Our Thanksgiving trip

This year for thanksgiving we went to Manteca California to visit Angie's family. This was the first year for a while that we were able to get away from Denver and be with family. It was nice to be able to sit back and relax, watch some football, and go golfing. Spending time with family always reminds you of what is important in life.

Tom Brady

These are the first words Brian said he heard out of my mouth after surgery.  Tom Brady.  Pysco-analyze that as you will.

Oklahoma- A Mini Series- Part 3

Adventures at Woolaroc

We took a trip with Mike and Sara's family to Woolaroc.  Woolaroc is a museum and wild life preserve in Bartlesville.  We picked a good day to go because when we got there the staff told us it was the first time in weeks the buffalo had been seen.  You drive through the wildlife preserve in your car and good thing because some of those buffalo were close enough to touch!

We also saw a few other animals including an emu, deer and a Texas longhorn.

After the wildlife preserve we hit up the theater to watch a video that Brian and Mike said had been the same video that was playing there when they were kids.  I can't really say it was that interesting.  In fact the only part I liked was the dancing Indian.

On our way to the petting zoo we stopped for a few minutes to play at the playground.  The kids really enjoyed that!

I love these faces!  I really wish we could see them more then once a year.
Brian and I also got in on a little of the action.

We tried to get Mike to get a picture on the deer also, but he turned us down and said "the best we were going to get was him leaning up against the wagon wheel"  And that's exactly what we got!

Once we got to the petting zoo all I could think about was how much it stunk in there.  And how I would hate to have the job of sitting in there all day.  But the kids loved it so that's all that matters.

It was a fun day out with family!

Oklahoma- A Mini Series- Part 2

At the end of July we took a vacation to Oklahoma. It was wonderful. I thought that i was Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz. I went on the yellow brick road and found a muffin. I love bluebarry muffins because you can count how many bluebarries are in each one. Sometimes I count how many times I can say the word catfish. I like to eat catfish cause they swim in water and have great personalities. Sometimes they sleep. I love to sleep. Sleeping is fun because you need it to survive. There was a name of a song that talks about I will survive. This was my trip to oklahoma.

Oklahoma- A Mini Series- Part 1

This last week we took our annual trip to Oklahoma.  We started out by taking a day trip to Oklahoma City.  We visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.  I was fascinated by the all the information and I could have stopped to read everything they had at the museum.  But Brian got bored after about an hour so I was rushed through most of it.  It was sad to hear the individual stories of those who were involved.  Most of the people who died, died because of the injuries through the shrapnel and flying glass or falling through the floor several storeys.

Here are the chairs that represent each of the people that died in the bombing.  It is especially heartbreaking to see the little chairs that represent the children that died.

This picture is of Brian with the Survivor Tree.  This tree should have been destroyed in the blast, but it survived.  Hence the name- Survivor Tree!  It was pretty ugly looking after the bombing but has now grown back some of its branches and looks beautiful.

I could go on and on about all of the interesting stuff I learned at the museum but for all 3 of you who read this blog I will refrain from writing a small novel.

Next stop in OKC was Bricktown and the water taxi tour. 

We both really enjoyed the tour as it had alot of interesting information.  Again, will try not to bore you with too much detail and just highlight a few fun facts!

For this mural 70,000 tiles were individually hand painted.  So as you can imagine it took quite a bit of time to complete!

These bronze statues represent the Oklahoma land run.  Once they get all the statues it will be the largest bronze statue collection in the world.  The OKC population went from 0-10,000 over night thanks to this land run.  The man who made these statues mad a tribute to himself by making a replica of himself driving the horse carriage below.  The other people in the 2nd picture on the horses are those of his family. 

Last but not least on our list of things to do in OKC was the segway tour!  As soon as the segways were brought out I was immediately nervous.  I didn't think about it before hand but it looked as if riding segways require balance- something I lack greatly.  It is the reason I don't rollerskate, iceskate and sometimes have trouble walking.  Brian got the hang of it instantly, which just made me feel more retarded during the training session.  As soon as our guide thought I was good enough to start the tour we were on our way.  It was supposed to be a tour of the downtown area but I have to admit I didn't hear much of what he was saying because I was so far behind him and Brian.  The next two hours consisted of the guide yelling back at me "Are you ok back there?"  "Still doing ok?"  "Are you still with us?" "Can you hear me all the way back there?"  Brian had a chance to hear it all but when I asked him after the tour what he learned he couldn't remember anything.  He looked like he was having a blast on the segway weaving and zipping around every which way and he was  so good the guide felt comfortable enough putting him of the faster speed.  He was born to segway!

End of Day 1 in Oklahoma City!

Angie's Easter Plant Redux

For those of you who didn't see Brian's orginal post here is my Easter Plant the day I got it.

Here it is a few short months later.

This is why I should not own plants.  I have never been good with them.  Maybe Brian had a right to be concerned about how much water it was getting.  I am hoping to get a 4th of July plant to try again.  I'm thinking of starting with something low matience that doesn't need a lot of water.  Like a cactus.

Anniversary

Of course we started our anniversary by going to our favorite restaurant Texas Roadhouse.  We always overeat there because we are stuffed before we even get our meals because their rolls are so good.  And this time was no exception.  Here we are pre-stuffed.

 (I have been terrible at taking pictures to document our lives since we have been married.  That is something I have been trying to work on.  So lucky readers you get the pleasure of viewing several boring pictures of us waiting for stuff.  Something for you to look forward to!)

For the past few years I have really wanted to take the Venice on the Cherry Creek tour here in Denver.  This year for our anniversary we finally did it!

It was a little different then I expected because it is basically ran by highschoolers.  They are called River Rangers and they teach elementary school students about the environment during the day and run the Venice on the Creek on Friday and Saturday nights.

Us before we boarded our gondola.  I posed first and then Brian imitated my pose.

We learned lots of interesting things about the history of Denver on the tour.  People first came to settle Denver because they believed there was gold to be mined in the Cherry Creek.  Turns out there wasn't much to be mined- but two settlements had already been made, one on either side of the creek.  Because the two settlements were competing the first newspaper of the area actually made the newspaper under the bridge of the creek as not to upset either settlement and alienate one side.  Eventually the two sides merged and that's when it was named Denver.

Also- to those who have not been to down town Denver, it is set up kind of funny.  Some of the roads run diagonally etc.  Well I found out that is because they made the roads to fun parallel to the creek.  And since the creek doesn't just run in one strait line neither do the roads.

Here are a few random pictures of our ride:

In this picture you can see that the creek ahead is raised.  It is kind of interesting how they get us up to the next level.  They put us in what they call a lock.

Once in the lock they start to pour the water in so it raises the boat up.  This is us in the lock waiting to be raised to the top.
The funniest thing about this experience is how many bystanders stop and stare. While in this lock we gathered an audience on the bridge above.  The gate to get  us out of the lock is really heavy so once the River Ranger got us out he got a standing ovation by the bridge crowd.  Also everyone we passed that were also taking gondola rides felt the need to waive at us as we passed each other.  I guess we are automatically friends.  There was a gondola full of smaller children that our guide actually crashed into as they were waiting to get into the lock and they all wanted to give us high fives.  As we were close enough to touch them we obliged.

Our Guide

Happy 4 years Brian!

Awards we get

There are several types of awards we get throughtout life. Some of the seem to really mean something while others we are stuck looking at ourselves and saying really?? I can think of a couple of awards that I have got over the years. When I was a young one, I got a second place trophy for a baseball team that I was on. It was red and quite tall. I was proud of that one and put it on my shelf. Jeff or Craig must have got jealous since I came home one day and it was on the floor broken. I don't think either of them ever confessed. I also received many soccer trophies, but they didn't seem to mean much. Getting trophies for last place never quite does the job. In 8th grade my photo appeared in the yearbook for being the most talented boy in the school. I was kinda embarrassed since I thought most talented in my mind meant most  dorky. Why couldn't I get the award for most popular or best dressed? Those were the cool awards. I guess my 3 tshirts that I always wore and my two pair of tight jeans disqualified me from the best dressed award and I guess you have to talk to girls more to get most popular. I guess I was a little shy sometimes. I also remember that I got an award for the boy scout pine wood derby race. It wasn't for first place or coolest car. I think it was for the most unique or special car. I guess some awards in life are given to those who make a great accomplishment and some are just given to try to make others feel good.

Groupon

I recently discovered Groupon. I thought it was a pretty cool website until they gave my wife 20 free dollars to spend and I got nothing. They must know that girls say " look at this great deal" and guys say " do you really need that".

5 K from Brians perspective

So how do you know when you are not a good runner. Is it when the mom with the double stroller passes you by( who started 5 minutes after you, or is it when the 60 year old woman passes you. Maybe its when the 10 year old passes you and says come on number 137 and than adds you want to get a good time dont you. Maybe worst of all is when there are 3-5 hunderd people and you don't pass a single one the entire time. Of course that means there were plenty of those who passed us with smiles of their faces. You may ask if this will be my first and last 5 K ever. I guess I will have to ask my wife since she is the one who signed us up for it. Now for the highlight of the day. Everyone knows that you can not let your wife beat you in a running race. It would take alot of the masculinity out of me. This is why I beat her by 1 second exactly.

My first 5K

I hate running.  I always have.  I don't mind doing it if is for another reason like playing dodge ball, but running just for the purpose of running has never been an interest of mine.
So why I decided to run a 5k I don't know.  I had been considering it for the past few months and then I saw a discount to join one on living social.  So I convinced Brian to do it and we signed up.

We arrived about 8:00 this morning which gave us just enough time to get registered and visit the booths they had set up there.  It was a combination 5k/ Stroller roll and kids fun run.  It was to encourage family fitness so they had games and a jump house for the kids to enjoy.  Brian enjoyed the Einstein Bros. Bagel booth which was giving away free samples of blueberry muffins and chocolate chip cookies.

Here we are in our pre-race warm ups:

I didn't think the race would be too difficult- because even though I don't look like it- I actually do exercise regularly.  On the rare occasion I do decide to run at the gym I usually do 4 miles and that is not hard.  I started to get nervous when I was looking up information online and people were talking about training for a 5k.  Is this something I need to train for?!  Because I definitely haven't done that.

I was able to do the first mile without much problems, but by mile 2 I was really starting to feel it.  The race course was up and down hill and on the up hill portions I was really struggling.  My jog was as fast as Brian's walk.  Brian had set 2 goals for me before the race. 1. Not to get passed by any of the 5k stroller rollers (who were starting 5 minutes after the regular 5kers)  and 2.  to beat the guy with no legs.  I am sad to say I did not accomplish either goal.  The first stroller passed me at the beginning of the 2nd mile and I knew it was the beginning of many more strollers passing me by.

Halfway through mile 2 I met a 12 year old boy who encouraged me to pick up my pace because I was being timed.  He also encouraged Brian to actually run since he was walking beside me while I jogged.  Not to be out done by a 12 year old we both picked up our pace a little bit, but he was much faster then us and soon out of sight.

After what felt like forever we finally finished the 3rd mile.  My muscles were sore and my legs were starting to feel like jelly.  Brian really wanted to finish with a better time then me so he took off once we had reached the parking lot where the finish line was.  The whole course had been very well marked but once we reached the parking lot it was confusing about where we should go since they were holding a fair with booths it was kind of unclear.  So I watched Brian walk over to one of the booths and just stand there.  I knew he hadn't crossed the finish line, so I waited for some of the ladies behind me to catch up and followed them as they seemed to know where they were going.  I checked on Brian again and sure enough he was still standing by one of the booths looking around to see where I had gone.  I thought for sure I would beat him since I was only about 30 feet from the finish line.  Just as I was about to cross this person whizzes past me.  Brian had found me just in time.  He finished 1 second ahead of me in the official standings.

After the race they had free sandwiches, pizza and jamba juice.  We helped ourselves to the food while we sat and watched the kids compete in the fun run.

Overall it was a good experience.  I pushed myself to do something I wouldn't typically do, and Brian didn't hate it like he thought he would.  Maybe we will do another 5k in the future- although if I get beat by a man with no legs again I think I will retire from running for good.

TLC

So I am flipping though the channels on TV and could not find anything I really wanted to watch. For some reason a program on TLC caught my attention. I never knew that people could be so weird. One girl sleeps with her hairdryer, another eats comet(the cleaner), and a man lives with life sized doll that he carries around(he has conversations with himself and acts like the doll is talking to him). What kind of world are we living in?

Summer Vacation

Now that it's June our summer vacation to Bartlesville is less then 2 months away and we are starting to look forward to it.  We like visiting with Brian's family because there are so many of them there is always something to do or someone to hang out with.
We especially like playing with the nieces and nephews.  They are all so cute and they always say and do funny things that we laugh about even years later.  I should write down all of these experiences so I don't forget them- these are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

- Klayton running over to me with some crackers, he extends his hand as if he is offering it to me.  I said "oh thank you Klayton!" and reach to grab the cracker.  Instead of handing it to me he shoves it in his mouth and runs away.

- Derek pointing to my stomach and asking if there is a baby in there.  I tell him no.  He then points to my chest and asks if there is a baby in there.  I say no again.  He looks sorely disappointed he was wrong on both accounts.

- Playing with Caty at Grandma's funeral.  I had been playing with her and sitting with her during the funeral and after about 2 hours with her she turns to me and says "who are you?"

- Klayton explaining to Austin that the snapping turtles are bad because they have red eyes.  (I actually have video of this one!)

We are looking forward to many more memories!

Memorial Day

BBQ didn't really go as planned. We thought there was a little bbq at the local park near us. So we packed up all of our food and went over to the park and realized there wasn't one. So we ended up driving to 3 different parks and none of them had one. So we went to Cherry Creek State Park where we had to pay $10 to get in. The only bbq pit open there was at the model airplane flying station. It was very hard to start the fire on the grill because it was really windy, and all of the people flying model airplanes were looking at us weird that we were bbqing there with no airplane.

I had brought hotdogs for Brian and hamburgers for me. I didn't want Brian to touch the raw meat with his hands since we had no way to wash his hands and we would be eating. So I thought he would get over the grill to dump them out of the baggie. No. He decided he would try to toss them out of the baggie from a foot a way. I saw my hamburgers fall to the ground 1 inch in front of the grill. Just splattered on the ground. He tried to salvage some of the meat that hadn't "touched the ground" but the damage had been done. And he ended up touching the raw meat anyway during the salvation process.

We had brought bocce ball to play while we were cooking but since we were at the model airplane grounds we could not play there. So after Brian ate a hotdog and a few Doritos we went to Burger King and then went home.

Man of The House

I knew it was coming. I can tell by the way he looks at me and the whine I hear in his voice when he talks. And then it came "Angie can you come do this for me?"

This particular incident was installing a printer on the computer. As if it is beyond his comprehension to stick the installation disc into the computer, click "run software" click on I agree to the terms and conditions and let the computer do the rest. But for whatever reason sometimes I get left to the responsibilites I think the man of the house should be able to do.

This has been a reoccuring theme since my childhood. Granted, I grew up with no brothers so of course some of the "boy" responsiblities would fall to us girls. But looking back I see that those boy responsiblities only ever fell to me. I have two older sisters and neither of them were asked to mow the lawn and take out the trash like I had to. When I asked my Dad why I was to mow the lawn when my sisters never had to he told me it was because I was the only one he trusted to operate a moterized vehicle. (And yes, that "moterized vehicle" was a push lawn mower.)

Then I thought it must be because of the boy in me. You know, that side of me that hated Barbies, and loved football.

But now I see that it has prepared me to be able to install printer software for my husband. All things work out though. Brian is much better at sweeping then I am. He really knows how to get in the corners and get the crumbs that I can never seem to be able to get. He must have been prepared to marry someone who was sweeping impared.

Modern Day Robin Hood?

The other day I was on Twitter, and ran across this story:

Stafford investigates udderly shocking shoplifting

By David Pierce Published: April 27, 2011

» 20 Comments | Post a Comment

STAFFORD, Va. --

Walmart shoppers in Stafford County saw the sight of their lives Tuesday night—a cow, on all fours, trying to score gallons of milk.

An 18-year-old man dressed up in a cow suit stole 26 gallons of milk around 10:35 p.m. from the Garrisonville Walmart, Stafford County Sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy said.

The man was apparently crawling while he exited the store, trying to emulate cattle, Kennedy said.

Soon afterward, witnesses told Stafford sheriff's deputies that the man was handing out the pilfered milk jugs to passersby outside of the Walmart, Kennedy said.

It was unclear Wednesday how he managed to get all of that milk out of the busy store on

Garrisonville Road

.

Kennedy said that store employees saw the thief “skipping down the sidewalk” in the cow suit before leaving the immediate area.

Stafford County sheriffs said they went to a nearby McDonald’s restaurant for a disturbance call, and the responding officer saw a man — not in a cow suit — there that seemed to match the culprit.

The suspect was taken back to the Walmart, and management confirmed he was the thief of the pasteurized potion.

The cow suit was found in the man’s car, Kennedy said.

Kennedy did not identify the suspect, who was released on a summons to appear in court.

Kennedy admitted the theft was bizarre.

“This is probably one of the most unique efforts of shoplifting I’ve seen,” Kennedy said. “It might’ve been a prank that went wrong, but it isn’t as funny when [the suspect] breaks the law.”

Kennedy said the sheriff's office didn't have surveillance video of the theft, but said it would have been interesting to see.

Sometimes you just have to wonder what goes through people's minds when they decide to do things!

Angie's Easter plant

This year for Easter Angie got a indoor plant. I figured that was better than the dead flowers at Walmart. The one thing that Angie did not realize is that the plant came along with an annoying husband. She did not realize that her husband would be so interested if it got proper sunlight or if it was watered.

The Class Crybaby

For the last 3 years me and Angie have taught a primary class(ages 6-7) at church. This year we decided that we would let the children in our class make their own rules. The children named the normal rules such as listen when the teacher is talking, Raise your hand to talk, and sit in your chair reverently. All seemed to be going well until one of the children looked at another girl in our class and noticed that she was playing with a toy and then he said "no playing with toys in class. The girl playing with the toy started crying and screamed "thats an stupid rule". Than she looked at the boy in the class that had suggested the rule and said "I hate you". Of course we agreed that we thought it was a good rule, which caused the girl in our class to tell us "You are you worst teachers ever". Isn't being a primary teacher great.