The South Won This One...

On Sunday, Sam took me to a Civil War re-enactment!  I've wanted to see a war re-enactment since the first time I saw the movie Sweet Home Alabama so I knew I had to make it happen when I found out about one less than 30 minutes from our house.  It didn't take too much convincing to get Sam to go since he is a history fan.  In fact, he researched the battle we would be watching.  Turns out, historians are unsure where the actual location of this fight was, but they know it was in the Yale/Keystone Lake area on November 19, 1861.  At this battle, the Texas Division of the South defeated the Seminole and Creek tribes (two of the few tribes that sided with the North).  Although the re-enactment was not completely historically accurate, the actors did a good job portraying the general idea.  Here are some pictures and captions from the version of the battle that we witnessed.

The front line for the Confederates slowly gained ground.

The Union soldiers continued to fight an admirable battle until the end.

Both sides had cannons.

The Creek and Seminole Indians charged the Confederates from the trees although I doubt they would have found many trees on the prairie in 1861.

I know it was a re-enactment, but this scene was touching to me. 

The final Confederate charge. 

And the Union surrendered.  (In reality, the Confederates claimed victory because Chief Opothleyahola left the area after setting the prairie grass on fire at the end of the fight.)

Sam loved the uniforms that both sides were wearing. 

The flag for the victors, the Texas Division of the South.

They even had a dulcimer player there!

After the Civil War re-enactment, we decided to continue our historical day by stopping at the town of Ingalls, Southeast of Stillwater.  This is where the fight between United States Marshals and the Doolin-Dalton gang happened on September 1, 1891.  This monument and a fabricated "old" town (which we assume is used for re-enactments) are the only evidence that this gunfight occurred there. 

And there you have it, our little journey through Oklahoma history.  Who said this blog wasn't educational?!

If you are interested in reading more about either of these historical event, here are a couple of links:

Battle of Round Mountain

US Marshal gunfight with the Doolin-Dalton gang

Camy's Fabulous 50 (Last Saturday Part 2)

My mom turned 50 this weekend!  Even though she didn't want a party, Mindy and I decided to plan a surprise gathering with some of her friends.  It started out innocent enough with dinner (she was already in Oklahoma City for my sister's baby shower and thought my step-dad and a couple of other couples were meeting us for dinner, she was surprised to see it was just her girlfriends).

 Why, Tina, what is that in your glass of water?

Oh, you know, just a movie ticket from the night before.  

 After everyone arrived for dinner, we told Mom that she could open her gift from Mindy and me (we had asked everyone else to just bring a card).  The first object she pulled from the bag was a pair of yoga pants.  She was trying to figure out why we would get her such a random gift when we told her to keep digging.  The next item was a pink t-shirt that I made for the occasion that said "Camy's Fabulous 50."  She was laughing at the shirt when we told her to look in the bag again.  In the bottom of the bag was an invitation to the party.  Here she is saying, "Pole dancing?!" 

That's right, we arranged a private pole dancing class for our mom and some of her friends!  Here's the over 50 crowd.  Some of them participated in the class, some of them just watched and laughed.

Since our moms are friends, we invited a couple of our friends to come laugh participate with us.  Here we all are in a group picture.

And the class begins...

We took lots of breaks.

We ate awesome angel food cake! (Why yes, those are left over Oreo pops from the baby shower earlier in the day.)  I made the little 50's to put on the table at the last minute when I realized that the black table cloth was going to be a little too dark for my liking (thank you, Silhouette!).

Mom showing us that she can still do a cartwheel.

I was told that I couldn't post most of the pictures from the night, but I had to include a couple.  Here is the instructor helping Tiffany flip upside down.

And here I am laying on the floor after sliding down head first (don't I look SO graceful ;)

 

As you can see from the pictures, we shared MANY laughs that night.  A huge thank you to everyone who came out and helped make this a fantastic night!!!

Bryar's Baseball Shower

Saturday, I co-hosted a baby shower for my little sister and her baby-to-be.  I suggested we use a baseball theme and managed to get the other hostesses to agree to it.  Mindy's friends, Amber and Kayla, were a dream to work with (I just hope they feel the same way about me, I know I have control issues sometimes).  At her request, there will not be any pictures of Mindy in this post.  Instead, I'll show you some of the decorations we used. 

Guests were greeted with a Bryar foam finger instead of a wreath.  (Did you know that you can buy plain foam fingers at Hobby Lobby?  I made a vinyl stencil for his name, but you could just free-hand it if you wanted to.)

Of course, I HAD to make a banner with Bryar's name on it. 

We decided to serve some fun ballpark snacks including Cracker Jack's, peanuts, and Double Bubble gum in addition to more traditional shower food.  (Why yes, that is the OSU basketball game in the background at the beginning of a baby shower :)

I had grand plans of making these Oreo pops look like baseballs.  Let's just say that my piping skills have a long way to go. 

Amber, on the other hand, did a great job piping stitches on her cupcakes. 

Kayla went the safe route and ordered decorated cookies (that were scrumptious!.

As for decorations, we went the simple route and placed used "vintage" baseballs and other gear around the house.

Instead of games, we had each person fill out a "wishes for Bryar" paper that included sentence starters such as I hope you learn..., I hope you respect..., and I hope you aren't...  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of them at the party, so I can't show them to you, but I will tell you that we got the idea from this site via pinterest.  Overall, I think the shower was a huge success!

Be sure to check back for my next post where I will tell you what I did with the rest of my Saturday.  Trust me, you don't want to miss it!

January Update

Since it was pointed out to me that I haven't blogged in many days, I decided I should drop by and let the few people who read this know what we've been up to. Pretty much, our month was spent hanging out with friends, taking advantage of the abnormally nice weather to do some stuff around the house, preparing for a baby shower that I'm co-hosting this weekend (expect to see lot's of cool stuff that I made with my silhouette soon), and bidding farewell to our dear friend Aaron who left this week for a new job in California (oh, and I had a birthday in there somewhere).

One of the few events from this month that I actually have pictures of happened a couple of weekends ago when I went to my sister's house to help her start getting the nursery ready (in case you forgot, she is expecting her first child, a boy, in March). Here are a few sneak peak pictures of items in Bryar's room. You will have to accept cell phone pics for now, when she finishes the room I will take some better pictures.

Our great-grandma gave us each a glider like this.  I love that Mindy decided to paint her's orange!  I am currently recovering the seat cushions for her to match the rest of the room. 

At Christmas, Sam, Mindy, Blake and I took these letter pictures using deer sheds.

We found this idea on pinterest (of course!).

My Favorite Christmas Tradition

Every year, Sam takes the picture I choose for our Christmas card and has it made into an ornament for me.  The first year, it was a total surprise (he even went so far as to have it shipped to my sister's house).  The next year, I said, "I hope you're doing that again."  Now, it's a yearly tradition that I love!  Not only do I anticipate getting the new ornament in the mail, but I also look forward to opening each box containing a previous year's ornament to put on the tree.  It's neat to see how our "family" has changed over the past few years.  We didn't take Christmas pictures the first three years of our marriage, so one of our goals for this year is to find a picture from each of those years to make an ornament with. 

Here is the first ornament that Sam ordered for me back in 2007.  It's a little hard to see Rufus, but he's sitting on Sam's lap.

Here is this year's ornament.  I like that they have started making the picture take up more of the ornament (they've done this the last couple of years).

 

Last year, Sam surprised me with an ornament for Aubrey.  Her ornament goes as close to the top of the tree as I can get it because that's where angels go.  He told me that every time a child joins our family they will get an individual ornament in addition to being included on the family ornament. 

Wow, I can't tell you how hard it was to post that last picture (even if it is just a picture of an etching of a picture)!

Where Did the Time Go?!

Wow!  I knew it had been a little while since I last blogged, but I didn't realize that it's been three whole weeks!  (It's a little sad when your grandma calls to check on you because you haven't posted anything to your blog or facebook for a while.)  As I mentioned before, I started a new job mid-November.  This new job (teaching at the OSU Child Development Lab-Rise Program) has taken A LOT of my time recently!  Since I started, we have had a parent night and 19 parent teacher conferences (for which I had to complete assessment packets beyond any I've ever done... luckily we team teach and I only had to do packets for half of the kids).  I felt like I was in college again staying up until midnight or later to complete paperwork in preparation for everything.  That being said, I have thoroughly enjoyed being back in the classroom!!!  It's so nice to feel like my life has a purpose again.

OK, OK, enough about that.  Since I haven't posted in so long, I will be posting a few times over the next few days trying to catch up.  First up, we have some Christmas decor pictures.

For the last couple of years, we have put up outdoor lights.  Last year, we bought white LED lights that ended up looking blueish on the house.  This year, we moved last year's lights to the trees and bought multi-colored lights for the house.  I seriously love them!  (Sorry for the not-so-great picture.  I was trying to take it quickly so my neighbors wouldn't think I'm nuts {as if they don't already}.)

Sam finished this nativity scene a few days before Christmas last year.  It was so nice to have it out for the entire holiday season this year. 

After Christmas last year, I made this wreath using $4 worth of ornaments from the clearance aisle.  It might be one of my favorite Christmas decorations!

Another post-Christmas purchase from last year was this nativity set.  I honestly forgot about it until I found it while unpacking the decorations this year.  I think it is a great match with this printable featuring Luke 2: 13-14.

Here is the obligatory tree picture.  Notice there aren't any presents under it... I didn't wrap any presents until Christmas eve eve.  Who am I kidding?  As of Wednesday of last week I had only bought three gifts!  The tree skirt was my Great-Grandma's.

Last, but definitely not least, here is our Christmas card from this year.

Pictures That Didn't Make the Card

Every year, Sam and I (mostly me, Sam just plays along) have his mom take some pictures of us and the dogs while we are visiting for Thanksgiving so that I can use one for our Christmas card (we have to have his mom do it because Sam says he's not paying someone to take pictures of us and our dogs :).  I thought it would be fun to show you some out takes from the last few years.   

2009 ~ We were trying to capture a beautiful sunset.  Too bad Bella didn't appreciate it...

 

Here's the one we settled on.  At least Bella is in the picture...

 2010 ~ Even though Sam felt horrible and had been getting sick off and on all day, he still agreed to come outside and take some pictures with us.  Rufus was obviously very concerned about the approaching horse (yup, we have city dogs).  Bella was just being Bella.

 

 This picture was a Christmas card contender, but we decided to go with another one.

The winner!  I couldn't believe that she actually captured both dogs looking at the camera!

2011 ~ I can't help but laugh when I look at this picture!  If it weren't for the fact that it's a little blurry, it would hands-down be our Christmas card choice.  I like to think that I had just said something witty that made both of us laugh causing the dogs to look at us.  I'm sure that wasn't the case. 

I love this photo!  If you are ever at our house when Bella is feeling comfortable (she gets antsy when people are there), you will see that she loves to lay her head on Sam's lap!  The reality is, in this picture she is actually pouting.

This is why she was pouting... she got in trouble for not wanting to sit close to us.

Seriously, doesn't this look like a newborn pose where all of the family is looking at the baby?  I believe it was taken while we were all watching Bella slowly move closer to us.

And the 2011 Christmas card photo is...

???????????????????????

Did you really think I would show the picture before Christmas cards went out?  (I do have to warn you that I made the cards myself this year, so expect them to look a little homemade.)

Stay tuned!  In a future post, I will be showing you the awesome gift Sam orders me every year!  Hint ~ It involves our Christmas card picture!