What makes it last?

Our life has been a crazy and hectic blur this past year. It has been just one thing after another. Trying to sell the house, moving in with the in-laws, building our new house, me and the girls being gone to Wyoming for 2 months, moving back with the in-laws, moving into the new house, and finally unpacking and settling in. I felt like these things just kind of took over our lives this year. The day to day wasn't always pretty or easy, but the end result made it all worth it.

I was thinking today that Robert and I have been married almost 7 years. He has been in my life for 8 years. That is close to a decade of being with one person everyday, day in and day out, and with that comes all the good and all the bad. Lets face it, being married is not one big fairytale all the time. If somebody tells you their marriage is, they are lying a little. Don't get me wrong, my life with my husband so far has had its fairytale moments, but I will also be the first to say that there are other times when things are so much less than a fairytale! Life gets hard, messy, we have been thrown many trials and changes in our life together, and I often wonder what is it that makes us last? I know that I am not THAT attractive all the time, and I know that I'm not THAT pleasant all the time, for my husband to say, "Yeah she is SO worth all this!"
I don't know what makes everyone elses marriages last, but after thinking a lot about it, I think I know what makes my marriage last. We have a love that isn't defined by attraction alone. Are love is much deeper than that. He knows my soul and I know his. Of course we know all about and agree opon religion, our beliefs, life goals, and political views. But aside from those kinds of things, we really know each other down deep in the soul. I know what makes him really tick. Most of the time I know what he is thinking or what he is going to say or do, or why he is really doing it before he admits it. I know he can do the same for me. That can be annoying sometimes, but how wonderful to know someone that well that you can be your complete self with and know they will love for it not in spite of it. We both know that when things get ugly and hard, neither one of us is going to throw up our hands and say, "I quit!" It is not an option for us. We went into our marriage with this mind set.
My husband and I have an eternal marriage. Those are not just words to us. We have made sacred covenant to each other and to God. We don't always live up to them, meaning we are not a perfect couple. But I think that the important part is not the we aren't perfect, but that we wake up every morning striving to do a little better, and try a little harder to perfect our marriage so that we will one day live eternally together. The goal is to live with our family in the presence of God.
After 8 years I can honestly say there is no other person on the earth that I would rather walk through this life with. For good or bad, richer or poorer, sickness and health, and whatever comes our way. I love you babe!




These are a couple of pictures of our wedding that just make me laugh and smile. Obviously I was a lot bigger and Rob was a lot smaller when we were married, but aside from the obvious, when I looked at these today I noticed a couple others things.
For instance, the way Rob is looking at me when we are dancing. The smiles on our faces after we had just come out of the temple from getting married, you can't fake that kind of happines. I remember that day and have nothing but a full heart and graditude for God putting us in each other's paths.

In the day to day grind and the business of life together, I think it is important for us to ask ourselves: Do we stop to really look at our spouses, to notice them, to hold them, and to cherish them?

I love the fall

As many of you, we have been gearing up for Halloween weekend. Alyssa is going to be Snow White and Bella is going to be a monkey.
We have been so lucky to have such nice fall weather the past few weeks. 60-70 degrees, sunny, with a cool breeze. The best kind of weather any girl could ask for in my book! I love the fall. I love everything about it. The change in the colors of trees and leaves, the smell in the air, being able to cozy up with a blanket and watch a good movie, hot chocolate, being able to wear layers, (lets face it- it more fun to cover my body these days than bear it) football season, (I know, but I have to say, I do enjoy a little football on the TV) and knowing that the BIG holidays are just around the corner, just puts a smile on my face.
We have been taking full advantage of the fall weather by doing some fun things outdoors. We went to a local pumkin patch and picked out a couple of pumkins for the girls, and I got a couple of beautiful potted mums. (which I haven't killed yet, thank you very much) We have been enjoying hot chocolate in the mornings. Every morning Alyssa asks me, "Momma can we make hot chocolatte'?" She says it all fancy and it is so dang cute I have to give in.
We have been taking some outings to our neighborhood park and the girls LOVE "their" park. The other day we were driving by to leave the neighborhood and somebody was there with their kids and Alyssa said, "Uhhhh...who are those people at our park? Who let them in?" It is a gated park that has a code, so Alyssa had it in her head that it was just for us. We got a good laugh out of that.

Here are a few pictures of the girls this Fall -

STEP AWAY FROM THE COOKIES!!!

Since it is Sunday, this confession is all the more appropriate. You see, I have a real problem. Since our big move our regular schedule has been a little off, which is my main excuse for not running in the evenings like had been. It has been over a month since I've gone running.
The rainy and dreary weather has not helped in motivating me to excercise either. I also blame my sweet tooth genes, but in weather like we've had lately, all I want to do is bake, bake, and bake. Mainly cookies, chocolate chip cookies are my favorite. I have a great recipe if anyone is in need of some sweet indulgence.
However, that isn't my point! My point is that I have a problem, and my problem is that I can't stop eating the cookies! For those of you who are visual learners like myself, it goes like this:

EATING COOKIE + NO RUNNING = FAT GUT AND BUTT!!

Do you see what I mean? I need to get a grip before the holidays are upon me and then I will really be in trouble. The weather the last few days has really perked up and has been beautiful fall again. I am officially out of boxes from our move. It is now time to step away from the cookies and hit the road running. Come on Shana- channel your inner Forest Gump and get your butt movin'!

Confession over.

What's been goin' on...

Things have been quite busy and hectic around our new home. We have had so much to do and like most people, not enough time in the day to get it all done. (big sigh)


This is a consignment dresser that I bought for the girls room. I pretty much stole it for the price I bought it for. I wanted to do it antique white and then glaze it to give it an older look. I replaced the nobs. It was quite the process of sanding, cleaning, priming, painting, and glazing. I have been working on this in the evenings after the girls are in bed. I am quite pleased with the outcome, except for a few mistake areas. Just don't look too close! :)





Here is the place that we call home now. Ahhhh....we love it!

This is an engagement shot of my baby sister Olivia and her finance' Christopher. They are in the middle of planning a wedding for February. Me and my family are all going to be there for the wedding and are in the middle of planning for that. We are so happy for them! We love you guys!

Alyssa loves carrying daddy's softball bag to the car for him. We have enjoyed going to daddy's games together and cheering them on.

A shot of Rob (the one in the middle) playing in one of his games. I have to say he has surprised me with his ability to play softball. I have known him for over 8 years and I didn't know he could play.

Alyssa practicing to give her first talk in primary. She did a great job!

Bella has started to love dancing! This is a shot of her at the children's musuem dancing on the stage in her dress up clothes she put on. She loved it!

A couple of recent pics of the girls. They are just growing up so much. I don't when that happened, but Alyssa is almost 5 years old and Isabella is turning 2 years old in less than three weeks. WOW!

The girls love my garden tub in my bathroom. Well, they call it "their tub" and lets face it, everything we do as parents is for our kids right?

My mom and my sister Tamara are coming for a visit in a couple of weeks. They will be here for Bella's 2nd birthday and for help in decorating the house a little. They are queens of home decor and home projects - so who else would I call?

Sorry Livs that you can't come this time. But I understand you have your hands pretty full right now. Next trip we take will be to your wedding! YEAH! I love you and can't wait til we are all together again!

Where did the time go???

For all of you who actually check my blog, I apoligize for you having to look at my last post for so long. I have been so busy and behind on, well let's face it, EVERYTHING, that I haven't even had time to update my blog page. I know, it's a sad world when one loses their motivation for blogging!
First things first! WE DID IT! We are finally into our new house and we absolutely love it! Not the moving part, but our house. I do want to thank Ian, Alex, Jonathon, Raymond, and PJ for all of your great help. We could have never made it through Saturday without you and your big muscles...and hearts!
Shout out to my stand in sisters Kali and ShaRee! Wow how I've grown to really love and appreciate you two! You seem to have become like my "sisters" this past year. I say that because whenever I need to talk, vent, lean, need help with a hard situation, or just want to have a good time and laugh- I would go to my real sisters back home. As of late, I have come to find that kind of relationship with you two as well. Thank you for your help with the girls, for being my sounding board when needed, for your realness (is that a word?) and for the good laughs. Oh, and of course, the diet coke with splash of vanilla. I would have never been able to face all that I needed to to with out those! :)
For my other mother, Judy. You probably helped us out the most on moving day. You watched our girls for us, allowing us to be freed up to do our work with more speed and less stress. Then you came over and helped me make sense of the mess that was my house when we got here.
I have no words to describe how much you have done for me and my family this summer. Saying thank you over and over again just doesn't even begin to touch our graditude for you. You took us in, and I know we are a loud bunch at times. You showd so much love to our girls and they loved getting to know you better and spending more time with you. As a matter of fact, I loved getting to spend more time with you too. We love you very much!
Along with the closing on our house and moving, we have had some other comotion going on around the Wallaces. I was asked to play on a women's volleyball league every Wednesday. I was nervous to play the first week because I hadn't played since before I was pregnant with Bella. I will admit, I was sore the next day from flinging my body around the court digging balls. But it was a lot of fun and I remembered how much I love playing the game. It is a fun group of women, who by the way, can really play well. Our record is 7-2 right now, so not too had for a bunch of out of shape mommies.
Robert has been playing in a softball league on Friday nights. They are not doing so well, they kind of just threw a team together and started playing in games. The other teams in their league you can tell practice and have played a long time together. Me and the other wives go and cheer for our losing husbands like they were winning whenever they do something great. We make it fun, and I think the other fans in the beachers believe that we are all drunk. Who needs a drink when I can act like an idiot all on my own.
We have had the flu go through our family recently as well. Boy, was that some fun or what? The only thing worse than a sick child is a sick husband. Sorry babe, I love you but oh my gosh was I ready to have you feeling 100% again! YIKES! I was thinking the other day how strange it is that the mom takes care of the sick chidlren, the sick husband, and then when mom gets sick who takes care of her??? Oh that's right - NOBODY!! Life still rolls on and mom still rolls right along with it sick or not. (can you tell I was a bit annoyed that I didn't have time to lay down and be sick last week too)
Overall, we are back to healthy and we are very happy with the stage of life that we are right now. We have our share of struggles as most people do, but we are feeling very blessed for our efforts.
I will post some picture soon when I don't have so many boxes and stuff lying around.

Our last adventures in Wyoming, plus a house update!

TAHDAH! Here is our new home...almost done! There is obviously still a lot to be done, but we are getting very close! Our first day back to Tulsa, we all went over and saw our new home in person for the first time. It feels so real now. I can actually picture us living there now. We are set to move in October 1st and we are so excited about it!


Front of the house still needs shutters, exterior lights, painting, and obviously the yard and landscaping.

Back of the house/patio area. We love our big patio area so we can have BBQ's and hang out in back. We just got a great idea from my friends, Nick and Megan, on how to stamp the conctrete. My handy man hubby is going to also build a pergolla over the top of half of the patio for shade and privacy. It is really going to look nice when it is all done.

I love, love, love my kitchen! I couldn't take a picture of my HUGE pantry because the lights are working and it was too dark, but they had all the shelves built in it and it is awesome! It still needs the granite countertops appliances, and some more floor and paint work done, but other than that- this room will be done. I love that I will be able to cook and still be apart of all the action going on around the main area of the house. It is so inviting and is definately the center of the our home.

A shot into the hallway that leads to two bedrooms, entrance in to the garage, and the second bathroom.

This is coming into our living room. Notice all the natural light from the windows. I love that! We are missing the carpet still, but they don't do that until the very last so they don't ruin it. Thanks guys, I appreciate that!

This room is going to be my home office/study area. We have big plans for this room. Rob is going to build a window seat that also funtions as shelving and storage. Then along the longer wall I will set up my new work space so I can look out my window while I work from home. I know, I'm pretty lucky!

Hello, welcome to our home. This is the entry way into from our front door.

This is Alyssa eat a poppy seed muffin at the hotel on our way back from Wyoming. She wanted to take this picture because poppy seed muffins are her Grandpa Peterson's favorite, and she wanted to show him she was eating one and thinking of him.

The girls getting ready for bed at the hotel. They were tuckered out after traveling all day and swimming at the hotel.

Saying good-bye to Grandpa and Grandma Peterson right before we left. Thank you so much for everything. We love you and miss you already!

Our family played a lot of badmitton this summer. As you can see of this picture of my mom and dady playing, we take this game very seriously.

Me, my sisters Tamara and Olivia, and my brother Travis. Thanks so much for all coming home that last weekend I was there. I was so nice to be all together.

Me and my family all together again after 2 months of being away from daddy.

All 10 granchildren together- Ethan, Alyssa, Bella, Quinton, Katie, Ashley, Kellie, Aubrey, Carter, and Garrett. They don't all look happy about this picture, but we got one. That's all that matters!

All the family took one last trip to the Big Horn Mountains. Here we are roasting marshmellow for smores! Yum!

Ahhh...the love bird! Christopher and Olivia just got engaged! Congrats you two, we love you and we were so happy that you came last mintute to spend time with us.

Daddy hiking around with Alyssa. She was so happy to see her daddy again. She was showing him all the things she could do now that she had "grown bigger".

When I picked Rob up at the airport, we went to the temple and to lunch, then he surprised me with a overnight stay in a nice hotel downtown in Billings. It was such a nice break. The roses in this picture traveled all the way from Tulsa that day with my husband. He had them sitting in his lap the whole way to Billings to give to me. Pretty good right ladies!?

A view of our room. The rooms were very modern stylem and they had those big fluffy white bathrobes to wear. Who needed to go out for a movie- we rented one right in our room on our nice flatscreen.

Another view of our room. We were on the 17th floor and had a great view of downtown.

Adventures in Wyoming (Part 6)

We are on the last bit of our stay here in Wyoming. We leave next week to go home to Oklahoma. I have bitter sweet feelings about leaving here. It has been such a neat experience to be able to spend so much time here in my home town with all of my family. My girls have really gotten to know their grandparents and great-grandmothers and other extended family. They have also made some really good little friends. It will be sad to say good bye to all of them.
Thank you to everyone who has made our stay here so wonderful. A very special thank you to my wonderful mom and dad, who without fail, always are there for me when I need them. They have made me and my girls feel at home here and have shown us such love. I am once again, eternally grateful to them.


We went to Sheridan to have a sleep over with my sister's family. We ended up driving home throught this rain storm that created a ton of fog on the top of the mountains. It was 34 degrees outside and my poor children were dressed for summer time. Only in Wyoming is it 34 degrees in August! I'm so glad my mom was with me, it made it less scary.

Bella assisting grandma in the yard. She thought she was so helpful!

We made some sugar cookies the other day. I was so sure that Alyssa would frost a few and get sick of it and leave me to frost all the rest. She fooled me, she sat there for an hour and frosted every single cookie! This shot show her concentration!

Assembly line of sugar cookies!

My sweet little Bella! This picture was just proof to me that it does matter that you have family prayer with your children every night. This picture I was lucky to get. We just were about to kneel down for prayer, and I looked over and my 21 month old baby girl was kneeling and folding her arms waiting patiently for someone to pray. I'm probably biased, but it was very sweet!

Bella and Alyssa playing dress up in the bath tub!

Alyssa playing at the frog kiddie pool. Bella wouldn't get in, she just played around the outside of it.

Going down the frog tongue water slide. It was so cute!

The girls enjoying a outdoor luncheon in my parent's backyard.

Do you Want the Good News or Bad News?

GOOD NEWS - MY HUSBAND FLIES INTO BILLINGS THIS WEEK. WE ARE SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU BABE! XOXO!

BAD NEWS- BOTH MY GIRLS HAVE DIAHREA AND STOMACH ACHES TODAY! UGH! I SURE HOPE THIS IS A 24 HOUR THING AND WE CAN HAVE A GOOD LAST WEEK HERE IN WYOMING.

Seeing Progress!

Robert sent me these pictures the our house last night. He said they are almost ready to texture and paint the inside. They just finished up the outside brick work. As you can see, they still have a lot to do before we can move in, but it is comin' along! YEAH!



This is a shot of the kitchen area.

This is one of the hallways off from the living room.

Showing the brick they just finished.