Leaving his mark...

in the mortar...

Herbie must have been jealous that Carl and I wrote "Murray 09" in the mortar of the fireplace before it dried. I really never took him to be a nostalgic cat, but I guess it goes to show how much you need to make sure you pay attention to all your kids (pets) especially when you get a new baby (puppy) that requires a lot of attention.

But really, how cute is that?!

Kelly and Thomas' Wedding

My future niece and nephews are absolutely adorable. Since Adam is still months old, he cheered Kellen and Mac on since they were both in Kelly's wedding this past weekend. I must say that although the beautiful bride was of course the star of the show, Kellen and Mackenzie were pretty darn cute too! I look forward so much to watching the kids come down the aisle... here's why.

Kellen is quite the wanderer. He has to be comfortable in his environment to be able to stand still, otherwise there are just so many things to discover. Since he was the ring bearer, Lori wanted to give him lots of time to explore the church so he'd be able to get down to business when it came to aisle-walking time. The moment of truth came... Mac and him started their treck down the aisle. They did great! When he got to the end, right as the doors were opening up to reveal Kelly and Mike, Kellen yells as loud as he can, "I DID IT, MOM!!!" Everyone burst into giggles. It was perfect. I just hope he wears his pirate hat in my wedding... I'd love that so much. :)

After Mac did such a great job walking down the aisle, she came to sit with Pat, Deanna, and Adam right in front of me. Pat and Tim (brothers of the bride) both had reading parts in the wedding. When it came time for Pat to read, he walked up to the pulpit and started his scripture. Mac was sitting on the edge of her seat, watching him. Right when he paused in between scriptures, Mac looked over at all the bridesmaids sitting in the pew next to us and pointed at her dad and whispered, "That's my dad!!" I love being able to witness moments like that... she was so proud, it was adorable.

These things make me excited for little ones of my own someday. :) Kids are so precious.

It's done!!

Carl got his birthday wish... the fireplace was finished yesterday! Yea!!! It looks so good!!! :) But you should SEE the dust flying around our house!

Now hopefully there'll still be some cooler weather so we can crank 'er up...

Good Choices

Yesterday Carl and I hung out with Kellen, my unofficial nephew. We're days away from Kelly Murray's wedding, and Lori, Kellen's mom needed to run a few errands before the big day. Kellen loves coming out to our house because Carl always leaves lots of gizmos laying around that he can stash in his pockets... like a pirate hunting for doubloons. He also likes it out here because he can play on the swing Carl put up for him.

When Carl picked him up, he told me that before Lori left, he yelled out Carl's window, "Bye mom! I'll make good choices today, and I won't squeeze the puppy too hard."

How cute is that? He's so smart. I'm going to love being an official aunt. And I must confirm, there was only very gentle puppy squeezing yesterday afternoon...

Quite the thoughtful life lesson... "I'll make good choices today"... shouldn't we all take his advice??

He needs to feeeeel the fiiiiiiire....

(I love Dierks Bentley.)



WE HAVE A FIREPLACE!! Our living room is now complete! Carl would disagree however because his 2 elks are not in there yet, nor is the Oklahoma Double Chop rock that will frame the fireplace... but still! We have one now! Our living room looks so amazing... it finally has the focal point it always needed. And despite the warm weather, we couldn't help but start 'er up last night... and probably tonight too... :)

Trudy is a little less interested... she just likes chewing on the carpet that was ripped up from this corner... (insert predictable joke here)

Feed Dogs

Many of you may not know that I am in a gang. Yes, a gang. But instead of the gang being identified by a color or a bandana, the gang is identified by a nicely hemmed piece of fabric.

Confused yet? :)

All the women on my mom's side of the family have been taught to sew by their mothers/grandmothers. Ever since I was a little girl, Mammaw (mom's mom) would let me play with her sewing machine. I'd make little no-use shaped pillows with crazy stitches. Although this seems like a simple art project (or busy work for a 10 year old), these projects sparked my interest in learning more about sewing. For Christmas 2007 I got a Singer sewing machine from my mom so I can carry on the tradition. We decided we needed a gang name. Inspired by the metal piece of a sewing machine that pulls the fabric through the machine, we named ourselves, "The Feed Dogs."

My first Feed Dog project did not go as planned. It was a "SEW EASY" pattern for a shirt with a cute mandarin collar. It did not turn out like the picture, nor did it fit at all. To be honest, I never finished it. :) This frustrated me since I am quite crafty and seem to think I can do just about anything that can be sold at a Michaels or Obby Obby (Hobby Lobby). Not the case. Sewing is tough! I put the sewing machine away until Halloween, when I pulled out all the stops to make Carl antlers. Since then, I made aprons for Em and Mom for Christmas, and my latest project... bandanas for Trudy and Herbie. They are now officially ready for tailgate season!!! (although I am sure that Trudy's bandana will need to triple in size before then...) Stay tuned for more Feed Dog masterpieces...