happy birthday

{accidentally published this post early...wasn't suppose to go until tomorrow...oops!}

to two of the most important people to me.....who happen to share the same birthday...

november 25th

my wonderful mother

thank you for being an awsome mom...for always being there for me...teaching me everything from cooking to sewing {you still have some work to do there}...making the little things in life feel special....being there to help when i need it...cherishing holiday memories and creating new ones...dealing with your two crazy daughters and equally crazy husband...and most importantly loving me unconditionally!  you are awesome and i hope you're day is a special one!

my fabulous, hot, funny, sincere husband

if i am counting correctly, this is the 12th birthday that we have celebrated together!  hard to believe.  you are an awesome husband...caring...thoughtful...fun...deep thinker...adventurous...you know how to make me smile...you are very selfless...you are comitted to your family and friends...you are sincere and most of all you are the perfect person for me and i can't wait to celebrate more birthdays with you!  thank you for being "mymichael"...

 

i love you both!

happy birthday grandma!

today is my sweet grandma's birthday!  she is one of the best grandma's you could find. 

my sister and i loved going to the farm growing up....in elementary school we would miss if not all fridays, everyother friday to visit grandma and grandpa.  we would meet half way between tulsa and poteau at "biscuit hill" {i'm not sure if that is really the name or what we came up with....i should investigate that...} for the drop-off to grandma & grandpa. 

mom tells me that the first night i was home from the hospital i actually slept with grandma.  or at least i slept and grandma stayed awake afraid i would stop breathing! 

when i was either 2 or 3....old enough to talk...i called grandma at her work and told her to come pick me up.  her being the awesome grandma that she was, marched into her boss's office and told him she was leaving early to go pick up her granddaughter in tulsa.  when she was on her way she called my parents and told them she was almost at the house to pick me up...to say the least they were a little surprised! 

you see, the saying "what happens at grandma's, stays at grandma's" is quite true.  the grandkids all started driving when we were around the age of 8 or so.  it started out "small" on the 3-wheeler and we gradually...or not so gradually...worked our way up to the awesome old jeep they had, then the farm truck or whatever random vehicle grandpa had that month, and then finally they would let us drive their truck on the road around the age of probably 12 or so.  i vividly remember one afternoon driving down the road to their house, down their driveway and then going to park under their carport that is right outside the den.  i pulled in nice and slow and was doing great until i went to go just a little farther and my "tap" on the gas peddle was a little harder than expected and i rammed the truck into the den wall.  luckily it wasn't too hard, but i was freaking out.  grandma simply said, "i think that's good enough", got out of the car and that was it.  and i still got to drive!  gotta love the grandma's and the grandpa's!!!

she is a great cook, crafty sewer/quilter, amazing gardner and loves her family to pieces!

i'm so happy i can call her grandma!

hope you have a fantabulous day!!!

a family weekend

this past weekend my parents and i went to visit my sister in stillwater.  she moved back there a few months ago and wanted help redoing some of her furniture and stuff.  i drove down after work on friday and we helped her paint one of her dressers black, dad refinished her table top, ate at a new mexican restaurant, went to wal-mart, and then mom and kj made some awesome soft sugar cookies simply to prove to kj's boyfriend, dublin, that the best sugar cookies are NOT the ones at wal-mart that have a 1/4" of icing on the top.  i think we convinced him that he was very wrong.  it was fun getting to spend time with the whole fam...it had been awhile.  oh...kj also had an awesome long, thick brown wig that both her and i could only   w i s h   to have hair like!

yea...i'm looking into extensions....what do you think???

saturday, after starbuck's {why did starbucks have to come to stillwater after i was there???}, we went to wall's bargain center and discovered lots of goodness that you read about yesterday.  then we headed to the town of guthrie, in search for cool old stuff.  we didn't find much, but we did have fun.

my dad who stayed in one store while we made to all the stores on the street...yea...he's a little slow...=)

would have been a great family picture if i was in it.....photoshop maybe?

i headed back to t-town saturday evening for birthday dinner with sarah & dave.  then on sunday i spent all day getting ready for birthday dinners for my dad, my grandpa & my grandma.  all of our birthdays fall between september 8th & november 25th.  i always make a birthday dinner as part of my gift to them.  since we were celebrating 3 birthdays, the menu was interesting:

creole shrimp & sausage stew {seafood for dad and grandpa}

crab cakes {for dad and grandpa}

fried chicken {for grandma...she won't touch seafood with a 10 foot pole}

bacon mac {a new macaroni & cheese recipe that wasn't as good as our family's recipe...but was worth the try}

salad

corn on the cob

lemon cake {provided by my mother...the queen of all things baked}

it was all yummy and we felt 50 pounds heavier after finishing. 

aren't they cute?

and here's a pic to prove that my hot husband, mymichael was around for the festivities!

so, it was a jam packed weekend of family fun!  it's great when you have an awesome family!!!

happy birthday sarah

today is sarah's birthday.  sarah and i have been best friends since the 7th grade...which is funny b/c she now teaches 7th grade!  i actually remember her being in my 2nd grade class...needless to say it has been a long time.  we have had lots of fun together through the years, riding the school bus, my dad driving us to fca, me driving us to drivers ed, me picking sarah up everyday for school until our senior year, us doing musical's together in high school, hair dying, going to barnes and noble ;), graduating, moving away to different schools, me getting married, me finally moving back to tulsa, starbucks, shopping, going to chicago together, eating at rosebud, sarah getting married, looking at houses, buying houses, painting houses, etc. etc. etc.  we've had fun!  she is one of the best friends a girl could ask for!

h a p p y   b i r t h d a y !

2 special birthday's

yesterday was my grandpa jim's birthday.  this man is about as good as they come.  you will never have an empty glass at his dinner table, he is an awesome gardener, he loves working with his hands and on his farm, he is a hard-working, overachieving man that has a family that loves him tremendously!

happy birthday   D A D !

today is my dad's birthday!  happy happy birthday to the BEST dad in the world!!!!  this man is the life of any party, a true optimist, fun loving, would do anything for you kind of guy.  for all you dad's out there with little girls, here's what you have to look forward to doing with her:  playing with barbies in a custom built barby house, building a pink and white playhouse in your backyard, shopping for prom dresses, shopping for wedding dresses, shopping for...well....really anything, redecorating her room in accordance to how she wants it...be it all pink or lime green and black, waking her up for school each morning w/ "good morning beautiful, it's time to get up" and giving her unconditional love and hugs!

happy birthday to 2 of the best guy's in my life!

carissa turns 30!

i'm telling you...this was a super busy weekend!  saturday i got to have fun and celebrate my friend carissa turning the big 3-0.  dinner at mcgill's, the king las vegas suite at the hard rock hotel & a private table at friction...it was a fantabulous girl's night!  i have to tell you...this girl has more close friends than just about anyone i have seen.  we had a private room for dinner that 23 of us squeezed into....and that's not everyone!  it was awesome getting to see her have fun with all the different girls from her life...childhood to high school to college to graduate school to church to her kid's preschool mom's.  how fun to celebrate with everyone you love the most.

i personally fit into her high school category.  i met carissa through sarah who had grown up with carissa.  she was a couple of years older than us, so carissa would drive sarah and i over to the high school for musical practice....and get this she drove us in a purple chevy cavalier...with a sunroof....and a cd player....while listening to the romeo & juliet soundtrack {love me, love me, say that you love me...you know the words!}.   that's right...go ahead and say it...we were cool {or so we thought}!  good memories.

so here are some pics from the evening, including lauren doing the single ladies dance!

{our rockin' suite...i love the carpet!}

{mcgill's for dinner}

{i told you there were a bunch of us!}

{a little single lady action from lauren!}

thanks for a great night carissa!