Community Group Fun Night

Have I mentioned how much I love my community group from church?  Well, I do.  I love the time we spend together, the relationships that have formed, the discussions we have, the support and comfort we give each other during rough times, helping each other grow, and making each other better.  I also love our fun nights!  We try to be creative and do fun and different things.  Someone suggested awhile ago that we go to a murder mystery dinner as a group.  After checking on prices, we decided it costs more money than we wanted to spend, which was disappointing.  But we have a very talented writer in our group!  He stepped up and volunteered to write our scripts for us and create our own mystery.  I've never been to a murder mystery dinner, but I'd bet money that ours was so much better!  Thanks, Russell!

It was set in 1985, and we were all connected in some way to a record label.  The label had much success, but there were definitely conflicts amongst all of our characters.  Once our CEO was murdered, it was our job to discover who did it and why.  Bring it on!  I love a good mystery!

Of course, the women won!  Apparently the men started out their discussion picking the right murderer and talked themselves out of it.  Hmmm....too bad!  We also dressed in full 80s gear.  Can I just say that it is scary how many styles from the 80s are coming back?  I'm not exactly a fan.  Here are some pictures from that night:

After we called out our murderer, who was our deputy, we had to use his "handcuffs" on him!

Here are the ladies, aka the winners, with the criminal:

And the men.  The gracious second placers. "Losers" just sounds rude...but they were :)

And me and hubby decked out in some hot fashionable clothes!

Our Birthday Boy

Disclaimer: If you're not a dog person, this post will probably seem ridiculous to you.  But I've become one of those dog people:)

Cassius, my oldest baby, was born two years ago today!  We met him a few weeks later, then took him home in May.  I can't believe it has been that long.  He has changed so much.  I can remember when he was this tiny and timid.

It didn't take long at all for him to become active.  If you've ever owned a Jack Russell Terrier, you will understand that they are not calm or shy.  Not even remotely.  He was soon into everything, tearing up whatever he could.  He required a lot of discipline in his early age!  He also discovered at a young age that he loves the water when we took him to the lake.  Now his favorite thing to do is find water, a puddle or a lake, he doesn't care, and get as muddy and wet as he can.

One of the reasons we got Cassius is because we wanted a small breed.  We did our research and the average size of a Jack Russell is 12 lbs.  Perfect!  Except we should've known, our Cassius is anything but normal.  It didn't take him long to pass that.  So he became our "big dog".  I'm pretty sure he weighs 26 lbs today.  One of his most noticeable characteristics is that he likes to be touching people most of the time, especially when he's sleeping.  He's a major cuddler.

I don't mind it at all!  As crazy and hyper as he is most of the time, he definitely makes up for it by being sweet and loyal.  Most people don't get to see this side of him because he loves company and he's always excited to have people come visit him.

He's also our watch dog.  I'm not sure that his bite is near as mean as his bark, but he isn't going to let anyone mess with his parents.  He's completely stubborn and too smart for his own good.  He's so dramatic and knows how to play up sympathy.  And because of all of that, we love him like crazy!  He is so special to us, and we realize that he's spoiled.  But he will always be our first born :)

  

Spring Break Update

I really planned on getting more consistent with blog posts.  Looks like that didn't really happen.  I've got to try to do better.

Last week was Spring Break in Oklahoma.  I sure do wish that still affected me :) I guess it did in a way.  My sister is a teacher so she came to spend some time with us.  It was great having her here, and my dogs sure loved having her here too!  We didn't get to do much of anything exciting, but I'm pretty sure she just enjoyed sleeping in.

Later in the week, I FINALLY got to go see my best friend from high school, Heather, and her precious new baby, Hadlea.  I'm not biased or anything, but Hadlea is one beautiful kid.

Look at those eyes!  On Friday, Heather worked from home, so I volunteered to play with this cutie all day.  She was such a fun baby!  We played a lot, ate a lot, and slept a little.  It was definitely not a huge sacrifice, and I can't wait to see them again!  Here's one of me and my new little friend:

On my way home, the Spring Break Storm hit.  Of course, we'd heard about it all week, but I was really hoping the weathermen would be wrong.  Not so much.  We got snow...again.  As I think I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of snow ever.  If I have to have it, I prefer it on Christmas day or if I'm skiing on it.  Other than that, I'm good with sun.  So I really didn't love it the day after it was 70 degrees!!  Only in Oklahoma can you have 70 degree weather one day and 6 inches of snow the next day.

Before the snow came, Jimmy brought our niece and nephew, Breylen and Braden, to our house to spend the weekend.  We were hoping for some fun, outdoor activity with them.  Since that was no longer an option, we opted for some bowling and rented movies.  By our second game of bowling, they were both really into it, and Breylen even beat me.  She doesn't know yet how much I love revenge.  We love having them with us, and hope they can come back soon for some warm weather fun.

Jimmy has been keeping busy with Primerica and all of the exciting things that are happening in the business right now.  I think the next couple of months are going to be good for us, and he has been working really hard.  I'm so proud of him!

Oscar Recap

The Acadamy Awards just ended, so here is my quick recap:

YAY for Sandra Bullock!  She looked gorgeous, and although I haven't seen all of the movies for the other nominees, I absolutely loved her in The Blind Side!  She looked gorgeous tonight, and I am just so happy for her.  I have been a fan of hers for years and I was definitely rooting for her.

A runner-up in the Best Actress category, is the Precious Gabourey Sidibe. (I know, awful pun)  I haven't see the movie yet, but I have seen her do numerous interviews, and you've gotta love the girl!  She is so sweet and apparently the complete opposite of her character.  She was just a regular college student, and her first movie gets her an Oscar nomination.  Just incredible.  I also think she looked beautiful tonight, and I hope we see more of her in the future.

The biggest surprise of the night for me was that Avatar didn't win the Best Picture category.  I'd heard some people speculate that The Hurt Locker may win, but I didn't think it ever would.  Again, I haven't seen it, so I was judging without all the facts.  But it just seemed like an upset to me.  I definitely want to see this movie now.  The director for this movie, Kathryn Bigelow, also won for Best Director, which is the first time this award has ever gone to a woman.  I also think it's ironic that she beat out James Cameron, the director of Avatar, who is her ex-husband. 

To be honest, I don't really watch or care about much during the Academy Awards, except the Best Supporting Actor/Actress, Best Actor/Actress, and Best Picture. 

I also like to scrutinize the dresses, although I don't consider myself even slightly fashionable.  I loved both of the ladies above, Kate Winslet was a classic beauty, Demi Moore was fun (although I think people might not like this one), Mariska Hargitay, Queen Latifah, and Faith Hill were all great, but I think my favorite overall was...Cameron Diaz!  I'm not sure why, but I just loved this look on her:

Of course, there were also some I didn't think were great.  And I'm very sad to say that my least favorite was Charlize Theron.  I usually love her, but what was she thinking?  Love the color, but she has to know how weird this looks, right?

The Big House

Like I mentioned in my last post, this weekend was the small school state basketball tournament.  Most people do not understand this, but this is something that I was raised to attend yearly.  It's such a fun environment that I don't think you can really understand unless you've been at a small school.  The entire town comes out to cheer for their local team, and the support is just so different than what I have observed in a big school environment.  This year was no different.  I didn't even know anyone that I got to watch, but had such a great time!  I just love watching the kids live out their dreams.and seeing all their hard work become worth it.  I got to reunite with some old friends and see some really good games.  Gotta love the Big House!

The downside of the weekend is that the weather is getting nicer in Oklahoma, meaning the seasonal allergies have taken over my life.  I didn't feel great at all.  My dad was also sick, and we spent the first night they were here up with our three dogs.  They were all so hyped up, and we did not get much sleep at all.  But they were much better the next night once they got used to each other. 

And I usually don't plan to attend the big school state tournament, but hubby's alma mater, the mighty Watonga Eagles, have had an outstanding year.  They are actually still undefeated.  I hope they take the gold, which will mean another trip to the Big House!