if i had a million dollars...

I would buy all my maternity clothes here:

http://www.isabellaoliver.com/maternity-clothes/us

Specifically these:

here

here

And REALLY this:

here

I've been looking at this dress for 15 minutes straight. It's beautiful. It's so beautiful.

boom river

I love the 4th of July, it's actually one of my favorite holidays. I love summer, cookouts, people-watching, big-boomer fireworks, and the possibility of getting in trouble with the police. Confused? Let me explain.

My love of America's holiday came to me honestly; it's my mom's favorite holiday too. As kids, we couldn't wait for the 4th to finally come around! We would wake up that morning, just as excited as my mom, who would be arm-dancing around the house and clapping her hands over and over!! We would spend the morning swimming and playing outside, sometimes sneaking off with my dad to the fireworks store to stock up on Black Cats and Bottle Rockets.

My mom would buy chips and potato salad and my dad would fire up the grill. We would eat the classic 4th of July menu: burgers and dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon till we'd burst. We would then get hosed off, as watermelon is messy stuff, and get ready to go to the river.

In Tulsa, the place to be on the 4th is the river. They put on an AWESOME fireworks show, folks. But it's not just the fireworks that make it great.

We would show up hours before it got dark, just to beat some traffic and get a good spot on the lawn. We'd set out a blanket and some lawn chairs, equipped with a cooler full of Shasta, card games, roughly 48 bottles of sunscreen, and a portable radio. Let the people-watching commence.

Those of you who have spent time with my family know that we love a good roast. We will make fun of anyone, especially each other, and especially people we don't know. The 4th of July celebration at the river is a goldmine, chalk full of people just dying to be secretly teased.

There was a stage set up, with live bands and local celebrities (like newscasters, and one year the girl who sang in the May's Drug and Drug Warehouse commercials showed up. You know, "get the best of us, every daaaaaaaay, May's Drug and Drug Warehouse!") The music was Lawrence Welk material, at best, but there was always this woman we dubbed "the Flag Lady." She wore a flag dress. Not a dress she bought that had flags on it, but a dress made out of old flags. Really loose and baggy, like a very festive tent. Imagine this, only flags:

She also wore flag earrings, a flag headband, everything flag. No shoes. The same outfit every year. And she'd dance. I don't mean bob her head to the music, I mean arms above her head, eyes closed, full-body swaying to John Phillips Sousa. She was a gem. Then there were, of course, people who'd show up already drunk at 3 pm, those without teeth, and a lot of really classy mullets. Flag Lady was our favorite though.

When it got dark, the fireworks would start. Everyone tuned their radios in to a station that was synced with the display, and for a good 20 minutes, we would enjoy the best fireworks I've ever seen. There were the multi-colored poppers, the streaking screamers, and my favorites, the big-boomers that would shake the ground and take your breath away. All the while, Carrie and I sang "Proud To Be an American" and "Be Kind to Your Webbed-Footed Friend" along with the show. Then came the finale. Babies were crying, dogs were howling, my dad was laughing, it was glorious.

After the show ended, all 5 billion people would try to get up and leave at the same time, so rather than fight the crowds, we sat on our blanket and waited. While we waited, we talked and laughed and teased, and after enough people trickled out, we gathered up our stuff and headed for the car. The traffic was usually still pretty bad, so we drove around all the old neighborhoods in downtown Tulsa. There are some amazing houses down there, most built in the 20s, during the oil boom. I always loved that part.

We would finally venture home, and then have our own fireworks show. When we were really young, it consisted of sparklers and popsicles in the backyard, but as we got older, Dad would break out the illegal stuff. Don't get too excited, all fireworks are illegal inside the Broken Arrow city limits. I'm just talking about bottle rockets and cherry bombs. We would got out in the front yard or the school parking lot across the street and go to town! We rarely had bottles, so we got creative with our bottle rockets, sticking them in the ground, or holding them in our hands. (one time I lit my sweater on fire at the worst birthday party ever doing that, but that's another story). I remember one year somebody tied one to our mail box and it almost hit a neighbor's car! Hilarious! Almost every year, a police car would roll through the neighborhood, and a policeman would stick his head out the window and ask if we had been setting off fireworks. We would say "No, we are just standing outside in the middle of the street with sooty hands for another reason," and they would move on. After every last Black Cat and party popper had been laid to rest, we went inside, ate a few more slices of watermelon, and went to bed.

I haven't been able to go to Boom River for a few years, but I still love the 4th of July. Not only because I really am proud to be an American, but because it reminds me of my childhood and my crazy family, and how blessed I really am.

For your viewing pleasure:

I've always had a sweet-tooth

Those who have known me for a long time know that I love candy. And cake. Also cookies, brownies, ice cream, etc. Basically, I love sugar.

When I was a kid, I ate any type of sugar I could get my hands on. And as much as possible. I would convince my friends at school to let me have an oreo from their lunch, I'd save my change and raid the vending machines, I'd even sneak my Halloween candy to bed with me and eat it at night (now you know why it was so hard to get Carrie and I to go to sleep, mom).

Now, I normally eat sugar like any normal human being: have a slice of pie for dessert, grab a candy bar from the checkout line every once in a while, make some choco-chip cookies when the missionaries come over for dinner.

But 6 months ago, I began growing a human, and all that changed. I have turned back into my 9-year old self.

I crave candy daily. And not just any candy. I want kid-candy. Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish and Orange Slices and Twizzlers used as a straw in pop. Just last night I almost bought an entire 1 lb. bag of Ring Pops. Who needs that many Ring Pops? Maybe if I were jamming to TLC at the 5th grade skating party!

As I'm typing this, I'm eating Jolly Ranchers and Root Beer. (Don'y worry, I ate some corn on the cob and a sandwich first, I'm not totally crazy.) And I'm about to go get one of the chocolate cupcakes I made last night.

Hopefully this ends before my teeth fall out of my head.

Harry Potter and the power of mothers

This is really cool:

http://byuwsr.blogspot.com/2011/06/harry-potter-power-of-mothers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WomensServicesAndResourcesBlog+%28Women%27s+Services+and+Resources+Blog%29

i thought this was a party, LET'S DANCE!!!

Did you know they're remaking Footloose?

sooooooo basically, it's exactly like the Kevin Bacon version. Whats the point of remaking it? How can it get any better than this:

1-4 church is hard for babies.

We now go to church from 1pm to 4pm, right in the middle of Portia's naptime. This is what Brandon and I found as we made dinner after church on Sunday:

It took me 5 minutes just to get her to regain consciousness. Poor baby.

Pottermore

I think I've mentioned before how much I love Harry Potter.

Well, this video aired this morning:

I went to the Pottermore website, but I'm still a little confused as to what it all means. From what I understand, it's an online version of the Harry Potter series, but with space for notes and insights from readers around the world, and J. K. Rowling herself. Should be interesting!

has anyone else noticed

How much Lady Gaga is trying to be Cher?

oh shoes

Carrie took these pictures in New York. I want them all so terribly.

for Carrie

Part 1:

Part 2:

End credits:

oh yeah.

Just so you know

Walmart sells 2 liters of Nehi Peach pop for only 99 cents.

You're welcome.

i love love love!!!

I was directed to this blog/etsy shop, and I am in love! Seriously, I just spent 45 minutes on her site, dreaming. Just a few examples:

1930s celluloid feather necklace

1930s vintage molded glass Art Deco necklace

1920s Art Deco 10k white gold diamond ring

I really like the jewelry, but she has everything!! Go. Now.

first 4 hours of potty training

Carpet: 5

Toilet: 0

Oh boy.

hair thoughts

OK. I know this is old news, but can we just take a look at Emma Watson's hair? I'm sure you know that she recently cut off her long wavy locks for this chic pixie:

I was thrilled when she cut it. I think it's adorable and sexy and I wish I were brave enough to do it myself haha!

Here it is growing out:

On another note, here is another Harry Potter star:

3 years!

Today is our anniversary! Brandon and I have been married for 3 years! I am such a lucky girl, I have the best husband ever!! He is a wonderful dad to Portia, and so sweet to his pregnant wife! Plus, he's pretty cute too!

Here are some of our wedding pictures!

Me and my Carrie-sister.

Dancing with my dad.

pregnancy brain

It's makin me crazy!!

Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling exhausted. I have been having a harder time sleeping lately. I blame it on the fact that I have to pee 30 times a night, or the fact that I am roughly the size of a barge.

Anyways, I woke up groggy and wishing it was already nap time, so I could lay back down. And then pregnancy brain set in.

At nap time, I was browsing the web, and happened across a cookie recipe that I thought sounded wonderful! Rocky Road Ice Cream Cookies. I had all the ingredients, so naturally, I printed the recipe to try it out.

Brandon walked into the kitchen to ask if I wanted to lay down for a nap, and he found me wild-eyed and wielding a whisk. He later said that he thought I'd lost my mind. I told him of my cookie plans, and he left me to my choco-mallow crazy-fest.

I made the cookies, following the recipe loosely. Quite loosely.

When I baked the first batch, I started to recognize my "improvements" probably weren't the best. The first 8 cookies had turned into a giant melty goo-cookie; the marshmallows had melted and expanded in the oven, and it didn't look appetizing. I tried a bite. It didn't taste very appetizing either.

But I thought that I couldn't let the rest of the dough go to waste, so I decided to tun it into brownies. I added a few more ingredients, and put the remaining disaster-mix into a brownie pan, and back into the oven it went!

Again, not a good plan. This time, the marshmallows formed a crust on top of the mixture, and frankly, it looked like poop. By this point, I knew that I had had a lapse in food judgement, and didn't even bother to taste it.

Portia then woke up from her nap, and I was mad at myself for not spending the last 2 hours asleep, like any normal human being would have done.

Brandon laughed with me, and we reminisced about my cooking mishap while pregnant with Portia, when I tried to make spaghetti sauce from scratch. For some reason, it had flour in it. A lot of flour.

my love affair with blueberries

I mean real blueberries. Fresh blueberries. Really fresh blueberries. So blue they're black, so juicy they burst when you touch them, hanging off the vine fresh.

If you've never had the pleasure of going blueberry picking, you've never tasted deliciousness, my friend.

When I was young, my mom would take us blueberry picking each summer. We would get up at around 5 am, to get to the patch at around 6, before it gets too hot or before the old people come out and steal all the good berries (It's always old people at blueberry patches; most teenagers aren't keen on spending 4 hours hunched over a row of bushes at the crack of dawn on a saturday, why I don't know. We always were). We would lather on the sunscreen, as we are pasty folk, and head out to the patch!

Sometimes we would bring our own buckets, sometimes we would use the ones the patch provided. We would then each pick a row of bushes, and go to town. You go down the row and pick as many blueberries as you can, and eat them out of your bucket while you go. It's hot, and there are some pretty weird bugs, and Carrie and I would usually end up arguing about who was invading whose bush or who had more berries in their bucket or something, but it was heaven.

You go home with enough berries to fill the freezer (literally), and to eat for the rest of the summer. My mom would make pies, we'd put them in vanilla ice cream and cereal, or just eat them by the handful.

One of my favorite ways to eat them is just to reach into the freezer and fill a bowl, frozen blueberry popsicle bites. YUM!!

Here's the other thing, not only are fresh blueberries the tastiest thing ever, there are a ton of health benefits too. For example, just a handful of these guys is packed full of Vitamin C and antioxidants, and they are very low in fat and calories.

Les poissons, les poissons, hee-hee-hee, haw-haw-haw!

Portia is 2 now, and she is starting to get interested in movies/shows besides Barney (hallelujah)!! This is what we're watching today! It's one of my personal favorites.

She calls it "fishy show." Cute.

we have good taste

Watching this movie with Portia:

Muppets from Space

Zoo day

I know there's a lot of pictures, but here you go!!

Today we went to the zoo!

Brandon thought he would show the belly. Ignore my weird hair.

23 weeks!

This poor cricket was stranded on top of that rock, with 4 snapping turtles circling beneath him. Poor guy.

Look at daddy!

This caribou couldn't decide if he wanted to go out or stay in. It was pretty hot.

Everywhere we go, Portia finds a little boyfriend. This little guy was pretty cute.

The OKC Zoo has an awesome children's area! There's a little stream that the kids can play in and also a splash pad. Portia LOVES it!!