The Pioneer Woman

One Monday in October I took a day trip with two girlfriends to Pawhuska, OK, to eat at the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile and tour her lodge. It was the best day! We left at 6:30 in the morning and arrived in Pawhuska at about 10am. We all had a yummy breakfast, shopped around the merc for a bit, and then headed out to her lodge to tour it. The lodge is where she films all of her cooking shows, so it was so much fun to see the set. We went back to the merc and shopped around the town a bit and date a late lunch/early dinner around 3:30pm before heading home. It was such a fun day with fun friends!

Happy Birthday Sign

This happy birthday sign has been in our family for as long as I can remember! When we were growing up, Mom would always put it up at our house on someone's birthday, even her own. She has two of the signs and one would always be inside and the other outside on the fence or in later years on the porch. I was always kind of embarrassed when it was my birthday and it was outside because we had to take a picture with it and everyone on the bus would see it!

For my last birthday Mom and Stephanie brought decorations over to decorate for a little surprise party and this is one of the decorations Mom brought. I asked her if I could just keep it and she said ok. I like having this now because it's been around for so long and see so many birthday! I like the idea of continuing this tradition on with my family. :)

Sisters

This photo cracks me up! If you knew my girls you would definitely be able to tell me which girl colored which scarecrow. :) Molly on the left, Lucy on the right. It's so fitting of their personalities, too. Molly is just kind of fun, crazy, the life of the party. Lucy is calmer and  definitely stays in the lines with life. :)

Birthday Surprises For My 40th!

My 40th birthday was quite possibly my best birthday ever! It was a lot of fun with several surprises along the way! My first surprise was a trip to Tulsa, OK, the weekend before my birthday to visit our very good friends, Geoff and Susan. I met Susan in 2006 and we just hit it off right away. We don't see each other very often, but we text most everyday. We just get each other and it was so much fun to see them and their house! We went to dinner and then tried out a few slot machines at a casino. We didn't have much luck, but we did have a good time!

The next day Ross and I explored around Tulsa and found a really nice park where we had to take some "senior pictures," something we like to do every now and then! I was surprised again at home when I walked into our house and saw birthday decorations hung up all over and then Mom, Dad, Lucy, Molly, Stephanie, Nathan, Trevor, and Cody all came out from the living room where they were hiding to say surprise. I was completely surprised and I loved it! We went to dinner and then came back for cake and presents.

On my birthday, November 7, Ross and the girls gave me breakfast in bed, a family tradition. I went to my class and then some gym friends brought me a cake and cupcakes to celebrate my day. After that Molly and I met up with Mom and Stephanie for lunch at the Olive Garden and then we did a little shopping. Later that day when I checked my mailbox I found six birthday cards in it from people I would have never expected to receive a card from! It turns out, my friend, Sarah, had contacted several of my friends via email, without me knowing, and told them my 40th birthday was coming up and asked them to send me a card because she knows how much I like to receive mail! That was just the best surprise! And then another friend surprised me with some balloons and a card on my car that afternoon...such a great day all the way around!

We had dinner that night with Pam and her family and Natalie at a Chinese place we all like. We came home and opened a few more presents. My birthday was over, but the celebration continued on into Thanksgiving when Larry and Wanda gave me a bag full of 40 pieces of candy with bills wrapped around each piece. Again, such a surprise!

This was just the best day ever. I felt very loved and very special and it all made turning 40 easy!

Sharing a Guinness together! They both like Guinness and every since we met Geoff, in late 2007, we've had a joke about how much they love Guinness. In reality, each of them have a Guinness maybe about once every other month or so. It's just a fun joke between us. :) 

Gumma got to sit at the kids table because they all wanted to sit by her. :)