#Snowklahoma STATE!

Ya'll, apparently we have been transported to Antarctica or something. Oklahoma has turned into a frozen tundra and is covered in ice/sleet/snow. We don't deal with this kind of weather in Oklahoma very well, so Thursday the office closed early, Friday we were off, Saturday half the state about 60,000 of us went to Stillwater, and again today church was closed. Since it still isn't above freezing and roads are a hot frozen mess, school is out for my brothers and all the surrounding schools tomorrow as well.

A lot has happened since we went bear hunting, so let's get to it.

Pre-Snowklahoma, in addition to celebrating Thanksgiving, I (1) got a lap full of Tate snuggles, (2) had a blast on a date downtown with Matt and (3) took my brother to work with me!

#MyLifeAsAuntieShae: Being Tater Bug's Human Mattress 

We dressed fancier than normal and went for a yummy dinner followed by watching some great football! #SweetLife

Kale came to work with me and volunteered! He got to meet my pal Bernie, too!

Then Oklahoma turned into a frozen tundra.

The nice thing about this is I had plenty of time to decorate for Christmas! I have two trees in my room this year - thankfully it's big enough to handle both of them! 

Dad cut a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree for me! | Our Elf on the Shelf, Chester, likes to "watch over" us...
Christmas decorations aren't complete until Santa Shae is out! | My other tree has plenty of ORANGE on it!

Since it's been so cold, I've been getting plenty of Molly snuggles, and anytime I've ventured out, I've worn Uggs and fleece lined leggings to keep toasty. At night, I've been extra thankful for my heated mattress pad (seriously, get yourself one) in these sub-freezing temperatures!

 

Saturday was Bedlam, the day that divides families and friends like nothing else. We braved the weather with layers upon layers of warmth to watch our Cowboys lose in a heartbreaker. All I have to say about this game and people's actions: no matter what team you support, don't be so mean. I saw things I was disappointed in on BOTH sides. Don't take everything so personally that is said about "your team." Don't trip the other team's players. Don't flip off the crowd when you're shown on the jumbo-tron. Also, I am proud to live in the land of the free and the home of the BRAVE where we are all able to support whatever team we like and enjoy football games in 10 degree weather. 

Matt & me
Matt, me, Kaden, Momma, Daddy and Kale

Church was cancelled due to inclement weather and hazardous road conditions, and cabin fever began to set in (yes I was out yesterday, but otherwise, since Thursday at 3, I've been online shopping in my sweats). Dad talked me in to going to check cattle with him, Kale and Hunter, so I pulled on a jacket and joined them. 

Left: target practice at the farm
Top: Daddy visiting with our donkey, Bugs
Bottom: cattle across the frozen pond

And now, as I'm writing this, since my brothers and cousins are out of school tomorrow, two of my little cousins just walked in the door. Hunter and Uncle Shawn have hung out with us most of the afternoon, but they brought Julie back to hang out, too. Julie came in wearing a mustache and I said "I mustache you a question!" I got blank looks from mom, Uncle Shawn and Julie, while Hunter excitedly responded "But I'll save it for later!!" Goodness I love these two kiddos. What a great way to end a blessed couple of weeks. My heart is full and happy.

Oh! And since it's about time for Christmas cards share your bloopers on Instagram! Cassie came up with the idea of sharing those not-so-cute, awkward and unplanned moments that won't make the final card cute but are still absolutely hilarious (at least for the rest of us!). Use #ChristmasCardBloopers2013 when you share on Instagram!

PS - for overwhelming cuteness, watch this video. Thanks Kristen for sharing!! Happy Monday!

Linking up with Sami

Fall Update :)

Have I told you lately how much I just LOVE America's Greatest Homecoming? It's definitely one of my top 3 favorite holidays (along with Christmas and my birthday). Well, this weekend was the best of the year - OSU's Homecoming - and I celebrated appropriately - in Stillwater!

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That up there? Yeah, I wrote it two whole weeks ago. #whoops

I really did mean to post about Homecoming weekend...and then I meant to post about pumpkin picking...and then I meant to post a quick update... and then I meant to do all of that last week while I was home sick all week long. But, it just didn't happen. I was either too busy to sit down for a few minutes to post or too sick to hold up a computer long enough to post. But now, friends, you're getting a quick (I mean it, kinda) life update! Including Homecoming and pumpkins, because it's fall and what's fall without ORANGE?

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I LOVE when the campus is just as orange as can be! Matt said this picture of the library looked creepy. I thought it looked spirited :) | New video board in Gallagher Iba Arena - um, awesome! 

I do believe Gallagher Iba Arena was rrrrrrrrockin'!!! 

Yes, that's a "video board" on the FLOOR of GIA. The intro video was projected onto the floor, and it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Now I want to make that happen at the AmPo Gym Grand Opening. #DreamOn | Love those two photo creepers (aka, Kale and Daddy) who joined me and Matt for our picture :) 

Gameday! It was SO cold. But SO fun. And the Pokes won! 

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Next, I meant to blog about going to the pumpkin patch. So, here's that:

This year, instead of carving pumpkins, Matt & I decided to paint them! I was so certain my pumpkin was going to turn out perfect - I mean, I carefully selected the most brilliant pumpkin in the patch and planned to turn it into a beautiful princess. Well, that failed. 

Matt searched for the perfect pumpkin and thought he got it, but really, I totally did. Mine was destined for greatness, until someone let a 24-year-old toddler grab a paintbrush and some glittery tulle. 

Santa Shae hasn't made an appearance on the blog, that I know of, but this (on the left) is Santa Shae 2.0: Scary Shae. Matt, on the other hand, perfectly executed a vampire. 

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After that, I spent a week sick in bed (from being embarrassed over how ugly that pumpkin turned out of course... #not). I got plenty of Molly Snuggles during my sickness though... isn't she the cutest? 

I also helped paint panther paws through the streets of Amber...

Watched Kale's first two 7th grade basketball games (Go #33! And yes, that shot went in!)...

And bought a new MacBook! I'm officially 100% Apple - iPhone, iPad and MacBook. Just a few years ago I would have been saying these were CRAPple products...so I'd say I've come a long way to the good side :) As I was transferring files from my Dell to my Seagate Backup Plus (have you backed up your computer lately? If not, get on it, and get yourself a Seagate product because they're awesome.), my I got the Blue Screen of Death on my Dell...so obviously it was perfect timing. 

Anyway... I'll be back sometime to update you more on life and adventures :)

Weekend...and Home Alone with Molly

Hi friends! Did you all have a fantastic weekend? I most certainly did! I'm going to back this up alll the way to last week though, because I didn't tell you much of anything that happened last week, for good reason - I was home alone, and I was not ABOUT to tip off any kidnappers (I'm kid-sized, I could get kidnapped) because I don't have the skillz of the Home Alone kid when it comes to warding off home invaders - instead I would have hide in my closet with Molly and cry on the phone (battery at 5%, of course) with my daddy while waiting for Granddad to show up and save the day (yes guys, that happened). Thankfully it was just some of our neighbors, but it was enough that Miss Molly and I didn't' sleep much for two nights and ended up spending Thursday night safely at my grandparents. However, the entire time my parents & brothers were at camp, I had an automatic trash can (it rolled itself to the road on trash day!), an automatic gate opener (locked every night and open before I left for work!), and an automatic cattle feeder. Oh wait, that was all Granddad - I was very well taken care of :)

Molly sleeps like a human.

Anyway, Monday night, Matt came over for dinner and it was "semi-homemade with Shae" - meaning I stopped by the grocery store and threw together something resembling a meal. I took one of their rotisserie chickens, shredded it, poured in Head Country BBQ sauce, microwaved to warm, and served on King's Hawaiian rolls, slider style. Delish! I also picked up some red potato salad and chips, just in case the chicken didn't turn out right. Of course, I made rice krispy treats to go along with dinner since they're the one thing I know I do correctly every single time.

Tuesday night was spent huddling in my closet with Molly. Oh, and she was having some MAJOR breathing issues last week so HAD anyone broken into our house they would have found us in 2.2 seconds since the locked closet door + Benadryl did nothing to mask her loud breathing.

On Wednesday, I went shopping to reward myself for surviving Tuesday night. I'd been wanting a pair of colored shorts to brighten up my life and Old Navy had the perfect pair. So perfect, in fact, that my Caylee and I both ended up wearing them on Saturday (hundreds of miles apart). #LikeBigLikeLittle #Perfect #Besties (Yes, that deserved 3 tags. #Duh). They're perfect and comfortable and I LOVE the color so much. I'm definitely going to be buying them in every color the first chance I get.

get them here

Molly and I had a slumber party at my grandparents on Thursday night, and Friday night, I went to Falls Creek! Mom & Dad had been cooking all week and the boys were campers. Kaden was leaving Saturday for a mission trip, so he wanted to sleep in his own bed for a night - Super Sis to the rescue! We drove home Friday night and I dropped him off with mom to go back to Falls Creek for training Saturday.

With Kale at Falls Creek - baby brother has officially passed me in height .

After dropping Kaden off on Saturday, I tanned (it's Jessica's wedding week!) & headed home. Matt came over and we watched movies with Dad & Kale (while mom slept) then picked up steak from Ken's. Matt took me out on a super fun date - putt-putt and the drive in! The drive in that's in Chickasha has a putt-putt course in front of the screen, so we played a game before the movies started. He beat me, but I let him win fair and square :( We saw Monsters University - LOVED IT - and stuck around for about half of Now You See Me - it was too late for us old folks.

At least we tied the first 9!

My shirt has sparkles. Love.

Sunday after church, it was time for lunch with mom, dad & Kale, hours of swimming with Kale & Kiera, then the Falls Creek service at church.

I ended the night snuggling with Molly and praying for my brother & his team to have a GREAT week on their mission trip! Please join me in praying for him, his team, their leaders and the people they'll be working with over the next week. If you'd like to follow along, FBC Tuttle will be posting daily updates of specific things to pray for on Facebook while Kaden's away. 

Don't forget - Google Reader is gone, so follow with Bloglovin' or by email (look to your left for an email box!)

Linking up with Sami.

So I turned 24...

...and apparently forgot I had a blog. Really, I didn't, but since that magical day of #Shaes24th, I've been a really busy girl and my dear little blog got a little neglected. #sorrynotsorry though...

The night before I turned 24, I spent the evening with my favorite 8 year old - painting our nails, watching TV and having a super fun girls' night.

I had to work on my birthday, but never fear, I wore my fancy pants shoes so I could celebrate all.day.long.

When I got back from meetings that day, I had a huge delivery on my desk - Matt had sent me flowers! 

It's now been almost two weeks and I think they're still getting prettier and definitely still blooming. Good job, Matt. Gold stars. That evening, Matt and I celebrated my birthday with a BARBIE CAKE.

I was clearly very excited about all the birthday fun and how he much surprised me with such a great day, as evidenced by my excited face in the pictures we took that night. 

Every birthday princess knows that a birthday party isn't complete without a slumber party, so clearly I had one that night! Julie and Kiera were ready to celebrate when I got home from my celebration with Matt, and celebrate we did, until I was so tired that my eyes wouldn't stay open. Then the next day, we continued celebrating, by fixing our hair and makeup like princesses do, of course! 

Ready for our slumber party!

Have you ever met more beautiful fairy princesses?

My girls. The only thing that could have made the slumber party better is if Mag could have joined us for a cousin night! :)

On Friday Matt and I celebrated again, but I didn't get any pictures. #bloggerbirthdayfail. On Saturday, I met Twin Lori and Baby Tate for a birthday lunch! I'm telling you, I celebrate my birthday right! :)

Saturday night, my family came over to celebrate. I'd told momma I wanted a sparkly pink cake, but she outdid herself with this delicious made-from-scratch, glittering, pink, pearl Shae-cake.

After eating cake, Tate had to try pickle juice. He liked it, I promise. 

On Sunday, we had the Pikey Family Reunion because my great-great-great grandpa Benson Pikey was inducted into the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame on Tuesday! I enjoyed the event so much - there's always so much Chickasaw history and I find it very interesting to learn more about the people who have given so much to my tribe.

Great-great Aunt Marie - Ben Pikey's granddaughter - had to hit the casino floor for a bit after the Hall of Fame! She will be 102 this summer and is still just as rotten as they come :) 

On Wednesday morning (I think - my days are running together - eep!), my baby brother Kale was on TV! AmPo was chosen as OKC FOX's Cool School and Kale and the Elementary Choir got to perform! It was too cool. I asked him for his autograph and he told me I wasn't a "real person" so I didn't get it. Ouch!

Matt and Thabo came over last Wednesday night for dinner - I made pizza from almost-scratch (lies. It was totally from a box). Molly and Thabo weren't quite sure what to think of each other - my sassy little pug doesn't like to share, but tries to be as lazy as possible while defending her territory. At one point, she was sitting on Matt and staring down Thabo as he played. They haven't seen each other since Thabo was a tiny baby puppy, but by the end of the night I think they'd decided to be friends. 

On Friday, Magan, Kiera and I ran around the countryside taking pictures, and I got to see a beautiful sunset after taking pictures in the middle of the road. I'll be sure to share some pictures from their photo shoot soon :) 

On Saturday, I got up bright and early (for the weekend) to go to Letter Carriers' Food Drive! My job was to go to various sites and take pictures, and Matt's job was to drive me. I had such a fun day and really appreciated Matt going along with me to work! After the food drive, we went to dinner, watched the Thunder and even shopped a little! Such a solid Saturday :) 

Almost done with our day of work! 

Sunday it was time to celebrate MOM! My brothers and I are blessed with a truly incredible woman to call momma. We had a day at the ponds with our whole family, complete with fishing, homemade fried chicken, hot dog roasts, smores and sunburns! I can't wait for more days like this all summer long. 

Daddy said the rule is if you're driving the truck, the windows are down. I agree. 

I did an activity called "princess fishing" at the pond - I threw the line(?), reeled in the fish, but daddy took it off and held for the pictures. I don't touch gross things like that!

Such a busy, fun couple of weeks! God has put some truly wonderful people in my life and I am so, so very blessed! In conclusion: I'm seriously liking 24 so far.