Goodbye Vickie

I wasn't going to post about this, but it has been on my mind and I feel like I should. We lost a wonderful sister last night. God took my cousin ,Vickie, home. It doesn't feel real, it feels like I should be able to see her again when I go back to Colorado. I don't remember ever seeing her without a smile on her face. I just felt like asking everyone to remember Vickie's family in prayer. We will miss her greatly, and will always love and remember her.

My news experience

Yesterday, I told everyone that I was in the newspaper. Then "Neena" asked why I was in the paper. So I thought I'd go ahead and post what it said. This happened last August. I was at work at Al's Route 66 Cafe (the owners is the Shamburgs from my church) and this guy came in and said that he was from the Sapulpa Herald and said that he randomly picks one person and week and does a thing called 'Meet your neighbor" and asked if he could interview me. I was a little hesitant because I looked terrible, I was hot and tired. But he talked me into it. So here I am in the newspaper! It's so weird.

I know the writing is very small so here is what it says:

Even though Sapulpa is a long way from Montrose, Colo,. Julie considers Sapulpa her new home.
"My family and I have only lived here in Sapulpa for five months but we love it," said Julie.
Julie is a waitress at Al's Route 66 Cafe and her husband Ryan lays tile.
Julie and her husband have two children, girl Taylor, 7, and Blake, 5.

Best Memory:
"I guess my best, first memory would be the first time I went skiing. I was three years old at the time."

Most famous person you've met:
"I got a chance to meet Collective Soul backstage at one of their concerts," said Julie. "That was a great experience."

Most embarrassing moment:
"When I was 7 months pregnant, I was dreaming about spiders and jumped completely off the bed until I was standing straight up. Scared my husband to death. He still talks about it."

Best place you've traveled:
"California. The beaches in Malibu are absolutely beautiful."

Last day to live. What would you do?:
"I would take my kids to Disneyland. And my husband too."

Favorite thing about Sapulpa:
"I love the parks here. They are great for our kids. They really take care of the town here."

Ryan was on the News!

Yesterday when Ryan came home from work, he was very excited. He told me that Tulsa's News 8 interviewed him and they taped him working for about 20 minutes. So we watched the News that night and he was on the news, but not for very long. I'm not sure if the sound is working, but at least you can see him. He's about 20 seconds into the video, wearing a light gray shirt. I thought it was pretty neat. So far since we have lived here, I've been in the Sapulpa newspaper and Ryan has been on Tulsa news. HEHE.

Click HERE to watch it from the News 8 site.

Prissy or Tomboy?

My little girl LOVES to dress up as a princess. She already loves name brand clothing. She is a perfectionist on a lot of things... But she also loves to catch and hold frogs/toads and always seems to get filthy. What is up with this?

Something really bothering me :(

I know I already posted something today, but I have had something that has really been troubling me. My Dad was a diabetic the last few years of his life and because of that, a lot of time his feet hurt, or he didn't have feeling in them. He also said that he had a burning sensation in them a lot. Anyway, diabetes really took a toll on his poor feet. I would watch him take his shoes off and rub his feet, trying to get feeling back in his feet. I just sat there and watched him, and rarely offered to help him. I honestly don't like massaging people. When Ryan asks me to rub his back, I'll do it, but I don't exactly like doing it. I have to be in the right mood to offer to do it. My Dad asked me a time or two to rub his feet, and I did it, I just wasn't very enthusiastic about it. I just thought of this today, it was the first time I've EVER thought of it. I wish I could turn back time and do what little I could to make my Dad feel better. I feel so little right now. He did SO much for me and I didn't do as much as I should have for him. This thought tears me up! What point I would like to get across to you all is PLEASE don't take people for granted, they won't always be here. Now is the time to do for others. I just felt like sharing this with you all.

1 week!

I'm getting more and more excited to go to Dallas next weekend. We have everything paid for except dinner and fuel. We have our motel, tickets, lunches, and other vouchers already paid for. I have found several videos of the rollercoasters we will be riding. The one I have posted underneath we rode 5 years ago, and it scared me half to death! It is so tall! I just am getting more and more excited everyday, and so is Ryan! I'm sorry I keep going on and on, it's just that we don't get to do this very much, so it is a huge deal to us! I seriously can not wait! By the way, in order to hear this video, you'll need to mute the "Daddy's Hands" song. Just scroll down and you'll see a volume symbol and just click on it and it will mute.

Happy birthday Mom!

Today is my WONDERFUL mother's (67th) birthday. She was 40 years old when I was born, so it is always easy for me to remember her age :) I wish I could be there to celebrate your birthday with you. I love you Mom!

Great weekend, but glad it's over

I am sitting here in peace and quiet, and LOVING it. We had some company over this weekend, and had a WONDERFUL time with them all. We had great visits. They have several kids and other brethren came over that had kids, so my house was a mad house last night. I REALLY DID enjoy them all, but it was definitely a little chaotic. We all acted VERY goofy, especially while playing : (which by the way is the FUNNEST game on Earth!) It was all great while it lasted, but then there's the mess to clean up! That's what I'm doing today, but I got a little tired and am taking my break ;)

Time flies!

I was reminded of how much time has flown in the last few years. My sweet nephew, Samuel turned 3 today. My BABY is going to be 6 in about 6 weeks! And my little baby girl is going to be 8 in 3 months! Both of them are into the opposite gender. They are both so shy around the boy/girl that they "like". I remember liking boys at age 8 and I just don't think I want my little girl to be liking boys already, hehe. I seriously just have no idea where time has gone. I want to cherish these years and they are just passing by! It is kind of sad. I see my sister, Sue and her husband, Steve, and they are basically alone now. Steph is married, Shane lives at college in GJ, and Savanna is getting married, but is always gone (mostly working). Taylor is halfway to driving age! I want them to be babies again, I miss that. I miss them NEEDING me, and the bond we had (mainly while I was nursing them). It is just unbelievable to me how fast life is going.

Taylor, born in 2000

Blake, born in 2002

My Dad

I lost my dad 3 years ago today. I still miss him so much and think about him EVERY day. I know that some of you have lost a parent, or two, and I don't mean to sound like it is harder for me than you, because I know it isn't. I'm not out to get attention either, I just really felt like doing this. I just grieve differently I guess. I have made a slideshow as a tribute to him. This song was really perfect, because one of my favorite features of my Dad was his hands. He was a cabinet maker and he worked SO hard. But he somehow managed to always keep his hands as soft as a baby. I miss holding those sweet soft hands.

I'm so excited!

Ryan and I's 9th anniversary is coming up in less than 3 weeks. On our 4th anniversary, we went to Dallas and went to 6 Flags. It was so much fun! Well we've been wanting to go again, and have been planning for our anniversary to go. More than likely, I'll either be pregnant or have a little one on our 1oth anniversary, so really this may be the last chance for a fun anniversary for a few years. Well, we went ahead and put in an offer on Priceline for a Hotel room. We put in for $50.00 and our price was ACCEPTED by the Arlington Hilton (that's where we stayed on our 4th)! The normal price was $129.00 per room! The Hilton is RIGHT across the highway from 6 Flags. On our 4th anniversary, we had a room on the 20th floor that faced 6 Flags, so it was fun to stare at it out of our window. I hope we get a similar room this time! We're going to go to 6 Flags 2 days, Friday and Saturday. I'm really looking forward to this! I kind of want to also go to this Renaissance place (dinner and theater) called Medieval Times. They serve a renaissance style dinner and they have a show that includes knights fighting and that type of stuff. I'm not sure that we'll get to go to that, but it is an idea. Also, I'm REALLY looking forward to going to church in Dallas. There is A LOT of brethren that are from Colorado that live in Dallas now, plus others that I've known basically my whole life. It has been SO long since Ryan and I got to go away together and it is definitely going to be a lot of fun!

Here is the HiltonI took this picture of 6 Flags from our room windowRyan getting ready to do the Skycoaster

He couldn't get me to go on that thing. He still wants me to, but this I'm REALLY scared of, so I don't think he will succeed.

My cousins had their baby!

My cousin Jimmy was my BEST friend growing up. He married a SWEETHEART named Angela. They got married 3 weeks exactly before Ryan and I. In fact, their 9 year anniversary was YESTERDAY! They then had their first baby, Traci, 2 weeks before we had Taylor. Do you see a pattern going? HEHE. But then, we broke the pattern. We had Blake 2 years after Taylor. They still just had Traci. Then when Blake was 3 years old, they finally had their second baby, Bethany. They now had 2 beautiful girls, one with brown hair and brown eyes, and one with red hair and blue eyes (EXACTLY like our kids ;) But I always thought they needed a little boy also. Well, I was shocked to find out that she was expecting again (a few months ago) and this morning, she had a baby boy! I don't know his details yet, maybe Joann can fill in the details ;) But I'm just so happy for them! Oh and Joann: I'm JEALOUS that you get to hold him before me, LOL. I just felt like spreading the joy. Welcome baby!

P.S.- Joann just called me (thanks Joann!) and told me that his name is Kyle Douglas. He weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21 ".

Here is Jimmy, Angela and Bethany (Traci not pictured).

Oh what a night!

We had a crazy, stormy night here last night. I didn't get much sleep at all! First of all, I went to bed with a very sore throat, so that was bothering me pretty bad. Then all night lightning and thunder were crashing. And unless you've actually been in an Oklahoma storm, you have no idea how POWERFUL they are. So I was waking up a lot with the sore throat and the lightning/thunder. Then... at around 3:00 am, I started to hear hail hitting our roof. I got up and looked outside, and sure enough, it was hailing VERY hard. I just knew that our cars were going to have hail damage. I picked up a few pieces of hail that had came up onto our porch, and they were the size of a quarter. That lasted about 15 minutes. Then I went back to bed and slept on and off again until about 5:00 am. Then our power went out. I woke when that happened. I knew that Ryan had to wake up at 6:00, so I didn't really want to drift off to sleep without some sort of alarm. We don't have cell phones, or any other type of alarm that doesn't require electricity. So I basically stayed awake. I was walking in my hallway, and heard Taylor call my name. She was so scared from the storm. I went in there and felt her heartbeat, and it was pounding! We both said a prayer for protection and I visited with her for a little while. Then at 6:00 I woke up Ryan to get ready for work. Our power came back on at 6: 30 (approximately). He headed off to work and I went back to sleep until 8:00. Then I had to get the kids ready for school. I got them off to school, and now here I am. I am going to go back to sleep for a while, because I'm SO tired! I think we'll have storms throughout the day. It was a CRAZY night though!

Blonde

Yesterday my niece, Savanna, gave me blonde highlights in my hair. I've been wanting to get highlights for like 6 months or more! It turned out very good. It honestly looks pretty natural. I'm really happy with it.

Had a nice, but exhausting day!

Yesterday, my niece and nephew from Colorado showed up here at 1:00 pm and almost immediately, we went and got my kids out of school. The kids were SO excited to see them! They also had NO idea they were coming here. Then I had to get gas and get money out of the bank, and headed to Henryetta with Vanna. We got there and dropped the kids off. Then we all left and went to Shawnee for the Taste of Home show last night. We all met at Golden Corral and ate dinner, then went to the show. I thoroughly enjoyed the show! This lady made a lot of things that looked SOOO good, and looked easy to make. I'm going to try a few of those recipes very soon :) There were like 1000 people there and we had a group of our sisters there. Cherrie said there was like 17 sisters in our group. Well, like Cherrie said, a BUNCH of the sisters won door prizes. They gave away like 100 door prizes, but unfortunately, none for me, Cherrie, or Chantel :( My niece won a prize, my mother-in-law also won. So I was happy for all of our group who did win something. Maybe next time for me ;) The show was awesome! The lady did give a lot of helpful tips on how to do things. Cherrie named a few helpful tips. She asked me to think of a few that she didn't name. I'm going to give it my BEST try, but I'm sure I won't remember all of them ;)

1. The thing that makes peppers hot isn't actually the seeds, but it is the membrane (sp?)

2. To ripen an avocado faster, place in brown paper bag and close it for a day, or half a day, etc..., it releases a vapor and if it is confined, that vapor will help it ripen WAY faster.

3. Add 1 TBS. vinegar to boiling water before adding an egg (or 2) to keep the egg from separating, the vinegar keeps it closer together. This is for a poached egg.

4. When making meatballs (to make them all the same size), you roll out the meat on a cutting board and make it into a rectangle, then cut it into equal parts, and then roll the meatballs in your hand.

I actually can't think of any more off the top of my head. If I think of more, I'll mention them in my comments for this post. I really did have a great time! I learned how to make a hollindaze sauce for eggs benedict (one of my FAVORITE breakfast items) and can't wait to try it out! We got out of the show at 10:00 pm. Then we had to drive 2 hours to get home. I was SO tired. I basically crashed.

Then this morning, my niece put some (blonde) highlights in my hair that I've been wanting for MONTHS. And they are gone now. They are going to Dallas for a big young kids get-together at 6-Flags. I'm so jealous, LOL. But it was really great getting to see my niece and nephew, even for a very short time. I really enjoyed them.

Just another day.... OR IS IT?

HEHE, I'm so excited right now! I thought today would be just another normal day in my life, but I JUST got a phone call from my niece (from Colorado) and she asked if she could come and stay the night with me. She told me that her and her brother (Savanna and Shane) are in Oklahoma and headed this way and will be here in 3 hours! I didn't have a CLUE that they were even going to be in Oklahoma. So I'm as happy as can be!!! I truly miss my family and it is just so wonderful to know that I am going to get to spend some time with them!!! It's going to be a GREAT day!!!

The only one not coming here is the bride, Stephanie.

I've decided to delete my blog

After giving this a lot of thought, I've decided to delete this blog.






















NOT! April Fools Day!




There's NO way that I'm going to quit posting now, I love it way too much! Sorry everyone, I just really wanted to to SOMETHING for April Fools Day. hope you're all not mad at me ;) Have a great day!