Almost a year!

I can't believe it has almost been a year. This time last year we were packing up getting ready to head to Vegas to get married. Some days it feels like we have been married for years, and then others it feels like we just unpacked from Vegas! It has been such a wonderful year. Of course there has been learning experiences :) but after such a stressful year with school and new jobs, it is amazing how well it has all went! I guess being best friends before anything else really did set an amazing foundation. Also having our marriage centered with Christ always gives us firm footing. I thought I loved him as much as I could the day I married him, but somehow, that love has grown to a level I never could have fathomed! So come January 4th we are going to be out of town celebrating our first year together, and dreaming of the many many more we get to share!!! Saying that I am blessed is an understatement!

Straight A's!

I got straight A's again! I have a 4.0 cumulative GPA for all of my graduate classes!!! 15 hours down, 18 to go!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. If you are traveling, or will be traveling, be careful! We will pray for your safety! I hope everyone enjoys the fellowship of family and all the wonderful food! Sometimes the hustle and bustle makes us forget why we celebrate this time of year, to celebrate the birth of Christ. What an amazing gift!
A friend posted this and it really touched me so I thought I would share. It is my wish for all this Christmas season:
May you rejoice with the angels, worship with the shepherds and follow with the wise men.

Merry Christmas With Love!

Almost over!

Finals are over! I am still waiting on grades, expect a post on that (if they are good at least).
Last night I gave the last final for the Micro class I taught. It was a challenging class, but such a rewarding experience. I had some students who had never touched a computer before, and some that hadn't been to school in over 20 years. It was a dynamic group. I couldn't let 1 student slip by though. I know the lifelong repercussions that come when you let one slip by. I slipped by in my 8th grade math class. I learned nothing. I had an easy teacher that didn't make us learn. To this day, I struggle bad in math. I missed a year of building blocks. I didn't want to let these students do that. They will use computers in one way or another in every class they take. After spending lots of time out of the class teaching and tutoring them one on one, they got it! Last night I realized that the light bulb had come on. I had one student say how they wished we could go back to the beginning and start over because they understand it now. I had one present a powerpoint last night that included pictures and animation on their own and knew what to do without my help who had never touched a computer before class started 16 weeks ago. They told me last night that they were sad that class was over because it had been so fun! (Who know learning Word, Excel, and Powerpoint could be fun?) That made all of the stressful times disappear, it was worth it. I love teaching online because it 'fits my schedule,' but nothing compares to teaching in class. I feel I made a difference and that makes this hard semester worth while! It reminded me why I went into the teaching profession in the first place. No other job can be as rewarding as teaching.
So 3 days left until Christmas break. I can't believe this semester is already almost over! It has been the hardest semester of my life, being in a new job, taking 9 hours of grad work and teaching my adjunct class, I have been just praying I would make it to this point. And I have. It is basically done. In 3 days we get half a month off (that just sounds longer than 2 weeks). Yes I will be teaching intersession classes during that time, but that is it. I'm excited about getting to see my husband for more than an hour every day. I am excited about using my extra time to do things I want to do (such as reading a book(that is not a textbook), or organizing our house, or spending time with my nephews) instead of studying. I missed Rece's Christmas play last night because I gave that final and I was very disappointed. So tonight Rece and I are going to pop some popcorn and get the tape my brother recorded of it and watch it together. He is excited about seeing himself perform!
I am listening to Christmas music today. I love Christmas music, but I have been to stressed to be able to stop and enjoy it and this time of year. That changes today. Today is a good day. Today I feel a weight has lifted.
:)

Here is a picture of Mr. Garrett Cole in his NEW big boy bed! It is really just his crib without rails, but he thinks he is big stuff! For Halloween Rece and Garrett were Batman and Robin. When you put the outfit on Garrett he would transform and just take off running through the house like a superhero! It was soooo funny!

He is such a big help! He is getting the cheese thing down, and he is in this stage where he does not like wearing clothes!

He is growing so fast! Christmas will be so much fun this year with him!

Our Christmas Card Picture

After a long hard week, I am so blessed to get to go home to this: Everyone has said if it wasn't for Emma it wouldn't be cute! That is just mean! :)

It's not Mayberry anymore

Last week a friend of mine got some dirt bikes stolen out of her barn. It spooked me for sure. Then I start hearing about it going around town. Lots of people are reporting stolen things. That spooked me even more. Then the biggie happened. It hit home. This weekend my husband's Ipod and modulator got stolen out of his pickup. He left it unlocked so as mad as I was, it was kinda that feeling that it could have been prevented if it was locked. Then the scary part kicked in. My window to my LOCKED NEW TRAILBLAZER has a big X carved in it. Someone tried to bust my window to get my ipod too. We called an officer so that they would know it is still going on in our neighborhood (a few blocks away someone got their house cleaned out basically) and he gave us some tips. He was a nice guy and was being very helpful. These tips are sad, but this is our world today:
1. Don't lock your car. Take everything of value out. Most likely they will just look in for things that will fit in their pocket and then move on. If your car is locked, they have been busting windows and that cost a lot in itself.
2. Don't put your Christmas tree by a window or door. A thief can see if you have presents underneath it and is more likely to target your house.
3. Wrap empty boxes for under your tree and hide the real presents. (This one is the saddest!)
4. Forget a safe or hiding things in your house, thief's know where to go - (closet, freezer....) Hiding things in an attic eliminates some theft because they will not take the time to climb up there to look.

To say I didn't sleep well is an understatement. I was spooked by every little noise. My husband was alert most of the night. It is a scary thought knowing all this happened in our DRIVEWAY on our safe street in our safe neighborhood. I don't want to be at the house alone, I don't want to be outside when its dark - nothing! I was born and raised in this little town - I was raised leaving our house unlocked and cars unlocked, now we can't even lock things up and be safe.

So be careful and be on the lookout.

CHRISTMAS!

Of course since my office is Pink and Brown I had to have a PINK tree! I couldn't find brown ornaments, so I found pink ones! Whats better then pink on pink??????? :)

My Husband did a wonderful job hanging candy cane lights! It kinda looks like we have an OU theme going! They are so beautiful!

And I couldn't leave off the picture of Emma that we took while hanging lights. She was bored I guess. It looks like she is just blinking, but she really was falling asleep with her head up! I guess we weren't being very entertaining!

Such a fun life!

J & M

Dreams

I believe you cannot reach a dream or goal without setting them. How many of us have actually sat down and wrote out a list of dreams? When I was 17 I sat down and made a list of things I wanted to do before I die. I have it in a special place and every time I complete on of those things I get to mark it off. It is almost just as fun to mark off something as the actual trip is!!!
I sat down a few weeks ago and started a list, I wanted to write down 20 dreams. Now that we are married, my dreams have changed a bit. These dreams don't just entail places I want to visit, but things I want to accomplish. I encourage everyone to make a list. Spend some time on it, you will forget things if you just write it all at once! Here is my list:

1. To have at least 1 little boy and 1 little girl.
2. To finish my Masters.
3. To go for my Doctorate.
4. To have a schedule that allows me 10 hours of sleep a night.
5. To have an athletic body with abs!
6. To just pick up and move to somewhere we have seen in a magazine.
7. To pay for my children’s full education – as much as they are willing to get.
8. To go to Hawaii.
9. To have the courage and financial option to change jobs and choose a job by what sounds fun instead of what pays the best.
10. To be able to pay off our families debts for them as a gift of a stress free life.
11. Buy my husband a 1969 mercury. It is his dream to have one.
12. To drive a Dodge Viper. I don’t have to own it because it would get old; I just want to drive one.
13. To go to Disney world.
14. To go to a professional basketball game (I wish I would have went when Jordan was playing!)
15. To go on a mission trip overseas.
16. To have someone do my hair and makeup every day so I always look good.
17. To have someone cook for me every night so I can eat right instead of just throwing something together fast.
18. To get to see cool things like Niagara Falls, grand canyon…
19. To learn how to edit pictures professionally.
20. To find some kind of cure so that I do not have a lifetime fight with my stomach.

Thank you to Justin Ray!

Every bit of credit for the enjoyment I get of having my hand picked bathroom goes to my wonderful husband. He has catered to my every want and has been patient with me changing my mind. He has done awesome and I am so proud and appreciative of him and his work!

Ok just in case you haven't seen or you forgot what we started with here is what the bathroom looked like when we bought it. Notice the pink and the carpet floor.

Now here are a few pictures of how we tore it completely down. We started with brand new sheetrock even!!! He basically built a brand new room. He moved plumbing and all!!!

Here is a picture of my shower head and faucet. Yes that is tile on the wall! Above this is what it use to be like!

This is my new mirror and cabinets! He put a hole in the wall so he could set this in it so that it would give the room a bit more space. This is a tiny bathroom and we used every inch!

Here is my sink! I LOVE IT!

I wanted to get a picture of the tile he laid. I know you can't see it to great cause of the rug, but you get the point!

Here are some before and after pictures!!!!

This was the ceiling vent before:

This is the new ceiling light/vent

This is the light above my mirror before:

This is my light above the mirror now!!!

This is my vanity before: (Notice where the toilet is. Yes we completely moved it)

This is my vanity now!!!

And my FAVORITE PART! This is the tub before (took FOREVER to warm that ceramic up!!!)

And this is my new jet tub!!!

This is a long view of it from out side the door.

There are still a few things we are doing to it. If you notice there were no plug covers. We have to get special ones. My dad is making trim to go around the shower tile to match the vanity and mirror. We also bought brush nickel accessories to match but have not put them up. The reason is because we are debating on whether or not to put a big towel cabinet next to the vanity. If we do, expect new pictures!
Hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have!!!

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

Last year we were engaged at Christmas. We decorated a tree and bought everyone presents together but it was still my tree at my house. He still had to go home at night so it wasn't like 'ours.' This year is special. It is our First Christmas together married. We bought a 7 and a half foot pre lit tree and we used all of the decorations we already had from the tree last year. We need to buy more since this tree is bigger, but that will come soon. Also since we actually have a house this year, we are putting Christmas light on it. I will post that tomorrow (I still need to post bathroom pictures, I just get distracted! Terri calls it my Shiny things syndrome!) We stayed up late last night finishing up the house lights and then we decorated our tree together. I wish this picture showed some of the detail because it really is a cute tree! Last year we made that toppper (bought some at walmart then pieced thigns together) and we decided last night that it will be the one we use forever. We laughed because our moms both have toppers that we think are 100 years old and ugly, but it was tradition. I guess this will be the ugly topper our kids remember!
I love this season. I love Christmas. I love getting to be married to my best friend and getting to share all of my favorite times and moments with him. This will be the best Christmas yet I know because we get to celebrate it together!

YAY! YAY! YAY!

Just so you know, I got ready this morning in my NEW bathroom that my amazing husband built for me! I have not had a chance to take pictures, but I will be posting before and after pictures soon! He has put up with all my changing requests and has done it with an amazing level of kindness and patience! It is just perfect!!!!!!

Emma and the heater

Something you may not know about me is that I can be very cheap. I like having nice things don't get me wrong, but I would much rather save money. Every month I am in competition with the previous month. I try to save more than we did last month. I know I can get extreme!
Well I decided we are NOT turning on the heater until December. My mindset is that we could save more by not running the air or heater this month.
Well I have a very cold natured husband. He needs heat! So we compromised and got a spaceheater. It actually warms the room we are in so good that we have to turn it off because it gets so hot! Well I learned that I not only have a cold natured husband, but a cold natured dog!
Emma has been cracking us up! It doesn't matter what room we are in, she goes to where the heater is. She just lays in front of it by the hours! The other night the gate was open and I didn't know she had gotten out for about an hour. I run to the front door to go outside to try to find her and there she is sitting on the front porch just waiting on me to let her in! The second I opened the door she darted as fastest as she could to the heater, slid into position and was out cold within about a minute! It is the funniest thing!
We bought her a big dog pillow. She usually destroys anything with plush in it, but we take it away unless we are there with her and that has eliminated that. When I got home from class last night, Justin had brought that big pilliow into the living room (it is usually in her cage) and placed it in front of the heater and she was knocked out cold. I just looked at him, and he smiled and said "She loves them both and I didn't want her to have to choose between them so I brought them together." can you say SPOILED! Here are a few pictures to laugh at!

I guess I am getting out-numbered, So we may have to turn on the heater soon!

:)

Recipes!

Our favorite food is Italian and Mexican. I need EASY recipes! On some nights we only have about 30 minutes to cook AND eat before we have to be at school or something. We are getting tired of our same ol same ol things. Any ideas???

Hard Week

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you are so ready for it to end but on the other hand need it to last longer so you can finish everything? That was this week. It was a bad week. A very bad week. A stressful week. I am one that I want to figure out my job, I want to be the best at it. This week I realized that it may never happen with this job. I am not good at this one. It doesn't click with me. It is very busy and there is so much to do, but so much I don't know how to do. I have tried to learn it, and will continue to try, but it is not my niche. My boss was gone most of this week so I had to really step into her shoes and take care of some things that came up. I failed at them. I hate failure. I hate the feeling of trying to do great at something then finding out later that you messed up. It is a very defeating feeling.
But, on the bright side, next week is a new week. Last night my hubby and I came home and ate then went to bed at 7:30(it was just going to be a 30 minute nap but we were just too tired to get up!). I got up at 10:30 this morning. So lots of sleep may be what my body needed to shake that horrible week. I actually got to the point of being emotional from the stress and mess ups so I am hoping rest will cure that! I HATE being emotional!
So now I am about to drink a cup of capachinno to get me going, and get to work. Be prepared to see pictures of our finished bathroom by Monday morning. We have kicked butt this week and are almost done. This is something I can't fail at, it is just an effort game and I can put in effort!

So until the bathroom is done,
M

time.

This picture makes me smile. Not only because I think he is the cutest 20 month old in the world, but because it makes me think about the future.

I use to be a person that never wanted to get married and never wanted children of my own. I was too selfish to give up that much of my life. My feelings have changed. Now that I am married, I couldn’t picture myself happy without being with him. I couldn’t imagine my life any other way.

My feelings have changed about having children as well. I want to have children with my best friend. I want us to raise a family together. When that day comes I believe he will be a wonderful dad. He is kind, compassionate, patient, caring and selfless. He is sensitive but consistent. So when will that day come? I am not sure. We have talked a lot about it lately and have been praying really hard for God to give a peace when that time comes. So many factors come in to play. Financially we are ready. Emotionally we are ready. Environmentally we are ready (we have room for a baby in our new house). But time is the factor we get held up on. We are both going to school. He just changed to a complete online degree, so that helps, but you still have to factor in time for him to do it. I am his biggest encourager and supporter when it comes to him finishing his degree. I am halfway done with my masters, but do I really want the stress of school on me during a pregnancy? Will that be hard? Does pregnancy require you to have more down time then what we have? Do I want to continue on to get my doctorate? Can I get through that with a child? So many things go through our minds. There will always be a ‘better time.’ A time where we have more time, more money, more everything. But is there really a perfect time to have a child? So many people tell me if you wait until the right time to have a kid, then you will never have one. Is that true? I am 24. He is 21. Is that too young to have children? Medically I have always heard it would be better to have all the kids we want to have before I turn 30(We want more than 1). Is that really true though? The desire is there. The passion is there. The willing to give up what we want for what a baby needs is there. But how do you know when it is right? A baby deserves us to put the thought into when the best time would be for them to join our family. So we are thinking. We are praying. We are being patient. We are being hopeful. We are just waiting. What are we waiting on? Time. Will it come?

Any words of wisdom would be wonderful. Any criticism would be hurtful. So please choose the first one.

Great Birthday Weekend!

We decided we were going to take a trip to celebrate our birthdays. Mine was back in August, but we haven't had the time with work and school to get away. So we planned a double celebration! We both took Friday off and headed to the city. I use to think I would love to live in a bigger city, but after being there I don't think I would. I love the fact that we can go somewhere as simple as OKC on a vacation and have this much fun. If we lived there day to day, it would take more of a trip (which means more money) to have a getaway. So as fun as the city is to go to, I think I will stick with my smaller town!!!

His pick of fun thing to do was to go to a hockey game. I had never been to one, but it was a blast!

I love bricktown! Since the game was in the Ford Center, we got there early to eat in bricktown. It was so pretty now that it is fall and the leaves are changing colors. Here is a picture I took that doesn't even come close to catching the beauty I saw.

We never have enough self-portraits I guess!

Yes, my mom put 21 candles in the cake she made cake. Garrett was impressed with the fire!

And what is a birthday without a bunch of strangers at a restaurant banging pans and singing happy birthday while you wear a sombrero? He obviously thought he could live without the embarrassment, but I love him to much to not treat him to this tradition and fun! HA! Ok ok ok, I guess the fun was more for me, but now that I am sharing the picture, it is fun for EVERYONE! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN RAY!!!

Today is Justin Ray's 21st Birthday! Wish him a Happy Birthday if you see or talk to him!

God Bless America

Here is the end of John McCain's concession speech that I thought was great:
MCCAIN: Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone, and I thank the people of Arizona for it.
AUDIENCE: USA. USA. USA. USA.
MCCAIN: Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama — whether they supported me or Senator Obama.
I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.
Americans never quit. We never surrender.
We never hide from history. We make history.
Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all very much.

I hoped and prayed McCain would win, but my prayers and greatest wishes goes to President Elect Barack Obama, Joe Biden and their families.

VOTE!

Well first I just want to say that my nephew Rece won thier game last night! They are the elementary school football champs! :)
Today is an important day! GO VOTE!
But here is some security just in case it doesn't go the way we want and pray!

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election:

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him

Have a great day!

J&M

November????

I cannot believe it is already November! Time has flown! It feels like we just got married yesterday! It will be 10 months on November 4th! Then on the 5th Justin turns the big 21! I cannot wait because I cannot keep presents I get someone a secret! I had 6 to start with and I only have 2 left! I keep giving them to him to open! I am worse than a little kid!!! We are going on a Birthday celebration this weekend! We both are taking Friday off and heading to the city! we have hockey tickets on Friday night. I have never been to a hockey game, but Justin loves it and has been trying to get me to go for a few years. So I got some tickets and we are going! Then we are going to go to the Riverwind casino in Norman on saturday night. We will hit the movies and go eat at all the fun resturants and just have a fun weekend! We have so many things on our list to do that I think the weekend will fly, but it will be fun. We have been trying to knock Christmas our early this year, so we are going to try to finish all of our shopping this weekend. I know that is pushing it, but we won't get a chance to go shopping before Christmas again because we will be to busy!

Life has been soooooooo busy this semester. Between work and school and teaching classes, we just haven't had 2 seconds to rest! This weekend we finally got some house work done. We have not had the time to spend on our house and we are really anxious to get some things done to it. So we are just going to start making time now. If it takes not having time to sleep, that is just the price we are going to pay! It is driving both of us crazy having so many things we want to do, but no time to do them! We got our frotn bedroom transformed from a storage unit to an office this weekend and we got all the trees cut down and removed. Now we have to finish the bathroom (it is getting so close!) and then tile the kitchen, and ad a part to the fence and we are done! That is until we find other fun things to do! HAHA!

Starting December 1 and going through January 7th I will be super busy with Intersession. Our college is really putting lots of effort into it this year and I think it will keep up busy. It kind makes me feel trapped to Altus since I can't go to far over the holiday, but I know in the long run it will be worth it!

Tonight Rece is in the Championship Little League Football game. I have had to miss all but 1 game because I have class Monday and Tuesday night. But tonight I am going to make it happen and go because he is so excited about it! He asked us a million times yesterday if we were going to go. He is so cute in his Football Uniform! I will post a picture of him in his uniform and Kenzie in her cheerleading outfit!

Ok well that is the catch up of our lives! If you have Justin's Cell shoot him a text on Wednesday and wish him a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Fall Break

Unfortunatly Fall Break is almost over. It went by so fast. I had lots of homework to do, but I do feel all caught up now that it is done. We went to the lodge Sunday night. We had a free voucher for a night there and 4 free breakfasts. We got them to give us 2 free dinners and 2 free breakfasts. To be honest it was not our favorite trip. It was way to close to home and it just wasn't fun for us. We are not nature people so it wasn't fun just looking around. Plus it ended up being windy and rainy so that kinda made it not as fun. We both decided it was ok for a free trip, but we would never spend money staying there. We are ready to take a real trip soon!
I have been sick since Wednesday night. I just have some allergy/sinus/cold stuff. Just a bad sore throat and my nose is clogged which makes my head hurt cause it is full of snot. I just feel icky. What a way to end a fall break huh! I wish Justin was off all week with me. I am glad he wasn't because I wouldn't have gotten my homework done, but it just isn't as fun without him home. And bless his heart, I was wanting to stay up late cause I had slept in, so I kept him up which made him exhausted all week! But me being sick helped him cause we have been going to bed early the past few nights.
I am so ready for this election to be over. I hate hearing all of the political fighting. I am a strong supporter of McCain/Palin, but I am not a vocal warrior for them. I hate political fighting. I am tired the news being all about Obama and McCain slamming each other. I am just praying that the right man wins. I think it will be a scary world if Obama really does win. I love Sarah Palin. She is such a classy woman. McCain did well picking her. I hate that this election has a bit of racism in it. What is weird is that it isn't people not voting for Obama cause he is black. It is people not voting for McCain because Obama is black. I got an e-mail of a clip of the Howard Stern show (a very liberal opinion guy) and he had went on the streets of Harleem and interviews black people. He asked them who they were voting for and when they said Obama he asked them the reason. All said that the reason is because they agreed with him the most. Then Howard Stern did something interesting, he would say things that McCain stood for to see if they knew. He would ask quesions like 'Do you support Obama because he is pro life or because you like his running mate Sarah Palin?' They would all answer the same - we are pro life too and we think he made a great choice with Sarah Palin. She will be a good VP. These people had no clue what Obama went for (Or who his running mate was), they just knew he is was black. It is so sad that these are the people that get to vote. Ok enough politics.
I am kind of worried about Emma. She threw up lots 2 nights ago. She hasn't thrown up since, but I haven't let her eat much. I hate that her belly is so sensitive. She is such a good dog and is growing like a horse!
Check back soon, I have a video of Garrett 'putting up his dukes' and it is the cutest thing ever!

Till Next Time,
J & M

Our New Car

Well we got a new Chevy Trailblazer this week. I missed having an SUV and it was such a good deal that we couldn't pass it by. Now I am going to brag about my sweet husband for a second. He wanted to make this extra special for me so he stole the pink OU tag off of my corolla and had the chevy lot color match it to paint the bowties (chevy symbols) on the front and back to match! So now the car is very unique and I am so particular about someone having the exact same car as me! He is so wonderful to me! So here are some pictures of it!

Till next time!

J & M

New Furniture!

We got our new furniture delivered last weekend, I just haven't had a chance to post pictures! But here it is! This first picture is our new sleigh bed! I have always wanted a sleigh bed so I am so thankful we found this one! By the way for all of you who don't know, we found a wholesale dealer (Home Zone) and got an AMAZING deal on all this! I highly recommend you go check it out!

This next picture is our Chest. It is so beautiful! It is one of our favorite pieces!

This is our new dining room table! It is like a dark cherry wood color. It has a lazy susan in the middle that we have used for pizza! :) It is so fun!

Now onto our living room furniture. Here is a picture of our loveseat and our rocking recliner. Both our loveseat and couch both recline also. That is something that Justin has always wanted, so we got it and I must say that I am enjoying that too!

Here is our couch. The middle doesn't recline, just both sides. Also the coffee table and 2 end tables (1 in this picture and 1 in the other) we got with all of this. It is a dark brown color to match the dark brown leather part of the furniture.

Well that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Come by and see it in person! We are so thankful that people loved us enough to allow us to have thier old furniture when they got new stuff, but I must say that it is a pretty cool grown up feeling buying it new! Well that is it for now!

J & M