Service!!!

Gerron and I, and my little sister Alicia and her husband Jake, used to play tennis all the time.  It had been a while, so we finally went out one night when it was slightly cooler to play!  Nothing like a little exercise, lots of laughing, good tunes, and hanging out for an evening!  Once it got too dark to play... we had a little photoshoot :)

We take tennis very seriously...

Baby it's HOT outside!

Last weekend we had a house guest... my father-in-law Kelly!  We love having him over and he is practically the only one who gets use out of our guest bedroom. (Other than Gerron's massive amount of clothes) :) He had a golf tournament in Norman on Saturday, so he came up Friday to stay with us.  We went out to A&E with my family as well.  Afterwards we headed home... and things weren't quite right.  And by that, I mean... hotter.  The vents were blowing out air, just not cold air.  We then went outside and our unit wasn't running.  (Of course, the one night we have a house guest).  So Gerron called our friend from church Royce.  He works at the A/C company in town that sales our type of unit.  (Remember, this is at 9 o'clock on a Friday night).  We narrowed it down to the motor for the fan.  Royce left his house that late at night, met Gerron and his dad down at the shop to get the part.  He volunteered to come to our house to install it, but since Kelly was here, Gerron figured he could handle it, plus we felt bad for calling him out that late.  About 30 minutes later... we had cold air!

I captured the twinkies in their victory!  A special thanks to Royce!  If it weren't for him, we would have most likely been forced to wait until Monday to get a part.  Praise Jesus for good friends and air conditioning!

First day of School!

Today is a big day in the Smith household... Gerron's first day of college!  I cannot imagine taking a 7 year break and going back, but I know he can do it!  I was so excited this morning that I gathered all of his supplies and had them all ready on the kitchen counter for him. :)  I'm speaking for our entire family when I say how proud we are of him!  Knock 'em dead babe!

High School Flashback...

This movie was on TV this morning and it gave me a high school flashback.  Our group of girls jammed out to this song many many times!  I would say it was our anthem :) 

All people have different takes on high school.  I'm not saying I would want to go back to high school... one time through is enough!  But, I will have to say that I really had an ideal high school experience.  I had the same group of friends from basically K-12.  I was really lucky.  And I am still pretty close to most of them today as well.  My class in general was pretty awesome if I say so myself!
I don't have many pictures digitally of us girls in high school that would smile like I did as I watched this scene in the movie, but I did find a few pictures that are out of high school of those girls!

I might just have to whip out the old high school yearbooks and listen to some "You Don't Own Me"
I thank God for the friends He has blessed me with.

3 years of Toby!!!

3 years ago this evening, Gerron and I were a couple of newlyweds (we were only married a month).  We both knew we wanted a dog.  Gerron came in contact with a lady in Ninnekah who had a litter of yorkie puppies.  We decided to go take a look.  They were the sweetest things ever.  At that point they were 8 weeks old (his birthday is June 6th).  We both immediately fell in love with one in particular.  They called him "Porky" because he was the biggest of the litter.  His coloring was perfect and he was so cute.  We decided to think about it.  I called our vet and asked his opinion of yorkies and what to expect.  His wife, Karen, told me they had a yorkie for many years and she was a wonderful dog.  So we called the lady and said we wanted Porky!  We bought him some essentials and went that evening to pick up our new baby and chose the name Toby!  I remember him shaking in my lap in the car ride home.  That evening we played and played with him.  He instantly reminded me of why I love puppies, but even more why I love when they grow out of the puppy stage.  Puppy teeth hurt!  We decided to crate train him.  His first night we kept him in the bathroom.  He cried and cried and cried.  Finally he stopped.  Gerron was soooo concerned that the little guy had stressed himself out that he had to go check on him.  So let the crying continue...

At his first vet appointment, he weighed a whopping 2.8 lbs!  (And your probably thinking... Porky?)  He instantly became a momma's boy!  I call him my shadow because he just follows me around the house.  I took pictures of our first walk to my parents house. 

We discovered quickly that this dog loves water!  Not very typical for a yorkie... but he loves to stand at the bottom of the tub during a shower.  He loves to swim.  We took him to the lake and he took off like crazy.  Because of his size I wouldn't let him go very far!  Toby is a little OCD as well.  He has certain paths in our backyard.  If he is outside and I call for him to come in, he will go completely out of his way to get on the path, which might take twice as long, to come inside.  He prefers to be inside, but also likes to check on things outside as well.  He is the best walker.  He keeps a good pace and will just walk beside me without a leash on as well (and hike his leg on every mail box).

Now Toby is 3 years old and weighs 6lbs.  One of his funniest qualities is that he smiles with his teeth!

He is quite the poser.  He knows to cuddle with me and play rough with Gerron.  Anytime I try to pick a fight with him, he just stares at me like "Mom, you and I don't do that... let me just lay on your lap".  He is actually pretty possessive of me.  Whenever Gerron gets close to me on the couch, there is Toby to get in between us.  He will keep a paw on me just to show Gerron who is boss.  If we are play fighting, Toby will growl and attack Gerron. :)  He is content being cradled like a baby in my arms.  Gerron says I created this monster, but I think he is perfect!   His favorite spot in the house (other than my lap) is on top of the couch looking out the window into our culdesac.  He will growl and bark at anyone he sees!  He is such a good car rider.  The Braum's ladies love him in the drive thru.  I took him with me to Gerron's first time running in the Memorial Marathon.  It was so cold that morning that I stuffed him in my jacket with his head popped out underneath my chin.  He was content like that the whole morning.

Our favorite time of day with him is the morning.  He is so playful and that puppy side comes back out of him.  Whoever gets out of bed first will let him outside to potty.  Whenever you let him back in, he immediately takes off to the bedroom and jumps all over the person left in bed.  He is refreshing.  But then there is old man Toby at night who you have to drag to bed because he is so worn out from the day.

 
Toby has been a part of our marriage from day one.  We have spoiled him and he enjoys living the good life.  I am so thankful 3 years ago that we brought home this little guy!

Couponing

Last Monday, my sister Alicia and I went to a coupon class in Chickasha.  We both went in a little skeptical about the whole process.  Carrie from www.couponcloset.net taught the class.  Here is a little background on her.  She lives in OKC and has 5 children.  They used to spend $1000 a month on groceries and household items.  Once she started couponing, she cut down her monthly spending to under $200 a month for a household of 7!  So she saves $800 a month.  Since beginning a year ago, she has become debt free other than her house and also paid for her adoption of her daughter.
She began her blog to pay it forward.  She goes around the metro area teaching classes for free.  She broke it down for us and gave lots of tips.  I decided to try it out.  I know I'm not going to become extreme or anything, but every little bit helps.
Gerron and I went to Homeland tonight to try out our first trip.  We ended up with a total savings of $26.38!  And our total bill was half of what we normally pay due to the sales we strategically picked.  Every little bit helps!  We gave each other a big high five walking to our car!  I really didn't just buy an item because it was on sale or because I had a coupon.  I bought what we normally bought, just had coupons for some of them.  I hope to stock up my coupons more and get a little more organized before our next trip.
Check out www.couponcloset.net for more details and for a class near you!

B&BW

The tornado that hit Chickasha in May damaged the shopping center that Bath & Body Works was located in.  The company decided to not reopen afterwards.  I had worked there during college and have met some of my closest friends through that place.  We decided to all get together at A&E to remember the good times.

We realized at the end of the night in the parking lot that we never took a picture.  Some of the girls had already left, but we managed to get a picture of a few of us.  We all started out as unmarried college girls, and now we are graduates, wives, and mothers (well except for me... I'm a little behind on that trend) :)

I got to see them again a few weeks later at a cookout at Stephanie's new house in Winter Creek!

I'm sad that the store is closing... but am thankful for the friendships we created there.