officially official

Well it's officially official, we are Mr. & Mrs. Cowcatcher!  Woohoo!

I thought our wedding went really nice last night & we were happy with how everything turned out.

I didn't even so much as trip while we were walking down the aisle either.  That's always a bonus.  The best part was that my dad actually walked slowly with me... unlike his brisk walk during rehearsal the night before.

I think the only complaint I had was the hot beaming lights that were supposed to be adjusted before our wedding, which apparently didn't happen.  They felt like heat lamps from a tanning bed but with no fan to cool ya off.  Luckily we both made it through without completely melting in a pool of sweat.

Now we're looking forward to this Saturday for our reception.  My bff Kat is making our cakes & I can't wait to see them.  Her cakes are always awesome.  She should really consider doing it for a living, she'd make a serious stack of cash I'm positive.  I have to brag though... I have the most talented bff ever.  I swear there's nothing she can't do.  She's done so much for my wedding it's crazy.  If only I had half her talent, wow.  I'm just so thankful & blessed to have her as my bff & everything she's done for me & continues to do.  She's just an awesome bff!

Yesterday was such a long day!  I rolled out of bed way before I wanted to & then had a nail appointment at 10am.  After my nail appointment I went to my parents house to pick up a few things to take w/me to the church just in case they didn't get there the same time I did.  After that I ran into town to Parkway to look at a white dress shirt for Fred to wear with his suit.  He met me there to check it out & didn't like the shirt so he left & went to eat lunch w/his family & I headed north west bound to madly search other stores for the perfect shirt.  1pm & 3 stores later I found one & purchased it after calling to make sure he was ok w/what I had found.  Left the store immediately, ran back to Parkway to have them press it so we could pick it up at 4pm.  By this point the afternoon was closing in on me & I was starving!  I ran thru the drive-thru at Braum's & headed home to eat & relax.  After I finished eating, my Mary Kay lady called to say she had my make-up ready for me, so I jumped in my truck & drove over there to pick that up, then headed back home again.  At this point it was 3:30pm & I was exhausted.  I made the decision to lay down for a brief nap & ended up sleeping until almost 5pm.  Oops.  Supposed to be at the church at 6pm.  Fred got home right after I jumped out of the shower & somehow we made it to the church right at 6pm.

So that was the crazy day yesterday.  Needless to say we were both extremely exhausted by the time the evening was over.  After our wedding, we all went to eat at Mackie McNear's.  Fred & I went by my parents house afterwards to drop my dress off & for him to change clothes & leave his suit there as well.  By the time we got home for the night it was late & we were both totally wiped out.

I'm certain as soon as both our heads hit the pillows we were out like a light.

The alarm went off way to early this morning, then I started kicking myself for not taking a half day off work today so that I could let my body re-coop from yesterday.  Apparently I wasn't thinking about how drained I would be.

The sweetest thing happened this morning though.  When Fred walked me out to my truck as I was leaving for work, he had put his ring on!  Awe... just totally warmed my heart.  I wasn't expecting him to have it on that early this morning, but he did.  I melted a little.  Ok... I melted a lot.  Then I wanted to go back inside the house & curl up in bed with him... but unfortunately I had to go to work.

Tonight I plan on getting to bed fairly early to catch up on some much needed rest.  Baby Kayla is draining me of all my energy these days.  Today has been the biggest challenge so far.  I think I've dozed off over 100 times trying to be productive at work.  Hopefully this evening we'll have a nice quiet evening together... our first evening alone as Mr. & Mrs.  Awe.

I can't wait to post pics of my hott husband in his suit though, wow he was smokin hott!

going to the chapel

Ok... everyone sing it with me now...

Going to the chapel and we're gonna to get married.
Going to the chapel and we're gonna to get married.
Gee, I really love you and we're gonna to get married.

Going to the chapel of love.
Spring is here,
the sky is blue.
Whoa! the birds all sing as if they knew.
Today's the day, we'll say, "I do"
and we'll never be lonely anymore.

Because we're going to the chapel and we're gonna get married.
Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married.
Gee, I really love you and we're gonna get married.
Going to the chapel of love.

Bells will ring,
the sun will shine.
Whoa, I'll be his and he'll be mine.
We'll love until the end of time
and we'll never be lonely anymore.

Because we're going to the chapel and we're gonna get married.
Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married.
Gee, I really love you and we're gonna get married.

Going to the chapel of love.
Going to the chapel of love.
Going to the chapel of love

Well we're now down to less than a day away from becoming Mr. & Mrs. Cowcatcher.  Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous or getting the last minute jitters, but I'm not & I haven't had any of that.  The only thing I'm nervous about is walking down the aisle in my dress & hoping everyone likes the way I look in it.  As far as actually getting married... I'm not the least bit nervous at all.

I guess when you know in your heart your marrying the person whom you know for a fact you will spend the rest of your life with... maybe you don't get nervous or have the last minute jitters, who knows.

I've learned first hand... that even planning something simple & small takes a lot of planning & can be a lot more stressful then I ever imagined.  I can't imagine trying to plan some crazy huge ceremony like some of those shows you see on TV.  That's just not our style, plus why spend that much money on something that will only last for a day.  I'd rather save the money & purchase something we need or want.

I have to admit that it does kinda feel like we're in some type of dream right now.  This time next year, not only will we be celebrating our first anniversary together but we will also be holding our first child.  Kinda crazy to think about huh.

I know that I can't wait to see my honey all decked out tomorrow night.  He's gonna look hott.  Wait, what am I saying... to me he always looks hott.  Do you think it would appropriate for me to grab his butt when we have our first kiss as Mr. & Mrs.?  Nah... I'm just kidding.  Not sure the preacher would find that humorous & it would probably embarrass my honey as well.  I'll refrain.

Chances are, this will be my last blog as a single woman.  The title will officially fit after this.
"When Two Trails Become One Road"

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves."


1 Corinthians 13:4-7

week 21

Well I'm officially at the 21 week mark with baby Kayla & here's her latest ultra sound pic.  When we went to the ultra sound on the 6th that's when we found out we were having a baby girl.

I've been set on the name Kayla Elizabeth for as long as I can remember.  My bff Kat & I always said we would name our children after each other.  Sure enough... the first baby she had was a girl & shares my middle name!  Of course I think that's totally awesome.  Elizabeth is Kat's middle name & it just so happens we're having a baby girl first.  I always wished that our kids would grow up together & become bff's too, just like Kat & I, but life didn't work out that way & that's ok.

There was a point in my life that I wasn't sure I would ever have children.  After a certain age you start to wonder if you'll ever find that person you want to spend the rest of your life with & have a family with.  Even though it's taken almost 33 years... I have to say I've never been happier!  In less than one week I will be walking down the aisle towards the love of my life to say our vows in front of our immediate family with our bff's standing beside us.  I'm so excited & not even the least bit nervous.  I think I'm more nervous about what everyone will think of me in my dress then anything else.  I just hope that Fred loves me in the dress & it brings tears of happiness when he sees me in it.  That's the reaction I'm hoping & praying for.

As far as baby Kayla... she's definitely in there, dancing around to hopefully country music, but somedays it feels like she's seriously breaking it down in there.  I'm sure Fred can't wait until the day he'll be able to feel her too.  For now, it's just me who feels her doing flips or dancing.  Sometimes it tickles, but I've been warned that eventually it will be kinda painful.  I'm hoping Kayla decides to go easy on me.

I feel pretty good for the most part.  I have these stupid swelling issues that I can't seem to get rid of & I haven't been able to feel 4 fingers on my right hand for a little over 2 weeks now, which is apparently due to swelling also.

If I had to pick two of my biggest issues it's my extreme back pain & sleeping!  It's so hard to make it through the entire day without wanting to lay down somewhere & take a nap.  I have a bad back anyways & being prego seems to be pushing me to my limits somedays on the pain scale.  I manage to hide it for the most part but using my HoMedics Lumbar Massaging Cushion has helped a lot thankfully & I try to use it in the evening time when we're relaxing, watching tv.

As far as sleeping goes... I just flat out need to get to bed earlier.  For example today I'm dragging bigtime because we didn't get home & get to bed until 11:30pm & now I'm dearly paying for it.

Oh how I long to crawl into bed & pass out.  Hopefully bedtime will come early tonight.

happy bday

Sing it with me now...
It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to

Heck I almost forgot it was my birthday yesterday with everything else that's going on at the moment.  Wedding & reception planning wow... so much to get done in such a short amount of time.  Thankfully I have a lot of people around me who have an idea of what they're doing.

I'm just not very good at coming up with ideas for stuff like this & it's proving to be a challenge to figure stuff out & try to maintain my sanity during the process.

Well anyways... so yesterday was my birthday.  Yep... the big 33!  These years keep going by faster & faster the older I get I swear.

Since there was some people from our corporate office in Houston visiting yesterday, we all went out to lunch together.  The funny thing was while we were sitting there talking waiting for our food one of the guys said it was his birthday too... so then we said this had to be our birthday lunch so someone else had to buy... and it worked, that's what counts.  It was on the company (smile).

After work I rushed home, let Abigail out for some fresh air & to take care of her business, then change clothes & go to my parents house to meet Kat & her mom for my dress fitting for some needed alterations.  Didn't take long then we ran to Hobby Lobby to check out some fake flowers & I bought a pen to go with the guest book we had already purchased a few weeks ago.

It was almost 8pm before I pulled into the driveway.

Fred had made a trip to Hereford, TX & had driven straight back home afterwards, so I know he was exhausted from a day full of nothing but driving.  Driving doesn't bother me, but I'm not sure I could make a long trip like that all by myself with nobody to talk to.

I was kinda hoping for a warm welcome when I walked in the door, like any birthday girl would want I suppose.  Not exactly what I received though.  Instead I got Mr. Grumpy.

I really do hate these prego hormones I tell ya!  Coming home to Mr. Grumpy last night sent me into an emotional tornado which would probably be rated as an F25 if there is such a thing.  All I wanted to do is cry huge tears, but somehow I managed to refrain from showing anything & just patiently waited... hoping that maybe I would get a little bit of softness... love... a hug... something... anything... but... wait... nope none of that happened.

If you have to ask for attention or affection it doesn't really mean as much, know what I mean?

Around 10pm last night we made a run to Sonic to grab something to eat for dinner.  I know baby Kayla was more than pissed at me by that point, but I had hope... a little hope... ok maybe a lot of hope that we would've gone somewhere besides Sonic to eat.  Knowing my honey was so tired, he could've simply said... how about I surprise you with a nice dinner tomorrow night & just grab something quick tonight.

Again... if you have to ask for something simple it just doesn't mean as much.

On the brighter side of my birthday... I had like one million people leave happy bday messages on my facebook page which made me happy, including my sweetheart that sent me a message at 11pm last night.  Several family members called, which was nice too.

All in all I guess I had a decent birthday yesterday.

So happy birthday to me, I'm officially 33!
Heck, that rhymes, ha ha.

Kia Soul Hamster Commercial

I've been rolling in the floor ever since I first saw this commercial so just in case someone out there hasn't already seen it... check it out...

heat warning

The weather forecast for this week...

I copied this off our local weather channel forecast:

An Excessive Heat Warning has been posted throughout West and Central OK through at least tomorrow evening.  The combination of high temps + high humidity = feels like temps between 105 - 115 each day for the rest of this week and probably through this upcoming weekend. A weak cool front will try to push south into northern and central Oklahoma on Thursday with a slight chance for t'storms but not much if any cooling this far south.

The heat goes on next week. Eventually the atmosphere will dry out so the heat index will drop...but then the actual air temps will rise. It's a trade off. So in a nut shell, it just stays hot with little chance for rain and or relief.  Please remember your summer heat safety tips because this heat can be dangerous if not taken seriously. Don't leave kids or pets in parked cars for any period of time!

Holy popsicles... seriously!  I think Mother Nature is trying to make everyone in Oklahoma melt or something, geez.  This is really ridiculous if you ask me.

I think now would be the perfect time to own a snowcone machine.  What do you think?  Oh come on... who remembers the Snoppy Snow Cone Maker?  Talk about totally awesome back then.  Oh how I begged & begged for one of these back n the day, but nope... never got one.  Dad would always say "you don't need that".  Well of course I didn't need it... I mean what child really needed anything, right?  I wanted it real bad though!  I think I'm scarred for life... because still to this day, I want one... just maybe a bigger more adult version though.  Those little mini snowcones wouldn't work for me now days.

Even though little miss Kayla isn't here yet... I think she would want a Snoppy Snow Cone Maker... maybe I better start my search for one.  I wouldn't want her to still be scarred from not having one 33 years later.  I'm going to add that to my list of things my child shouldn't live without.

I'm totally normal, I promise.

bugs be gone

So this morning started off like any other typical work day, until the bug people came to spray our building for bugs.

The smell was atrocious!  Within a few short minutes it started to affect me in horrible ways.  Light headed, dizzy-ness, felt sick to my stomach then a headache.  Apparently at some point I passed out/blacked out for a brief minute.

What good is it to be at work when you can't function?

I left for about 2 hours in hopes the air would be clear when I returned.  A fan was placed in my office & doors were opened to help clear the smell out of the building while I was gone.

After a brunch date with my sweetheart at Cattlemen's & returning back to work with the air smelling fresh again... well then I needed a damn nap.  Go figure.

I feel completely worthless somedays because all I want to do is sleep.  What happened to my energy?  Where did it go?  Is baby Kayla stealing it from me or what?  Well if she is, I want it back!  It's just hard to function all day long when your eyes keep trying to close on you.  I swear if I could somehow sneak an hour nap in during work hours I would do it & it would make me function a lot better in the afternoons.

Go figure we have errands to run tonight too.  Wal-Mart here we come!  Again!  I swear we should have some automatic Wal-Mart discount card for shopping there so much.  It's almost like we live there.  It's really bad when you have every single aisle memorized & can assist other shoppers in their search for items in the store.  That might be the first sign of going to Wal-Mart to often.  Who knows.

sticky bugs

It's sticky bug season again & oh how I hate them!  They're real name is June Bug... but I call them sticky bugs because if they land on you they seem to just stick.  Yuck!  For some reason they like to land in my hair & that's just totally gross if you ask me.

They should actually be called drunk sticky bugs.  The fly around like they are completely lost & in an erratic flight motion.  Completely crazy.  So it just appears they've had to much to drink & can't seem to fly straight to save their life.

Wish there was some type of automatic air mist spray you could put outside that would keep them away from the surrounding areas of your home.  That would be ideal.

I wonder where in the world they got their name at anyways.  I mean it's not June... it's July for Heaven's sake.  Maybe June is when they first start really showing up, BUT... I think that they should all expire by the last day of June if that's the case.  On the last day of June they could all just explode into a thin powder or something.  That would be awesome if we only had to deal with them for a month then POOF they are gone!

no more dress shopping

Come on & say it with me... Hallelujah!  I don't have to go dress shopping anymore.  After trying on about 50 billion dresses, last Wednesday night I officially purchased the dress I will be wearing to walk down the aisle.  Thanks to my bff Kat driving all the way from Stillwater to assist me in this process.  Otherwise I probably would've backed out & not gone to try on dresses that night.

I was completely worn out when we were done & towards the end I was starting to get grumpy/bitchy & to top it off I was hungry too.  Not a good combo.

I had to order the dress, it should hopefully (everyone please cross your fingers) be in next week.  It needs a few alterations done but other than that... it's great.  Yes, I still feel like a hippo in it... BUT... a smaller hippo then I felt like in some of the other dresses I tried on before.  Hopefully Fred likes it once he sees it.  The dress is simple, but cute.  Not a lot of fabric to trip over or mess with, which is the best part for me.  We all know I'm not exactly what you would call the most graceful person.

Now I will have to go shoe shopping... urgh.  I dread that almost as much as dress shopping, but hopefully it won't be that bad.

One major accomplishment this week was I finally was able to get all my invitations sent out for our wedding reception... that's a huge relief.  Although we still have to finish registering, so I'm hoping we can get that finished up this afternoon sometime & that will be one more thing to cross off the list!

I still have a long list of things to still take care of between now & wedding day, but hopefully everything will all come together fairly well.

I Pray For You

The other day while driving to work I heard this song on the radio.  At first I thought it was a religous country song because it started out like that, but when the chorus came, I almost wrecked I was laughing so hard.

This is funny... I just had to share the lyrics.

I Pray For You
by Jaron and The Long Road to Love

I havent been to church since I don’t remember when
Things were goin’ great ‘til they fell apart again
So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do
He said you can’t go hatin’ others who have done wrong to you
Sometimes we get angry, but we must not condemn
Let the good Lord do His job and you just pray for them

I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know whereever you are honey, I pray for you

I’m really glad I found my way to church
‘Cause I’m already feelin’ better and I thank God for the words
Yeah I’m goin’ take the high road
And do what the preacher told me to do
You keep messin’ up and I’ll keep prayin’ for you

I pray your tire blows out at 110
I pray you pass out drunk with your best friend and wake up with his and her tattoos

I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know whereever you are, near or far, in your house or in your car,
wherever you are honey, I pray for you.
I pray for you

the results are in

Well the results are in... we went yesterday morning for the ultra sound & it's officially a girl !!

The ultra sound lady said baby Kayla is looking good so far, which is what matters most.  I was shocked at how much Kayla has grown just since the last ultra sound I had several weeks ago.  We have ultra sound pics which I will post later this week, because I haven't had a chance to scan them on to the computer just yet. Way too many things going on all at the same time.

I've been working on invitations to our wedding reception & trying to wrap my brain around everything I have to get done in just a short amount of time.

Monday I was off work.  My bff Kat & I decided to do some wedding dress shopping & well that didn't exactly go in my favor.  Talk about depressing.  Really depressing.  Every dress I tried on, I felt like an over sized water bufalo.  I was ready to throw in the towel & not walk down the aisle at all by the time I got back home.  All the dresses were more expensive then what I have in my budget to spend right now & the fact that I'm 19 weeks prego & feel like I've gained one million pounds already didn't help my confidence either.  Looking in the mirror after putting on a dress just made me wanna cry at the thought of actually walking out in in front of anyone, especially down the aisle towards my future husband & wondering what he his first reaction would be.  I would like there to be tears of happiness not tears of laughter in his eyes.

My massive chest size isn't helping me at all either.  AND they continue to grow, I'm not even sure what size comes next.  It doesn't help that my chest size has never fit my body to begin with but now that things are growing & swelling... my boobs have decided to jump a whole size & continue on the up hill walk to the next size it appears.  Just great I tell ya.  If anyone is considering implants, don't do it... I will be more than willing to donate after baby Kayla gets here.

On a positive note...

Last weekend was 4th of July weekend, which equals 3 day weekend, which also equals AWESOME!

I love days off work that we still get paid for... I mean who doesn't?

We had two birthday parties to attend.  Burgandi Dawn, my bff Kat's daughter who she named after me because she just loves me oh so much!  Burgandi turned 12 which I'm still thinking can't be right & we need to double check her birth certificate on that one... that makes me feel old.  Emily (Fred's niece) turned 2 & we had pizza Sunday night to celebrate hers.  She's an absolute doll too!

4th of July night... we didn't go watch fireworks or anything crazy like that.  We got home from a long day out & about everywhere, we worked on invitations, watched some tv & that was the extent of our fun for the evening.  Mother Nature fell off her rocking chair & made it pour rain most of the day anyways, so it was kinda yuck to be hanging outside.  At least she did remember to stop the rain long enough so Edmond could have their fireworks show.  I heard it was good.

I went to bed at 11:00pm last night but I'm thinking I should have been in bed around 9:00pm instead.  I'm absolutely worn smooth out today.  I actually dozed off a few times reading emails & I'm not even half way thru the work day yet.  All I can think about is going home after work & taking a nap.  Except that won't happen, otherwise I won't get the invitations finished up & ready to mail out tomorrow & along with having a rodeo meeting tomorrow night (which I'm debating whether I will attend or not) I also have a Jr Rodeo this weekend.  Neither of which I'm prepared for yet.

There is rain in the forecast for Thursday/Friday though... so I'm keeping my fingers crossed the rodeo gets rained out & I won't have to stress out about getting everything ready for that.  Between now, our wedding & reception... we have two rodeo weekends.  How crazy is that.  Just shoot me now please.

I'm day dreaming of a hot meal waiting & a fluffed pillow for me to pass out on when I get home tonight.

Oh I dream big, I know.  But it never hurts to dream right.

I’m Just a Farmer, Plain and Simple

I read this poem on someone else's blog & I really liked it, so I thought I would share.

I’m Just a Farmer, Plain and Simple
By Bobby Collier Adapted by Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation

I’m just a farmer, plain and simple.
Not of royal birth, but rather a worker of the earth.
I know not of riches, but rather of patches on my britches

I’m just a farmer, plain and simple.
I know of drought and rain, of pleasure and pain.
I know the good, the bad, the happy and the sad.

I’m a man of emotions
A man who loves this land and the beauty of its sand.
I’m just a farmer, plain and simple.

I know the spring’s fresh flow and autumn’s golden glow.
Of a new born calf’s hesitation and an eagle’s destination.
I’m just a farmer, plain and simple.

I know of tall pines and long waiting lines.
I know the warmth of campfires and the agony of flat tires.
I’m just a farmer, plain and simple.

I’m a man who loves his job
And the life that I live.
I’m just a farmer, plain and simple

And I’m a reaper of harvest
I’m the sower of seeds and I’m the tender of stock.
I’m just a farmer, plain and simple.

I know of planting corn and bailing hay and animals going astray.
I live in a complex world, but my faith guides me.
I’m just a farmer, plain and simple.

I am a man who works with God. I cannot succeed without his help.
For you see, I’m just a farmer, plain and simple