Little Blessings

On Monday Tony Blair was giving a speech at OSU and I decided to go. It was a fun experience. Compared to his resume, Kyle and I have an extremely ordinary life. It’s valuable but small (as Meg Ryan might put it). I know that our future will bring many wonderful and challenging things, but for the time being, I am happy to have the life we have. We are showered with little blessings and below are just a few of them:

1. Stillwater – I never thought Kyle and I would live in Stillwater for the long haul. We met here in September of my freshman year at OSU. It was a somewhat blind date because even though we’d been talking on the phone for about a month, I’d never even seen a picture of him. That was before the days when everyone had a Facebook page. I always knew this town would have meaning to me because of the time I had planned to spend here, but when I got a job at the Foundation, I began to realize that this is where Kyle and I would make our home. It’s a great place for us and has been such a blessing.

The good thing about living in Stillwater is that you don't have to travel for homecoming. It was a rough homecoming for me because of work, but I did manage to make it to the Sea of Orange Parade on Saturday morning. I had so much fun with these girls, even if it was 7 a.m.! 

Kyle and I didn't make it to Walkaround, but I still had to see the house decks. Here are a few pictures of Cory Riddle's house dec, which won first place!

2. Moments with the Nephews – My heart just melts when I think about my nephews. If I’m having a bad day, all I need to do is watch a video or look at a picture and it brings a smile to my face. I was excited when Josh and Stacy announced they were pregnant but very aware of the fact that it would change the family dynamic. I was a little anxious to find out just how much. But after Asher was born, it’s amazing how much fun, energy and excitement he has brought to all of us. The same thing happened in Kyle’s family with the arrival of Conner. We have so much fun loving them!

Camo Cutie

Mom and Dad got new living room furniture a few weeks ago. It looks so good and Asher has a blast climbing on the coffee table.

3. Crafting – I am not particularly good at coming up with original ideas, but I really like seeing what other people have done and then trying to recreate it in my own way. One of these little projects was some art for the spare bedroom. About a month ago I saw this on HGTV and decided to try it out at my house. It was super cheap and provided me with an evening on entertainment. It’s the little things in life…

The original idea was to do a photo mat collage that featured different art work and was hung by binder clips. It seemed really easy (and it was), so I gave it a shot. I chose paper instead of art work and bought all my supplies at Hobby Lobby (except for the clips). I mixed subtle and more bold prints to give it more interest.

Here is a photo of the room. I needed something on the wall to the right of the bed.Unfortunately you can't see it in this picture, but it's big and blank.

 Here is the finished product! I couldn't find any binder clips I liked, so instead, I used bulldog clips. I was really pleased with the result.

4. Friends and Football Season – There is always so much anticipation in Stillwater for the beginning of football season. I’m not exactly a huge sports fan…OK, I barely know the name of our quarterback…but I still get excited about all of the things that come with football season. Cooler weather, watch parties, tailgating, traffic and all of that orange! Kyle gets a little more excited about football and has been able to attend a lot of the games this year.

 Mark came down to go to a game with Kyle. They left a little early because of the rain, but came back to the house and played Playstation football when the game was over. Yes, Mark did wear an OU shirt to an OSU game...LAME.

Kim and I cheering on the Cowboys! 

We have been having a really good season...like 8-0, 3rd in the nation good! This means a lot of the games are televised, so when Kyle can't go, he's glued to the TV. Here he is watching the game with Toby, Kurtis and Amanda's poodle. We were dog sitting that weekend.