Father's Day thoughts...

I feel bad that I've been sick because I didn't get cards in the mail for my Dad or my Father In Law...they are coming, guys! So, I thought I'd write a bit about each of them to ease my guilt a bit...and so they know how great they are.

My Dad----If you don't know my Dad, you should! You are really missing out on a one-of-a-kind guy. He is funny, crazy, opinionated, smart, fiercely

patriotic, brave, con

victed in his faith, service minded, a hard worker and all around great. One of the things I love about my dad is that he has always been willing to do anything for his family. From quitting his job of being an undercover narcotics officer

---because it was too hard on family life, to going to school AND working 2 jobs to complete his degree, to agreeing NOT to look for jobs out of state and move his wailing teenage daughters away from their friends, to being willing to drop everything anytime we call to help us out. He is always there for us---ready to serve us, make us laugh, tease us, save us from the water snake that I swear was a rattlesnake, embarrass us, make us the best caramel popcorn in the world etc...... He is a wonderful dad and I love him! Thanks for everything, Dad!

Picture 1---My Dad at HS Graduation...so handsome!

Picture 2---My Dad now---told you, fiercely patriotic! :)

Picture 3---My Dad in true form! Crazy and eating a ding dong! (I'm not saying anything else, Dad!)

Papa Carl--aka my amazing Father In Law.

I have been truly blessed to have the most amazing in-laws EVER!!! Chuck's Dad is such a giving, caring man. Chuck and I went to Jr. High together and were an "item" back then, and his Dad was always so loving and wonderful. He said that he knew then (his mom did too) that we would be married one day. Yay that they were right! Carl is one of those men that has a genuine love for his kids...he too would do anything for them. He's a hard worker and can fix ANYTHING! I love it when he visits because not only do we get to spend time with Papa, but I get things done around the house! He stripped, stained and varnished our kitchen table so that it wouldn't get water stains....I love telling people that he did that because it was such a labor of love and it's a little piece of him in our home. Dad, you are a wonderful man with so much to offer and share with those around you. We love you!!!

Peritonsillar what???

So this has been an interesting week at our house. Sunday night I started getting a sore throat and felt weak and achy...."oh no", I thought....I'm getting the flu or strep. Ha! I wish!!! It actually did start out as strep and then progressed into what is called a peritonsillar abscess. Waaaaaaayyyyyyy worse than just strep! I could barely swallow...every time I did it felt like a knife was cutting my throat---yep---lovely, right? Finally went to the Dr. after 3 nights of not being able to sleep well and I had simply had it. He gave me some serious anti-biotics (yay!), steroids to reduce the swelling (whew!) and Lortab to help with the pain (hooray!!!!!). It's now Sunday morning and I'm almost back to normal. I still can only eat soft foods...bread is even too much. Still a little swelling and throat pain but thank heavens for medicine---sooooo grateful! Thanks to everyone who was so helpful-----Jessica, our sitter, who was a LIFESAVER and really went the extra mile with helping me out this week--you are amazing, Jessica! Karen & Anne for bringing dinner and watching my kids so I could sleep and recover. Jennifer & Paul, our friends who are a P.A and ENT Doc who gave me great advice and helped me understand things better. Netflix for having old episodes of Flashpoint online so that I could have a distraction while I couldn't sleep because of the pain. :) Lynn for bringing me chicken noodle soup---it tasted so good and felt even better on my throat. My Mom for coming this next week to help me with the kids so that I can catch up on the week I lost. My AWESOME family who really picked up the slack, let me rest, got along most of the time and even kept the house semi-clean! Chuck is and always will be the best....so helpful, understanding, calm and loving. I'm really blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people---love you all!!!

Last day with the Geislers

Had a great time…come again!!! (and these photos are the only proof that we have that I was actually a part of this fun week because I took all the photos…..I was there, though! Promise!)

Geislerama fun at the Edgington’s!!!

Our best friends, the Geislers, who we knew in Stillwater, (and now live in Utah---traitors! ) came out for a week and we had THE BEST TIME!!!  Swimming, watching iCarly, swimming, going to the Zoo to see the new baby elephant that Mommy took a TON of photos of (can you say obsessed?  I loved the elephants when I was little so it was amazing to see the new baby, Maylee!), swimming,  playing for the day at Frontier City, swimming, laughing, watching movies, swimming and just having the BEST-WEEK-EVER!  Thanks for coming out, guys….you are THE BEST!!!  Wanna come next week?

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Attention----check "older posts". I've added pictures from clear back in March!

School’s Out---Graduation Day!

The happiest day, other than Christmas, of our kid’s year has come!!! SCHOOL’S OUT!!! They are all SOOOOO happy! And I’m SOOOOO excited that I don’t have to get up at 6:30 for a few months!!!

Liam had his 5th Grade Graduation and received quite an honor from his classmates. They vote on one girl and one boy from their class that exemplifies good citizenship in their class, on the playground etc… They chose Liam!!! His teacher was really impressed because he’s only been at the school since January. WOW----he is a special guy!!!

Liam and Mrs. Shulke---she was amazing in helping Liam transition from 4th to 5th grade in the middle of the year. We were all a little nervous for the first month or so but he has worked hard and done amazing---straight A’s and he tested into Pre-AP Math for next year. What a little man! Love you Liam!!!

Briggs & Corey---they’ve been in the same class together for the last 2 years.

Now this is more like it! Briggs and his friends being…well, themselves!

Briggs and Daddy

Mrs. Berckman and Briggs---she is a great teacher!!!

1st Dance Recital!

 

Lydia had her first dance recital and she was SOOOOO cute!!!  Her favorite part, of course, was that she got to wear makeup.  She IS her mother’s daughter!  Her costume was really cute and I’m glad they had a hat as she is the only one with short hair in her class.  But…the short hair is “growing” on us.  We actually had it cut to shape it up a bit and really like it….when I see pictures of her hair longer, it just doesn’t seem to fit her personality.  I think we’re keeping the short hair for awhile!  Who knew that when she cut her hair she was really making it to fit her spunky little personality!!!

http://youtu.be/e3gLbz7KDC4  Here is the youtube link for one of her dances…she’s the second from the left.  Please ignore the giggling mommy---I just couldn’t quit laughing because they were SOOOOOO cute!!!

Tornado party?

On May 24th we had 5 or 6 tornadoes come through Oklahoma. It was quite scary after the devastation in Joplin, MO on Sunday. Some friends of ours from Stillwater, who now live in Joplin, had their home leveled! But they are all safe and ok, thank heavens!!! So, our weathermen were watching the tornado situation very carefully and predicted 24 hours in advance that all the elements were right for severe weather. Now, I'm the first to admit that our meteorologists are like kids in a candy shop when this crazy Oklahoma weather gets exciting. Sometimes it's a little over the top but I realize that it must be hard because if they don't warn us, we're upset. So....tough job!!! But this time....they were simply amazing!!! So much so, that the governor, Mary Fallin, did a statewide conference call with all the big wigs and the meteorologists on Tuesday morning---they decided to close EVERYTHING at 3 pm----government offices, public schools, the universities etc....so that everyone could get home and to a safe place in enough time. And it's a good thing they did.....the tornadoes started hitting right around 5 pm and two of them were close to major freeway systems. If everyone would have been on their way home, the death toll would have been much higher. Sadly, at least 9 people lost their lives in this terrible storm.

The power that a tornado has is unbelievable. We were watching the weather to see if we should go to the shelter and when we saw this happen LIVE on tv, we decided it was time to go!!!

We grabbed our 72 hour kits and went to the school. We must have been a sight to see....everyone had matching RED backpacks (our 72 hour kits) the kids had their bike helmets on (for safety), we all had our pillows and we packed the car up and left. Our neighbors probably thought we were going on vacation!!! But....I am SO glad that we have been counseled by our church leaders to have those 72 hour kits. The were AWESOME! We got to the school and the kids settled down into our little corner and had snacks & water, books, coloring books and crayons, a blanket etc... and then when they power went out, they pulled out the flashlights and everything was great! It literally was a Tornado Party! Lydia even asked our sitter if she would come back tomorrow for another tornado party. :) The next day she also asked when the next tornado party was going to be....she obviously wasn't too traumatized!!! The pictures at the top of this post are of our "Party!" I'm so thankful for God's protecting hand!

This was an amazing moment...the chopper pilot watched as this family crawled out of the rubble. They'd been in their storm shelter and it obviously saved their lives. The pilot was really choked up at the miracle he witnessed! Needless to say, we are getting a storm shelter...and soon!

Music Mania!

Sadie had her band concert and choir concert last week. She did a great job at both....had a short solo in one of the choir numbers and sounded beautiful. We were really impressed with the quality of music and how good both groups were. I'm so glad she is involved musically...it really is one of her talents.

Liam also had his 5th grade program and he had a solo too...everyone was calling him Justin Bieber....he did a really GREAT job! http://youtu.be/bNcIWuWfFRA Here's the youtube link for it...Liam is the 3rd soloist at the beginning.

Briggs also had his Kindergarten Graduation this week where they sang some fun songs including "Oklahoma" from the musical...that's our state song and those kindergarten kids sure loved singing it!!!

15 Wonderful Years!!!

Another big milestone for us….May 9th was our 15 Year anniversary…whoa, whoa, whoa!  So, to celebrate, we spent the day together (not sure when the last time is that that happened!) shopped, went to a movie, went to Shiki---a yummy Japanese Hibachi restaurant, and lastly we bought an outdoor patio set!  I’ve wanted one FOREVER and finally got it!    Mother’s Day was on the 8th (poor planning on our part….we have Mother’s Day, our Anniversary and Chuck’s birthday within one week!!! I try to think of it as my week of celebrating my FAVORITE THINGS! My marriage to my amazing husband, being a mom to my awesome (and crazy) kids and Chuck’s Bday---he’s always worth celebrating---BIG TIME!) and my favorite memory was having dinner out on the patio with a cool breeze blowing, fresh flowers on the table, dinner that Chuck and the kids made and my cute family surrounding me.  It just doesn’t get much better than that!

OH WAIT…..It DOES get better!    I surprised Chuck with Josh Groban tickets!!!!  He’s been one of our favorites since the beginning and YAY---he was in Tulsa on the 20th!!!  What an awesome concert….his voice is unreal.  It fills every corner of the room with an amazing depth and richness.  It was powerful and wonderful all at the same time!!! And plus he is FUNNY!  We laughed so hard. What a fun, special night!  So…for our 10th Anniversary we saw Il Divo, our 15th we saw Josh Groban….just so you know, Chuck, for our 20 year anniversay I’m holding out for Michael Buble in Paris!  (no pressure, honey!) Thanks for an unforgettable and wonderful 15 years….I can’t imagine forever with anyone else!!!  Je t’aime!

Mommy went to Time Out!

One of my FAVORITE things to do is go to a yearly women’s conference called TIME OUT FOR WOMEN. To make it even better, my mom, two sisters---Anita and Heidi---and Celeste (Dan’s wife) who is as good as any sister EVER was----were all here too! We had a great time and learned a lot (just up until the time that I got a weird flu virus! It only lasted about 12 hours but was horrible for that 12 hours!) but the best part was being with family and getting my cup filled. Loved it!

Ok, just kidding…there was another best part! My FAVORITE singer, Hilary Weeks, was there and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her music. My sweet friend, Marie, even got her autograph for me…thanks Marie! Hearing her sing was definitely a highlight of the conference! Here are a few links to my “favorite” songs of hers…you’ll laugh AND cry! http://youtu.be/6I8FCgaoaG8 (This is the laughing one…) http://youtu.be/HCVT88Dz_CM (this is the one that is my favorite…for when I’m having a hard time and just need to know that my Savior is there for me) http://youtu.be/GeXA4A8INJ4 (and this one just sums up who Christ is to me--love it!)

MK Career Conference in Frisco, TX

Every spring we have a Career Conference for Mary Kay…this year it was in Frisco, TX which in addition to spending time with my AWESOME consultants and getting lots of great training…I also had my first trip to IKEA!!! Ok, I’m officially in love! We are seriously planning a trip during the summer so that I can spend an entire day there! Can’t wait!