cheers, 4 years!

It was 4 years ago today we stood before God, family, and friends to say our vows and start our life together. It was a magical day, and one I'll always remember. 

Since then, we've had many changes in life. We've experienced the most exciting times of our lives, and we've also gone through times of disappointment. All along the way, we've stood beside one another and taken on this life together just as we vowed to do. I love you to the moon, mr! There's no one else I'd want to share this life with. These past 4 years have been a heck of a ride, and I look forward to what the next 50 years bring our way. Happy Anniversary to us! 

nothing worth having comes easy.

It's often said that nothing worth having comes easy. Sure, we've all heard this a time or two, or three... Before Clete and I were ever married, I knew having a good marriage would take hard work. As I knew this before being a wife, and even have known the work it takes in the 4 years we've been married, I never realized how much harder it gets when you throw a child in to the mix. For the first almost 3 years, it was just the two of us. We could do whatever, whenever we pleased. Then, along came our little nugget! 

I never understood before how couples could be married for many years, and then once their children are grown they split up. How can you be married for 20+ years and then just let that go? I get it now though, it happens because once children come into the picture it's so easy to get caught up in the routine. If you constantly just go through the motions of everyday life and don't make time for your marriage then it will suffer. 

I'll be honest, I'm guilty of sometimes not making enough time for my husband. You might think to yourself, "make time for your husband?" but once you have a child it'll make sense to you if it doesn't already. Being a parent can often times be exhausting. Even though our children are our biggest blessings, they're also a lot of work. Especially a 14 month old who's in to everything. After a full day at the office and an evening of being mama, sleep sounds better than sex. I'm just being honest here.

As we celebrate our 4th anniversary this upcoming week, I look back and see that this past year of our marriage has been the most difficult. It hasn't been bad, it's just had challenges simply because we've had to adjust to having a little one in the house and figuring out how to make time to nurture our marriage. Though it's been difficult to figure it all out, this past year we've grown and learned more about us than any other year. We've learned that it is amazing what good communication and a little time together after the baby goes to bed can do for our relationship. It can be as simple as sitting on the couch and watching a tv show together. We've still got a lot to learn, but we've already agreed we don't want to be those people that don't even know each other anymore after the kids are grown. May we always remember that we vowed to take this journey together. We want our marriage to thrive for as long as we both are living, so we will put in the work it takes to have that. It won't always be easy, but as they say nothing worth having comes easy.

May wrap-up.

Woah, where did May go? It's like I blinked and it was over. It's hard for me to believe we're approaching being half way through 2015.

May was a pretty low key month for us. We've been getting settled in the new house, and there will be some posts coming soon on that! We really didn't have a whole lot of excitement last month.

Mother's Day weekend we went to Tulsa and spent the weekend with my parents. My mom, my sister, and me spent the day together on Saturday. We did a little shopping, had lunch, and went painting at Pinot's Palette. My mom wanted to do the painting for Mother's Day, so we had booked it a while back. It was a fun day spent with my two favorite ladies!

Mac had a little bit of a rough start to the month. While we were in Tulsa for Mother's Day weekend, we ended up at urgent care with him. He had a case of hand, foot, & mouth virus, plus was cutting molars on top of that. Poor guy, but after about 5 days he was over it and back to himself again. He had his first Saturday morning doughnut date, and he loved it! When it wasn't raining, we spent a lot of time outside playing in our big backyard. 

We're slowly getting settled in the new house. This move happened much faster than we anticipated, so getting things just how I want them is just going to take some time. I know that's okay and perfectly normal, but I'm not a very patient person. I like things to be finished and in their proper places, so this whole process is definitely teaching me patience. We've purchased blinds for throughout the house and patio furniture (I'm planning a patio post very soon- the furniture is due to arrive this week). I also bought new bar-stools in the pick below for the kitchen. After searching since we've been in the house I finally found them in stock at Target! I love how they look at our island bar.

We had a record breaking month of rain here in Oklahoma, but thankfully we've had no severe storms in our area. We've got the underground shelter stocked and ready though just in case since it is spring time in Oklahoma. 

June looks to be a little more exciting, and I'm hoping to be around here at the blog more. That's a wrap for May! 

April wrap-up.

April was a busy month for our little family and it's hard to believe it's already come and gone.We started the month out with Easter. We celebrated our risen savior with our family, and did a little packing. Mac went to visit the Easter Bunny, and loved him! It was a busy weekend, filled with lots good memories.

The following week, Mac turned ONE! My little baby boy is officially a toddler. ::sniff sniff:: But, he's such a ball of fun!

The day after Mac's birthday, mommy & daddy went on their first adult vacation. We went to Mexico with a group of friends to watch the Cummens get hitched. It was a fun and mostly relaxing trip for us.

The weekend after we got home from our trip we celebrated Mac's first birthday with family and friends. His Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party was a success in this mama's book. It was the perfect celebration for our little man!

We packed the next few days after Mac's party, then on the 23rd (which was also Clete's 28th birthday) we sold our first house and bought a one. There will be more to come on the new house soon! For now, we're getting all settled in and making this house our home.

April was a super, jam-packed, busy month! I'm a little relieved that it's over, as this month looks to be a little more low key for us. That's a wrap.

opening a new chapter.

The day has come; tomorrow we celebrate the mr's 28th birthday and we'll be closing on our both of our houses. We will close one chapter, and open a new one a few hours later. It's a little bittersweet, but mostly sweet! It's only bittersweet because we have so many sweet memories in our little house we're saying goodbye to.

This house is the first place we called our home, and where we came home to from our honeymoon. We found out we were expecting our first baby (Mac) in the tiny master bathroom, and we also brought Mac home here when he was brand new. We have so many special memories that we've made in the 4+ short years we've been here, but we are so excited and blessed to be able to move to a new home where our little family can settle in with room to grow in years to come. More to come to on the new house soon. Cheers to the new chapter we'll be opening! Now, back to packing those final boxes...

Mac's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 1st Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated Mac's birthday with a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party. Mac's 1st birthday party was a great success! My sweet friend Kylie from OK Momma helped me with some of the decor, Jill at Blue Sky Party Cakes did his cakes and cupcakes, and Cookiedoodle out of Jenks, OK did the sugar cookies we had for party favors.

The party was a fun 1st birthday celebration for our little nugget! We are so grateful to all of our family and friends who helped us celebrate Mac turning one. Mac got lots of new goodies, and also had lots of cake!

12 months old

Last week our sweet baby boy turned 1 year old! I'm not quite sure how this is even possible. It was just a few weeks ago I was in labor ALL DAY waiting for his arrival with family and friends by our side.

Flash forward a year (plus) later... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAC! 

Mac is walking everywhere and is in to everything! He is Mr. Independent and also very curious. He loves bath time, watching Mickey Mouse, eating blueberries, and going to see his friends at daycare. He still adores his daddy, but is pretty partial to his mama too! Mac loves to play with his trucks, train, books, and blocks. He also enjoys playing with his sister and loves when daddy chases him. Mac is now opening cabinets and pulling out anything he can, and has also recently discovered how to roll toilet paper off the roll. He is all boy! He still fights naps, but loves to rock and cuddle when he sleepy. He can say a handful of different words, and like to sing and rub his hair when he gets sleepy. Mac still loves his bottle, but also likes eating lots of different foods. He is wearing 12-18 months clothes, size 4 diapers, and size 6 shoes. He has 8 teeth, and is currently cutting number 9 which is molar number 2. Those molars are tough ones! He is a pure bundle of joy, and has the best laugh ever! Being his mama is the best thing that's ever happened to me!

Mac,
Happy Birthday sweet boy! We cannot believe you're now a whole year old. This past year has flew by, and has been so much fun. You've brought us so much joy and have been the biggest blessing we've ever been given. God knew what he was doing when he placed you in our life. You are loved so much, and we pray for great things to come in your life. Although you're often ornery, we wouldn't have you any other way! You are perfectly imperfect and complete our family (for now). We love you to the moon and back times 1000, sweet boy!
XOXO,
Mama