RE CAP

HOLY MOLY! I knew it had been a long time since my last post (thanks grad school) But I had NO idea it had been since JULY!!! Man, time flies!


So, like I said, grad school has been in full swing. It is going great! I love every second of it, even though it can be super stressful. Jonathan has been SO wonderful and incredibly supportive; he's been working hard so that I can focus on school. SUCH A BLESSING! While I don't have a full time job, I work for two families- taking care of their kiddos after school (which works perfect with my schedule, especially once I start my practicum in February.)






Since I'm on Christmas break until the second week of January, I thought I would give you all a little recap of what's gone on since JULY! ENJOY!!



THE COOPER'S VISIT US ALL THE WAY FROM TEXAS! LABOR DAY WEEKEND!



Our sweet, sweet friends, Travis and Lindsay, came to visit us over Labor Day weekend! We started off the weekend with delicious BBQ and Baylor's WIN over TCU in football. Little did we know this would be the beginning of an amazing year in Baylor athletics!! SIC'EM!

At the Royals game. Jonathan worked his magic and got SWEET seats from one of his vendors at work! Right behind home plate about 10 rows up!








At Red Barn Farm in Weston. It was a GORGEOUS day!

Picking apples at Red Barn Farm!

Shopping along Main street in Weston, MO. Aren't they just the cutest?

Naturally, we had to stop for a photo op. :)

Stopped by Pirtle winery for a wine tasting. The only next logical thing to do was to buy some wine and cheese and sit out on the patio.

We had such a wonderful weekend with Travis and Lindsay, and naturally- as we do every time after seeing our Baylor friends- we fell into a slight depression when they had to leave and go back to Texas. :( Have no fear, though! We'll see them in Colorado come March!

MEG'S BABY SHOWER!

Jen came home in September for her best friend's baby shower. Megan and Jenny have known each other FOR.EV.UUURRRR! It was such a sweet time to spend with our childhood friends. This picture of the five of us would have looked MUCH different 20 years ago- Me, Jenny, Megan, Drew and Amy!

2ND ANNIVERSARY TRIP! DEVIL'S DEN NATIONAL PARK, NW ARKANSAS!

Hiking in Devils den national park.

Jonathan and Lila on our hike!

Snuggling with my lila bear in our hammock!

TWO YEARS AND COUNTING!

PHIL AND KALEIGH'S ENGAGEMENT!

Jonathan's brother proposed to his sweeter than sweet girlfriend Kaleigh in October! It was quite the weekend! We all traveled down to Arkansas for the big event. As you can see, she was pretty surprised!

Phil and Kaleigh went out to some property, owned by Phil's boss, and drove four wheelers. Kaleigh thought they were going to have a picnic, but as the sun started to set and they approached a clearing in the woods covered in white lights, she realized they didn't come for just s a picnic! (pictures provided by Phils good friend, Rick, who was "camo-ed out" in the woods taking pics)

The Crabtree gang!
I get a sister! I could not have hand picked a better lady to call my sister and to marry my brother-in-law! I'm so excited for you to be a Crabtree TOO!!!!

Love this.

CONGRATULATIONS PHIL AND KALEIGH!!!

STUDY NOOK

Jonathan built me a study nook under the stairs in our basement. I study here and needless to say, spend lots of time here!

VETERANS DAY!
I had to put this pic in the mix. Is my mother not GORGEOUS?! I mean seriously, it's slightly ridiculous and out of hand how beautiful she is.
Jenny and Brant came in town and we started the weekend off visiting my Mom's school. Every year she puts on a Veteran's Day Assembly and has local vets come and speak to the students. It was such a wonderful tribute to our vets!
Look at us! Aren't we cute?! (Note my mother's walkie talkie on her belt...always on call...)




THANKSGIVING!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parents house.

Lila enjoyed her turkey bone. She ran around the entire yard holding the bone in her mouth just like this. Hilarious.

Mom, me, Jo Anna, and Grandma E

The whole gang, well almost. Crabtree's plus the Head's

Crabtree Family Photo Op

DECEMBER

In December we got to meet our dear friends', Megan and Justin, baby girl. She is PRECIOUS! and I could literally snuggle with her all day long. Welcome to the world Rue!
Opie family annual cookie bake. We got new matching pajamas this year! Thanks Mom!

That is all. I'm clearly out of touch with blogging as this post has taken me a combined two hours. HA! Oh dear...

Love,
K

Crabtree Sibling Lake Day

Snapshots from our Crabtree sibling lake day. It was perfect, except for one thing...Paul wasn't there! Ah, well...I guess we'll have to do it again so he can join!

I think we know what pictures will be used on the family calendar for your birthday, Steph. :)

And you too, Isaac.

LOVE these two! So GLAD ya'll got to come up to visit and go to the lake!

K got to show off her mad wake boarding skills!

That's all,

Short and sweet today. :)

Love,

K

Fly Fishing and other Adventures...

This past weekend Jonny and I enjoyed a nice little getaway with my parents to Rockbridge Trout and Game Resort.

Rockbridge is a very special place because it's where my dad would take me every year for our annual fishing trip. Now that I'm married, I get to share this special place with Jonny!

Yes...please check out my 11 year old hotness below.

Besides the fact that I was sick half the time, and my parent's little puppy got a trouble hook stuck in her paw...we had a great time and caught lots of fish!

The only thing we were missing was Jenny and Brant!

LADY GIRL!!! What are you doing up there?!!

Of course,like everything he tries, Jonny is quite the pro when it comes to fly fishing. Don't worry I'm not jealous or anything. ;)



Mama caught lots of fish, too...BIG and small. ;)




Lady made friends with the butterflies...




I had my fair share of catches, as well. Of course, despite what some of my in-law's believe, I'm not only a "girly girl"...I can get dirty, too.

And yes...I take MY OWN hooks out of my fish.



Lila bear wasn't so sure how she felt about those fishies...




Enjoying a relaxing evening after a day full of fishing.



These pictures were taken pre lady girl stepping on a fish hook and getting it stuck in the pad of her paw. poor lady...:( I wish I had pictures to prove, but they're on my Dad's camera.




Last night at Rockbridge!



Bye-Bye Rockbridge! See you next year!




Love,
K

Community Support

Many of us are often looking for ways we can support our community. With "back-to-school" festivities just around the corner, the Olathe Publice Schools Foundation is starting their annual school supply drive.

The annual school supply drive provides hundreds of backpacks filled with school supplies to those students in need.

Think about it. I know for me, back to school shopping was one of my favorite (OK it was probably my only favorite) things about school. Picking out a new backpack, fresh pens and pencils, crisp notebooks filled with empty pages, and the latest crayola trends were among my favorite things related to back to school shopping.

Then, that first day of school you walk in your new classroom, sit down at your desk, pull out your new school supplies, and automatically start sizing yourself up to your competition, thinking to yourself: "Who has the coolest gel pens?" "Oh, Sally has water-color colored pencils!" "Where did Sara find that Lisa Frank binder?"

Now imagine, walking in to school on your first day of class and not having any school supplies. Pretty sad, huh? Not to mention embarrassing.

In this economy, school supplies is the last thing on many families budget list. So let's help out our community by providing educational necessities to those in need.

Heartland Community Church , as well as many other local businesses are among those supporting the Olathe Public Schools Foundation in this years School Supplies Drive.

Here's a list of requested items, purchase what you can and fill your backpack!

Fill a 15'' or larger backpack with:

T1-30 or T1-34 calculator
1" and/or 2" three ring binders
10 pack washable markers (crayola or similar)
4- pack dry erase markers (expo or similar)
Tissues
Hand Sanitizer
Standard school supplies (pencils, pens, glue, erasers, rulers, scissors, notebooks with divider tabs etc)

Deliver backpacks to area drop off locations (as listed on the Foundation's website) by July 17th!


Thanks for your support!

Matthew 25:40 "What you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. My sister and her husband came to visit from South Carolina and we got to hang out at "The Lake" most of the weekend. I realize I'm about a week late in posting these pictures, but better late than never...right?!

I'm trying a new photo collage program so we'll see how these turn out. I'm worried I did something wrong to affect the picture quality. If that's the case, my sincere apologies. :)


Thursday night we grilled and celebrated my dad's day of birth. We also got to see our great friends, Megan and Justin, who we haven't seen in almost a year! They are dear friends and we are so excited for them and their "soon to be" little baby girl!


Friday, we ventured up to "The Lake" and had some fun. This "fun" included two rather rambunctious puppies, Lady and Pete, as well as LOTS of food eating, attempted snake killing, napping, Frisbee playing, and PLENTY of swimming...(because it was hotter than Haiti out there!)

Saturday night we went out to a family friends house on Lake Winnebago. It was a gorgeous night, minus the 110% humidity. We enjoyed a boat ride out on the Lake and then "partied it up" at the yacht club.

And....somehow I managed to leave my camera at home for that ACTUAL 4th of July day. Which means I have absolutely no pictures from our time spent with my in-laws at the lake. And this is very sad because that means you're missing out on adorable pictures of Caleb in his American flag over-alls. I know...it's no good.

That is all.

God bless America!

Love,

K

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dad,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

On this blessed day, a few years ago... (or so) ;)...you were born. It was a good day.

You showed the world the true meaning of adorable.

Seriously...please be cuter. I'd like to see you try.



You also showed the world what mischievous looks like.



The tie makes all the trouble you got into, okay. :)

Thank you for being born.

Thank you for TRULY being, the most WONDERFUL Dad a girl could ever ask for. (and more)

I am reminded, daily, how blessed I am to have a Dad like you.

Thank you for loving me UNCONDITIONALLY since the day I was born.



Additionally, thank you for your genes...because I was a pretty cute baby, too. :)

Thank you for being a Christ follower, and for faithfully serving and leading our family...day in and day out.



Thank you for ALWAYS being intentional with the time we spent together, and thank you for including me in your life passions and adventures.

Thank you for investing in me.



And thank you for treating my husband the same...



Thank you for being goofy, and teaching me it's OK to do the same. :)



THANK YOU! For loving mom, and treating her like the queen she is. Thank you for being an example of what a humble, gracious and godly husband looks like.



Thank you for being a master story-teller



Thank you for being a teacher.




Thank you for teaching me mad skillz on the dance floor. ;)



and for always making me feel like a princess, always.



Thank you for believing in me, and thank you for my education.



Thank you for standing in the "doorway" when Jen and I started dating these guys. Thank you for interrogating them and putting them through a rigorous approval process. Thank you for caring enough to do so.



Additionally, thank you for approving of them and loving them as if they were your own sons.


Thank you for loving my sister.



And thank you for loving me.




Happy Birthday, Dad.

You. Are. The. Best.

Love,
K