Christmas 2016

I really thought this had already been published, but see that it hasn't.  Even though it's really late, I want to publish it as part of my family's online scrapbook - for the memories to be saved for myself and the children to read later on if they want to.

On the first Friday of Christmas Break, we went to Oklahoma City. Our daughter was traveling with the college basketball team to broadcast, so couldn't be with us, but our oldest son met us after his classes, then began his Christmas Break by coming back home with us.  We spent time at Bricktown, which was beautiful all lit up.

We ate at Legacy Grill, formerly "KD's". It had the same menu as KD's, so was still delicious.

We played mini-golf at the new-to-us "Brickopolois".  That is such a fun addition to Bricktown! The weather was perfect!  I lost, unfortunately, but not unexpectedly. :)

After Christmas our family went to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area for a quick trip. Reading and seeing the history of this area was very interesting.

We toured downtown Ft. Worth, stopping for a Starbucks treat.

We toured the stock yards, which was really interesting.

We went to the "Ice" carvings at the Gaylord Texan.  The theme this year was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". It was beautiful, as usual!

It was cold, too! VERY cold!

The work these ice carvers do is just amazing!

We slid down the ice slide.

And toured the Gaylord Atrium.  So pretty.

Like everything in Texas, the Christmas decor was bigger than life size.  It was huge!

Special memories of time with family this Christmas of 2016.  It will most likely be the last Christmas we will be together for this amount of time, just because our oldest will be working full-time next year.  It was bittersweet.  So thankful for these special times together and for the photos we have to remember them.

Thanksgiving 2016

My pictures uploaded backwards, and for some reason I can't get them moved, so I'll start backwards on Thanksgiving week with our family! I also can't get the text to publish right, so sorry about that. It's mostly for my own personal record, so I'll just be confused someday as to why this is!

This picture is the State Semifinals game, which we won! We're headed, once again, to the State Championship!! It's so exciting and brings back lots of great memories from years past. This photo is our son, backup quarterback, who played several minutes at the end of the game. Since we were so much ahead, he was coached to just take a knew for the last few downs. I love this picture of him looking back at the coach, his cousin. :)

This picture below is of the cinnamon rolls our oldest son made for Thanksgiving week. He made the dough for these, as well as the hot roll dough. He did such a great job! They were delicious! This brings back memories of Thanksgivings past where my father-in-law and my husband's grandmother used to make the rolls. What a wonderful family tradition!


Next photo: The younger cousins' table keeps growing and growing! Second cousins and family guests make this photo even more special. We love welcoming new family members into the family :). The newest little family member attending was three months old. It was his first visit to Oklahoma!

Next: The annual pumpkin bash was lots of fun!  There weren't too many that splattered everywhere, but when they do, they are picture-perfect moments that are fun to capture!  One pumpkin was filled with whipped cream and water, making it a surprise splatter!  But at least it smelled better than a rotten pumpkin!

The annual "cousins" picture is always a big group, no matter who is missing or here. There's just a BUNCH of them, no matter what!  And what a blessing that is!

I captured a sweet picture of my husband coloring with a niece and great-nieces and nephews.  Love this one!

And back to the football game...A family picture with our immediate family...the next to last one we will have with this Senior.  So thankful for those memories and for those who came. We had lots of relatives who were able to be there, which was extra-special!

Our youngest son is the official team videographer. He got to be in the press box and wear the special press pass.  He felt pretty important - and was important for his cousin, the head coach! :)

The next picture is our nephew (the head coach), another nephew who plays on the team, our son who plays, and a niece who's a cheerleader.  On the end is our brother-in-law and uncle to these three in the middle...dad to the head coach.  He's the defensive coach.  What a special picture!

And back to Thanksgiving day!  The annual Turkey Trot, in its 10th year.  This nephew and his wife are newlyweds. They "ran" to the finish line dramatically making it seem like they were finishing the tedious run with tears and sweat. Ha ha! Not sure they ever broke a sweat, actually, but boy, did they have fun and make it look like a dramatic ending! Not surprising because he's in the photo/video industry and he knows exactly what it takes to have great photos captured!! :)

Last picture is the group Turkey Trot picture.  A big group in the great weather!

I designed this graphic for t-shirts, thinking it would be a neat family thing.  It didn't quite work out like I wanted it to, but I'm thankful we have them for the memories and traditions it represents.  Sometimes things don't work out like we want it, but for me it was important.  So it matters to me and is special to me. 

I am thankful for God's blessings in my life and in the life of my family.  I am thankful for this tradition and the memories that we have shared together. This is THANKSGIVING.  Thank you, God.

Our Family's Oklahoma State Fair Tradition

This year marked the 22nd year in a row that my husband and I have attended the Oklahoma State Fair since becoming parents.  We had gone many years before becoming parents, as well, so it's a long-time tradition.  This year, with our daughter being a Senior in college and not sure where her future career will take her, it could be the last of our "whole family" Fair trips.  Every time I say something like that, the kids say, "Mom, you always say that!".  Yes, I do, but some day it really will be a "last" for some of them.  That's why it's so special to me!  And to them, as well.

The "Disney on Ice" show ended up being one of our favorites, even though going into it we weren't sure! They did the condensed version of these four movies:  Toy Story 3, Cars, The Little Mermaid, and Frozen.  It was the first time we had seen a show with Frozen, so that was neat!  It was so funny to hear the dads behind us singing along with the songs! Ha ha!  It seems that a lot of people still like that movie!  Our oldest boy slept through most of the first half.  That was funny, too, and reminded me of when my parents went with us and my dad would do the same, except through the entire thing!

We are always excited to see Mickey & Minnie, of course!  It wouldn't be "Disney" if they didn't show up!

 The pumpkin painting contest was so cute this year! These were the Grand Champions of all - pumpkins painted like Dory and Nemo.  So cute!!

 The sun was bright and blinding, but we stopped for the traditional "Centennial Building" picture of the kids.  They're such good sports! I didn't take my good camera, but wish I had now!

The big slide is always our favorite!!  I love getting pictures of them all the way down the thing!  They were all so funny!  

After Bible class and worship on Sunday, we were able to eat together as a family plus a friend.  Since we won't be all together next weekend for our oldest's 22nd birthday, we celebrated at lunch.  So hard to believe she will be 22!!  That makes me feel old! :)  But now she can truly sing Taylor Swift's "Feeling 22" song and it be REALLY REAL!

Such a fun time!  Great memories we will cherish forever!

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving preparations began the Tuesday before Thanksgiving when our oldest son, Zachary, began making homemade bread dough for cinnamon rolls. In a big family tradition that began many years ago by my husband's grandmother, continuing to my husband's dad, it has now passed on to two of my husband's brothers, and now to our son. 

Zachary was honored to get to do half of the cinnamon rolls for the family Thanksgiving!  He's definitely close - if not "on target" - for perfecting them.  One of his cousins told him they were just like "Gramps" would have made them.  What a compliment!  Personally, I hope he keeps practicing :).  Hee hee!

We had a huge group for Thanksgiving Eve singing night at the Tipton church of Christ, followed by yummy finger foods at my mother-in-law's.

There were 40 people there, so it takes a lot of food!  

Plus, we always have leftovers to eat for the next few days for those who prefer the snack food over the regular turkey and dressing....or those who want it all!

The yearly "Turkey Trot" brought out quite a few brave souls to run/walk/or even ride a bicycle.

I always like the pictures seeing the walkers and runners from behind.  I thought about walking this year, but I wouldn't want to give up the pictures of the event!  Plus, someone has to keep time for the runners. :)

Thanksgiving Dinner was wonderful, as usual.  The potatoes, green beans and corn were all garden grown.  And that's a HUGE bowl of mashed potatoes!  The homemade "hot" (that's the 'official' name for them, even if they're not HOT :) ) roll recipe has also been passed on from generation to generation.  Not sure that my father-in-law's can ever be exactly duplicated, but they're still great!

I make a cheesecake every year. This time it was a trial, but turned out really good.  It was a salted caramel/chocolate covered dulce de leche cheesecake.  Sounds fancy....pretty simple.

We had two out of three of our littlest new family members.  We had so much fun with all of the "littles" around!  Seems like my own were the littles not too long ago!

This little girl is the very newest to the family.  She was born November 17th.  She enjoyed her first Thanksgiving!

Liverpool Rummy and 42 are THE games of the season for our family.  Sadly, I only played two games of Liverpool this year, and one of them wasn't a whole game.  I'll have to have my own family play with me to get my "fix" for the year since we won't be around for Christmas for this side of the family.

Thanksgiving afternoon it's time for the traditional "Pumpkin Bash".  This year the pumpkins were rotting early, so they were goopy, stinky, and ready for bashing!

Here's the soon-to-be-married couple posing on the biggest pumpkin! They will be married New Year's Day!  It was C's first time to be at our family Thanksgiving and he won the "Turkey Trot"!

This was the biggest cousin picture at the pumpkins in a long time!  Two cousins and their families were the only ones missing this year!  That's quite an accomplishment in a big family!

I thought this picture was cute of our oldest son. He had just been splattered with pumpkin pulp!  But he didn't seem to mind!

Our nephew got a nice hit on a really ripe one!  The effects are great!

A new tradition in the making, perhaps? Not sure about this one!

You know how I feel about my new "old" pickup????

And that HUGE pumpkin went on top of it!

And then down it went!

It busted right in two! Amazing how heavy those things are when they're mostly hollow inside!

Some ask about cleaning up the field after the pumpkin bash.  You know what? My husband MOWS them!  Yes!  They are cut into tiny, tiny pieces, barely visible from the road at all.  And the birds love it.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with many happy memories with your family and friends.