Christmas In Oklahoma Continued

I'm back with part two of our Christmas in Oklahoma. If you didn't see the last post click here.

I will never again take as many pictures as I did this past trip. Ok, that's probably a lie. The problem I have is that I want to post all of the pictures, but if I did you would probably go cross eyed from looking at all of them and I would end up with carpel tunnel from all of the uploading and editing. So... I have to pick and choose, and it's so hard! Anyway, here are my favorites of our last day in Oklahoma.

Wednesday morning we celebrated Christmas with my family. But before we opened any presents, we went to Ihop together to eat some breakfast, and it was sooo good.

Every year before we open presents we search for the hidden pickle ornament on the Christmas tree. My mom started this tradition of searching for the pickle a few years ago; it's so much fun. Whoever finds the pickle first gets an extra little gift. Well this year Abby found the pickle {lucky duck} and got a gift card to Target. Didn't you find it first last year?



Noah opening up his very first stocking. Boy, he's cute.



I love this picture of Noah & my mom. So sweet.



Everyone showing off their gifts.




Noah's favorite gifts were his books & miniature toy cars.




Samson & Delilah eating their gifts.



Isn't my new camera bag fabulous?! I love it! It is a handmade camera bag my parents got off of Etsy. Now I have a safe place to store my camera and lenses. Yay!



Wednesday evening we went over to my Nana's house and had Christmas with all my extended family. We had a wonderful evening full of wonderful food, gifts, and fellowship.

My Aunt Sherri and cousin Madison are amazing. They made all of the desserts you see below. Every. single. one. And they were delicious!!



Noah got a camo teepee for Christmas from his great grandparents, Nana & Roger. He wasn't real sure of it that evening, but I have a feeling this little teepee will be one of his favorite things to play with over the next couple of years.




Madison playing a Christmas tune on her flute for us.



Leave it to Josh & Matt to throw my little baby like a basketball. Noah was loving every minute of it.



Noah's first grab box experience. Oh, I should probably explain to you what a grab box actually is. It is basically a big box full of wrapped gifts with strings attached to each of them. On each side of the box is a name with several strings taped to the box. Each person, either oldest to youngest or vice-versa, takes turns pulling a string to open up a gift picked out by Nana. We all love the grab box, and look forward to it every Christmas we are with Nana. Thank you Nana for all of the hard work you put into the grab box to make it so very special for all of us. What a blessing to watch Noah experience the grab box this year for the very first time. I know he will grow to love it just like the rest of us.




Whew! We got though Christmas in Oklahoma. Hope you enjoyed all the pictures. We are leaving for Amarillo tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with Josh's side of the family, so I'll be back with more next week. But don't worry, I'll have a post or two in the mean time.

Have a wonderful night!

Christmas in Oklahoma Part 1

I had no idea I took so many pictures. My goodness gracious. I guess it's safe to say I am loving my new camera! We had the best time with my family this past week. We were sad to say goodbye, but were so thankful for the opportunity to go to Oklahoma to see everyone.

Samson & my mother. He has her wrapped around his little paw.

December 20th was my dad's birthday, so we got to be there to help him celebrate his big day! He got a bunch of golf gear for his birthday since he wants to start playing more. He's set to go now!



Noah trying to make an escape. Thank goodness for those gates, otherwise we would have been chasing this little guy all over the house.



Oh Matt, you should have known your face would be displayed for all to see. I sure had a good laugh while I put together this little collage of your crazy faces.



I love this picture of Noah with Granddad & Mimi. So sweet!



This is just... funny.



My parent's dogs babies. These two replaced Matt & Megan when they went off to college.



Noah loved crawling in Samson & Delilah's cage. Doesn't he look ornery?



Mom & Dad with their babies. Sweet family picture.



Noah was pretty excited to find a chair his size.



While we were in Oklahoma my mom made an appointment at Moliere's Bridal Salon {the place I found my wedding dress} so all the girls could go watch Abby try on wedding dresses. We had so much fun, and guess what, she found the one!! The dress is so Abby. She is going to make a beautiful bride.



Josh & Matt hanging out.



Abby & the babies.



One evening we all went to Brick town for another birthday celebration for my dad. We had many other family members join us that evening; it was so nice seeing everyone again. We went to Chelino's {the best Mexican food in Oklahoma, by far} to eat and had a great time! Here are some pictures of all of us together.





I'll give your eyes a rest. Haha.

To be continued...

A Weekend in Enemy Territory

Over Halloween weekend Josh went to the Deaf Men's Conference, so instead of Noah and I staying home alone all weekend, we decided to go visit my side of the family in Oklahoma. As soon as we arrived at my parents' house I spotted on the dining room table a small, bright orange jacket. I had a sneaking suspicion that the small, bright orange jacket probably had the three letters: O-S-U on it and that it was for Noah. You see, everyone in my family is a big Oklahoma State fan, so I wasn't the least bit surprised when they all tried to convert Noah to become an OSU fan as well. The weekend we went was the same weekend of the OSU/TEXAS football game, so Mimi went out and bought Noah an OSU jacket to wear so he could support the Cowboys.

I have to admit, the little jacket was pretty darn cute. It said "little cowboy" on the hood. But my mom didn't dare buy Noah "the enemy's" jacket without consulting with his daddy first. If any of you know Josh at all, you know he is a big TEXAS fan, so if he found out his son was wearing bright orange instead of burnt orange, he would not be very happy. But Josh gave her the ok and said Noah could wear it only because his aunt and uncle go to OSU. Oh goodness. Do you see what I'm in the middle of!?

The first night we were there we all went over to my Nana's house for dinner, and it was wonderful! We got to celebrate my Aunt Sherri's birthday, and Noah was sure glad it was her birthday because he got to dig into some yummy cake. We had such a wonderful night with all our family, and it was so good to see everyone again. Here are a few pictures at Nana and Roger's house.

We didn't actually go to the OSU/TEXAS game on Saturday, but we did make the trip to Stillwater for a few hours so we could spend some time with Matt, Megan, and Cory. There were so many activities going on there. People were tailgating all over the place, and there were Halloween festivities for the little ones on the campus. We brought Noah's Mickey Mouse costume with us, and he wore it for an hour or two while we were there. He was the sweetest little mouse I've ever seen.

But before I show you pictures of our time in Stillwater, I have to admit something my that mom and I did to poor little Noah. I felt so horrible. One lady came up to us and asked if we wanted to put Noah in the costume contest they were about to have. We thought it would be fun, but before we went to the contest we thought we would draw some whiskers and put a black little nose on Noah to complete his costume. We saw some markers over on a table, so we went over to see what kind they were. Obviously we wouldn't have used permanent marker or anything that we thought would have hurt his skin. On the table were Crayola washable markers, so we thought that would be perfect because it would wash off easily. Well. We were right. It washed off very easy, but left the worst looking red marks on his face. We felt sooooo bad. We had no idea it would do that to his skin. Learn from our mistake: do not use Crayola washable markers on your children's faces. Oops! By that evening Noah's face began clearing up, and it was completely clear by the next day. Whew! So that is why in some of the pictures you will see Noah with a red nose and whiskers on his poor little face.

Here are a couple more random pictures of our weekend in Oklahoma. We had a great weekend! I'm so glad we decided to go visit!

Branson Family Vacation (Numero Dos)

Ok, I'm back with the rest of our family trip to Branson, Missouri. Be sure to check out the first part if you missed it.

After a full day at the lake we were exhausted and huunnnnggrry. We all took a quick shower, got ready, and ate at a delicious steakhouse that I forgot the name of. Yummmm yum!

Mimi, Granddad, and Noah

My sister Abby and Myself



Dad and my sister Megan



Noah was so funny. He put his leg over the highchair
and just chilled as he ate his bread.



And yes. Noah loved shrimp. Josh is completely disgusted by this.

We all got a good night's rest and got out to the lake early again the next morning. The lake was beautiful, and we could not have asked for better weather. Here are a few more pictures of us at the lake!

Sexy legs! (Matt will probably kill me for posting this)

If you know our family at all you know we're Mexican food fanatics. So of course we had to find some good Mexican food in Branson. Our last night there we found a really great restaurant (sorry can't remember the name of that one either) in this beautiful outlet shopping area. We had to wait a while to be seated, so we looked around at a few of the shops while we were there. Abby, Noah, my Mom and Dad, and I stopped in one of the closest stores to get out of the heat. It was one of those Build-A-Bear stores. We were just browsing around, and before we knew it, poor Noah was our model for the build a bear accessories. I could barely hold my camera I was laughing so hard.

Does he look like Harry Potter or what?

Thank you so much Dad and Mom for everything, and thank you for making it possible for us to all get together. We made so many fun memories, and I am so glad Noah and I were able to come! Love you all!

Branson Family Vacation!

Our family trip to Branson was wonderful! I am so thankful for the time we had together as a family! One afternoon about halfway through the trip, we were on the lake, and I was just relaxing watching all of my family and it just hit me that we were actually all together. It doesn't happen very often that both of my parents and all of my brothers and sisters are in one place together, so it was such a blessing that we were all able to make it. As a bonus, Matt's girlfriend Tiffany and Megan's, let's-just-say-it's-complicated friend, Cory were with us. We were so happy they could come!

On Thursday afternoon, Noah and I flew into Springfield, where Mimi and Granddad were anxiously awaiting our arrival. We couldn't wait to see them! And by the time I got off the plane with Noah on my hip, my heavy purse, and Noah's diaper bag, I was sure thankful to have an extra set of hands! Of course Granddad and Mimi didn't mind taking Noah off my hands. Noah and I loved spending the evening with my parents. We ate dinner together, played and relaxed in the cabin, and went swimming before we got in bed. Here are a few pictures of our first night in Branson with Granddad and Mimi.



The plan for our time in Branson can be summed up in two words: TableRock Lake! I haven't been on a lake in so long; I couldn't wait to go! The first morning we decided to go to the lake early so we could spend most of the day there, and we eneded up leaving about 9:30. TableRock Lake was only about a 15 minute drive away, so we were there before we knew it. My dad rented a boat, two jet skis, and a huge floaty to pull us on the back of the boat. I have been on a lot of fun trips, but this one was one of my favorites! Here are some pictures of us the first day on the lake!



We had SO much fun! And Noah was the best baby! He loved being on the boat, and he had many fun new experiences too! He got to ride on the jet ski with my parents and sit on the floaties, and he loved swimming in the lake. Noah even took two or three naps on the boat! I think it was probably a combination of the heat and the rocking of the boat. The only thing he didn't like was his life jacket. I don't blame him though. It looked so uncomfortable.

Well, I originally planned this to be one big post, but my editor/husband made me split it up. So be sure to check back tomorrow for more on our family trip!

My Little Climber

The truth is, I'm tired.

Our family trip to Branson was the plan for tonight, and honestly, I tried. After spending 30 minutes on a couple sentences, I realized I was not getting anywhere. Don't you hate when that happens?

So I'm gonna have to make this short and sweet.

Noah learned something new while we were in Branson. In the cabin where we stayed there were a flight of stairs, and as soon as Noah laid eyes on them, he was enthralled. He immediately crawled to them and to my surprise knew exactly what he needed to do. Oh, I just love when he learns something new.

Isn't he just so sweet? After Noah discovered the stairs, all he wanted to do was climb. He loved it!

Where was my video camera when I needed it? Darn.

Noah's First Flight

Every summer my parents plan a family trip, and for the past three years we have gone to Mexico. We have been to Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Puerto Vallarta, and this year we had planned to go back to Playa del Carmen because it was our favorite of all the places we had been.

As you can imagine, we were all so excited, but sadly we had to cancel our trip. Right about the time we planned to go, there was so much going on in Mexico. There were Mexican drug wars going on, but we decided we would still go because the drug wars weren't even close to where we would be. Then the Swine Flu hit. We didn't want to take any chances, especially with Noah going with us, so we canceled. Bummer!

But what would our summer be without a family trip? My parents pulled together a trip to Branson, Missouri, and we all had SO much fun. We only wish Josh could have come with us, but since it was last minute, he ended up having to work. But Noah and I were happy we had the chance to go!

Here we are all packed up and ready to go to the airport!

I was excited about our trip to Branson, but I was SO nervous about flying alone with Noah. Don't get me wrong. We have one of the happiest, most content babies ever, but flying with a baby is not easy, especially when you're doing it alone. But I thought to myself, "It will be ok, it's only one hour." So we said our goodbyes to Daddy and we were on our way to Branson!



As soon as Noah and I boarded the plane, we were greeted by the flight attendant. I was relieved because I was sitting on the single-seat row, so that meant Noah and I had a seat to ourselves! Yay. I wouldn't have to worry about Noah grabbing the wig of some poor woman sitting next to us, because no one would be sitting next to us. But as soon as we boarded, the oh-so-kind attendant informed me that I needed to find a seat in the two-seat row. What?! I wondered why I couldn't sit in the seat I had on my ticket, but I just said, "Ok" and sat down. I had too much going through my mind at that point, so I didn't even think about questioning her orders. I found out later only the two-seat rows have oxygen masks for infant/children. Thank you American Airlines. The poor woman with the wig thanks you too.

Despite my worries, Noah was such a good boy during his very first flight! He was as squirmy and active as any 10 month old would be, but I was so proud of him. Thankfully Daddy put two Baby Einstein movies on my iPhone to keep Noah busy. I owe Josh big time because Noah sat in my lap for most of the flight watching the movies. I love this picture of Noah wearing Josh's earphones as he watches Baby Mozart. So precious!

I was definitely drained of all my energy by the time we got to Springfield Airport, and I'm sure I was a site to see! But overall I think Noah's first flight went very smooth.

I'll continue tomorrow with our fun trip to Branson!