Time for an update...

It's been a long time since my last post. I'm SO thrilled to say that I now have semester #1 of grad school under my belt! I can't begin to express what a weight has been lifted off of me as I get to relax this holiday break. No more worrying about finding enough time to study or reading textbooks until my eyes burn (at least not for another month). The weirdest part about my break, though, is that Jacky doesn't get a break like I do anymore. Hello, real world. While I have a month off of school and work, he only gets a total of four days. Not enough!! I miss him, but I'm so proud of him. Seeing him during his lunch breaks makes my day (and hopefully his) so much brighter! With all this free time, I've been cooking and baking, catching up on laundry and other housework, and cleaning out my second home--my car! I think I'm also going to go buy the Hunger Games series to read over the break. I've heard only wonderful things about it, and the movie looks awesome. Any thoughts???

Jack and I have been learning a lot about dealing with holidays as a married couple. Last weekend we split time between his family in Marshall and my family in Bentonville. We loved seeing everyone and made some wonderful memories! However, we've learned that we don't want to split one weekend between families anymore, if possible. It would be much more relaxing to just spend an entire weekend in one place instead of spending 6+ hours on the road. This weekend will be even crazier: we'll be in Bentonville the 23rd and 24th, come home to Conway to wake up here together Christmas morning, then off to Marshall for the 25th and 26th. It'll be fun, and we can't wait for more precious moments together and with family... but we (hopefully) won't be doing holidays like this again. :) We're very grateful, though, to be able to live close enough to both families to see them often. We know that we are very, very blessed!

One more exciting thing we're looking forward to this winter break is the COTTON BOWL! Go Hogs! Our tickets came in today, and we can't wait! We have family and friends in Dallas, so we'll be making a fun weekend trip out of going to the game. And hopefully I can get some good Dallas shopping out of it!

Jack Tyler, Maggie, and I wish you all 

a safe, fun, and blessed holiday season!

Christmas socks and more

My sweet friend Katie knows the way to my heart: she surprised me with Christmas socks tonight!
Aren't they adorable?! My mom gets me a pair or two nearly every year, so I have quite the collection...but I'm still thrilled every time I get some!

After this little surprise, I went to Starbucks, and they had Christmas music playing! My heart was so happy. I have no idea where the time has gone or how Christmas is just over a month away, but I'm so excited!

If only grad school wouldn't get in the way........

I had quite the breakdown last week, feeling completely overwhelmed with my school load. To top it off, I came down with a severe sinus and ear infection. While I did enjoy a couple extra days of sleep, being sick just put me back even further with my school work. However, the Lord really lifted my stresses and worries off of my shoulders. Instead of feeling completely behind in my school work, God provided both time and energy for me to complete the things I needed to. I also received lots of encouraging words from sweet classmates, friends and family, and I know I had a lot of people praying for me. That made all the difference in the world! School hasn't gotten easier, and it won't, but the power of prayer is REAL. Having people praying for me to be able to handle all that is coming my way blesses me more than they could know. God is sovereign. He gives me His strength to handle those things that I cannot do on my own. But, I have to ask for His help. Isn't it funny how often we forget our need for Him? Life would be so much easier if I ALWAYS went to Him first with my worries. He's placed me in grad school because He knows, with His help, I can handle it. Right now, this is His plan for me. So, I will work at school as if I am working for the Lord. I will trust Him completely. I won't listen to Satan's lies that I can't do it or that I'm a failure. This is much easier said than done, but--once again--through prayer I can find the strength to be a faithful follower of my Savior.

Now, I just hope to have some extra time in between studying and completing projects to decorate for Christmas! This is our first Christmas as a married couple (yay!!!), and we don't even have a tree yet! Yikes! :)

Can't get enough of crafts!

Last week I got to go crafting with my mom in NWA. I absolutely love the craft fairs, and I was off work a couple days, so I was so excited to get to go! Here's one of my favorite buys:

I saw this on Pinterest a while back and was thrilled to find it at the craft fair!
Can't wait to decorate for Christmas!

My mom got me this! It looks yellow, but it's lime green to match our home.
She's giving it to us as a Christmas gift, so I'll have to wait awhile to hang it up! :)

I've also been working on my own crafts at home. It is such a great stress reliever for me when school gets tough. Without exercising and craft-making, grad school might just make me go crazy!

This is a crayon vase I made for one of my friends who recently got a teaching job.
It was so fun and easy to make!

Here's a small canvas I'm working on for Christmas time. I'm really into lime green and red for the holidays.
I haven't decided what to write on it yet- maybe a Bible verse or just a a simple "Merry Christmas"

Picture frame + hand-sewn rosettes + burlap + dry erase marker on the glass
My favorite part about this is that you can change the words anytime you want! I made this as a birthday gift for one of my friends, and I think I'll be making one for myself sometime soon!

Mmmm

To celebrate the start of fall, I made a delicious pumpkin dessert last week that I'd like to share. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of it. And perhaps even more sadly, it's already all gone. I have to admit that I ate it for at least two meals last week. It was just THAT good.

I found the recipe here and tweaked just a couple things. It was full of flavor, had the perfect texture, and was a big hit with my hubby. Best of all, it was really easy!

So, here it is:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans 
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp. cinnamon sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease bottom of 9 x 13″ pan.  Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, 1 cup of pecans, cinnamon, and salt.  Pour mixture into greased pan.  Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture and top with remaining pecans.  Drizzle melted butter over pecans. (The original recipe called for a full cup of butter, which would probably make it even better. I just couldn't bring myself to put that much on top of the cake. :))  Bake 50-55 minutes.

October

As October begins, we happily welcome fall into our home.

Happy fall, family and friends! Enjoy the most wonderful time of the year!

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

It's a girl's best friend and her worst enemy. It's her hair. Isn't it silly how having a great hair day instantly puts us in a good mood in the mornings? After nearly 4 years of growing my hair out (I got frequent trims, just no big cuts), I decided it was time for a major change. I promised myself I wouldn't be that bride who gets married and then chops off her hair. At least I waited 4 months... right?...

Here are my locks in all their [not-so-much] glory:

And here's my new 'do!

So long, hour-long hair drying and straightening days! 

My hair sure has been through a lot over the years... 

DARK.

Highlighted.

Highlighted too much.

Short.

Long.

Having hair to change and play with is one of my favorite parts of being a girl! And it's fun to keep 'em guessin'. :)

Why Fall is My Favorite

A couple days ago, my wonderful husband came home from work with these beauties in hand.

He knows ho much I LOVE fall and decided I needed some "fall flowers." The colors are beautiful!

Here are the top 5 reasons why fall is my favorite:

5. Pumpkin spice latte. I’ll drink the occasional cup of joe, but I could live without it. But when it comes to Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte, I seriously have to limit myself! It is just. so. good.

4. The smells. There really isn’t a scent of fall that I don’t like. From apple cider to pumpkin or cinnamon candles to campfires and hay bales—they all just have a way of making me feel good inside! I can’t wait to pull out my fall candles and do some fall baking to fill our home with these wonderful smells.

3. The leaves. There is just something about the beautiful way they change colors that has always left me speechless. Nature shouts of how majestic our Lord is, and I feel one of the best times for me to truly see that is when I stop and look at the gorgeous colors of fall. As a bonus, those pretty leaves make for great pictures! :)

2. The weather. I always say my favorite weather is when I can wear jeans and long sleeve T-shirt and be perfectly comfortable. I can slowly but surely feel that weather coming its way!

Yesterday the temperatures were (finally) dropping a bit, so I decided to plan a little picnic for dinner for Jack, Maggie, and myself. I made some pizza sandwiches, packed up some apple slices with homemade fruit dip, grabbed a blanket, and we headed outside to enjoy the weather. We played catch with each other and tug-of-war with Mags. We couldn’t get enough of the outdoors, so then we took Maggie on a long walk on a trail near our home. It was so much fun, and I’m excited for more nights like last night!

1. Football! Even though I’m not a sporty girl, this really should be no surprise. Sitting in the stands at a Razorback football games is one of my all-time favorite places to be. I also love lazy nights in with Jack watching games on T.V. (or the computer).

Needless to say, I'm anxiously counting down these next several days until fall is officially here!