scottsdale.

Let me just start this post by letting you all know that if you haven't been to Scottsdale, you need to drop what you're doing immediately and book a trip.  preferably a girls trip.  it's perfect for it!

My step mom, Mary Anne, has been wanting to do a mother daughter trip for a while and we finally got it on the books in Scottsdale for the end of April. It was a wonderful weekend full of friends, fun, sun and shopping!  We had a big group (11 total) and it was nice to just relax and enjoy our time together. 

Everyone arrived throughout Thursday evening, so we didnt venture much past the hotel bar where we all got to catch up and have a few beverages.  Friday morning we were all up early and ready to explore!  A few of the ladies went golfing and my mother in law, Ava, and I got up and headed to the course to see them off!  They had a blast!

Mary Anne, Connely, Kirsten, Annette, Christine and Janet

After we left the golf course,  Ava and I ate a yummy breakfast at The Breakfast Club (best french toast I've ever eaten) and then hit the pool with some of the other non-golfers. 

lauren and I at the pool

me and vicki

best mother in law and step mom a girl could ask for!

The rest of the crew joined us poolside that afternoon after the golf game and we soaked up the Arizona sun.  Friday night we went to a yummy dinner at Mastro's City Hall Steakhouse.

Saturday morning the group got up early, headed to breakfast and then went to burn it off by hiking Squaw Peak. It was no leisurely stroll, but the views of downtown Phoenix were worth the effort! It was beautiful.

Lauren and I are ready to go!

Lauren, Kirsten, me & Christine

the whole crew halfway up!  time for a breather/picture break!

The rest of the day was spent shopping and catching up.  We met for a little happy hour on the patio before dinner and soaked in some more of the amazing Scottsdale weather. 

thanks for EVERYTHING Mary Anne...it was a fabulous trip!

so pretty!

Ava, I'm so glad you came!  Thanks for being such a good roomie!!

love you ALL!

sisters.

We finished the weekend with a fabulous Italian dinner.  The food was great...but the eye candy was even better.  The waiters even had a calendar for our viewing pleasure.  :)

checking out the men of Pasta Brioni
(for their single daughters, of course...)

I had so much fun spending time with my step mom, mother in law, step sisters and fabulous friends.  We're already planning our next trip and I can't wait!!

xoxo
Callie

vegas or bust

a few weeks ago, my sister in law, Erin, moved to Las Vegas!  She's moved in with a boy (ahhh!!!) and they left from Tulsa to make the loooong drive to Sin City.  I thought they might need a few things to make the drive go a little quicker, so I put together a Road Trip Survival Kit! 

here it is!  loaded in the Uhaul and ready to make the drive!

I packed it full of candy, gum, magazines, water, sudoku books.  Then, I threw together a batch of Puppy Chow and a batch of these Spicy Pretzels to include in the kit.  I might or might not have snuck a few of those pretzels before handing over the basket...they were super yummy and I highly recommend!!

Much to Chris' dismay, I snapped a few pics of the cute couple before they pulled out of town!  Love you guys!!  We'll miss you!  Visit us soon! 

loading the last few things

all packed up!

these two have a LONG drive ahead of them

bye kids!!  see you soon!

We're going to miss Erin, but we're excited for her and this new chapter of her life!  Plus, who doesnt want a reason to visit Vegas?!?!

xoxo
Callie

Our 13 Week Appointment

Last week marked the beginning of the second trimester - woo! 1/3 of the way along and I'm feeling great.  I have been so lucky up to this point, no morning sickness, just a little bit more tired than usual.

We had our 2nd doctors appointment last Monday at 13 weeks.  We weren't really sure what to expect, but we were pleasently surprised to learn we got to do a mini ultrasound!  It was so amazing and a little surreal to see how much Baby K has grown in just 5 short weeks!  Check it out...Baby K is a mover and a shaker! 

Baby K at our first ultrasound - 8 weeks

Baby K at our second ultrasound - 13 weeks

Austin says he (wishful thinking i think...we won't know the sex for sure until June) is practicing his vertical leap to prepare for the 2034 NFL combine. Ha!!  I can't wait until the next appointment!!

xoxo
Callie

Happy Anniversary Jim and Ava!

After an incredible weekend in Dallas in late February, Austin and I decided to head to Woodward the next weekend to share our big news with his parents.  We were so excited to head west and let the secret out -  mostly because Ava has been dropping hints about grandchildren for a few months (okay..years...haha!!) and we could barely contain our excitement to see her reaction at the news!!  We knew Jim and Ava might think it was a little weird that we were making family trips back to back, so we told them we were coming to visit Austin's grandma (which wasn't a total lie...).

We pulled into town around 8:30 on Friday evening and all hung out around the house for a while before we sat down to dinner.  At some point, we strategically casually mentioned that we had brought them a small anniversary gift.   It wasn't long after we sat down for dinner, that Big Jim decided he was ready to open their anniversary gift (PERFECT!!). 

They opened their gift (which was a bib like the one that we had given to Mary Anne the weekend before) and their reaction was so fun!  They were totally shocked and beyond excited for us! Here's a few pictures we snapped after the big surprise!!

excited about being Grandparents!

love these two.

I can't even begin to explain how lucky I am when it comes to in-laws.  Jim and Ava are great people and have been such supportive, loving parents to Austin and now, me!  I'm so thankful for the amazing man that they raised and I love being a part of their family.  Speaking of that amazing man I'm married to - he really got into the western Oklahoma spirit while we were in Woodward and morphed into his alter ego --

"hey y'all - I'm Cowboy Dougie!" 

showdown at the Keeney Saloon

fancy.

After letting the secret out on Friday, we spent Saturday being (relatively) productive.  Ava and I got mani/'pedis (not super productive) and Austin and Jim worked with the horses most of the day (very productive!  good job boys!!).  Saturday night we went to a yummy dinner and visited some other family memebers that live in town.  It was a super fun weekend.  Happy Anniversary Jim and Ava -- thanks for letting us crash your weekend!!

-Callie

Happy Birthday Mary Anne!

Towards the end of February, Austin and I (and Rowdy and Chubbs) took a road trip to Dallas to visit my family and celebrate my step mom Mary Anne's 50th birthday!  It was such a fun weekend for several reasons. 

First, the whole family was able to come in town to celebrate!  My brother, Brad, flew in from San Diego where he is stationed at Camp Pendleton.  My step sister, Lauren, was able to get the weekend off from training the animals at Sea World to come up from San Antonio and Vicki, my youngest step sister, was also able to take the day off so the whole family could celebrate together! With everyone usually running in 5 different directions it's not often that the whole family is able to be in one place, I know that made Mary Anne's birthday even more special!

the whole Gresham/Mauk/Keeney crew
Brad, me, Austin, Lauren, Mary Anne, Mike, Vicki

The weekend was made even more special because of the gift we got for Mary Anne.  50 is a big birthday and we all wanted to make sure that this was Mary Anne's best one yet.  So, months ago, Vicki came up with the idea to design a piece of jewelry for her birthday gift.  We all agreed it was extremely thoughtful and knew Mary Anne would love it since it's her favorite thing to do for us kids when we have big life events.  After a few trips to the jewelry store by Dad and Vicki, we ended up with a beautiful right hand ring complete with a center stone that Mary Anne got from her mother, Omi, when she passed away a couple of years ago. 

the birthday girl opening her gift

she loves it!

it's even more beautiful in person - just like MA!

After we opened the ring, Austin and I had one more surprise up our sleeve for the birthday girl!  Mary Anne had one last gift to open and we saved the biggest surprise for last.

opening her last gift

SURPRISE!!!!

proud parents to be!

these two are going to be the best grandparents!
Baby K is one lucky little babe.

We had so much fun with my family - especially after we were able to share our big news!  It was so special to me to have my entire family there as well - what an incredible weekend.  We are all very blessed!

-Callie

God is Good.

He has made everything beautiful in His time; also He has set eternity in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end. - Ecc 3:11

It has been an incredible few months around the Keeney household and I'm thrilled to finally share all of our wonderful news with everyone.  I can feel God at work in Austin and I's lives and we are both feeling extremely blessed these days.

This all started a few months ago when Austin and I found out that we're going to be having a BABY!  We are both super excited and we can't wait to welcome Baby K into the world this October!  This baby is already so loved and we can't wait to meet our little one.

As if our baby news wasn't enough, a few weeks ago, Austin was offered a great new job.  We both knew that taking this job was the right decision for our growing family and, as of May 1st, Austin will be starting a new job with a new law firm. 

In addition to the new baby and the new job, we're going to be moving to a new city!  Austin and I have said for years that, while we love Tulsa, we knew that one day we wanted to be in Oklahoma City.  It's where most of our friends live and it's halfway between both of our families.  The new job offer is not only a great move for Austin professionally, but it also brings us to the place where we've always wanted to raise our family...god is so good and His timing is perfect.

our new home!  can't wait!

If all of this news isn't incredible enough, I found out this week that I'm going to be able to keep my job with Stryker!  My team here has been unbelievably supportive and they are going to be creating a new territory for me in Oklahoma City.

It has been a wonderful few months around the Keeney house!  We are so thankful for all of our many blessings and are excited to get to Oklahoma City and get settled in!!  Now fingers are crossed that our house sells quickly...any of you in the market for a house in Tulsa?! :)

-Cal

some Pinteresting recipes

hey everyone...for dinner tonight I decided to try a few of the recipes I've been pinning on my Pinterest pin boards.  It always seems like I pin a million things and then never actually make anything...so here's to taking action! 

The plan is to make 1-2 pinterest recipes a week and so far, the few recipes I've tried range from awesome to awful.  So i figured I'd save you all some time (and a last minute pizza order b/c your crock pot baked potatoes were a massive fail) and let you know how everything turns out!

Tonight's Menu: Greek Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries and Steamed Broccoli

The Results:

eh.  please excuse my food photography.

Overall, I thought these recipes were just okay.  The sweet potato fries weren't great, probably because I burned them..ha!!  Even though they were burned, they weren't very "fryish" and didn't get crispy.  I think I'll stick with my usual way of making sweet potatoes moving forward.  I thought the burgers were good and Austin really liked them.  The greek topping definitely makes the burger and next time I think I'll serve them without the english muffin bun.  I'll give these a B+ since they are low in fat and only 240 calories!  Woohoo!

Have you all tried any good Pinterest recipes?  If so, please share!  I'm always looking for great recipes to add to my collection!!

Happy Pinning!
-Callie

my favorite models

Much to Chubbs and Rowdy's dismay, I've been using them both as models as I practice taking pictures with my new Nikon camera.  As you can tell, they aren't always amused by my flash photography early in the morning, but I can't help myself - they are so cute!  Here are a few of my favorites:

"mom, it's too early for this" - chubbs

"get that camera out of my face" - chubbs

"mmm, this branch is tasty" - chubbs

"this is getting old - i just want to play fetch" - rowdy

"less pictures, more playing" - rowdy

"okay...photo session is over." - chubbs

I know I'm a little biased, but aren't they adorable?!  I'm sure you'll all be seeing more of these guys soon.

-Cal

Yard Makeover - Part 2

What a weekend!  We've been hard at work on part 2 of our yard makeover!  You can check out Part 1 here. This weekend it was all about the front flower beds....and man, did they need some work!  Thankfully, we had an extra hand - my amazing mother-in-law who also happens to have quite the green thumb!

hey ava!!

We started Saturday by cleaning out what remained in the beds after last weekend.  It wasn't much more than some weeds and some tulip bulbs, but either way we got it all cleaned out!  The next step was to even out the soil. 

good work Keeney!

After the beds were even, we laid out some bed liners.  According to Ava, these are great for keeping out weeds, but most importantly for making sure the mulch and the soil don't mix thus making your mulch last longer.  who knew?!

master gardener - hard at work!

i had no clue about the greatness.

part 2 is well underway

The weather was so nice outside that the day actually went by really quickly.  It felt so good to be making some big progress. It also helped that we had some visitors!

Matt, Laura and Payton stopped by!

how cute is he?  Chubbs and Rowdy's new BFF 

  After we got the liners down, we laid out the plants where we wanted.  Then we cut holes in the liners and planted the flowers in just the right place. 

looks like a real flower bed!

coming together nicely...

After we got all of the plants planted, we mulched the beds, admired all of our hard work and tossed back a few cold beers to reward ourselves! 

so much better

this makes me happy

welcome!!

I'm so happy with the results.  Now all the front needs is a great wreath for the door and a pretty potted container like this.