It took me 5 weeks to post this!!!!

I can’t believe it has been over a month since I have posted a blog! Time has been flying by! Oakley is almost two years old. Seriously… where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday Vinnie and I were laying in our bed looking into her empty room waiting on her to arrive. Now, we are wondering what her next word will be. She is talking so much, and is sooooo smart! She can already say her A-G of her ABC’s. Not even 2… I am so proud!!!!

I recently got another promotion at work. I am now the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director of Global Business. It is a very fast paced job, and I have A LOT of responsibility, but I love it. God has given me so many great things to be thankful for… I owe him so much!

One of my dearest friends (Julianna) got married this past weekend. The ceremony was beautiful, as was she. I was so honored to be a part of her special day. I was worried about how Oakley was going to act during the ceremony, because it was a bit lengthy. I got word from Vinnie right before the ceremony started that she did not take a nap, so that doubled my anxiety in regard to her temperament. Luckily, she snoozed the entire time. Some friends who were sitting close by came up to me afterwards and let me know that they could hear her snoring! So funny! I also had Oakley a special outfit made for the wedding, and I didn’t get one picture of her in it! My Nona got a couple, and one of the photographers tried to get a few, but I am not sure if any of them turned out! Such a bummer.

We have been on the go almost every weekend for the past month and a half. I am so ready to have a weekend with nothing to do! We have spent a lot of time on the lake with my Mom, and have enjoyed some time with my Nona as well. Vin got a grill for Father’s Day so we have been grilling a lot. I like to grill because you don’t have to get your house so hot like you do with an oven, and the food just tastes a lot better too!

This weekend I am going to the American Idol concert! I am soooooo excited! I am going with a couple of good friends, and am looking forward to having an awesome time. We even have floor seats! This past weekend, Kris Allen’s brother Daniel was the vocalist in J’s wedding and he also introduced the wedding party at the reception. He was a ton of fun, and he can really sing! All I wanted to do was get my picture with him…. And I did! So proud.

To give Vin and myself a little break from school, work, and so much responsibility, Oakley is taking a small vacation to her Mammy’s house. It’s bittersweet for me…. I am looking forward to the alone time with Vinnie, but I am going to miss her so much. She is at the age where you can really tell that she finds comfort and trust in Vinnie and I – She needs us, and we need her.
Not too many picture updates this time around, but hopefully I will have some soon. AND HOPEFULLY IT WON’T TAKE ME AS LONG TO POST NEXT TIME!!!!

Shelley and Ro..... The Photog's
Vin and I

Hiedi and I.. one of my BEST friends!!

Woo Hooo.... Daniel Allen and I! Love it!

BFF's

Angela and I... She is so much fun!

Friends Forever!

Vin and I before rehearsal!

Hanging on by a thread.......

Blurry cell phone pic of my diva!

The guys at dinner before Riverfest!
The girls at dinner before Riverfest!

Oakley and Uncle Christian playing before heading to Magic Springs!

How cute, right???

Precious girl!!!

Whew! Am I really blogging right now? How did I ever find the time?? Haha....My life is so crazy busy right now, and I could never forget to mention that after 21 months of life my little angel has decided that she wants to sleep in the bed with mommy and daddy EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

Seriously... it is sooooooooooo crazy! She has never slept in the bed with us for the entire night since she was 1 month old! We have never had any problems with her sleeping in her bed. About two weeks ago, when we tried to put her down for for bed, she started screaming as soon as I lifted her over the rail. She was sound asleep, and must have sensed that we were putting her in the bed. So that is how it all started. And here we are over two weeks later and she is pushing me out of my own bed! Our old routine was so wonderful and it worked so well. Each night around 7:45 or 8 Oak would let us know that she was ready for bed, and she would get her blanky and sippy, and either Vin or I would rock her to sleep and her classical music would play in the background all night. Life was sure grand then! She never woke up! Now, I have to lay down with her in my bed and lay with her as she goes to sleep, which usually takes about 45 minutes. After she is out and snoring, Vin comes and gets her and puts her in the spare bed, where she stays for about 2-3 hours (if we're lucky) and then she will start screaming and we have to go get her to put her in the bed with us, or if her screaming doesn't wake us, she eventually finds a way to get off of the spare bed and trots into our room, and falls right out as soon as her head hits the pillow. I just can't believe she is doing this! This is usually the age that parents start getting their toddlers out of their bed, and of course, our situation is backwards! We have even converted her crib to a toddler bed, and she will run and jump around and play on it, but when it is time for night-night, don't mention the "big girl bed". Any suggestions to get her out of our bed are welcome... please!!!! She even took up so much room in our bed last night that I got moved to the spare room...

Not much else going on in our lives.... the Oakley not sleeping in her bed is pretty much the bulk of it. I am still super busy with work, and Vin is too. He is also taking a summer class so that consumes a lot of time. We are loving the summer weather, though! A couple of weekends ago we went to Magic Springs with Vin's fam and Oakley had a great time although the activities that she could participate in were limited. We can't wait to go back! Last Saturday we spent the day at the lake on the party barge with my mom and Ronnie. It was a ton of fun! Oakley loved the water! She just kept peering over the edge of the barge looking at the water! Of course, she cut up a little, too.

This coming weekend is the Pink Tomato Festival in my hometown. We are going to Warren to spend the weekend with my grandparents and to have an awesome time as well! I am also co-hosting my dear friend Julianna's bridal shower, so that will be fun too! I am looking forward to seeing everyone!!

MIA

In case anyone has been wondering.... Yes, I am still alive!! I have been really busy at work with absolutely no downtime whatsoever and by the time I get home and tend to all of my responsibilities, blogging is the last thing on my mind. I have a few pictures to upload of the past couple of weeks as well, so watch for them coming up soon.

Oakley is still growing like a little weed and she is learning more and more words everyday. I am truly amazed! We took her to the dentist for the first time, and man was that an experience. I took my camera back with me to snap some pictures of everything but let's just say that the camera didn't get used. I can proudly say that the dentist applauded Vin and I because Oakley had 0 cavities! He said that you don't get that much anymore, and I told him that I rarely give Oakley any juice, so that had a lot to do with it. We stick with water and milk!

Vin and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary two weeks ago! I was sick so it was pretty low key. We planned to celebrate this past weekend by attending RiverFest with our friends April and CP, and we did indeed go, but the whole RiverFest experience was horrible. Dinner was great, though! I always enjoy spending time with my friends that don't live close by..... I miss them all so much! Oakley stayed with her Grammy and Uncle Christian while we enjoyed a night to ourselves, and she had so much fun! They really enjoyed her!

I hope everyone has a great week, and remember to stay tuned for pictures!

Thank You, America!!

He did it. We did it. God helped. It's all wonderful! Kris Allen is THE American Idol. I have been so emotional since the big win was announced. I am so honored to be an Arkansan! I don't think that our state has been this proud since 1992!!! Thanks to everyone who voted for Kris... he is a shining star and he will continue to prove it!

He Did It!!! Top Two!!!!!!!

Oh.... My..... Gosh! Can anyone imagine how excited I was last night?? I could hardly breathe, but I couldn't SCREAM to the top of my lungs because my husband was taking a final in the living room. MY BFF Julianna called and all I could hear was screaming! Made me so jealous. She and I have talked during almost every commercial break since Kris was in the Top 36! We have been fans from the very beginning... when I would google his name and nothing about him would appear. And this is a cool little thing, too. Kris' brother D.A. is one of Julianna's good friends and he is singing in her wedding this summer. D.A. is quite the singer as well, and this was planned before all of this Idol stuff came about. Just a cool little tidbit.

Anyway, I have a lot to recap from Kris' Homecoming. He was literally blown away! He had no idea that he had this much support back home! He was bombarded with people everywhere he went. Watch this video to see some of the footage that aired on American Idol last night. What a wonderful moment for Kris, his family and Arkansas. Arkansas really showed up for Kris; I know that he is forever grateful. I cried like a baby last night watching it, and just ruined my make up for the work day by watching it again. So touching.

Oakley and I went by ourselves to the AT&T store at 7 am last Friday. We were the 3rd set of people there. It was going just as I had planned. Kris didn't arrive until around 10:30, so imagine the 3 1/2 hours with a toddler who had to get out of her stroller at 7:30 for a picture for a magazine and WOULD not go back in. Whew... fun, I tell ya. (Special shout out to the two ladies who "had been there before" and helped me out w Oak.) It was all worth it though! I got some awesome pictures, being on the front row and all. I was only about 5 feet away from him, and yes, I got to touch his hand. YEE HAW!!! Kris said a few words, received the text from Randy and Kara about his song choice and then signed a few autographs. People went crazy then! However, I did scream as loud as I could: "Will you please sign my baby's shirt?????!!!!!" to which Kris replied "Sign your baby???"! Haha! Apparently, he didn't hear the last word of my sentence with all of the craziness. It was funny! So, now Oakley has her little Kris Allen tee signed by the man himself. We are so proud! Another perk was that since we were the first 5 people there, we got a professional picture that he signed himself. Super worth the almost 4 hour wait.

I wanted to share a story about Kris with you all. I am a huge fan of his, but not just because he can sing. He is truly a man of God. Read this story about him, and next Tuesday night, encourage yourself to vote for him. He has stayed true to himself throughout this entire experience, and he very humbly wants to do God's will. He truly is an American Idol!!!!

The first picture is not mine. I got it from the Kris Allen Nation website. Go check it out! It is run by on of Kris' best friends, and I happen to work with his dad. HOW COOL???

Kris' reaction to making the TOP TWO!!!

Walking out of AT&T.
Surprised by all of the people.

Taking it all in.

Thanking everyone.

Had to try and get a pic of Oak. She was under the rope and I was behind her so I was trying to get her expression documented. Obviously, she had no clue.

Yes, I was THAT close!

Reading the text revealing his judges choice.

Oak's shirt!

I really hope everyone comes out and votes Tuesday night. Kris deserves to be the next American Idol!!!!

Kris Allen

Let me just tell each and everyone of you how proud I am of Kris Allen! He is so KICK AWESOME!! He is officially in the Top 3 of American Idol: Season 8, and I don't think anyone is more deserving than him. He is flying in to Little Rock today, and will perform 3 concerts and make several appearances within a 24 hour period. I plan to be at a few of those. Of course, Oak will be with me AND she will be wearing her Kris Allen tee! We are so excited for him! He has made Arkansas so proud!

P.S. I am also pleased to know that my 6,000 votes Tuesday night were worth it!

Finally: Before 20 Months

Sorry for the fuzziness. This pic was taken with my cell!
I am proud to announce that after almost 20 lonnnnnnnnnnnnng months, my sweet baby girl is rid of her ba-ba! YAY!!!!! Sadly, I have to admit that I was not persistent in my attempts to wean her off of the bottle, simply because it broke my heart to see those alligator tears roll down that sweet little face. Now don't get me wrong: She has used a sippy cup since she was about 7 months old, and since she turned one, she has only had a bottle for naptime (at home) and bedtime. So, see, it hasn't been that bad! We have tried to get rid of the bottle before, and it has only caused EXTREME fits. I decided on a whim this past weekend that I was finally sticking to it and acting as though I had never seen a ba-ba. She has not missed it either! We had no problem all weekend! Easy did it, finally. Now, Monday morning she was a little hesitant about taking her sippy cup during her routine cuddle time with Dada (who is her #1 these days), but after quick reassurance from Mommy, all was well. So, a quick HOORAY for Oakley showing yet another sign that she is on the road to serious big girl-ness!!


This weekend was so dreary! It rained the entire weekend, so once again my yard didn't get mowed AND it grew another foot! Haha! Just kidding! However, I absolutely LOVED lazing around with my #1's. We spent some much needed quality time together and it was fantastic!


The next couple of months are going to be really busy for me! My schedule is pretty much booked until mid-September, with only a few random weekends! I love when you have things to look forward to, especially being on the go! Vin and I both have finals next week so any little prayers that you all want to send up will be appreciated!!!


My baby brother is coming to spend the weekend with me and I couldn't be more excited! He turned 17 last weekend and that is hardly believable! It's hard to grasp the fact that in a little over a year he will be moving out of state to attend college. Wow! Unfortunately, the only reason that he has a free weekend away from rodeo is because he broke his foot, so he is out for a month. Yeah, only a month. :(


Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely Mom's out there! I know I do not take this day for granted and look forward to spending it with the ones I love most!