Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew! Brent's big test is over! I'm hoping I'll get to see him a lot more now that he's done with boards as well as two of his classes.

We had a great Thanksgiving with our dental/ward friends. And the kids got to enjoy Drew's early Christmas present with him -- a trampoline!

I've been spending some time with my new toy (Canon Rebel), and I'm loving it! It's also an early Christmas. I've still got a long ways to go figuring out this thing and learning how to use it best. But here's a picture I took yesterday of Drew (and tweaked in Photoshop, another thing I have a lot to learn about -- if you know of any good books on Photoshop for photographers, let me know!)

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and we can't wait to see all you Utah/Las Vegas people in a few weeks! :)

Here comes the big test...

This semester has been crazy, and Brent has been working hard! He's had a lot of tests lately, but he's already finished two of his classes. But it's time for the big one: He takes his first boards on Wednesday. If you wouldn't mind sending prayers/happy thoughts/spare brain cells our way, we would sure appreciate it! Thanks, friends and family! We sure miss all of you!

Writing and picture taking and living...

November is National Novel Writing Month (see explanation on my writing blog, link at bottom of list at the left). I've been participating (the goal is to write a 50,000-word novel by the end of the month). It didn't happen last week, so I think I may have put that goal out of reach for the end of the month, but it's been a great experience. I'll try to post some of my project -- check my other blog if you want to read a chapter!

PS- Tomorrow is going to be one of the best days ever!!! UPS will be bringing me my very own Canon Rebel XSi -- and I'm so excited! I love photography, and now I'll have a good camera for it. WOOHOO! Merry early Christmas to me!

Twick-or-tweet!

We had a GREAT Halloween! We got to start things off on Friday at our ward Halloween party. It was a blast, and I didn't even spill chili on my white costume!


I took Drew trick-or-treating with my friends Keri and Danielle and their girls. I just love Drew in his little Jedi get-up. :)

Here's Drew and all the girls in the customary pre-trick-or-treat pics.

Drew and Ady now have this drill down: Knock on the door, several times, say the magic words and get candy!

Walking up the street in our neighborhood... We had absolutely gorgeous weather!

Our neighbor up the street had an awesome fall display on her porch...

Then we headed down to Norman for the big party! We were officially the "Star Wars" family this year. I think everyone kept calling us that because they didn't know who I was supposed to be (fyi: Padme Amidala, NOT Princess Leia).

We had so much fun -- eating and singing and laughing all night long! Well, maybe not all night; most of us have kids...

Dave and Jordan took the talent prize for best karaoke! Jordan's so dreamy... Ahhh! :) I think this is my favorite pic from the party!

We even got Brent to sing a few, despite his swearing he wouldn't before we went to the party. So much fun!

Once again, so grateful for the friends we have out here! Thanks guys! You're the best! Now, on to finishing off Drew's candy... Thank goodness Brent will get to clean my teeth again in a few weeks. Perfect timing!

STRIKE! Try again...

October is lots of fun for us -- getting ready for Halloween and cheering for our teams in the race for the World Series.

I've been working on costumes all month. Drew's costume from last year has been refitted and he'll be a little Jedi. He loved trying on his robe -- he just wanted to run around the house in it.

Brent will don his Jedi garb again, and I'm almost done with my Padme Amidala (Episode II battle) costume.

We're watching Game 6 with Yankees (Brent's team) vs. Angels (my team). Drew wanted to get in on the action, so yes, we played ball in the house.

But how many 2 year olds do you know who can hit the ball by themselves? Drew's a natural! Look at that form -- elbows just right and hands above the barrel! We just need to work on the stance...

We also got to enjoy the crisp fall weather. On Friday, we went to Chester's Party Barn. We had to bundle up, but it was a blast roasting hot dogs by the fire, seeing animals up close in the petting zoo, taking a hay ride and wandering through a corn maze.

We got there right at sunset. It was really cool looking out over the little pond, with campfires all over. It felt like the perfect October night.


Happy Haunting this week!

Uncle Mitch and Aunt Julie

There hasn't been much going on in our lives, thus the lack of posts. Brent has been very busy with school, Drew is speaking like crazy and I'm working on my book and billions of craft projects.


But we were lucky to get a visit from my brother- and sister-in-law a few weeks ago. We took Mitch and Julie downtown to visit Bricktown and enjoyed hanging out with them so much!

We walked all over downtown; we ate at Earl's, which has some great food, and visited Myriad Gardens.

We found this little guy at Myriad Gardens on the sidewalk. He was just too cute, so we decided to take him home. Drew's friend Ady named him Buck. Unfortunately, Buck the turtle would have required much more room and care than we anticipated, so he went back to the wild after Mitch and Julie left. Plus, he wasn't eating and I was getting worried about him. We sent him off to live in Lake Hefner, which he seemed very happy to swim in. He took off like a shot -- even against the current -- as soon as we put him in the water. That made me feel better since I was worried he would be ok.

Here's Ady with Buck. He was so small he fit in the palm of her little hands.

We also visited the Oklahoma City Memorial from the federal building bombing in 1995. There are two walls on both sides of a reflection pool, as well as an area to the south of the pool with a chair in memorium of each person who died that day. It was very powerful to see. This is a picture Julie took of Mitch and Brent looking out at the reflection pool.

Julie let me borrow her camera to take this picture of the tree and Drew reflected in the pool.

Drew was happy to get out of the stroller and was excited there was water there. But the energy didn't last long...

He was out before we got to the car. :)

Drew loved having Mitch and Julie -- and their puppy -- here for a visit. He wanted to hang out with Mitch constantly, especially when he had the laptop out. He couldn't even wait for clothes after his bath to get back to his Uncle Mitch. :)

Mitch and Julie came to see us because Mitch's team (Durham Bulls) made it to the Triple A championship, which has been played in OKC for a few years. We got to go to the game and see Mitch pitch in the final inning. His team won the championship after 11 innings and lots of nail-biting.

Drew and Julie in front of AT&T Bricktown by the Johnny Bench statue before we went into the game.

Drew and the Durham mascot, Wool E. Bull.

All of us at the game just before Mitch got called in.

We got to go down on the field after the game and snap a few pictures.

Thanks so much for staying with us! We had a blast!

Not so newlyweds...

Brent and I have officially reached the seven-year mark today. We were married Aug. 2, 2002, in Bountiful. And sorry, you don't get any wedding pictures. We were married so long ago, apparently, that I don't have any digital copies of our wedding pictures, only prints. Nor do I have a scanner. (I know; prehistoric, huh?) This picture is from a family trip when we took my father-in-law to a Bees' game; we had a water fight at my brother- and sister-in-law's house in Lehi.

Live has changed a lot for us, especially with the addition of our little bug, Drew. Our wonderful friends Zack and Keri took Drew for us yesterday and we got to go on a rare date to see a movie and have dinner without a child so loud he forces other families to move tables (true story). As Brent said, we've now been married longer than half of Americans, which I don't know is true. What is true is that we have been married longer than most of our friends, but we have less kids so I figure that evens it out. :) I couldn't ask for anyone sweeter who makes me laugh everyday as we grow (increasingly) older together...

Happy Anniversary babe. :)

Ahhhhh... vacation!

We are very fortunate that Brent gets the summer off from dental school, so we made the most of it with a month-long trip visiting friends and family.

Our first stop was to Denver to visit my friends Ryan and Laura; we were only able to stay for dinner, but it was so fun to see them! The next place was Laramie, Wyoming, where we stayed with friends Steve and Cass and their little girl, Taidyn.

Steve and Cass showed us a great time! We enjoyed the considerably cooler weather and went to the park for a community event. Drew got free snow cones and loved it!

Steve and Cass took us to a great little Mexican restaurant, and Brent had to cowboy up -- they brought him a 5 pound burrito! Amazingly, he finished it.

We spent a couple of weeks in Brigham City with my family. My mom took us to a children's museum where Drew got to play with musical instruments, blocks and trains.

We got to spend the 4th of July with my family, which was so much fun. We got to play games and enjoy a parade, then watch the fireworks at Pioneer Park. Drew didn't like them much.

Drew and Grandma...

Drew throwing at the milk canister toss...

Look at this face! This is "the face"...

Me and Brent at the fireworks...

We got to spend some time with my friends from high school and college. My friends Aimee and Kym brought their kids and we had a little zoo at Elisha's...

The great thing about Grandpa's house in July -- cherries right off the tree...

We also got down to Vegas during our trip to see our friends. Drew had to warm up a bit to the splash pad at the Town Square mall, but he really enjoyed it when he did...

We got to finish up with a week in Cedar City and some time in Albuquerque with my sister-in-law Angie. We had a great trip, and we're so glad we got to see most of our friends and family. Thanks for all the memories!

Home, sweet home...

We're finally in! We're all moved (but not settled) into our first house! We feel so blessed. Drew is loving all the space to run in, plus the closet of toys in his room and the fact that he can turn on all our lights. Here are some pictures. :)

We're moving!

Woohoo! This has been one of the longest weeks of my life, but it's official -- we're are soon-to-be proud owners of a home! We're signing the papers tomorrow afternoon. I promise pictures will follow. :)

Hairstyle by mommy...

Uh oh! It's time for a haircut -- and I decided to try it myself. I want to learn to cut his hair so we can do it at home, plus my hairstylist is in the middle of a move. I had her cut it for the first time, so at least his first haircut was good. :)

Definitely a learning experience, but that's why I'm doing it now when he doesn't care how he looks... It got too short, especially in the front, but not bad for my first haircut ever!

We got hair everywhere! He kept wiggling because it was itchy.

Ok, who's next? :)