Thanksgiving

Any holiday with my family is an interesting one.  This Thanksgiving was nothing but the "normal" for us.  Every holiday with the Turners, Molly Anne and I have this tradition with Matt and David where we do "the duck face."  Unfortunately, David wasn't able to be at Thanksgiving, so Dean graciously took his place!

 One of my favorite things about holidays is the crafting.  One of my best friends and I decided to make a few Christmas presents while we were home for the holidays.  We went all out too and made some homemade candles.  Didn't they turn out great??

 I am always trying to get my family to take pictures, but no one ever helps me out with this.  This year, however, things worked out in my favor.  The leaves on the trees going up our driveway stayed on for an abnormal amount of time and I talked my family in to FINALLY taking a picture!! Unfortunately, we were missing 5 people, but the pictures turned out very well, don't you think?

Hotlanta

The week before Thanksgiving, my mom and I headed down to Atlanta for the ASHA conference (a speech pathology conference).  We had so much fun together!  I've been to ASHA conferences with her before, but this was the first time that it was just the two of us.  While we were in Atlanta, we did a little bit of playing, which was the best part of the trip.  If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with the television show The Vampire Diaries.  I have seen every episode multiple times, and am actually watching season 1 as I type this.  If you have never seen it, you need to fix that.   Netflix has the first three seasons on it and the Christmas holiday is coming up...perfect time to watch it! (:  Anyway, TVD is filmed in Atlanta, lucky us!! Ha ha One of the days that we were in Atlanta, we actually got to visit the set!  This was a blast!  Here are just a few pictures documenting our trip! (:

Family Weekend

This past weekend, Erin and David were out of town so Mackenzie got to have a weekend in Tulsa with me! (:  My mom, Emilee, Matt and Dean actually ended up joining us as well! (:  We all had so much fun!  We went to the zoo and fed the giraffes.  She was so excited!

This first picture is Mackenzie and I while we were waiting for the giraffes to be ready.  If you note her pants, she specifically chose to where those specifically for the giraffe feeding.  We were getting dressed and she grabbed those and said "I need to wear these.  So the giraffes will love me."  It was the absolute cutest thing EVER!

 A cell phone in one hand and an Anthropologie shopping bag in the other.  I taught her well. (:

 Those of you who know Mackenzie know just how funny she is.  This is her wearing the wig that came with the Madagascar 3 movie that we bought!  Ha ha

 My mom, Mackenzie, me, Emilee, Dean and Matt at the giraffe experience. (:

 If you remember my giraffe experience post, you will remember this cute face!  This is Samburu, the male giraffe that is at the Tulsa zoo.  I think he remembered me!  (:

 After we fed the giraffes, we went walking around the zoo and spotted the camels.  Which, of course, Mackenzie wanted to ride one.  And, of course, I wanted to as well!  Ha ha so, we got to ride camels! (:

 Matt and Dean feeding Pili!

 As you can see, we had an absolute BLAST!  And I am sooooo glad that we all got to spend some time together.  I miss getting to see everyone all of the time!

Oktoberfest

The weekend before last, my friend Natasha and I went to Oktoberfest here in Tulsa.  I was REALLY excited about this.  I have been really missing German food and drinks and such lately.  So, when I found out that Tulsa had a big Oktoberfest celebration and that it is also considered one of the top 10 Oktoberfest's in the nation, I could not pass it up!  Ha ha!

One of my favorite things about Oktoberfest was the beer that was served! (:  Ha ha My favorite beer, Steigl, is a brand of beer that is made in Salzburg, Austria (which is where I lived when I studied abroad).  You can find Steigl here in the United States but not very frequently.  So, this first photo shows just how excited I was to finally have some! (:

 Here's Natasha and I in front of the Bier Garten tent

 We rode the ferris wheel, of course, and it was so much fun!  It's really the only ride I will ride! (:

You can't really tell from my pictures, but Tulsa Oktoberfest is HUGE!!!!  We walked around for 3 hours and still didn't get to see everything.  So, if you are ever in Tulsa next October, you should try to go to Oktoberfest! (:

Purple Glaze

The weekend before last, three of my friends and I went to this place called Purple Glaze, which is in Brookeside.  Anne's birthday was at the beginning of October and we never got to celebrate it, so we decided we'd have a little belated "party."  Purple Glaze is this little art studio where you can paint things like plates, cups, figurines, etc. and it's a lot of fun!!

This is me, Angela, Anne and Christi.  This one was our candid photo which is perfect because it pretty much describes us to a T.

 This is our smiling photo with the things that we made.  Angela, Anne and I made coffee mugs and Christi made a little dish.

 Another perfect representation of us (:

Welcome Home!

About two weeks ago, Matt finally came home from Afghanistan!  It was a wonderful day and I am so happy that I was able to be there for it.  This first picture is of Dean and Hadley waiting for everything to start.  They don't look quite as excited as we were BUT they were overly rejoicing on the inside! (:

 This is Emilee and I while we were waiting for the planes to start arriving.  I chose to wear my red jeans so that Matt wouldn't miss me! (:

 And after about 30 minutes, they started to arrive!!!  This was so neat.  There were 9 of them returning (I think).  They flew in one right after the other.  Matt is the one on the far left!

 Dean watching his daddy land! (:

 Parking his plane

 As you can see, Dean was really happy that Matt was home!!  He was so cute with him!  It was absolutely adorable! (:

We are overjoyed that Matt made it home safe and sound!! (:

Cousin Weekend

Two weekends ago,  I was lucky enough to have some family come to Tulsa for the weekend and it was so much fun!  My Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Terry came to town as well as my cousin, Lauren, and my other cousin, Anja, as well as Anja's daughter, Karsyn.  This first photo is of Lauren and I after we got done getting a massage.  If you can't tell, we were absolutely, 100% relaxed.  It was amazing!

 This next photo goes very well with the previous one.  Karsyn was EXTREMELY relaxed as well while we were hanging out at my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Brian's!

 While we were hanging out at the house, we decided to have a little fun!  Lauren, Anja, Charlotte, Karsyn and I played with my favorite app on my phone.  It swaps everyone's faces!  It's hilarious!  The top left is Lauren and I, the top right is Lauren and Anja, and the bottom one (my favorite) is Charlotte and Karsyn! Ha ha

 This is a photo of all of the girls (minus Charlotte)!  Lauren, Aunt Cheryl, Anja, me and Karsyn.

 This is Karsyn and I!  She loves seeing herself on the phone!  It's hilarious!

 Karsyn, me and Lauren (:

 Anja found this recipe on Pinterest that she was DYING to try.  Unfortunately, it was somewhat a Pinterest fail :/  The marshmallows were supposed to disappear.  However, as you can see, the marshmallows basically did the complete opposite of disappearing!  Ha ha it was all okay though, because they were absolutely DELICIOUS!

 Lauren, Anja, me and Karsyn

 This is Lauren and I on our way to our massages!

I am so glad that they all came to town!  We had a ton of fun!

Pumpkin Day

A few weeks ago was OBU's homecoming.  It was really fun, especially since my sisters and I were all at home together...which doesn't really happen all that often!  Well, Saturday morning we all piled up in the car and headed out to Manchester for Pumpkin Day!  It was absolutely FREEZING but we had so much fun!!  As you can see, Mackenzie had a lot of fun!  This first photo is Mackenzie in the bounce house, which she LOVED.

 Here's Erin and Mackenzie playing a fishing game at one of the booths.

 My sisters and I with Dean! (:

 Mary Jo, (with sleeping Dean), me, Erin and Mackenzie.

 Me and Sara! So glad I got to see her!! I miss my best friend!!

 Carol and I! (:

 Erin and I! (:

As you can see, we were all freezing cold but we had a lot of fun!  I'm glad that we all were able to be in town at the same time and go to Pumpkin Day! (: