Merry Christmas Darling - Karen Carpenter

Here's the video. Sorry I was having issues posting it below. :)

Reoccuring Dreams

Do you ever have reoccuring dreams? I do. The only reoccuring dreams I have are that I'm in a tornado. Weird, huh? I had this dream last night, I was hanging out with my mom and all of the sudden a storm came throught and the next thing you know-She and I are holding on for dear life as a tornado came rumbling through the neighborhood. They're never scary dreams, just reoccuring. I wonder what Sigmund Freud would have to say about that dream. He'd probably say that I'm crazy, in which I would reply with. " Tell me something I don't know, Sir Sigmund." ;) So, I'm curious if I'm the only one who has reoccuring dreams. Well, I know I'm not the only one, so enlighten me. :)



In other news, it's the holiday season, and you know what that means! CHRISTMAS CARDS! :) Christmas cards make me happy. I know some people think they're an unnecessary waste of money, but I completely disagree. I love getting Christmas cards in the mail from friends I haven't heard from in a while and finding out what they've been up to all year. Plus, getting snail mail that isn't a bill of some sort is ALWAYS nice. :) So far we have gotten at leave one Christmas card a day since Dec. 1. Pretty good, huh? I ordered ours on Monday...Tuesday? (I can't remember) but, they're on their way!



Also, if you haven't noticed. I love music. :) I've probably loved music ever since my sister would get SUPER annoyed with me because I played music in my room 24/7 when we were growing up. She would always bang on the wall (since our rooms were next to eachother) and yell at me to turn it down (or off!) Which usually provoked me to play something even more loud and obnoxious. ;) But, you know what's funny...she married a man who loves music even MORE than I do! So, jokes on her I guess. :)



Anywho, I prefaced with that story because I wanted to share another Christmas song that is near and dear to my heart. It's a song I didn't realize I cherished so much until I went away to college. (crazy the things you learn about yourself in college). I often heard this song growing up around around Christmas time, because it happens to be sung by one of my Mom's favorite groups, The Carpenters. I think I love the song so much because it reminds me of my Mom and what a BEAUTIFUL singing voice she has. My Mom sounds just like (or better, I think) Karen Carpenter, when she sings. I love to listen to her sing and play the piano, she's absolutley wonderful at it. So enjoy this Christmas classic, "Merry Christmas, Darling" by the Carpenters.

Sneak Peak

Here's a little sneak peak of our Christmas decorations this year!
The mantle is my favorite. It looks even better when there is a fire burning in the fire place and the Christmas tree (which is right next to it) is all lit up.

Oh! and soon, our fire place will be black, not ugly brass. Brass is yucky...very yucky.

Our other decorations are up, but still need some tweaking. I will try to post some more pictures soon!

Oh! And for those of you who don't know that we have a dog, that's who the third stocking is for. I didn't want anyone to wonder. ;)

Tis' the Season

Once again, it's been forever since my last post, and you'll now hear me apologize, yet again, for not being a responsible blogger. :) Turns out; when you work 10+ hours a day chasing a 10 month old around the house, come home to feed your hungry husband and yourself, and pick up the house there isn't much time or energy left for anything else.

I am always thinking of cool things to blog about during the day until I'm quickly distracted by the little man. But, today when I turned on some Christmas tunes for little man and I to listen to I couldn't help but make a quick post. I have Third Day's Christmas album playing (one of my favorites next to, Josh Groban, Phil Wickham, and James Taylor). However, Third Day wrote and sings my favorite Christmas song. Literally, everytime I hear it, I get goose bumps. It makes me so joyful and encourages and reminds me of God's amazing promise of our salvation through the birth and death of Jesus Christ. Through all the hussle and bussle of this holiday season, I pray that you are reminded of the true reason for the season, Jesus' birth! I hope you all have a blessed day!

Caleb the Great and Labor Day Weekend

We had a great labor day weekend. On Sunday we went to the Lake of the Ozarks and spent the day at my Aunt Lo's lake house. It was very relaxing and great to catch up with our wonderful family!

Watch out Michael Phelps... :) Drew is going to catch up to you!

Two peas in a pod. These two kiddos are so alike...it's kind of scary.

We brought out out Baylor flag last weekend to kick-off the football season! Thanks Jenny and Brant for the flag! We are flying it high and proud up here in KC!

As most of you probably know, I have the greatest job in the world. I get to hang out with this guy (our nephew, Caleb) everyday. He is growing like a weed, and SO smart! (just like his mama, and dadda).

I love the name Caleb. In fact, when I found out Isaac and Steph were going to name they're baby boy Caleb I was jealous they got to it first! :) I love the story of Caleb in the bible. He was a courageous man a described in Numbers as a "different spirit". His spirit was strong and ready to be faithful to God's word and plans...even if that meant he was standing alone.

Numbers 14:24- But my servant Caleb is different from the others. He has remained loyal to me, and I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will receive their full share of that land.

I pray for little Caleb everyday, that he too, will grow to be a loyal and courageous servant of the Lord.

Look at how precious he is! I had a pile of papers/magazines I needed to recycle and he found them. He loves anything that crinkles...so naturally it kept him occupied for a while.

Today is the season opener for the Kansas City Chiefs and Caleb came over, dressed appropriately for the occasion! How adorable is his outfit?! I tried to get some good pictures of him, but, he's so mobile it's hard to catch him sitting still! He also was very intrigued by the flash on our camera, which is captured in the above photo. :)

He pulls up on anything and everything. This guy is going to be walking before we know it! I had to post this picture, because, even though he is starting to cry...I think it's pretty cute. This is his "Aunt Katie, I'm REALLY ready for my morning nap now" face. :)

Lil Becky's Wedding!!

What a wonderful weekend! Becky and Lee got married July 24th in Dallas. It was a WONDERFUL celebration and I was so honored to be a part of their special day. I wouldn't have missed it for the WORLD. LITERALLY!

This girl has meant so much to me the past four years. I'd like to think we both came into each other's lives when we needed each other most. And the Lord has done amazing things through our friendship. I've have learned so much from Becky and she is truly the most loyal, selfless, and hilarious person you will EVER meet. I could always count on her for a good laugh, a sappy chick-flick (or simply an episode of the O.C) ;) and a good walk (or two) around the bear trail...ever after she had already ran 10 miles for the day. (This girl is a marathon runner). I am truly blessed to call her my friend and so excited for her! Enjoy pictures from this wonderful weekend!

Reunited! Becky, me, and Emily reunited in the hotel Thursday before the wedding. So excited for a girls night out on the town!

Me, Lindsey, Allison, and Emily. We all wore black and Becky wore a bright pink dress...just in case someone wondered who the bride was. ;)

The next morning we went to Frisco for Becky's Bridal Luncheon.

The maids with the Bride at her wonderful bridal luncheon. Such a wonderful tribute to Becky and the two most important women in her life; her mom and her sister.

The Bride and myself. After bawling my eyes out the first time. Isn't she gorgeous? I'm so stinkin' pumped for everything the Lord has in store for Becky and Lee.

At the rehearsal. It was so much fun! None of us had met Lee's friends before but they were great guys and we all had a lot of fun together.

Lee's groomsmen at the Rehearsal.

After I bawled for the second time. :) Emmy and I speaking about Becky at the rehearsal dinner.

Listening to everyone who spoke at the rehearsal. Very touching to hear their loved ones speak about them.

Showing off the AWESOME bridesmaid gift Becky got for all of us. Andrew thought he should show off how awesome his Baylor watch is too. :)

The three amigos...at this point in the night...almost all married!

Becky with her bridesmaids at the rehearsal dinner.

In the bridal suit...just waiting for the wedding to begin! We had to get creative on how to take a picture of all of us. :)

All lined up and ready to get Becky and Lee married off!

Jonny and I at the rehearsal at the Park City Club. It was a BEAUTIFUL reception!

The Maid of Honor, Marion (Becky's sister) giving her toast at the reception. This is how Becky looks when someone is saying something nice about her and she's trying not to cry. Sorry Bec, I had to call it. ;)

They had a live band playing all sorts of great music. These three crazies had a little too much fun dancing. Jonny, Travis and my Dad.

Throwing the bouquet. Allison is ready to catch that sucker!

Best year of my life...living with these five girls. I will NEVER forget all the memories we shared that year in the DeltaShelta.

My wonderful parents came down for the wedding. We had a lot of fun with them at the reception.

That's All Folks!

The BEST day of my life...in pictures!

The pictures are here! Last week, Jonathan and I met with our photographer to finalize our wedding album! Click on this link to view the album! http://www.freelandphoto.net/2009/album/crabtree/

On that note we just wanted to thank everyone who made our day so special. First, our family. We couldn't have done any of it without you. Your love and support has meant SO much to us and we feel so grateful for each one of you. Our Best Man, Phil Crabtree; and Matron of Honor, Jenny Stewart- thank you guys for being our best friends, we love you both so much! All of our friends (Baylor and beyond) we were honored to have you all by our side on our wedding day, thank you so much for celebrating with us. Also and HUGE thank you to Mama William and Mwalimu! You guys are the greatest and it meant the world to us that you were a part of our wedding. Jonathan and I look up to you guys and hope we can have a God and service centered marriage as you guys do. We hope you guys enjoy the pictures!

PS- If you are receiving this as an email, you have been put on our blog's email list. Meaning you get an email each time I update the blog. You can view the email/blog post but in cooler form at our blog, www.partcrabparttree.blogspot.com .

Lake Fun

Swimmin' with LilaBear :) She's so cute. You can make fun of her pink polka dot life jacket all you want- I don't care because I love it.

All systems go! We're ready to tube!
Lila holding on for dear life....

Alli and I holding on for dear life...

bff. for reals.

Wittel Cawub wubs to go simmin in da wadur! :)

Well, we have been gone a lot this summer. But, when we are home we get to enjoy Mama and Papa Crabtree's Lake property up north. Now that is has been 1,000 degrees outside lately-the lake has been a wonderful oasis for us. Not to mention great time to spend with family.

A Very TEXAS Wedding! (YEEHAWW!)

One of my dear, dear friends- Emily Stamper got married a few weekends ago. It was a beautiful Texas wedding outside of San Antonio. We had so much fun catching up with our amazing friends and celebrating in the joyeous marriage of Emily and Andrew.

I have to embarass Em for a sec. You see, Em and I lived in the same house junior year. She went through this phase where she would literally watch Pride and Predjudice on repeat. FOR LIKE TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT! It was so precious though, her eyes lit up everytime she watched it and you could tell she adored the love story. Want to know what's more awesome? Her eye light up EVEN MORE every time she sees her groom. They have a beautiful relationship and love story. I love them both very much! CONGRATULATIONS YOU GUYS!


Em with her Mama and the flower girl Finley at the rehearsal.


Good friends at the rehearsal dinner in Boerne.

She was a GORGEOUS bride! Andrew is one LUCKY man!

The Bridal Party in our cowboy boots and all!

The "cool" table. haha! We had so much fun!

Cutting the cake. Andrew, Emily got you GOOD, man!

Ahhh, yes. Reliving precious memories-throwing the frisbee outside Rogers Engineering Building at Baylor.

So on the 4th of July we spent the day in the car. Yea, it was totally awesome, and rainy and gloomy-the complete oppostie of how I feel about being an American. We drove through Edmond, OK and dropped Alli off at her Papa's house, which is BEAUTIFUL btw...

Sequoia Natl. Park to San Antonio!

Wednesday morning we woke up to one of the best breakfasts I've ever had in my entire life. We really enjoyed our stay at www.wickyup.com Monica nad Jack are wonderful people and we wish we could have chatted with them longer! Monica made us a delicious breakfast full of fresh fruit parfaits, zuccini bread, fresh orange juice, and berry berry pancakes. YUM!
I beautiful tablescape. I would love to own my own b&b some day...I love stuff like this!

Outside their beautiful home in Lakewood, CA.

Driving through Sequoia Natl. Park. Had to take a pic of the mountains with Jon's bear club sign in the background. :) SIC EM BEARS!!!!

So we exceeded the speed limit, almost ran out of gas in the mountains, and ran through the national forest just to see the sequoia trees Jonny kept talking about....well, it was totally worth it. Check out how big these guys are, and these aren't even the biggest ones!

God is so creative!!!!

After all the rushing and running through the park (we had a flight to catch at LAX) we discovered our flight to San Antonio (connecting in vegas) was cancelled. :( But, don't worry- we eventually made it to SA the next day. :)

NEXT POST: Pics of Emily and Andrews Wedding!!!!!

Pismo Beach to Sequoia National Park!

Before we headed east to Sequoia National Park, We drove North to Morro Bay, CA for lunch. Enjoy the pics!


We drove through the campus of Cal Poly- of course we had to get a pic of Jonny in front of the engineering school. :)
In Morro Bay where we ate lunch- there was a fishing boat named Nadine. Love you Granny!

I wanted to go sea fishing really bad-it looked like fun. But, it probably would have made me sea sick ;)

This was one of our favorite meals of the trip. Fish n chips, and local Californian beer. yum.

I loved this dog. His owner had three dogs just like him and you could tell they were so protective of her. This was him waiting her to come back with her food. I love doggies!

In front of the big rock that Morro Bay is famous for.

Five hours later we finally made it to Sequoia National Park. We got there in the evening and only had time for a small hike down to the river. It was beautiful and we enjoyed the tranquility very much. There was a sweet family at the bottom of the river fishing who were kind enough to offer to take our picture.

Entrance to the park.

At the gateway restaurant sitting over the river. It was absolutely beautiful. We ate a steak for my Dad because it was his birthday that day :)

On our way back to the bed and breakfast we caught the sunset. Jonny and I had competions to see who could take the best pictures of things. The above picture I took. He took the picture below. Let us know what you think. :) There both pretty good.

Man, God sure is creative.

NEXT POST: Sequoia National Park to San Antonio, TX!