From Trash to Treasures

I have been staring at these piles of lumber for months now since we are building our new house.  I can imagine all kinds of cute crafts I could be making out of all of that scrap lumber before it becomes the burn pile and goes up in smoke!

There are so many crafty item that can come out of this pile of scraps!

Pallets!  So many pallet ideas to choose from...shelves, tables, headboards and more!

I'm seeing all kinds of crafty projects coming from this one!  This pile looks the most promising to me...boards of all kinds just waiting to have a little paint on them.
After being introduced to Pinterest by my daughter, I have spent many, many hours there poring over crafts and other goodness.

This is just the cutest thing!  I want this to be my first project in the coming days.  It's adorable and looks very easy to make.

Look at this 'wall of words'!  Simple and the wording can be made to fit any family.

One of my favorite Bible verses.  Gotta make this one and have it somewhere to be seen each day as a gentle reminder of WHO is actually in control of my life.

I LOVE this!  The words can be changed out to fit any holiday or theme you might have in your home.  It looks like it's made from and old window so I need to be on the hunt for one!

This is another great verse!  The project looks quick and easy so we'll see!  I'm going to have to greatly improve my painting/handwriting skills to make this look good.

This is so cute too!  I'm sure I can find scraps already cut up in these various sizes which will make the project go even quicker.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE snowmen and this one is just from 2x4s!  I've got scraps of these all over the place.  Never too early to start on Christmas decorations for next year!

Another fun snowman idea!

I would love to get these made this week but it's doubtful that it will happen! But, there's always next year!

And, finally, this little prayer stack.  I absolutely love it!
I hope I can get busy on making some of these crafts very soon!

*Crafty images are from www.pinterest.com

Tulsa Weekend

Ashley and I had the best weekend a few weekends ago that I'm just now getting around to blogging about.  We had tickets to see REBA!!! "The" Reba! 
Ashley came home on Thursday afternoon and we headed out Friday to go to Tulsa.  The concert was Friday night at the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa. 
Ashley had researched hotels for us to stay in after the concert.  She found the Doubletree Hotel which was just about two blocks from the BOK Center.  I thought she picked this for the sake of convenience.  I was wrong.  She secretly knew that they had these:

And this is a perfectly good reason to me!
It came time to go to the concert so we headed out for the short walk.

We were SO excited to know that REBA was in there!! 
We only waited a few minutes before the doors were open and we were in the same house as REBA!!  We were giddy with excitement!  We found our seats which were great!  Floor seats!  We could hardly wait for it to start.
Finally the first act came out.

Eden's Edge!  They are a new group and were very good!  I especially liked that they ended their set with a beautiful  acappella hymn 
Next was Steel Magnolia.  I didn't know anything about this group but Ashley caught me up on them.

She was very good and wore a very cute flower in her hair.  She performed solo for a few songs.  Her partner is having some personal issues and was unable to be there that night.

James Otto(I didn't know who he was either) came out to finish the set with her.  Lots of good music!
Ok...the next act I DID know who they are, or at least a few of their songs anyway.

The Band Perry!  They were so good and sang some fun songs!

Their hit song "If I Die Young" was one of my favorites of theirs.
And then..........we PATIENTLY waited...not really...but we did wait...for the set to be changed over to REBA'S set!

 And then.........Here she is!!

The queen of country music!! Ashley and I were so overcome with emotion! 

She was AMAZING!
She sang all of her famous hits...some old and some new.

She was making eye contact with Ashley for this pic!

She sang her hit "Does He Love You" with Kimberly Perry from the Band Perry.

Reba was giving her the stink eye!  If looks could kill...

Yep...that's the stink eye!  "Gurlllllll, don't you be messing around with MY man!"

She sang her hit "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" and dedicated it to her father, who is in a facility recovering from a recent stroke.  A slide show of old family photos played above her head.  Oh. My. Goodness!  I was fighting the tears and a few did escape down my cheeks...very touching song.

At random moments, Ashley and I would turn to each other and say, "That's REBA"!  All night long!
Of course she ended the show with "Fancy".

We had such a great evening!  

We walked back to the hotel and were too keyed up to go to bed so we drank a Dr. Pepper and ate leftover Halloween candy...at midnight!  

Playing Catch Up!

Several weeks have gone by so I'm behind on my posting.  We have had a lot of stuff going on it seems.

The kids have both made several trips home lately...WHICH I LOVE!! I can never get enough of these two!

The first weekend they were here, Colby went to the deer lease with my brothers to check things out there and get set up for deer hunting.  Ashley and I had a concert to go to....KELLIE PICKLER!

Here we are at the concert venue waiting for it to start.  We were having fun before it ever began....lots of interesting people to...um..."observe".

The Jane Dear Girls were the opening act.  They were pretty cute and did a good show.

Finally it was Kellie's turn!  She is just the cutest little thing!  And I mean LITTLE.  We have been a fan of hers since her American Idol days.  She is really funny and interacted a lot with the crowd.

I just knew I would have to leave the auditorium while she sang "I Wonder" but I made it through it.  This song is the one where she's wondering what her mother, who abandoned her as a child, thinks about her now and if she's proud of her.  TEAR JERKER for sure.  We had a great time and I'm so glad Ashley likes for me to be her concert buddy!

Colby left to go back on Sunday but Ashley was staying for the week for the birth of Sweet P.

We were all so excited for this baby to get here! 

I got some baby loving that evening and she is just a little doll!

Colby came back home the next weekend also.  He and Allan were going to the WORLD SERIES!!  

They were so excited and I was so excited for them!  I'm so glad they both got to share this experience with each other.

While the guys were at the World Series, Ashley and I were at our church Halloween party.  OH MY GOODNESS...what fun we had!  I'll have another post strictly about the party later.  We are a big 'fan', if you want to call it that, of "Toddlers & Tiaras" on TLC so that is who we dressed as.  I was the crazy pageant mom and Ashley was Miss Circus City Ultimate Grand Supreme...toooooo funny!

Ashley is coming home again this weekend because we have a date with...........

We are so excited!  I know we will have a great time!

We are also celebrating my mom's birthday this weekend!  Happy Birthday, Mom!

Friday Fun!

Happy Friday to all!

I'm so excited for the weekend because these two are coming home!

They haven't been here together since August when they came for mine and Allan's birthday so I'm sure we'll have a fun time all being together.

This just really cracks me up!  Sandy laid like this, staring into her empty food bowl for several minutes yesterday.  I'm sure she was thinking, "If I stare at it long enough, the food will eventually appear." 

This is our newest kitty that doesn't have a name yet.  I was really not wanting another cat and hoped she would keep moving on down the road, but it appears she has adopted us.  She is a sweetie though.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

After a week or more off from blogging, I'm back today!  This is what I'm loving this week.

I'm LOVING that Monday was the dedication of playground equipment in honor of my sweet friend, Cindy, that passed away a little over a year ago from an aggressive brain cancer.   Cindy was a pre-school teacher for many years and enriched the lives of so many children in our town.

This fun piece of playground equipment was bought from donations and t-shirt sales honoring Cindy. 

Cindy's husband, father, daughters and grandchildren were on hand for the dedication.  It was a wonderful time to once again remember Cindy and her love for children.

I'm LOVING that we're still plugging right along on building our house.  I'm learning how to stain!

I'm LOVING that I can be goofy with my friend, Tammy!  Tammy is precious and we always have a good time but it usually ends up with silliness going on!

I'm LOVING that Ashley is coming home this weekend and will be here for a few days!

I'm LOVING that Ashley and I are going to see Kelly Pickler in concert on Saturday night.  I think it will be a really fun time until she sings that song about her mother that makes me cry every time!  I may have to make a bathroom run when that song comes up.
I hope everyone has a great Wednesday and rest of the week.