Trip: Branson

Two weekends ago, we went to Branson to visit some family friends.  These people are more like family to me than my real extended family is and I'm so thankful for that fact.  They are such great people.  Here are a few photos from our trip...

 ^^The view of the lake from their house.  This photo doesn't show how beautiful it really was.

^^Of course we had to get a sunglass photo.  I love how you can see everyone on the boat in the reflection. 

 ^^My dad and Virgil worked together and he kind of followed dad's footsteps in their careers.

Yes!

Week Thirty Eight

September 16, 2014

This past week Dakota and I traveled to Glaveston, Texas for a family vacation with his parents, sisters, and their families.  I had two things I wanted to do on this trip, watch the sunrise on the beach and see the Point Bolivar Lighthouse.

We arrived to Texas on Monday night and we discussed what we should do for the week.  When we checked the weather (all week long before) it said it would rain the entire trip.  Such a bummer...  Since we weren't sure what the weather would be like, Dakota and I decided to try the sunrise on Tuesday morning.  That way, if it was raining, we could catch it later in the week.

Tuesday came bright and early.  I was grumpy because I wasn't ready to get up and the weather said that rain would hit in any minute.  But Dakota still convinced me to get out of bed and hope that when we got to the beach, the clouds wouldn't be covering up the sky.

We walked across the street and down to the beach.  And since this was on my 101 list I had to get a photo of us with the sunrise.

I took one photo and loved it, but knew I wanted something a little more romantic.  Dakota is not a PDA person so I asked him to humor me and take a photo of us kissing.  He agreed, but knew he probably would because we were the only people on the beach.

I checked the photo on my camera, loved it, and wanted to get another one, just in case.  I asked him to get closer and he said ok, but make sure my feet are still in the photo.  I said, don't worry, they are. I set the timer, clicked the shutter, ran over the Dakota....

...and he dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him.

Of course, I said yes as he slid the ring on my finger and I shook with excitement.

I checked my camera and found this amazing photo.  (I just took my own proposal photo and didn't even know it was happening!)  We sent it to my parents and closest friends and we walked a little longer on the beach.

This was the last photo I got of the sunrise.  The bugs were horrible and I got eaten alive.  We also wanted to get back home before the rain began.

We got to the house and showed Dakota's family the photo I got to tell them the news that we are engaged.  (All of them knew Dakota was going to ask this week.)

After the excitement wore off a little (who am I kidding, I'm still excited and shocked!), Dakota's sister noticed this rainbow in the back yard.  I got engaged and God gave me a rainbow and rainbows are very significant to my family.  I think he is very happy!

We are planning for a wedding in October 2015.
More photos from our trip coming soon.

12of12 | September 2014

1.  Morning routine.
2.  It isn't breakfast without this one at my feet.
3.  Today is a dreary, rainy, cold fall day.
4.  Work.
5.  She wasn't happy she couldn't be with us at lunch.
6.  Fall is in the air.
7.  More work.
8.  Got off work to pack for a week long vacation.
9.  Dinner on the road.
10.  Us.
11.  Heading to Branson.
12.  We finally made it to the lake!

Get Messy | Six

Hi!  This week I'm sharing a few pages from my scrapbook that I made from from our family vacation a few months ago.  I so love this album and how it came out! 

Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practise our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Project Life Week 27-30

Week Twenty Seven | This was the week of 4th of July.  We didn't really do much for the holiday, but that's ok.  I got some amazing photographs of the fireworks and the story is printed on the photo.  This was also the week we booked our family vacation for later that month.

Week Twenty Eight | This week I finished my #100happydays project.  It was a great project, but glad to move on.  (I wish I documented it differently in my project life album.)  This week was pretty simple. Abby howled at bubbles, a tree limp fell down at Dakota's house (good thing I was there there night, it would have landed right on top of my car).  And we had a double date at the Royals game with Jenny and her hubby, AJ.  So fun!  (And we have more dates planned this year!!)

Week Twenty Nine | This week included 12of12.  We were getting ready for our trip so there wasn't much going on this week.  The bottom right photo was me saying goodbye to Abby for a week.  I love that pup so much!

Week Thrity | Probably one of my favorite pages in this album.  I created another album (that I hope to share soon) that was all about this vacation.  I didn't want to repeat too much, so I limited myself to only a handfull of photos for my project life.  Man, that was very difficult to do!  Especially when you travel to 3 states and see so much in one short week.  For the 2 main pages, I wanted to show 2 of my favorite photos.  A river in Yellowstone, and the montains in Glacier.  Then within those 2 pages, I included inserts to show what we saw along the way.  I also wanted to make sure I included all of our family photos in front of each place as well.  The front of insert #1 was the Badlands.  

The back of insert #1 was Mount Rushmore.  The front of insert #2 was Crazy Horse and Devils Tower and the back was Yellowstone the first day).  

The front of insert #3 was Glacier and the back was Missoula, Yellowstone (day 2, on the way back home), Grand Teton, and a little bit of our car breaking down on the way home...I really could have done without that part, but this vacation was incredible!  There was a lot of driving, but we saw so much.  Definitely a moment I'll remember for the rest of my life!

Minnehaha Falls

Week Thirty Seven

September 7, 2014

Enjoying a beautiful day at Minnehaha Falls.

Summer Bucket List Recap

How is summer over already?  I started this list off with a bang and accomplished a lot and then we went on our family vacation and I stopped working on this list.  Oh well, I accomplished one item a week (respectfully) and for some of the items that I didn't accomplish during this time frame, I plan on doing in the fall.

Here is how I did on my list.

1.  Chase bubbles :: May 26, 2014
2.  Celebrate 4 Years :: May 28, 2014
3.  Have a yard sale :: June 6, 2014
4.  The City Market :: June 14, 2014
5.  Watch a sunset :: June 17, 2014
6.  Make fruit pizza :: June 18, 2014
7.  Royals Game :: June 20, 2014
8.  Plant flowers :: June 21, 2014
9.  Buy the new Ed Sheeran CD :: June 24, 2014
10.  Watch a fireworks show on the Fourth of July :: July 4, 2014
11.  Celebrate Miss Abby's 13th birthday :: July 6, 2014
12.  Finish my #100happydays project :: July 6, 2014
13.  Make homemade donuts :: July 13, 2014
14.  Family vacation :: July 18, 2014
15.  Picnic at the park ::July 24, 2014
16.  BBQ :: September 1, 2014

Bring on my favorite time of the year, fall!

Ed Sheeran Concert

Week Thirty Six

September 2, 2014

This week we went to see Ed Sheeran in concert.  One word...AMAZING.  Actually, that doesn't even say how incredible it was.  To watch your favorite singer perform live and for him to be so talented and be a 1 person band, creating instruments with his voice, such an awesome moment!  I can't wait for him to come back to KC! 

#100happydays

Day 1 | A busy, full day of errands and yet he sill holds my hand during the slower moments.

Day 2 | A spring day at the park with my momma and pup.

Day 3 | The school mom works for held a fundraiser for cancer research.

They raised $1500 for mulitiple myeloma in honor of my dad.

Day 4 | He makes me happy.

Day 5 | It's a cole, dreary day, but at least spring is on it's way.

Day 6 | The goodness of yoga.

Day 7 | Mr. Rory snuggles.

Day 8 | College reunion.

Day 9 | Sundays are for eating nachos, watching movies/tv shows and snuggling on the sofa.

Day 10 | My sweet, sweet girl.

Day 11 | A little photo excursion with dad.

Day 12 | Spend some time at the park.

Day 13 | Filling up bags of food for kiddos who don't get 3 meals a day.

Day 14 | It's Friday!

Day 15 | Beautiful view.

Day 16 | Happy today has finally come to an end.

Day 17 | 80 degress on Saturday, snow on Sunday.  Not really happy about it, but at least it's pretty.

Day 18 | Walks with Puckett.

Day 19 | Surprise dinner date with mom and dad.

Day 20 | Playing with new toys.  I got a silhouette for Christmas and I'm just now putting it to use.

Day 21 | He does the craziest things.

Day 22 | Easter eggs

Day 23 | Happy Birthday to my momma!

Day 24 | Hello spring, warm weather, and blossoms.

Day 25 | One of many train lectures.

Day 26 | Sunset.

Day 27 | So thankful for thunderstorms to calm my allergies.

Day 28 | These little plans make me happy. I think they need a little TLC though.

Day 29 | Learned so much on this weekend photo shoot with dad.

Day 30 | Lazy Sunday.

Day 31 | We have a visitor at the house.  This transition went much smoother.  Dad greeted him by saying, "What are you wiggling your tail for?"  I think they were both happy to see eachother again.

Day 32 | My sleepy love bug.

Day 33 | When he crawls up on my chest to snuggle.

Day 34 | At Dancing with a Twist, watching Kym Johnson and Tristan MacManus dance.

Day 35 | It's 4pm on a Friday.  The first nice, sunny day in a week and I'm ready to be off work to enjoy it.  Guess I'll eat some leftover Easter candy in the meaning...(Shhhh, I ate 2.)

Day 36 | Had to do the bed itme check for pet duty and decieded to go for a little walk at 9:30pm instead.

Day 37 | Running errands with mom was just what I needed.

Day 38 | Holding my first co-chair position in the fall.

Day 39 | Sweet girl was too busy snoozing this morning.

Day 40 | Where there is food, there is Abby.

Day 41 | Showed up to yoga wearing the same colors.

Day 42 | Hello gorgeous Firday!

Day 43 | Working at the floral shop today.

Day 44 | Took my lovely momma to see Kansas City Ballet's performance of Cinderella for Mother's Day!

Day 45 | I so love this face.

Day 46 | The face of determination...that string keeps getting away....

Day 47 | Some days you just need a little crafting.

Day 48 | I heard her come downstais and make some noice.  Little did I know, she found her dog food and thought she'd have a bed time snack.

Day 49 | A loose dog in the neighborhood thought he'd be a bird for a few minutes.

Day 50 | Weekend!

Day 51 | Celebrating this awesome kit's 3rd birthday!

Day 52 | Hot cocoa makes every Monday a little better.

Day 53 | Goodnight world.

Day 54 | Happy playtime.

Day 55 | Love waking up to rainy mornings.  Hate having to get out of bed though.

Day 56 | A little love for his yard.

Day 57 | Shopping with the best friend!

Day 58 | My boys.  And today marked our 16 months together.  The absoulte best!

Day 59 | Thankful for my heritage.  Gpa H (pilot in WWII), Gma H, Gpa B (Air Force during Korean War), Uncle Bobby, and my great grandparents. I miss them so much.

Day 60 | Deep, deep breaths.

Day 61 | Four years.  Doctors were surprised dad was still alive and (somewhat) functioning.  He was given 20 months to live and we have had four years with him.  May 28th will always be one of the most difficult days in my life.  But most importantly, it's a day of remembering and a day of celebrating.  Remembering how fragile life is.  And celebrating that there is still life to live.

Day 62 | Dinner and dessert with my girls!

Day 63 | Mr. Rory.

Day 64 | I'm one lucky girl.

Day 65 | ....And on Sunday, we play!

Day 66 | Honored to document the birth of sweet baby Evelyn.

Day 67 | So happy she is feeling better.  Nothing a little steroid shot can't fix!

Day 68 | Tonight calls for some brownies.  Wish my girls were here too.

Day 69 | Yoga was so needed today.

Day 70 | This week has been a fog...

Day 71 | So glad people found goodies in the things we out grew.

Day 72 | My reading list is getting longer.

Day 73 | My first mini book in the making.

Day 74 | My grandma gave us a nice little scare over the weekend.  She had trouble breaking and part of the muscle in her heart died.  It was not significant damage and she is stable and doing well.  So, so thankful.  I'm not ready to lose her too.  She is my last grandparent that is still alive.

Day 75 | Settling into my new office and job title.

Day 76 | Love these girls.

Day 77 | Loving the roses that are growing from D's garden.

Day 78 | Playing at the Farmer's Market.

Day 79 | I am one lucky girl.  I'm the only one who gets to call him Daddy.

Day 80 | Working on the decorating.

Day 81 | A little photography adventure with my dad.

Day 82 | Monthly dinner date wish Ashton and Kenzie.  I always look forward to our date nights.

Day 83 | A gourmet dinner on a Thursday.

Day 84 | Date night at a sold out Royals Game.

Day 85 | Making the yard beautiful.

Day 86 | Rory thinks we got him a new toy.

Day 87 | Got free Chipotle from a wonderful friend!  Haven't seen her in almost a year and she recently moved back and is working at Chipotle and paid for our dinner.

Day 88 | Yes, I made my mom get this new Ed Sheeran cd just so I can listen to it at work this afternoon.

Day 89 | Fresh air.

Day 90 | It's been a really long time since I've been able to just sit and read.

Day 91 | Watching Erin in her play.  Love this girl so much!

Day 92 | It's been a long time since I've had Saturday morning snuggles with my girl.

Day 93 | Eating all the chocolate covered pretzels and watching old Oscar movies.

Day 94 | Had a visitor during my lunch break.

Day 95 | First full day with the fitbit.

Day 96 | It's go time for vacation planning!

Day 97 | Someone came to pick me up for my lunch break.

Day 98 | Happy 4th of July!

Day 99 | Hair ties are the best toys.

Day 100 | It's this sweet girl's 13th birthday.

Get Messy

Sorry for not participating last week.  It was a rough week, as my dad began a new round of chemo that he has never had before.  Even though I didn't have pages ready last week, I worked through my anger by creating this page.  I didn't think, I just did.  I wrote out the word and marked it up.  I really just wanted to cross right through the word, but then I would have been left with either a black piece of paper or a black box.  So instead, I scratched through the word.  I didn't worry about staying in the lines, but wanted to stay in the lines as much as possible to still show the word.  Then I added blue paint and added water to symbolize tears.  I paired this with a black sheet of paper because it is such a dark time.  As much as I wanted to cry through this process, my stubbornes held me together.

Don't worry, the tears came eventually and through the worse possible way.  Through a dream, where I have no control over it and I wake up in the middle of the night sobbing, shaking, emotional bruised, and wondering what was real and what was just a figment of my imagination.

It has only been one week, and we are still figuring out how this is affecting his body and if it is something that will work for him.  But please, keep us in your prayers.

If you'd like to read about his story, go here.


Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practise our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Our Weekend Trip to Minnesota

Last weekend, Dakota and I traveled to Minnesota for the weekend.  It was our first road trip and it was full of emotions (both good and bad).

We arrived late Friday, so we didn't get to explore the city until Saturday.

We found this little hole in the wall breakfast place on the campus.  The line was out the door, and it took us 2 hours to get through the line, be served, and eat breakfast, but it was so worth it.  

The campus was packed because of a football game and there were no places to park.  We eventually found a parking lot and parked.  2 hours after our breakfast, we came back to the parking lot to find our car gone.  Apparently if you aren't a customer of Pizza Hut or Subway, you get towed....The cab that came to get us told us that he picked up at least 5 people earlier that morning and we watched another person get towed.  Also, these companies make money for every car the call in.  Needless to say, we won't be eating at those places any more.

$250 later, we got our car back and headed to the Sculpture Garden for my friend's wedding.  We got there a little early so we walked around and took a few photos to pass time.

I have been friends with Jenna since we were in first grade.  We kept in touch ever since I moved away 16 years ago.  And this past weekend, she got married and asked me to take a few photos of her special day.  I am so incredibly happy for her and I'm glad I can still call her a friend, after all these years.

^^ There was a Photo Booth at the wedding and Dakota would only take a photo with me if there was a mask.  There was so I won and he had to take a photo :)

Since there was a little hiccup in our plans, we spent part of Sunday doing more exploring.  I took Dakota to Minnehaha Falls and we spent about an hour there walking around and taking in the beautiful morning.  

^^ The other emotional part of the trip was that on Saturday night I had one of my nightmare episodes (they are always about dad passing away).  Dakota has never experienced those before, but has heard of them.  He handled it with grace and took care of me until the sobbing and shaking stopped.  These episodes always leave me a little bruised the next few days and he just took care of me.  I am so thankful for that and for him.

The rest of Sunday was spent showing Dakota the house I spent my first 9 years in, the school I went to, the playground I grew up at.  It's the first time I really got to show him my past (older than my last 2 high school years and college years) and it was such a fun experience.