diy addict...

i am officially a diy addict. i can't help it!

this year, tyson and i thought it might be fun to make a few diy crafts for some of our friends and family members. it's safe to say we may have gone a bit overboard.. everyone we gift for Christmas is getting some type of homemade gift (along with their commercial gift, ha!). these projects have taken a lot of our time the past few weeks but they have been SO rewarding. my favorite part of Christmas is always seeing the expression on people's faces when they open the gift you have thought so long and hard about. this year, it is going to be even more special. i can't lie, i have put blood, sweat and tears into some of these gifts. literally. lots of splinters, papercuts, and late nights. even tyson has gotten the fever. he has been helping me non-stop and has even done a few projects of his own. what a beast!

anyways, this post is just a heads-up on my love for all things DIY, especially all the cool projects i find on pinterest. every day. so, next week, i am going to start posting pictures of all the homemade gifts we gave this holiday season, and links to the websites we used to complete them. that way, you can start all of your diy gifts early in 2012 ;)

happy gift giving!

'tis the season..

have i told you lately how much i adore the Christmas season? it is definitely the best time of the year. family time, snuggle time, giving time, no school time... ahh it can't get much better!

thankfully, i am done with school for the semester. it went by soo fast, but i'm glad it's over with! i start student teaching on january 2, so i have to cram all my enjoyment and relaxation into a short period of time. so the tree is  up, the house is decorated, (the lights aren't up, but that's on tyson, not me) and the gifts are bought and wrapped, with a few exceptions. now i get to rock and roll on a bunch of projects that NEED to be finished before i start working. most of these projects have been on going for several months now. i am really bad about finishing things. like really, really, really bad. i just kinda stop caring! our spare room is painted half white and half blue and i just quit. our cabinets are half refinished and half old and gross and i just quit. poor annette's birthday present is still half finished too. i really stink at following things through. that's probably why i haven't been planning a wedding. i might not see it through. haha just kidding about that one!

so this holiday season, as you're spending precious time with your loved ones, maybe you should think about some projects you might want to tackle in the evenings before bed. and then call me and tell me to get off my butt and do the same :)

a new chapter..

guess what???

i have officially and finally been approved for student teaching! yeah! the end of my bachelor's degree is near. i have been holding off doing any practicum work at la luz elementary (right down the road from us) so that i could apply to student teach there. it is such an awesome little school and reminds me of my own elementary school in deming. it really is it's own community. i love it! not to mention, nearly all my friends here that have kids have them enrolled at la luz! i have lots of little friends from kinder to 5th grade down there!

i went to meet with the principal last month just to introduce myself and tell him i had applied. he was so warm and welcoming and pretty much promised me a class there to student teach in. i subbed in a second grade class there the week before halloween and then tyson came over so we could help some of the parents set up their annual Fall Festival. it was awesome to feel like part of the school. i later found out that i will be student teaching in the same classroom i subbed in! i am SO pumped for it. i have met the teacher and she is amazing. she is young and really open to new ideas and strategies, but she follows the same strategies and goals i do. her classroom is ocean themed and incredibly organized. the kids are SO well-behaved and respectful. i have no doubt that i will really be enjoying my semester there!

i have already written my christmas list and i asked santa for some gift cards so i can get my teacher-style on with some new clothes! oh and also, i have decided to create a new blog just for my student teaching so i can reflect on my time there and share what is going on in my new classroom!

love always
kate

sweet love!

hi friends!

i haven't forgotten to blog, i just seriously haven't had any time :'(
this school year has been crazy! if i'm not subbing each day, i'm at my practicum school getting my 50 hours in. add night class, being a housewife (haha) and having a guest staying with us for THREE weeks to the mix.... i'm pooped.

but on the bright side, it's a beautiful fall morning. tyson and i spend the night outside of ruidoso with cat, chrissy and little cason and jaxon. it was a super chilly 30 degrees when we woke up this morning! but we drove down the hill and now it's not so bad. tyson is out riding with a friend and i'm cuddling under a blanket with my puppy, pretending to study. a perfect day!

this month, tyson and i have been together for three years! time has seriously flown for us. he's my best friend, personal comedian, therapist, and love, of course :) i love him so much! so since i don't have time to sit and write some comical experiences of my day to day life today, i'll just show yall some more of our fabulous engagement pictures. enjoy!

katie

lists lists lists

i love lists. i make lists for everything: things to do, groceries to buy, things i want in our future house, future kids names, gift ideas for anyone and everyone, colors i like, clothes i wish i could wear, books i want to read.. the list goes on and on and on. i always have to have a scratch piece of paper around for when a list strikes me. do i go overboard sometimes, yes, yes, i think i do. but you know what? i love my lists. they keep me organized, and sane. and even if i can't remember what the heck i wrote on my list or where it is, i know that SOMEWHERE there is a list with that certain thing on it. for documentation purposes, of course.

i am attached to my daily planner, which is actually a "do-it-all" planner made especially for moms. haha! i'm not a mom, but i have a lot going on, so i appreciate the extra spaces for meal planning and other (do you see it coming?) LISTS. to supplement my daily planner, i also use this little nifty:

in addition to just being plain adorable (it is, isn't it?!) it is super helpful in reminding me of things i often overlook (drinking lots of water and sneaking in a workout!). oh, and i'm in lovee with the daily goals section. i try to write these for the next day each night before i go to sleep. i can reflect on my day and things i had trouble or struggled with. they aren't necessarily to-do's, but things like smile more, try not to make fun of tyson for the way he laughs, etc etc. it really helps keep things in perspective for me!

hope you enjoyed reading about my lists! this post has been on my must-blog list for a while now ;)
-katie

engagement pictures! finally!

so much has happened since my last post. mostly of things i'd rather not write about: school starting (STRESS!), taking a 3 week long job in a first grade classroom (STRESS!) and then having to quit said job two weeks in because i'm sick (STRESS!). you might have picked up on the fact that these things have stressed me out a little bit. haha. but a nice break from all that stress was picking up our wonderful engagement pictures! britney keeler did a fantastic job and we LOVE them!!

i am keeping a few of them under wraps for some projects, but here are some of our faves:

our wedding colors + our favorite food: green chile :)

<3

things got a little silly!

had to highlight tyson's passion

 

love home and those floridas in the background!!!!

there are a bunch more and i will be showing them here and there. hope you guys like them! yay!!!!

sneak peak!

a rollercoaster weekend!

hi friends!

tyson and i just got back from our weekend away last night, and i've been dying to write all about it. exhausting is a good word to capture it all. i will be sleeping good for the next few nights :)

if you remember, we left our home here on friday to go to deming for a weekend with my parents and to take our engagement pictures. so, we got all our chores done friday morning and loaded up the horses in tyson's dad's trailer to take with us. we had to circle back to our house to drop off a bale of hay for our other horses, and that's when incident 1 happened. tyson put down the tailgate to get the hay out but forgot to put it back up. so when he backed out of the driveway (turning his wheel super sharp) he jacked up his tailgate something awful. the trailer hitches to a ball in the bed of the truck, in case you're confused. i was inside the house getting some papers and came out and he was MAD. and usually, when tyson is mad, you make it a priority to find something else to do. i felt (and still feel) incredibly awful for it. i should've stood outside and maybe i would have seen it. luckily, it still latches up, although the bottom right hinge is shot to hell. that will be a repair for sometime up the road. poor guy is still bummed about it.

so after all of that, we got back in the truck and hit the road. we even turned off the music for a while and prayed that we would get to my parents house safe and without anymore bad luck. of course, the big guy had another plan for us. when we got to las cruces, our halfway point, we decided to stop at the truck stop for some fuel. so, tyson is standing outside the pickup and some guy (thank you, whoever you are!) comes up and was like "hey man, you're..uh.. kinda missing a tire". YEAH. missing a tire on the horse trailer!!! thankfully that guy saw it roll off on the other end of the parking lot, so we limped over there and got it. while i had a panic attack in the passenger seat, we drove verrry slowly to the nearest auto zone. the lug nuts were all gone and the studs were completely worn and crap. so we took it all apart, with the store associate's help, and then found out that they didn't have what we needed. so, after four hours of waiting around in the parking lot (ie: anxiety attacks like you wouldn't believe!) some random angel-man (THANK YOU, whoever you are!!) shows up and says "i have just what you need at my house, hold on". so five minutes later he showed up with a whole new wheel, lug nuts, everything. he literally saved us. so around 8:15 PM (our day started around 1) we were back on the road, but this time, with a dry rotted spare tire. so we never went over 35 mph and at 10 pm, we were in deming! we dropped the horses off at the ranch and they were sooo happy to be on dirt. i was so happy i could have kissed it!

big thanks to my mom and dad who talked me through my unending panic and anxiety via phone calls and texts. and they waited up for us. love you both so much!

after all that craziness, the next morning we got up to go to the tire store. the nice guys there put our good tire on our good wheel and tightened everything up extra tight for us :) thanks Tinley Tee! then we enjoyed a lunch with dad, hung out for a while at home, and went to church and dinner with mom. later, we went to starmax for a beer and watched a movie. the calmness was a complete 360 from the day before!

on sunday, i was all about the pictures! we relaxed most of the day and then got all fancied up to meet our photographer. we even got new outfits for them (thanks mom and dad <3) and i think we looked pretty great. it rained in the afternoon and i was pretty sure it was going to be a bust, but things cleared up (with the exception of my hair, which looked awful. can you photoshop that?!) and it was great. i don't want to give too much away but we took pictures out at keeler farm and my family's ranch. our photographer, britney keeler is AMAZING! she even has a big walking cast on her foot and she was still getting on the ground, jumping on top of things, etc just to get the right shots. love her! oh and love her brother, cassel who was our chauffeur :) she seemed really excited about them and even let us sneak peak a few, which i adore! we should get them back in about a month (she took over 700!) and then i will be sure to share a couple with you all!

thankfully, tyson and i returned home without incident. hope you all had a good weekend, too!

-k

end of summer happenings!

hey friends!

if you are new to my blog, its probably because you can't facebook stalk me anymore. bummer. i love having a facebook and seeing how all my friends and family. it makes keeping in touch so easy! but unfortunately, i just can't keep up with it anymore. i knew that my eternal need to be a people pleaser would catch up with me, and it is making me crazy how absolutely MEAN people are! so, i've decided to follow the route that what i don't know won't hurt me, and just be done with the whole thing. thankfully i can blog so sharing pictures and stories with the people that care is easy :)

i can't believe summer is almost over and i have accomplished none of the things i wanted to. my sewing machine is still sitting in its box, my kitchen cabinets are half white washed, and our guest room is a mess and half blue, half white. and in a few weeks, school is starting and i really won't have time to finish things! yikes! with all those things that aren't done, you'll be surprised to know that i've been making myself try to wedding plan. this sunday, tyson and i are finally taking our engagement pictures! the beautiful and wonderful britney keeler is taking them for us in deming. we are both sooo excited. i have been on pinterest (if you do not know what that is, you NEED to! love it!) non-stop getting inspiration and ideas. tyson has even come up with some great ideas and i think it will be a ton of fun. i want to keep some secret for wedding related things, but i will be sure to share some favorites on here :)

other than all that, public schools start again next week so i plan on work work working my life away this semester since the spring i will be student teaching (aka: NO income!). i've heard that the block b classes i am taking this semester are pretty easy so i am definitely hoping that is true. i feel like my life is a never ending to-do list. it reminds me of my great friend, paige, who used to have a to-do list on her computer that was PAGES long! each time she got one thing off the list she added about five more :)

be sure to check in soon to hear how our engagement session went!
love-k

failure.

hello my little blog,

each time i return to you, i inevitably remind myself how much i fail at blogging. it is something i really, really want to be good at, and keep up with so that i can look back and remember happy times. hopefully an update every couple of months will suffice until i make a habit out of this. it’s only been two months this time so i think i’m doing pretty dang great!!

the first week of june, tyson, catlin, mcchristie and i went on our vacation to lajitas, tx for FEST OUT WEST! it was soooo much fun! we got to listen to and meet some great bands, have a relaxing week away from home, canoe down the rio grande, and of course, drink some beers! it was a truly great time with two of our best friends. i definitely hope we can make a tradition out of it!

we got lost on the way there. catlin was freaking out!! haha!

cat and crissy :)

that’s john evans, hayes carll and corb lund. truly great musicans and songwriters!

chrissy and i – the manpower of the canoe trip!

cat and ty- the beer drinkers, what else?

with the honorable mayor of lajitas, clay henry the third. aka the beer drinking goat

  in the ghost town of terlingua, tx

bein goofy at wade bowen and randy roger’s show

the amphitheater!

that was our trip in a nutshell!!! it was seriously a blast. much needed :)

the week after we got home, one of my friends from back home got in a terrible accident that took his life. i was lucky enough to spend a week at home with my family and some old friends- people who show me true love. it was also my birthday, but that kinda falls by the wayside when something tragic happens. ryan was genuinely one of the best people i have ever know. i am still in disbelief that he is really gone. it doesn’t seem right and it doesn’t seem real. it has been a month now and i am still in shock. he is the first thing i think of when i wake up in the morning and the last thing i think of when i go to sleep. he will always hold a special place in my heart. he was the funniest person i’ve ever met but also one of the most kind-hearted people i have ever met. him and his family, fiance, and friends are never, ever far from my mind. they say only the good die young, and it must be true, because he was the best of the best. i know he is up in heaven talking football with chuck and talking farm and ranch with roy. can’t wait to see you again someday rhino.

one of my proudest moments in high school <3

other than all this, i managed to get a summer job. i am working part time for a family that lives a couple miles from us. i am babysitting and tutoring an 8 and 11 year old a few days a week. the kids really like me and it is a very chill job (swimming and tanning is always a plus!) so i am enjoying it. i will be sad when summer is over and i actually have to do work to make money. haha

i am starting to get excited and push wedding plans forward. i have been discouraged about certain people’s lack of excitement/approval/encouragement concerning the whole thing but i am finally starting to realize that mine and tyson’s wedding is about US. no one else. so it doesn’t matter what people think or how little they care, it is what we want and if we truly want to make it happen, we will. that being said, we have a tentative date and location set! i really want to officially book the venue before i say any more but i am really excited. i wish we had an unlimited budget so it could really be the wedding of my dreams, but i have the perfect man so that will do :) hopefully by the time school rolls back around we will have gotten our engagement pictures taken and have the day/place reserved. can’t wait to marry my best friend!

talk to you in a couple of months ;)

kate

freedom ain't free

When I went to bed last night, the only thing on my mind was my science lesson I was due to teach in the morning. I didn't say my nighttime prayers or think about our men and women overseas. I was only concerned with me, me, me. Sometimes I think we all get into these ruts where there are so many things to do between sun up and sun down that we get caught up in it all and forget about the things that matter

The alarm went off at 6:00 AM and I snoozed it until 7:30 (bad girl, I know). The first thing I did when I crawled out of bed was open my laptop and double click for internet. The MSN homepage stopped me in my tracks: OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD. I re-read it to make sure and then clicked on the article. Oh, and then I jumped on Tyson (who is the grumpiest, non-morning person ever) wildly screaming the news. Adrenaline was seriously pumping through my veins. I was crying. I couldn't even contain my joy, reading the news that this evil man had been served justice.

Now, you must be thinking that I have a Dad or brother or sister in the Service, or maybe I lost someone close to me in 9/11, but no. I've always been a patriotic person (being born on Flag Day might be the cause). Something about this great country has always been beautiful to me. I'm the person who sobs hearing a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, watching the memorial tributes to soldiers on the news, or watching the soldier homecoming videos on youtube. America is the best country in the world, and I for one am PROUD to live here.

The emotion I felt this morning hearing about the raid was the opposite end of the spectrum I felt nearly ten years ago, 11 years old, seeing a plane crash into the World Trade Centers. That same feeling I had when I went to school that day and I was scared that our country was no longer safe. That feeling I had when our teachers were huddled together crying, telling us that this was a day of infamy, one that we would never forget. The first day I was ever encouraged to pray in school-- to pray for our God to help us, heal us, and make us strong again. This was the day that my generation lost it's innocence. I sat and I cried.

8 months after that solemn day, I myself was at Ground Zero. I was joined by the same classmates who watched the footage with me, and the same teacher who told us to never forget. Americans are strong, but this was a sacred ground where men and women came to pay their respects and be weak if need be. I was 11 years old, but the message of that disaster zone was loud and clear. I was numb. The rubble still stood. Emotions were still raw. Pictures of Mommies and Daddies and sons and daughters plastered the site. I sat and I cried.

And today, nearly ten years, I feel like our country has found a small victory. My heart still hurts for those who have lost, but there is finally justice. And in that, I find peace. So this morning, I forgot about my lesson. I forgot about making sure my hair looked perfect and my shoes matched my dress. This morning, I rummaged around the back of my closet and pulled out a little American flag. I held it to my heart and remembered that I am blessed to live in the best country in the world. And I am blessed to have a wonderful God who loves me. Nothing else matters.

God Bless America.

Back to Reality..

I've been in a dream world since my last post. That was in November (I'm soo terrible at keeping up with this!) so my blog has missed a ton of life between now and then.

Major milestones:

• November 2010: Tyson and I celebrated two years of pure love and bliss as a couple! We went out for a fancy night on the town and then stayed home and relaxed with some ice cream and movies :) 
• December 2010: Christmas-time! I wrapped up my semester of school and got in the Santa spirit :) It's my favorite time of the year.
• January 2011: Rang in the new year with our good friend, Andy. I started my block classes here at NMSU-A. Tyson's wonderful grandmother lost a long hard battle with illness. We miss you Grandma Ann. 
• February 2011: I SAID YES! Tyson proposed to me! It was beautiful and romantic and completely took me by surprise. We celebrated by ourselves for a week and let the awesome-ness of being engaged sink in before we told any of our friends or family. It was perfectly us and I can't wait for Tyson and I to begin our marriage :) He's my best friend and I'm crazy about him!
• March/April/May 2011: School, work, school, work, school, work. We have been working our tails off. We are both exhausted 99.9% of the time and it's been rough. This semester of school has definitely kicked my butt and it's taken a lot out of me. One thing I know for sure is that I have come soo far that there is NO turning back now and I can't wait to finish and graduate (May 2012). Within this time, we also lost our beautiful wonderful Rebel puppy. He got ran over on our road by Tyson's Aunt's boyfriend. It was a terrible accident but it still hurts my heart. His food and water bowl still sits out for him every night. He was my cute and silly little baby and I know he's in puppy heaven now. Mommy misses you Rebbie. 

In other news: I love being an Auntie! Kinley is the cutest little girl in the world and I'm so lucky that I can be a part of her life. My brother and his wife are amazing parents and I know without a doubt that they would do anything in their power for that little girl. It's so fun to have a baby around! My parents are loving being grandparents too :) It just melts my heart seeing how she melts all of us :)

Also, I've undertaken the task of re-doing our kitchen. Pics and updates about that later.

Tyson's birthday is coming up on the 15th of May. He's turning 25!!!! We aren't exchanging presents for either of our birthdays (Mine is June 14th) because we've planned an awesome SUMMER VACATION! I haven't had a getaway in soooo long and I am pumped for this one. Tyson and I are going to Lajitas, Texas with our good friends Catlin and McChristie. The same company that puts on the annual music festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado is having a summer festival in Lajitas. (Disclaimer: If you don't follow TX country you probably won't have any clue of this awesomeness) It is the first year for this one, which is called Fest Out West. It's five days at the world-class Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa. There are about 20 bands that are going to be there. They have some awesome acts booked like Reckless Kelly, Micky and the Motorcars, Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers, Cody Canda, and Hayes Carll. We are planning to raft down the Rio Grande, get facials and massages, lounge poolside with a drink in hand, and enjoy our getaway. Catlin and Chrissy just had twin boys last year so they really need some relaxation time, but I think I deserve some too :) So that will be mine and Tyson's presents to each other. I am so excited that it is honestly the only thing that has gotten me through these past few weeks of school. Hopefully it will get me through finals week too :)

Since I can't seem to figure out how to insert pictures in text, here are some pictures of the past few months :)

my wonderful family for Christmas 2010

Tyson breaking colts and loving it

 

I miss you, Bellie :(

Spring Turkey Hunt- I'll write a post with more of these pictures later. It was a fun time!

Ah! I don't even have any pictures of my ring on my computer, so I will have to do a post for that later too! I'm slackin big time! Well, I guess I can't complain about my lack of subjects later then ;) Adios Amigos!!

K