Thankful Thursdays

Well, today is mostly about Brookie, and my trip here to OK.

1. I am thankful for a younger sister like Brooke. She is the laughter of our family, and I say that in a good way. She is a beautiful young lady, both inside and out. She is a joy to be around, and very helpful with my children, which she has nicknamed "her babies." I am so proud of her accomplishments with piano, and her determination to be an accompanist for Daddy's choir. I am also proud that she finished cheerleading even though she sometimes didn't want to. She is a special young girl, and I know that the Lord has a special plan for her life.

2. I am thankful that Brooke has given up her room here at the house for the past two weeks so that the kids and I can stay at Mom and Dad's house the whole time we are here in OK.

3. I am thankful that Brooke is a talented pianist and is able to play "Hallelujah to the Lamb" for the rest of our family. Oh yeah, and for the school choir tonight. (Side note: pray that the Lord will calm her nerves while she plays tonight.)

4. I am thankful that the children and I were able to come to OK for Brooke's graduation.

5. I am thankful that graduation is tonight, and that we all have new dresses to wear. We've had a lot of fun shopping on this trip. And, that Daddy has a new suit to wear. More fun shopping!!!

6. And, even though I have had a wonderful time here and I enjoy spending so much time with my family, I am so thankful that we are going home on Saturday. We miss Nathan so much and we are ready to be back home with him soon.

Fun in OK

So, I have been in Oklahoma for a week now. It has been a very interesting week. Let me just start with the flight up here.

It was a night flight, and Nate did not sleep. Well, only 30 minutes or so, so that doesn't count in the grand scheme of a 6+ hour flight. But, surprisingly, I did OK with it. I had an incredibly nice gentleman sitting next to me who was willing to help out, and we somehow made it through the flight to Dallas. Then, on the way to OKC, he slept the entire time. And, needless to say, we slept all day at Mom and Dad's house, until we had to pick up Bryce from school.

It was Bryce's birthday, so we went to Chucke Cheese for dinner, and had a blast. Brianna still talks about how much fun she had, and that she wants to go back. Not anytime soon, as far as I am concerned.

We had a great weekend with Bryce, Britt and Lauren. We just took it easy and visited grandparents and hung out at the house. I bought the kids a blow up swimming pool, which they loved, other than the fact that the water was really cold.

Mom and Dad and Brooke got back Tuesday evening. I was so glad. Nate had started discovering that he could get into everything, and it is nice to have some extra hands to help keep him out of stuff. He really is quite the busy body. If we don't keep the doors shut, he will get into any room or cabinet. And, he loves to climb up onto the kitchen table. And eat the dogs food. And feed the bunny tissue paper. But, he is so adorable.

We had an interesting day today. We intended to go to the mall, but barely even made it there. We had to drop off stuff at the school, visit my Nanny, and visit my Pepa. At my Pepa's house, we found out that my aunt had just been in a car accident, so we hurried out, and I left my purse there. It is hard to shop without your purse. So, Britt had been called to interview for a job just as we were leaving the house, so we took him to his interview. We then went to the mall to pick up my dad's suits, buy him some ties, and then we had to go back and pick up Britt. By that time, we had to use the restroom, so we stopped at ta gas station. We then drove around OKC aimlessly looking for somewhere to eat. We ended up just going back to the McD's by Mom and Dad's house to eat so the kids could play.

Whew!!! And that was just this morning!!! This afternoon I spent with Britt and Brooke just hanging out and shopping.

So, tomorrow is another day. We don't have much planned, but I am sure that whatever we do, it will be an adventure.

Fun Pics

So, here are some fun pics we have taken recently. We bought Nate a lifejacket, so of course we had to take a picture of the kids wearing their life jackets.

This next picture is of the snow that we got a couple of weeks ago. On April 25th, we had a record snowfall in Anchorage. It snowed 15.5 inches in less than 24 hours. That is the highest amount for that day of the year- EVER! And, it is the third highest recorded snowfall in Anchorage- EVER!!! This picture was taken off of our back deck.

OK, these next two pictures are of Thunderbird Falls. Last Saturday evening we needed something to do, so we decided to hike to the Falls. It is pretty close to our home, and it is a pretty easy hike. Only like a mile both ways. You can see that even though we recently had a huge snowfall, most of it has melted off by now.

And, here we are at the Falls. Uncle Josh went with us and took this picture. Notice that Brianna is wrapped up in her Dad's sweatshirt. We forgot her jacket, so Nathan had an extra sweatshirt in the car, and it served as a coat for her quite well. And, she was really cute.

The kids and I are heading off to OK tomorrow to visit family and be there for my younger sister Brooke's high school graduation. We are so excited!!! But, we are really going to miss Dad. But, I think he has big plans to do a lot of fishing while we are gone. We will be posting updates of the trip while we are gone. If you are in OK and want to see us while we are there, you can reach me at my parents home. Hope to see you all soon!

Thankful Thursdays

Some of my friends who blog do this thing called Thankful Thursdays, where they list things that they are thankful for. Well, I am starting this today. Yesterday was mine and Nathan's fourth anniversary. So, my list today is about Nathan.

1. I am thankful for a husband who loves the Lord and desires to lead our family according to His plan for our lives.

2. I am thankful for a husband who made it a point to take the day off of work to spend our anniversary together. (He does this every year if at all possible.)

3. I am thankful that despite everything not going as planned yesterday, Nathan still makes me laugh and he did whatever possible to make it an enjoyable day.

4. I am thankful that Nathan is the most wonderful father to our children. One of the many things that first attracted me to Nathan was his love for children. He is so talented when it comes to communicating, teaching and playing with children. Our children absolutely adore him, and of course we adore our children.

5. I am thankful that Nathan works hard (almost) every day to provide for our family. The (almost) is there because there are those alert days...

6. I am thankful that Nathan balances me. When I am emotional, he keeps me on an even keel. When I am wanting to spend more money than I should, he doesn't let me.

7. He is my best friend. I love him, and his love for me is evident every day.