Sneak Peak (we LOVE visitors!)

This past weekend two of our most favorite people drove ALL the way from Dallas, Texas to KC to visit us! Can you believe it? We have the greatest friends! They continue to bless our lives even though we are separated by hundreds of miles.

I will post more pictures of our weekend later, but Lauren always takes better photos than me. We will be doing a post together soon. :) Enjoy the sneak peak!

Me and Lon with Lila Bear. Such a bittersweet moment as this was about an hour before they had to leave.

Thank you Lauren and Geoff for being such faithful and loyal friends! You bless our lives in ways you will never know. We had SO much fun with you guys!

This time last year, these guys came and visited us too. We just love our friends!

On that note, I leave you with a couple verses that truly express how much our friends mean to us!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10~Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

Romans 12:10~Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Love,

K

PS- I'm starting to get better at posting! Aren't you proud? :)

Three Years Ago...

On this day, three years ago, I was scribbling notes on the back of a Starbucks receipt for my "Maid of Honor toast" I was about to make in roughly 3 hours. (I work best under pressure. Okay, I'm a procrastinator). But, more importantly...it was my sister's wedding day! What a joyous day! I will never forget all the memories that were made that day. I especially will never forget the happiness I saw in my sister's and brother-in-law's eyes when they said, "I do".

Jen- I am SO blessed beyond belief to have you as a sister. But you and I both know we're not just sister's, we're best friends. Thank you for ALWAYS being there for me when I need to whine, cry, laugh, or just talk. I cherish our, pretty much, daily phone calls. I have always looked up to you, and feel so blessed to have an example like you to show me what it's like to be a truly amazing and Godly wife. Anyone who knows you senses your love for Christ and how you seek his will for your life daily. I love you.

Brant- I couldn't have asked for a more awesome brother. I love how you have simply been the perfect man or my sister. God's timing and plans are so perfect. You can make Jenny smile, and laugh like I've never seen before. The two of you truly are, better together. (Que Jack Johnson song...now!) :)

1 John 4:18- There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.

Catching up

Hello friends and family! Let's catch up on what Mr. Crabtree and I have been up to these days. Are you ready? Here we go!

WARNING: All pictures are out of order. :) Gotta keep ya on your toes.

January 8th we married off two of our favorite people in the world, Travis and Lindsay. What an honor it was for us to be a part of their special day. It was a day filled with love, worship, friends, and all things Texas. What a beautiful weekend. Thank you to the Cooper's and Foreman's for their hospitality, generousity and making us all feel like family.
Isn't he handsom? I'm one lucky gal.

Best Friends. We love our Baylor Family. No really. It's kind of out of control how much we love these people.

Mr. and Mrs! Literally on their way out the door from their reception and I realized we hadn't even gotten ONE picture with them all weekend! I'm so glad we snapped this at the last second!

On our way down to the wedding Jonny surprised me with a little birthday side trip to Amarillo. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast and got to do some hiking in Palo Duro Canyon.

Absolutely gorgeous. And, the weather was perfect. :)

Mid-January we got to celebrate Caleb's FIRST birthday. I'm sorry. Did you say one WHOLE year? I don't believe it. Where did all that time go?

Ummm...I'm not sure what's going on in this picture, but what I am sure of is that it's probably hillarious. I think Aunt Katie and Aunt Kaleigh (say that 10 times fast.) are encouraging Caleb to eat more cake. ;)

The birthday boy with (almost) all his Aunts and Uncles. (we missed you Uncle Brian and Uncle Paul!)

Oh. And I turned 24 on the 5th. And guess what I got....

A BIKE!!!! I'm super stoked. Now I can go on bike rides with my sweetie. :) Bikes always remind me of my Grandma honey. One of her favorite songs was "Bicycle built for two". Such a sweet song.

A few Sundays ago Jonny and I took an afternoon trip to the farm. He went scouting while I sat in the car with Lila and read "The Pioneer Woman." Simply wonderful.

My huntin' man. Now all he needs is a black lab. :) oh, and a truck.

CHRISTMAS! No, I haven't forgotten about it. Here are a few pics. (More like several.)

Christmas at the Crabtree's. Caleb got a radio flyer little red wagon from his Crabtree Aunts and Uncles.

Although, He seemed to like the little blue camping cup my mom got for him more. ;)

Three huntin' amigos.


Christmas morning with my family:

Dad got Jen and I bracelets from Tiffany's with a lock charm on them. And my mom got a Tiffany's necklace with the key. Such a special gift that we will forever cherish.

If you don't think that's cute, you must not have a soul.

Me and my honey Christmas morning.

This just in: Dad is officially a fiji. He has mastered the front tuck.

Lucy girl. Her favorite spot, by the fire.

Christmas Eve we celebrate at my Granny's house with my Mom's side of the family.

All the grand-kids. Some are happy, some are sad, some aren't sure how they feel. :)

And every Christmas eve we eat lunch at central dairy. Hot dogs and ice cream. YUM!

At dixon's chili in Lee's Summit for lunch. Best. Chili. Ever.

Jonny and I celebrated Christmas early. We opened presents before we went to go see the Nutcracker, compliments of our friend Karen, who works for the Kansas City Ballet. Thanks again, Karen!

Me and Lila bear in front of our tree.

Oh, and I'm not sure if you heard. But, a couple weeks ago mother nature thought it would be fun do dump a feet or two of snow on us. Thanks mother nature!

Yea, you best be yielding.

And don't worry. Apparently engineers are crazy and go to work when no one else does... Over acheivers.

One Saturday morning Jonny and I woke up to find our backyard filled with beautiful birds. Cardinals, blue jays, robins, woodpeckers, finches. We're not sure why, but it was awesome.

Hi cute little birdie!

Lastly, I want to introduce you to Libby.

I know what you're thinking. "How cool! You got another dog!" Wrong. She was ours for a couple of days until we gave her to a family who lost their dog right before Christmas. She's a gorgeous dog. Half Irish-setter and Yellow Lab. She now lives out in the country on lots of land so she can run and play all day! :)

Thanks for tuning in. Hope you enjoyed catching up with us as much as I did!

How BIG are you?!

Me: "Caleb, how big are you?!!"
Caleb: "Duh, Aunt Katie...I'm this big, what's it to ya?"
:)

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. ;)