Guestbook

I had the privilege of making dad and Stephanie's guestbook. I knew the theme was burlap and sunflowers. So the first step was picking out what kind of burlap I wanted to use. There are all different kinds of burlap (thanks JoAnn's for having an enormous selection). I ultimately decided I had to go with the one with the greenish tint, because, of course, my dad's favorite color is green!

Then you have to cut the burlap just right. Burlap doesn't really cut straight and I was already stressing about whether I should use scissors or my exacto knife or buy some heavy duty thing that can cut through steel? I wasn't sure. Well, the JoAnn's lady showed me a nifty little trick where you take one strand of the burlap and pull it straight out. When you do that with a crossing strand you are able to make straight lines where you can cut in between the missing strand! It was such a cool trick and made my life so much easier... I guess my heavy duty cutting tool will have to wait until a later project!

Then I found some lace ribbon that I thought would match well. I didn't like any of the thick lace, so I got the smaller lace and flipped it upside down to make two, symmetrical lines going across the book. Then I got a large sunflower and used wire cutters (thanks art teacher!) to get the flower away from the stem. I mod-podged everything to the front of the book and let it set to dry. I was worried the mod podge wouldn't hold the flower in place... so once I was sure it was dry I shook it around pretty good. It didn't budge and I was happy! :)

I filled the book with scrapbook paper. I put the letter "S + J" in cardboard and added little metal decorations to the corners of every page. I thought it looked like a nice touch. The last thing I did was add lines. My ocd self couldn't imagine people signing all crooked, so the lines were a necessity. 

This last picture has nothing to do with the guestbook or my dad's wedding.... but I love this picture of Caroline and I taken during parents weekend in front of her house. I love her little white swing and I love my sweet little sister even more. 

Beaumont Ranch

I love any weekend that I get to spend with my family. I know I'm biased, but I think we're the coolest family around! :) Enjoy the pictures.

Texas Sunsets

We can't take her anywhere!

Sisters. 

That's pretty neat. 

That's pretty cheesy, but I like it.

With the cousin.. this took 2841 times!

Yummmm.

My main man.

Cheers to Us.

Inherited Granny's shoe collection.

Cousins with Granny!

Fall Centerpiece

I rarely have people over to my apartment. However, that does not mean it's not decorated to a tee for every season/holiday! I just love decorating... I believe I can definitely thank my momma for that! Anyway, I've been saving up these wine bottles/collecting them from others all to do this Christmas centerpiece. Well, I've gotta start saving again, because I used the wine bottles for a fall centerpiece instead! :) 
I'll change it out for Christmas too, in case anyone was wondering! Here was the process:

Strip bottles of labels with hot water and exacto knife!

Set up Spray Painting station

Abandon spray painting station and just spray.

Add ribbon! 

I love my candycorns. 

Winners!

This past weekend my team and I competed in the Indian Springs Fall Classic Tournament! 
It's normally a 2 day tournament, but this year they changed it to just a one day, all day Saturday tournament. So it made for one super long Saturday, but those Saturdays are normally ok when you WIN the entire thing!!! :) It rained/poured/flash flooded all day, so there was nothing better to do than be inside winning volleyball tournaments! Our most difficult competition came in the Semi-Finals round when we played Indian Springs (the host team). The had one middle who could hit the ball really well to the corners. My girls are so used to cheating in because most of the teams we play don't have the capability of hitting it there. We lost the first game 26-24 and pushed the second game to win 25-21. That sent us into a nerve-wracking 3rd game to 15 points. These 3rd games happen so quickly that if you do not jump out to a lead at the beginning it is hard to come back. Luckily, we did and won the 3rd game 15-10. We won the championship in 2 games and I was definitely one happy, exhausted ecstatic coach. I am looking forward to having a weekend this weekend. Go Broncos!

Dad Update

We got an update on my dad and it's not the news that we were really wanting. His most recent PET scan revealed that his cancer is not only back, but has spread to other parts of his body. While the doctors say the tumors are all small, they are there. He is now considered to have Stage 4 melanoma. 

As far as treatment goes, we had been waiting to get a result from a certain test. This test will tell us if it's one of the 3 main types of melanoma or if it's another kind. We've gotten the test back and the route we've chosen to go is to try this new drug that was just recently approved by the FDA. He will go in once every 3 weeks to get an iv for 2 hours, starting hopefully tomorrow. The drug is, in short, supposed to help his immune system fight the cancer. However, it is a process and so it will take 3-4 months for it all to build up and figure out if its working or not. (That part makes me a little nervous if I'm being honest) The side effects are relatively minimal; maybe some nausea and diarrhea (sorry if that's tmi), but no hair loss! Yay! And they've said he should still be able to work, which is excellent when you're a freelancer! :) 

He is going to go get a second opinion at MD Anderson sometime within the next 2 weeks. All his reports have already been faxed there. We are already assuming they will say the same thing, but I feel reassured knowing he's going down there!

So basically all I'm asking for right now is prayer. Right now I'm praying that my dad finds comfort in it all and that the upcoming treatment goes smoothly. I'm praying that the doctors make the best decisions possible and we keep an aggressive plan moving along.  I'm praying that no one's faith will waiver just because we're facing a trial. 

I know we serve an almighty healer. 

Dad at my volleyball game 2 weeks ago!