our pictureless lately

We have had such a fun past couple of months!  I went from the most bored housewife in the history of housewifery {that's a word, y'all} to actually having things to do and people to do them with.  Karl and I met the most wonderful couple here thru Karl's work/squadron softball team and we have been seeing a lot of them lately!  I'm praising God for friendship and fellowship!  In other news, we also just got back from an awesome long weekend in Colorado with my parents and Gammy which deserves a whole big long post full of pictures as does my girls weekend in Kansas City and 48 hours at home... all of which happened right before Colorado!

In food allergy news... I have totally given up trying to eliminate all my trigger foods from my diet... until I had a come to Jesus doctors appointment yesterday.  My gastroenterologist told me that my esophagus is as fragile as crepe paper.  Awesome.  This is a problem because if I continue to eat what I want, my esophagus will only get worse and will only get smaller and more tight which will lead to a need to have it dilated which is a major problem for fragile tissue.  So I came home and made an appointment with a registered dietician.  And spent lots of money at Sprouts on things like meatless bacon and sunflower butter.  Woof.  Karl is helping me research food allergies, testing, and EE and figure out how we can really change our diets and lifestyles to accommodate this, which is so helpful and makes me feel a lot less overwhelmed than I have been.  However, I can't continue to cheat and blow this off.  So, here goes my second attempt, and if this is anything like trying to stop cracking my knuckles or stop smoking {which I hear is hard} than this will likely not be my last attempt.

In future news... Karl is on the job hunt in Arlington and we look at real estate literally everyday.  We.are.so.excited.  We spend a lot of time dreaming about weekend trips to Oklahoma, Karl hunting, time in Little Rock and Fayetteville with best friends, babysitting nephews & niece & cousins, helping my parents with DIY projects, road trips that are more than 6 hours away {Air Force restriction}, Karl finishing school... the list goes on.  We know it won't all be rainbows and butterflies and there are a few really awesome perks that we'll miss about the Air Force but we cannot wait for a new adventure {have I said this before??}  We will both be going home in 4 short weeks for Baby Finn's birth and for Karl to have some interviews- it is so crazy to me that we are already planning the logistics of our move and the next year!!  I'm going to attempt to post more frequently, I really want to document this time in our lives well so I don't forget the little details!  

Sincerely,

Meatless Hannah K.C. Burton

Family Weekend

After a couple-day blogging dry spell while the stomach flu destroyed me, I'm back to post about happy things while taking a few breaks to tend to Karl who is currently being eaten alive by said flu.  Awesome.  Just trying to strengthen our immune systems before Lucy comes :)

Here is a picture heavy post for you :) ... University of Arkansas Family Weekend is a maj Cuppett Family tradition!  It obviously began my freshman year with all 5 of my family members making the trek in the 'burban up to Fayetteville, eventually adding Karl to the mix my Sophomore/Junior/Senior years.

This year is Emma's freshman year and we had all been looking forward to Family Weekend literally since she decided to go to UofA last spring!  We always all have such a blast!!!  This year instead of having 7 peeps there would be almost 12, you know,  the 'almost' being Lucy.  Obviously.  The real family weekend happened on a weekend with a major scheduling conflict, so we created our own and it happened to coincide with Karl coming home from Korea and Homecoming- win!

Unfortunately Jeremy had to leave early for work so we really missed him for half of the weekend but we tried to soak it up for the time he was there.  It was so crazy how different {yet equally fun} it was this year and will continue to be while Emma is a student.  Having babies and husbands up there was different than years prior- we went from 1 hotel suite to 4, 1 car to 3, packed a stroller, picked activities with nap time in mind... the weekend was an absolute blast despite the change!!  We went to the game, had every meal together, shopped and ate locally, went to a corn maze and saw tiny little piglets, and just had so much fun all together.  Having everyone together is really rare with Karl's deployment/Emma at school/me & Karl here now.  I am so thankful for this weekend and feel blessed by it!  Praise God for these sweet times!!

twinkies!!

buddies

boo, pic without jeremy :(

on our way to the Pi Phi house

look at those teeth!

Jeremy :(

LOVE  Emma & my parents enjoying Pi Phi things

Matt held this pumpkin like a guitar, ha

 Look at those three!  And those northwest Arkansas trees!!

Cookie and Ollie :)

I have such an awesome family!! I am so thankful for each and every one of them.

Hannah K.C. Burton

Hello from Arizona!

Hi there, friends!  I'm writing from the nastiest hotel room EVER (negative) but my husband is laying on the bed in front of me (positive) so those two things cancel each other out, right?  We are in Arizona and staying on Luke Air Force Base, Karl's new duty station, until our new apartment is ready to move in to on Friday.  By the time we check out of this dump place, we will have spent 10 lovely nights here.  I have never been more excited to live in an apartment.  I feel like I've flashed back to that two weeks where Karl & I shared a twin size bed when I visited him in Korea, except we are sharing a full size bed, which may as well be a twin size bed when it is 85 degrees in the room and you can basically see the germs closing in on you from every side.  But who's complaining about really little lame things :)  See paragraph #4.

The drive here was really nice!  While we are basically in the desert, the view from anywhere here is breathtaking!  We are in a valley so there is mountain range in all direction!  Every sunrise (which I have seen, see: bed situation) and sunset are glorious.  There are huge Gumby-esque cactus everywhere.  Beautiful flowers, awesome parks and trails, TONS to do- shopping, outdoor activities, restaurants- this really is a great place to be stationed!!  I definitely don't feel like I'm in the South.  Women dress differently, I've definitely not heard any "y'alls,"and I had the only top knot in sight at church on Sunday... but it's cool, I won't let anyone bring that down.  While people are definitely not rude, I don't feel like I've really had any experiences with people going out of there way to be friendly like I experience regularly in Texas & Arkansas.  I'm excited to be here!  Excited to be a light in a place that may not be as "Christian" as the other places we've lived, excited for Karl to be at a base with easier work hours, excited to be close to California (holla at you, Ardis'!!) and other fun weekend destinations!

In addition to all of that, being reunited with Karl is awe.some.  Reality from Karl & I: it is hard to get reacquainted after a year apart and independent living for both of us.  Welcome to an often overlooked aspect of military life.  We are getting back into a groove while continuing to allow God to use this past year to draw us both nearer to Him and each other.  More honesty: I love him more than ever and cannot wait for this year of adventure with him!!

his homecoming :)

In keeping consistent with this post being all over the place: shoutout to my bestie Jacki, reading this here blog from a hospital bed.  I intend on keeping this thing interesting so she has something juicy to read everyday while Baby K keeps growing. And I can't mention Baby K without asking for some extra special prayers for them- for Baby to stay right where he is for much longer!!

So everyone plan your vacation to see us!  We can see the Grand Canyon, shop & spa in Scottsdale, road trip to wine country, head a couple hours north and ski... I mean, honestly, lets do this people!

And because this was a VERY wordy post and that is lame to not include some pictures...

Our attempt at a family picture this summer.

This is literally as good as it got.  

Emma's Bid Day... yes I know, I've already blogged her initiation.  

Best Pi Phi day ever, every single year!!

Love it!!  

and a random adorable picture of my BIL Jeremy blowing out his 30th candles and Oliver having the time of his life.

On the docket for this week: mine and Karl's unconventional hotel Thanksgiving, Family Weekend in Fayetteville, Baby Lucy and her expected arrival in no more than 3 weeks, our Friday move-in and some apartment deets, and me and Karl's weekend rendezvous in Alaska (which occurred approximately 3 months ago.  Suit me.).  Sounds juicy, right?  Especially the Alaskan rendezvous.  You'll like the rendezvous.

From the state that doesn't observe daylight savings (sounds snobby, right?),

Hannah K.C. Burton

maggie & blake's wedding extravaganza {part 3}

In my final {albeit, slightly delayed} installment of the Riggan/Chism wedding festivities I'll keep my words few and go heavy on the pics and just say that the wedding was certainly an affair.  The venue was dressed to the nines as were Maggie & Blake... and myself, obviously, as the third most important person there.  There was dancing a-plenty as I totally felt like I was back in my glorious college days surrounded by all my dearest Pi Phi friends and to top it all off, Emma was out on the dance floor with us!  {AHEM, future Pi Phi...}   The whole weekend was just an absolute ball.  Like, honestly.  My parents, Karl, Emma, seeing The Harris', having one of my old 'mates around 24/7, Pi Phis galore, The Riggan's made every single guest {and wedding party member} feel like the most special and important person in the room at every single event of the weekend... a gem of a time.

I know this is a major creeper pic but when we left our room the morning of the wedding I spotted Blake and all his buddies relaxing over coffee and donuts and just couldn't resist a pic...

...or a posed one for that matter.  Sorry I'm not sorry.

 Just a little iPhone quadcam action...

So if you haven't gathered this much yet, Maggie chose bridesmaid dresses that were all different but from the same Kate Spade collection.  They looked perfect together and she clearly had an impeccable vision that came together wonderfully!

all the wedding party girls!

AHHH the radiant bride!  And me looking pregnant for some reason.  My bridesmaid dress was actually very flattering... just not in this picture

I took this after the wedding back at the hotel but our bouquets were so simple and pretty!!

Oh just a normal getting ready shot

...and again

two of my very favorite people in the world.

haha, Priyanka entertaining those fast little flower girls

SUCH fun those Little Rock natives had watching the guests arrive!!

SUCH a blessing and treat that Karl could travel with me- this is the stuff that he normally misses out on so it was just abnormally awesome for him to be with me all weekend!!

Got an especially long time with Emma- she flew back with Karl and I!  More on that later.

melt. your. heart. 

Took this off of Facebook so it's a bit blurry but love it anyways!  Fayetteville girls!

Pi Phis!!  I want someone to email me this pic so I can have a non-blurry copy!  Again, took it off Facebook.  LOVE it though!!  I always cry during the Pi Phi song at weddings... ridiculous.

Thinking I may be more excited than Maggie is to see the professional pics... hurry up Hudsons!

Hannah K.C. Burton

Couldn't leave off this gem from the weekend...