It's time to eat the shrimp!

After much preparation, the shrimp boil commenced. In a matter of minutes, 10 pounds of shrimp, 9 pounds of potatoes, 24 pieces of corn, 16 pounds of wings and too many desserts to count were gone! That's a lot of food! The pictures didn’t turn out wonderful because we ate outside this year, but it was a good time!

Everyone chowing down

Taking a break from stuffing our faces

Enjoying a little cuddle time by the fire

Gotta keep that beard clean

And delicious dessert yum!!

Can't wait until the next one!

A ruff photo shoot

Soooo…I got inspired by this picture that I found on a blog…it’s an adorable dog in a little scarf enjoying fall.

So of course I think I have to take pictures like this of Beasley and Memphis. I will say Memphis was a pretty good model but Beasley was of course rotten…I finally got some but they don’t look near as happy as the cute little dog in the picture…how did they do that??

Rotten

Chewing on his props....

This was my best shot of Weasel...he looks very noble.

Sweet little Memphie in my stocking cap

The scarf is a little feminine but it's all I had to work with

So there's my dog shoot...hopefully Christmas will bring another. By the way, I was trying very hard to think of a good dog/modeling pun for my title and I kept going blank. I love puns and I just couldn't think of much...Leave me a comment and give me some good ones!

Headlamp Success

I’m very excited to show off my new headlamp. I mentioned to Jamie that I would really like one so that I can read in bed…forget regular lamps. He exceeded my expectations and I received a headlamp complete with floodlights, spotlights and night vision, I’m sure all of those settings will come in very handy. Already tried it out, and I couldn’t be happier!

Picnic time at last!

I really wanted to go on a picnic with Jamie this summer. After a few tries, we finally got a great one!

Jamie’s first attempt at giving me a picnic was in California…we bought a pizza in Little Italy and the plan was to eat on the beach and watch the sunset. Well it got dark pretty quickly and then we got all turned around and ended up eating cold pizza in the car…still delicious but not quite what we had planned. Fail #1.

The second attempt was back in OKC. We got a late start but went tograb some food anyway. By the time we got our food we had missed the sunset and ended up eating sushi off the trunk of the Civic pulled over by the lake somewhere. It was a dark and windy evening, I was of course paranoid that we were going to die, and we were eating incredibly spicy food and forgot drinks. Fail #2.

Finally, our third attempt, we got actual picnic food, a bottle of wine and I even found a picnic basket in the garage! We got to watch the sunset together and enjoy conversations…not about being lost or attacked by the lake or the fact that I couldn’t feel my tongue. Glad we kept trying…it was finally perfect!

Life-giving words

Speak life-giving words to others every chance you get.

Sounds easy enough…or so I thought when I heard this at church a few weeks back. Since then I’ve noticed that sometimes I do hold back life-giving words. I let my own insecurities and laziness get in the way of speaking the encouraging words that I know I’m meant to speak, and I truly want to change that. I’m determined to take action and stop making excuses.

Recently I watched Jamie obey God and he got to be a part of a process that brought healing and faith to his family during a hard time. We all grew closer to God and to each other because of the life-giving words he spoke. I’m thankful for a husband, who encourages me through his actions, and pushes me to be more obedient. God answers prayers and is faithful and I want others to see how real and powerful He is. I want to speak life-giving words and see God change lives.

Tasty Barrels

Where in the world did August go?! It's September 1st and I am thrilled that fall is right around the corner! Last fall was one of my favorites times...fire pits, reading good books, grandpa sweaters (which I just can't get away from), the farmer's market in St. Louis, turkey facts and of course...candy corn!! I am looking forward to all that and more this fall. This weekend is promising some cooler weather...80's! I can't even imagine being able to walk the dogs during the middle of the day and not frying...it's the small things that put a smile on my face.

Jamie and I started August off with an amazing trip to California and I have to write all about it! We love traveling because we always grow closer to each other and to God when we're able to experience and see new things. It was so nice to get away and spend some alone time not working or worrying and we also got to spend some time with family...who just happened to be there too! It was so great getting to know our little niece better..I think I still have ring around the posies stuck in my head :)

Jamie and his brother Bobby tried surfing and really got the hang of it by the last day! Haley and I were able to sneak away and go shopping and we all went to a great farmers market and tried some delicious, fresh foods. We also went to the US Open of Surfing for a couple of hours which was such a fun experience. This trip also allowed me to conquer my fear of the ocean thanks to Jamie yelling "swim under the wave...NOW!" I panicked every time I saw one coming toward me on the first day.

We did some shopping and explored, visited San Diego, got to go to some good restaurants, watch an Angel's game and enjoy the beach everyday. I still miss that cool weather but hopefully we'll enjoy that soon in Oklahoma. We also went to an amazing store and I almost had a panic attack (not exaggerating) because I loved everything in sight! It was full of adorable fabrics, bedding, pillows...I could go on and on about that place...it was amazing.

One of the best memories of the trip is accompanied by a very awful picture and a funny story.

Although this looks like a small dot that could be anything, it was actually a seal! The last day of the trip, Jamie and I woke up early to sit on the beach one more time. That's when he noticed a seal popping it's head up really close to the shore right in front of us! It was such an amazing experience and I just felt like God had put that little guy right there just for us to see. Later he kept swimming back and forth in front of us and I realized I never got a picture of him. That's when I had a brilliant idea to chase him down the beach as he was swimming off. I was sprinting and waving and looking like a goof and then I realized I was halfway down the beach and completely out of breath...and this is the only picture I got ha! I don't need a picture though because I know it's something I'll always remember!

I'll have to blog again soon and write about everything that's happened since we've been back and write about my excitement for fall! Yahooo!

Just call me Paula Dean

As some of you may know, we've had a few problems with the fridge not quite fitting into the kitchen...when I say not quite fitting, I mean not at all. For more than a month it sat in the middle of the kitchen floor because it was about half an inch too big to squeeze next to the cabinets. I'd actually gotten used to it and was really starting to think that the fridge would look great sticking out. We didn't want to get rid of the fridge and we'd thought of several expensive or difficult ideas to shave down the edges of the cabinets or buy new ones.

Eisley's birthday party was just one week away when Jamie's parents called to inform us they had the solution to our problem and they were going to come cut up our cabinets. I thought this was a joke until they showed up the next day with a slew of tools.

While watching HGTV they saw someone in the same dilemma cut a strip of wood right out of the middle of the cabinets and piece it back together. I will be the first to admit that I wanted nothing to do with this project and I had my doubts about it working...and IT WORKED!

Somehow they sawed it right down the middle, took out a couple of inches and put it right back together again. I was amazed. Eventually we'll probably paint the kitchen cabinets to be sure to hide any evidence..but it looks wonderful and I was so thankful for all of their hard work. Much better now!

Although I'm thrilled to have everything in the kitchen in place, this gets rid of my excuse not to cook. Now that everything is in order, I attempted to cook tonight...chicken enchiladas. I've never made enchiladas before and I got an early start and ran to the store around 6:30. The recipe said that it would take a total of 40 minutes to prepare and cook the food...we ate around 9:30. Oh brother. At least it tasted pretty nice but the frozen chicken that stuck in the styrofoam packaging really slowed me down. Defrosting was the important lesson learned tonight. I sawed away at the frozen chicken with a large knife and then Jamie hammered it against the counter several times. I'll just say I'm not quite a professional chef but at least I'm trying. I will NOT include pictures of that mess ha!

It's off to bed I go now to have strange dreams that I analyze way too much thanks to Inception.

A clean house is a happy house

What a slacker I've been..I haven't blogged in far too long! I've had just a few things going on.. As far as the house goes, the floors are finished, the fridge is actually in place, those darn baseboards are finally finished and we have a gas fire pit in the back yard! I'll include details of everything soon! The house is finally clean-no ladders in the living room, tools in the kitchen or baseboards hiding in the pantry...it's going to be strange reaching for my toothbrush and actually grabbing that and not a screw driver. Besides working on the house our niece, Eisley, turned 2 and we celebrated with the family at our house-so much fun! We got everything to a good stopping point just in time! I think the dogs are starting to get settled in now too. Memphis got a new dog bed and Beasley sneaks his way onto it at night. This is the only time they cuddle and it's just too cute but I haven't been able to get a good picture of them yet. They spend most of their time crawling under the deck, chasing frogs and biting each other on the ears..darling aren't they? I've also decided that Jamie and I need to take a trip to a farm soon...I want to pick my own food and see how it's all done. If I can't find a good farm we might settle for a trip to grandma Hawkins' house to pick some apples but hopefully I can do some research and find something great. We're also going on a real trip...to California which I am soo excited about! We absolutely love traveling and we need a vacation! I will be posting all kinds of things soon..enjoy some pics!

Working until the wee hours...so glad these are done!!

Putting in the last piece!

Celebrating being done with the floors haha!

Me and the birthday girl!

Fire in the hole!

Jamie and I have benefited from another electrical fire...I promise we're not setting them! We ran across Dane Design's Web site and saw that an electrical fire started and triggered the water sprinklers...which got all of the furniture wet..which led to a sale that we just had to check out. I was a little skeptical of some mildew but I scoped things out and sniffed things out and found a sofa that looked brand new but was less than half the price! So we snatched it up and brought home our first nice piece of furniture! This is not Craig's List furniture or a hand me down (which I do love) but something we actually picked out of a real store!

We also got the chance to go to....IKEA! I do love it there and I don't get to visit very often...of course we came back with a few things that I just couldn't pass up. And who could go to Dallas and not visit Six Flags? We rode rides in the hot sun until we couldn't see anymore!

We were very excited to be at IKEA!

We'll just say the guys weren't quite as excited as we were...couldn't get them to pose...

We recovered for a few days and worked on the house again this weekend. We got the shelves painted in the living room and it's on to base boards now-oh boy! It was an eventful and fun week...and now I'm looking forward to 4th of July weekend...my favorite holiday!

1st Anniversary

June 14th marked our one year wedding anniversary...Just a few pictures from the big day.

I found a sweet surprise when I got home! Wedding pictures, flowers and some turquoise decor to match our new kitchen!

We went out to dinner to celebrate. The restaurant ended up catching on fire and I didn't get my leftovers...but we did get a free meal and a very eventful anniversary celebration to remember for a long time!

The pond is no more!

When we moved into our new house, our backyard came complete with a very nice pond full of lillies, a waterfall and lots of stinky algae! Although I'm sure it once looked beautiful, it just isn't something we're going to be able to keep up with. The deciding factor came when our dogs just could not stand the temptation to run through it numerous times a day...therefore smelling like stinky algae too. Between laying laminate floors throughout the house, Jamie decided to take on an outdoor project as well. We decided a fire pit should take the place of the pond. This is the progress made over the weekend....

With the help of a friend, Jamie took the pond out, leveled the ground, and used the existing stone to make a patio. He plans to build stone around the fire pit and run a gas line so we'll have a gas fire pit. So proud of all of his work!

Progress...

We had a very productive weekend fixing up the house! We are replacing old, water damaged hardwood floors and stained carpet with new laminate floors...We've now completed the living room, hallway and master bedroom!

We've nearly gotten the entire house painted....every room has a new coat except for the guest bathroom...there's a little texture problem we've got to work on. We replaced a sponge painted master bedroom wall with dark purple and grey to go with our grey, dark purple and red bedding.

The house still looks like a construction zone but at least we're making progress!

my first blog

My first blog post! The blog where I will probably talk way too much about my darling, but rotten little dogs that I love...Jamie, who is my perfect match and has been my husband for almost one year!...our new house that we moved into not quite two weeks ago and are so excited to rip apart and turn into our home...the things that God teaches me each day...the embarrassing and ridiculous things that happen to me when doing very normal tasks...and anything else on my mind.

Tonight..we'll start with the house since I'm sitting in it and it looks somewhat like a construction zone right now.

It all started in March...I stumbled across some homes for sale online and saw a foreclosure that looked like it had great potential. Next thing you know we're putting in an offer for a house that we'd only seen once..Jamie and I didn't even have to look at any others, we knew it was perfect for us! After a long and frustrating home buying process we moved in on May 31st and haven't stopped working on it since! We are so happy to be homeowners! After living in rent houses through college and our first year of marriage, I cannot wait to put some color on the walls. All the HGTV, decorating blogs and magazine knowledge I've been accumulating can finally be put to good use! I'll be posting all kinds of pictures..before, in between, and hopefully we can take the after pictures someday! We're so grateful to be able to buy a house and are very thankful for our friends and family who helped us move and are helping us fix the place up...Sometimes it feels like even if I cooked them about 5,000 steak dinners, it just wouldn't be enough.

Have to go to sleep now and look forward to another lovely day tomorrow...

Over and Out

(Hmm...I'll work on my closing)