Em and Tuck

This is so Precious. we recorded this for Mac, she is in SE Asia and missing her boy.

these are so in crazy order. i could use some help with how to move a picture.

this is fall 2010 when the cousins visited the pumpkin patch.

in August 2010. em also turned 3 with a horse party at the purcell lake.
this is the April picture i was going for.

2010 ends. it has been the best and worse year of my life. i am not going to even go to the bad spots of the year, but let me tell you about the good. i remember last January being really stressed out. We were not sure what was going to happen to us financially. God made a way.

then in feburary me and Len took a weekend trip to angel fire. we just got to be us and ski.

in march we paid our taxes.

in April our family gave us a priceless perfect gift.

in June we closed on our home on main street, which was very bitter/sweet.

in November we moved into our dream home. we are all settled and it feels like home to us. every night when we lay down, one of us says something about this wonderful place on top of the hill.

God has worked in our marriage and life in a big way and i would give all the blessings back just to be together.

even though God has made unforeseen miracles this year, the greatest gift He gave was born many years ago on a cold winters night. and for that we are most blessed.

this was last year at Christmas.

here is a fun memory, that really makes my heart smile.

Nora Webster

Emrie supporting her little Christmas Outfit.

Oh Nora.

Our Sweet little Emrie is just so big and smart these days. she is full of life, all the time. i litterly could chill with her for the rest of my life. she is funny, oh Lord the things she comes up with. i have no idea where she gets all that personality, but oh my, she can bring it. her latest thing is she likes to be called "Nora Webster." she loves her horses, but is kinda girly too. she adaptes well to any crazy sistuation i put her in. she loves to shop, get pedicures, and swim in the ocean with areal{aka Bath tub}.

she eats whatever but her faves are panycakes, and sausage.

her daddy thinks she is very advanced and she could make us lots of money with her looks and charm. she thinks he is the prince that rides big black horses, and saves princess emrie from the mean skunk.

we are beyond blessed in many ways but by far, our greatest blessing in life is OUR precious Emrie Meyer Hays.

HO HO HO !!!

this was Em's First Christmas. 2007, pretty calm and collected.

08, it went south fast. a little side note, she did have a very cute Christmas outfit on before we went to El-Chico.
09, still not a fan.
10, she told us while standing in line, "i am a little Nervous" but she pulled it off without a hitch. i cannot believe how fast time goes.
so i bought 12 of these frames and these pictures are my favorite Christmas decor.

I love that little miss with all my heart.

in may 2004 i went to work in the very town i grew up in. this is one of my better choices in life. i have been very blessed by wonderful clients and friends. but my greatest blessing when it comes to work. has been these ladies. this is karen, and her daughter DeDe. they are so easy to stand beside all day long. we all know each other pretty well by now, and i would not trade them for the world.

Christmas Shop party 2010. Dinner and it was good. me and my date
in April of 09, we added to our family, Jennifer Mcdowell came to work with us. she has been a seamless transition. she fits right in with all of us. once again i am one blessed gal to have these girls in my shop.
i hope you three ladies know how special you are. Merry Christmas 2010

May this Home be filled with Love.

Remember This.....10/10

12-4 now we are all ready for Happy Birthday Jesus.
This is where this whole mess all started. my very Favorite picture in our house. note... i have a LOT of Pictures.
here is a exciting Memory. 8/30

Our House is finished and we live in it. Very excited days, we are starting to feel like its home. every night when we lay down we talk about how blessed we feel. i hope that at the end of every day we all can find some reson to feel whole and complete.

our preciuos little girl has adapted well, just like she dose in most any situation. she loves her room, and has already marked her spots in the house. she is sleeping in her big bed all night and continues to grow up way to fast. i really love that girl, she warms my heart with the slighest glance of her sweet face.

Me and Len got a A+ at marriage couciling so we have been released till needed agian. we are mend well and when we both jive for each other, we make a great team.

A lessoned Learned this year...... God Can and Will see you Threw.

Pink 2010

Mistletoe Green Christmas

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

these are in the wrong order, but never the less here is my thought.

Thanksgiving 2010

2009
2008
best i could do for 2007.

Thankfulness

its been a crazy fall for us. our life has been pretty consumed by the Building of our house, but all the time and effort is about to pay off. we are really close to finally moving IN !!! and boy we are all very excited. it has been very wonderful living with mom and Gary. but the time has come again for us to spread our wings. my mom is not to excited but we are not going far.

this was at our church fall festival, she had been playing in the bounce house and her hair looks a bit frazzled, but never the less the cutest kid on our block.

we went to the pumpkin patch back in October, see i told u we have been busy. but this is me and my buddy.
as Thanksgiving is very near, i just can't begin to Thank My Big God for all the blessings in my life. this year has been the roughest and toughest year of my life, but at the end, i can look back and say i have worked hard to get where i am. i am very blessed to have the love of my hubs, the very best Girl in the whole wide world as a daughter, and all the rest is just stuff. God has taught me, i am not always right (i know, its hard to believe) and that i have to WORK hard on staying married. love to me is so real when i had emrie, but my love for Len is not something that flows from within, so i am always working on making the flow happen. i am one lucky lady to have a man stand beside me as i paddle up stream. God has and will always see us threw. So all that to say What i am most thankful for this thanksgiving, is my GOD, My Len, and my Em.

this is last weeks picture of the house. more is done today but i need another picture. we are getting pretty close to getting in there, and we are very excited to have our own space again. it has been a blessing to stay at moms, and we are very grateful but we look forward to living in our new house. i am excited to see all the colors on the walls, and getting all my decor up. it will be like going major shopping bc i have not seen all my things in a while. emrie loves to show people her room that she thinks its going to be multi colored with horses. we will see if she ends up liking her reality. we are about a month away from completion. we think we will spend the holidays there and that makes me happy. we are very blessed and so far right on budget. which is a huge thing to us. when we 1st started people were pretty negative that we couldn't get it done for what we thought we could, but so far we have not had any surprises. God is continuing to bless us.

Emrie and her cozy Tuck. these 2 are quite a pair. tucker looks up and loves Emrie the way Emrie loves kyan and kagan. its so sweet to see them all love on each other. she is very big these days and full of personality. she loves to go to "school" and she recently decided to marry a boy in her class, his name is tucker to. she asked me today if tucker was the price and she was cinderella. i told her, her daddy is her prince and she has to be very very big to even talk about marriage.

its funny bc even as little as 3, she is dreaming of her prince in life. i am trying to teach her that life is not a fairy tell, and that princess and prince's do not live happily ever after. i believe that life is not all about having this wonderful felling, although it dose happen and it is a good thing. but rather life is about trying to make God feel this very feeling from you. God wants to be the prince who saves you, or wakes you up from a poisonous apple. He wants to be your night and shining armor that saves the day.

i am pretty sure that "The happy ever after" exists from time to time, but it is not as basic as saying those words, its work, effort, challenge, and commitment to be happy.

i hope she never has to get hurt by a prince, but instead relies on the God that will be her happily ever after.

rest

to say that things are a little crazy, would be a bit of an under-statement. we are getting close to finishing the house which means that we have spent many $$$ to get here, and it feels like this cow is cashed out. and then just the basic drama that people have,we have that plus some. but this weekend was the perfect way to find peace in the valley. Emrie convinced me that she needed to go to her aunt mac's and uncle chris's house to see that baby TUCKER. so on friday afternoon i cried as i sent my baby away for her 2 night trip. this is the 2nd and probably last time i want to spend 2 nights away from her. but anyways this left me and Len some good quality time together. her got to take off work Saturday, which has not happened in 6 months. so that was very exciting, until i had to work this Saturday, which was not the best but we made do.

that evening we headed south to the little town of Davis, we ate at this cute, great atmosphere place called "The Cliffs." then drove on into town to stay at "The Villa Inn" very cute and cozy. we set out on the deck drinking coffee and water, i read a great book about loving God like Crazy. and got to take a whirl pool bath for about 1 hour, with no interruptions. what a wonderful gift, the peace and quite and a spa bath tub.

i wish i would of taken some pictures...

i feel refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of life. God shows me every time i get with Him, just how insignificant my piddly complaints are. when i look at all my blessings God has given me and all the blessings i know He has in store for me, and i find myself griping and moaning. its just seems like a ridiculous way to be. i pray that i can focus on the positive and blessings i have, and not the crazy drama part. when i think of all the specific detail God put into every part of creation, i think He can handle my Issues.

Back

i am overwhelmingly feeling the power of prayer, hard work, and consistency. Lendall and i have our share of issues, but things are on the mend. i have been reading this book called, "praying threw the deeper issues of marriage" and it has helped me see what i have always known. i knew from the day my parents divorced, that i never wanted to take that road. so i have stayed 100% committed to that. i never wanted to stop trying, or walk away. here are some helpful things i took from that book......

-Marriage is not something you enter into and see what you get out of it. its something you ask your self everyday, what can i put into this covenant relationship.

-if your marriage has already been challenged in any number of ways, the good news is that God has a plan to restore it the way He intended it to be.

- the suffering that happens in an unhappy marriage is horrendous bc there is no escape.

-feelings of love in a marriage can rise and fall, and come and go.

see i am not the only one in this world that this stuff happens to. i think it can be the best and worst part of your life. but today i am choosing to make it the best. and at the end of my life, i hope that i have more good days then bad. i know that, the God i rely on is much Greater, and Bigger then any problem we face as a couple.

answers

Just when u feel like God is not hearing your plea, He shows up on your behalf. what a great honor to be able to depend on someone as big as He is. i am going to write this miracle down, so when i don't feel Him, i can remember how Great He is.

life can sometimes just be the absolute pits. i know that when these dark times come, its God showing you places you need to grow and change. i have to sometimes be beet upside the head for me to understand, but i think i am finally getting the big picture. see for the last 2 years of life, marriage has consumed my life, i feel like i have been pecked by roosters. see marriage is the very hardest relationship to maintain. its a constant effort, a never ending battle, and a lifelong commitment to try. there are Great, Good, and horrendous times in marriage. and it can go from one to the other in 10 seconds flat. i have grown up in my marriage, i was young and dumb and now i am wiser, and not so young. but i think what i have taken from this is, i am never as perfect or right. even though i am convinced in my head that i am 120% sure i made the right call. i have never been patient about anything and this is no different. i want here and now i want results and achievement. but this is the kicker, get ready, here it is...... ITS NOT ABOUT ME. i remember wearing a shirt one time that said this very statement. somewhere along that growing up stage, i lost sight of the real purpose in life. Its not me, its GOD. i am working on me to make me whole, complete, and insinc with God. He has shown me places of my heart that need refined and replenished. so on this beautiful fall day, i am seeing God in yet another way.

i know a few things that are for-sure things in life. i am for-sure that i love Emrie and want the VERY best for her life. i am sure that God is always with me even when i can't feel Him. i know that without family life would suck.

i also know promises get broken, pain comes, and at the end of every day i have to look within myself and know i did the best i could for that day. At this point in my drama filled life, i feel like i have pleaded my case, fought my fight, and gave my 100%. i am trusting God from here on out with all my heart.

i just went on a walk with God, i love how pandora knows what songs you need to hear. i was praying and pleading my case with our Big God, and the song "i will rise" comes on and it was just what God needed to say to me. i am very low and hurt, and i was begging God to take my burden. God knows when His kids are at the bottom and He will let them rise again.

my prayer today....God help me to walk in this valley with the faith of knowing that You will lift me out.

Marriage

Marriage is in fact like Bad Gas.

Ladies of the Pink.

so i am very blessed in my life to own the "beauty shop" as i like to call it. we opened the doors after 22 crazy days of remolding it, on January 22nd, 2006. i have always wanted to own my own shop, and when the opportunity cam e up we jumped n board. I started working in purcell in may of 04, and thats where i met and started my friendship with karen and dede. i quickly figured out they were the girls i wanted to share my work life with. karen is always on the go, she never sits still, and she dose an incredible and caring job on all of her weekly, older generation ladies. and her daughter dede was and is the best around these parts, i am very blessed to have learned and work with the best there is. she was an essential part of my success. we have now been working together for 6 years and we have never had a tiff. it just flows and not many salons can say they have a drama free atmosphere. then in march of 09 we added to our group. jennifer mcdowell came to work with us and she just fits right in, we all do our own thing and that is how i like it. i don't really take the boss roll, i am more of a co-worker to these gals and i am blessed that i don't have to put the boot down. we hope that when you walk in our doors you feel welcomed, cozy, comfortable, and excited about getting a new "do."

the 3 originals, christmas 2008, with our very missed faye.

my Len

so todays blog is dedicated to my main squeeze. i know that in life love fades, changes, hurts, is the best feeling, begins, ends, and so on. but my love for Len is that unique, one in a million, and lasting kind. i have been thinking a lot about a marriage weekend full of real life love. see i know that love can seem dreamy and adventurous, but in all reality love is far from either of those things. see real love is choice, and determination. we have been down to the very bottom of the love barrel and trust me when i say, "it sucks." but having been there and tasted failure, it constantly makes me work hard on making love work. i choose everyday to pick Lendall and love him. somedays this is very easy like when he moves your best friend out of her house, or when he comes and changes your flat tire. other days it is like pulling teeth or bad gas. but everyday rain or shine He knows i am going to pull threw and love him. i have always known that he was special and someone to hold close. and i know he loves me, i am the very hardest person on the planet to live with. see i mostly like things done my way, and i like them done on my schedule, and i am typically a bucket of emotions all rolled into one. but at the end of his very long day, he loves me. i have never been more in love with that man then i am today. he is all i need, want, and i count myself blessed to walk threw this life with him.

date to the ZOO.

so wednesday it was so pretty outside. me and emrie went on a date to the zoo, in OKC. come to find out it was 1$ wednesday, so i spent a total of 11.50$ all day. we had to ride "racing stripes" 4 times. every tie she cheered her favorite zebra on. the funny part of this is she wanted me to ride the "walrus" beside her, so imagine this large gal up on top of this short, little walrus. pretty good memory.

this is a very surprised with gum face.
her and "her" goats. she is such a little farmer. other kids were timid and scared of the goats, not Em, she would of haltered and led it around if they would've let her.

Emrie- i hope you always know how special days like today are to me. i love spending time with you. you are such a joy to watch, with every new adventure you learn and grow so much. your the very best gift God has given me. our love is without an end.

love - your momma

what a three year old looks like.

Emrie had a wonderful birthday !!! she celebrated with all her family and friends at the purcell lake. the theme was "horses." here she is after eating aunt Mac's delicious cupcakes.

her is the end result. Thanks aunt mac
her favorite big girl cousin Kagan with the birthday girl.
my precious sweet baby, who is not such a baby anymore. 3 is harder for me then 2. see when she is 2 she is still very needy, and dependent, and babyish. but 3 is independence and opinionated.

she loves her "Prince daddy" and laughs just like him. they are quite the pair while watching funny cartoons. she is very into "ice age" right now and her daddy loves that squirrel.

i hate to admit it but i have a little mini me on my hands. she loves to be with me and do whatever it is i am doing. she frequents the beauty shop and people are always amazed at how she dose everything just like me. she colors,cuts, shampoos, dry, and starts all over again.

she is so blessed to be able to stay with my nana lue while i work, and i hope she remembers all these special moments she shares with nana. my nana thinks she hung the moon and she tells me all the time, how she lives to take care of her babies.

we have been living with mom and gary while we build our house, and i think they secretly love waking up to Em. granna and papa think she is pretty special. she gives them both strict instructions, sometimes and they usually bite rigt into her plan.

we usually spend sunday afternoons at popper's house. she loves to go and eat his fried okra, and mac and cheese. i hope she takes a sense of family tradition from doing this. my great mamal always cooked sunday lunch while i was growing up, and i will always treasure those memories.

grandma and aunt leah watch em for us too, and she loves to spend time at grandmas house. she gets to have free rain over her house. last time i picked her up they had the whole living room set up like a picnic. she has so many fun toys to play with not to mention her grandma's hair to doo.

her aunts also take hand in make=ing her life so great. they love n her every chance they get. aunt mac seems to always have a surprise for her special girl, and she gave us the best gift of all the day tucker was born, emrie loves that baby boy so much, and i love watching them develope a bond with every visit. i am not going to lie taht tucker man loves his crazy big cousy too.

aunt chels and em have a special connection, see chelsie is a lot like me, and so emrie naturally feels loved by her. i cannot wait to see chelsie become a momma, i know from watching her love my baby it will come seamlessly to her.

with all that being said i think my little miss is one lucky and loved little girl. i hope she learns and grows into her very own shoes. taking and learning from each one of these special people.

thank you all for loving Emrie to the deepest part of the ocean.
Emrie- always know that wherever life takes you, we will be proud to be your momma and daddy prince.

my baby turns 3 !!! i just cannot believe how fast time has flown by. she is such a life changing gal. i love her so so so very much. my favorite parts of my life involve her. she is so witty and funny. i seriously do not know what we did before her. here are a few famous quotes.....

"you girls, better mind your manors while your at school. "

"don't make me get the spoon" while she plays with her babies.

"today i asked her "em- do u want to apologize or go back to time out?" she said, "i will be in Time out, mom"

"I LOVB YOU"

in a very dramatic way " I am SO SO SO hungry"

there is no way a momma can describe her love for her baby. it just flows from within. i was very proud 3 years ago today, but with every passing day she exceeds all my expectations.

baby girl- i love you with all my heart and there is nothing in this whole wide world that i would not do for you. you are my Sunshine, you make me happy when sky's are grey. i hope you love being three.

so today Tucker is 3 months old. he has been such a joy to watch grow into our life's and hearts these last 3 months. he has truly helped my sister become who she was meant to be. watching her love him reminds me of how deep a mommas love is. she is so flawless and tender with him and he loves her so very much. Tucker and his parents are 3 great parts to our life's. i am so blessed to be able to share in his journey threw life. i hope he thinks i am super cool aunt cass someday. lets face it, i hope to be his partner in crime someday. Tucker- we love u so very very much, u have done nothing but bring pure joy and happy times to our family. i hope every day of your life is filled with lots of love and many smiles.

here is a nice shot of the family of 3 = the em.

my Most Precious little toot.
here is em being cousin of the year. she loves her "baby Tucker" she informed me she did not want me to have a baby, we will just keep Tuck as our baby.
Emrie with her Aunt Mac, they both are crazy about each other. Mac always has a special surprise for her Girl ...

she is so precious and very funny these days.

Hays Haven

this is our current up to date area. that pole represents Electricity. and those stakes in the ground represent where our house will be someday if it stops raining.

this is Lendall Shop in the begging of things. November 2008
this is our front fence looking back to his shop.