
Thanks Melynda, Brooke and Brandon for
letting me share your mom!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Turkey Hunting.....

 Meet my 3 turkeys!
Regan, Carly and Sydni.
I probably took 15 pictures of this pose....this is the ONLY
picture where all three are somewhat looking in my direction!
 I gave up on open eyes......
 There were some turkeys who actually wanted their pictures taken.....

 This turkey is really hard to capture....she never stops talking.
She also does NOT like having her picture taken....I think
I proved she can take a good picture.

 This is our family portrait....yes, I am the glamour queen on the ground in
the front.  I had to set the timer on the camera and it was a very
very long run to reach the group....
that is as far as I made it before the camera CLICKED.
I was quite impressed I was even in the frame....
Mental Note:  Must. Exercise. More.
 My sister, Julie and her husband, Donald.
I really should put the picture before this...he was
really BITING her face....and that got the
laugh response!
 My mother and step-dad.
I just wanted to see what silly poses I could
get them to do....
It sure wasn't hard...they just jumped on
whatever I said to do.....
We laughed so hard, we might have
let out a little pee in our pants.
 Sister again with her daughter, Laura.
Three generations....almost.

My twin nieces, Cortney and Lindsay.
They are such sweet blessing to this family.

Not just a "gansta" pose.
Laura, on the left, is preggie with baby #1.
Brittany, on the right, is preggie with baby #4.
They are sisters-in-law.

The twin, Lindsay with her husband, Stuart and son, Tristan.

Like I've said before....please don't judge them by their
choice in clothing.  They are family and we will love them
even when they wear such despicable clothing.

My sister, Terri and her husband, Vern.
As you might remember, Terri is the
one I force beg to do the Christmas
parade thing with each year.

I wonder if he even realizes the cougar woman is about to attack....

 The other twin, Cortney and her special guy, Chris.
Such posers.
I must admit, 2010 was an awesome Thanksgiving holiday!
I had a wonderful time laughing, loving and sharing with the families.
Thanks guys for sharing with me!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

My House Before it was a Home...

(PLEASE DISREGARD THE DATES ON THE PHOTOS, IT WAS REALLY SEPTEMBER, 2007)
While decluttering my laundry room, I found my first
digital camera.  It is a Kodak EasyShare.
I had to plug it into the computer to charge on a special
docking station.  Over time, the thing quit working...the
docking station that is.

 I decided to see what was in it.
To my surprise, it has an SD card.
I don't know if I even knew it had a card in it
back when I used the camera.
 Now, I have a Targus Media Reader, which means
I can just plug the little thing into my computer
and pop my card into it....I used to use
a cord and plug camera to the computer.
I could HUG whomever invented this little $20 thing.
 Here is our patio....we got the staining and scoring for FREE
because the cement had a crack in it...a cosmetic crack.
The company did this as a disguise, so I could enjoy
my patio and not focus on the CRACK.
It isn't in the picture, but right in the middle of the patio
is an Oklahoma Centennial Coin....it was the year we
built the house as well as our 20th year of marriage.
 Here is the livingroom.
You can see Regan's bedroom.
 Panning to the right, here is our woodstove.
The wall to the right is a chocolate brown and
the wall to the left is a lighter tan.
The window looks out to the patio.
 This is Regan's room.
She has a huge room.
Her room can eventually be a den and/or
large office.
Her angled closet door was David's idea.
He wanted it to reflect her entrance door, which
is also angled.
Great idea sweetie!
 Looking down the hallway.
Regan's room on the left.
Carly and Sydni shared a large room on the right.
The other doors are storage closets.
At the far end, is the powder room.
 Carly and Sydni's room.
Yah, blinders are needed.
After three year, I've come to enjoy this sunshiny
yellow.
 This is their dressing room.
To the left is the private bath/toilet area.
To the right is a large walk-in closet.
 Here is the powder room at the end of the hallway.
 Walking back into the livingroom, you can see the kitchen.
For whatever reason, I didn't take pictures of the office.
That is the room I am currently renovating.
It was just an empty room, with no closet or built-in
shelving.
 Now we are looking into the kitchen from the dining area.
You can see the laundry room to the back.
The door goes to the garage.
 Here is our bedroom...technically, our house has two
master bedrooms.
This bedroom is off the dining room.
 Here is our HUGE closet...I mean larger than
my office closet.  I think it is 12 x 12, but not sure.
I am still trying to decide exactly how I want to work this
space.
 When walking out of my bedroom, you look at
the pantry.  In the original plan, this is an extra
closet in our bedroom.  I changed it to a
pantry and am I ever glad I did.  It now
has a red screen door!  It slams....I. Love. It.
 A better look at the hall doors.
All of our bedrooms have doors from our old farmhouse.
Five generations on my husband's side have touched those doors.
I was afraid we weren't going to get them for the new house.
Praise God, we were able to get them.
I happened to go to Mill Creek for something and found
NEW doors with the same pattern as the OLD doors.
Guess what?  They were cheaper than the standard six panel
doors found in most homes.  To say I was tickled would be an
understatement!  I just might have "squeed" a bit.
Here is our entrance.
Regan's room is there to the right.
The old farmhouse did not have an entrance...you would just
walk straight into the livingroom.
Most people entered through the mud porch and the
front door was never used.
One of our "splurges" was for the door....
I wanted LIGHT to enter.
I love art deco, and I think this door reflects that era.
For some odd reason, I didn't take a picture of the outside....
it is just a simple rectangle home.
I had pipe dreams of a HUGE wrap around porch which was
quickly squashed when I found out it added 20% to the cost of the house.
We contracted out to build this house which meant we were the
builders.
We did all the flooring ourselves.  My step-dad, Paul, did the
amazing tile work.  He worked so hard at it and I feel I still
haven't thanked him enough.
We also did the painting....All. The. Painting.
I still get a little nauseous when I smell paint.
The average builder cost was around $110/sq. ft.
We built this for $47.50/sq. ft.
It has been 3 years, and I am finally feeling like it is a home.....sigh.....

Monday, November 15, 2010

A Special Senior Photo Shoot....Mom & Son

I never expected to actually have tears when
looking at pictures for the first time.
Meet Bryan and his mom, Nita.
 Bryan is Nita's only son....
 Bryan will be graduating from high school
in the spring.
 Bryan realizes that no matter what, his
mom is still going to love him, hug him and KISS him...
even in public.
 Nita will have an empty nest after Bryan heads
out into the world.
Can't you just see the love in her face?
 Bryan can still make his mom laugh.....
 Not just laugh, a true belly laugh....
I'm not sure Nita realizes how poignant this photograph is....
Bryan is ready to move on....
Bryan needs to know that no matter where he goes...
he can turn and mom will be just steps away....
Nita needs to know that that little boy will always be
her little boy even if he can pick her up.
(Bryan did say in a very shocked tone, "Mom,
you are really light.")
Bryan and Nita, thanks for letting me be the one
who got to capture some really special moments with you.

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