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.