The Day after Christmas 2010

The day after Christmas we enjoyed a church service at our church. Which was something we really enjoyed because we had been out of town so much. Then we drove up to Bartlesville to enjoy another family Christmas. This was my side of the family. We also hadn't seen our dogs in weeks so we were so excited to see them!

This little cutie liked hanging out with Necia.

It 's always great to see my brother and his wife!

Christmas Day 2010

Well, this was definitely a memorable Christmas. Rhees and I are newlyweds and enjoyed every moment with our families. We drove all day Christmas Eve to get back just in time! We are so lucky to have such amazing families. We started our Christmas with Rhees' side of the family. His parents had a wonderful lunch and then the opening of presents happened. It was very organized and fun to see everyone open their gifts.

His dad had a little fun with his Granddaughter's doll hat! I'm so glad both of our families enjoy having fun and being silly! Makes it so much fun!
Evidently Rhees and his sister have a tape war every Christmas. This package was wrapped in packing tape. However, my strong husband tore into it like it was nothing! It think next year....it's on Jennifer!

Christmas Day 2010
I'm so thankful that Jesus is the reason we get together and enjoy family!

More Halloween Fun

We had a few things going on this Halloween season. We started early with my last post about carving pumpkins. Those were for our porch decorations. Then we had fun with the family! Rhees' sister invited us over to enjoy some more pumpkin carving with friends. They had the set up now!! She is so crafty, on top of things, and just loves to have a good time with everyone! I am so excited to be part of that family... very soon!
Rhees even let me help him!

Rhees is working very hard on our Pumpkin King ! We both carved this pumpkin and were very pleased with the result! I love working as a team!

And of course Rhees wanted to be the Pumpkin King! Doesn't he look stunning! And thanks to Camden's insight....we discoverd that the Pumpkin King was a Pumpkin!!! OHMY! ~ Teenagers...they are so funny!

tHe PuMpKiN KiNg!

This is Kaitlyn with a friend that is really like family! They are too silly!

Everyone made a pumpkin and HERE THEY ARE! There were so many different ideas! I love seeing people's creativity!

These were soooo YUMMY! Marshmallows wrapped in fruit roll ups!

They are Yummy Mummies!

Fall Fun

We enjoyed Fall Break last week. We were busy with life but made time to visit the Corn Maize. What a fun place ! We got to take one of my daughters friends and our friend who has a one year old. He is PRECIOUS!! Babies make everything more exciting! He loved it! (well, I think ....I mean he sure looked happy!) There was a box of corn that he sat in to play with the kernals. We took our shoes off and got in....felt lovely on the feet! Anyway we had a great time with the maze, hayride, duck race, smell of people roasting delicious food, and the screams from the haunted maze.

Then we enjoyed a nice evening tonight of carving pumpkins. We did this last year and wanted to keep up the traditions. Rhees always comes up with something wild, Necia is very original, and I'm pretty safe.

Rhees: Scary face and taiko symbol

Necia: Lady Gaga

Rebekah: Trick or Treat

I love doing fun things with the people I love: Creating Memories!

Refuel

Today our church celebrated all of the volunteers that work at our church! It was so nice to see everyone together having a great time ! Despite the Fall weather coming in we managed to have a great time at the park. We are so blessed by having these people in our lives!

We had so much fun eating hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, and sno cones~! Yes, a little chilly for sno cones but we have this awesome guy that has a sno cone shop and they were delicious!


Yep, never thought I would see this in my life time! Necia wearing a football helmet! Doesn't she look cute! Of course it had to be pink!

Well, it was confirmed today that my finance is not going out for the church softball team. He had fun trying to get the pastors into that dirty water. Look at it ......Yuck!!!

This is our pastor going DOWN! All of the pastors were so good about this. It was so cold outside and they stuck with it!

Wacky Golf!

We played two games and tied. Yea!!! Sadly, the third game he won. :( Yes, I'm just a little competetive! I just wanted him to feel good about his athletic ability! I'm so nice like that!

Engagement

I will always remember Aug. 20, 2010. Rhees did an outstanding job of proposing to me. We had talked about it and looked at rings so I knew the day was coming but had no idea he was going to throw in a little surprise.
Well, if you don't know Rhees ..I'm the luckiest girl ever!



He is my man who:



laughs with me



spends time with me



prays with me



opens doors for me



cooks with me



teaches with me



loves my daughter with me



is a dog lover with me



serves with me



and enjoys our families with me


So, yes he is an amazing Godly man! So, now what you were wanting to know about~ here is how it all happened.


We started our evening with sushi from FUJI. Because all great nights start with sushi. We enjoyed each others company and had the most amazing food at the sushi bar. Then we went to LaFortune Park ( we have a spot with a picnic table and pond that we always go to ) and enjoyed the ducks and the sun was setting. There was also a couple that was enjoying the view also and we really tried to wait until they left. But they weren't going anywhere so they got to enjoy our special moment too! Rhees had brought a large box with him. I wasn't sure what was in it and tried to guess but I wasn't successful. He opened the box and pulled out a CD player. And I thought well duh!!!! why hadn't I thought of that! He is the Music teacher.....of course there would be music involved! That was the big surprise. He also had a video camera and set it up so that we could remember this evening for the rest of our lives! So, he started the music and said that he had been waiting to play this for me because it reminded him of us. Then yes...He sure did!!! He sang to me! It was truly the most perfect moment! Every word was from his heart! And yes I did cry of course! Then he pulled me down off the table and got down on his knee and asked me to marry him! And of course I said YES!!! Then he prayed with me and it was the most peaceful feeling that we both had!




I can't tell you enough that God has an amazing plan for you! We know that waiting on God has been the most rewarding experience ever! Then we decided that we needed to celebrate with some desert. So, off to the Cheesecake Factory for some Appe Crisp. And here we are with our big smiles!!!

I have been looking at my beautiful ring every day and still can't believe that I'm engaged!! Well, the next story I want to share with you is about the *Bling*

We had looked at different styles and I showed him what I liked but he picked it out and added his own special touch. One thing that he really remembers about his grandma was a diamond necklace. It was eventually given to his mom and she was wanted Rhees to have it when he was ready for it. So, I guess he decided that I was that special girl. ( I love that boy) He took that special diamond and put it in my ring. I feel so honored to have this beautiful ring for so many reasons!

I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!

P.S. I'm thinking that the new title for my blog needs to be Memory Lane !

( if you don't know..our last name will be Lane isn't that soooo perfect! )

1st day of High School

My little girl is a freshman now. I just can't believe we are already here. Let me tell you... it has been really hard for me to let go of her. I still want her to lay on the couch and talk about her deep dark secrets and funny stories with me. To hang out with me instead of those stinky boys. But I have to remember she is an amazing girl and I'm raising her to become a strong Godly women not a women who lives with her mom forever. As moms we have an important job and it's hard sometimes but what a great feeling when they succeed at so many things. She is loving school though and it makes me happy to see that. I'm so blessed that she is very smart and does great in school. 1st days of school are always great because we are both experiencing the same excited nervous feeling. Today my little precious kindergartners were fabulous ! For the first time ever I have more girls than boys. Wow! And you know those precious little ones love to talk. We are going to have some great conversations this year! They had a great day today and I even had one who said he had such a great time he would come back tomorrow! They say the cutest things! I love my job and love seeing my daughter grow every year. School is an awesome thing! We are lucky to live in a place with such a good school system! Praise the Lord!

August 18, 2010

Apron

My first sewing project. I'm so proud! I must be the luckiest girl to have a boyfriend who can teach you how to sew! Well, here is how it went....minus the numerous mistakes that I encountered....we won't mention those. I was just learning. This is mainly a blog about how to cut material with a Cricut. The sewing was fun but believe me you don't want an up close look at it.

First step was buying the material and some wonder under. I ironed the wonder under onto a small piece of fabric big enough to cut out one capital R.

Then I stuck this to my Cricut pad and cut the letter. This was very exciting to me because I have been wanting to cut material with the Cricut but didn't know how. Well, You can learn all kinds of great things from You Tube!

And Ta~Da~ Here is my first initial! Yes, this really should have been the step AFTER I made the apron.....but I just couldn't wait! So, after all of the fun sewing lessons that went on and the apron was done it was time to iron on the cute initial. And even that was a learning experience. I figured out only after doing it wrong that you need to peel the wonder under off before you iron.

Use a damp cloth to place over the letter and then press it until it is secure to the surface. In my case the apron. Wow! And it really worked. This is so amazing! I'm just thinking of all the possibilities!

Finished product! I am using this precious thing for my classroom. I can't wait!

I'm so proud! Even though I know my career is not headed in the seamstress direction, it felt good to make something and not just pick it off a shelf. And knowing that you designed it!

1 fabulous yr. of dating

Yes it's true! Rhees and I have been dating for a whole year! It has been such a blessing to experience life with that boy! On July 23rd I decided that we needed to celebrate "us". See we are not really date people- meaning we really don't keep track of official dates/ like when we started dating, but we can pin point it down to the last week of July. Anyways..... back to my plans for us.

We started our day with the Philbrook Museum. Wow! What a gorgeous place! They had the mummy exhibit there so that was very interesting! Then we headed to In The Raw. YUMMY!!! We love us some sushi! This was an important memory that I wanted to bring back because he was the one who had me try sushi and I loved it! We had never been to this restaurant but it has a beautiful view of Tulsa! So, I was trying to go for the romantic date! We thought we were done eating there but I had a little craving that we had to satisfy first. I needed some chocolate!!! So, he had a great idea ....Cheesecake Factory!!! WOW!! This was fabulous! And we were sooooo stuffed! Lastly, we ended the evening at Philbrook again. They had a mummy movie on the garden lawn. We walked around the garden and even saw a little snake...yeah that was not my favorite part! It was so nice outside and the moon was gorgeous!

1 Terrific Year!

I love my Man! And hope that there are many more terrific years to look forward to!

{Embrace} the Camera

{Embrace} the Camera

Well, this precious photo was taken before we experienced our first float trip. She would probably hurt me if she knew I was posting this pic. But this is just us having a great time together. And if you are wondering.... the float was fabulous!

~ Check out the {Embrace} the Camera button on the side to see more great pics of people Embracing the Camera. Thanks Emily for the idea. I LOVE IT!

New Love

I have totally found my new love. After looking for a long time I couldn't decide if I should try again. But after finding true love you know it was worth it. It's so bad that he must go with me wherever I go. Comfy days, Dress-up days, and even lounging around the house days. He gives me comfort like no other. What I love the most is he is definetly STYLIN. I love it so much that I must share my secret because you must fall in LOVE too with these three letters :

TOM

Yes, I got my first pair. I can't believe the comfort. I will be getting some more! So many options I will have a hard time deciding. But I'm so happy I have found the shoe for me!

{Embrace} the Camera

{Embrace} the Camera

I am so proud of my dad! He is so compasionate about others. He is always putting others first and puts his life in danger to save people. He is a firefighter. Ever since I have been little I have loved visiting the fire station. And now I carry that on with my daughter. This is a fun pic we took one day while visiting him. It is important to me that my daughter is close to her Grandparents ~ aka : Mimi an Papa

Blackberry Pickin'

We enjoyed a nice hot morning picking blackberries. It was so much fun! I learned a lot about picking them and now will learn a lot about cooking them. I have already started looking at recipes. YUM!!

This place is just right down the road from us. Who would of guessed that we lived by such a gold mine.

There were rows and rows of blackberries! The little farmer there was so sweet! He explained exactly where to look for them and what to be looking for. Little Sweet Farmer Tip #1. Do not pick Red berries.
This is what NOT to be looking for. If you pick the red ones they will NOT ripen off the vine. So we are strictly looking for BLACK berries.

This is much better..These look so good!

Little Sweet Farmer Tip #2. Get low to the ground and look in the shade.

Isn't Rhees doing an excelent job at this! Good job little berry picker!

Little Sweet Farmer Tip #3. Fill the buckets and bring them back.

And yes....he had to be the "MAN" and get more than me. I think he was pretty proud of this!

Well, we didn't let these precious berries sit for very long. We went straight to the store to get stuff for making ice cream. OH MY.... that was the best ice cream ever!

I love that we can enjoy these great experiences together!