A Trip to the Zoo

We got invited to the zoo by some of our favorite friends, the Gregory's! We don't usually see them unless its summer time because with my two busy boys and her four busy boys, there is NEVER time!! So we try to make the most of our summer freedom and hang out with them when we can! We hadn't been to the zoo in 2 years, when we went with them last! It was fun to see all the sights again, plus some new exhibits! With 6 boys, we kinda felt like we brought some of the zoo to the zoo ;-)

 Grant brought a little monkey friend because, well...its the zoo!! And we saw his little monkey twin right off the bat!

 It had rained like 7" the night before, so there were a few things that were closed until the rain dried out, the Sky Tram being one of them. We were so excited when we heard it opened up, so we headed on over to take a trip! Grant noticed the "Grant's Zebra" sign on the pole.

 We visited to Chimpanzee Playhouse for quite sometime. They were pretty active and there were a lot of them to watch. But the cutest was this little girl. She was one 3 months old I think. I could've sat and watched her all day! Grant could've too!

 But there was more monkeying around we needed to do...

 It started to get really hot and humid, so it was time for a train ride! Becca treated all the boys to an Icee to help cool down! Loved this sweet pic I grabbed!

 Time to a train ride before heading home so these wild animals could rest! Not pictured- the tiniest animal sitting between me and Becca, so he wouldn't get loose :)

The trip to the zoo was awesome but even better was time spent with the Gregory's!! 

They realized while eating lunch, that between our families we had a 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 4 year old! They said one of our families just needs a 5 year old! ;-)

Sister Time in Chicago!

It had been 7 years since I'd seen my dear friend, Erin. 7 YEARS!!!!!! When Sara said she had booked a trip to Chicago to visit Erin, I knew I needed to do the same! We took a weekend and soaked up every second with our sista friend!!!! It was the most beautiful weather we could've asked for! We spent the day at a sitting on the front porch of winery just down the street from her house, and walking around their cute little downtown area. It was the most perfect getaway, immersing ourselves with girl talk, memories, wine, and friendship!! Can't wait to do it again!!

 Things may have gotten a little weird at this point....

 And that was all the pics we took! Not pictured- eating chinese and sushi later and rolling ourselves out so full, sitting on the front porch, playing baseball with Patrick, watching the new Ghostbusters as well as the originally, and a really long discussion about the movie The Skulls.

Miss you already Ginger SnaP*

Candace Gets Married!

 My dear friend, Candace, whom I've known since we were 7, got married!! She is undoubtedly the sweetest person I have ever met and to know she has found a match so perfect just fills my heart with so much joy!! Celebrating her was a beautiful occasion! And always a fun time celebrating with this amazing group of friends! Love you Candace!

And a picture of us, just because we NEVER look this good!

Last Thrill Before Will

#lastthrillbeforeWill was the hashtag for the weekend! The weekend before my dear friend Candace Hays became Candace Lavery! For her bachelorette party, we took the Amtrak to Hermann, MO for a weekend of wine and good times!! It was a wonderful weekend spent with my dear friends, reminiscing about the all our good times we've had together and celebrating our sweet friend!! It was a beautiful day, going from winery to winery, and giggling and dancing around like the college days!!!

It was such a wonderful weekend!! I can't wait to plan another trip back there soon!!!

T-Rex with the Westfalls

Nothing like spending a great day with your best friends we don't get to see as often as we would like to! When we found out the Westfall family was heading our way, we were sooo excited!! They had big plans while they were here, so we were happy they were able to spend an afternoon with us! Luke just celebrated his 5th birthday, so what better place for us to celebrate together than the T-Rex Cafe!

Right after Grant got out of school, we headed up to the Legends! (I'm so thankful he's in half day K!!!) The kids all greeted each other with hugs and squeals!! Like no time had passed!! We ordered our food and then made our way around the restaurant, chatting and playing along the way! After lunch, they ran around outside like the fun and crazy children they are, and then we decided to head back in to dig for fossils and mine for gold. I'm pretty sure we were at T-Rex for 3 hours!!

We love these dear friends so much!! In Enid, we got so used to weekly (sometimes daily!) playdates, so waiting months on end to see each other is super hard! So times like this make us so thankful we have such wonderful friends to play with and chat with and make memories with!!

We love you Westfall family and can't wait to plan another adventure soon!!!

This little sweetie pie has a piece of my heart, that's for sure!!!

Our Dear Friends

I remember the first time I met them. It was summer 2012. We were hanging out at the Enid Public Library. A spunky little girl with blonde pigtails and an inquisitive little boy with red hair were bouncing around. I instantly wondered if they were going to go to Grant's preschool in the fall. I didn't introduce myself to their mom like I usually would do, but they were with other friends, so I didn't want to intrude. But I remembered them. And then I saw them at Grant's preschool orientation two months later and I was so happy to finally meet that little girl with the pigtails, Gracie Beth, and her mom, Lori!! 

Grant and Gracie seemed to have an instant connection. Grant didn't talk about too many people from school early on, a few names here and there, but one name I heard more than once was Gracie. He liked that their names sounded and looked similar and he LOVED her braids, or "brains" as he called them.  I took their first picture together, by Grant's request....

And somehow, I can't even explain how it all unfolded, but Gracie's mom, Lori and I became instant friends as well. I don't even remember the moment we exchanged phone numbers or anything like that. It's just like we were friends from the start. Maybe it was the fact that Lori and I had sooooo much in common- I mean, her middle name is Beth, she was a former teacher, scrapbooker, blogger, family photo taker, our kids are the same age, love a good holiday theme, and I could go on and on. And the best part is- both our kids were instant friends too! And over the last 2 years, we've been enjoying lots of playdates!! 

And not only did Grant and Gracie form an instant friendship, but Wyatt and Luke did too!! They could literally play together ALL DAY LONG and never get bored or tired of each other!!! 

And once little Jace came along, he fit perfectly into the bunch as well!! 

I knew moving away from Enid was going to be hard. But leaving these friends was unimaginable, for all of us. Although, we are so fortunate to only live a quick 4 hour drive from them, we know the playdates can continue for years to come, just not weekly like we got accustomed to. We are truly blessed by their friendship, faith, and fellowship. Knowing that Lori is just a text away makes it easier to get through the distance! 

We love you W family!!!!

NKOTB Concert

I have to say, I've been waiting 24 years for this. That's probably the longest I've waited for anything. I missed out on the opportunity to see New Kids on the Block when I was in third grade. My sister got to go, but my mom said I was too young and took me to buy a new toy (I got Cuddles!) instead. I guess that worked out in the end, since Grant and I both loved that bear to pieces. And because I FINALLY got to see NKOTB this past weekend! And let me tell you- waiting 24 years for something really makes it that much better!! I don't think my 8 year old self would've appreciated the concert as much as my 32 year old self!

A bunch of the girls in our squadron started planning this trip back in February. When I mentioned it to Levi, he said, "Are you serious?" He honestly thought I was joking when I said I wanted to go. But he was totally wrong! Not only did I want to go, but so did 7 other girls did too! The concert was in OKC, so we loaded up in a friends car and headed to town, giddy as our 8 year old selves would've been 24 years ago!

The picture of the 3 guys is Boys II Men. The picture of the 4 guys is 98 Degrees. And of course, the 5 guys is NKOTB! Both Boys II Men and 98 Degrees each performed for about 30 minutes. And then there was a short intermission, filled with some rocking 80's/early 90's music!! And then NKOTB took the stage for 2 whole hours!!! They were incredible!! I've only been to maybe 3 concerts in my life, but this was by far the best!! They played every song I wanted them too and did not disappoint!! 

I guess the old saying is true- Good things come to those who wait!  24 years of waiting definitely paid off!! Now, if I can just get Nsync to come back in concert, I'll be complete!

10 Years Since College?

Two weekends ago, my friends and I celebrated our 10 years from graduating college. It seems like just yesterday, we were celebrating our 10 years from moving into the dorms! Actually, it seems like just yesterday that we were actually IN college!! Time flies as you get older, I guess!

We had a wonderful weekend reminiscing and visiting about the "good old days." We stayed at the new hotel just outside campus called The Oread, and it was beautiful!! Unfortunately, we had a schizophrenic weather pattern that brought on a huge cold snap, so no fun sundresses for us! But that's ok- we learned that college kids don't wear cardigans, but thirty-somethings do!! We had dinner at one of our favorite old hangouts, Quintons! Then we headed down Mass. Street for a few bar hops- Sandbar and Red Lion. And a weekend at KU wouldn't be complete without a visit to The Wheel for beers and pizza! All of us stayed at the bars til at least midnight, and some even lasted til last call! We were pretty darn proud of ourselves!

Funny story- so while we were sitting a booth at the wheel, and we obviously stuck out like sore thumbs, the girls at the booth next to us totally kept eyeing us. Finally, one of the girls asked us, "We want to know how to get wifed..."  We all said, "Huh?" She was like, "Well you guys are all wearing rings, so you're either engaged or married, so we want to know how you did that!" It was pretty funny swapping stories with them about what our college days were like and what our married and career lives are like now! They were pretty envious, and I have to say, although college was so so so SO much fun, I'm happy with my life where I'm at!

We ended our trip with breakfast the next morning at Einstein Brothers, another good old tradition!!

I love my friends!!

10 Years Later

This is where it all began 10 years ago...August 14, 1999. A group of girls moved into Corbin Hall, not knowing they would remain life-long friends!!

On August 14, 2009, a group of my friends and I ventured off to Lawrence, KS to celebrate our 10 year anniversary of moving into the dorms!! Most people think I'm crazy when I say that I loved living in an all-girls dorm, but I wouldn't have done it any other way!! I met my best friends there!! We started off the evening with dinner at El Mezcal, an old tradition of ours! After dinner, we headed to the dorms for old times sake!! We were lucky that they let us in to look around, although we couldn't go inside any of the rooms. We all found our old rooms, and hung out in all our old favorite places!! Funny how after 10 years, it looks (and smells) exactly the same!! After a good hour of walking around, we headed to The Hawk, the first bar we ever went to! We knew it was pretty early to go to a bar in a college town (9:00pm) but we were the only ones there for about 2 hours. But that was ok!! We were able to reminisce and talk about all our memories we've shared!! After a few hours there, it was time to head to The Wheel , so we headed up the hill and across the street ! We definitely felt old when we were ready to leave the bar at 11, when everyone was just now showing up, but we aren't 18 anymore!! So we got our pizza and headed home!! It definitely wasn't what we would have done 10 years ago, but the laughs and the friendships will always stay the same!!

I LOVE YOU FRIENDS!!!!!!!

Dinner at El Mezcal

Fun at The Hawk

Ending our night at The Wheel

My old roomie, Laura, and I outside our dorm room, 411N