September Date Nights

We are still going strong on our Thursday date nights and we are loving it. It is NEEDED! My love language is quality time and this is built in, at least 1 once a week, uninterrupted, quality time!

You can read about July's date nights here and August date nights here!

Now, on to September.

September 1st: I planned this one. We decorated coffee mugs. Trevor and I are both avid coffee drinkers...we also have WAYYYYY too many coffee mugs, but I didn't care. I thought this would be fun! I wanted us to make a coffee mug for the other person. So Trevor made me one and I made him one.

I made this one for Trevor. On one side I put a duck flying since he likes duck hunting.

And on the other side I put OSU

This is the one Trevor made me. I absolutely LOVE Jeep Wranglers, I have owned 2 and I will have another one one day when the babies are grown up. :)

And this was the other side since I love music. 

Trevor also added an extra feature on the inside of mine. I struggle with finding my identity in my job or the things that I do, so this is a little reminder of the most important things that I am.

September 8th: I planned it again. Trevor did a couple back-to-back in August, so I planned a couple in a row in September. Our lives have been crazy busy this month, especially the days leading up to this date, so I planned a night where we just watch TV. We have been watching Seinfeld (neither of us have seen it all the way through, so we started on episode 1), so I gave Trevor the option to watch Seinfeld or Impractical Jokers. We would have to watch Seinfeld in the living room because that's where we have Hulu and we would have to watch Impractical Jokers in the bedroom because that is where we have our DVR. We both said we just wanted to lay in bed and watch TV, so Impractical Jokers it was. We absolutely love this show. We literally laugh out loud multiple times in every episode! I realize this was not the most fun date I have planned, but it's what we needed that week.

September 15th: Trevor planned this one. Earlier in the week Trevor asked me to name a country, so I said SWITZERLAND! I think he thought I was going to say something easy like, Mexico or France...nope, Switzerland! He wanted to plan a date around a country. So he researched food that is popular in Switzerland. We had a 3 course meal. Our appetizer was Gruyère cheese with crackers, our meal was Rösti and dessert was Swiss Miss hot cocoa! :) YUM!

September 22nd: Neither of us planned...we just decided to have a date night with friends at Flying Tee.

September 29th: I planned this one. During the summer months, downtown Tulsa's Guthrie Green hosts a movie night in the park. I always love going at least once a year. We tried to go earlier in the summer, but it was so hot that we ended up not going. Well, now the weather is PERFECT! We were actually a little chilly. Last night they were showing That Thing You Do. We went downtown a little early so we could go on a walk (that was my marriage booster that day for those of you that read my previous blog) to Pinkitzel and got cupcakes, then went to All About Coffee for something warm since it was chilly and then went to Guthrie Green for the movie.

A boy and his puppy :)

This is Brooks' second outdoor movie. We went to the drive-in when he was like a week old.

Seriously, if you are not doing a date night a week, or whatever your schedule will allow, I would encourage you to start. Most of the time, ours are late at night after we put baby to sleep. Some are a few hours long and some last 30 minutes, but it's time that you spend together. If money is an issue, fear not! Most of our dates cost nothing! And if you do have to spend a little money, then think of Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Your spouse is worth it. Your relationship is worth it! You can't afford NOT to DATE YOUR SPOUSE!

Will You Join Me in a 30 Day Marriage Booster

Trevor and I have committed to doing this fun 30 Day Marriage Booster. I took a picture of them on my phone and have honestly been pretty bad at doing it. But, FROM THIS DAY FORWARD I am not forgetting! So I decided I would blog about it and invite anyone who is interested to do it with me! I am blogging about it because I don't have any other way of crossing off the ones I have done. I currently don't have access to a printer and the picture on my phone wasn't much help when I wanted to cross something off...so I'm blogging about it daily and put an asterick (*) by each one that I have done.

*1. Find one thing to praise your spouse for today.
*2. Pray for God to increase your love for each other.
*3. Thank God for your spouse today.
4. Do something unexpected for your spouse today.
5. Send your spouse a "love" text today.
*6. Brag on your spouse to someone today.
*7. Hide an encouraging note for your spouse today.
8. Wear something today that you know your spouse likes you to wear.
*9. Pray that your spouse has a great day today.
10. Share a Scripture with your spouse today.
11. Give your spouse a card for no special reason.
*12. Compliment your spouse today.
*13. Look at your spouse with awe today.
14. Do something really romantic for your spouse today.
*15. Say "I love you" in a foreign language to your spouse today.
16. Do a chore for your spouse that he or she hates to do.
17. Spend an extra 30 minutes with your spouse today.
*18. Ask your spouse what his or her favorite date with you has been.
*19. Take a walk with your spouse today.
20. Make a wish list for your marriage together today.
21. Celebrate God's love for you as a couple today.
22. Try a food together neither of you has ever tried before.
23. Give each other 10 extra kisses today.
24. Ask your spouse how you can serve him or her today.
25. Look at your wedding pictures today.
*26. Plan a vacation for just the two of you.
27. Start saving for something you both want.
28. Praise your spouse for their faithfulness.
*29. Listen to your favorite music together today.
*30. Pray for God to deepen your love for your spouse today.

There you go, 30 day marriage boosters! By the way, I did not make these up! They are from the From This Day Forward marriage curriculum that Life.Church offers. If you are interested, I would seriously consider walking through this curriculum together. It is a game changer!!! Here is a link to the videos!

Brooks is Famous!

Not really!

But if you live in the BA area, you may have gotten your monthly issue of The Good Life and there was a special announcement in there.

How exciting is that!!! :)

What A Difference A Year Can Make!!

It was a year ago today that I started leading an entire worship set at Life.Church.

At the time, I had been doing background vocals and leading a song here and there for a little over a year and a half, but to lead the entire worship set was a totally different ballgame! Singing comes natural, but leading and talking needed some time to developed! I.was.so.nervous!

Let's stay on that thought for a moment...I think being nervous is a good thing, maybe not in the moment, but it means we are out of our comfort zone. We are being stretched and we are growing. And that is EXACTLY what has been happening this past year. It is crazy to think where I was a year ago and where I am now. And I'm still learning every day! I think the biggest area where I have seen myself let go of control and depend on God is talking between songs and leading during songs. If I'm being totally transparent, I used to think through and write down word for word what I planned to say between songs. I rehearsed it over and over until what I was saying didn't sound rehearsed, but sounded authentic. I still think it was authentic, just thought out ahead of time. I finally had to surrender that to God and just allow Him to use me in the moment. I still think about what I want to say and the message I'm trying to get across, but I'm also open and willing to say whatever God puts on my heart, even if it's in the moment and totally not rehearsed. It's honestly so much less stressful when you give God the control and trust that he will provide in the moment because you are willing and open to work for Him. That is a lesson that I have had to learn multiple times in several areas of my life!

I absolutely LOVE my role on the worship team! As many of you have read before, I quit teaching so I could continue to do this every weekend. Well, I quit teaching so I could be the best version of me as a mom to my sweet little boy, but it also allowed me to continue leading worship and doing what I love.

Thank you to the BA band for supporting me as I continue to grow in this position! You all make Sundays one of the best days of the week!!

Tailgating

We are already brainwashing Brooks into LOVING OSU! I believe in Proverbs 22:6 it says "Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it"...wait, I think that applies to raising them in a Christian home...but I'm going to say it works for the color Orange as well! ;)

The first ORANGE FRIDAY also fell on the day that Brooks turned 9 weeks old, so we, of course, decked him out in cute Cowboy gear!

OSU vs Southeastern Louisiana:
For the 1st game, our neighbors had a tailgating party at their house, so we all just hung out there. I had to sing at church that day, so that worked out perfect to stay home so I could leave for church for a couple hours and then rejoin everyone after.

Kenna and Brooks! They are rocking' those awesome babiators! 

This was a gift from some of our good friends. Funny enough, this is our only high chair that we own! I can't wait til he is actually old enough to use it!

Pouty Lip!

Baby mood swings are so dramatic! Ha!

His favorite place!

What a fun day with family and friends!

OSU vs Central Michigan:
Trevor was actually out of town for the game, so I went to our neighbors house again to watch the game. Brooks just loved being outside!

Way too hot for that hat, but I thought it was cute!

OSU vs Pitt:
We decided to make the trip to Stillwater!

Family Photo

It was so much fun being back in Stillwater, but this time with our little boy!I know he won't remember it, but I always will. It was so great seeing friends and getting to hang out for the day!

So good seeing you, Brady!

Happy little guy!

I LOVE that smile!

We love tailgating season! And Brooks loves being outside, so I know he will just fit right in! GO POKES!!!

These Babies!!

Parker Marie, Charlie Ford, Brooks Gabriel and Graham Robert

Aren't they the cutest!!!!

I have been wanting to write this post for awhile just to capture all of these pictures in one place. As many of you know, Trevor and I are in a young marrieds life group. Our life group has recently gone through several changes, so this is referring to our "old" life group. Here is a picture of everyone in our "old" life group.

What you might not know looking at this picture is, there are 6 couples and 4 of us were pregnant at the same time!...actually there were 4 of us pregnant in this particular photo! Ha! We had so much fun taking pictures together throughout our pregnancies. It was also such a blessing to have an instant support group, a group of ladies who can relate to you and be there for you when you get scared or nervous and also to celebrate with you when we each found out we were pregnant and through all the small victories!

Reagan's shower (2/6/16)

Shelby's shower (2/27/16)

This was taken at my shower...Shelby is not there because she was having her baby!! (4/2/16)

We love lil miss PARKER MARIE!!!

We then got to welcome CHARLIE FORD to the group! (5/23/16)

Meredith's shower (6/4/16)

We then got to welcome BROOKS GABRIEL and GRAHAM ROBERT! (9/4/16)

I absolutely LOVE these woman and their precious babies!

The progression of these pictures just cracks me up!

I love that Brooks instantly has the best of friends!!!! I love getting to do life with you all...even Shelby who is now miles away. Love you girls and your precious little ones! Thank you for all the support during this life changing time! I can't wait to watch these babies grow up together.

St. John Promo

When I blogged about Brooks' 3rd week, I mentioned that a friend asked us to do a little photo shoot for a St. John promo. I, of course, said yes! It wasn't guaranteed to be used for anything, but I would get a copy of one of the pictures, so it was worth it to me. ;)

Well, last week a friend of mine tagged me in a post that St. John had used our photo! 

So cool!!!

This little boy seriously makes me so happy! I am just so in love!

And on a side note, I'm truly honored to be used for this St. John promo! We had the BEST experience there! If you have an option, I would definitely consider St. John. The nurses were phenomenal and always made me feel so at ease and cared for. It was the best experience for such an amazing, scary and life changing day! No, I was not paid to say any of that!! ;)