Surprize...I'm in Colorado!!!

On Thursday evening, Ryan and I were visiting about our trip to Colorado in August, for my niece, Savanna's wedding. He knew that I have been homesick for a while, and he suggested taking some of our tax check and head to Colorado early. I quickly told him, YES! We got our tax check and I headed out here on Friday night. I left home at 10:00 pm and arrived in Colorado at 12:00pm. I drove ALL night, not sleeping a wink. I am most definitely not a night owl, so I figured that I would probably have to pull over and sleep for an hour or so sometime. But after A LOT of praying, and caffeine, I didn't even get tired AT ALL. I drove through some very scary lightning storms and heavy rain. I was nervous at first, but I kept praying and I felt very protected. I could tell that my van could have hydroplaned, I hit LOTS of puddles of water, and never felt like I was losing control. It was a neat feeling. But anyway, back to my story. I didn't tell ANY of my family that I was coming, and it was SOOO fun surprising everyone! I'm going to be here for 6 weeks. Ryan will come right before Savanna's wedding. I am really going to miss him! But I'm really happy that I get to spend time with my family and friends :)

Please forgive me if I'm not as good at leaving comments. My mom's computer is 20 times slower than mine, and I'm going to be very busy, but I'll still try to get on here as much as possible. We'll talk to everyone soon.

Summer fun!

Last year we bought a swimming pool and used it all summer long. We all had such a blast in it. However, our ground was not level, so we didn't get to fill it to the maximum filling potential. This year, we put it back up because we were in a hurry to use it. Well, the ground was even worse than last year (level wise). It kept getting worse and worse. The water is supposed to come up to my chest. The last time I got in it, the water was just barely above my knees. So Ryan and I decided to drain it and attempt to get it level. We bought 1000 pounds of sand and hauled it back to the pool area. Then Ryan got out his level and floated the whole area. This process took several days, of VERY hard work! And not to mention, HOT, humid weather to do it in, so needless to say, it was a hard project! But... after Ryan leveled it out, I filled it back up and it is better than it ever was. It is so much deeper than it ever has been. The kids are back in it today. They have really missed it since we started the project. I'm SO glad we did it There's nothing like watching and listening to your children having so much fun!

Uplifted

Friday night Ryan, with help from Bill P. got a new fan belt on our van. So I'm feeling so much better now. Plus... Bill found something under our hood that he said was making our van get TERRIBLE gas mileage. The vacuum had come loose. He put it back together and said it would help at least 4-5 miles a gallon better. I knew that we hadn't been doing very good on gas mileage. I just wish I would have known why a long time ago. Who knows how long it had been loose. I don't exactly know what it does to improve gas mileage, but I trust Bill, he knows a LOT about cars. I'm so glad that he found this problem before our trip to Colorado in August. We should also be getting that tax check soon, I HOPE!!! Then we will get our A/C fixed. So slowly, but surely, things are coming together.

Then last evening I took the kids to Henryetta where they were having a fish fry at the church. It was really nice. Then they had a bunch of homemade ice cream. Yummy. Afterwards we drove home and all of us went to see The Incredible Hulk. That, by the way was an AWESOME movie. Blake absolutely loved it!

Today we had such a great meeting. There was a lot of visiting brethren, and it turned out to be a very uplifting meeting. Ryan G. gave her hand to be baptized. So this evening was her baptism and ordinance supper. I was really down at the end of last week, but this weekend definitely uplifted me :)

WHY!?!?!?

Well... I'm on foot again, probably for at least a week or two. Our stupid van started messing up yesterday. We were driving over to see RD and Andra's precious baby boy and it started making a weird noise. It sounded like we were constantly driving over branches and they were hitting up into our engine. We pulled over and looked under the hood. We saw that our fan belt was halfway ripped and we are pretty sure that it is what is making the noise. So we went home and got into our teeny tiny truck. Poor Blake had to sit on the floorboard. We probably wouldn't have went then, but I had made them some homemade cinnamon rolls. And by the way, Ryan and I are on a diet, so I didn't want them staying in our house, LOL. We did make it over there and it was SO worth it. I got to hold Caanan for about an hour. He's so SWEET!!!

But anyway, Ryan drives the truck to work and that is why I'm on foot. Thank goodness we live 2 blocks from the park, so we can go there. And I can go get groceries or whatever I need to get in the evening. HOPEFULLY we will get that tax check in the next week or two. As soon as we get it, the first thing I'm going to do is buy the parts I need to fix our van. Right now, we need: a radiator condenser (for the A/C), a left front fender, a left lamplight, and now a fan belt. And hopefully we can get it fixed shortly after I get all the parts. It is really miserable driving around with no A/C in Oklahoma. Anyway, I just needed to vent a little about the stupid van problems. I can't seem to figure out why we ALWAYS get problems like this. And it always happens when we don't even have 2 pennies to rub together (not literally, but pretty close). PLEASE pray for us, we are going through a REALLY tough time (mainly financial). We really need it. Thank you :)

Things I'm looking forward to

Okay Marisela... you opened a door. Me and Cherrie have already followed, who else is going to? LOL. I'm not trying to be a copy-cat, but I really wanted to post something, and my life is dreadfully boring and I couldn't think of ANYTHING else to post about, so here it goes ;)

1. Going to Colorado in August for a week or so.
2. Going to my niece's wedding (in Colorado) on 08/08/08. Taylor is going to be a candle lighter and Blake is going to be the ring bearer.
3. Getting family pictures done in Colorado while we are there.
4. Going camping for the FIRST time. (We plan on going camping while in Colorado).
5. Losing weight (I've already started and already feel GREAT!)
6. Getting our tax rebate check! It's taking forever. I REALLY want to pay off some things!
7. Getting our air conditioner in our van fixed (when we get tax check)
8. Fourth of July!!!
9. Taylor's birthday (July 15th)
10. Eating Olathe Sweet Corn at the OSC Festival while we are in Colorado (I forgot about that one) Maybe staying for the Travis Tritt concert.
11. Something happening so I can think of something to write about, hehe ;)

My first baseball game

Last night my family, along with a few church friends (probably about 15-20 altogether) went to a Tulsa Drillers game. I had not ever been to a game in a stadium. All I've ever been to was High School games and Ryan's softball & Taylor's T-Ball games. Oh, and my brother-in-law, Steve's softball games also. But anyway, it was a lot of fun. Taylor and Blake had a very good time. Honestly, we all had a blast! The best part about it was it was FREE. QT (a convenience store) had free tickets sitting on the counters. They played music here and there, and some of it they LOVED was: "We will Rock you", the "Cha Cha Slide", "If you're happy and you know it", and of course, the baseball theme "Take me out to the ballgame". They really got into it. Blake met Katura the other day and has quite a little crush on her. Well she was there and he kept looking at her and when she would look at him and smile, he would cover his eyes, he's so bashful! It was funny to watch him. I really hope that I can go to another one again. I think what made it so fun was being with everyone that was there. The Tulsa Drillers ended up winning, so that made it even better, it was such a great evening! I had a blast!

27

Today is my 27th birthday. Only 3 years left of my 20's :( HEHE. It's crazy, I can VIVIDLY remember my 7th birthday, which was 20 years ago today. My sister, Sue and her family lived down in the bottom of the Black Canyon in Colorado. By the way, there is only ONE house in the bottom of the canyon. Anyway, my birthday party was down there. It was one of my most favorite birthdays, because of where it was. Also, my parents put together a scavenger hunt for my last birthday present, a new bike. That was fun! There are SO many fun memories down in the canyon. My brother-in-law worked for the water users, so that is how they were able to live there. My nephew, Shane was actually born down there (probably the only person to be born there). From my home in Olathe, if you could go straight to the canyon, it would only be about 15 miles. But... You actually had to drive about 40 minutes to get to the bottom of it, and we went almost every day for 2 years. It was so beautiful down there. In the summer, we had a bonfire almost every night. I could go on and on about it, but I'm not going to ;) But, on my 7th birthday, we had the party down there, then we came home. Sue called us almost exactly when we got home and told us that Stephanie (2), my niece, had fallen into their well and was bleeding and hurt. So we went back down there. She ended up being just fine, but it was scary. It's hard to believe that was 20 years ago. Thanks for taking a stroll with me down memory lane :) Have a good day.

This is for Daina

Hey, sorry to post a bulletin directed to one person, but there is no other way to tell her what I would like to tell her. She doesn't have a blog, so I can't leave a comment, but I know she will see this. (Would Lori, Raine or Tiffany tell her to read this....THANKS :)
Daina,
Hey my mom just told me that she got to meet you and just basically couldn't stop going on, and on about how SWEET your whole family was! It touched her SO much that you took time out to go see Aunt Merrell, (her sister). She REALLY liked you all :D There is 2 things that upsets me though: 1: My mom got to meet you before me :( and 2: You got to see the new church before me ;) HEHE, just kiddin'. Did you get to see the old church down the road from the new one? It is TEENY TINY! I can't wait to sit in the new church! I've seen a couple pictures and it looks great from what I can see. I'm so glad you got to go there. I just wish I could have been there too, to meet your family. I hope someday soon though :) I hope you had a wonderful trip :D

My new pets

Every single night, this is what we get to see on our backdoor. They are so CUTE! They help control the bug population that Oklahoma has A LOT of, HEHE. Taylor has caught them a few times, and Blake once or twice. Me..NONE. LOL

Happy birthday to my hubby and my sister!

Today is my sister, Sue's 41st birthday. And also my husband's 29th. I love them both very very much! I think that when Ryan gets home from work, we'll probably go out to eat at his favorite restaurant, Red Lobster. I hope they both have a great day!!!

Ryan and the kids riding the Goldola in Telluride, Colorado. He's such a great dad!!!
Sue and her husband, Steve at their daughter's wedding last year. By the way, Sue MADE that arch right behind her. She makes cabinets on the side, and she is very talented.

Events on Blake's birthday

Yesterday was a CRAZY day. We woke up to a lightning and thunder storm. For all of you who haven't been in an Oklahoma storm, you have NO idea just how POWERFUL and scary they can be. Then right as it was almost time to go to church, we had a hail storm. We had between pea and quarter sized hail. Melissa had golf ball sized hail at her house. It was crazy. Then a few minutes after that, we had a flash flood. The roads looked like rivers. There's one dip on our road that has a water drain and I was driving towards that dip, but when I got to it, I noticed a fire hydrant down in that area, and I could only see the top 6 inches of it. It was like a little pond, so needless to say, I turned around, LOL. It was kind of fun to watch the storm, but it was definitely an intense one!

The flash flood hadn't come quite yet in this picture Proof that we had hail
It is hard to tell in this picture, but the road really did look like a river. You can see in the neighbor's yard, that they had a little mudslide going on.

Then we had Blake's birthday party. We had a nice turnout this year. For the last 2 years in a row, we only had 1 child show up, so the last 2 years had been a BIG let down. So it was really nice to have a good turnout for a change. I made a homemade chocolate cake and homemade ice cream. Everyone seemed to like it and I haven't heard of anyone getting sick, so I think it was okay ;) Blake loved everything that he got, and the kids all had a LOT of fun playing in the kids' bedrooms. And the adults had a nice time visiting. It turned out to be a great day!!!

Blake loves Indiana Jones

I made an Indiana Jones whip. It turned out really cute, but it is already falling apart. So I guess I'll have to go ahead and buy him a better one. But at least I tried to save money, LOL.

Today is Blake's 6th birthday!

I seriously can't believe what I am typing... My baby can't be 6 already! But he is. Blake turned 6 at exactly 12:22 am (Mountain time) hehe. He was due May 20, 2002. But he decided to wait, and wait, and wait until June. Then 22 minutes into June, he finally made his cute little presence into this world. And wow, he was a SCREAMER, LOL. We didn't have to do much, he got all the liquid out of his lungs on his own. He is definitely a Mommy's boy, and I have really enjoyed that, because I know it only lasts a little while. He is growing up to be such a sweet and handsome boy. I couldn't ask for a better son. I love you Blake, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!