I had a great birthday this year and felt so loved by all my family! Before we left Kansas City, Katie and Jeff took us out to eat a a fun new Brazilian restaurant (it was a lot like Tucanos) in Kansas City. It was delicious and I ate WAY too much!
On my birthday, Logan and my family surprised me with Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop) and a second monitor to use it on! I couldn't be more happy! It was also really awesome to get a gift card to Banana Republic (I'm kinda addicted).
Cynthia put together a package full of little things that I love, like halvah. Yum! It was also cute that she tried to find some Texas things for our upcoming move. The little star magnets are adorable!
After presents, we headed to Oklahoma City, got some yummy lobster at Red Lobster and saw a movie and even had time to go to the outlet mall (because I had to use my gift card, of course!).
Logan pretty much spoiled me all day and it was a ton of fun :) Actually, to be honest we pretty much celebrated my birthday all month long. When ever I wanted something or we were making a decision, Logan would be like, "ok, it is your birth month". I love celebrating birth months!
For my cake, I made a blueberry cheesecake with a pecan shortbread crust and homemade whipped topping (all homemade and all delicious!). It was amazing!
I can't wait until Logan's birthday so I can return the favor!
Our closest family this year was Katie and Jeff, so we headed up to Kansas City to celebrate Thanksgiving with them this year!
On the way up, Logan said he wanted to have a "thing" to be in charge of at Thanksgiving that he could do every year, and you know, be "his thing". The next day when we got out the really cold and wet Turkey, Katie and me knew exactly what Logan could do to help!
We decided that he could have the Turkey be his thing and that would grant him the privilege of sticking his hand in the nasty turkey to pull out the neck and stuff and he could be the one to wash, dry and dress an extremely cold Turkey.
Well, I think he enjoyed it more then I thought he would and he was pretty proud of the great Turkey that resulted from it. Good job Logs! You really can do that job every year!
Logan and his Turkey
Sister cooking in the kitchen
Jeff carving the Turkey
We had everything you would ever want for a Thanksgiving Dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of everything because once it is all done, there really is no time to waste before eating it up! Dinner was great, but there is always room for dessert!
I did get a good picture of the dessert!!! We had pumpkin roll, pumpkin pie, magic chocolate pie and a new one that Katie and me made up that we decided to call a caramel pie!
A piece of each pie to go along with my whipped cream!
We had a great few days with Katie and Jeff. They are so much fun to hang out with. Before leaving, they wanted to celebrate my birthday with me that was in a few days, so they took us out to a great new Brazilian restaurant.
Before dinner, we stopped by Zona Rosa to take pictures in front of the giant Christmas tree. It is a good thing that we did that before dinner because afterwards, I was way too full to stand!
After work today, Logan and I drove out to a free place to practice target shooting. It has been a while since we shot the gun and I know that Logan was happy to get out and do something fun.
The range was out at a wildlife refuge about a half hour away. When we found it, it was pretty obvious because of all the debris. We brought our own homemade targets that I was pretty proud of coming up with. I taped a popsicle stick to each paper plate and them some got spacial images. My favorite was the zombie.
Here are the Targets set up. We both took turns shooting and reloading. We are both pretty good shots.
Here my good looking man is reloading the clip. He loves his side holster. Good thing Oklahoma is an open carry State. When we were pretty much done with the targets Logan decided to shoot all the Popsicle sticks holding them up. I was impressed he hit them all!
I was very excited to vote this year. It is the second time I have been able to. I was really sad that I had to mail in my ballot because that meant I wouldn't get one of the stickers that say "I Voted". Then, a few days before voting day, I got a letter in the mail and my mom had sent me one to wear! She had picked up an extra one when she went to vote and made sure to get it to me! I love her so much!
Here I am wearing my "I Voted" sticker and showing off my mail-in ballot.
We had a pretty good Halloween this year. We carved our pumpkin to look like Jack the Pumpkin King. I think it turned out pretty well!
Here he is all lit up!
I though that we would go to a Halloween party but I ended up going to the church to help out with the Trunk-or-Treat that the Young Women were doing some of the games for.
Logan got the assignment of passing out candy at home. Apparently the base is a really popular place for parents to take their kids so he was pretty busy. I was also really proud that he wore his Robin Hood outfit that I came up for him. He said all the kids thought he looked great!
Doesn't he look so cool! I think he wished his bow was real and not just a branch I tied yarn to.
After the Trunk-or-Treat, I came home and we tried to watch some scary movies (the only time we do that all year) but they ended up actually being more boring than scary, so we had no problems falling asleep that night.
At the beginning of October, Logan had a long weekend off and was able to take off the rest of the days of that week so we went on a little trip! The first one Logan has been able to take all year! It was obviously much needed and we had a lot of fun!
After getting back, Logan kept asking me if I had updated the blog with our trip but I have been busy with my new business so I hadn't. The next time he asked I told him I still had not written it but he was welcome to write it if he wanted. I was shocked that Logan said he would! So you are in for a big treat! Here is what Logan had to say about our trip!
Friday-
After a long week of work, we set off on our trip to Albuquerque. First stop was 30 minutes south. Braums is an addiction. Anna got her vanilla frozen yogurt cone and I got my Reese's mix. 10 hours later, and about half way through the da Vinci Code on CD, we arrived in Albuquerque, NM.
Saturday-
We started off the day at 5:30am so we could get down to the balloon fiesta. After standing in line for about an hour to get bused over to the fields, the mass ascension was cancelled due to high winds. So we went home and took a nap before watching the morning session of general conference. After the nap, we decided to check out the Albuquerque gun show. I found a leg holster for my gun for a great price too!
Sunday-
We left for the cabin after the morning session of conference on Sunday. It was a 3 and a half hour drive through northern New Mexico and southern Colorado to get to beautiful cabin. After unloading and getting set up, we got to the most important part of the day, the fire. We ended up using a fire log the first night but they just aren't the same as building your own fire, and they make s'mores taste funky too.
Monday-
Monday morning I got up early to go on a morning hike. The hike went a little longer than I had intended. I intended it to be a one or two mile hike, but as I went, I just kept going, until I hiked all the way around the lake. 22 miles of shoreline normally, but because there had been a very dry summer the lake had shrunk. While I was hiking I found bear, cougar and even wolf prints in the dried mud. After I got back, we went into Durango to go get our fishing licenses and to go shopping. When we got to the department of fish and wildlife we realized that it was closed for Columbus day, so we ate lunch on the Animas river and checked out the fish hatchery that was right next to it. They were raising rainbow trout.
We stopped by the gas station because the tire pressure light was on. We ended up just needing to get air into the spare, but that ended up saving us later in the trip. After getting that done, we went and got Anna a new Durango hoody and some candy at the local candy store.
Tuesday-
We got up bright and early to get going on our hike up Vallecito Creek. It was cold but it would warm up as we got going. The creek was beautiful, and the trail wasn't too steep.
We hiked until we found a pool that had a few fish in it. We got to fishing pretty quick, and not too long after Anna caught a fish. It was only 6 inches but it was still fun.
By the time we took off, we had caught three fish in all, Anna 2 and Logan 1.
When we got back we headed out to drive up middle mountain, it's tradition. The drive is great and beautiful. We get to see the mountains and the changing leaves.
We got kinda light headed as we started getting higher, nearly 13,000 ft at the top. Having driven to the meadow for a snack we headed back.
On the way down the mountain I felt like the car was listing to the right, so I stopped to take a look. We got the car stopped just in time to watch the last of the air in the passenger side tire whistle out. It didn't end up being too big a hassle and we were back on the road within 10 minutes. We really lucked out that we went ahead and filled the spare tire the day before, otherwise, we would have been walking back to town to get help... No cell reception in the mountains.
With the spare on we drive over to see the trail head for my next hike, Los Pinos Creek. We wrapped up the day by going fishing on the lake, and caught nothing. But we still had fun.
Wednesday-
We woke up and headed to the store to get a map. Other than that we just relaxed and took a nap. Shelby and mom got in around 3pm, so we went down to the lake to get firewood and skip rocks or in my case, just through stuff in the water.
When we got back I made steaks for everyone and we sat around the fire telling stories.
Thursday-
Thursday morning mom left for Farmington and I left for his hike up Los pinos. When I got back I took Anna and Shelby up Vallecito Creek to go fishing again. We found a great spot with some large fish but they knew the game and just sat there. We didn't get a nibble for almost 2 hours (except for the two sticks Shelby caught). Anna lost her bobber and I ran down the side of the creek for a quarter mile to catch it before it ended up in the lake. I got it! But fell in trying to, a little too much effort for a .50 bobber. After I fell in, we decided to head back to the cabin to dry out.
We hung out there for a while then we took off again to get ice cream from the general store then to try our luck at a new fishing spot that I had found on my hike on Monday. It was a muddy spot where the water was almost closed off because of the water level the lake. On the shore you could see prints of all sorts of animals even wolves.
Within seconds we were all catching fish, and not small ones either. It got to the point that I was running up and down the shoreline with pliers to dehook the fish that Shelby and Anna were catching. We ended up keeping three 14-17 inch rainbow trout. I actually had to tell Shelby and Anna to stop casting out because it was getting late and a storm as rolling in.
When we got back to the cabin we cooked two of the fish over the fire we had made, they were delicious.
Friday-
We packed up and left the cabin, during a storm with lots of lightning and hail. Our first stop when we got to Farmington, was discount tire to get the tire looked at. They said the hole was so big it could not be fixed so we had to get a new tire. For lunch we ran to get some Costa Vida with the Farmington family. After that we headed out to Albuquerque to go see the balloon glow (but that ended up being cancelled too).
Saturday-
We got up bright and early to catch the balloon launch which actually happened this time.
We got to see a ton of balloons and a lot of different shapes and sizes. It was pretty cool.
When we got back we, of course, took a nap. When we got up we went out with Shelby to go rock climbing. It had been a very long time since either of us had gone and we got very sore forearms.
After that we went to Costco to go resupply for the next few months.
Sunday-
On Sunday, we got up and had a good breakfast then headed back to Enid. We finished the da Vinci Code too.
On one of our many trips to Oklahoma City, Logan and me decided to check out the Osteology Museum.
It said that it was the only bone museum in the US, so we decided we better check it our before leaving Oklahoma.
It was pretty cool seeing all of the skeletons of humans and animals. I really liked seeing all the little tiny animal that they somehow put together but the huge skeletons were pretty impressive too!
My favorite one was of the giraffe, probably because it reminded me of my mom, who likes them too.
The other night when Logan got home from being out with the missionaries, he ran in the door told me to put some shoes on and get in the car! So I did! Logan then drove me off base to a place where you could see the eastern sky! There was an amazing lightning storm rolling in! I took almost 200 pictures with my phone and actually caught lightning twice! I love our little adventures and I think the pictures are just beautiful!
Logan and me decided to spend Labor Day out on the salt flats here in Oklahoma digging for Crystals! We were not disappointed! Sure it was hot but we had a ton of fun!
This was our second time here but our first time actually digging for the crystals. At first we were not sure what to look for, so we found a undisturbed spot and started looking! I got in the dirt first and didn't find anything right off. So Logan came to help and stared a new hole about a foot away and in the first scoop found several! That's why I like to keep him around!
I had done some research before coming and learned that the crystals form in just the first few inches down. This seemed to be right, as we found most of ours just about 4 inches down. This made them super easy to find because you didn't have to dig a lot to get to them! I also learned that this is the only place in the world that these crystals grow in this color because of the minerals in the dirt around them! It is also the only place where they have a distinct brown hourglass shape inside.
The only shade available is what you bring with you so it gets pretty hot! After Logan was done digging, he sat under my umbrella (feeling so pretty) and moved his chair over to where I was still digging to I could sit in his shade! We are a good team!
The biggest one we found was about an inch and a half! Several times I found I could just dig with my hands and feel them all over. Most are about the size of your thumb nail. We ended up not bringing home the small ones because there were so many and "threw" them back to keep growing. When I got home, I counted that we had just over 200! Below you can see some of the amazing shapes that they grow into!
Logan is one of the hardest workers that I know! From the very beginning of Pilot Training he has been extremely diligent to his studying! Here are a few examples of how he does it because it never ceases to amaze me of how creative they can be!
One thing Logan started was using the card table to lay out all of the stuff he uses. I often see him have it set up in the living room or office. In the picture above is also his white board. He sketches and makes his mental lists on it.
In the first picture above is our shower! When Logan started having to get up super early he found that he liked to take longer showers to help him wake up but then he also needed to make sure he was studying so he wrote all his lists around the shower walls. Very good multitasking!
Above is also the posters of his cockpit. Logan sits in front of this and does what is called "chair flying". It has been very useful for when he has other guys in the flight come over to study with and originally to help him learn where everything was.
Later on in his training, he then needed to map out his flights so we bought him a roll of large butcher paper. On them he draws out the flight and adds in all the info he needs to do at each location.
Other examples of his studying have also led him to use chalk to draw the flight pattern on the garage floor so he could walk his flights out and mentally fly them in his head.
I am so proud of the hard work and many hours Logan puts in to make sure he is doing the best he can!
So I kinda felt bad to go on another fun family trip while Logan had to stay and go to work but I did! Logan told me I could go and reminded me that he gets to fly fun planes all day so I should get to have some fun too- he is so good to me!
This trip took me to Las Vegas, and California! My cousin got married in Las Vegas so I flew there and meet my mom, dad and little sister Shelby there along with the rest of the extended family. The Wedding was great and after we had fun walking the strip and seeing several of the attractions there!
This is the casino we stayed at.
Shelby and mom giving tips to their favorite street entertainers.
Stratosphere
My favorite thing that I saw was Cirque Du Sole - Mystere and the aquarium at Mandalay Bay! They were awesome!
After a few days there, dad flew home and just us girls drove to California! We had so much fun going to Disneyland, swimming in the Ocean and visiting Catalina Island! Here are all the fun pictures we got!
I think it is funny to see all the pictures of us in the rides! Most of the time I have the same face on except for Splash Mountain for some reason where I look pretty surprised even though it was the Tower of Terror that freaked me out the most!
We actually split up our days at Disneyland a little bit by taking a ferry out to Catalina Island! On the island we had a ton of fun snorkeling, shopping, going on a glass bottom boat tour and
a bus tour of Avalon! It was a beautiful place!
Most of the time you just get to see fish on the boat tour but there was actually a seal out and it dove under the boat several times!
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