Book Club

Like I said, book club deserves its very own post. I wish I had a picture to add, but I would feel a bit odd if I asked to take a pic of everyone at our little get togethers. So, my friend Courtney started this and there are about 10-12 women in it and it is my FAVORITE thing right now. I mean, I totally didn't like reading when I was in school, probably b/c I always had better things to do and now I don't. Also b/c I am convinced of several quotes that I know from Dave Ramsey "10 years from now you will be the same exact person you are today except for the books you read and the people you meet". Dang isn't that true! Especially for Brian and I. He loves to read too and we need it to continue to prune ourselves, at least in a spiritual manner. Dave also says "leaders are readers" and I won't disagree with that. So... each month book club is at a different home and when it is at your home then you pick the book. So far we have read

1. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I would totally recommend it. It is historical fiction based in the 1960's in Mississippi. "The Help" refers to the African American maids in white womens' homes. I loved it!!!! They are also making it into a movie in April so you better hurry.

2. "Water for Elephants" by Sarah Gruen. Don't read it. Seriously, I mean, my friends loved it but I did not. They are also making it into a movie starring EDWARD CULLEN... I mean Robert Pattison and Reese Witherspoon. It will also be out in April, just see the movie. The book is extremely..... descriptive.

3. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larson. It is very dark and different. I enjoyed it but it is a slow read and certainly will not make you a better person. I have heard the sequel is even worse and I am not going to read it. They are making it into a movie also but DON'T GO SEE IT. Very brutal

4. This month it is my turn and I am going off recommendation from Kay Ammons and we are reading "Same kind of different as me". Can't say anything about it b/c I have not read it yet but I am sure I will like it and it might even make me a better person.

So, we have snacks and drinks of the hostess' choice and we talk about the book. I don't really know why it is so much fun. Perhaps b/c every other time I see these women most of us have our children with us which makes it almost impossible to have a uninterrupted conversation. It might just be something about other people reading the same book you read and yet can have such different opinions on the matter. I suppose it can be similar in Bible study- the Lord can speak to people in different ways, but people are much quieter in Bible study.

Anyways... since I put it in the letter as "one of my most favorite activities ever" then I figure I should try to defend it. I wish I had started this a long time ago, although I did my senior year for AP English, but we didn't read the books of course, so there was no discussion. LOL. Oh how times have changed. So, if you have some free time or if you can make some- start one of your own!

Dear Kendall

I am sorry I have taken so long to write again. Its just that if I don't have anything to say, well... I don't say anything. I will try to piece together this uneventful blog though, just so you can have some entertainment at "work".

Lets see.... there is snow on the ground. I missed it. I am not going to lie. It is sort of comforting you know. We experience winter up here, full blown and I am okay with that. Today is very nice. I even hung Christmas lights on our roof. My homemaking skills are amazing me, I am not going to lie. I never imagined I would do some of the things I have done! I am taking on man jobs so Brian doesn't have to. I think the temp is 35 and the sun came out, which is so rare here and brings me to my next point. I am not sure if you have heard or not but I lost my leopard Oakleys. It is probably the worst thing that has happened to me all year (which speaks to my quality of life). It is terrible, I mean, I am pretty sure I am in the 5 stages of grief. I have passed denial, but I can't even shop for new sunglasses yet. I can't possibly replace them with something as equally great. I have attached the last known photo of the glasses at Disneyland. I bought my first pair in 2001 and then bought an exact replica in 2006. So as you have all heard "only the rich can afford to live poorly" and my sunglasses are proof. $85x2 over 10 years is nothing. That equals out to $17 a year spent on sunglasses and who doesn't spend that????? Not to mention I had a very high quality product. Sadly, inflation really does exist and dang- prices have gone up!! Not to mention that they don't have the same style glasses that they made back then. UGGGGHHHHH. It's terrible I tell you terrible. It's as if part of me has died. My friend Jessica called them a member of the Young family, and the Barton family for that matter. Anyways, its terrible.

I have also posted a pic of our new Christmas tree that we bought last year on closeout. It is HUGE. I was shocked. Our old hand me down tree was about 3ft tall and very pathetic. We had to go buy more ornaments b/c the 10 we own couldn't fill it. I have also embraced decorating the house more this year. Baker loves Christmas decorations. We helped put up the tree at my parents house this year and now he is obsessed with Christmas ornaments. Its great.

Lets see...you should be receiving your Christmas card soon (except I need Tom and Sharon's address, thank you for the buck eyes). It again was an uneventful letter this year, but I think that is a good thing. I almost left it out b/c well... you will see if you read it that if you write about 3 people in the family well you can't leave yourself out. So I had Brian write about me b/c when I did it I made myself sound so lame. Seriously, and then what he wrote couldn't possibly be sent out in a letter so you will see. It may sound lame, but... it's who I am. I love book club (it actually deserves its own blog) and I love my friends and church and that is about all that can be said. It just doesn't sound so awesome on paper. We had a good laugh about it though. I am sure it will detract some of my friends from carrying out with motherhood.

Anyways, hope I provided you with a short escape from work and we will see you soon!

Fall Photos

We have had a lot of fun fall activities this year. I think we had to indulge ourselves to make up for the absence of Tulsa's beautiful colors. They have a couple trees in Dickinson and they did change colors for about a week or two, but it was nothing like we were used to. Yellow was the only color we saw, and green (b/c there are so many evergreens), but we really missed RED.

So I posted pics from our trip to Bismarck's pumpkin patch, which was surprisingly AWESOME!! They had lots of things for the boys to do and they loved it. It def topped Bixby. We also carved pumpkins at our friend's house. We have never actually done this together. It is one of those things I always wanted to get around to but never made it. So, I was very pleased when we received the invite to do it with friends. I made a Y pumpkin if you can tell and Brian attempted an OU but settled for a face.





And then of course are the Halloween pictures. Brian and I both have great Halloween memories growing up so I anticipate it will always be a holiday that we indulge in. It was funny to see both of us so excited to take the boys b/c we loved it so much as kids. We have really good parents! Anyways, so we took a tiger "rrrrrarrr" and a bat. They loved it. It took Beau a while to realize that he wasn't giving the candy but rather taking it. He is sweet. Baker would say thank you after each house and then say "go to the next one". So we went around the neighborhood until it go to cold and then went to several friend's houses, which is much easier in a town this size. Needless to say, the boys love candy and if Beau even catches a small glimpse of that orange bucket he begins begging for some candy.






Another quick story on a cute thing Baker said. I always try and teach him the "why" of things, so we went to the hospital today b/c we had a friend who delivered pre-maturely and her baby had to be sent to Bismarck. So I told Baker we were going to the hospital to cheer her up. We visited for about 20 minutes or so and while we were walking down the hall to the elevator to leave Baker said "We make her happy mommy?". And I just almost died. I was so proud of him for remembering and caring enough to ask if we accomplished our purpose.

Back to the blog world

I'd like to welcome myself back to the blog world! It has been too long. I know we have readers who regularly check the blog and I am sorry for your month long disappointment. My excuses would be first, that I didn't have anything to say. Second, that my computer is too slow and frustrating, but really the main reason is just that we got cable. I have forsaken my first love of blogging for the Kardashians. It's terrible. I told Brian I didn't want cable, but we agreed to get it just for football season so we can watch OU, but I TELL YA- YOU HAVE TO HAVE A LOT OF SELF CONTROL OR THAT THING WILL GET THE BEST OF YOU! I love America but there are lots of American characteristics that I don't like, and our love or dependence on TV and technology is one of them. I can only imagine the parenting issues we will face with our boys trying to convince them that life is NOT better when you are glued to an IPOD.

Anyways.. I will try to sum up what has been going on since then. First we had Brian's golden bday. The party was a bit of a bummer and to be frank with you it made us really sad and desperate for Tulsa, but we survived. We are rounding out on our first year here. It has really made me think a lot. We have plenty of friends, but are lacking in the "deep relationship" category. Now, lots of people go through life never making deep relationships, but we aren't those people and we had several couple in Tulsa who really knew us, faults and all. Not that you have to know us well to know our faults. Anyways, it always boils back down to the fact that Brian loves his job and H&P is a great company and it may prove impossible for us to ever leave them. So, even though we had a mini down season things are back on the up and up. We started a community group last month and we had a great turn out. I felt like it was something the Lord really wanted me to do and it was something we wanted, it was just a little scary. So, even in a span of like 3 weeks we are getting to know people better than we have in the past 9 months. Hopefully this really works b/c if we are going to stay here (for a while at least)then we have to stop just floating through and try to dig some roots.

About the boys, they are crazy!!!! Beau all of a sudden is a Brute, a Bruiser, as Brian puts it. He is still sweet and cuddly and all but in a split second he can turn wild. Of course, most of this is our fault. Baker and Brian always wrestled but Beau has taken the intensity up a notch or two. He runs at you with this face like " I will devour you". It's a bit frightening. He has been biting and we ware trying to work that out. Again, with the self control, we egged it on b/c anytime he would bite or try to bite we would just crack up, It got o the point where one parent is fighting Beau off b/c he looks like a Purana and if he does get you- it hurts, while the other parent is rolling on the floor laughing. Not a good idea, but he has at least stopped biting Baker. Beau is fearless and Baker is pretty much scared of everything. It is fun to watch it play out, I just don't think we ever imagined Beau could be so brave.

Baker is talking, talking, talking. Why Mommy, Why? I do my best most of the time to think up logical answers but sometimes it's the "b/c I said so". I can't believe it has happened to us. Baker is very excited for hunting season. We have been spending a lot of time outdoors as the weather is very nice and it is pheasant season here and Brian is bow hunting for a mule deer. Any time Baker sees an animal he shoots it with his fingers- poow!

I would say all the stages of parenting are rewarding, but watching language develop in our child is by far the best yet. It is like 50% looking in a mirror, b/c you teach them the language and 50% where the heck did you come up with that! One down side being, they can only stretch their vocabulary as far as yours. So, apparently I used the words "cool and awesome" to describe everything! And of course Baker has great inflection! He also really like to say "oh my goodness"! On the up side it is so sweet to hear him pray . You really begin to understand child like faith the when your 2 year old truly believes that prayer heals EVERYTHING IMMEDIATLEY- all better! Of course today we had to pray for all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters, including Pete, who is sometimes the bad guy. I guess we are on to something good here.
Anyways, can't wait to see our families at Thanksgiving and Christmas so they can see how much the boys have changed. We will be going to LA (Lord wililing ) in Nov and Baker is very exciteed to see the big ocean. I have never traveled so much in my life. By time the year is over I will have been on 7 different trips on airplanes, not like take offs and landings, like 7 round trips! Wow, I guess that is why they have frequesnt flyer miles!

Anyways, I will try to keep up a little better. Hope you enjoyed!

Downstairs

Short blog- this is our downstairs. Meet our family room, bedroom, guest room and THE TV WE WON!!

Minneapolis

Well we just returned from Minneapolis. We had a great vacation. It wasn't the ocean but we still enjoyed it. We met Brian's parents up there and it was great for us and especially for the boys to see them and spend time together. Brian and I have really begun to enjoy discovering big cities around the US. We did Seattle in November and Chicago is prob next. I decided to blog about my fav part first which was the St. Paul Children's Museum. We dragged the boys around town for several days doing what we wanted and then on the last day decided we could make it all about them.








So this museum was AWESOME as Baker would say. Both the boys had a blast as well as myself. It was great for for a 15 month old, a 2 1/2 year old, and for a 26 year old but I think the peak age would have been 9. I would have eaten this place up as a little girl. My favorite part was called "Our World". They had a mini everything. Baker drove a bus, shopped for groceries, cooked dinner at a cafe, played in a rock band, delivered the mail, played Dr. He loved each station. They also had a water area, a rooftop sandbox with a jungle gym, and a place to water paint. They had a nature exhibit and a seasons exhibit. They had a "Wizard of Oz" area. You can see in one pic that the boys climbed up in a woodpecker's den. They just ate this place up. Three hours of pure fun. It was great to watch. You don't realize how much your children learn about life from you until you see them role play, but then again, I guess that is the point. So, if you go to Minneapolis then you HAVE to go to this museum. It is a direct flight from Tulsa and you don't need a car to get around.






After the museum we headed to Nickelodeon land in the Mall of America. The boys had a blast here too. As Brian said, "we have a bunch of adrenaline junkies". This place is centered in the mall so you can see from almost everywhere you go. Somehow we convinced Baker to ride the log ride with us and Nan. It was a blast. He did ask to get out after the first drop but he stayed in and didn't cry at all. I was so proud of him. I have a lot of memories on the log ride with my family and so does Brian . It was really special for us to ride with Baker. Then the boys rode the ferris wheel and I of course thought of Addison, she would have loved it. You know, we still don't have cable so the boys didn't recognize any of the characters. There was a life size Diego walking around and other people, but they only know Barney and Sesame Street, and prob Super Why characters. Anyways you can see that we rode the blue's clues ride and the boys drove big rigs and they even went on a train. We had to "chaperone" ride on most of the rides but that was okay. By the last ride Baker finally got the hang of waving to Nan and Papa as he rode by. It was cute.


Needless to say we had a grand time. I will share more if I can. Thanks for coming with us Lee and Rita. I hope I get to go back to the twin cities soon!

Well it has been a while. I don't like to lag in my blogging but I have no excuse as to the gap.

Basically the boys and I are going to Oklahoma this weekend and that is all I really have to say. I have missed my family very badly this summer and I am so so so glad I get to see them before Thanksgiving. It was like I recently had an epiphany that life still goes on without me in Weatherford, you know? I think previously I thought... oh we all get together when I am here and other than that--- they don't see each other. That was dumb. Anyways, so I miss that I am not there and I am missing out on the memories they are making. Also Baker has a huge memory. He doesn't forget a thing and he misses all his grandparents and aunts and uncles. Then you throw in the fact that Beau is the most beautiful baby in the world and they haven't seen him in so long and you just get homesick. Needless to say I am thrilled to see everyone in my family. My parents, my siblings, my nieces and my sister-in-law. then as soon as we return we will be heading off to Minneapolis for a vacation and Brian's parents are meeting us up there. So, Baker and I will have a huge dose of family and hopefully that will help hold us over until winter.

These pics are from our front yard yesterday. I am very proud of our flowers. They were destroyed earlier in the summer due to a hail storm but they recovered. If green had an opposite color, that would be the color of my thumb so I am just thrilled that these flowers have flourished.

It feels like fall here some days already, as I am sure you can see by the boys' clothing. I am ready for fall but it will be weird not to be in Tulsa. Tulsa is so beautiful during the fall. Brian and I share fall as our favorite season and I know he will miss the ranch- but we do have the badlands and hunting season starts next week, so maybe that will make up for it!

I will end with some funny things Baker has said. He is hilarious these days. Yesterday when we were outside he said "it is super windy today". Which he obviously learned form me. Total teenager English to just say "super" instead of very. I said, "yah, it's windy" and he said "it sure is".

Brian made chicken on the grill and he looked at it and said " there is no chicken in here" b/c it was like grilled and a little charred.

He can buckle his car seat now and I was telling him to do and he said " BE PATIENT MOMMY!"

And by far the funniest thing he has said was while we were looking at a family photo on the computer was "I am adorable"! Perfect pronunciation! He is obviously very loved!