Highlights of 2013

So like every other year, I like to do a post on the highlights of or year. We have so much to be thankful for and I love to loo back at the past year and remember all our fun times. So here it goes...

January- Nothing too exciting to start our year off. I was over half way done with my first year at Jenks. I cannot describe to you how much I love this school.

February-We made our annual Kansas City trip, but this year wen didn't go on my birthday, we went over Valentines day. Mitch worked all week and so it was fun to get away for the weekend and celebrate.

We also made one of our first "grown up" purchase- minus the house ha. We bought all new living room furniture. It was actually Mitch that wanted to do it. He finally talked me into it and so we went and got an amazing sectional. I will have to admit, Mitch was right- Best. Purchase.Ever

March-In March we celebrated my 25th birthday. It is crazy to think in just a few months we will be celebrating my 26th birthday. Time flies! We also spent a week in TN. We spent the first half in Memphis seeing both of Mitch's grandparents and then we went and spent a few days in Jackson, TN. Mitch attended a preview day at Union University for their CRNA school. We both love TN, it fits our "personalities" so well, but we also have some other options that we really like too! But it's nice to know if thats where we end up, we will enjoy it!

April- This was one of my favorite months this year. We celebrated Mitch's 25th birthday and Bella's 2nd birthday! We also accomplished one of our goals and ran our first half marathon together! It was one of the coolest feelings doing it together and we are trying to decide if we are going to do it again. I love that I have such a supportive husband that helped and pushed me to train and run 13 miles!

May- I finished my first year and Jenks and we started one of the craziest summers of our lives. We traveled all summer and it was one of the best summers ever! Traveling is something we love and we are blessed to be able to travel so much. We started our first of 5 trips in May and went to New Orleans! I had never been and it was very different, but loved getting to see it and the culture down there! We also attended our first Thunder Playoff game. We have attend several regular season games, but this was so different and so much fun!!

June- We went on two trips in June. We first went to church camp with our old church back in Bentonville. We go every year and just love it. It is one of the best parts of our summer. This year we are super bummed because I have one of my best friends weddings the same weekend. So we are trying to decide if we are going to go for half of it, since it is in OK this year, or just skip out. If we skip out on camp, we are going to try and go on their mission trip with them. Our second trip this month was to Vail, CO. We went with my family and stayed in a condo right on the golf course. It was so much fun! We went over our 3rd anniversary and we want to make it a annual anniversary trip. This summer we have 5 weddings that we are both in, so we won't make it this year, but we are looking forward to many more trips to Colorado!

July- We continued our summer of traveling with a trip to San Francisco/Napa! I had no idea what to expect, but this trip was a blast!! I want to go back so bad! We went with Will and Michelle- we always have a good time with them. Another highlight of this month was we went to the Twister Relief Concert. This really wouldn't be that big of a highlight, but we were front row for Garth Brooks and if you know us at all- we are huge fans!

August- This was probably our busiest month of the year. We started with a last minute trip to Colorado. One day I got a calendar alert on my phone. Mitch and I share our calendars, so anything he adds, I get an alert and vice versa. Well one day I got an alert that said- Colorado trip and then the dates. I was super confused and he called and said we are going with some friends from college. I was so excited. We did a lot of hiking and also went to Pagosa Springs.
I started my second year at Jenks and we celebrated our "year anniversary" at First Baptist Tulsa. One of my best friends, Natalie got engaged and I took my first of three teaching tests.

September- the highlight of this month was I found out I passed the OGET! I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I cannot wait to be a classroom teacher! We also saw Luke Bryan in concert!!

October- This is my favorite month of the year. It starts to turn cool and I love everything about fall! We went to our annual Arkansas game and two of my best friends got engaged. Tayler got engaged to Warren and Peter got engaged to Libby. I could not be happier for both of them! We also ran the Tulsa Run. Elizabeth and I run it together every year and I just love this tradition we have!

November- Not a lot went on this month, but our highlight was we went back to Shawnee for OBU homecoming. I loved being back and it was fun to catch up with old friends!

December- Well the highlight of this month was suppose to be our annual Silver Dollar City trip! We got too much snow and ice that weekend so we were not able to go. We did have a good time snowed in at home, but we missed being in Branson. I took my second teaching test and I am waiting on my results, and Garth announced his world tour!! The downfall to this month is that we lost someone special. Janet, has been fighting ovarian cancer for 2 years and went to be with Jesus December 26th. This has been very hard on Mitch, but we are so thankful for her impact on our lives. Mitch grew up with Janet and her family. They went on multiple family trips together and their families are super close. Mitch and I are both close to her kids. I have only known her for a few years, since we started dating. But she has always been so welcoming to me and she was always trying to get me involved in the youth when we lived there. I will always remember our camp trips, thats where I felt I really got to know her.

We had a very blessed year and are so thankful for another wonderful year together! Happy New Year!! I am working on a post about our Christmas break- so check back soon!

Snow days!

I just cannot believe we received that much snow and ice. We have been out of school since last Thursday and finally went back today. It was a nice little time off, but being so close to Thanksgiving and Christmas break it really wasn't needed. Here is what we have been up to during our snow days!

Luckily, Mitch was off the whole time with me! He had taken off this past monday sine we were suppose to go out of town. Which brings me to my next point. We did not get to go to AR/Branson. This was devastating, depressing, awful... do I need to go on. I look forward to this trip every year and I especially love it because, well y'all know I love anything Christmas and well if you have been to Branson this time of year, it is incredible!!!
So since I could talk forever about how 5 plus days off- I will just show them to you in pictures.
It started with lots and lots of snow. I think we got around 5 inches.

Bella LOVED the snow!

Our backyard 

  playing in the snow

Watching Mitch shovel the driveway 

Tired puppy from all her playing in the snow :)

Not how we wanted to spend our saturday. Long story short- I have had an ear ache for about two weeks (I thought it was all this change in weather and allergies) and it got severe this weekend. We tried to go earlier in the week but bc of the bad weather everything was closed. So we went to urgent care during Bedlam... that should tell you how bad it was. I was up the past two nights, ALL night, and I had so much pressure in my ear I couldn't hear out of it and well.. it was just awful. The doctors reaction wasn't a surprise to me, but it let Mitch know how bad it was. She had to clean and drain it to even see in it. Once she did that she said both ears were extremely inflamed and I had an ear infection not only on the inside of both my ears but on the outer ear too. So 4 prescriptions later we were on our way home. 

This is super random- but one night we HAD to get out of the house. We were both craving bbq so we went to Rib Crib and I had a coupon for a free appetizer. We got the chicken and bbq nachos and yes they tasted as good as they looked. Also this could feed about 6 people! 

This is way dark, but we finally went to see Catching Fire. I am DYING to see Frozen, so we are planning on seeing that this week .

These next two pics were taken Monday and it was by far the best day of break! We were still going stir crazy, so Mitch thought it would be a good idea to just get out for the whole day. Now I'm going to try and make this story short... so we follow the dave ramsey envelope system (best decision ever) and so each month we put money into several envelopes. One of those envelopes is for me and one is for mitch- so we get so much money a month just for "our spending". So we can buy whatever want or save up with that money. So over the past several months we have been taking small amounts out of each of our "personal" envelopes to save up and pay for Branson without having to take money from anywhere else out of the budget. Well when out trip got cancelled, not only did we have it all saved up, but that trip was our christmas gift to each other. So since we weren't going to Branson, Mitch thought we should go get a christmas present we have been wanting. Also this is way out of the normal for us. But since we had been saving our own money we spent the day shopping for something we have really been wanting. Below is what we came up with! 

Mitch got his new driver he had been wanting. This is him testing out EVERY driver in the store :) He loved every minute of it. And I got a new Michael Kors purse!! Now most of y'all know purses are my thing. Like some people love shoes, makeup, etc... well mine is purses. I do have a lot of purses, but I have never had a really really nice one. I thought it was about time to invest in a "grown up" purse as I call it. Im obsessed!

And being snowed in for a week, of course we made and decorated christmas cookies! 

Overall, I had a great extra long weekend! Even though our trip was cancelled, I was so thankful Mitch was off and we got to spend lots of quality time together! I even enjoyed the snow :)

Thanksgiving 2013

Happy (late) Thanksgiving, y'all! We have so much to be thankful for! 

Sometimes I get down when Mitch has to work so much on the holidays, but then I remember how much we have to be thankful for. It's gets hard holiday after holiday when he works, for both him and I. He is so worn out this week. He has worked pretty much all week and that's a bummer when I was off all week. But good news, he got a great Christmas work schedule, so he is off for the first time- Christmas Eve and day! We are excited to have a normal time. But I guess that's what you get when you marry someone in the medical field and I better get use to it. Ha. He is going to have to work lots of holidays in the future. I am just thankful he has found something he loves!

So since he had to work this thanksgiving, he had one day off, Friday. So that's when we celebrated. We had lots of family over to my parents and we enjoyed a day of yummy food, family time and football (no I don't want to talk about the AR/LSU game)!  Thursday night, my parents and I went to Lights On at Utica Square and it was really fun. The weather was perfect! 

This week Mitch is off everyday but Wednesday, and we have a busy week! There are lots of activities going on at school (can you believe I have less than three weeks until break again)!?! Also this Thursday, we are headed to Stillwater again for the Jenks football game. They are in the state championship and we love to go to the games. I also get to eat at my fav restaurants and do some shopping in Stillwater. Then Friday, we are headed to Arkansas for one day then off to Branson Saturday morning! We will be there until Monday night and I cannot wait for a little getaway! There is only one thing- they are forecasting lots of "winter weather" starting Thursday. I am hoping it isn't as bad as they are saying.

Happy first week of December- this is one of my favorite months! So many fun things going on for the holidays and lots and lots of family time!!