Friday, May 30, 2008

My Weekend!

On Friday I took my final for my first summer class! Yeah, I feel so relieved to be done with that class! I ended up with a "B" in the class and I really have no idea how that happened. I was just hoping for a "C." Now, I only have two more classes this summer and I am done with college!! Yeah, I just wish it was right now! I went to one of my classes today and I believe that it was the most boring 3 hours of my life!!! It is going to be a REALLY hard next month!

Ok, so I had a great weekend. Probably the best weekend that I have had in Oklahoma in a really long time! A few months ago, Josh and I were watching tv with my sister Shawnee and her now finance, James. We were watching the food network show about small diners and there was one in Oklahoma that was on the show! We were all like "we have to go there." So, we have been planning to go for several months, but it kept getting postponed either from our wedding stuff or Shawnee and James' wedding planning. This weekend we finally made it though! The diner is called Clanton's and it is in Vinita, Oklahoma! Vinita is in northeast Oklahoma between Tulsa and Joplin. It's part of the old Route 66 and actually claim to be the oldest family run cafe on the historic Route 66. The population of Vinita is about 6500, so it's a pretty small town and it is actually the second oldest town in Oklahoma! So, there really isn't a whole lot to do in Vinita. Here are the things that they spotlight on the side of the turnpike for you to see when in Vinita. Ok, so enough of boring facts about Vinita.





We left early Saturday morning. We actually took the turnpike on the way up there. We missed our exit and had to drive about 20 minutes out of the way. During this 20 minutes, James and I (Josh was sleeping as usual) had to listen to Shawnee crying and whining about how hungry she was and that she couldn't believe James could miss the exit, etc. I was really annoyed with her at this point. Luckily, I was able to keep my cool though. Once we got all turned around and made into Vinita, we went straight to Clanton's. They are known for their calf fries, so James and Josh made me and Shawnee try some. Here are some pictures of us eating them:
After trying the calf fries, we all got real food. It was really pretty good. We all got country fried steak. For my sides, I got a salad, baked potato, green beans and a roll. All of this yummy food for only $6.50! We got dessert too, which was awesome. Really, the food was GREAT, especially for diner food. Here are some pictures that we took outside of the now famous Clanton's diner. (Yes, we realized that we were matching before we left the house, but neither of us really felt like changing)

Yeah for sisterly love!

After leaving Clanton's, we drove around the town of Vinita for a little while and visited an antique shop that was really pretty cool. Driving through Vinita didn't take very long, but it was still a pretty cool town. I thought their city hall looked way cool, so I took a picture of it!

On the way back from Vinita, we took Route 66. It was a way fun trip. We stopped several times. The first stop we made was to one of the world's largest McDonald's. It used to be the largest with some 29,000 square feet, but I think they have since built a bigger one. This McDonald's used to be called the Glass House. It is an archway over the interstate and is pretty cool. We stopped and got some ice cream and just walked around.

(Somehow I was able to take this picture with basically no cars underneath, not sure how I got so lucky!)

They had a really cool statue of Will Rogers.

For some odd reason, Shawnee felt like she had to do this pose like every time I took a picture:

This is a view from inside the McDonald's:

Ok, we're almost done...sort of...anyways....Our next stop was at a flea market that was just one the side of the road that had really cool statues outside that made us want to stop. This was the fun part of the trip...we could stop whenever we wanted. We were in no hurry to get anywhere and when we wanted to stop, we did. It was like a mini-vacation in Oklahoma. We walked around the flea market and talked to the owner. It was pretty fun. They had some neat and some not-so-neat things there. Here are some pictures we took. (sorry for the picture overload in this post.) (This was just an old sign that they had laying on the side of the building. I thought it looked pretty cool.)

(Me and the donkey)

(Shawnee and the Donkey)

(James and the Statute of Liberty
We all really wanted this, but none of us had the
ridiculous amount of money they wanted for it.)

The next place we stopped was completely random. We just saw it and had Shawnee jump out. Her middle name is Starr, so we had to take a picture. I'm not even sure what kind of office this was, but it had Shawnee's name it.
(Shawnee and her weird pose again)

Ok, we are almost there. Our last stop on the famous Route 66 was in Catoosa, Oklahoma! This was a planned stop. We had a hard time finding because the directions were a little off and they told us to go to a dead end then to turn around. How weird is that? Since when have you ever been told to go to a dead end just to turn around? Anyways, the last stop was at a giant blue whale. I guess the story goes that a man made this for is wife as an anniversary present. It was way cool. I wish we could have gone swimming in it, but it looks like no one has for years!

(Yeah, Oklahomans can't spell!)


(All four of us on top of the whale)
We had such a fun day! One of my favorite times in Oklahoma! Thanks to Shawnee and James for the great day! We really just had a ton of fun, even in the car! This is a trip that we would recommend to anyone! Thanks again!

Ok, so sorry about the VERY long post and the picture overload, but I couldn't help myself. We had tons of fun and just a great weekend! On Sunday, our primary kids were even really good to end the weekend an a great note! What is your favorite, random trips that you have taken?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend!

Yeah for a good long weekend! I love Memorial Day and Labor Day. They are great holidays that most of the time I forget about but love them when they are here. Josh and I had a GREAT weekend! Sorry for the lack of pictures, we even had our camera with us all weekend, but never managed to get it out.

FRIDAY-I left early and met Josh in Oklahoma City once he was done with the MCAT! He said he thinks he did fairly well on it, so with fingers crossed we are waiting 3-4 weeks to get scores and then hopefully here from more podiatry schools! In OKC, we went to a car dealership. We had gotten a flyer in the mail that said that we had won two prizes; we thought we would just go down there and at least see what they were and maybe look at a few cars. We decided not to get a car, but we did get a $5 gift card to Wal-Mart. That doesn't even pay for the gas we spent to get down there, but oh well. We also won a "free" vacation. Basically we won a two night hotel stay, but I think we even have to pay for part of it. We haven't really looked at the details yet because we were so disappointed that we didn't win the $10,000 cash prize. Oh well. We got back from OKC fairly early, cooked dinner and then went over to my mom's to see all the family. Everyone was already over there and we had a blast. We went to a late movie to see Indiana Jones! We got there about an hour early to get good seats. I thought it was okay, but nothing really really GREAT. After the movie, everyone was completely exhausted and just went home to go to sleep.

SATURDAY-I got to sleep in!!!!!!! It was GREAT. Then we went back down to Oklahoma City. We went to the mall and exchanged some dishes that we had gotten from my sister for our wedding. Not sure if you have heard of it, but we got Fiesta Dinnerware! I love it and love the colors! They are so pretty and will go great in our bright colored kitchen. At first, I told my sister that we just wanted the tangerine (orange) color, so she was great and got us 8 four piece sets of it in tangerine. After much thought and two months, we decided that we wanted to get lots of different colors to go with our kitchen decor better. (When I say "we," you should all know that I really mean I, because Josh said he really doesn't care.) For those who do not know, I am trying to do our kitchen in bright, summery colors with a little bit of a beach theme. So, we went to Macy's in the mall and moved all of their displays around trying to decide how we wanted to do the different colors and which colors to even choose. After about 30 minutes or so we finally decided which colors we want. We now have two of each color including the tangerine. So, we went with the tangerine, the peacock (my favorite), shamrock and sunflower (Josh's favorite). 

All of the colors are just beautiful, it was really hard to choose which ones to go with. We are thinking about buying two more scarlet sets with gift cards at Linens-N-Things. My plan is to put the peacock with the sunflower and the tangerine with the shamrock. They all look really good though, so we will see what happens. Ok, so you are probably tired of reading about my dishes....so, after the mall we went to meet my family at Chicago Pizza, I think that is what it was called. It's new here to Oklahoma, but oh my gosh, it was the best pizza I think I have ever had! It was sooo good. I can't wait to be able to go back. I felt sorry for the employees though because we had like 20-25 people including 5 kids/babies under the age of four. It was fun though. My whole family was there, James' whole family (Shawnee's fiance), and two of Robby's siblings (my bother in law). It was crazy, but lots of fun. We then all headed over to my dad's for ice cream and games. It was sooo much fun! Thanks Dad and Nola for everything!

SUNDAY-What a GREAT day! My niece, Emerson (Emmi), and my nephew, Matthew, were both blessed in church. It was amazing! Their wasn't a dry eye at the end! My nephew, Stirling, had the privilege of joining Josh and mine chaotic primary class! It was actually one of the better Sundays in our primary class, but that is not saying a whole lot. At the end of class, we took them outside to run around for a few minutes before returning to primary for closing exercises. I think they all really enjoyed that. After church, everyone went to my mom's house for lunch/dinner then brownies and ice cream. It was a lot of fun. We talked and played games and just enjoyed being around all of us siblings again. At about 10pm we all went to the institute building to play murder in the dark. The crazy, but awesome bishop of the student ward was still there!!! He was cool though and told us to have fun! We all played. I think that was the most fun I have ever had playing! It was great. We then said bye to Christine, Robby, Stirling and Emerson. I hate saying good bye to them! it makes me want to cry every time. I do a pretty good job at holding it in though.

MONDAY-I slept in til noon!!! It felt sooo good! Josh had gotten up early and went to help David, my step dad, take out some fence. He came back, showered, woke me up, then we went back to my mom's for BBQed chicken! It was delicious! Then had a pretty lazy Memorial Day. We just talked then when home and cleaned a little. Then off to bed we went!
Overall, we had a GREAT weekend and had a really hard time coming back to school and work on Tuesday! How did you guys spend your weekend?

Friday, May 23, 2008

Definitely Blog Worthy

Two very different things happened yesterday that I thought were definitely blog worthy. The first is that Josh and his Parks & Rec. softball team won their first game of the season. They were all really happy! Here are a picture of them after their win:
Josh, he doesn't show much enthusiasm like the others:
Cody & Scott

Ben:









Ryan:

Unfortunately, the guys lost their second game! Oh well, at least they have one win under their belt now!


As for the second thing that happened last night that was definitely blog worthy was this little incident that happened to me:

Ok, so after softball, Josh went straight to McAlester where he is taking the MCAT right this very minute! (way nervous!) So, this was my first night since we have been married to stay by myself. This was definitely not something I was looking forward to especially since there were lots of thunderstorms, but I figured I could handle it for one night. So, I get home pretty late and start to study. I get really tired and decide to just go ahead and go to bed. I finally fall asleep after much tossing and turning. At about 1:37 am, I am awakened by a sharp pain in my upper arm. At first I think it is just my muscle tightening, but the pain continues and is very painful. I jump up and take my shirt off and throw it on the ground. Only a few seconds later, a scorpion crawls out of my shirt! I realize that it had just stung me and begin to freak out tremendously! I began to cry from both the pain and the trauma! I had no idea what to do. I didn't want to call Josh and wake him for he really needed his sleep for the MCAT today! I look at my phone for the time and it is 1:39 am. I think to myself, who the heck is still up right now that I can call. I then call Logan and he answers within one ring! I was a little relieved when he answered. I asked him what I needed to do and he said he wasn't sure but that he was on his way home and would ask Mom when he got there. He was really sweet too! He asked me if I wanted him to come get me. As I was talking to him the scorpion disappeared! I didn't even get to kill it! And it was still in my bedroom somewhere! I thought I saw it go into my piles of dirty clothes on the floor. I know it is definitely laundry time!



Logan calls me back a little while longer. My mom was of course asleep, so he just asked my step dad, David, what I should do. He said just to put ice on it and I would be fine unless I was allergic to them. My thought was "how am I suppose to know if I am allergic to them?" So, I did carefully go out to the kitchen to get some ice. I was VERY careful, because a few years ago, my mom stepped on a scorpion and I didn't need pain in my foot too. So, I get some ice and take some Alieve. I then go back to my bed and search the bed to make sure there wasn't any more in my bed. Once I thought my bed was safe again, I sat on it for about an hour staring at my laundry piles and hoping that the scorpion would come out so I could kill. It never did come out, so I thought I should go to bed for I had a test this morning. Logan texted me a little while later to see if I was ok. (Isn't he so thoughtful?) After a very long time, I finally fell asleep with the closet light on it case I woke up again. I wanted to kill it if I saw it again.

My mom called this morning and told me that this is the time of year that they come out. She also told me to check my bed before I get in it every night. This all was very traumatizing. I have never been stung by a bee or wasp ever before! And then of course I get stung by a SCORPION the only night that Josh isn't home! I am felling better. My arm is still sore though. It isn't as painful though; it just feels like I got a shot today!

Oh here are some pictures of my arm from last night. All you can really see is how red it was. Is was pretty difficult to take the pictures too.



(Please excuse how fat my arm looks)
Oh, I also wanted to say that the whole time I was watching my laundry piles, I was thinking about putting this whole incident on my blog! Isn't it crazy how we do that? Anyways, have a great weekend everyone! Mine starts in only 2 hours and 15 minutes!


Thursday, May 22, 2008

Another Day Gone

It is just me or has this week FLOWN by! It is all most the weekend. Not sure about the rest of you, but I can't wait for my long weekend that even gets to start early! I have a test tomorrow (summer school, YUCK!) then I am only working for a couple of hours. Then I am meeting Josh in Oklahoma City! Tomorrow Josh is taking the MCAT then meeting me in OKC. We are both very nervous. It is just a good thing that he is feeling better than he was earlier this week. We are both hoping and praying for him to do well on it. I do think he will do GREAT. He has been working really hard at studying for it. It has actually been studying pretty much every day for the last couple of weeks! It will be nice when it is all over with and we know where we get into school!
This week at work, I have to admit, I was not very productive. In fact, i have set up my blog and written on it this week at work. Since we do not have internet at our house in the middle of nowhere, work is really the only time I have to do! I have been doing other non-work related things at work too! I have been having a great time chatting with my sisters on facebook while they are at work too! We all really do work at work though too, don't get me wrong. It's been fun though, because we are all so busy doing our own things and even though I live in the same town as them I don't see them very often. I need to start though, because hopefully we will be moving across the country soon and I definitely won't be able to see them much! I love my sisters though! I love my entire family very much and I think it will probably be harder than I think it will be to leave and live so far away from them. Hopefully, we will get into school that is somewhat close, like Phoenix.

Oh another thing that I have been doing at work is looking at wedding pictures. 



It is Memorial Day weekend this weekend!! Yeah!!!!!!! This mean absolutely no work and no school!!! My oldest sister and her family are coming to visit too! It will be a great weekend! We are spending time with my Dad on Saturday. Then on Sunday, my nephew and niece are being blessed in church! Yeah! That will be really neat. On Monday we are spending time with my mom! What are you guys doing on this long weekend?

Monday, May 19, 2008

A Little More about Us

Ok, here we go! This is my first blog ever! I've been wanted to do this for a while and today I finally got bored enough at work that I thought I would go ahead and start today! Josh and I have now been married for a little over two months. Things have been going GREAT! We, or at least I, love being married! (He has yet to know that we have a blog now.) Right now, I am going to school and working. Josh is just working right now and has applied to podiatry school. So far he has two interviews, one in Cleveland and the other at Temple (Phil, PA). The others won't interview until he takes the MCAT, which he takes on this upcoming Friday! We are both very anxious about podiatry school, but very excited!

Josh is never sick, except for right now. He has been sick all weekend and I have been trying to take care of him. I must say, he has been a pretty good patient. He finally went to the doctor today and they just said he has some virus and then gave him some cough syrup. He's been having a fever, coughing, stuffy nose, etc. Poor guy! Well, hopefully I will keep blogging!