Hellooooo!!!!! (yes, its been a long time)

So I am not usually THIS bad at blogging but it seems this summer I just have not kept up with my blogging a bit!! So here's an update of Summer 2011.

The school year ended the beginning of June and Jack and I have been hanging out since!! We have finally settled into somewhat of a routine. We have had lots of snuggle time, lots of laughs and well even a few tears but I just love being with my little guy everyday! I think returning to work this August will be vastly harder than when I went back to work last March.

Jack has of course turned 6 months old and 7 months old this summer and he is growing so fast!! At his last well visit he was 16 1/2 lbs and 26 1/2 inches. I have not weighed him since to see how much he weighs these days but by the look of his pajamas and clothes he is doing a great job of growing!

To assist in his growing I have been making his baby food and its going quite splendidly. We started vegetables and fruits after I wrapped up school since I had plans to make his food and wanted the time to figure it all out. Jack is currently enjoying avocados, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, pears, green peas and green beans. I have successfully made everything but the carrots simply because everytime I go to whip up a batch of carrots something has come up..such is life!


We took our first family vacation over the 4th of July holiday. Brian is blessed with paid holidays so he took a couple of vacation days the week prior to the 4th and we had a lovely 5 day weekend together. Vacationing with a 6 month old can be interesting and limited unless you head to the In-laws!! Oklahoma was our vacation destination this summer and it was great! My in-laws live in Broken Arrow so we headed up early one morning and had a great time with family. We took Jack to the zoo for the first time and swimming for the first time. Brian and I had a date night and Grammy & Papw had lots of great Jack time. Granddad Noss was also in Broken Arrow so we had a great time visiting.

Since vacation we have been to the pool a few times with Jack, Brian and I have instituted "Sunday Night Movie Night" and Jack has cut his first tooth!! Last Thursday and Friday I knew that teeth were on the move and we had a rough couple of days (tear included) but we made it through and things seemed better Saturday morning. I checked Jack's gums Saturday morning when we got up and I still felt the bumps on his gums but no tooth yet. I headed out mid-morning to run errands and when I returned Jack was sleeping soundly...for 2 1/2 hours!! When he woke up I was curious and checked his gums again...A TOOTH had broken the skin. I pray that all his teeth will make appearances in his sleep!! So tooth #1 has appeared on the bottom and I am pretty sure that #2 isn't far behind.

We have just under a month left until I return to work and meet my new kids for the year. This week we are spending time visiting with family and friends over lunch and coffee before family arrives this weekend. Martin (Brian's brother) is coming to town with the kids for an overnight visit and then my mom and niece arrive Sunday for a few days. Mom and Hayleigh will leave just in time for my BFF, Karen, to arrive for a weekend visit! So we may only have a month left but we are not done having fun!!

So here are a few pictures from our summer. Hope this post finds you well and enjoying your summer.

Jack's 6 Month Picture

Jack's 7 month picture

At the Zoo with Daddy, Grammy & Papaw
Hanging out with Granddad Noss

Baby Food Making Process

Sooooo...a bit of a hiccup!

Yep! There has been a hiccup in my 31 Days to Clean schedule. That hiccup was connected to 3-4 hours each morning in the hot sun at VBS. Had a BLAST but came home the past 4 days completely spent! Took me most of the afternoon to recover as I am not used to being out in the sun that much. So my days of cleaning have been disrupted a bit. So today I am actually not going by the book..I will be going by the list..as a matter of fact..there are THREE lists.
I have a list of my very own, Brian has his list and then we have an Us list. I shared with Brian last night my goal to have certain things done before heading out for vacation next week. So our deadline for the LISTS? Tuesday bedtime. This way we can spend Wednesday packing for our trip.

So 31 Days is on hold until we return from vacation. But my cleaning/organizing is in full force.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! I'll check in with you later!! Gotta post some 6 month pictures of the J man!

4th of July!

This year we celebrated the 4th in Oklahoma. Brian's mom and stepdad live in Broken Arrow and we always love to visit. We headed up Saturday morning and Maddie did a great job in the car!! Our past car trips she has cried quite a bit but not this time!! She was a happy camper all the way.

Saturday night we enjoyed a drizzly rain and fired up the grill! Our nieces were in Oklahoma hanging with the grandparents so it was fun to spend some time with them also. Emily is 8 and Alexys is 13. We laughed a lot with the girls around!

Sunday we enjoyed church, lunch and naptime before heading out for the fireworks. We headed down the road the road a bit and joined in the celebration with the FBC Tulsa. There is a family in the area that uses their resources to bless the church and community for an amazing celebration. The family has quite a bit of land that is just gorgeous and they sponsor the fireworks show. So with our lawn chairs in tow and a bit of bug spray we camped out on the grassy lawns and enjoyed hot dogs, sno cones, cotton candy and lemonade! The girls ran between the pony rides, train rides and sno cone stand for the entire evening! The live music was great and the weather could not have been more perfect!! Shortly before 9:00 the fireworks began and we enjoyed a 45 minute show!

Monday we experienced my FIL's famous breakfast of cheesy eggs, bacon, sausage, gravy and biscuits for brunch. The girls slept late so it was a great meal just visiting with Brian's parents an enjoying each others company. We ran around town a bit and visited my FIL's daughter, Tracy, to see Caiden the grandbaby! Well he's not so baby anymore since he is one but it was fun to see him.

Monday evening we headed out to the flying field so the girls could shoot off their fireworks. I had forgotten how much fun that can be since it has been many years since I have held a sparkler or lit up a black cat! The girls had a great time and Maddie barked at all the shiny, spinners!!


Tuesday it was time to return to reality. We had enjoyed 3 wonderful days with family, food and lots of naps and were headed home rested. With the car loaded up and Maddie tucked away in her crate we headed south again to the Big D.


Brian has been off work this whole week and it has been wonderful to enjoy slow days together. Morning sickness has decided to not leave and there are moments that are still pretty yucky but its been so nice having someone here with me, especially my amazing husband.

Friday we plan to do some fun stuff, just the two of us. Maybe tour Cowboy Stadium, see Avatar on the Omni screen in Ft. Worth and get a massage. I'll keep ya posted on what we do.

A shot of the fireworks. I took this with my Iphone so its not the best, but not the worst either!

Here is my second sno cone of the evening. Pina Colada!! Nothing better for a pregnant woman than a cup of ice to munch on on a warm summer night!!

OKC Vacay!!

We had a great time this past weekend hanging out in Oklahoma City. Brian took a half day off from work on Friday and we were on the road by 1:30. We had an easy drive up and arrived around 4:30. Brian's grandfather and his wife live in OKC so we buzzed them up and out to dinner we all went. After a great meal we headed over to Lake Hefner. A beautiful lake with a walking path, a lighthouse, and lots of sailboats! Lake Hefner is special to Granddad and Sylvia because it is the place of their engagement! We saw the very bench they were sitting on when Granddad asked for her hand in marriage!! So sweet!! After the lake we headed to their house for some good old visiting!! I love visiting with family!

Saturday Granddad and Sylvia kept us busy!! After a lovely breakfast we headed over to the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum. April 19, 1995 was a tragic day for our nation and the people of Oklahoma City. The memorial and museum created are truly a place of honor, respect and remembrance. If you are ever in OKC I strongly encourage you to visit the memorial and museum. It is very well done and a beautiful place.

Next we visited the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. There is currently an exhibition being held "From Turner to Cezanne" and glasswork from Chihuly on display. We saw paintings by Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Turner and so many more. Chihuly is famous for blown glass and his pieces are diverse, beautiful and huge!! I don't think he knows the definition of small.

Next we headed downtown to Bricktown where OKC has worked diligently to enhance and grow the downtown area. There is a canal, warehouses turned into restaurants, the ballpark for the Red Hawks, art museums and so much more. We had a Sonic break and Sylvia drove us around to show us what all Bricktown has to offer.


After a busy morning of sight seeing we headed back to the hotel. Granddad and Sylvia dropped us off, said goodbye and headed home. We took a moment to rest, freshen up and then back to Bricktown we went.

We enjoyed a nice meal at Bricktown Brewery then we headed down to the canal for a ride on the Water Taxi. The night was beautiful and the breeze helped you forget the warmer weather. Two stops by the Bricktown Candy Store and we had 6 bottles of fun sodas and some italian ice cream.

Sunday morning we had some quiet time back at the lake. The wind was blowing, the sun was warm and the time was peaceful. I think we should all have church by the lake every Sunday!!

There was one place left that we were determined to visit before heading home. Stillwater!! Where the air is clean, the OSU Cowboys play and Eskimo Joe's is slinging out burgers and fries!! It takes about an hour from OKC to get to Stillwater so we headed north. We had a HUGE lunch at Eskimo Joe's, bought a few souvenirs and then went to check out the campus and take a few pics.

With a full tank of gas and full bellies we headed home. Our weekend getaway felt more like a week long getaway. Very restful, very enjoyable!!

Here are some pictures from our trip.


Sunset at Lake Hefner

Brian and Granddad after dinner Friday night!

Saturday morning of vacation

These chairs represent a person lost in the bombing.
The tiles below were made by children from all over the world.

The Survivor Tree is seen below. This once frail tree was burned and scarred from the bombing. Since then it has been nurtured and cared for. The beautiful elm grows in honor off those who survived and in remambrance of those lost.
This 3-story piece of blown glass is a signature piece for Chihuly. Truly amazing.

Water Taxi on the Bricktown Canal..we went for a ride in the evening.

Brian, me, Sylvia and Granddad

Street performer!! Very cool Fire Breather!



A pic of us that evening waiting in line for the Water Taxi.

And of course..a great finish to a great weekend!! Above are pics of our campus visit and our fabulous meal at Eskimo Joe's..Below THE MILKSHAKE!! Brian saw on the menu that the shakes had been featured on Unwrapped..so he had to have one!! Excellent!!

Summer

Well I feel like today is my first official day of summer. School did come to an end last week but today is my first day of "ahhhhhh". I am pleased to say that I slept til 8:00, had some quiet time and a cup of coffee....a wonderful start to the day.

I hope to have a productive summer and spend some time hanging out with friends, some I see often and some I haven't seen in years!! Its also time to start planning the Mini-Vacation for sometime in July. Oh and I think my mom is coming back to visit for a few days...we might scrapbook!

So here I go...off to piddle around the house, read some books, call some friends...and relax!!

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday!!

We've been hitched for 3 years!!

Brian and I have now been married for 3 years! I cannot believe how quickly these three years have flown by. I thought I would fulfill my promise and fill you in on how we celebrated!

Celebration: Part 1
Well our actual anniversary was last Wednesday, 14th, and since it was in the middle of the week we decided to do something simple but fun. One of our favorite things to do...is dinner and a movie...but not just dinner and then the movie..but at the same time. We love the Studio Movie Grill!! So off to see Valkyrie!!! We arrived in plenty of time and walked up to the counter to purchase our tickets. The nice young lady handed us our light-up coaster, menu and tickets while saying "The heater is broken in that theater. If it just gets too cold, come out and we will refund your tickets." Now this was on a evening when I think it was in the forties...so a little on the chilly side. Both Brian and I had brought our coats, so we decided to take the plunge. So we stroll on into the theater (having been told 2 more times about the broken heater) to find a little nip in the air. We quickly made our dinner selections, ordered our food and cuddled up!!
Just after we ordered I noticed 3 men came in and sat on the very back row. They all said "Good evening" and called upon their server. So that's a total of 5 people in this entire theater!
Our food was delivered as the movie fired up. About an hour and a half into the movie I happened to glance back to see that the 3 gentlemen that had joined us in the beginning were no where to be found! Guess they couldn't handle the cold!! I will admit, my nose and toes were cold by the time we left the theater! But the movie was really good and we were pleased that we stayed!

Celebration:Part 2
Well Brian and I would have liked to taken a trip somewhere but just didn't really have the time nor did we want to spend a huge chunk of change. So we opted for an overnight across town.
We had booked a room at the Hyatt Place for Saturday night. Check-in was at 3:00 so we were there by 3:30. With cell phones turned off, we lounged in the room watching the 47" TV until we got ready for dinner. Dinner was at a favorite of ours...La Hacienda: The Ranch! Brian had a steak and I had the fajitas! YUM!!! We took our time at dinner and just visited. It was so very nice to not be in a rush! After dinner we ran back to the hotel to drop off my leftovers and then we thought we would walk the mall for a bit. Well I curled up on the couch, found the movie channels, and "Juno" was starting...so Brian joined me and we skipped the mall. The movie was cute, I see why my teenage students loved it. We had a hankerin' for something sweet so we headed downstairs. (The Hyatt Place is a trendy hotel. You check yourself in at a KIOSK and they have a food bar for selections any time of the day or night. Starbucks inside...very OooLaLa) Anyway, we wanted something sweet...so Brian selected a cinnamon roll and I had the BEST PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE EVER!!!! So can you figure out I liked my choice? It was a Peanut Butter cookie with chunks of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups baked into it...sooooo delish!!!
We took our selections up to the room and snuggled up on the couch and munched away.
We slept in the next morning and LOVED the 12:00 checkout...we checked out a little before that...but SOOOOO nice to not have to rush. We had a lovely lunch at Weck's before heading back home.

It is amazing...we drove about 12 miles from the house...spent one night in a hotel..and we felt like we were a million miles away!! I think the NO cell phones, NO computers, and NO video games helped!!!

Anyway..we had a wonderful anniversary! Next year will be here before we can blink!

God's Handywork

I just love this. This is from the west side of Sandia Peak.

I just love to see God's beauty.

Free Stuff!! Summer Giveaway

No, I am not giving anything away..but Nancy is!!

Check out this blog
http://oliveleafministries.blogspot.com/

All you have to do is comment on her blog. If you don't have a Blog, then you can give her your email address. Winners announced Saturday morning.

Vacation 2008: Day 3 & 4

Day 3 started early for us...especially Brian. He drove my aunt, uncle and their granddaughter to the airport at 7:00 that morning while I got us all packed up. Once he got back to the house we loaded up and headed to Santa Fe.

We spent the morning and afternoon in Santa Fe. It was about a 45 minute drive from my aunt's house. We walked around downtown historic Santa Fe and visited some of the churches. We visited Loretto Chapel where the Miraculous Staircase is located. It is said that the staircase was built by St. Joseph. The staircase is truly amazing in its design and structure. It has no supports holding it up.

http://www.lorettochapel.com/staircase.html

Then we returned to Albuquerque and checked into our hotel ( it was 1/2 a mile from the airport and we had an early flight Fri. a.m.)

After a little rest we headed to the base of the mountain..on the west side. There you find the world's longest Tramway. We ate dinner at Sandiago's Mexican Grill at the base of the mountain then took the Tram to the top. It was built 1964-66 and cost $2 million to build. It is 2. 7 miles long and has a vertical rise of 3, 819 feet. There are 2 towers and due to the location of the 2nd tower, it was built entirely by use of helicopters. It really is an amazing ride up the mountain.

Sunset up there was AMAZING!! Here are pictures from the day.

The Miraculous Staircase

(notice there is nothing holding it up)

Inside Loretto Chapel

This states that this building is the Oldest House in the U.S.

Built around 1646. Below is Brian standing by the door.

This is one of the Tram cars

Vacation was truly great. Relaxing and fun. We were very blessed to get away for a few days. Hope you enjoyed seeing all of our pictures.

Oh and here is Day 4. We were up early for our 7:00 a.m. flight. So this is the only picture of the day! Ha!

Vacation 2008: Day 2

Well day 2 of vacation we spent in Albuquerque. We headed off for the zoo (which by the way is a little tricky to get to) and the Biopark. Albuquerque has a Zoo, Botanical garden and Aquarium that make up the BioPark. There is a train between the Zoo and the Botanical garden/Aquarium. The ride took about 45 minutes and it takes you through a lot of both parks. It also passes Tingley Beach, which is a small lake, open to anyone for fishing or hanging out.

Here are some of our pictures from the BioPark.

This is us riding the train to the Gardens and Aquarium.

These are jelly fish

Roses from the Botanical Garden.

The polar bears were my favorite! They were amazing!

After the zoo we headed over to the Unser Museum. The Unser Family is well known in the field of racing. It all began years ago with Uncle Louie. The museum was very cool. Brian of course had more fun than me. Here are a few pictures from our visit. Brian got to play in the simulator and "race". He also got sat in the car out front.

After our racing studies, we headed over to the Flying Star for an afternoon snack before heading back to the house. Jerry fired up the grill and charred some flesh for dinner. The steaks were great and it was so nice to visit with family. We also got to see a beautiful sunset. Mornings and evenings on the patio were my favorite times. A good cup of coffee, a good book and that view!! Just doesn't get any better!

Day 3 Details to come!

Vacation 2008: Day 1

Late last Monday night we flew out around 8:00 and arrived in Albuquerque at 8:40 Mtn. time. My aunt and uncle live in Sandia Park, about 40 miles from Albuquerque. Aunt Gay picked us up and we headed home with her. We stayed up late visiting and catching up on life. Here is the amazing view from her back patio. We had coffee out there each morning.







Tuesday we headed out to see the mountain. Before we headed up the mountain we made a stop at Tinkertown "Museum". Its not really a museum in a typical way..it really is an eclectic collection of carvings, trinkets, and art. Tinkertown is the result of one man's hobby. Ross Ward began carving in 1962 and collected, painted, and tinkered his way into a museum. These are just a few of the pictures.









After our time at Tinkertown we headed up the mountain to Sandia Crest. We drove up the east side of the mountain and enjoyed this amazing view.





Next we headed up Highway 14 to Madrid(pronounced MAD-rid). Madrid is along the famous Turquoise Trail and is a VERY small town. Lots of art, funky shops, and a great tavern..the Mine Shaft Tavern...where they have an awesome chicken burrito.
Madrid has recently become famous for its Hollywood debut as the location for the filming of the movie "Wild Hogs". The picture you see below of "Maggie's" is a set that was built and used in filming.

After a fun filled day we headed home to enjoy the sunset and relax. Here are a few pictures of our view.

Day 2 events to come soon!!