A picture is worth a thousand words

We're house/kid sitting all week so there won't be much blogging or sewing but we are having fun pretending we are parents of 3 kids, a dog, and learning what life could be like for us in 15-20 years.

I baked some cookies yesterday and Kai was really sad he couldn't partake:

To not always getting what we want, (I can't help but to sing in my head "but we get what we need"),
Tera

A Quarter of a Century

I realize this post is over a week overdue but the past week has been nuts. My birthday weekend was one of the top weekends of my life. For real. Everything I could have possibly wanted. It all started Friday afternoon with a text from Ryan that read "pack an overnight bag." I could hardly contain my excitement as I shoved clothing into a bag and and patiently awaited Ryan's arrival to go to the surprise location. I just love surprises and I loved that Ryan planned out the entire weekend and kept it a secret!

We drove to OKC Friday night and checked into our hotel in bricktown. He planned for us to eat sushi at In the Raw and then we headed to see the Red Hawks play a game. Oh did I mention that our hotel was right by the stadium? So close we could actually watch the game from our room.

We're big fans of suishi... I even got a thing to make sushi for my bday!

From our room!

We did decide it would be fun to go to the game and besides, we already had tickets, so we grabbed some dessert in concessions and cheered on the Red Hawks.

See our hotel?

We left early so I honestly don't even know if they won- but we just had fun with the entertainment and the experience of going to a game but let's hope they won!

My actual birthday was great- I woke up to Ryan bringing me breakfast in bed with mimosas. He let me open some gifts- one being a voucher for some running shoes, that he planned out a place to go to purchase them. As we got to the running store, I saw a sign that said "Whole Foods" then below it "Anthropologie". Eeeeek! What more could a girl want? We went shopping and taste-tested, and oohed and awwed at our new tennies. We ate at Saturn Grill and I will forever crave that flat bread for now on. It's probably a good thing we don't have one here or else I'd be a carbivore. And 300 pounds.

That afternoon I had an urge to watch Hunger Games and since it just came out that day it was near impossible to find. We literally went to about 10 different Red Box locations to find one- but no luck. The places that "had it" were broken. But alas, Nicole's roommate just purchased it that day and kindly let us watch. We had reservations at a fancy restaurant downtown but I was craving some Thai Cafe in Stillwater and missing my furry baby so we headed back home.

We ate so much good food that weekend, went shopping, open gifts, celebrated, etc. Ryan made me feel so loved and spoiled me soo much!

Top: Thai Cafe, Bottom left- Saturn grill, Bottom right- breakfast in bed

Sunday, my parents, Amber and Corbyn came after church to celebrate with us. It was so great to see them and celebrate with them. I love my family so much and my heart overflows when I get to spend time with them.

We went to Mexico Joes and I ate probably 6 flour tortillas myself. I swear I could live on bread alone- (Not literally, Jesus...).

To being a half a century,
Tera

Weekend Review-Friends, Food, Family

This weekend was perfect. We got to see friends, family, eat some fantastic food, and relax. What more could you ask for? Friday, Ryan and I had a date night to Mexico Joes for their famous Margs and chips n' salsa. We enjoyed sitting right next to the Gundy's and me fighting the urge to go talk to him. I just don't want to be that person. Respecting their time? Maybe. Pride? Probably. So this was the second time we sat right next to them at a restaurant and said nothing. I justify it in my head to talk to him because I work with his players, so he needs to know me. No he doesn't. He really doesn't. Maybe if we run into them somewhere other than a restaurant. (Sigh.)

Saturday we met some of our friends in Tulsa for lunch then went to my parents house to swim and watch Gone Baby Gone. If you haven't seen it, go rent it. You'll be shocked it didn't get as famous as it deserves. It is heart-wrenching, leaving you asking what you would have done in that situation. I love suspense-filled, thought-provoking films. This is legit, people.

 
We did miss something very significant on Saturday, though. Saturday morning, my sister-in-law became a Kappa Delta! We made plans over a month ago to meet our friends in Tulsa, so we didn't cancel on them but celebrated via text message with Nicole and planned to reconvene on Sunday about the rush experience.

Sunday we went to church then did the usual get-ready-for-the-week thing, then had Nicole over for dinner and tell-us-everything-that-happened-during-rush conversation. I really don't feel like I was in her shoes 6 years ago (being a freshman, not going through rush). It feels like yesterday. It is so fun to be in Stillwater during her first year here at OSU. It's fun for me because I went to a university completely different than OSU and it is interesting to compare the difference. I am fervently praying her time here is enriching, empowering, and that it provides solid, faithful friends for her. I hope we can be an outlet for peace, confiding, and a piece of home for her. I'm thankful God as allowed us to be in the same place right now and I don't think it was a coincidence.

Me as a freshman and one of my still-best friends Kristie

 As a freshman, I started college with a nose ring, a tattoo on my foot, and a full heart to learn. I may not look much different than I did 6 years ago but I did leave college with three of the best friends a girl could ever ask for. I pray Nicole will be able to look back 6 years from now and say the same.

Back to the weekend. Sunday, after dinner, we took Kai to the dog park, because Nicole had never been, and of course she wants to see 30+ dogs playing together. We met our friend Chelsie there and one of the ugliest dogs kept sitting on her foot.

Nothing against pugs, but you had to see this pug's eyes. So so funny.

So thankful for a wonderful weekend, rest, and for the Lord's providence.

To His faithfulness,
Tera

Weekend Review

Phew! I am exhausted. Can I have another weekend, please? Our weekend was fabulous, don't get me wrong, but it's going to take awhile to recover. This weekend my wonderful in-laws were here, moving my sister-in-law into her apartment. We love spending time with them and are excited for them to have even more excuses to make their way to Stillwater!

We spent Friday eating, chatting, and hanging out and Saturday was moving, organizing, shopping, etc to get her moved in. It was fun to see her room get put together, meet her new roommate, and to know how wonderful of a time she is about to have. Then Saturday the fires were so insane, and Ryan was on call so needless-to-say, we did not sleep much Saturday. Sunday we grocery shopped, cleaned, said goodbye to in-laws (minus Nicole) and even took a nap! We were lacking sleep and we ate and ate and ate this weekend that we could do nothing but sleep. Kai and Ryan napped together, cuddling, snoring, all of that. I took pictures and oohed and awwed because it was one of the cutest things ever.

We're so excited to have Nicole in Stillwater. I woke up this morning thinking that's crazy she's in the same town right now and I could possibly just run into her somewhere.I spent some time Saturday sewing her a curtain for under her sink and for her room. It's fun to be able to make things for people!

I also did do something somewhat bad. I went and saw Micky- Kai's potential brother. He acted, looked, and had the same characteristics as Kai. I was in love. I kept calling him Kai on accident. He is a little smaller than Kai but who has the exact same body shape as all their siblings? I was tempted, but my rational side kicked in and told me that wouldn't be a good idea. Mainly because of the cost. (not to buy him but to keep him alive). However, I do hope he goes to a great home, because he deserves it. He is precious.

Friday afternoon a mechanic fit me in their schedule to fix our air conditioner! It took less than 20 minutes to fix it. Apparently with the extreme heat, he's seeing the same issue all over the place. I'm just thankful it works now.

I'm thankful for family, cooler weather today, and for a new week.

To having great weekends,
Tera

Thankful Thursday- Perspective

I can hardly believe that today is Thursday. Is tomorrow really Friday? How is that possible? I love when weeks fly by like this one has. As I was on my run this morning I was refocusing on being thankful.When I began my run I saw the moon, which was beautiful because it was full. Then on the end of my run I saw the amazing sunrise. Ah, so much to be thankful for.

Today I am thankful for:

• Sunrises
• Sprinklers to run through 
• Family
• A job that is indoors and is air conditioned
• A job that I love
• A puppy that makes me laugh every day
• A husband that loves me and works hard to support our little family

So much of life is perspective. We get discontent when we are not grateful for where we are in life. I'm guilty of this so I am working on transitioning my mindset to being one that rejoices in the good and draws out the good things in life. I want to be light in the dark, I want to choose to always be thankful and not wish for things that I do not have. We live in a society where we are constantly wanting more and when we attain it, we just want more. It is a conscious choice to be thankful and I really want to be content even if it is 112 degrees outside and I long for fall. Even in those little things, I want to be content. I want to be thankful when I go on a morning run-instead of complaining about the temperature- be thankful that there are sprinklers that I get to run through. Oh and boy do I run through them. When I want to groan, I want to look for what positive things I can draw out. It is a choice.I want to make that choice and it all comes down to my perspective.

Tomorrow my in-laws are coming as my sister-in-law is moving in for college! We can hardly wait to have her in the same town as us. She better like hanging out with us because she has no option. We're thankful that she chose OSU even if we were not a part of that equation, we win because she is just that awesome. Stillwater=win. Osses=win.

To being thankful for today,
Tera

Mini-Vacay

We went to Kansas City this weekend. It was awesome. So refreshing, encouraging, and just plain fun. We got there Friday night just in time for dinner. We brought our sweet Kai with us and he got to meet his cousin Tucker for the first time.

Our sweet pooches, Kai and Tucker

They had a fabulous time playing, chasing each other, stealing each others toys, etc. We stayed up late talking and Saturday morning we had a lovely breakfast outside on the backporch. We let the dogs play then we took them on a walk around the neighborhood.

After our walk, we made a plan. Can I just say that I love plans? Kyle insists on always having a plan before we do anything, and it just made me laugh. We tossed around several ideas until we decided we would go to Lifetime, guys would work out, girls would swim, and then meet up and rock climb. That's precisely what we did. The girls swam- which really meant going down the water slides 5 billion times and then jumping in the pool every billionth time we slid. I love my nieces.

Then we went rock climbing.

Lifetime in Kansas City has this amazing rock wall with several areas you can climb, and even provides shoes if you don't own your own!

I must be a big wus because I am still  throbbing with pain. We had a blast though, scaling the walls, attempting to be as good as the little ones. It is quite surprising what good climbers little kids can be!

After rock climbing we went to their "neighborhood pool." It technically is across the street from their neighborhood and a city pool, but this is not the type of city pool I grew up going to! Sure there were diving boards, and swimming laps and slides, but not your average slides. One slide was about 10 feet long and you can go down with tubes that they provide! Then there is another slide that is windy and up on a grassy hill. So cool! Then there's the beachy area for kids to play in the sand and the zero depth entrance. My sister and her husband and I were talking about how much pools have changed since when we were kids.

After spending hours swimming, climbing, working out, eating, etc, we decided it was probably time to check on our furry babies. They played some more and then we went to out to dinner for bbq. Kansas City is known for their incredible bbq so naturally we made a plan that that was where we would go. The ironic thing was they wanted to go to a place called Oklahoma Joes.

My heavenly meal. Carolina- pulled pork with cole slaw sandwich with a side of smoked chicken gumbo. Be still my heart.

Dinner was to die for. We found out that Oklahoma Joes originated in Stillwater, OK which was just an unexpected coincidence. After dinner, we were stuffed but wanted ice cream. That doesn't even make sense but we figured we would drive there and want it so to kill some time we went to Trader Joes and stocked up on wine. I mean STOCKED UP. Ryan let me pick out lots of chocolate too because he knows I'm not much of a beverage drinker, but I can down my chocolate. Love that man.

Okay, may sound weird but don't knock it until you try it!

Gelato was next... so amazing. I just love Kansas City, there's so much to do and it's such a nice city.

How can you not love those precious faces!?

We enjoyed our gelato outside and took turns racing each other to the other side of the turf and back. We're awesome.

Sunday we went to church which was one of the most emotional spiritual experiences I've had in a while, and truly felt close to the Lord (more on that later). Then we went to brunch and sadly had to hit the road back to Stillwater, America. We loved our mini vacation and were sad to leave but had an amazing time with people we love.

Looking forward to celebrating the 4th in just two days! It's going to be a quick week.

Until next time Kansas City,
Tera