sweet cuddle pup.

i had just gotten to work this morning when sierra sent me this picture of my sweet conor pup.  how precious is he peeking out from under the covers?!

each morning we put the boys in sierra's or oliver's room depending on whether sierra is home or not.  they are always happy to have another cuddle buddy since we leave so early in the mornings.  conor usually burrows right under the covers so he can get next to the person he's cuddling.  oliver makes himself comfortable on the bed, down near he foot of the bed. 

melt. my. heart.

dr. lajara {new neurologist}.

today i went to see a new neurologist. my headaches have gotten pretty intense again lately, and i decided i couldn't wait any longer.  i've been seeing the doctor at work, and he ordered a CT scan for me. it came back clear, but my headaches still haven't cleared up, so he referred me to doctor lajara.  dr. lajara is  a neurologist in bartlesville.  

when i went in today, he agreed that i've done a lot of what he would recommend.  i like that he took the time to listen to my full history, ask more questions, and then start making recommendations.  some doctors seem so ready to just get you out of their offices.

he's started me on a new preventative - topamax.  hopefully we'll find that it does its job and keeps me from having these massive, never-ending headaches.

i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

{little} reminders.

i thank God for my husband every single day.  there are some days when i thank Him even more frequently.  earlier this week i was having a rough day.  when i got back to my desk i had these two little reminders that my husband loves me.

the note is a note he left at my desk probably a year ago, and yoda was in my stocking this past christmas.  they are silly trinkets that make me smile and remind me that i have someone else on my side. 

sleepy girl.

this week haley has been babysitting asher.  monday she had levi and asher, but since then it's just been ashy.  it must have completely worn her out because we barely got out of bartlesville before she was fast asleep. 

 

{happy birthday} aunt francie.

today was my aunt francie's birthday.  all i could think about were my cousins sonya and brad.  i really wish i had the photo albums and box of pictures that are at my mom's house as i would love to share some here.  i know i've mentioned it before, but so many of my memories growing up are with my extended family.

http://pinterest.com/pin/334181234819472275/

  happy 64th birthday, aunt francie.  i hope you're enjoying heaven's beautiful gardens. 

family history on my dad's side.

today i was lying on the love seat thinking about my family and some of my favorite memories growing up.  on my mom's side of the family i had met her aunts and uncles, but as i sat back and thought about my dad's side of the family, i couldn't remember a lot of aunts and uncles on his dad's side of the family.  on his mom's side, my mamaw, i always knew the standingwaters, but i couldn't think of any on my grandpa truman's.  i called my dad to ask if his dad had any brothers and sisters.

i could remember my aunt ruth, who was quite a bit older than my dad and used to come visit us when we lived in evansville.  i hadn't really seen or heard much about her, though since i was about five or six years old.  as i started thinking about it, i wasn't really sure how she was my aunt.  turns out she is my dad's half-sister, from a family my grandpa had before the family he started with my mamaw. 

dad said that grandpa had a sister, velma, and a brother who died in the war.  or that's what my grandpa had told him.  dad remembers being at the hospital one time with my grandpa when he was pretty sick and the staff was asking him if he had any siblings.  that's when my dad heard the story of his brother and that he had been killed in the war.

dad's sister rose later told him that grandpa's brother had died of cancer.  "i don't know why daddy said that," my dad told me. "i guess he was too proud to admit they both had cancer."

i wish i had gotten the opportunity to spend more time with my grandpa.  i remember him, but i don't think justin does, and he passed away well before sierra was born.  -- some of the memories that immediately come to mind when i think of grandpa include driving down the road coming into tahlequah from stilwell and seeing my grandpa putt-putting along in his old truck.  dad would flipped a u-turn to catch up to him and tell his daddy hi.  i remember that happening a lot.  in a world before cell phones, you couldn't just dial someone up and tell them to pull over or meet you somewhere.  i also remember the cabin at the river, the house in evansville, and one of his hunting hounds having puppies.  my dad loved his dad so much.  it took him a long, long time to get over the loss.  {that must be where i get my fear of losing my parents from}.  i wish i would have had the chance to know my dad's dad a little better.

girls' evening on the town.

travis was out of town this weekend, so on saturday i invited dee to have dinner with haley and me.  we decided on texas roadhouse where we discovered the most fabulous thing -- they have anyone celebrating a birthday sit on a saddle on a saw horse and wear a cowboy hat .

haley's already counting the days until her birthday {august 19th}, so dee and i told her it was all settled.  we would come back to texas roadhouse just for her.  she was less than thrilled.

after texas roadhouse i started driving to hobby lobby.  then haley informed me it was boring.  i don't know what i did before having a teenager to let me know these kinds of things.

we went to bed, bath & beyond instead.

who knew bb&b was more exciting than hobby lobby?

we spent quite a bit of time walking around checking out the different gadgets.  

haley found several ideas for her birthday including an iPod docking station that serves as an alarm clock and a speaker to play her music.  she also found some bedding she really likes. 

i can't find a picture of it online, but they had a union jack quilt mixed in with this duvet and a few of the passport and union jack throw pillows.

i really liked how it all looked together -- and while i love black and white elements of these different cities, i don't think i would have ever thought to pair it with the union jack colors.  it looked really great together.

after bed, bath, and beyond i wanted to grab a snow cone at josh's sno shack, but haley wanted ice cream, so we headed over to freckles.  dee decided not to have anything, but i tried one of their snow cones, and haley got a small vanilla custard.

they claim they had soft, shaved ice, and while it was good, it just wasn't josh's.  travis and i tried josh's sno shack for the first time a few weeks ago on a super hot day, and it just tasted like summer in a cup.  it was fantastic.  and i don't even usually eat a lot of snow cones. i've gotten them a couple of times with travis in muskogee, but before that, i probably hadn't had one since falls creek church camp in high school.

the sun was starting to set so we headed home so dee could get on the road before dark.   i don't have girls' days very often, but this evening turned out to be pretty great. 

impromptu road trip to tahlequah.

today travis messaged and asked if the girls and i could have the house ready for a house showing for today.  we got up and got everything ready and then loaded the boys in the back of the car {travis had my car detailed for me last week while i was in houston, so i hated having to load them up, but i made sure to lay down a nice comfy blanket for them}.  we usually put oliver in the back seat of the car and conor in one of our laps, instead of in the cargo area, but this time i decided to give them the entire back area. 

we drove around the block a couple of times, i ran into walgreens and then into GNC.  after that, the showing still wasn't finished, so i decided to head to my dad's land in tahlequah.  sierra was following us in the truck while i ran the first few errands because she planned to go tan after we were finished. she decided to go with us, so she parked the truck in the target parking lot and hopped in with us.  haley was hungry so we grabbed a quick bite at the freddy's drive-thru.  i had a concrete, but remind me to never get burgers from freddy's.  haley got one and it looked terrible.  it was the thinnest burger i've ever seen in my life!

when we got to the land, mom and dad were busy working on the house, but they were happy for the company.  the boys love being out on the land.  it was a little muddy, though, so by the time we left, conor looked like he was wearing little brown socks.

i have the sweetest boys.  {and some pretty sweet girls, too}. 

checking out the boutiques of bville.

on friday at lunch, tasha and i hit up all the different boutiques in downtown bartlesville.  there's a store that recently opened called chevron chic, and i've really wanted to go in, but i usually don't have time. jen's birthday gave me the perfect excuse. 

i needed a great gift for jenny's birthday and based off their window display, i thought they would have just the thing.  we went in and looked around, but before making a decision i wanted to see the other boutiques downtown.

the next place we stopped was curbside closet. i loved, loved, loved this shop.  i tried on a couple of dresses (to hopefully wear to jen's birthday), but neither fit me well.  i found another dress i really liked for jen, but she would have had to have it hemmed because it was too long even for me.  i wanted to get her something she could immediately use, so we kept looking. 

this is one of the dresses i tried on -- isn't it darling?  i wish the sleeves would have hung better when i had it one. 


sweet p's was our next stop.  it's such a cute gift and home decor shop, but tasha and i didn't see anything that we couldn't live without, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. we only had our lunch hour to find the perfect gift for jenny, and so far i wasn't have the luck i'd expected to have.

i've been seeing billboards for lubella's boutique and i'd been dying to check it out, so we headed further downtown.  it was a really sweet shop, but i didn't find anything there for jen or for me. 

while driving into work i'd noticed the shop right next door to lubella's.  it's called the french nest, and it was fantastic! i texted kate to tell her she and i would definitely be frequenting this store. 

i still hadn't purchased anything to wear or a gift for jen.  we wrapped up at the french hen and headed back toward the office.  we stopped back in to chevron chic where i ended up making a couple of purchases.

i ended up with this darling dress for jen.

 

 

i tried on several dresses, but didn't purchase anything.  it seems when i'm window shopping, the stores have a million cute pieces i would purchase.  but when i'm actually out shopping, i find so much less.  i hate it.  does this happen to anyone else?  no? just me?  excellent. 

i did snag this oversize envelope clutch for myself.  i didn't end up taking it out for jen's birthday, but i still think it's cute.  the guys at work say i have a thing for handbags and shoes.  i suppose there's a little truth to that ...

tasha and i don't often have one-on-one time outside of the office, so i was glad to spend a little time with her when we weren't talking about recruiting processes. 

feeling brand new.

this afternoon i headed off to the salon for a haircut.  it's been a few months, and i was ready for a refresh.  kelsi has wanted to do an ombre with my hair for a while, but i've been a little nervous to try.  i typically stick with my own hair color with a few peek-a-boo highlights to help add dimension to my hair.  just about anything i do has to look like it could naturally occur like that.  this time, though, i decided to go for it.  turns out i really like it! 

travis was out of town, so once i was finished at the salon, i snapped a quick picture in the car before driving home. 

when i got home, i took another to send to him (don't mind oliver's hair on the floor.  it's nearly impossible to keep it all vacuumed right now). 
 

thanks for the new 'do, kels!  and for the freshly waxed brows. 

celebrating jen's birthday.

last night we got to celebrate my dear friend jen's birthday.  jen's a photographer, so sometimes i'm embarrassed to even share our photos out here, but i love that even if they're sometimes a little grainy and or a little dark, they capture us having fun with each other and the special people in our lives.

i had been asking jen for a couple of weeks if there was anything planned for her upcoming birthday, but it turned all every weekend was booked for her and court, so they were just planning on a family dinner to celebrate.  as it turns out, some of their weekend plans fell through so on monday i got a text from court asking if travis and i could go to dinner for jenny's birthday.  i was so excited we were going to do something to celebrate, but wasn't sure if travis was going to be able to go because it was the weekend he and matthew planned to go to wichita.  we worked out the details, and travis was able to go.

we met up with jen, court, and several of her friends at in the raw brookside. i love sushi, but as i've mentioned before, travis isn't a fan. luckily, ITR has a great steak, so he was a happy boy.  we got to visit more with ashley.  i've heard of ashley for a couple of years now and always see her in jen's pictures, but i had never gotten to meet her until jen and court's housewarming party a few weeks ago.  she's from the same hometown as travis, and it turns out her fiance is a harley certified mechanice {or something like that} so the guys had a great connection.  

after dinner the weather wasn't terribly hot {surprisingly enough it's been a mild summer for oklahoma} so we headed across the street to the rooftop wine bar.  my headaches are back in full force, so i'm not really drinking these days, but i had a great time sitting out on the roof catching up with jen & her friends and spending some time out of the house with travis.

after the wine bar, jenny & court and one other couple headed over to r bar just up the street, but since our car was parked three spots away, we headed home. travis still gets worn out pretty quickly so we can't stay out and do much ... and who am i kidding?  i'm like a ninety year old woman in a retirement village.  i need to stick to my schedule these days.  the sun sets, and i think it's time for bed.

happy birthday, sweet jen!  i hope you had a fun night celebrating you. cheers, pretty girl!

blake shelton tickets!

today i surprised travis with blake shelton tickets!  oh yeah.  on october 4th we're heading to the bok center to watch this guy.  i. can't. wait. 

 

we don't really go to concerts a lot, even though we both really love music, but when i first heard he was coming to tulsa, i decided i was going to surprise travis with tickets.  he's always great about buying me fun gifts and taking us on fun excursions. 

the tickets went on sale at 10:00 this morning, and i kept refreshing my screen every minute for ten minutes leading up to 10.  when the link changed from tickets: coming soon to tickets: on sale, i clicked on it and NOTHING. HAPPENED.  nothing!  

now blake is a popular guy, but i was hoping and praying the tickets wouldn't sell out before i could get my hands on two decent tickets.  

turns out i just needed to keep refreshing.  i was able to snag two tickets for us in a pretty decent section.  

and now we wait until october.

grilling with dinner's at 6.

we recently started ordering dinner's at 6 for our evening meals.  so far we've liked everything we've gotten {except for the honey mustard, bacon, mozzarella chicken}.  tonight i was on my own for dinner.  travis wasn't home. haley and sierra were, but they decided to hit up the pool. 

i called my dad on the way home because i wanted to grill the french onion burgers i had thawed, but ... here's a little secret ... i have never grilled on my own before.  i love grilled food, but we use a charcoal grill because of my mom's allergy to propane.  and i had never started a charcoal grill. 

so, my dad gave me instructions for how to use the stainless chimney charcoal starter and let me know how the charcoal should look in the chimney before dumping it out in the grill to cook.

everything went really well, and i ended up with these bad boys. 

they. were. amazing.  i couldn't stop talking about them!  and i'm not even a burger person.  i will eat them from time-to-time, but rarely but choice.  these are called french onion burgers because they have french onions mixed right in.  oh. so. yummy. 

mom brought fresh zucchini the last time she was at the house, so i steamed some up, sliced up tomatoes and tore some leaf lettuce.   i tried to wait for the girls, but they were preoccupied at the pool and the melty goodness was calling my name, so i fixed up a plate and sat down to enjoy a yummy, yummy dinner. 

i never thought i would need something like dinner's at 6 since i love cooking.  with everything we have going on right now, though, it has been a welcome relief to know all our meal planning and prep is taken care of for the most part after a long day of working. i'm excited for the next time we have these bad boys. 

shop your closet.

i wish i did a better job of capturing images of some of my outfits.  my friend megan and so many other bloggers always seem to do such a great job of it, but me, not so much.  

i realized lately that i have been snagging quite a few more shots, so i thought maybe i would start posting them here in an effort to inspire myself to do a better job of capturing them to share on pinterest, etc.  my friend jen has a board on pinterst called shop your closet.  i'd like to create a similar board with my clothes and outfits. 

i actually took this picture because this dress felt much shorter than skirts that i normally wear.  my skirts typically touch the top of my knee and this skirt felt very flowy, breezy and short.  i sent kate and picture of it from work because i was worried it was too much. 

i don't know how others can wear super short skirts.

little bunny foo-foo.

a few weeks ago justin texted me and asked me what the lyrics were for little bunny foo foo.  he couldn't remember what the good fairy turned bunny foo foo into.  i told him it was a goon, but he just didn't believe me.  that silly boy.  doesn't he know who he's dealing with? 

so today, i came across this picture.  it was just too cute to pass up, and i had to send it on to my brother.  doesn't it melt your heart and make you laugh all at the same time?

http://pinterest.com/pin/20547742023341565/

for those who are wondering, the lyrics are: 

little bunny foo foo hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the heads

down came the good fairy, and she said, "little bunny foo foo i don't want to see you, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the heads.  i'll give you three chances ... and then i'm changing you into a goon.

the song goes on for through little bunny foo foo's three chances and then **poof!** she changes him into a goon

my mom says i'm special.

sierra always likes to say i'm weird, so today, when i came across this picture, i had to laugh and send it to her. 

 

her response? "yeah. and you're not weird ..." 

happy fourth of july!

i somehow have very few pictures from this week, but we spent a lot of time driving back and forth between muskogee in the evenings while lou, caitlin, and kevin are in town. 

we spent the fourth at dee's house, with sue and her whole gang coming down for the holiday, too.  this was haley's first time to meet aunt lou and her grandkids.  i think she was a little nervous to meet them, but everything seemed to go really well. lou took haley and caitlin shopping for swimming suits.  while they were all shopping for suits we took kevin and headed to the castle of muskogee with amanda, zach, and tabitha to buy fireworks for later that night.  we had a little bit of a scare as we were standing in line and got a call that ryan was having an asthma attack.  luckily it was a false alarm and they were able to get it under control before we could get his inhaler to him. 

after all the shopping, everyone headed over to the a hotel pool where jim and sue were staying. 

there wasn't any sunscreen so i sat poolside most of the time covered up under my dress and a towel.  when it was closer to time to leave, {and i was sweltering under the towel} i decided to ditch the layers and hop in the pool for a bit. 

as we were getting out of the pool haley said justin would be coming to get her around 4:00 to head over to the land.  we had discussed her spending half the holiday with us and half the holiday with my mom, but a plan had never been shared with me.  i was a little frustrated because i was planning to drive out there, so it didn't make sense to me to have justin come by the house to get haley.  i had no way to get a hold of him, though, because his phone had gotten broken and he was waiting for a replacement to come in.

justin came and picked up haley and i hung out at the lears' until dinner was almost ready, then i headed over to tahlequah.  conor hopped in the car with me and away we went.  at the light in ft. gibson, we passed justin, lindsay, haley, and parker.  conor and i ended up beating them to the land.

while dad was grilling burgers, {super juicy} chicken,  and corn, conor and i followed this cute little guy around.  this mower {and wheel barrow in the background} were new toys for him.

 

this funny little face is staged.  if you ask parker to "make your face," this is what you get.  every. single. time.  he's so funny!

mom, dad, justin, lindsay, parker, haley, john bodean, his wife deb, and landon were all there.  we had fun eating dinner and cupcakes. i stayed for several hours, but as it started getting darker i decided to head back over to muskogee.  i'm glad i decided to leave when i did because conor and i had a beautiful show all the way home.  we had the ft. gibson show plus all the fireworks everyone else was shooting along the way.   we got back to muskogee in time to see a few of the larger fireworks we had purchased, but i stayed in the house with the boys.  oliver and conor really didn't like all the loud noises.

mike vs. harry styles.

On our drive to Edmond today, Travis and Haley had this little exchange:

Haley: Mike's pretty.

Travis: You think Mike is pretty? Mike?? It's Mike!  Mike from Jersey.

Haley: Handsome is a better word.  ... But he's got nothing on Harry Styles.


What do you think?

5 months.

dear haley, 

i almost didn't write this letter, because even though i've published it on the appropriate date of your five month anniversary, i'm actually writing this in late july.  i didn't want the letter to be less authentic by writing it at a later date {and i'm already working on your six month letter}.  you keep reminding me i owe you a letter, though, and i don't want to let you down, so i will give it a shot. 

here's a little about you this past month: 

• you spent time with aunt deniese while we were on vacation and you had the opportunity to babysit parker for justin and lindsay
• at the end of your week's stay with aunt deniese, you headed for a long weekend at megan's; you were so excited to get to see her
• once we got home from vacation, i had to turn around and leave for houston for a week.  it worked out, though because you spent most of the week with justin and lindsay so you could babysit
• we were worried that you spend the entire summer stuck indoors and home alone, but as it turns out, you've been in high demand.  you love babysitting parker and you've started babysitting levi and asher, too.  ashey is your new best bud. 
• you were with us when we got the news that my aunt frances died.  on father's day.  it wasn't a great day for any of us. 
• you gifted travis with a video game for father's day 
• aunt lou came in and you finally got to meet her, caitlyn and kyle.  just like the rest of the family, she embraced you as if you had always been around.  she even took you shopping and got you a new swim suit so you could hang out at the hotel pool with everyone

it's been a really full month for you.  i've been proud of you for taking on extra responsibilities babysitting kids you started out not really knowing well -- and now you just love them.  {i think the never-ending compliments from asher about how beautiful and pretty you are help}.  every day we hit our stride a little more.  you now ask when we're going "home" instead of saying "yours and travis's house."  the boys hate when you're gone, and they get so excited when you come in.

we've had a lot of changes over the past few months and keeping up with this blog has been a little difficult for me.  it's important for me to journal the adventures of our family, so even if i'm a little late, i always try to document the important moments and even some of the moments that don't seem so important at the time, but we end up cherishing for years.

know that we love you and are here for you always.  even when life gets busy. 

<3,
travis, rhiannon, conor, & oliver 

happy birthday from my mom & dad.

with everything going on at the father's day/birthday celebration, i didn't get to share my beautiful gift from my parents.  this cute little bag is brighter than anything i would usually carry, but i love the pop of color it adds to any outfit.  it's buttery soft, and i love it.  thanks, mom & dad.