Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving is one of my favoirte holidays, the reflection spent on all of the blessings God has sent our way really fills my heart with love, pride, and above all gratitude!  He is so good to us!  I'm also so very thankful that we get to spend this holiday with Andrew each year!  His presence adds so much more to the holiday cheer. :)

 Someone wasn't too excited about his Daddy swinging him "too high"!

 We love our Willie!

 Carrie enjoying her red swing!

 Drews 2, 3, and 4!



And in traditional fashion we ate ourselves into a wonderful Thanksgiving coma!

 Told ya, coma! 

Next up Andrew's Birthday Party! 



Better Than We Deserve

So lately I have been working my tail off at work!  My boss was recently promoted and the supervisor of my unit left for an opportunity at another chemical plant.  So with the help of the engineer in my department we have been running the show all by ourselves.  I'm not going to lie it's been pretty tough at times but man have I learned a lot.  Long story short, all of that hard work paid off because while we were in Philly management called to offer me the Superintendent position (my boss' old job) over my entire department!  Needless to say I was exstatic and I wish I could have had a picture of Drew's face when I hung up the phone and told him.  It was the proudest expression I've ever seen on his face, which in turn makes me so grateful that he stands behind me and supports my growing career.  Before we left for Philly I had the feeling that I had a pretty good shot at the supervisor position but superintendent is something I saw as a career goal at least five years out.  As the old cliche goes, being in the right place at the right time is half the battle.  And now Drew is convinced he's going to be a stay at home Daddy...we'll see about that!

Drew has also started building our dear friends, Matt and Brittnay's, home in the town where we all grew up Watson.  We were pretty bummed when they moved out of our neighborhood last year.  While Drew was working on their lot he noticed there was a house down the road a little ways that had burned down.  Matt who is a realtor took to finding out what the story was on it...and turns out the owners were looking to sell it.  Another long story short Drew and I signed a purchase agreement on the five acres down the road from Matt and Britt's!  It's beautiful with an acre pond that is full of bass for my Andrew to fish in, right in our back yard!  I can't wait for him to see it!  We're keeping our fingers crossed that it all works out!  Friday after work we flew over the property to get an areial view of it.

And on top of all of that Drew and I leave for Hawaii in 27 days!! Does life get any better?!

God has once again truly blessed our family this year, we have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Season...as Dave Ramsey says, "We're doing better than we deserve!"

At all times and for everything give thanks to God!

Ephesians 5:20

A Long Weekend in the Country

Last week we went to visit my parents on their farm in Oklahoma.  We had a wonderful time, doing the things I loved to do as a kid on our farm.  Andrew did not want to leave and is already counting down the days until he sees Maw T and Paw Paw Larry again.  After our first afternoon with Mom and Dad, Andrew told his Daddy, "They are so nice to us, I'm so glad they are my Maw Maw and Paw Paw."  It made my Mom's week that Andrew didn't want to leave.  Grandparents are so important and as someone whose grandparents are all in heaven I'm so thankful that Andrew has so many sets of grandparents who love and adore him and will be there for him no matter what.

 My boys ready to fly!

 Jax with his "Mutt Muffs" on for hearing protection.

 Our pilot!

 10,000 ft up, amazing!

 About an hour into our flight Andrew was out like a light.

Flying turned a 10 hour drive into 3 hour direct trip!  I can't say enough how proud of Drew I am that he put forth the time and effort to become a pilot! Not only is flying with him an amazing experience for me, but as Andrew gets older I know how much he will enjoy flying with his Dad.  Not to mention how much easier it is on us to travel with a 7 year old and a terrior! :)  

Big Sky.  Something I definitely miss.

Mom picked up this cute set of siblings on Thursday.  Misty is the cat on top, Dad named her because she's a "misty gray" color.  Andrew named the bottom cat Loco, "because he's colored all crazy."  I love that kid, Drew nicknamed Loco, Gremlin.  Mom thinks he's so ugly he's cute! 

Digging potatoes for supper.

Peaches, potatoes, tomatos, onions, okra, banana peppers, cucumbers, squash, and zucchini all fresh from some fertile Oklahoma red dirt. 

My folks have a picnic table that we have all carved our names into and Andrew got to add his name to the bunch!

I love the he write "the 4th" instead of IV.  Such a rebel, lol!

 

Yum, ribeye kabobs made with all of our freshly picked veggies.

We went rolling down a dirt road to some long times friends' place to watch some fire works.  Andrew was so excited to ride in the back of a truck on the road.  I loved all of his, "are we really going to do this" faces he made over the weekend.  There's nothing like the face of a kid doing a doing something for the first time.

Sunday morning, ready for church at Countryside Baptist.

So blessed and so loved!

A little Sunday afternoon slippin' and slidin'.

So Andrew isn't the greatest slipper or slider.

A little demo from the Do-Dah.

A little better I guess...

Swimming at my sister's house.  Andrew loved him some Jacob.

The Daddy Laucher

Helping Jacob feed his heifer, TNT.

Meanwhile Emily worked on her beautification techniques.

Monday we headed into OKC and decided to hit up a stop on the Diner's Dives and Drive Ins list.  We try to stop at, at least one hole in the wall place on Guy's list where ever we go and so far we have yet to be disappointed.  We decided on Ingrid's Kitchen which boasted delicious German food, and it was exactly that!

Andrew ordered a balogne sandwhich with mustard.  We weren't sure how he was going to like German mustard so we just decided to let things play out and he loved it!  My corn

Chocolate eclaire.

Our next stop was the Science Museum! Andrew had a blast and we saw a movie in the planetarium all about tornadoes and storm chasers.

On the way back to Mom and Dad's we took historic Route 66 and made a pit stop at Pops.  Pops has every type of soda pop you can imagine! 

Monday afternoon while Dad, Andrew, and I were out feeding the cows.  Dad noticed one cow was way off by herself so we eased up on her and she had just had her first baby cow!  Dad's had her for a couple of years but this was her first time to have a calf.  He was pretty please with ole #23.

Mom and Dad's stray Lab, Sable.

Helping Maw T fill her bird feeders.

My Mom's greenthumb is pretty fabulous, I'm glad she gave some of those growing powers to me!

Drew helping Dad hook up the bush-hog.

The Garden.

Andrew wanted to ride with Paw Paw on the tractor.

Pleased as punch!

And our last night in OK we headed into Stillwater for some ribs.  Andrew's new proclaimed favorite food.

We had a wonderful time.  My Mom is the greatest hostess I know and she goes above and beyond making us feel at home in her home.  And my Dad, well he's my Dad and I'm his Daddy's girl and I always will be. 

As the days pass, as I learn more of life's lessons the more I realize how important my parents and how they raised me have been.  I can't thank them enough for teaching me faith in God, how to love, how to share, how to be responsible, and how to be independent as a woman.  There are so many little things they taught me that I want to pass on to Andrew and to my own children, that sometimes it overwhelms me, but I know that as each new situation arises the things they taught me will come to mind and I will be able to pass a little bit of my parents on. 

Love you Mom and Dad!