One Day Off...

Tomorrow is my younger sister's 30th Birthday!!  I'm excited to celebrate with her and the fam this weekend! =)  This year is her 30th Birthday and her 5th Anniversary with Josh, so it's a big year!

This post = 30 of my favorite memories and some of my favorite sister pics through the past 30 years...

1. Watching and mocking 7th Heaven together (so painful - WHY can't we turn it off!?)... this one is fresh on my mind because she's been texting me hilarious video clips from the show with her commentary in the background lately! :)

2. Rollerblading around our circle driveway at 9121, trying to make up a pair skate routine! lol

3. Making up "divastics" routines (gymnastics + synchronized swimming) at our old pool!

4. Our lip sync music videos, photo shoots, and commercials... high quality stuff!!

5. Glamour Shots birthday parties, and our actual Glamour Shots pictures.

6. Your reaction when you opened the keys to the X5 at your Sweet 16 party!

7. Pogs, spades, drinking Surge, hackey sacks ("Little Lord Fauntleroy"), backyard obstacle courses, fake weddings, and putting on elaborate plays with Clint and Ty! :)

8. Baking chocolate chip cookies with Grandad and eating the dough!
9. Playing Wild West Bakery Shop, Big Rock, SuperKids, etc. with Blake!
10. Walking the neighborhood with sass and attitude trying to imitate Britney's Crazy music video! lol
11. Your obsession with CMT that drove me nuts, but then the songs would always grow on me!
12. Our downtown carriage ride with Holly and Megs (and you being "allergic to clydesdales!") lol
13. Nelly Furtado, Michael Jackson, Moulin Rouge, the cookie jar song, State capitals games, the purple tree argument, Linda-Vicky-Epperly, and other hilarious carpool memories with Mark!!
14. Many late night trips to Krispy Kreme with the gang when it was brand new!

15. Don Pablos (I miss it) dinners with Holly, Megs, Josh, Wes, etc. :)
16. Singing along with the Sister Act 2 soundtrack using our pool sticks as mics! lol
17. Watching Friends and Frasier together in the back bedroom most nights before going to sleep! And faithfully watching Nick-at-Nite's Block Party Summer... Lucy Tuesday and Wonder Years Wednesday were always my favorites!
18. "L-L-Lindsey, L-L-Left!  R-R-Rachael, R-R-Right!!" lol
19. Eating Mom's chili and lots of candy as we stayed in the house with the blinds closed in an effort not to really celebrate Halloween! lol
20. Taking a terrifying and memorable ride in the "banana boat" after parasailing fun in Florida! (And you insisting on getting back up first because your leg was bleeding and sharks would be after us!)
21. The night Uncle Mike got lost in Hawaii... all funny! :)

22. Your pretend engagement and the sales clerk with 1,000 questions about the wedding on our San Antonio trip! :)
23. Pushing you around in the wheelchair and getting to skip the lines for the rides at Disney World! #rockinrollercoaster
24. So many great quotes between you and Kate on our 2007 Cruise!
25. Completely memorizing the intro song at the Hollywood Theater in Norman after seeing Titanic there multiple times!  "Whoever you are, wherever you go....."
26. Heading to AmeriSuites for the night during the mouse incident of 2006! lol
27. Our long and entertaining email conversations during your days at State Farm!!
28. Finally getting to work together on some creative stuff... and your reaction to the Sparkles n' Mesh contest taking off!

29. Helping out with your baby showers for the Jaceman and Kyndal Faith! :)
30. Being at the hospital and getting to take pictures for the birth-day of Jace and Kyndal!  So precious, and I'm so happy to be their aunt! :)

So Happy Birthday Eve, Rachael LaJo!  I love you, and I'm so thankful for all our great memories together, and I'm very proud of who you've become!  I hope it's your best birthday so far, and that the year ahead will be wonderful for you and your family!! =)

...In other news, here are a couple happy pics from Jeff's Super Bowl party on Sunday... the old Diving Deeper LG gang:

And a good one of Jeff and Chet!

I'm posting all of this today because I'm planning to take a 40-day break from blogging and Facebook (inspired by Lent, but I'm obviously not catholic, and I'm already one day off since I had to write this b-day post, so mine will end on March 25th) - I think a period of rest, repentance, renewal, and re-centering on Christ sounds like a fantastic plan right about now. (And I'm likely to keep good notes and document the important stuff later.) :)

Enjoy the rest of February, and do something special for Leap Day...
I'll see you again around Easter!! :)

Boo's Day Tuesday! (Top 10)

Well, the little Boo puppy was quite angry to hear that I (accidentally) unfollowed him on Facebook... he's looking pretty fierce!

So to make amends, here are the Top 10 pictures I missed:

Celebrating Christmas 2015 with Buddy and Blue! :)

After an exciting fireplace adventure... I can't even.  So cute!

Happy walk through the park with Buddy!

High on life! :)

Who doesn't love a balcony with a view!? :)

Coming out of hibernation!

Family pics at the beach, windblown hair and all! lol

Dreaming of chasing squirrels...

These red shoes are pretty ridiculous, but still presh.

ROAD TRIP!! :)

Mmkay, that's all for today.

Happy Boo's Day Tuesday! ;-)

MM ~ Big Cedar 2016!

TRIP RECAP:

We loaded up my car and left from my house around 3 on Friday... after stopping for Chet's first Chick-fil-A shake, we were on our way. It was a fun road trip, and we stopped for dinner at Lambert's, which was fun times and awesome food! We arrived at Big Cedar around 9pm and settled in at Cabin 2010. They lit a fire in the fireplace (a memorable experience on it's own), then we watched some of Chuck Season 1 and snacked on the complimentary popcorn, cookies, trail mix, and apple juice! :)  Laura, Sarah, and I went outside to chat on our back porch balcony... it was freezing cold, but still nice to look at the stars and hang out for a while. We had a good talk, then went to bed, where Sarah and I stayed awake past 3am talking and laughing at Sarah's shadow puppet show because we were deliriously tired!

Saturday, after we finally warmed up (Sarah accidentally left the thermostat on cool, so it got down to 62 degrees in our cabin overnight - yikes!), we ate our Lambert's leftovers for breakfast (candied yams - YUM!), then headed to the Top of the Rock. We rented a golf cart and toured through some pretty scenery which included a cave and several awesome waterfalls and good photo ops. :) We drove into Branson to have lunch at Billy Bob's Dairyland, which had great reviews and was really good! (Everyone else got burgers; I got the Frito chili pie. #noregrets) We also all had a fried pie shake, which was a tasty new experience! We went back to the cabin to rest and change, then went to tour the chapel. It was a beautiful view, and when it cleared out, we sang Amazing Grace in harmony, followed by Going to the Chapel. :) We had appetizers and drinks at Buffalo Bar, and got pizza to go since we were still pretty full from lunch. We got in our PJs then played Nertz and Bull at the cabin, then took a break to eat pizza and watch Chuck! Chet accidentally turned the stove on, and the cardboard pizza box caught on fire... Sarah jumped into action and saved the pizza, and the whole thing was pretty funny! We went to bed at a more normal time that night, and slept really well!

Sunday, we got up and had brunch at the Worman House (LB skipped breakfast to take a run through the crazy Ozark hills, but we ate enough to count for five people being there). ;) Our waitress was entertaining and sarcastic, and the food was great once again (so much vacation food this year). We packed up, watched the Season 1 Finale of Chuck, took a few pictures on the back porch, then headed back to Tulsa (in time for JEM's Super Bowl Party!) The road trip home was fairly uneventful, but I always like road trips anyway. Overall, a really fun and relaxing trip!!  I'm so thankful that Ruth let us use her cabin ...it was literally only $10 total for our two-night stay there, so a relaxing and very affordable trip. (It was also the first time I boarded the girlfranz at Woodland West, and it went well and will be a good option for me when I need it!)

QUOTABLES:

(mostly thanks to Laura's documentation)

"My lovely little lumps. Check it out!" ~Chet singing Black Eyed Peas upon seeing a bumper sticker that said 'Lumps' on the car in front of us

"I'll have one... no, make that two... okaaaay, I'll have four cookies n' cream shakes, please!!"  ~Chet at the Chick-fil-A drive-thru!

"I would never unfollow Boo... please! Boo, Joyce Meyer, a lot of things I'm not against..." ~Me (on FB being weird and saying I've unfollowed Boo and many others for the past several months)
"I bet Joyce Meyer would love to know she's in the same category as a dog... How does a dog have more followers than Jesus!? Possibly."  ~Sarah

"She's so spiritual. And gluten-free." ~Chettles (on Jenna)

"So what's the song about?" ~Chet, after listening to Colder Weather
"What!? You just sang every word!"  ~Me
(This led to a long discussion about it and listening to it again to make sure we had the story straight.)

"I'm so tired of these teenagers taking a bunch of medicine because their life sucks. Whatever. Get over it!"  ~Sarah

"There's our personality coming out! We're basically the same person." ~Chettles, trying to annoy Sarah

"Well, when we have our euthanasia party..." ~Sarah
"Saaaarah, God says no! It's in His timing." ~Chet
"Yeah, He's so selfish like that." ~Sarah

"It's funny that Sarah handles all kinds of human junk now." ~Chettles

"I need the macaroni girl to get over here before I vomit!" ~Laura (at Lambert's)

"That is on fleek!" ~Chet
"No. Never say that again."  ~Sarah
"The bae thing is even dumber - it supposedly means 'before anything else.' So why isn't God always bae!?" ~Me

"This oil is for stupidity, and you need three bottles of it. It's one of the toughest things to cure."  ~Chettles on essential oils (and people thinking they'll cure cancer)

"Do you want me to Google how to start a fire?" ~Sarah, mocking Chet Lee

"Here, get a picture of me being manly! And of Sarah being manly."  ~Chet (starting the fire)

"I think I have retinal hemorrhage now."  ~Sarah after seeing Chet's Papi's Brazilian trunks

"This could become a tradition. And if so, we need a name for our group. We could make Jeff jealous and call it Daddy's Ladies!"  ~Chet Lee
"Or Papi's ladies!"  ~Karli :)

"This from the guy who almost set us all on fire!"  ~Sarah mocking Chet again - lol

"Oh, I feel cute about this!"  ~Me, on drinking apple juice in a wine glass

"Maybe I'm drunk on apple juice."  ~Laura
"And the sweet incense of friendship!" ~Sarah, in a weird accent, deliriously tired

"You smell like chicken!"  ~Sarah when Laura got in bed to keep warm

"Oh, you're not dressed - Can I come look!?"  ~Sarah (mixing up her words, needing to look for something in the room but not realizing LB was changing clothes) We laughed at that for a while!!

"Deer poop is balls."  ~Sarah, correcting Chet on our golf cart tour

"I ain't a scared little girl no more!"  ~Chet talking about Invincible being his shower song to get motivated for the day! lol

"That could work for you!"  ~Me
"Oh, it actually really would, probably, maybe, doubtful." ~Sarah thinking out loud, making me laugh

"I'm keeping her as Rose Nylund in my mind, just to give her a sliver of dignity." ~Chettles on Betty White :)

"It's FREEEEEZING in here!" ~Sarah (the morning it was 62 degrees)
"Ugh, it's so bright!! I almost asked you to turn off the light, then I realized it was the sun." ~Me (after our 4 hours of sleep)
"The light was blazing through your corneas." ~Sarah, in a weird British accent
"Weird. I'm not really that cold." ~Me (after Chet came in annoyed about how cold it was)
"Your body heat is radiating from across the bed." ~Sarah lol

"What is with the half speed limits!?" ~Laura (there were signs for 12 and 1/2 speed limit)

"We're pretty cozy back here." ~Chet
"Snug as a bug in a rug." ~Laura
"Snug as a louse on Sarah's blouse!" ~Chet lol

"Maybe we should sing to it in the chipmunk voice to coax it out!" ~Me, as we waited hoping the chipmunk would come back out
"I just want a huuuula hoooop!" ~Me and LB :)
Didn't work. :(

"Oh look, that cow's pooping!"  ~Chet on our road trip home

"We're getting a miniature pig!" ~Chettles
"We are not getting a pig."  ~Karli
 "Her name is Bacon Bits, and we'll call her Spiral!" ~Chet

"Aww, I want a cow!" -Chet, as we passed more of them

"I once had a pet chicken named Henrietta. She had a blind eye... We also got body lice from these chickens, which is what led to the incident that I like to call the chicken massacre... We had chicken for dinner for a long time, but I refused to eat it because I knew where it came from." ~Sarah sharing a sweet childhood memory - lol

"I'm gonna call him the male Whitney Houston... It's a bold statement!" ~Chet on Jordan Smith

"Oh, it almost ran down the glass. I would not have slept tonight." ~Our waitress at Worman House

"Well, I was about to go on break and style my hair!" ~Waitress when the table next to us made a request
"Flat affect works for her." ~Sarah

"So which out of those troublemakers ordered chocolate milk?" ~Waitress to me when they were all up getting food
"Umm, me." :)

TOP 10 PICTURES:

Leaning to fit into the self-timer shot! :)

Our table at Lambert's (before it was COVERED in food)!

Apple juice in wine glasses by the fireplace - why not!?

Keeping warm, Willy Wonka family style! lol

Ready for our "hike" via golf cart! :)

Hilarious bridge pic! :)

Beautiful waterfall!!

Another great group selfie by Sarah outside the Chapel!

Playing Nertz just before the pizza fire incident!

Fun back porch balcony... the whole cabin was just cute!

Finally, a Flipagram slideshow with all the pics from our trip... to the song Colder Weather because it's one of my all-time favorites, and because we had a long and memorable discussion about the meaning of the song! :)

For the Love

I finished my "January" book last night... For the Love by Jen Hatmaker.  (Highly Recommend!)  The main theme, as you see on the cover, is living with more love, freedom, and grace for yourself and others.  She's entertaining and funny, but she mixes in some profound spiritual insight as well!!  The chapter titled Jesus Kids was my favorite - very helpful!

I've read her blog a couple times and I knew that she was a pastor's wife, that they adopted a child, and that there was a reality TV show about their family... but I had no idea that she was an OBU graduate who lived in Tulsa and taught school in Jenks for several years before they moved to Texas!  Fun. :)

Anyway, here are my 10 Favorite Quotes from this book:
1. "There is a Biblical benchmark I now use... if it isn't true for a poor single Christian mom in Haiti, it isn't true. If a sermon promises health and wealth to the faithful, it isn't true, because that theology makes God an absolute monster who only blesses rich westerners and despises Christians in Africa, India, China, South America, Russia... and everywhere else a sincere believer remains poor. If doctrine elevates a woman's married-with-children status as her highest calling, it isn't true, because that omits single believers, widows, the childless by choice or fate or loss... Theology is either true everywhere or it isn't true anywhere."

2. "Maybe your best thing won't draw a paycheck, but it is how you shine and glow and come to life and bless the world. Play your note... Run your race. Stop minimizing what you are good at and throw yourself into it with no apologies. Do you know who will do this for you? No one. You are it."

3. "With every I am here and I've been there and You aren't alone and God has this, your scary truth gets less terrifying, less overwhelming, less paralyzing... You are 2 Corinthians 4, because although this darkness pressed you so hard, it did not crush you. You are not destroyed. You see that in the light. You are still standing... The darkness has not overcome the light, and the light is ours. Show up. Be seen. Tell the truth. Be free."

4. "When people fail you - and they will - Jesus is ever faithful. When circumstances tank - and they will - Jesus will hold you fast. He is the most trustworthy, dependable Savior, and you will never be alone... He is enough for you. No one is safer. No one loves you more. No one will lead you better."

5. "So those are my dreams for you: Be kind. Be you. Love Jesus. That's about it." (chapter to her kids)

6. "Truthfulness hurts for a minute, but silence is the kill shot."

7.  "I am over all the drama; give me kindness any old day. Treating your husband like a good friend will preserve your marriage forever... Every single person has a downside, including you. The grass is not greener anywhere. Every marriage includes two sinful, aggravating human beings. Grace is our only hope."

8. "If they don't love Jesus and people, it matters zero if they remain virgins and don't say the F-word. We must shepherd their hearts, not just their hemlines."

9. "Finally, let's give them substance... A youth group culture geared toward entertainment is not working. Face it: We cannot out-entertain the world. If discipleship programs hinge on amusement, they'll come now but won't stay later. Why would they?"

10. "No community is an agenda, an outlet, or a lesson, and its people are not photo ops... We mustn't use the sorrow of another to reinforce our joy, even unintentionally... We cannot go a mile wide and an inch deep in community development, because these are people, not projects. Pick your mission and invest with all your guts... If your trip is born out of relationship, then it will be a treasure to all involved."

Finally, HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY to my awesome, adventurous, handsome, and always entertaining nephew, the Jaceman!!

Here's a collage of me and Jace in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015! =)

And a Jace-in-the-Box collage (in 2012, 2013, and 2015... then him with his favorite Jack-in-the-Box Christmas gift in 2014!!)

I'm sad I can't make the Chuck E. Cheese party once again. #lamesauce  But I love you, and I'm so excited about getting to watch you grow up!! :)

Happy February!! (+ Weekend Update)

Happy Monday!  New day, new week, new month, new beginning... new mercy and grace from God!! :)

I had a really great weekend... lots of time to relax, but also a lot of fun, heartwarming community with people I love! An impromptu trip to Slim Chickens with the Wilsons, Myers, and JEM on Friday night, celebrating Jessica and Evan's last night in their apartment, and the guys teasing Evan about his big hair, which I actually like! :) Then I went to a late movie showing of The Finest Hours, which was actually fantastic and intense and far less depressing than I'd feared. Saturday was sleeping in then a road trip to OKC... met the fam at Penn Square for Ride Along 2 (not great, but about what I expected, and I'm always up for a comedy) then we had our first family get-together at Mom and Dad's new place, which was a lot of fun!  The Texas Mueckes were in town for Gus' b-day, which prompted the gathering. I took a few people on a tour through the house. And it was great to see the kids play on the new fort, get a few hugs from Diesel, chat with family I hadn't seen in a while, eat Mom's brocolli-and-rice casserole and jello pie and Georgia's chocolate cake! :) Sunday was LifeChurch (Dangerous Prayers - Send Me), then a nice afternoon nap, then Tiffany's b-day dinner (me, Tiffany, and Sarah at Senor Tequila - we had a really good talk), followed by a super-shocking episode of Downton, then reading For The Love, which I should finish tonight! :)

Here are a few pics from Saturday night:

Miss Kyndal Faith wanted my phone to take a picture, so I let her take a selfie of us! :)

Dad bought a golf cart, which is funny and cute to me!  He and Jace and Josh and the boys love to ride around the neighborhood in it, and he sometimes takes it when he's bringing something over to Rach's, since they live so close. :)  Here's Josh and Carter!

Kyndal Faith finally warmed up to Uncle Gene! lol  She'd been a little afraid of him in the past, but she ran to hug him and hung out with him quite a bit this time.:)

My parents also got a playground/fort in their yard now!  It looks pretty fun, and it was great to watch the kids play on it, so happy!!

It's really only a matter of time before Jaceman has a bad fall or Kyndal gets kicked by someone on the swings. But I guess that's how they'll learn to be more careful!

T-man on the monkey bars... they were always my favorite, hanging upside down then getting up on top of them to lay down and think by myself! #introverttime :)

T and J being pirates in the lookout on top, Carter swinging as high as he can, and Missy climbing the rocks with no fear as Rach ran up behind her to help! :)

K-Faith so happy to be in the golf cart with Daddy. She loves to do whatever her big brothers do! :)

She's gonna be the cutest little tomboy/girly girl ever!

The Myricks clan at the table and the Lock crew  with TV trays.

Sorry for all the Kyndal pics - I'm kind of obsessed with her cuteness. lol Here she is proving that you can touch the fake fireplace without getting burned.  So much sass! (I asked her if it was hot.) :)

Rach chatting with Michael, then The Peavler crew - Jayme and her boyfriend, Zach, on the couch, then Mitch and Jake running around as Justin tried in vain to watch basketball!  Justin and the twins came but Anna wasn't feeling well (she's pregnant and due this month - likely on the 15th, so her baby girl will have the same b-day as Anthony, and possibly the same middle name as me, Nancy, and Jayme!)

Kristin chatting with Whitney, and Charlene and Jess admiring Diesel (who was in a fun, friendly mood)! :)

Dessert time... Mom's "Jello Pie," Georgia's chocolate cake, Dad's favorite Famous Amos cookies, and Braum's Ice Cream! :)

I took a lot of candids and very few posed shots this time. Here's Miss K wanting some of her dad's ice cream! :)

Bellsy Doodles chewing her bone while I watched While You Were Sleeping yesterday! :)

Smammers being precious now that she's all soft and fluffy and freshly groomed! :)

This entire chapter of Jen Hatmaker's For the Love was amazing for me!

Something I'm reminding myself this week...

I coasted through Thanksgiving and Christmas, tracking everything and doing really well... believing it would be much easier at the first of the year. But vacations and birthdays never stop coming around, so I'm going to have to stay committed and choose to track and pay attention even when I'd much rather eat everything in sight and pretend it doesn't count! Because it all counts, and I do care, and slow and steady progress will add up by the end of this year!!

Anyway, happy February! Today and tomorrow = a house cleaning extravaganza!  It's past time for that to happen.  And this weekend is a trip to Big Cedar with a few of my favorite peeps, then Super Bowl 50, so I'm excited about all of that!  And to celebrate birthdays (Jace, Rach, Anthony, me, etc.)! And for Valentine's Day and my Sweetheart Run 5k! And for the premier of Fuller House, which is why I'm finally getting a Netflix account!  It's just my favorite month all around, particularly since this is a Leap Year!! :)

Finally, wow, I adore these Dear Kitten videos! lol  So so funny!! Enjoy:

Hope your day/week/month is off to a good start!