Just a Few Questions

Tell Me....

1. Do you have any weird food combinations that you love?

I love mixing my corn with mashed potatoes.  Or my peas.  Or sometimes green beans when I actually eat them.

2. What is the best thing that has happened to you in the past year?

I married the love of my life in October 2011 and got into nursing school this fall. 

3. What is a hair style you wish you could pull off, but would never be brave enough to try?

I am really trying to grow my hair out longer to try to do more stuff with it.  I am trying to be brave :) 

4. Would you rather have to always use the sun to tell the time or directions by the stars?

The sun.  

5. What is a fall trend you are excited to try?

I love any fall trend with boots and skinny jeans.  I am liking the flawy silky shirts that they are coming out with for this season.  Especially leopard print.  

6. Who is your style icon?

I don't really have a style icon.  I just kinda do my own thing. 

7. What's your favorite outdoor activity?

Fishing.  Riding in the jeep.  Anything outdoors is great with me. 

Early Anniversary Weekend and Sheep

Although it was a little early, the hubs and I celebrated our anniversary this past weekend!

We decided late Friday evening that we wanted to go ahead and go to the city instead of just going up the next day for the stockshow to see our niece and nephew show their sheep.

We randomly booked a hotel by "choosing our price" on Priceline and ended up in the Sheraton, which was very nice and had super comfy beds.  The only drawback of this was that we were unable to choose our room size- so we ended up with double beds and no king.  Bummer.  I jokingly told Cade we could push the beds together, and we almost considered it once we got in bed with all those dang pillows! We got to the city around 8 and Cade let me get sushi on our way to McNellie's since he had eaten earlier that night before we decided we were going.  I always get the Crazy Cajun from Sushi Neko and it is amazing! 

Then we made our way to the Irish pub (McNellie's) and participated in a little Oktoberfest flight tasting. One of the major reasons we come here is for their wonderful Irish food! The artichoke dip, homemade meatloaf sandwich, hand-battered spicy chicken strips, and (my favorite) real mashed potatoes with from-scratch brown gravy.  They also have a pretty good lookin' dessert menu that we have yet to try out.  It included Guinness bon-bons, creme brûlée, chocolate bread pudding, and many more mouth-watering yumminess.

The next morning, while I was getting ready, the hubby walked down to the Starbucks in the lobby and got me a Pumpkin Spice Latte that I have been craving ever since this cool weather hit.  Not to mention it was a cool morning and drizzling rain.  Perfect combo! He made my morning walking through the door with that cup of goodness.  My dad decided to come up and spend the day with us at the fair.  Mom had a wedding shower for my cousin and also had Gilly so her hands were pretty full.  

We all got settled just in time to watch Mason show his sheep "22" and he did very well.  He has improved tremendously since he started showing this past year.  After he showed, we took him with us to walk through the buildings and play some games.  Dad and I had some chicken on a stick for lunch with homemade hot sauce, Hubs had a pulled pork, and Mas had a hot dog.  We didn't branch out too much on our food choices that day.  After walking around, realizing that the booths in the buildings never seem to change, we headed back to wait for Em to show. She ended up placing 3rd in her class...of course, we thought she should have gotten first. While waiting for the grand drive, I looked over and saw Claire and Grace.  These two sweet girls are part of the Rose family that have a pretty special place in not only my heart but also Hubby's heart.  

The Rose family has a pretty amazing story to how they became a  just that.  I first met their oldest son, Alex, while I was an aide for Pre-K in high school.  He was the cutest little boy and such a sweetheart.  He was adopted a few years earlier and fit right into the open arms of Craig and Cheryl.  I finally got to meet his sweet momma that year at Halloween and we just hit it off.  She and Craig became our wonderful family friends over the years.  They also have an adopted daughter, Claire.  Let me tell you, she may look Chinese, but this girl is full on country accent and all! She has the most precious and loving spirit. In 2010, Cheryl called me at school, for some reason I knew before she told me that she was pregnant.  It was all so shocking at the time but also a huge blessing because it was a total God thing.  I truly believe that God has these special people picked out to adopt these precious babies that need to be loved and then turns around and blesses them with children who they give birth to.  I have seen this happen to not only this family in our town but also one more and it is amazing to see how He works. This family works together perfectly and I am so thankful to be apart of their lives and to be able to watch these babies I once knew grow up. Needless to say, I hadn't gotten to see them in a while and was very ecstatic to see them all. 

We headed home once the show was over, but not before hitting up Freddy's and Chick-fil-A. We got home around 6 and I started back to studying.  It is great to get away with my Hubby if even for a weekend.  I love spending time with him.

"Crushing On" Series

1. Monogrammed necklace from Etsy-Source

2. Western Art-Source

3. Camera Strap -Source

4. Monogrammed Key Chain-Source

5. Nikon Camera -Source

6. Iphone 5 (thanks, honey!)-Source

7. Fiestaware-Source

     Once a month, I am going to do a "Crushing On" series! Im thinking this could help my mom and hubby with gift ideas and give others gift ideas for their family/friends for all occasions.  These are mine for this month.

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin...

Lately I've been...

-studying

-reading

-spending much needed time with the Hubby

-studying

-going to class

-reading

-going to clinicals

-studying

It.  Never.  Ends.

Thank goodness for MAY!

Had my first test in nursing school and made an 86! Pretty exciting due to the fact that I had no idea how the tests were going to be set up or how I needed to study.  This Wednesday is our last day at Vernon.  I am sort of glad but in a way not because we start Med-Surg clinicals and i despise Med-Surg.  I am not a Med-Surg nurse.  Never have been.  Never will be.  I do look forward to being back in Elk because I don't have to drive very far.. Just down the street!

My little nephew got put in the hospital last week which was pretty scary.  He was having trouble breathing due to a reaction his body had due to a virus he had.  Redundant and confusing? All that matters now is that he is doing much better and at home with his sweet parents.  I am blown away at how fast this kid learned to walk though...On his birthday he was taking a few steps and now it's like 20-30 something at a time.  So fun to watch him and his brothers grow up into the sweetest and most handsome kids ever.  Not to mention, the two oldest have the best stories about Jesus.  The pictures they draw and the stories I get to hear always bring a smile to my face.  Grandma always says "out of the mouth of babes" and it's the truth with these two.  

I have been getting the house ready for fall.  I made my own centerpiece for our new kitchen table today.  I found a pin to go off and I have to say it turned out pretty darn cute.  Hubby even liked it! I also purchased one of my favorite fall candles today.  Yankee Autumn Wreath.. Reminds me of South Dakota fall and the Krumbach's house.  

This past weekend the weather was amazing outside.  Mainly in the 70's and 80's all weekend.  We decided on Saturday to take the top off of the Jeep and make a little trek.  We had no idea where we were going when we jumped in..other than to Mom and Dad's to drop Gilly girl off for the day.  After we got to Sentinel, we decided to head to Weatherford to see our friend's new/old car (Trans Am) and to have some Mexican food.  We had a great day just enjoying each other's company and cruising with the wind whipping our hair into tangled messes...Maybe that was just mine? Nothing conditioner can't fix!

Weekends go by too darn fast! We went to Grandma's again yesterday for Sunday dinner- Ham, mashed potatoes, dressing, corn on the cob, peas, fried okra, biscuits, and sweet potatoes.  Not to leave out another birthday cake for my in-laws! Man, I love Sunday dinner! 

We came home last night and were both productive- Hubs mowed the yard along with weed eating and edging and I read my chapters for class today! 

Here are some catch up pics! 

-Britt

Before and After/They Call the thing Rodeo

First off, let me say welcome to the new blog! I hope y'all like it as much as I do. If you aren't a follower, of you would please look over to the right side and add yourself as one if you would like notifications when I put a new post up!

I am so excited to announce we are done with the kitchen! It looks so good and honestly I am so glad it's back to being clean and organized. I think Cade deemed me as the vacuuming nazi during the whole process and I will admit my OCD kicked in when all the sawdust started to accumulate in the oddest places. Now don't take this as me griping at all because I am so so thankful for my handyman! He thinks he outed himself with his skills- Let me tell ya, he is good! I will add some before and after pictures towards the bottom. Excuse Gilly being a creeper! I also added an extra of the living room because I arranged it back one day to the way we had it before. Things fit much better!

We attended the big Labor Day rodeo this weekend. It was a good time! My nephews were a hoot as they started breaking it down when the clown was doing the same. I'll try and load the video sometime today but until then I have a few cute pictures I was able to snag while they were running the steers to the end of the arena to be loaded. They were too stinking' cute in their getups!

I also got some Jasper (2 years old) time in this weekend. This is my "nephew" on my mom's side. He is just a precious little toot that calls me "Ta-Ta"! Humorous to me because this girl has nothing to be bragging about in that area. But the name has stuck and he loves it! I snapped a few pics of him this weekend with his trains and cars that he obsessively puts in a straight line. We have no idea where he gets this- (cough,cough) his Nana! He is pretty funny about it when someone tries to trick him by turning one backwards or moving it out of line--he is very quick to notice and moves it back exactly where it was!

We return to Vernon on Wednesday for clinicals and have our first exam Thursday. Needless to say, I need to get off of here and study. Hope y'all enjoy looking around on the newly updated beautimous blog- compliments to 17th Avenue Desigbs for helping me out!

-britt

Bubba Shot the Jukebox

I've had this song in my head all day and as I sat down to write this post I figured it was pretty fitting for what I might write about. First, if you've never heard the song...Go listen! Here are some of the lyrics:

Bubba ain't never been accused of being mentally stable

So we did not draw an easy breathe

Until he laid that colt on the table

He hung his head till the cops showed up

They dragged him right out of Margie's

Told him "Don't play dumb with us, son"

"Know dang well what the charge is."

Bubba shot the juke box last night

Said it played a sad song it made him cry

Went to his truck and got a forty five

well He shot the juke box last night

I think I saw a Bubba this week. On to that in minute.

Well, on a positive note Gilly and I survived two nights alone without Cade! This is only the second time we have been apart since we got married but I don't like it. Honestly, it's just the staying alone part. He had to go up to El Reno for measurement training for a few days, which he said was terrible. I stayed pretty working at the Dr's office and then having our first clinical in Vernon all day Wednesday...I was so glad when I came home yesterday and hubby was home. Staying alone after yesterday would have freaked me out.

Well... On to Bubba....

We walk onto our assigned locked facility and I think we all looked at each other and had the same look on our faces. We were given a key- no automatic locking doors like on Senior Care- that we used to unlock the doors to everything(bathroom, snack room, cafeteria.... You name it, it opened it. Everything was locked) and each time you unlocked a door you basically turned around as fast as you can and lock it back. We walked into the common area and were immediately warned about a man sitting in front of the nursing station. They told us that he hits quite frequently. If he likes you he gives open handed slaps mainly across the face. If he doesn't like you he punches. Most patients who he came close to got up and ran off. The guards were very good of keeping him away from us 5 girls. We were all very uptight and nervous after reading their charts and finding out the crazy and horrible things they had done. Braving it, I think we all got in a small interview with each of our patients. I'm not going to go into much more detail tonight but I am looking forward to this rotation being over. Personally, I don't like being nervous all day about being around manifestly dangerous people.

On a much happier note, today was my sweetheart of a hubby's birthday. He hit the big 27 today. He got what he asked for- something I've never cooked before. We had BBQ baby back ribs, cowboy potatoes, pasta salad (I cheated here), and an icebox lemonade pie like my great grandma used to make. He loved it! He never buys anything for himself so I was pretty proud of him when he came home with a new golf club. He is pretty excited about it...obviously so if he bought whiffle balls to hit off at the hotel while he was gone!

We are both on call this weekend. Kind of a bummer, but it sure won't stop our rodeo going if he's not on location and I'm not at the hospital! My sweet and pregnant cousin, Hannah and Jasper her 2 year old son, are also in for the weekend along with Cade's cousin and her parents. We are going out to eat with my mom, dad, grandmother, and grandad tomorrow night to celebrate Dad and Cade's birthdays. Lots of family time to look forward to on this fun-filled weekend!

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Explanation on the "stuff" in the silver mixing bowl--my sweet momma made me one of my favorite meals while Cade was gone. Salmon patties and homemade mac and cheese, okra, black eye peas with chow chow! It was so so delicious! This was on purpose to make while Cade -- and Lauren-- we're both gone because neither one likes salmon patties. They missed out!

Another One Bites the Dust & Dryer Problems

Another weekend gone! Ours consisted of a movie and showdogs, starting on the next kitchen project, our baby nephew's 1st birthday party, birthday party celebrations at Grandma's, and coming home to work on the house again! It was a super busy weekend but hugely productive.

We went and saw The Campaign at Carnegie with Brod and Lauren. We always have a great time together! I don't know what was funnier--Cade and Brod's giggles or the movie! They tend to have the same laugh when they get tickled and it's hilarious. The movie was pretty funny, although, they could have left out some of the raunchiness and I felt it would have been just as humorous.

We started on the bench in the kitchen this weekend and got quite a bit accomplished. I am so thankful to have such a handy mother-in-law and husband! They both worked so hard this weekend and I am so grateful. Of course, I will get to lend my handy dandy painting hand when the time arises. Until then, I have been deemed the decorator/bigger decision maker. I get to decide it things will look good or not based on the ideas they give me. I like this job way better than painting. :) So far things are looking much more updated and fun.

Nate's first birthday was a huge success due to him loving his own little cake. I seriously think this was the best part to him knowing how much that kid LOVES to eat. He was a little confused at first what to do with this big red apple sitting in front on him. After the first bite it was over...He went after it full force! He was cheesin' big time and the red icing was everywhere! I'll include some pictures at the bottom. Little did the kid know that he was going to get to do this all over the next day...

We had birthday celebrations at Grandma's today-- Nate and Cade. Hubby's birthday is the 30th and Nate's was the 23rd. It's a tradition at Grandma's that we each get to pick our dessert and we go by months! Sheila, Em, and I are all in October which is just around the corner...we better start thinking of our favorite desserts! Anyways, the hubs chose coconut cream pie which was amazing as always. Let me tell ya, Grandma is an amazing cook! Nate didn't really get a choice, which I don't think he would have chosen different, but he got his own little cake again!...and ate the icing off the entire cake...AGAIN! It was hilarious how much he enjoyed it and the look on his face was priceless!

S/N: on the menu today was-- fried chicken, chicken fried steak, fresh black eyed peas from the garden, grilled asparagus, corn, mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravy, and spinach salad. It was wonderful as always! I am so thankful for times like these and hope to continue this tradition with my own family as the time comes.

My honey is working on the kitchen as we speak putting up barn tin on the lower part of one of the walls in the kitchen. I am so excited at how well this turned out. He did just state that he is ready for this to be done and I know it's wearing him out...Especially today! Gilly jumps a foot every time the nail gun goes off. We both laugh at her but she is seriously scared out of her wits and is so confused at why her food bowl keeps moving to a different place each day...like we are playing some sick joke on her. Obviously, she doesn't like change!

Hope y'all had a great weekend! Boo for dreaded Mondays...

Part One Down!

The cabinets are done! We are so glad to have that part of the kitchen back in order. Of course, something had to go wrong in the process though. I went to put the clothes in the dryer the other day and it would turn on. I was home by myself and thought maybe something hadn't gotten plugged back in during the process of moving things back where they go. Well, I was right. It was unplugged! Easy fix or so I thought...I pushed it back in place, which was a bigger feat than I thought, and tried it again. Still nothing. Bummer! So now we have piles of laundry that need to be done this weekend and the guy who fixes the things won't return our calls. It's so frustrating...Cade was especially irritated since we just got the dryer fixed maybe 6 months ago and now something else goes wrong with it. Oh well, I guess we will be going back to our old stomping grounds from last time it was broken...the laundromat down the street! A positive thought on this -- we get all our laundry done at the same time!

Sally is coming over today to start our other kitchen project with us. We are going to build in an "L" shaped bench with storage underneath for a bigger seating area! This is pretty exciting for us because when we have company over to eat we usually sit in the living room. Now we can all sit in the kitchen!

Here are some pictures of the kitchen now and an idea of what we are going to build today!

Second picture is our sort of template for today.

Third picture is the kitchen before. It looks so much bigger now!

Last, is a better picture of where we got the idea for the kitchen.

Hard, Hard Workin' Man

Whew! We have been so busy with the kitchen since Tuesday night. We got everything sanded and then we started painting that night...ending up in bed around 1:30 a.m. We are still in the process of finishing up painting and making sure we have enough coats of white on the doors. Painting things white can be a little tricky, especially if they were darker before. I'm loving the colors that we picked out and can't wait to put the new hardware on.

Here is my hard workin' man hard at work! Such a blessing he is to me everyday.

Mental health orientation at Vernon was alright. We walked in scared and walked out even more afraid. We found out the place has no weapons of by kind and that there are no guards behind the fences.

Promising, huh?

Not to worry though! Thanks to my sister-in-law I know a few maneuvers in case of an attack. They informed us that the staff outnumbers the patients so that was a good thing to hear. I also found out that I, along with my friend Michelle, am in the building that houses the patients who have mental retardation along with a mental illness who have committed crimes and are incompetent to stand trial. Talk about scary... But I'm really hoping this is a good experience and I know the school would never put us in harms way.
A student has never been harmed at this facility--this is for you Mom because I figure I would get a phone call once you read this! Again, please keep me and the girls in y'alls prayers-- specifically safety because I don't want to have to bust out my special moves!

This is the spare bedroom now! It doesn't look too bad BUT notice the small pathway. This is the only space to walk in the room right now! I can't wait to get everything back and organized but until then please refrain from calling Hoarders on us :)

Happy Thursday!

Sunday at Grandma's, Home Renovation, and First Day of School

What a busy weekend! Friday night we had some friends come through from Texas, so we went out to eat at Boomtown. Curtis and Kristin live in Wichita Falls and were going to her parents for the weekend so we were excited when we heard they were stopping to visit! After we ate and saw almost all of Curtis's Uncle Si impressions we came back to the house to check on their dog Cricket. Gilly and Cricket got to meet for the first time and Gilly was not nice. She growled and mostly hid the whole time we were all outside. Such an unsocial princess!

Saturday, Mom and I went to OKC as was mentioned in the previous post. Chels is getting accustomed to being at home with the babies and Brady...no parents! She is adjusting very well and the babies are doing great!

Sunday Funday! Sunday for us usually means going to Cade's sweet little grandma's house. Grandma usually cooks a pretty big meal with the help of Sally, Cade's mom, and anyone else who is willing to help. I don't think we have anyone not willing to help. Everyone has their assigned duties on Sunday's. Me- I usually try to help finish up whatever Grandma and Sally need help with before it's ready, and I along with Megan and Sally put up the leftovers. Sheila- loads the dishwasher and usually unloads it.. if it needs it. John (Meg's hubby)- takes out the trash. Micheal (Sheila's hubby)- cleans the stove and counters. Cade- entertains the munchkins. I really enjoy these times out at Grandma's and hope to someday do this for my family. It's a good way to start out the week and to catch up on how everyone's week went!

Cade's momma came over last week and we finally put down plans to start updating the kitchen. I am so excited to start this project! Cade is pretty excited too because coming home from Sweetwater last night he decided we would just go on to Yukon to get some supplies and paint that we needed. I love that about him...He never ceases to surprise me! I am all for random trips. We stopped and ate at Freddy's on the way home which was amazing! They have Fry Sauce that is SO good and the pickles on the burgers aren't just regular dill pickles. They are the longer slices that are fresh and crispy! We got home around 9:30 last night and let Gilly out to play and run off some of her pent up energy since she stayed home while we went on our quick trip.. I hate leaving her but I don't think they would approve of her running around Lowe's!

Today was my first day of RN school! Two semesters of this and I will be done...I am so excited! Tomorrow we start orientation in Vernon, TX at the Mental Health Facility. I am looking forward to this, but also a little nervous. This will make working on Geri Psych look like a breeze. We have been told many stories from previous students and faculty that are pretty wild! Some pretty well known offenders are at this place which makes it interesting but very scary at the same time. Throw a prayer up for me and my fellow nursing students tomorrow!

Hope y'all have a great Monday!

Will post before and after pics of the renovations... Here are a few from this weekend!

Sweet Tea, Babies, and My Momma

First off, I just need to brag about how beautiful my cousin's brand new twins are! I cannot shake off this baby fever after seeing these little loves yesterday.  My hubby tells me I better get rid of it because we are still a few years out and I agree on our little time frame we got goin' on! But a girl can still want!

Left: Elliot                                   Right:  Vivi

Mom and I decided to make a quick trip to OKC to see Chels and the babies yesterday.  It was too quick! I could have held these little   babes a lot longer than 30 minutes.  Chels is doing great and looks beautiful as ever, she is the best little mommy!  She has adjusted to her new role with ease and these babies just love her and love hearing her voice.  We got to visit with her and some family for a little bit and then Mom was nudging me say we needed to get on the move if we wanted to accomplish what we needed to get done to leave the city by 4.

We grabbed something quick to eat at Cheesecake Factory- minus the cheesecake unfortunately- and then ventured out to the outlet mall for some quick shopping.  We noticed the sky was looking pretty ominous and black on our way in and decided we better hurry up our shopping if we didn't want to get drenched.  So we walked into J Crew and all of a sudden it started pouring.  POURING. I had lost Mom in the hustle and bustle of getting into the store, and when I found her she already had an umbrella in hand ready to be purchased.  We found a few other bargains and started our way towards the door..noticing the rain had not let up one single bit. It seemed to be raining even harder! We agreed that our outfits were not weather appropriate this day,mine more than hers being it was a cotton dress and flip flops! Braving it, we stepped out the door and got situated under the umbrella with shopping bags in tow that were starting to break down due to them being made out of that brown craft paper stuff! We finally made it to the car with only our feet and mom's jeans getting pretty soaked.

Back in the car, we headed to pick up some sushi for myself and Chels before heading out of the city.  We dropped the food off at the hospital and jumped on the turnpike--not before grabbing some McAlister's Sweet Tea.  In the craziness of the rain, we thought we ran over something in the car after the tire pressure sensor kept going off and saying that the pressure was low.  We called dad and he said to put some air in the tires when we had a chance.  So we drove until we were outside El Reno and pulled over at a quick stop.  After shooting some air in the tires that seemed to change nothing at all, we drove on to Weatherford where the sun came out and it warmed up.  All of a sudden the sensor  shut off and the warning light disappeared! We both had read in the owner's manual that sudden changes in temperature in the environment can cause the tire sensor to go a little crazy.  Obviously this is what happened, which we both suspected before, but we still listened to dad and put some more air in the tires! Either way it worked out and we were both relieved.

We made it home in time for mom and dad to leave with the church to go eat at Simon's and for me to walk into a clean house with laundry put up.. and you guessed it...a clean spare bedroom that I never got around to doing the other day! I honestly do have the best husband.  He was joking me on the way home that I was going to have a dirty house to clean up because his buddies came over to hang out and they got a little crazy.  My reply to this wasn't very nice but when I came home to a clean house I was pretty impressed and he got a kick out it upsetting me of course.  After having a gourmet supper at Sonic, we came home and watched a few movies before crashing out.

Here are a few pics from today!

Home Sweet Home

Here is our home sweet home!

Please ignore the spare bedroom at this time! We just got home from vacation and have yet to put up the clean laundry and return the suitcase to my mom. I am giving y'all the real view of the house ...messy room and all. We are starting home renovations on the kitchen starting very soon thanks to my so very sweet and talented mother-in-law. Will put up after photos once we are finished. Our flower beds looked great before this heat wave hit now they look kinda sad. I have to say I have loved this being our first house together! Cade is such the handy man when things need fixin'!

I worked at the cancer center for a bit today and came home to start cleaning house this afternoon! I know what y'all are thinking.."she needs to start on the spare bedroom" :) I know, I know! I agree. We don't have big plans this weekend other than to get things back in order around the house and go to Grandma's in Sweetwater for Sunday lunch. I'm sure we will go over to Cade's parents' house and see if we need to work with any of the sheep.

Last night was a bittersweet night in the books. Lauren and Brody have become our run around buddies since we got married and we had them over for supper before Lauren leaves for college in Stillwater this weekend. She has a couple of years to finish up before attaining her degree and gets to attend OSU starting this fall! Although, Cade and I are super excited for her, we are sad to see her go! Not that we won't still hang out with Brody.. It was just a lot of fun to grab them and say "come on, let's go do this!". They are always down for a good time and I am anxious to visit her in Stilly and attend some football games. Cade is a huge fan and attended OSU himself. Needless to say, we will be seeing a lot of Lauren!

Hope y'all have a great weekend!