A Quick Recap

We have been super busy, and our lives are too boring to post about. Not really. We are just horrible picture takers and have been too busy. In October we had the chance to go down to the Ft. Worth area to visit several haunted houses. Two of our friends from Stillwater joined us and we got to hang out with lots of family. This picture is of us outside of a Cracker Barrel. I don't believe I had ever eaten there before, and boy, had I been missing out!

Jason started another part-time job at the beginning of the school year driving a school bus in the mornings. This has been quite the adventure for him. I appreciate his minimum 11 hour days. In November I also started a part-time job at Wal-Mart. Our jobs keep us busy, but we are excited about the road we are on to becoming debt free. If you come to our house, just don't mind the mess. We are happy to keep up with the dog, laundry, and dishes.

We still have not completely moved into our house, hence no pictures of it (I cannot find the curtain rod brackets that I took down to paint and the living room just does not seem complete without my curtains). We are doing our own thing from Christmas. We are excited. This is the first time in our marriage that we are going on a trip from us. We are going to Branson, Missouri; a 4 1/2 hour drive from here. We hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and we are grateful for our families and our loving Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am a lucky girl

Jason picked me up from a class this evening. He was unable to join me at our class because he was home sick today, but he picked me up with dinner in tow. He took us to the lake for a picnic. He could not find our lantern so he brought a big candle. He then played Tracy Byrd's Keeper of the Stars and we danced under the pavilion. Now this song is special to us. Jason sang this same song to me 6 years, 3 months, and 9 days ago on our reception day. We then ended the night with a stroll by the lake with our puppy in tow. It was a great evening. Thanks honey.

Skinny Me

I finally have the motivation to lose weight. I have lost somewhere between 8 and 10 pounds. I weigh in again this Thursday. I have a lot to lose. Many people have been telling me that they can see my weight loss, and it feels great. They can especially see it in my face. Here is a picture of my skinny face (picture taken October 2007). Hopefully it will look like this sometime in 2012.

Family Reunion in CT

*Lots of words in the beginning and then all pictures.

At the end of July we flew to CT for a family reunion. Our flight out was quite adventurous. We left work a few hours early and headed to the airport. Upon arrival at the airport, the pull handle on Jason's suitcase broke off. We arrived to our gate with plenty of time to spare. We discovered that our flight was running late. Due to the first flight running late, we would miss our connecting flight. We went to the counter and waited for 15 minutes for the agent to help the one person in front of us. I do not get why it takes so long to rearrange things. One would think with 2011 technology, things would move along faster. Anyways, our flight was supposed to get in around 9:20ish and they could get us on a connecting flight with a different airline leaving at 10:00. Sure, no problem.
We land in O'Hare about 9:25. Jason waits for our bags that we had side check due to flying on a jumper plane. I got on ahead so I can find out what gate we need to get to. I call Jason and let him know where to go. I was booking it through the airport. I eventually get the gate when we are supposed to be boarding, but the gate is full. I ask someone what is going on. They say the plane had just arrived. Okay, no problem. Gives us a chance to catch our breath. Our boarding time keeps on getting pushed back and there is no communication from the airline; they just simply push the time back and back. We find out they are waiting on a new crew because the previous crew were maxed out on time. Jason and I decide to eat dinner (because it is after 10 at night). The only thing that is opened is McDonald's. I go to order our food while Jason waits with the bags at a table. I am the only customer there and I have to wait several minutes to order food while employees AND shift manager chit chat. Excuse me if I would like to order some food so that you can have a job. I did not know I was such an inconvenience.
We eventually get our food, but I have to ask for our drinks. Jason ordered a 20 piece chicken nugget and they handed me three things of sauce. I asked for more sauce, and the guy told me it would be $0.59 each. I said, "You only three sauces for a 20 piece?!" His response was simply, "Yes." I was so irked.
After we are done eating we go back to the gate. The new crew eventually arrives. We have been given the okay to board, and as soon as they call for first-class passengers to board, lightening lights up the sky and you can tell it is not going to let up. Now it was just a waiting game. Jason went and got us each a doughnut. At this point, we release we will be stranded for the night. Even if the flight can take off, it will be too late to pick up our rental car in CT. At 12:30, Jason goes to the ticket counter to discuss our options. He discovers that they will not decide until 3:00 AM to for sure cancel the flight. I had told Jason that I would rather have 4 good hours of sleep in a hotel that 5 hours of sleep in the airport. Jason gets us a hotel room and gets us booked on the first flight out in the morning.
We get to the hotel room, get checked in, we ask what time the first shuttle leaves in the morning and we are told 6. This will have to do. Our flight leaves 7:50 so we were hoping to be at the airport before 6, plus we still needed to get our actual tickets because we were just given vouchers since the morning flight was with a different airline. We show up in the lobby of the hotel at 5:55. The front desk clerk (the same one that checked us in just a few hours before) asks us if we are checking out. We say we are there the get on the shuttle. He informs us that the shuttle has already left, "You were not on the list." I am thinking in my head, "We did not know we needed to be on a list; of course we needed the shuttle, why else would we have asked you about it?!" The clerk calls for a taxi to come pick us up on their dollar. I noticed the night before when we checked in, that they have a continental breakfast starting at 6 so I thought, perfect, I can go get something to eat while we wait. For those of you who do not know me too well, I am a big morning eater. I love breakfast. When I was little, I would wake up in the morning, walk into my parents' room and say, "Breakfast Mom."At this point it is 6:15ish and there is NO food out. Eventually I see a worker slowly come out from the back, plug in her cell phone. I am eventually able to grab a piece of toast before the taxi arrives. We get to the airport after 7, then have to wait in a long line to have an agent get us our tickets. In the past, Jason and I are not ones to get to the airport hours before take off, but pushing it that close was a little too much for me.
Long story short (although this is already really long), we eventually make it to Hartford with no more bumps. We did have some trouble with picking up our rental car-shocking, we always do. Maybe that has to do with our marriage starting out with a rental car since Jason's car engine blow on the way to the temple on our wedding day.
While we were in Connecticut, we had a fabulous time seeing people we had not seen in awhile, and Jason and I both meeting family members for the first time. While there we were able to visit Jason's grandfather's (Edward C. Harding) burial site.


At the actual family reunion, we played a big game of croquet. Here is Jason with his "Fart Monster" cup that I believe one of his cousin's made for him. He is a handsome stud though.


Cousin Jill, Sister Jessica, Cousin Caitlyn, and Sister Jennifer

Jennifer with her boyfriend Kenny. They are a fun couple.

Cousin Sarah with boyfriend Dayton, Jason and I, Kenny and Jennifer, Jessica, Jill, and Caitlyn

Jason with his sisters and his mom, Alison

All the cousins minus one on this side.

And my handsome hubby standing next to a sweet car on the day we left.

Thanks Claudia and John for such a wonderful time. And a special thanks to Jason's former stepdad who provided a way for us to even go on this trip.

Guilette's Castle

Jason and I went to Connecticut at the end of July for a family reunion on Jason's side. We were able to visit Guilette's Castle while we were there. William Guilette played the original Sherlock Holmes on stage. He was a trickster in designing his own home. Here is a picture of the outside.



This is one of the walls in the home. Almost all the walls in the home had these woven grass panels on them. It was so beautiful. You can also see the amazing woodwork in this picture.

This is his liquor cabinet (see the wood intricacies again?). He designed it so that it locked. He would welcome his guests, serve them a drink, and invite them to have more while he "stepped out." He would then go hide upstairs and spy on his guests trying to figure out how to open the cabinet.

Many of the doors had amazing workings.

This is a light switch. All of his light switchs were amazing.

This is the ceiling in his living room.

These are just handles on a chest of drawers, but I love them.

This is Jason with his two younger sisters, Jessica and Jennifer.

This is the porch of off the living room.

Here are Jason and I standing under it. Notice I do not have to duck.

We had an amazing time. More pictures to come.

Changes

We have seen a lot of changes in our lives. In March, Jason turned 29, and we celebrated with a bunch of friends at Click's, Oklahoma's No. 1 steakhouse. In April, I wrapped up my last class and officially graduated. I was immediately moved into my new position as a Utilities Accountant. Jason finished an amazing semester in May and decided to get involved in the play "Annie" at our local community theatre. His main role was Drake, the English Butler.

He was also involved in four other smaller roles. Above, he is on FDR's cabinet. Below, he was a Hooverville. He did an amazing job. The show ended at the end of June, and I was very excited to have my husband back, but I was also glad that he was able to enjoy one of his passions.

In May, I celebrated my 26th birthday, then in June we celebrated our 6th anniversay, then, of course, got a puppy and bought a house. We have been very busy and are excited for the next chapter in our lives.

A Roof and a Woof

There has been a lack of posts for a reason. I was waiting to share exciting news. Our lives have been very busy with two new additions to our lives. No, there is not a baby, but we bought a house, and we got a puppy.



In February we had had enough of our apartment. We had only lived there six months and were sick of management and all of the problems we were running into with "Luxury Living." We started looking around and realized how cheap homes were. We realized we could have a mortgage for only $100 more than what we spent on rent and renter's insurance. Long story short, we closed on our house in June through a private sale. We bought our home from a couple that used to be in our ward. We are extremely grateful to have a home to call our own. Our closing was a long process with four different close dates! We are happy to finally be done, but we realize the fun has just begun. I painted the living room before we moved in and Jason completed two projects within the first week.

In the middle of all of this, Jason came home from work one day and said that his co worker's dog was pregnant. He asked if we could get a puppy. I thought about it for a short while (less than a few minutes) and said yes. I think Jason was surprised that I agreed to it so quickly. I am typically a deep thinker when it comes to topics like this and I have to think EVERYTHING out. Jason has wanted a dog for years and has been very patient.

Her name is Olivia and she has grown quite a bit. From her 6 weeks appointment to her 8 week appointment she went from 3 lbs to 10 lbs. She is a Weimer Reiner/Catahoula mix. She is super fun and super cute. We adore her (most of the time). I have never had a puppy before so this is a whole new experience for me.

We are still not completely moved in. We still have lots of boxes to unpack and pictures to hang. Plus, I need to send out "We've Moved" postcards.

All in all we are doing very well and enjoying life.