{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. 

for my beautiful boy.

on friday i received this text message from travis while sitting at work.

when i opened my email, i found this: 




turns out he had gotten me an hour massage with a manicure and pedicure.  i can't wait to use it.

why did he call me a "beautiful boy" you ask.  when we were first dating, travis used to text me a lot of really sweet messages.  we both took french in high school, and i had even taken it in college.  once he sent a text and while his intention was sweet, i wrote back to him, "thanks ... but i think you just called me a beautiful boy."  we both had a great laugh then ... and i loved being reminded of it again this week. 

we have so many great memories we've racked up over the past eight years.  i hope we always remember those earlier days as we're building and creating new memories. 

i feel like a lucky, lucky girl.

happy valentine's day, my loves {feb 14}.

29. jan. 2013: falling asleep.

i can always, always, always fall asleep ... but you know what they say about saying "always" and "never."

i wasn't able to fall asleep on the 29th.  i kept tossing and turning.  i was completely restless.  my lamp was still on, and i had my hands and my chin on travis's chest.

travis was very sleepy and kept drifting in and out as i moved around.

he asked me, "are you going to go to sleep?"
my response?  "i'm adoring you."
him: "that's fine, but adore me quietly."

oh the joys of marriage.  ;)
just another reason i adore him. 

cozy night in.

thanks for the fire, love.

nothing i enjoy more than spending a night in with good food, a cozy fire {our first of the year}, and my husband and pups.

i love saturdays. part two.

yesterday was such an incredibly long day. i couldn't fit all our activities into one post.  i was wiped out after kettlebells {and had felt a little funny most of the day}, so i laid down for a few hours.  travis woke me up around 5:00 with enough time to get ready for a date night out with the loves.

we met matthew and krystal for the last weekend of winterfest.  i thought it would be fun to do something a little different and had suggested ice skating. we've never been to winterfest and thought we'd check it out.

travis and matthew had never been ice skating before, but it turns out they're pretty good at it.  travis especially. 

when we first got to winterfest i.was.starving. i couldn't wait for dinner, so i grabbed a hot dog.  we skated for a bit, watched them clean the ice and went a few rounds more, and then my toes were so frozen and travis's ankles were so sore, we decided to kick off our skates.  matthew and krystal went a few rounds more, and then we headed over to mcnellie's for dinner.

i had the potato leek soup and slowly started to thaw.  the boys were burning up.  apparently i'm the only one who stays cold 100% of the time in the winter.

we hit up the theater to watch lincoln.  great movie!  "lincoln is doing well in theaters.  historically that has not been the case."  <<-- ooh.  is that in poor taste??  it makes me laugh and i quote it whenever i can.  seriously, though, it is a really good movie and i'm glad we saw it.

by the time we got home, it felt like it had been the longest day ever -- but a really great one.  working out felt like it had been a completely different day.  we managed to pack our saturday completely full.  i'm a lucky, lucky girl that i'm such good friends with my husband.

i love saturdays.

today was such a good day.  it was an incredibly long day, but a good one nonetheless.

we started out with a workout at kettlebells with laura.  it was travis's first time back in a few weeks.  i almost backed out, but we made it in time for class.  it was intense.  i came the closest i have ever come to blacking out.  it was toward the end of class, and i was spent.  my back was pulling weird, so i stopped to ask laura if i was doing something wrong.  as she was explaining the technique to me, i could no longer hear her.  i immediately sat down on the ground, closed my eyes, and focused on breathing.  slowly, sound started coming back.  she and travis got me some water, but my hands were shaking pretty badly and i really didn't feel like drinking.  my ears still felt weird, but i was able to get up and around.  class was pretty much over at that point, so travis had me walk around outside in the cool air for a bit.

we've been looking at land {have i mentioned we hate our HOA}, and there were three different listings travis had found.  the first one was pretty close to where we were in broken arrow.  the idea is for us to get closer to bartlesville, but the price of the land was such a good deal, we considered purchasing it anyway ... until we drove by it.  it was at the back of a little bit older, run down neighborhood, and while most of it was wooded, it had been trashed out pretty badly.  it also had huge electrical line towers running through it.  it just wasn't pretty.

next up was a piece of land in collinsville with about 12 acres.  our ideal location would be owasso/collinsville because it would cut our commute in half, get us out of town, but keep us in a location convenient to the amenities a local town offers.  it would also keep us close to tulsa and give us easy access to highways back to our families.

unfortunately the 12 acres in collinsville were also not pretty.  it was a very narrow lot and was sandwiched between two dilapidated properties.

our last stop was the land in sperry my aunt and uncle texted me about a week and a half ago.  travis had driven by it on his way home from work over the christmas break while i was out of the office, and he thought it was really pretty.  he pulled it up on google earth to show me that night, and i fell in love with it, too.   it was gorgeous!  ... but we suspect it's much larger than 19 acres so we have to find out where it actually divides.

after that, we headed back into tulsa.  we recently got a new television and we need a new entertainment center to hold it.  travis is also getting some speakers from his buddy chris, so we really need something that will house all of it.

we were still in our workout clothes, and may have gotten a few strange looks as we browsed through mathis brothers and rooms today.  nothing turned up, so we headed back home to shop online.  travis really wants a corner console because of how our living room is set up.  this one from ballard design is one of my favorites ... but a little more than we would like to spend if we can help it.  i don't want to buy a lot of furniture tailored to our current home if we're planning to move sooner than later.

where do you go to find fun pieces of furniture for your home?

sunday funday.

today was another great day.  i don't have any pictures to show for it, but it was great nonetheless. 

travis and i started the day having breakfast together.  we slept in {something we very rarely do these days  -- even the boys slept in.  i think they were tuckered out from their day at grandma & grandpa's yesterday}.
we hit up iHop and then headed over to the cinemark by our house to see jack reacher.   i'm not a tom cruise fan {and it annoyed me when he started flirting with his co-worker}, but all-in-all, the movie was pretty good.

there have been several tragic shootings this year {that i didn't capture in the blog} including the aurora, colorado movie theater shooting, the connecticut elementary school shooting, and another shooting at a mall.  while we were in the theater watching this movie about a sniper, i couldn't help but have an uneasy feeling.  i think it was likely magnified by the nagging feeling travis had in the pit of his stomach to get his pistol from the car.  i reminded him that movie theaters are gun-free zones, and he couldn't bring it in.  he said, "i just don't want to be the guy who says, 'i had my gun with me, but it was in the car.'"  i'm so sad that we now live in a society where we have to be so concerned about these types of issues. 

... but i digress.  i'm supposed to be talking about all the fun things we did together ...

we were supposed to meet up with amanda and zach to eat, but our movie had gone long, and they were just getting an appetizer at texas roadhouse when we wrapped up.  we were going to go shoot my new pistol as part of the day's activities, so we headed over to chili's at 51st and harvard, where we shared appetizers and a cup of soup, and then headed over to the range.  when we got there, they were closed for the day {to take some time off for the holiday}. 

amanda and zach were running errands and none of us were hungry, so we headed over to the mall.  we didn't end up finding anything, but had fun walking around.  after the mall we headed to the bookstore.  i grabbed a chai latte while travis browsed through books.  i was reminded that janet evanovich's new stephanie plum novel is out {i read the first eighteen this summer ... it became a bit of an addiction and i had to refrain for a bit. 

several hours passed us by and amanda and zach were ready to meet up at main street tavern {another favorite of ours this year}.  i was still so full, but we wanted to hang out with them, so we headed over to the tavern.

we started out with drinks {i was sticking to water}, but the guys ordered wings about thirty minutes into our visit.  i was sitting by a window {and i live in a perpetual state of cold in the winter}, so i went out on a limb to see if they had hot chocolate that i could add peppermint schnapps to.  i was in luck -- they did!

everyone started getting a little tired and amanda and zach still had to drive home {it was really only about 6:30, but we'd had a full weekend}.  they headed to muskogee and we headed home.

my mom and dad were at our house just to visit for a bit.  they rented a movie on directv while i uploaded pictures to facebook and browsed pottery barn online since we have some gift cards to spend.  travis was starting to get sick, so he went and laid down for a bit.

i was too tired to finish the movie with mom and dad, so i came and crawled into bed with travis.  he was watching premium rush, and we ended up watching it together.  it was a lot funnier than i expected it to be.


i have loved, loved, loved this christmas break away from work.  in the past few years things have still been so busy at work, even during all the holidays, that i haven't really had this kind of time off.  i have quickly become spoiled by it.

making memories of us.

this morning travis had to wake up and go to work, but i'm home with the boys for the rest of the week.  i usually sleep in, but this morning i was wide awake when travis left.  i laid in bed a bit longer, but went a head and got up.

i came into the living room and turned on the t.v.   cmt (country music television) was on -- which is weird because i don't remember the last time we watched this channel.  anyway, there was a song playing that reminded me of "get a little mud on the tires"  which reminded me of when travis and i first met.  we used to go for drives late at night through little towns in oklahoma.  we would always end up in fields looking up at the stars, holding hands, and just talking.  i loved it.

that then reminded me of  "making memories of us."  travis used to play that song for me.  "... i'll earn your trust making memories of us..."  and did he ever.  i'm such a lucky girl that he stuck around.  i know our first year wasn't easy for him.  i was so scared to love again and hurt again, and he kept putting all of himself out there.  i was scared, but i also couldn't live without him.  i wanted him around all the time.

to my husband:  thank you taking the time to earn my trust by spending time with me and making wonderful memories.  i know it hasn't always been easy, and i'm glad you've stuck with me and helped see me through tough times.  i'm looking forward to making so many more memories with you.

 

it's the little things.

i know dinner was good when travis gets excited about eating leftovers.  he hates bringing home leftovers from our moms.  he always, always, always turns them down.

tonight when he got home from work, though, he looked in the fridge and was so excited to see leftovers from monday night's dinner.

it made my heart happy.

we're getting married today!

at the end of today i'll be mrs. lear. 

a couples shower in our honor.

yesterday the bridesmaids threw us such a fun couples shower.  i was chastised for carrying my camera since it was "our night," so right now i don't have a lot of pics from the event, but it was so, so, so cute.  the girls outdid themselves. travis and i felt so special. 

thank you to all our friends for such a wonderful time.  we had such a blast hanging out and chatting into the wee hours of the night.  kate & nick, thanks for letting us all invade your home.  we always have such a great time there!  

to check out more of the  super cute details, you can visit jen's blog.  i love, love, love everything the girls did.   thank you, thank you, thank you.  we love you all so very much.

guess what ...

... we set a date for the wedding this week!!! we're finally doing it -- i'm finally marrying my prince.  as most of you know, we postponed our wedding that was originally planned for october 17, 2009 {can you believe it's been that long??} but we don't want to let another year go by without tying ourselves together.  so, one day at work i looked up the event calendar for skelly lodge.  travis and i wanted a fall wedding, and skelly had a november 10th available, the only date available for the fall, and it sounded perfect.  11.10.12.
i can.not.wait!

sunday dinner with the family.

travis and i got home from vacation on wednesday and headed back to work the next day ... no easy feat, let me tell you.

today, we headed to muskogee for a little time with my family.  mom was cooking sunday dinner, so we headed down to join.  little conor went with us.  he wasn't easily separated from us after we'd been gone all week.

i love my boys.

key west!

travis and i had been talking about taking a vacation for quite some time, but with the conocophillips/phillips 66 repositioning project, we hadn't been able to plan anything for well over a year.  darlene offered us the use of her home in key west, and we decided to take her up on it.  while we've been to florida a couple of times, we had never been to the keys.  

here we are flying into the keys on thursday.

i loved going for drives ... you're always taking the scenic route.  we're headed to the house  - this is our first glimpse of the island as we left the airport.

here we are checking out our new digs for the week ...

on friday we decided to head into the big island to do some exploring and learn a little bit more about where we would be vacationing for the week.

this was the first beach we stumbled upon.  about 1/2 a mile up the road there was a larger beach with sunbathers, places to rent umbrellas, and food stands.  i love that we stumbled upon this smaller beach at first and had a little piece of history to check out.

most of our evenings were spent watching the okc thunder in the nba finals.  sounds a little lame that we spent each night in while on vacation, but we loved it!  we needed nice down time and that certainly hit the spot.

on saturday, we captured a few more pictures of where we were staying.  this is our cozy little bedroom with a sunny bath attached and the luscious, welcoming entrance to the house (which leads right into the bedroom).

we headed into key west where it started to storm just a little bit.  the rain quickly cleared, and we found a place to park the car.  after driving down by the water and seeing a few of the boats, we headed to the hemingway house. 

we spent a lot of time exploring the grounds and gardens and then did a little exploring and shopping in town.
on the way back to the house we ran across a gorgeous rainbow.  we followed it all across the islands.

on sunday, we wanted to explore another beach we found on a different island, so we hopped in the car with the intent of finding a large beach umbrella and a few beach towels.  it ended up taking over an hour!  everywhere we went didn't carry beach umbrellas.  finally, several islands later, we found some in a walgreens.  you'll notice that the only pictures you'll see below are pictures of us driving around.  we never made it to the beach.  we got to the entrance and the car died.  yep, you heard me right -- it went kapoot.  we managed to get it pushed out of the way, and after waiting about 20 minutes, the car started again.  i had googled the problem and other owners of the car mentioned this happens sometimes and the car would likely restart.  we spent the rest of the afternoon going about 7 miles, watching the car die, waiting for 20 - 40 minutes and then it would restart. this lasted for several hours.  we finally made it about a mile from the house when it died for the last time (we called roadside assistance a couple of times, but each time we got them on the line, the car would restart).  once we were so close to the house, we decided to just push it home. there was a guy out cleaning his boat and a sweet lady stopped and asked him to help us, "that little girl is pushing that car -- can you help them?"  his response, "they seem to be doing okay."  i couldn't believe it!  we definitely weren't in oklahoma anymore.  we only made it part of the way and had to stop. poor travis.  i know he was doing the bulk of the work when it came to pushing.  finally, we got it home, called a cab, and headed into key west with just enough time to pick up a car from the airport before they closed. (we were literally the last pick-up of the day, and they were only open for another ten minutes when the shuttle arrived to pick us up). after we got the car, we found the closest papa johns, grabbed  a couple of pizzas and headed home to relax in front of the t.v. with a finals game after a long, hot day.

monday was probably one of my favorite days of the week.  we purchased an excursion that included a full day out on the water. we took a boat out well into the ocean.  our destination?  a fun playground at sea.  we were able to ride jet skis (my absolute favorite part of the trip.  i couldn't wipe the smile off my face), "rock climb" and slide into the ocean, and parasail.  i had also never been parasailing before, and that was such a great time as well.  i kept thinking i would get butterflies in my stomach like i do on roller coasters or even the ferris wheel, but i didn't.  it was completely relaxing the entire time.

the last part of the excursion for the day was snorkeling.  we went to a second destination for that.  the water was really choppy from all the wind, and floating out in it while trying to snorkel made me incredibly sea sick.  we headed back in to the boat, and i felt bad for making travis head back early.  turns out we didn't head back in as early as i thought.  we had just gotten aboard and started toweling off when they sounded the horn to call in the rest of the snorkelers.

travis's favorite part of the day was just being out on the water.  he would love nothing more than to live on a sailboat. 

our excursion also included a sunset cruise with an all-inclusive meal, but it was to be several hours later that day and we were both pretty tired from a day at sea.  we decided to take a rain check on the sunset cruise and just do it another night.  we grabbed a pretzel from a local with handmade pretzels, pretzel dogs, and their own sauces {yum}.  we walked around the dock for a while and then finally decided we were tired and wanted to head back to the house.

hanging out at home was rough, let me tell you ...

we called it a night kind of early and spent the evening reading.  and then travis got a little camera crazy and started taking silly pictures of me.  i love that we can have so much fun together doing absolutely nothing.

i didn't capture any photos with the camera on tuesday.  a couple of pictures above look like they have fog around the edges of them -- the humidity started causing condensation within the lens.  we packed the camera away somewhere nice and dry to avoid ruining our new camera.  we had planned to do a day at the beach (the one we didn't get to explore due to car trouble) and also take our sunset cruise ... but it ended up raining all day long, so we grabbed lunch at a local restaurant, explored a little more of key west in the pouring rain (in our cheapy ponchos), grabbed key lime pie, and then headed back to the house to watch movies.

we had to head back to oklahoma on wednesday.  here we are bidding adieu for the last time.  see you soon islands!  we had a great time!! 
 

thanks darlene, for letting us stay at your beautiful key west cottage. we couldn't have asked for a better time!  i can't wait to travel with my favorite guy again.   i love when we take trips together.

thanks for such a wonderful birthday, travis.  i love you!