NICE TO KNOW THIS PHOTOGRAPHER...

Our son in college is a Video Production major, but he's also been required to take some regular photography classes...how do you think he did???  These haven't been edited, but I love his compositions!

Might have to get some of these printed!

WHAT MY GIRL'S BEEN UP TO....

FINISHED her reupholstery project!

Visited ARCHES NATIONAL PARK in Utah with friends

Made herself a YOGA MAT BAG...which she claims cost $80 in stores...
so I'm thinking she should go into business for herself!

Sometimes I'm just a little bit jealous of her and her independence.  There is no way I would have had the confidence to do this as a young woman in my 20's!  Maybe you know now who she takes after in our family...praying God's blessings in her life today as she lights up her little corner of the world!

GETTIN' ALL MUSHY...

on our wedding anniversary!  30 years since our wedding, to be exact!  And yes, I was a child bride!  We have never been the couple that celebrates in a big way.  Life and kids and finances seemed to take priority.  But this year we are finding ourselves in a place where our kids are almost grown up and we've got a little more free time on our hands.  Maybe another reason is that I know how long our parents enjoyed their marriages: 42 and 54 years, and both were interrupted by cancer.  You never know how much time you'll have left.  But we are still committed to each other today as we were on day one.  So that's worth celebrating!

We have a trip planned soon - carefully planned when our youngest goes to camp - but I wanted to surprise the hubs on THE DAY with some little gifts over the weekend.  The sweet thing is, I didn't deny my frugal self.  It went kinda like this:

 Lunch @ Vast

 A tree!  Cheesy, I know...but I hope we can watch that little tree grow for many more years!

A little something delicious that we both love hidden in the desk drawer...

The little something he got me was a new journal...my other one is about full!

I don't share this to make you think we have some fantastic marriage and never any disappointments, but I share this to remind you to take time to appreciate your loved ones, whether it's a spouse, parent, or child. 

 Little things do mean a lot!  

What little thing can you do to brighten someone's day today?

VAST...

on the 49th floor!  I surprised the hubs the other day by telling him we were celebrating our 30th anniversary by going out to lunch at VAST!  (Don't tell him I couldn't get dinner reservations - next time plan ahead)  For all you non-Okies, Vast is the hottest new restaurant on top of OKC in the new Devon Tower.  I made sure I checked the dress code after our minister telling a story from the pulpit about how his wife was not allowed into the restaurant because of her flip-flops!  Well, it's worth putting on regular shoes, folks!  Go for lunch - they have a great buffet for $20! 

This was our view - the OKC Bombing Memorial flanked by the two old church buildings! Beautiful!

AND the best reason to go for the lunch buffet - yes, we did get one of everything on the petite dessert buffet!  Then we had ourselves a little tasting party...Key lime pie and cheesecake won our votes for best dessert.

We also acted like tourists and walked thru the Myriad Gardens/Crystal Bridge across the street - everything is really beautiful and updated and I think we don't always appreciate what we have!  

Even if I didn't have the foresight to get dinner reservations weeks ahead, I think we got the best deal!  

SOUP OF THE WEEK...

ROASTED RED PEPPER PUREE WITH SPICY CORN SALSA!

I was disappointed with this one - not spicy enough for us!  But it was a very pretty soup, and I enjoy buying new ingredients to try out.  You can always add some spice and CHEESE of course!

A NEW CREATION...

Little Fletcher is here!  Our nephew's first baby - a long awaited, much loved little boy!  He came 2 weeks early and mother and baby are doing fine.  I said this before, with the shower pictures, but of all of our nephews and nieces, he was the one we saw most often and babysat a lot as a toddler and had so much fun with before we had our own children. 

 What a blessing to hold that little 6 pounder in my arms...

 Children are a heritage from the Lord,

    offspring a reward from him.  Psalm 127:3

BROTHERLY LOVE OR REDNECK RIGGED...

This week my youngest said goodbye to his first car, the old BMW that cost us a mere $300!  It actually ran very well and the hubs and he cleaned it up and made it look pretty good.  We sold it to my husband's brother for his son to drive.  FUN FACT:  He's actually the third Waugh to own it - we bought it from another nephew!  Here's the cousins with the good faith handshake - and the brothers inside the car looking over all the fancy gadgets...well, all the fancy gadgets they had back in 1994!

And here's what my resourceful husband came up with for the hot ride home - since the A/C doesn't work, he presented him with a jug of ice water with a towel inside...  I know you are all jealous of what a great handyman he is!

CELEBRATING AMIDST CHAOS...

I had a birthday yesterday which was a much needed distraction from life...although Mom's knee is healing nicely and so is my son, there is still much to do and now playing the waiting game for insurance, CT scans and test results.  I can't think of anything better for my birthday than watching one of my kiddos perform!  (My daughter's surprise visit from Denver for a few days was great too!) My husband and I got to hear our son and New Reign sing last night at a local church.  

 I need to keep the words of this song in my heart:

EXHAUSTION AND EXHILARATION...

That pretty much sums up the last 6 days between my son's surgery and my mother's surgery and then my sweet girl from Denver popping in unexpectedly for a visit!  She's here till Tuesday night so I'm checking out for the next couple of days to have some girl time!

I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS...RATED PG13...

So thankful my son has gotten several visits from his friends the past couple of days!  One of the visits was from New Reign, the singing group he's in, and supposed to be performing with this summer.  Hopefully he'll be singing along with them next week!  

They are so thoughtful...

and my son loved it.  Guess that's all that matters right now. 

 Just thankful it is being acknowledged and he seems to be healing! 

TMI...

The younger generation...I suppose they're not all like this, but around our house, there's a lot of TMI with the two boys.  All you mothers of boys know what I mean, I'm sure!

This is my son and his proclamation on all media today:

I have a tumor on my right testicle... BALLS!!! BUT the good thing is that it is curable! So that's pretty sweet!!
Please keep me in your prayers as I become a uniballer tomorrow.

I have to say I'm a little speechless because we just learned of all of this 5 days ago.  He discovered it a  month ago and finally decided he'd better get it checked out this past week, but is very accepting of it by now.  I'm very proud of him for being proactive and doing something about it!!!  He took himself to the doctor, then on to the radiologist, was given the diagnosis, and came home and told us about it.  He actually was worried about my reaction and hugged me and told me not to get upset, that everything would be okay...anyway, the doctor had already referred him to a Urologist who we met with the next morning, and surgery was scheduled.  Crazy. So thankful we don't have to wait and worry.  We'll know more after a CT scan this week.

Some good news:  It's very curable.  He still has a healthy one left!  Please keep him in your prayers!