Well, pucker up and kiss it, Whoville.

 Tis the season... and I'm loving it.

Yes, the Christmas spirit has hit me hard.

Probably because I don't have school or work to distract me... 

Jake and I went to Lowes and picked out our fresh cut Christmas tree. 

It's a bit fuller than I like but she's still a beauty. Much more work to be done.

Tomorrow I will make some Mason Jar Snow Globes!

Here are my Top Ten Christmas Movies:

1. Christmas Vacation.

2. Elf. 

3. White Christmas

3.5 Holiday Inn

4. Grumpy Old Men

5. How The Grinch Stole Christmas

6. The Santa Claus

7. Home Alone

8. A Christmas Story

9. Shop Around The Corner

9.5 It's A Wonderful Life

10. Miracle on 34th Street

A Kearns Thanksgiving

T'was a classic Kearns Thanksgiving.

The boys played their Turkey Bowl while the girls made their pies...

The babes were extra adorable.

The decor was planned to perfection, with fresh flowers arranged by yours truly!

The food was AMAZING and the pies... oh boy.

Black Friday was insane to say the least. 8 hours of shopping and my body completely gave out. (no seriously I vomited twice). It was a first. I couldn't even gather the energy to enjoy Ikea the next day...

The doggies Little Maizey and Boxer Tag became fast friends...

The crazy adults got together for authentic BBQ and crazy laser tag.

It was a splendid holiday. After being marooned in OK for months, it was amazing to 

be with our family again. Under one roof. For days. We definitely took it for granted before. 

Now I'm slowly recovering from it all... back to real life.

Both of us caught colds over the weekend, so I'm having a hard time not being extra lazy,

or even getting in the shower...

or getting off the couch...

Good thing it's Cyber Monday.
LET THE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING BEGIN!!!!

Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Jake and I are having a fantastic time in Dallas eating smoked turkey and banana cream pie. More pictures to come:)

"The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life." President Joseph F Smith

A Good Day

Starts with a Steakburger with cheese and a Pumpkin Pie Concrete

Isn't he a hunk?

Then I was super productive for the first time since we moved here

(p.s. remember that desk?)

It all ended with a gorgeous sleeping baby...  (seen below)

Sometimes I think I could do this whole momma thing :)

DALLAS TOMORROW!

Quiddler

What. A. Sunday.

It started at 12 AM with a mental breakdown.

Then I half slept my way through the night and woke up at 6:30.

Then I finished my talk.

Then I gave it.

It went really well! Surprisingly. I felt so unprepared. 

I talked slowly and took up my time! 

It was truly a miracle. 

We came home and collapsed on to the bed. 

A sacrament meeting and sunbeam lesson in one day was alot for Jakey and I...

Thank heavens for yummy pot roast and card games with the neighbors,

They helped us make a full recovery!

Pilot Boy starts his first day of school tomorrow. I am reeeally excited for him!

It'll be a whole new world here in Enid now...

We'll actually have to work for our money. Strange.

Then we're going south for a Texan Thanksgiving.

Ohh what a week!

Spoiler Alert

Ten Things I Hated About Breaking Dawn:

1. The continuous background music.
I can't hear what you're saying with all of the cheesy flutes going!

2. The makeup. So fake. So white.
You aren't the nasty Addams family, you're the sexy Cullens.
3. Bella's wedding dress fabric. It looks like my temple dress.
Which isn't really a bad thing, but I think Ivory would have been nice.
4. The blond cousins. I mean what the random...awkward...stupid.
Irina was looking rough.
5. The sex scene. I knew it would be awkward, you knew it would be awkward...and it was.
6. Wolf Telepathy. I know that has to be hard to translate on screen but
"I AM THE GRANDSON OF EPHRAIM. I WILL NOT BOW DOWN,"
left me bent over in uncontrollable laughter.
7. The birth. "Bella look at our adorable baby girl! Oh, you're dying?
Let me love on her for a little while longer, then we'll get to saving your decaying body."
8. The imprint. So... lame. As was Renesme's CGI face.
Nice try guys! Normal baby would have been better.
9. Bella's transformation. If the love of your existence just died would you
leave her body uncovered and alone in a pretty blue dress? Come on Edward...
10. Over all I thought Taylor's performance was dull and boring. Where was the rage?
Edward had more emotion than you. What the?!

Haha overall it was alright, it followed the movie pretty closely and the scenery was lovely.
I guess I'm just used to Vampire Diaries normal looking characters who know how to act.

Downton

Downton Abbey...

My latest period film obsession.

Watch it on Netflix instaplay today. yay.

Marriage

 

Paul Newman's letter to his wife on their wedding day: “ Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created. In the Art of Marriage, the little things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say ‘I love you’ at least once a day. It is never going to sleep angry. It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon; it should continue through all the years. It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family. It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy. It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to have the wings of an angel. It is not looking for perfection in each other. It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. It is finding rooms for things of the spirit. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and obligation is reciprocal. It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner."

Tonight Jake surprised me and drove me out to the middle of no where Oklahoma.

I thought he was going out there to ditch my body in some field,

but instead he took me to a place called "A Little Bit of Seattle."

It was a lovely little Gelato shop with an adorable man who makes it fresh daily.

I am grateful for a husband who listens when I'm unhappy and tries to make our marriage better.
I'm a lucky girl :)

thumbs aloft gentlemen

Frustrating.

That is the word to describe my day...

First, The Sing Off sent home Vocal Point after this performance. Seriously stupid.

Then, Hobby Lobby stole my money and questioned my integrity.

Finally, we've been waiting on Samsung to fix our month old dryer for two weeks.

They've flaked on two different days and today's red neck repairman told us

that he wasn't coming because he doesn't like to come on base.

Oh, and his car insurance is expired.

So he rescheduled for Friday.

AHHH! ah. ahhhhhh. die.

I hate stupid people and how much I let them piss me off.

My doctor says I have some serious stress and anxiety issues. I agree.

On a hap hap happier note... Thanksgiving is next week!
I am so excited to see the Kearnsies. And to eat pie.

On a more stressful note... I speak in church on Sunday.
If anyone has some great input for a talk on gratitude, let me know!

 New table.

 

New Kennel. 

Almost done with the desk!

A Sunbeam

Excellent weekend folks.

We went to the Barbecue Joint in Pondcreek, OK

 (authentic and small town to say the least)

and taught our Sunbeams for the first time, they're hilarious.

I also got around to painting my desk, more on that tomorrow.

Hunger Games trailer comes out tomorrow... pretty excited!

Hope you had a good weekend :)

Veteran

Yesterday was Veteran's Day.

It's a holiday I never paid attention to growing up.

Then I joined a wonderful family who constantly serve their country 

and pass it on from generation to generation. 

I'm grateful for brave men who leave their families to fight for freedom.

I hope that being in the military will teach our children to never take their liberty for granted.

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." -Elmer Davis

Tulsa

Yesterday we decided to get the heck out of Enid.

I've been sitting around here far too long and just needed to drive far away,

So we went to Tulsa! 

We ate at the lovely Panera Bread... 

(I just can't get enough of their Pumpkin Muffies.)

Then took the pup to Woodward Park. It was lovely! 

It was a wonderful seventy degrees and there were leaves everywhere...

just what I needed. 

I also got to hang out with my friends Anthropologie and Target. I love them. 

Anthro has some great homemade Christmas decor that I'm going to copy. 

the iron mask

Meet Jake and his new ultra-hard-core pilot mask.

 After he modeled it for an hour, he wanted to put it on me. I didn't see what the big deal was.

Then he put the mask on and I couldn't breathe.

Another reason I shouldn't be a pilot...

Remind Me

Some days I'm just lazy... and it rocks.

I remember being in school all day and getting an hour break for lunch.

I hated when it ended. 

Now it doesn't. 

I know what you're thinking. 

(lazy bum, get a job, you are pathetic)

And I will, I promise.

But today while I was being lazy, I found a lovely home makeover blog.

It's called Vintage Revivals.

Very inspiring.

Jake and I also got asked to speak in church.

It was inevitable. 

I finally made my pumpkin snickerdoodles.

And ate almost all of them.

I fell back in love with The Civil Wars.

And watched the CMA's.

I forgot how much I love Martina McBride.

Carrie Underwood decided to show off several different looks. 

1. Seriously... who told you this was a good idea and why did you listen..?

2. GORGEOUS. I want.

3. Prom Queen Barbie

Trailer Park

This is Glenn Close

... And that's fine.

 And Meryl Streep... 

these are some crazy transformations people.

loving this trio.

I just have a hankering for a new period film. 

After our second failed attempt to see Footloose, Jake and I went to Tower Heist (not bad..)

and decided it would be too much of a hassle to take Craze Maze home before we went.

So we took her...

I just figured if I can swindle fountain drinks and bags of candy

how hard can a four pound pup be?

It wasn't... we just covered me self up with a coat and held her real close.

she slept on my lap the entire time and didn't make a peep.

What a great dog! 

I wonder if anyone has ever tried that before...

We came back to a delightful thunderstorm and The Sing Off. 

Once again, if you haven't watched every song Penatonix has on youtube, do it now.

I love them so much. It's weird.

Tomorrow's craft?

making my desk look like this.

maybe if it looks cute and organized,

I'll actually use my sewing machine.

Gandalf the Dog

Oh hello, remember me?

I've been MIA... hopelessly obsessed with decorating my living room aaand

I've been exhausted after dealing with Oklahoma's dumbest people all weekend.

Examples:

1. I had a consult with the world's most ridiculous chiropractor.

His office is in a strip mall. His waiting room hasn't been touched since the seventies.

(complete with blue shag carpet)

He was wearing polyester pants and a silk shirt with a matching toupee on top. 

He spent the entire TWO HOURS telling me his political views on blood thirsty 

Canadians instead of telling me how he'd fix my problems. 

When I asked him what treatment involved, he laughed at me and said, "I don't know yet!"

He charged me $78.00 for the worst consult ever.

Lesson I learned: Do not trust the internet.

2. Jake was assigned the "VADD" phone (Vance Against Drunk Driving).

Making him a pathetic Designated Driver this weekend.

We thought that no one would call it. Since it's more of a last resort for idiots 

stuck in an alcoholic wasteland. We didn't realize that Vance is full of idiots.

We received three phone calls in the middle of the night. 

Not only are you grown men, but you're OFFICERS. 

If you're going to get wasted, walk home or call a taxi. 

Your stupidity is not my responsibility.

Lesson I learned:

Academy Grads are Frat Boys. 

3. Enid's Theatre on a weekend? A cestpool for white trash teenagers.

We went to a movie last night only to be surrounded by people

texting and talking (loudly) on their phones.

Then a group of hormones walked in yelling "Marco" and crackling their loud candy. 

Why are people so oblivious to the world around them?

 We left and got our money back.

Lesson I learned:

 Do not go to the theatre on the weekend.

When I wasn't busy being frustrated, I painted our wall Hazy Slate grey. 

I also watched our crazy pup play with a massive Labradoodle and pee all over our house.

Oh and there was an earthquake. It was crazy cool. 

Hope you had a great weekend!

goals

Today I will...

1. Make Pumpkin Muffins. Or snickerdoodles. Or both. (they're my favorite)

2. Pick out paint colors for my house. (finally)

3. Go to the gym. 

4. Look at vintage french opera posters. (wall decor, it's going to be great)

5. Pork Chops and Vampy Di.

blood orphans

Well after spending roughly ten hours in the airport Jake and I FINALLY 

made it back in good ol Oklahoma. Needless to say we're quite exhausted.

Disneyland can be rather harsh on the body and air travel... even more so.

This morning I woke up feeling ten seconds from death. 

Maizey did not. 

Highlights from Disneyland.

1. Halloween decor at DL.

2. Babies with smiley eyes and monkey arms.

3. Perfect 80 degree weather.

4. Tower of Terror with my sisters.

5. Being called Aunt Cocomo. 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll regain my energy. And my motivation. 

 And maybe I'll only watch one episode of Parks and Rec instead of five.

(April and Andy are our ideal couple bff's.)