Olathe

As many of you know, we made a trip to Olathe, KS a couple weeks ago.  The trip was great, and the reason we were there was even greater!  We were meeting/interviewing with a church there for the position of youth ministry intern.  Josh was given this opportunity, it was offered, and we are taking it!  So, what does that mean, you ask?  Well, we get to move to Kansas for the summer!   The elders are being so generous to allow us some extra money in order to rent an apartment while we are there, and Josh will be paid enough for us to pay all of our 'Oklahoma' bills, too.   We will SO miss our friends and family here....but I am determined to make this FUN for our family!!  We will have a pool at the apartment, so that's a plus.  We are also going to get passes to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun in Kansas City.  Plus, there's the KC Zoo, parks, gymnastics, nature centers, science centers, etc.  We will fill up the summer with things to do!  I know we will be very busy with the church there.....VBS, devos, service projects, just to name a few.  These 12 weeks are going to fly by!  

Here are some funny pics from our original trip to Olathe......in the car:  Dylan--wide awake

Dustin and Jodee, sound asleep:

Swimming at the hotel:

Looking forward to an exciting summer!

Jodee's 'Nadia' meet

Jodee competed in a HUGE meet this past weekend, the Nadia Comaneci Invitational.  It was at the Cox Convention Center in OKC, and hosted by the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy.  It was SO exciting!  I was more nervous than she was....go figure!

She did great!  9.0 on Vault, 8.05 on Bars (which I was judging!  It's hard to judge your own child!), 8.05 on Beam, and 8.65 on Floor.  She made a high enough all-around score to be able to compete in Sectionals at the end of March!! Way to go Jodee!

Here she is in front of the big sign inside:

Here is her all-around medal--signed by Nadia Comaneci:

And, her she is with the amazing Nadia:

How cool!! I am so glad she got to be a part of such a fun gymnastics meet.  I don't think the kids understand how famous Bart and Nadia are....but I remember when I was little, writing to her fan club and receiving a postcard with her autograph on it!  I just thought that was neat....little did I know that 20 something years later we would meet her, much less chat with her and Bart, and play with their kid!!  SO FUN!

Where to start...

Okay...I know it's been FOREVER.   But, our lives are a little crazy right now! That's my excuse, at least.  

I thought I'd start with some pictures...no long stories or anything, just some of what we've been up to.

Sledding....even on an old rocking horse:

Eating HUGE icicles:

Proud of 2 icicles stuck together:

More icicles:

An olympic moment...Dustin 'made' his own snowboard out of a skateboard and made it down the hill without falling...here is his awesome reaction:

We prepared for the 100th day of school over our snow days:

And Jodee...she loves gymnastics!  

There are so many more to come.  Stay tuned!

Fun with Uncle Jordan and Aunt Jen

We had a GREAT visit from Josh's brother and his wife a couple weekends ago.  We don't get many visitors up here in Oklahoma, so this was extra special!  I unfortunately had to miss out on half of the weekend because I was working, but I know everyone was having fun!  They even got to go to a Thunder basketball game!  (I don't have a picture of that)

It was chilly, so we (they) all spent a lot of time doing this:

Yep....playing the Wii!  We got Mario Kart--our new fave, and Jordan and Jen brought some other games up for us to play.  It was so much fun!  I'm not a huge video game fan, but the wii is nice because we can all play and get involved.

I thought this next pic was hilarious....they're both engrossed in their computers:

Thanks to Jen, I was introduced to Amazon.com subscribe and save....what a wonderful thing to find!  I love it! Check it out if you haven't already.  You can get anything on there.....free shipping, 15% off their price, shipped to your home as often as you like.  It's all in bulk, so I signed up for the every 6 months time frame, and I won't have to buy dishwasher soap, laundry soap, or toilet paper at Wally world ever again! Woohoo! That right there makes me happy.

This next pic is at the airport....love the picture.  What a fun weekend.  We love you Jordan and Jen!

It made me sad that we couldn't go and watch their airplane take off.  I remember doing that when I was little.  We drove around the airport and watched another plane take off--which was enjoyable, but not the same.

Frosty

We had SO much fun playing in the snow we got in the "BLIZZARD OF 09".  Yes, that's what we're calling it down here in OK.  I know all of my Iowa friends are saying, "Seriously?", but yes, we're just gonna go with it.  A week after the blizzard, the snow was perfect for making a snowman!! (And a snow dog.  And a snow wall).

Here is Dylan trying to peg his daddy with a snowball:

The infamous snow wall......and yes, Jodee is pretending to throw a snowball at me!

I love this picture...he still looks little!  He's posing by the snow dog:  Can you even see the snow dog?  Look closely.....

Goofin' off with Frosty:

You wouldn't believe how long it took to get all 3 kids on the wall and looking at me....ridiculous!! But aren't they cute?

Ice Skating

Over Christmas break, Jodee was begging to go ice skating. It all started with a movie she watched...and she decided she wants to be an ice skater. I thought we better try it out before she jumps to any conclusions, so we went to the local rink here in Edmond and had so much fun! Here are the kids with their ice skates on, ready to go:About 20 feet onto the ice, this happened:Can you see the HUGE bump on her forehead? She totally twisted around (unintentionally) and hit her face/head on the ice. It was awful! I wasn't sure she was going to keep going, but she did--what a strong girl! She actually caught on and skated for another 1 1/2 hours.

Here are Dustin and Jodee--away from the wall!! Dustin never stayed by the wall--he knew what he was doing! We are thinking of letting him try hockey--how cool is that? We will get through baseball season first, then look into it. He was a great skater!
Silly Dylan:

He had so much fun...for about an hour. That was enough for his little feet! But he did really well....I thought he was going to pull me down a couple of times, but we made it!! (Josh and I had a lot of fun too--I laughed SO much! But, never fell down!)

I love this picture:

And this one, too:

Cruisin' the Oklahoma River

Back in December (yes, I know, I'm like a month late) we got to ride a boat on the Oklahoma River for free! Great deal: free hot chocolate and a free ride! We had a nice time. It was a little chilly, but not terrible.Here are the boys being goofy:

I love this picture of Dylan and Josh:"I'm the king of the world!"Our family: