SIL'S graduation

My sister-in-law graduated college from Middle Tennessee State University a few weeks ago! She was a student athlete all 4 years playing keeper for the women's soccer team. We had a wonderful fast weekend filled with family time. 

Memorial Day 2013

Happy Memorial Day friends! I can't say thank you enough to all of those serving and those that have served our country. I always think of the above statement especially on days like today... "Land of the free because of the brave" isn't that the truth. As nice as it is to have an extra day to spend with family & friends and to have the day off of work I try to keep my focus on the reason for the day. I appreciate the sacrifices of the service men & women and those that their families make for us. Thank you simply isn't enough.

entering the last year in my twenties

I turned 29 on May 2nd!

Thankfully where I work gives us our birthday day off work & I went ahead and took Friday off as well so I could have a looooong weekend. It was my first day off work for the year and boy was it needed. I feel refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to get back to what I love doing. Sometimes you just need to stop and breathe, take a break and get back to it.

My ideal day (when everyone else is working ;)) is creating my to-do list and getting to business so that's exactly what I did on my birthday! I got out of bed when my husband was leaving for work.. so I got to sleep in a little bit and went to work out. After working out I got my free birthday Starbucks drink & had the inside of my car cleaned. Came home, showered and got ready for the day!

This is what I found after I finished getting ready. They never cuddle like this!

So then I went and got my hair done, did some shopping, picked up some birthday flowers from my in-laws (that were sent to my work) and tried to get my oil changed and lifetime power train warranty inspection done.... I say tried because I had to make an appointment for the following day (apparently the inspection takes about 3 hours). So I went home, had some R&R time then my husband came home with cupcakes and a sweet card! We went to a nice dinner with some amazing food. It was a perfect night.

Incredibly dark picture but this was at dinner.

Pretty flowers from my sweet in-laws.

On Friday Chris took the day off work as well so we could have a fun day together before he left for a bachelor party for the weekend. We went to see a matinee of Iron Man 3 in the balcony at the Warren Theatre... always fun! The movie did not disappoint and it was so cute seeing all the little kids with their Iron Man toys. The car appointment I had made the day before did not as planned.. it's a long story that I don't want to bore you with. Long story short Chris & I took my car to a different dealership to get the oil change and inspection and while we were away one of our little fur babes got into some allergy medicine I had just purchased and left on the coffee table. One  (or both we didn't know at the time) of them ate 5 pills (decongestant medicine) soooo we called our vet and he wanted us to bring them in. Awesome. Basically our vet made them both throw up... Angel first because we thought she was the culprit. WRONG. We should have known it was Sebastian. Anyways they found all 5 pills in Sebastian's vomit (sorry if you got a graphic picture in your head). The IV medicine they gave them to throw up had morphine in it so they were loopy & out of it for the night. They're just fine now. I wouldn't say that was the best day... but you know glad we got that outta the way.

On Saturday my mom came in town to keep me company while Chris was out of town and to help celebrate my b-day with me. We had a fun day consisting of grocery shopping (thanks for coming with me mom... it's always fun having a partner at the grocery store), lunching at The Mule, real shopping, move theatre (to see the place beyond the pines) and cooking dinner together! It was a really fun day :)

A birthday gift to myself!

I'm excited for this 29th year of my life. Hoping it's a positive year for us!

Easter 2013

Chris's mom, dad & sister came in town for the day last Saturday and we had fun filled jam packed day. We started off the morning at Kitchen 324 for brunch. It's so yummy :)

Then we walked around the Myriad Garden's in downtown OKC. It's very pretty in Spring & Summer. They were having an Easter egg hunt for the little ones. I normally always wear flats... so I have to stand on my tippy toes when I take a picture with my 6'5" husband... so I can at least be near his shoulder.

Then we headed to Norman to check out the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. It was AWESOME! We loved it. I never went in college so it was fun to go back with the whole family to enjoy it.

After a little pit stop at the mall & Green Bambino we went to dinner at one of Chris's favorite restaurants in Norman... Royal Bavaria where the beer comes flowing out of glass boots (but be careful not to break the glass boot b/c it's a $75 fee if you do... our waitress tells us this as she is handing Chris the boot). They do have really yummy German food I must say. I picked up some nothing bundt cakes for Chris's mom, it was her birthday last Thursday, and we had those for dessert! 

I love that my in-laws still give us an Easter basket! Do you see that little blue egg that says hippity hop?? Someone left that on our front porch to find Sunday morning. I loved it... but seriously who did that?!

After my in-laws went home we walked our little fur babies. It was such a beautiful day :)

All in all it was a lovely & perfect little Easter weekend. Time well spent with family.

Mark 16:6 And he said to them. Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.

Chips For Charity

I have been struggling with the fact that I have not posted anything personal in ohhh over 1 month. I have so much to catch you up on & so many pictures to show you but instead of getting overwhelmed with all that I haven't/need/want to do I'm going to catch you up on our weekend!  

This past week for me has been crazy busy. Like one of those weeks that is too busy for your own good. I think I have mentioned it on here before but I am a part of an organization in OKC called Junior Hospitatlity (similar to the Junior League but on a much smaller scale with less "requirements")... in a nutshell it's  a group of women that share the common interest of volunteering with different non-profit organizations. Anywho all that to say that we had our big charity fundraiser yesterday. I was on the committee that helped plan the party and it was A.TON.OF.WORK. Of course the last week was crunch time with everyone turning in their donations & figuring out all the final details. I worked on preparing the silent auction & raffle prizes and packages with a small group of ladies Tuesday & Thursday night till about 11:00 PM. Did I mention I go to bed most nights at 9:00 PM... 9:30 at the very latest and I get up at 4:45 AM to work out. Yeah, I missed 3 workouts this week which I am not happy about. All that to say that helping raise $$$$ for our grant recipient made it all worth it. 

Saturday was cray cray... I helped set-up for the party from 9:30AM to 1:30PM went home to eat real fast & change into scrubs then left to work our (the dental office I work for) booth at Kid's Fest from 2:30PM to 4:30PM. Came home rested for a small bit & got ready for the party! It was big success. We find out this Thursday how much $$$$ we helped raise. 

Needless to say I am very very tired. I cleaned house & did laundry today & that's about it. I did not menu plan nor did I grocery shop..... so that 's going to make our week interesting in regards to breakfast, lunch & dinner :) 

Here are some pics from the party! 

What I helped get donated! 

A baseball signed by Matt Holliday... thanks Hailee :)

What we came home with...

Thunder shoes signed by Serge Ibaka.

HA. Just kidding... we let someone else bid a small fortune on those kicks.

Our couple friends Bryson & Cara!

Me & my handsome husband.

Group pic taken by the blackjack dealer.

Earlier in the day working the Smile Galaxy booth.

JT & Jimmy Fallon

I'm sure you've seen this, 

but I just discovered it today.

I was crying laughing. 

JT still makes me swoon.

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Chris downloaded this app. called food on the table. He found 5 new recipes for us to try and what's really neat about this app. is it puts all the ingredients you need on a shopping list. You can just check things off as you get them at store or if you already have them at home. Easy Peasy.

This was our 3rd recipe to try and it was so yummy and simple I had to share it with you. You can find the recipe HERE as well.

Ingredients
1 (2 to 3 pound) chicken whole .... I used 2 chicken breast b/c it's what I had
4 (cup) chicken broth
1/2 (8 oz. package) frozen mixed vegetables.... I accidentally used the whole package, you can never have too many vegetables right? :)
1 (8 oz package) egg noodles, cooked
(to taste) salt & pepper 

Directions
1. Remove and discard giblets from inside of chicken. Place whole chicken in crock pot, add broth, cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours. Remove chicken from crock pot, place on cutting board and let it cool.

2. Add frozen vegetables and spices and cook on low for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Meanwhile, remove chicken from bones, discard fat & bones; and shred meat. Return shredded cooked chicken to crock pot with vegetables.

3. During the last 20 minutes of cooking, add egg noodles to crock pot. Cover and cook for remaining time or until egg noodles are tender. 

**I was running low on time so I cooked the chicken on high for 3 hours, cooked the veggies for 1 hour & cooked the noodles for about 25 minutes. **