I can remember summer as a child. As a child I viewed summer as playtime. Late nights, late mornings, swimming, playing with friends, and watermelon outside with sweet juice dripping down my chin. For my boys, I want to give them these same memories. And let me be honest with you, I enjoy summer now (as a parent) I think even more than I did when I was a child. I love the freedom summer brings. I love the "no schedule" and the "let's stay up late and sleep in in the morning." I love it all. Mostly, I love the memories my children are now making of THEIR summers. I love that they play with each other all day long with mostly no fighting. I love play dates at the pool, and nights filled with trampoline jumping and baseball playing (I am a pretty good pitcher).
This summer only has around 6 weeks left and that makes me sad. I am probably even more sad about that fact than my children are (well, Will for sure) because they both have mentioned how much they miss their school friends. I will miss my boys something fierce once school starts up again. It normally takes me about a month to get used to the quietness that school time brings. I will get used to it again, I am sure, but for now I will enjoy the crazy and the loud and the hot because I know in 6 more weeks it will all be over.
In 6 more weeks I will be able to spend WAY more time dwelling on decisions like barn doors, floor plans, pool design, and dinner table options. Dinner tables such as this...Isn't this a beauty? Not sure if that is totally the way I want to go because I was thinking round but I still really like this one. In 6 weeks, I'll make my decision...
Until then...I will play baseball and cool off at the pool while eating a cobbler that I made from fresh berries we picked earlier that morning. Summer time happiness...
I don't want to start this blog being a Debbie Downer but more and more these days I am realizing how life is really too short. In a blink of your eye your life can change. You can lose loved ones, friends, family, siblings, jobs, or spouses. Just today I learned of a friend from high school losing his sister yesterday (she's younger than me)...my precious Mamaw is about to meet Jesus any day. Life is too short.
On that note, I realize how precious friendships are to me. To say I love Andrea as just a best friend just doesn't seem like enough. Those words "best friend" don't feel deep enough. I am 36. We have been best friends for 25 years. Do the math. I have known her and had her as a friend for more years than not in my life. I can hardly remember life before her or without her in it. I hope and pray that Jesus comes back before I will ever have to imagine my life without her in it any longer. We complete each other's sentences, we know what each other is thinking before the other even talks, we can answer questions about that person that no one (sometimes not even our spouses) know. There is NO ONE I would rather spend a weekend with.
No offense to any of my other friends (I love you all too). On this visit to Oklahoma we also got to spend time with Chris who has known Andrea even longer than I have. I met Andrea at age 12. They met at 9 years old. 9! I think of my son Will who will be 9 in November and think "That is the age when we all met." It blows my mind and makes me ponder how important and paramount it is to chose Godly friends and people that make a positive impact on your life because if you are as blessed as we all have been these people could be in your life for the entire REST of your life. Sometimes that boggles my mind!
It seems strange to me that this might have very well been the last time Andrea will stay with me in our current home. Hopefully and God willing next time she comes we will be in our new home and she can be here to help me decorate and plan and maybe UNPACK?! I just signed her up for that one:) She totally has great style and I know I could use her experience there. This weekend she got to see our land and the neighborhood we will be building in. Next time there will be a house on that land. No, correction, next time there will be a home. A home that I will gladly welcome her (and other friends) into with open arms. I can not wait.
Safe travels home my friend. Until next time....
Can't you see my problem here? These doors are all amazing and I am having a major problem making my decision. Should I do red, blue, teal, turquoise, wood grain, non wood grain, skinny, fat, hardware, no hardware, handles, no handles....Oh my! I know the majority of you probably think I am a little crazy putting this much thought into one little door but this is a BIG deal for me. I have never been the one who wants the latest fad in her home. This is something I have always wanted BEFORE it was even the "in thing" to do. To say that it is now the cool thing is so awesome to me that it's hard to put into words (yes, I get really excited about some pointless things in life).
Should it enter into a bedroom, a bathroom, a movie room, a laundry room, or into a really cool closet? Can anyone help me and maybe give me some more suggestions that I haven't thought of yet? On the other hand...maybe that isn't such a good idea. I am already losing sleep over this stinking door. If you think I am joking about that PLEASE think again because I am 100% serious.
This door situation is killing me and it is only the first of many big decisions regarding our home. My oh my....
Yeah! My cousin Kasey came to visit us for 5 whole days. It was awesome, amazing fun and we were all sad when she had to leave on Saturday. The time is just always too short.
While she was here we took her with us on the HBA (Home Builders Association) Parade of Homes Tour. Yes, we ARE OLD:) In our line of work, it really pays to be a member of this organization though. We earn many referrals through being a part of this and meet many people in our field and related fields that we use for plumbing, concrete, electrical, etc. On Friday, Kasey got to go with us as we boarded a bus and were shuttled around to many Parade of Homes homes throughout Bixby, Jenks, and Tulsa.
Man oh man, I found some homes and features inside these homes that I fell in love with. Some of these features will not fit into our budget when we begin our home building process. Some will....and those I am super excited about.
I have recently told Steven that I want a sliding vintage barn door in our next house. I am not sure where I want it but I just know I want it. He was on the fence about this house feature and then LOW AND BEHOLD literally every home we stepped into had a sliding vintage barn door somewhere in the home. It's all the rage right now and I was super glad that he was with me so I could prove this point. I will have one but still not sure location yet. There's just so many choices: bathrooms, pantry, movie room, laundry room...I must decide!!!!
If money were no object (alas, it is) I would decorate my new home all from Luxe. This store is beyond amazing and I love all the style that it offers. Can I afford a $332 lamp? That's a negative. So, if anyone reading this blog and knows of a local store, like Luxe, that they can refer me to for home design I would be more than grateful.
We are almost certain we will begin our building process come late fall or early winter. We must wait for our business to die down a little first. We are weeks away from breaking ground on our first ever full build for a flip house. That house is located at 35/Utica in Tulsa. This will be a 4200 square foot home completely built by us. This both thrills and terrifies me. Since that will be going full force soon, plus running our businesses and being full time parents...our personal home will begin later than originally planned.
Oh well, that just gives me more time to dream up what it will look like one day in the near future. Only time will tell the final product but I can say this.....IT WILL HAVE A SLIDING VINTAGE BARN DOOR SOMEWHERE:)
MarVal Resort in Gore, OK will always hold a special place in my heart now. I had never really gone camping before becoming a boy mom. I liked outside okay but my version of fun outside time was a float down a river, poolside, or ocean side. Now, I still like all those things but I enjoy so many more things that I never thought I would.
Enter MarVal. We first visited this camp grounds when Will was only 9 months old. He took some of his first steps in the cabins at this resort (he was fully walking a couple of weeks later). Flash forward many years and Will is going to turn 9 YEARS this year (no longer months) and we are still returning year after year and sometimes twice in one summer.
There is no shortage of things to do at his place. You've got your skipping rocks, river rafting, canoeing, fishing, mini golf, sand volleyball, basketball, splash pad, swimming pool, water balloon launching station, horseshoes, arts and crafts activity center, bikes and scooters galore to rent, and your outdoor Saturday night movie on the lawn every weekend. Throw in an awesome new park they just added and a weekend rental golf cart and my boys are in heaven. H.E.A.V.E.N. One boy more than the other boy but all 3 boys love this place.
This weekend Steven and Owen stayed one extra day until Monday. Will and I came home on Sunday so he could attend baseball practice and get all ready for his tournament beginning this week. Owen soaked up the sun and his one on one time with Steven. Owen adores camping, animals, outside, and his daddy so for his 5 year old (6 next month) there is nothing more likely to warm his heart than the last 24 hours he has had. Steven kept sending me pictures of him and Owen and in every picture Owen kept looking happier and happier.
This is just another reason MarVal will always have a warm place in my heart. Oh, and it's only 1 hour door to door. That's not bad either:)
We had to drive almost 3 hours straight West to find the sun...but we FOUND OUT FOLKS! It's in Jet, Oklahoma at the Great Salt Plains National Park. This place is really quite amazing. I look at it and think, "How in the world is this in Oklahoma?" For all those parents out there with boys (girls might like it too but boys LOVE it), I would recommend taking a day trip out to Jet, OK. There's nothing to do or see in Jet besides the Salt Plains. And, I am NOT exaggerating. There is a motel, a gas station, a post office, a bank, and a couple burned out buildings that line Main St. That's it folks. You just visited Jet, OK. Do not be dismayed though. Drive 5 miles west for the Salt Flats, and 5 miles back east for the Great Salt Lake (for some fishing) and you have a pretty fun day actually.
A few helpful hints if you do decide to make this journey:
1. Stay the night in Enid. Believe me, you will be thankful you didn't pick the cities around the Salt Flats to stay the night.
2. Bring LOADS of bottled water and sunscreen. This white salts reflects off the white sand just like you were at a Florida beach. I reapplied several times and am still pretty burned today.
3. Bring REAL shovels and digging tools. Unless someone has been there before you to already start the digging process those cheapy plastic sand toy things are not gonna slice the mustard.
4. Bring a Ziplock or container of some sort to take home all your crystals your kids will unearth.
5. Bring a change of clothes. Mainly for the kids, but you might want one too. Salt, mud, dried water, bugs, and sand will be covering every inch of your body, hands, and hair.
6. I would also bring chairs to sit in or beach towels to lay on. What you see is what you get. No water. No chairs. No bathrooms. No people (sometimes). It's a very peaceful, amazingly beautiful place but comes with no amentities (so you will need to bring those).
Lastly, I would suggest you make this a day trip (as in at least 24 hours) because you will not want to miss the Gloss Mountains National Park while so close to it either. We stayed the night in Enid and did this also, and then made the drive back home. I have heard many good things also about Little Sahara State Park and Alabaster Caverns in Freedom, OK. There are plenty of places to go and see up in Northwest OK that I had never even dreamed of. It's really a gorgeous place full of fields, gravel roads, peace, and the brightest blue skies. I am glad we took our boys to see this part of our state!
This is Gloss Mountain National Park near Cleo Springs, OK. Blink and you will miss Cleo Springs but just as you drive the incline over the city you are greeted with the Gloss Mountains. I say mountains but I really mean "mountains". All these beautiful mounds of red dirt really prove is how incredibly flat Oklahoma really is. You can see the flatness in all the glory once you climb to the top. Don't get me wrong. This mountain was plenty high for me and the boys couldn't have gone much higher without some breaks. It was just the right tallness and wideness for our family:) There were many times when Steven was just a bit too close to the edge looking for lizards, bugs, what not. Guess who would follow him every.single.time? Yep...his shadow in the form of Owen.
I think you have probably heard me say before on this blog how Owen loves all animals. This was even more apparent while climbing and at the top of the mountain. Flying bugs, still bugs, turtles, frogs, lizards, birds, swarming birds...he loved them all. I think our grand tally for the day on lizards was around 4. Some of them Steven was quick enough to catch. Most could escape. Those things are quick!!
It was quite amazing that this mountain and types of views were in our state. I didn't really know about this part of Oklahoma until my mother in law told me about it. She was the one that suggested we visit Gloss Mountain and the Great Salt Plains. I am super glad we did and I am glad we were able to introduce the boys to a section of Oklahoma that was totally new to them. The entire time they kept asking, "Are we still in Oklahoma? What state are we in?" We kept telling them over and over that this was Oklahoma and you could tell by their faces they just weren't buying it. Who knew Oklahoma had some pretty parts? Not me!
If you have never traveled to this part of Oklahoma, I would suggest doing it. There's no other section of our state that looks like this (so I've heard) so I would make it a duty to go see the pretty country that is Oklahoma. I'm glad we did....
For the love of all things good and holy...PLEASE stop raining! I am so sick of it. We are finally beginning to see some clearing and some sun here but it has taken a good 3 weeks. Never in my life have I seen this much rain in Oklahoma in May. I know everyone is tired of it and the flooding has all impacted us in some ways but for us it is even harder. It rains, we can't work. We can't work, we can't finish jobs. We can't finish jobs, we can't get paid. I think you are figuring out the cycle here.
So to help time pass and to give our yards time to recede we have been doing more indoor things. Like: meeting cousins for lunch (the all blue was not planned), snuggling our doggy for nap time cuddles, and going to see movies. Our first summer movie was "San Andreas". It was actually better than I thought it was going to be. The boys enjoyed it but Owen was caught holding his ears a lot through all the earthquakes because according to him "earthquakes are too loud."
This summer is going to allow us plenty of good movie viewings. Some include: Minions, Inside Out, Ant-Man, Mission Impossible #212, Jurassic World, and I am sure many others!
Now...to go mow this jungle that is our front and back yards. UGH!
I can remember summer as a child. As a child I viewed summer as playtime. Late nights, late mornings, swimming, playing with friends, and watermelon outside with sweet juice dripping down my chin. For my boys, I want to give them these same memories. And let me be honest with you, I enjoy summer now (as a parent) I think even more than I did when I was a child. I love the freedom summer brings. I love the "no schedule" and the "let's stay up late and sleep in in the morning." I love it all. Mostly, I love the memories my children are now making of THEIR summers. I love that they play with each other all day long with mostly no fighting. I love play dates at the pool, and nights filled with trampoline jumping and baseball playing (I am a pretty good pitcher). 
This summer only has around 6 weeks left and that makes me sad. I am probably even more sad about that fact than my children are (well, Will for sure) because they both have mentioned how much they miss their school friends. I will miss my boys something fierce once school starts up again. It normally takes me about a month to get used to the quietness that school time brings. I will get used to it again, I am sure, but for now I will enjoy the crazy and the loud and the hot because I know in 6 more weeks it will all be over. 
In 6 more weeks I will be able to spend WAY more time dwelling on decisions like barn doors, floor plans, pool design, and dinner table options. Dinner tables such as this...Isn't this a beauty? Not sure if that is totally the way I want to go because I was thinking round but I still really like this one. In 6 weeks, I'll make my decision... 
