FBCLC Family Campout 09

OH My! Did we have a great time at Family Campout this year or what! Though it rained basically the entire time we were there and was SUPER FRIGID, we still managed to make some great memories!

The kids (Alex, Karleigh, Trystan & Kaleb) had such a wonderful time together. The big kids were soooo sweet to Alex and you could tell he loved it!

Alex took it upon himself to play in everysinglemudpuddleintheentirestateofoklahoma and by the looks of his clothes each day, you could tell he enjoyed himself completely! He had to "fish" in every stream or puddle he came across.

Tripp was way better than me at the crossing the moving body of water thing. I think Alex knew this deep down, because he never asked me to carry him across one time. Hmmmm..

Aghhhh, the best $1.00 ever spent! BIG THANKS to the Kulak family for sharing these wonderful balloons with us! They provided hours upon hours of entertainment for the kiddos! I was super lightheaded when it was all said and done, but they loved it and that's all that matters!

Each night at Campout, we gathered as a church body to praise God. What a wonderful time! Though it was a little hard on Alex and the whole 'you have to be quite' thing, he almost, sorta, kinda came around. Well, almost. :) He loved to sing the praise songs and was so sweet doing so.

Worship time was super special because Chad taught on a subject that we all need to learn about...Love One Another. He raised so many intersting concepts and thoughts. I am so grateful to have such strong mentors to look up to! It was such a wonderful time to meet and socialize with members of our church on a more intimate level that I would normally not have the chance to do. There is just something about standing shoulder to shoulder while putting on makeup or fixing your hair with a sister in Christ that is just flat out cool!

I pray that everyone had as much fun as we did! Our "Bunk Mates" were awesome! The Hagen & Dobbs family contributed the creation of some super funny memories, sound effects and jokes that will have a long time running! Thanks for that!

Blog Hiatus

No excuses here....JUST BEEN SUPER LAZY LATELY! I say that in almost all truth. Though I get on my blog daily, it is mainly to check on the families I am praying for and keeping up with.

Each time I log on I think, "I should really share that cute thing Alex just did," or "I need to capture this memory while it is still fresh in the nogin." But to no avail. Maybe one day I will get better at posting on a more consistant basis.

That being said, time to record some memories...

Jo Jo the Clown

Alex was ready to eat cake and get back to JO JO the Rodeo Clown!
Riding the Mighty Buckey, this thing was a hit! Alex loved it!

Jo Jo the Rodeo Clown is a retired bull fighter we had come out to put on a show for Alex and his friends at his party. They LOVED him! Alex talked about him for weeks before his party and is still talking about him now. He did several events for the kids, mighty buckey, stick horse races, rope tricks, etc. I wish it would have been a little more 'controlled' as the kids were kind of all over the place...but all that matters is that they had a good time.

Mission Accomplished!

'Awesome-Cool' Birthday Cake

The babe LOVED his bday cake! Usually our Sweet Aunt Brenda makes Alex's birthday cakes but I decided to give it a try this year. She has two other sweet birthdays the same time as Alex's and she is in high demand! Rightfully so! I still could not have done this with out her though. She made the actual cake, SUPER YUMMY, and the home made icing.....SUPER DUPER YUMMY! No one needs to know what happened with the left over icing...

I carved the cake down and with the help from some dear friends, we layed fondant on top. Then I painted it with food coloring. The eyes and mouth are also fondant.

It was so much fun to make this special cake for my little man. He was soo excited to eat it, touch it, photograph it...he was ready to dig in!

Thank you so much Aunt Brenda, Julie & Ramonia for all of your help! Thank you for helping to make this memory even sweeter!

Sweet moment with Alex..

As I was putting Alex to bed last night, he wanted to pretend that he was the daddy and that I was the baby. He said some of the sweetest things to me;

*Time to go to sleep so Mommy will be happy.
*'Morrow we will ride the tractor and mow the grass
*Time to go to sleep so we can see the stars (glow in the dark on his ceiling)
*Time for kisses all over so you can sleep good.
*You are such a sweet baby girl.

I asked him if he was a good daddy and he said, "I'm the best daddy like my daddy." So sweet! Then I asked him about his mommy and he said that she was working. I asked what she was working on and he said, "She working on a cake. A awesome cool cake!" Sooo funny! (All night long I have been making the horns to go on his bullrider cake. They turned out really cool. He wanted to 'help' the whole time which was precious and then not so precious!)

I wanted to document this adorable exchange. I love to see his little imagination at work. He really gets in to it! We tried a pasttime game that I read about on one of my favorite blogs and he enjoyed it alot. I poured a bag of pinto beans onto a cookie sheet and gave him some small toys like his tractor, front end loader and an airplane. He was entertained for quite some time.

O the ways I love my child!!

3rd Birthday Party Invitation

I am sooooo happy with how Alex's party invites turned out! I encourage anyone who is interested in some super cute invitations to visit *** lilbeansprout@etsy.com *** They will take great care of you at an amazing price!

Birthday Cupcakes

Cupcakes are my favorite to make! I love to make them for Alex's school. Some may know me as the Cupcake Mama. Ok, I really just call myself that but hopefully one day it will stick!

Alex got to lick the spoon for the first time ever. Usually, I am too scared to let him try it because of the raw egg in the batter, but I got brave this time. Trust me, the benedryl was right beside me! He really enjoyed it!


From the looks of it, the cowboy cupcakes were a hit, for sure with Alex!
I had big ambitions for his cowboy birthday cupcakes, but at the last minute, I had to scale the plan down. I am still super happy with how they turned out! The kids got to keep the cowboys, which means that is about 13 less cowboys for me to worry about stepping on!

JR Photographer

Alex got a special gift for his birthday. He loves to play with our camera and for the most part, takes really good pictures. He was able to play with his friend Elle's camera a few weeks ago and just loved it...except that it was pink! So, he got his very own blue camera last night on his actual bday.

His eyes got so big when we busted out the present!

What could it be?

Look on his face....priceless!!

Say Cheese!!


I pray this spurns a deep love of photography and memory preservation!

Special art from Lindsay

What can I say, the girl's got talent!!

Alex's 1st Concert

He is ready to be in the band! We took Alex to see some of our friends perform this past weekend and he LOVED it! At first I think it was a little loud for him because he just sat in my arms and stared at the stage. Then we decided to go closer to the stage. I let him pretend that my palms were drums and he would hit them with his hands. A super sweet guy, who just so happened to be a member of the house band saw this and decided to give Alex a special treat, his very own drum sticks!


I love this picture because you can see all of the raised hands to Jesus in the background...so moving!


Our friends band, Set Free, did an amazing job and put on a super cool show! I can't wait until we get the chance to see them again! If you are interested in checking out their music, you can do so by visiting their myspace page. Just search "Set Free."

Happy 3rd Birthday Alex!

Dear Alex,
Oh my goodness! It's happened! You have shot up right before our eyes! I cannot even begin to wrap my brain around the fact that you are 3 years old. When I think about something that happened 3 years ago, it seems so long ago. BUT not your birth! It truely seems like only yesterday!

Where did the time go? I would laugh when people would tell me that time would fly by. I really didn't understand how that could happen. Let's just say I get it now.



Your smile just melts my heart! I will do anything to see that sweet grin.
Happy Birthday, Sweet Alex! No matter how many times you have to correct me, you are still my baby and I love you forever!
Love, Mommykins

I am such a slacker!

Wow! It has been forever since I have posted a blog. I get on here everyday....but only to check on my favorite blogs listed on the side. I just so happened to look at the last post I made and noticed that it was in November! Slacker! Oh-well...guess I have lots of catching up to do.

We were very thankful for all that God has blessed us with at Thanksgiving.

We were very merry for Christ's birth at Christmas.

We were very new in renewed spirits at New Years.

Summed that up pretty well I think.

Kidding aside, things have been pretty good for us so far this year. As always, there are areas that need improvement. I could stand to be a better wife, Tripp could stand to be a better husband. I could stand to be a better daughter in Christ. Ok, really I NEED TO BE a better daughter in Christ!!! When I say that things have been good so far this year, I mean that we still have jobs, still have a house, still have cars...things like that. Things are not good in the most important areas. Our marriage is shakey and far from perfect. ( I know there is no such thing as a perfect marriage, but I would like to be a lot to closer to one than I am) I doubt everyday my abilities as a mother to raise a good child. Alex is such a blessing and such a precious little man. But he is knocking on the door of turning 3. He. Is. Very. Head. Strong. Which makes two of us. Tripp and I are not on the same page with our parenting styles so naturally Alex is confused. Don't blame him one bit. I am confused too! bjaobjotuaotuatahgk (had to get that out of my system)

I trust God and know that things will get better. He brought this family together and we have no intentions of taking it apart. I could just really use some direction at this point.

Time to switch gears! Focus on something happy, like my little guy. No matter how head strong he may be, he is still my heart! He makes me laugh like no other!

****ANYONE WANT TO TEACH ME HOW TO GET MY PICTURES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST OR ANYWHERE ELSE BESIDES THE TOP? I AM STRUGGLIN! THANKS!****

Showing Big Daddy some love!

This is Big Daddy's Baby!!!


Can you feel the love!?!

I love to see these two together! They have a bond like no other. Alex typically sticks to the women for affection but makes an exception for his Big Daddy. Don't get me wrong, he L.O.V.E.S. his Nana and is usually stuck to her like glue! He knows who feeds him!

These pictures serve as sweet memento's of the bond between Alex & his Big Daddy!

M.U.D.D.Y. B.U.D.D.Y.

There is a really good reason why Tripp looks like he wants to die in this picture!

Tripp & Jason participated in the Muddy Buddy competition in Dallas on Oct. 26th. It is a two man race in which you alternate bike riding and running for almost 7 miles. Between each transition is an obstacle course you have to complete before moving on. At the end of the race, there is a HUGE mud pit you have to go through to get to the finish line.


Their team name was Team KoolAid. At this point in the mud pit the announcer was screaming," Get your bellies in the mud KoolAid!" Funny for a number of reasons but the most important one was the fact that they both had their hineys high in the sky!!!

They had a good time and did really well.
Out of the 32 teams in the Beast catagory (again...funny!) they placed 6th! There were about 900 teams in the race that day in all of the different divisions.

Congrats Team Kool-Aid!

Oh Yeaaaaahh!

Can you spy the beautiful blue eye?

Alex & I went to St. Luke's Pumpkin Patch for some Mommy & Me time. We really enjoyed ourselves. Alex loved the Swan Squash. I have never seen them before but they do look like swans~pretty neat!


He searched and searched for the pumpkin that was just right in his eyes. He finally decided on a teeny tiny baby one that matched one I had picked out so that we could have two babies. Sweet!




I totally adore this picture!

So, can you spy the beautiful blue eye?

So many thoughts are a swirlin!

I have so many thoughts swirling around in my stuffed up little head. Where to start!

I follow several different blogs. I find great joy in going to each site and checking in. As nosey as this can be...I still find great joy in it. I love to see how different people live their lives. I pray for each of these families and think of them constantly. My heart goes out to several of them who are going through very difficult times. I am encouraged by their enormous amount of faith in God for strength, guidance and leadership. I am struck by the realization and understanding that my faith is not anywhere close to where it should be. I do not go straight to Jesus when I am going through a struggle. I do not turn straight to Him when I am hurt or confused. I know what I am supposed to do and what I should do as a Christian but for some reason, I tend to hold back. The part about this that strikes me the most is that some of the people in which I admire that do the things that I should are all going through very hard times. Either their children are ill, their pregnancies are not going well or they have lost a loved one. Here is what gets me....The faith that these particular people have is not just due to their circumstance. They have a genuine deep rooted love for Jesus. A personal relationship. Something I yearn for.

I love Jesus and I know He loves me. I know that He holds me in the palm of His hand and wants to protect me and care for me. For some reason...and I think I have an idea of what it is...I cannot break through all of my insecurities to get what God is trying to give me. The super frustrating part is that once again....my past is holding me back. I am so afraid of being let down or disappointing God that I tend to not invest what I should into that relationship. How stinking selfish is that! I am thinking about how I could get hurt and how I could be let down as opposed to the fact that I am hurting God and I am letting Him down.....which makes me start to think about why He would want me. Why would He want me when I do not give Him what He deserves? My answer to this.........because He can! because He wants to!

Anywho....I felt like I needed to write some of these thoughts out. To put my thoughts into a blog so that I can reflect apon it.

God, please help me to move past my past...to yearn for You more. I know you know my heart and take comfort in that!

Ok..time to wrap up...my mother in law is fussing for me to hand over the laptop.

Toodles for now!

***I think this post is pretty much all over the place and may not make much sense. So goes the life of me...Katriana!

Three Amigo's

Can you guess which one is unhappy?

This is a rare moment.

Usually when in the presense of each other, these 3 are full of laughs!

Alex, Karleigh & Blane love each other very much. We are all super sad that Blane has moved out of town...but the good news is that they are only 1 hour 45 minutes away. We can sooo do that at the drop of a hat!

It will be no problem at all to drive over to visit with the Duplissey family. Afterall, they have 3 of my favorite people! 5 if you count the grandparents...which we do! D Family- We love you guys!!!!

Golf anyone?

He's ready anytime you are!

Introducing Corbin & Phoenix

My two youngest brothers recently welcomed new babies to the world. Bobby brings Corbin Wayne and Zach brings Phoenix Ray. These new cousins are only about 2 weeks apart with Phoenix leading the way. PLEASE include these sweet babies in your daily prayers! They are both in sensitive situations and need all of the prayers we can offer! God is good and has a wonderfull plan for the lives of these two angels.

He skips on water....sort of

Alex's #1 summer past time...hanging out at Unk & Aunt P's waterpark. He LOVES it when Tripp throws him high to the sky!


Just look at that sweet face!

Alex's boo boo's

It is only to be expected!

Alex was the ring bearer (so sure that I misspelled that word since it looks so wierd no matter how I type it...) in a wedding this past weekend for Tripp's brother Joseph & his new bride, Charly. In the days before the wedding, anything that could happen to Alex's sweet face happened! He jumped off of the ottoman and skinned his nose on the carpet, ran into a corner, and poked himself in the face with a stick on the playground at school. I still cannot figure out why I was so surprised that all this happened days before the wedding! Tripp and I have enjoyed every moment of our free spirited, imaginative, playfull little man so we should have seen it coming! Each time someone at the wedding asked what happened to his face, my reply was, "He's all boy!" That summed it up quite nicely!

Sweeet Moments with Papa, Nanna D & Aunt Ami

Tripp's dad, step-mom and sister came in town for Joseph & Charly's wedding this past weekend and Alex LOVED getting to see them. He has a precious relationship with his Papa...which is truely unique as they do not see each other very often. We were able to get several sweet moments of them together.

How sweet!

Aunt Ami & Alex could play together for hours! Alex loves to show her his room, wrestle with her and just all around give her a hard time. When he realized she was gone Sunday after church, he cried for her. Awh! Aunt Ami, Alex is yearning for you!! :)~

Alex + Golf Lessons= Good Times

Alex started golf lessons a few weeks ago and so far so good. Well, about as good as to be expected. He is only 2 1/2 and most golf professionals like to wait until the child is at least 3 years of age to start lessons. Alex is focused for the first 15-20 minutes...and that's about it.

He really likes it though! He gets super excited everytime he hits the ball!

Tiger Sparks in the flesh!

Guess what I just learned to do?

I just learned how to seperate pictures with text! May not sound like to a big deal to many...but for me..excitement! For forever, I have been posting several pictures and texting at the bottom of them all. Now I can seperate them! Whoo hoo! Just want to celebrate for myself! Toodaloo!

More Recent Projects..

Yippee for me! I have had the chance to work on several client projects lately as well as some fun stuff on the side. One of my client/friends recently had a super adorable set of boy/girl twins and she came up with the cutest idea for a door hanger. I wish I would have come up with it! Way to be creative, R! I also got to paint name boards for over their beds. So happy with them!



She happens to have a super sweet sister with a precious step daughter. B asked me to paint a canvas for M and picked out some cute bedding for me to match. I love the results!

Now comes the extra stuff. For Christmas last year, my sweet hubby got me Cricut machine. I LOVE IT! I am sooo amazed at all I can do with this thing! It is very easy to get addicted! I only wish I had more counter space...or since I am wishing, how about a HUGE craftroom? That would be great. Anywho, these are a few of my latest creations: covered clipboards. (I know the idea is not a new one...but for what these things cost in Canton, I knew I could make my own and make them cuter while I was at it!) I decorated both sides differently and was super pleased with how they turned out.