new years eve.

happy new year to each of you! travis is already in muskogee, and i am headed there to meet him before long. we have a balancing act tonight as my brother and his wife, my parents, travis's parents, and travis's cousin and his wife all want us to make an appearance at their new year's eve functions. i'll let you know how it goes.

2008 has been a year of many changes, and i know that 2009 has even more in store. we wish you many blessings and a memory-making moments in the upcoming year.

we also encourage you to list your favorite memory from 2008.

xoxo ~ rhiannon & travis

a few more pictures of connor.

these were taken on christmas morning at travis's parents' house ... which explains the lack of makeup on my face. the one of travis and connor is one of my favorites!

i present to you mr. and mrs. justin leach.

everyone had such a good time at the aukerman-leach wedding. i had a moment of sadness before the wedding when i was on my way to the church. alan jackson's "remember when" came on the radio as i was driving from the salon to the chapel. i sent a text message that said, "remember when i was young and so were you and time stood still ... we won't be sad, we'll be glad for all the life we've had, and we'll remember when." wow. i'm getting a bit of a lump in my throat just thinking of it again! i know it's a little sappy, but it truly seems like no time at all since my brother and i were running through the woods and playing in our treehouse. i'm so proud of him.

after the wedding we all went to dinner at the olive garden. it was fun to have everyone all together. my dad looked like the godfather sitting at the head of the table in his tux. he was in such a good mood after the wedding. there was a precious little toddler there and he had a lot of fun playing with her.

it was a busy day, but in the end, it was fun-filled and beautiful.

we love you leaches!

splish. splash.

tonight we gave connor a bath. he was turning yellow and beginning to smell a little. he had a bath on christmas day, but since then he has played with his cousins, layla and ivory. both are large enough to eat him!

he is getting so good. travis has been working on "sit" with him and he's getting so much better. he was good in the tub while we were bathing him, too. i just feel so sorry for him! after his bath, he had a burst of energy and ran around the apartment like a crazy guy. i think he wore himself out, though, and now he's insisting that he sit on his dad's lap and rest.

he is getting better about going on his potty pad, but still hasn't gotten the hang of it. when he has to tinkle, he's less likely to go to the pad. i'm hearing mixed opinions about potty training a maltese his age. i'm hopeful that the positive comments i've heard will be true of our little boy.

skelly lodge. october seventeenth.

we did it! we booked out wedding and reception venue today! i called the lady at skelly lodge last night. she informed me that she only had one saturday in october available and there was another girl who was seriously considering it. i had planned to set up an appointment for friday when i am off work, but opted to go today at lunch instead. travis has the week off, so he was able to go with me as well.

when we pulled up to the lodge, i couldn't believe how beautiful it was. the pictures on the website don't do it justice. we looked all around the grounds, and spent much time talking to the director. she showed us the entire lodge -- a two story, eight bedroom hunting lodge built by former oilmen. there is so much history in the place! there is an original letter from 1815 of francis scott key, a book signed by houdini, another signed by amelia earhart, and several signed by presidents. there are a couple of deerheads that are from the original hunt in 1930. i know deerheads don't sound very romantic, but the place really is elegant and will be the perfect setting for our wedding.

there is a full kitchen with updated appliances, such as stainless steel warming drawers, stainless steel freezer drawers, a restaurant-sized refridgerator, among other things. there are eight bedrooms upstairs, and a beautiful balcony. five of the rooms have king size beds, one has a queen, another has a day bed with a trundle, and the last has three bunk beds. each of the rooms has an amazing view of the grounds, regardless of which way you're looking.

we have complete freedom to do whatever we want, bring in whatever caterer we want, provide our own liquor, and we also have the facility for 24 hours. we are considering adding an additional 24 hours so that we can go either a full day before or stay a full day after. it would be nice to have our families all together and have time to just relax and enjoy one another.

i think we were sold on the place from the beginning. finally travis asked me if i wanted him to go get the checkbook. when he got back, we signed the lease agreement, and i wrote one of the largest checks i've ever had to write. we were both a little giddy, and my stomach had tiny little flutters in it.

i called my parents, and i think they are beginning to get excited. i had wanted them to go with us, but they are busy preparing for the big new year's eve bash at the pool hall. my dad told me and then had my mom tell me that it didn't matter if they liked it; he wanted us to get something that we like. done and done. we are hoping to take them out later this week after new year's.

the lodge is in catoosa, so my only concern is that people will not want to drive out that far; i think the people that matter won't mind, though.

i still have to ask my bridesmaids to be a part of my wedding! i have something special up my sleeve for them, and that's why i've been a little slow to ask. now that the holidays and justin and lindsay's wedding are all over, i should be able to focus on our stuff a little more.

we'll keep you updated!

a new addition to our family.

this is not the cutest picture that we have of our new baby boy, but it's the only one i have at the moment, and i couldn't wait to share him with everyone. his name is connor, and he is a three month old maltese. here he's sitting quietly with his dad.

christmas eve.

merry christmas lovelies. i am soon headed to muskogee to meet my fiance and my family. we wish you all a very merry christmas. may you have peace and love in your homes and wonderful, memorable moments with your friends and families.

praying for you, brother.

my brother got some very disheartening news today ... and only three days before christmas and five days before his wedding. please keep justin and lindsay in your thoughts and prayers and hope that justin find a new job quickly as he lost his today. "pray thanking God for the way he is about to bless me, however that may be," is the message i got from justin right before he found out.

i would say that i am trying to put on a brave face for my brother, but i'm so sad for him right now. i don't think anyone can believe this is really happening. and the unfortunate part is that none of us are really in a position to be able to help him. i would give anything to be able to help him.

pool, poker, and shopping.

friday night after work claudine and i went to charleston's for a glass of wine and an appetizer. travis was headed to muskogee for a little pool action. we didn't stay for long because claudine had to pick up sarah. when i got home i watched a few dvr'd events and then headed to bed. it didn't take me long at all to fall asleep. travis had to work saturday so he got home late. i woke up for just a second when he got home and then was back asleep in seconds.
on saturday justin and sierra were supposed to come to town, but j forgot that he had made plans with lindsay to go to her company christmas party. i met my dad and sierra in coweta. we got back to the apartment, and tried to decide what we wanted to do. i ended up getting a very bad headache so i laid down and slept for about an hour. travis got home and headed to muskogee again to play pool and later cards.
sierra and i got around and headed out to do a bit of shopping. it was already dark by this point and very cold! i had to go back in the house to put leggings on under my jeans. we were only able to hit up a couple of stores -- old navy and target -- and we dropped off my ring and jared to be sized and cleaned. i miss it! they had to keep it over night and said i can pick it up later sunday afternoon. since we didn't get to have much shopping time, i have a feeling more shopping is in store this weekend.

fog & drizzle.

all day long.

at sixbyte today, tom intentionally pulled next to travis's driver's side door -- so close that travis couldn't get in and had to climb through the passenger's door. when he got back to work, he did the same back to tom, but went in and made a comment about it to tom. travis then had the pleasure of watching tom, a much larger guy, climb through his passenger's side, laughing all the while.

addison christmas 2008.

this year's addison christmas party was quite a bit different than last years'. the office met at bourbon street restaurant on cherry street where we had lunch together, played silly christmas trivia games, and received our christmas cards from dave, rob, & jason. i was excited to win david cook's new album and was grateful for the gift from the guys. i definitely missed getting together with the okc & houston offices and all of our spouces/significant others. we did have the afternoon off after lunch, and i spent that time catching up on laundry and balancing the checkbook. blech. what a way to spend a free afternoon. on sunday it sleeted and iced as we were driving home from mom and dad's. schools were closed on monday and the office opened late. i was very sick yesterday and didn't make it in to work on tuesday, and then today all of the schools except for tulsa public were still closed. all that to say, there is very little else to do as there is still much ice on the ground and it's frigidly cold should you decide to brave the cold. we did get out last night for dinner with justin and lindsay. they were here since monday night, when i started feeling really, really bad. we had gone to dinner monday night and then a movie, and i felt so horrible by the time we got here to the apartment. i didn't even hear travis, justin, or lindsay getting ready tuesday morning. i ended up sleeping about 16 hours straight and then off and on the rest of the afternoon. travis kind of laughed when he got home from work yesterday because all of the lights in the apartment were off and i was exactly where he had left me in bed. i couldn't have been more thrilled for a short work day today.
now i'm just looking forward to finishing my week up and am looking forward to having the entire week off next week.

trimming the family christmas tree.

on sunday night, my parents, sierra, justin, lindsay, travis and i met up at my parents' house to help decorate the massive family tree. we always have the greatest tree. each year they get a little bigger and a little better. you wouldn't think that would be possible after 25 years, but somehow it happens year after year. my mom had homemade hot cocoa and fresh baked cookies. travis and sierra got to work constructing popcorn garland together. layla and ivory walked around under foot for a while until dad put ivory in her room and layla took a nap behind the couch. i just love christmas!

our christmas tree.

for the first time since i moved out of my parents' house, i have a real tree for christmas. travis and i went and picked out a tree at lowe's the weekend of jen's shower. the air was pretty brisk and made it feel like christmas truly was in the air. we picked out a tree that we both love. since my trees with roommates were smaller we didn't have quite enough ornaments or lights to fill the tree. after about three trips to garden ridge, we finally had everything we needed. travis was really excited about decorating the balcony, too, so we made sure to pick up decorations for that as well.
when we got home a little elf appeared to help me put up the tree, courtesy of my future father-in-law. we put in fred clause and started putting the lights on. the movie is hilarious and we had to restart it because we kept missing parts while we were behind the tree.