Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas blog friends! I hope yours was as good as ours. This year was so much fun... the boys were really into opening their presents and playing with all their new loot. They were so cute!

To back up a little, the night before Christmas Eve Payt got sick and was up all night with a tummy ache. He finally threw up around 8:30 am and felt much better. Then that night (Christmas Eve) we went to my mom and dad's house for a family get together- our traditional Christmas Eve chili dinner. My brother and sister and their families were all there, so the boys had a great time playing with their cousins. They were ready to get home, though, and put out milk and cookies for Santa, which they promotly did and went to bed. We didn't hear from them again until 7:15 Christmas morning! When they woke up they were in awe of all the wonderful things Santa left them. We spent the morning opening lots of toys and getting ready to have Nana & Gramps, Uncle Buzz and fam over for lunch. Buzz and his family couldn't stay long after lunch, but my mom and dad did and we played Mexican Train dominoes all afternoon! Then in the evening we went to see the "dancing" Christmas lights in Norman. It was a great day, but I was drained and went to bed as soon as we got home... at 8:30!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and wonderful plans for New Year's!

TAG! I'm It!

Jenny tagged me on her blog, so here I go:

8 TV Shows I watch:

1. C.S.I

2. C.S.I. NY

3. E.R. (do you see an initial theme here?)

4. The Mentalist

5. Private Practice

6. Criminal Minds (probably my fav)

7. Dancing With the Stars

8. The Unit

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Tarahumara's

2. Ted's

3. Saltgrass

4. Outback

5. Musashi

6. Pepe Delgados

7. Pei Wei

8. Cheesecake Factory

8 Things That Happened Today:

1. Made Christmas cookies with my Mom and the boys

2. Ate at Rodney's Pizza in Purcell

3. Slept in til 10 am!!!

4. Went shopping

5. Tried to mail Christmas cards (note the "tried"... sorry your card will be late!)

6. Wrapped Christmas presents for our Angel Tree family

7. Sang Christmas songs with the kids

8. Took presents to the kids' teachers

8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. Mailing my Christmas cards (sorry again)

2. Christmas morning watching the kids open presents

3. Spending time with all my family

4. Time with friends

5. Reading good books

6. Vacations

7. Watching my kids try and succeed at new things

8. OU Football and Basketball games

8 Things I Wish For:

1. World Peace (All I can think of is Miss Congeniality on this question)

2. A different house

3. A swimming pool

4. A boat

5. Health for my friends and family

6. A maid

7. A cook

8. To know what I want to do when I grow up ;)

Phew... I think that's it. Now I tag Michelle (I second Jenny), Jessica (a new baby can't be keeping you busy), Jenny R., and Brooke!

10 Fantastic Years!

Sorry for the blog silence... I've been in a whirlwind for the past month with the 3-Day, holidays, and now, my 10th anniversary trip to Vail with Todd! We spent 4 1/2 wonderful, fun-filled days in Vail. We went shopping in Vail Village and Lionshead, Todd went skiiing while I went to the spa and enjoyed a manicure and pedicure. Todd joined me later and we had a hot stone massage... can I just say "AWESOME!"??? We also got to go snowmobiling for a couple of hours one day, which was sooo much fun! It was bitterly cold that day- the high was 16 degrees in Vail, which is about 8,100 feet above sea level, but we went snowmobiling up the side of a mountain and ended up at 13,000 feet, so it was butt-kickin' cold! I can say that I honestly never imagined myself flying up and down a mountain on a snowmobile going 50mph and taking moguls, but now I have and I would definitely do it again.

We also ate. A lot. There was no shortage of good food where we were at and my sweet husband took the liberty of making reservations two different nights at two different fancy restaurants, where we were served several courses of gourmet food. Yummy!

Another highlight of the trip was getting to meet up with one of our dearest friends, Aaron, who was the best man in our wedding. We had been looking forward to seeing him, his wife and two precious girls, but because of the weather, we were only able to meet up with Aaron near his office just outside of Vail. It was so nice to be with one of the 614 crew again!

Also while we were there, the snow kept falling. Our second day there it snowed 18 inches! Over the course of the next couple of days we got at least 6-8 inches more, which made the drive to the Denver airport this morning a little rough. But I must say, it was absolutely gorgeous!

Our actual anniversary was the 12th, which was the day before we left. Todd gave me the sweetest gift (as if the trip to Vail wasn't enough)- he went to the florist who did all the flowers for our wedding 10 years ago and had her make a replica of my wedding bouquet out of artificial flowers, which look scary real, and put it in a pewter vase he had inscribed with our names, our wedding date, and Our 10th Anniversary. Is he good or what?!?

Here's just a few pics from our trip:

Snow, beautiful snow.

Todd on a break during our snowmobiling adventure.

A view from our hotel.

3-Day Breast Cancer Walk: An Extraordinary Journey

Last week I went to San Diego for a 3-Day, 60 mile Breast Cancer Walk. It was one of the most awe inspiring and awesome things I've ever done in my life. I got to go with 7 other wonderful friends and sisters... people I now share a closeness with that cannot be undone (Jennifer C., Misty H., Kathryn R., Julie R., Carrie F., Chasity V., and Becca R.). We walked as a team to honor the memory of our dear friend, Melinda Evans and to honor Jenny Revlett, our friend who is battling stage IV now. But breast cancer has touched many of us in other ways, too. None more so than Kathryn and Julie, who lost their mom to breast cancer when they were very young. We made shirts that we all wore as a team- a different shirt for each day of the walk. So many people asked us about Melinda and Jenny and stopped to take pictures of our shirts. Of course, I forgot to take pics of the shirts, but I'm sure somebody else has them on their camera!

60 miles is no easy feat. We trained, but no training in Oklahoma can prepare you for the hilly(some may even say "mountainous" ;) terrain of San Diego. The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful. We enjoyed a lot of time together, laughing and crying. Everybody did so well. Jennifer escaped with muscle problems and a bad knee on one leg, Becca with some sore arches, Carrie with general soreness and fatigue (she is 3 months pregnant!!!), but I fared the worst. I visited the medical tent and was told I had peritoneal tendonitis. My entire foot was bruised and swollen (this was on night 2). I toughed it out and finished, though! I had made an appointment with my foot doc for the day after I returned, which turned out to be a wise thing. Below is a picture of me just 2 days after completing my journey. I am now in a boot and shoe and crutches. The tendonitis in my right foot is very bad... so bad doc is afraid I might actually tearit if I walk on it. My left foot, which was bad before I went, also has tendonitis, just not as severe. So, not a lot of fun, but it did get me out of some Thanksgiving preparations! :)


We have sooooo many pictures between all of us, but they are not compiled yet. This and the posts below are just a small sampling.

3-Day Breast Cancer Walk: Day 2 - Day 3

All of our feet after we finished walking 60 miles!

Jennifer and I in the holding area at Petco Park. Glad to be finished walking!

This is one of Julie's twin daughters. Both girls made us signs to cheer us on along the way.

This one says it all. Kathryn and Julie lost their mom when she was only in her 30's. They spent much of their childhood without a mom.

This is my foot at lunch on Day 3. Notice the absence of an ankle because of swelling. Also hard to tell from this picture, but it ws bruised from behind my ankle down the side almost to my toes.

3-Day Breast Cancer Walk: End Day 1 - Day 2

Ouch! My feet began hurting really badly on Day 2. I'm wearing a pain patch and a couple places with some moleskin to avoid some potential blisters.

Pink tent city. This is where we slept while on the 3-Day. Don't be fooled, this is just a very small section of the camp.

Jennifer getting an ice pack for the first time after Day 1 ended. She had a sore leg that turned into a sore knee.

Misty and Carrie at dinner on day 1.

You know, we saw some strange things. This doesn't even begin to top the strangest that we saw, but funny none the less.

3-Day Breast Cancer Walk: Day 1

Chasity and Becca not so much enjoying lunch, so much as eating whatever they put in front of us. And oh yeah, resting tired feet!

Kathryn and Julie trekking up the "mountain."

One of many pit stops along the way.

Hard to tell from this picture, but if you really look you can see a string of people all the way up the coastline to the mountains ahead.

Jennifer and I make a picture stop along the route.

Wish Us Luck!

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to sunny California with Jennifer to see my aunt and uncle in Pasadena before we head down to San Diego where we will walk the Breast Cancer 3-Day, 60 mile walk with Kathryn, Chasity, Carrie, Becca, Misty, and Kathryn's sister Julie. I am so excited! I just want to thank everyone who has encouraged all of us along the way. It makes a big difference, and I think we are all ready to go! I'm not worried about my foot, I feel confident everything will be just fine. So, while we're gone, say a little prayer for safety and know that many of you had a part in helping us in this journey- with prayer, encouragement, and helping us raise $20,000 (we did it!). I can't wait to share stories and pictures when I get back. Until then, enjoy sleeping in your beds... I'll be resting my aching body in a sleeping bag inside a tiny tent. Cheers!

Religion, Three-Year-Old Style

Sometimes it's easy to forget that our children are little sponges, but I often get reminders that they hear and absorb everything, including what they are learning in Bible class. Today in the car, Payt told me that some of his friends don't know God. So, he says that he tells them every day, "Listen to God, friends!" Is that sweet, or what? Then, not two hours later, we are in the car again and Payt starts burping repeatedly. I ask him to stop, to which he replies, "Jesus likes it when I burp." Followed by, "Jesus burps, too. I've heard him." Me: "And when did you hear Jesus burp?" Payt: "In heaven. I was there, and I heard him." Likely story. But how can you get on to the kid when Jesus does it, too? Smart little thing, that Payt.

T Minus 12 Days

The San Diego Breast Cancer 3-Day is officially less than 2 weeks away! Jennifer and I will leave a few days earlier so we can spend a few days in Pasadena with my Aunt... then we're off for the walk we've been training for for the better part of a year now. I've been nervous about doing this because of my foot injury that popped up about a month and a half ago, but I did 10 miles with the team on Saturday (they went 20, but I didn't want to chance making myself worse before the big event) and it went great! I didn't feel tired or achy. The foot hurt some, but I wore my brand new orthotics most of the day today and they seemed to help (insert old lady joke here).

So, in preparation for the 3-Day and to build up some excitement, Jennifer and I went today and actually dyed part of our hair pink. That's right... we DYED it! Are we dedicated, or what? It's actually kind of fun to have pink hair. At least for a little while!

I'm doing this walk for a lot of reasons. To honor the memory of a dear friend, Melinda; to honor my friend Jenny, who is fighting valiantly; to honor those who have already won the fight, like my Aunt Alyson and JoAnn B. But I'm also walking to raise awareness and money to help find a cure. To that end, my 3-Day team of 8 girls (including me) have raised almost $20,000. ALMOST because we are $400 short of that milestone. If you're reading this and you're inclined to, you can help us reach this goal before we go. Simply go to www.the3day.org and click on "Donate." You can type my name in and give online, if you wish. To all of you who have already helped get us where we are, "Thank You." We couldn't do this without you.

He left a Kindergartener...

Tuesday morning I sent my oldest child to school ready to conquer the playground and new reading words. When he cam home, he had voted for President and asked to watch the news. What happened in one short school day??? The entire Kindergarten class at Luke's school held a mock election for President, which John McCain won. I asked Luke who he voted for and he said Barack Obama. I asked him why he voted for Obama. He said, "I just did Mom!" Later I rephrased the question and asked him what he liked about Obama that made him want to vote for him. His answer, "He had a nice shirt." There you have it. He was very adament about watching the election results on the news that night and was disappointed when he had to go to bed. His excitement rubbed off onto Payt, as well. At Payt's school that day he got to vote, too, but only for snacks! :) He did get into the election coverage, though, and both boys were very excited the next morning to find out who won. Wednesday morning Payt refused to go to school because he wanted to stay home and watch the new President on TV. I finally got him to leave by telling him we could listen to CNN radio in the car on the way to school... which we did the entire way! Crazy kids. So little but so big.

Epic Halloween

I don't know about you guys, but Halloween has been not just a day, but an ENTIRE WEEK! It started with the Young Families Party last Friday night, Fall Festival Sunday night, School costume skate night on Monday, trick-or-treating in my small football-rules-over-everything town on Thursday night, Luke trick-or-treating with his class in town during the day today, followed by a class party, followed by trick-or-treating at Nana's work, followed by a visit to Todd's office. Phew. I'm exhausted! I don't know why, but Blogger is no longer posting my pics in the order I upload them, which makes me mad, but here's a few pics (out of sequence):

Luke at his class party today. That's one of his buddies behind him, and yes, that's Payt to the right. He decided to be in Kindergarten for the day.

Luke & Payt in the costumes Nana bought them to play in at her house. This is in front of Nana's work.

Thursday night we invited some friends over to go trick-or-treating with us in our neighborhood. Pictured are Cameran on the far left, Hope, Luke, Whit, Coulson, and Reese. This was when we returned home at the end of the night.

This is what our group looked like Thursday night... always running. All of them. Fast. I never did get any really good pics of them at people's houses because they moved too fast!

A sweet group of trick-or-treaters!

I have to say that we broke records this year with the amount of candy my kids acquired. It's sick. Literally... looking at all that candy makes me a little sick to my stomach. So, if you need a little pick-me-up, let me know and I'll be happy to pass along a sugar high! I love Halloween, but now I'm ready for Thanksgiving! I love, love the Fall!

Fall Festival 2008

Another year, another great Fall Festival at church! Last night Alameda had their annual Fall Festival complete with food, games and trunk-or-treating. The kids had a blast! They got to dress up in their costumes, which was hysterical! Luke went as his Uncle Buzz (a soldier), and Payt went as Jack Cross. Hilarious! Just a little background on the Jack costume. Many of you know that my Dad and Jack taught JROTC together at a local high school for many years- in fact, that is why we moved to OK. Jack is a retired Air Force pilot. He is the one who introduced my family to Alameda, and needless to say, he is a close family friend. So much so that my kids call Jack "Gramps" too. And just to be clear, Jack knew Payt was dressing as him for Halloween- all in good fun! Anyway- here are a couple pics from the night:

Luke, Hope, and Lydia.

Payt and Biker Gramps.

Payt and Kasey.

Too cool Luke.

Payt giving his best Jack Cross imitation.

Happenin' Halloween Party

Tonight was our newly formed Young Families Bible Class' first social function. Thanks to Darin and Jenny L., it was a blast! The highlight (aside from the fun costumes and good food... and oh yeah, no kids!) was definitley the scavenger hunt that took us all over town- including the cemetary! I was dressed as Midori from Guitar Hero and Todd came as Slash. We won the "Coolest Costume" award (thanks, guys!). Fun times, I'm already looking forward to the next class party!

Ladies and Gentlemen, your church office staff (some of us).

Disco Cool Darin and Amy

Michelle and Palin. I mean Heather.

Jamie and Susan...the "Best Overall Costume" award winners.

Brian, Jenny, Me, Todd, Mitzi & Rusty.

I Heart Blurb

A couple weeks ago I was enticed to make a Blurb book after I saw Steve's book he made of his trip to Alaska with my nephews. I am forever behind on my children's scrapbooks, so I decided to do a trial run and make a book of Payt's second year (since I had only gotten to his first birthday in his scrapbook). I LOVE the way it turned out! Here are a few pictures of the final result:

The cover

The back cover

Sooners for Christ Alumni Reunion

This weekend was the first annual Sooners for Christ alumni weekend... and it was fun! Cary M., Ryan F., and myself planned the intergenerational weekend that started Friday night with a dinner, entertainment (thanks, Kevin!), and lots of catching up. Saturday we arrived at the good 'ole Outreach Center bright and early to get ready for a tailgate party, then there was lots of eating, watching football, an awesome devo (great job, Cary), and more talking. It was so much fun to see everyone again!

The Outreach Center was my home-away-from home in college (even though my family lived nearby). I practically lived there and I made the best friends of my life there. So many things in my life have happened as a result of my being there and I wouldn't change it for the world! Oh the stories I could tell...

Thanks to everyone who made the trek, and for those of you who couldn't... start planning now- homecoming weekend next year... this is our new annual event!

Off the Charts!

Last night was our first Kindergarten Parent/Teacher conference. I wasn't sure what I expected to hear. I know he's a smart kid, but I was a little worried because Luke can be pretty shy and doesn't like to talk to adults much. To my surprise, his teacher said he talks to her all the time, and is doing very well in class. In fact, he tested off the charts for phonological awareness and is now in an advanced literacy group with just four other kids. They will be working on much harder words and long vowels, etc. She also tested him on the 1st Grade reading list and he could read almost every single word, so she said she would like to test him on the 2nd Grade list now. I'm so proud!!! He likes to participate in class and has a lot of self confidence. We still need to work on making the handwriting a little less shaky, but he's doing great- writing sentences and everything! Fun times (for us, anyway)!

I Wish I Were OCD...

Because then my house might be clean all the time. Or at least half the time. Why can't I ever keep up? And then, once I've let it go, what's the point in cleaning now? Sigh.

*Editor's note: I know that my title technically reads, "I Wish I Were Obsessive Compulsive Disorder," which clearly doesn't make sense, but the title, "I Wish I Were OC" just didn't sound right. What's a person to do?

More RFC Pics

Blogger stinks sometimes. I couldn't put all these pics in one post, so read the second post on the page, then come back to this! :)

Kyle, Jennifer, Coulson, and Kathryn at the starting line.
The Evans clan (most of them, anyway). Thanks for letting us have a Team Evans every year. We love you guys.
The happy family... and Brian trying to flee the scene.
Two crazy boys and their daddy.
Chasity, Brennen, Abby, and Marcus after the long walk.

Thanks everyone!