Reason for the Season

Reflections of Christ - A Fine Art Photography Exhibit by Mark Mabry

I love everything about this photo. It helps me to remember the true meaning of the Christmas Season.

Christ was born to be our savior and redeemer. My Christmas wish is that all the world hear this beautiful message and let it into their hearts. I know it to be true, and the most beautiful message that could be shared. 

Thank you to all the missionaries who have served and who are currently serving for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, both young and old. 

I can't wait until Jason and I can serve a mission together so we can share the love of Christ!

Internship update.

So this whole week I have had class in Oklahoma City at the OU Health Sciences Center, what I didn't realize is that I have finally completed all the assignments for my internship! I am so excited to be completing my elective rotation at Cancer Treatment Center of America here in Tulsa, Oklahoma this January, for the last small portion of hours I need. Then I am all done!

I wish I had the words to thank my family, especially my husband for supporting me through this journey. I could not have done it alone. All of the projects, traveling, and time apart is definitely going to pay off! I am so excited that it will so be my turn to support Jason through his education!

So we finished a day early (yesterday) and I got to surprise Jason last night! I drove from Oklahoma City to Tulsa after dinner and made it just before bed time. He had the cutest look on his face! I am pretty sure it was the first time I have been able to surprise him. I loved it. I wish I could do it more often. 

It just reminded me that it really is the small things that keep a marriage going. 

Love making my Jason happy. 

Christmas Card.

Up In Lights Christmas

Customize your Christmas cards this holiday at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Thanksgiving.

For Thanksgiving my family decided it would be easiest if we all got together at the house Jason and I are staying at in Tulsa. Just about a month before Thanksgiving, my Grandma actually ended up having heart surgery, so she was in no shape to host the family’s Thanksgiving dinner, thus the reason we hosted this year’s Thanksgiving meal, and I was in charge of the turkey. Nervous yet? I was. Jason and I had only ever cooked one turkey before, and he did all the cooking. Well, to be more precise, he smoked the turkey and it was delicious. Back to this year’s bird. I decided the easiest way to cook this gal would be in an oven bag. Those do wonders. My Mom, on the other hand, was a skeptic. She didn’t think it was going to be cooked at all. She was worried the whole time. Sometimes it is nice to prove your mother wrong, as long as it’s all in good fun. : )  That was the juiciest, flavorful turkey I had in a long time...

… all thanks to Reynold’s oven bags. 

Enough with the bird.

Here’s a list of who all came: of course Jason and I, my Mom and Sean, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve (and his awesome hair), Grandma and Larry, crazy, sweet Aunt Julie and Uncle Bo, and their son Nick with his cute girlfriend. Oh, and my two ornery big brothers, Jeread and Brenan. {It was so good to see Jeread! He looks like he is doing great!} Love them!

The night before Jason and I cleaned out the garage so we could all sit in the same room during the meal. So that’s were we gathered. It turned out great! We had the drink, food, and dessert buffets set up in the house and we all ate together in the great room of the garage! It was so nice to be with family and remember the reason for the season. Truly.

I speak for both Jason and I but I’m sure he feels the same way: every day we are eternally grateful to our Father in Heaven for such a wonderful family.

While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Jason decided we all needed to help. Thus the reason for Daisy on the counter “cleaning up” the left over turkey from de-boning the leftovers. Notice I didn’t turn around for the picture…I couldn’t stand to watch.

She says, "Where's the rest?"

Day Trip.

Jason came down from Tulsa to stay with me before my last week working in Oklahoma City. It was a beautiful day in Oklahoma! Too beautiful to stay cooped up in the house! Mike, Mary, Jason & I decided to make a day trip around some fun placed in Oklahoma City. Well, really Mike & Mary knew where all the fun places are, we were just along for the ride!

The first stop we made was the round barn in Arcadia, Oklahoma, which is along the old Route 66. It was originally built in 1898 and obviously served as a place for the towns dances, oh and to house livestock as well. I won’t tell the whole story about this interesting pit stop along Rout 66, but if you are interested, here is the website- www.arcadiaroundbarn.org .

After our stop there, we headed for lunch at Pops, it is a gas station/restaurant/specialty soda shop. Jason and I had gone with his sister to a place similar a year or more ago in Scottsdale called Pops Soda Shop, but this Pops in Oklahoma is a little bigger and definitely more eye catching. For lunch I can’t remember what everyone ordered, I just remember that after we had all ordered our meals, Mike insisted that we try the buffalo burger, so he ordered another burger for all of us to share! We had so much tasty food!

After lunch, we walked around a looked at the interesting sodas for sale. If I remember correctly Jason got a butterscotch cream soda and I got a blackberry soda. Jason’s was interesting to say the least, but then again, I’m not really a fan of butterscotch.

The interior decorations were, you guessed it sodas. Floor to ceiling sodas.

The architecture was so neat, but all I could think about was if there was enough snow on the end, do you think the cover would just collapse? I hope not!

After a brief walk with the pups to stretch their little legs, we all hopped back into the car and Mike surprised us with a trip to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. They were showing an exhibit on bowie knives he has been dying to see. Of course Jason was elated. He loves that kind of stuff.

So gorgeous. There is a really neat story that includes Italy and a few artists, but I couldn't remember if I tried. You should just go and see it for yourself. : )

I love taking trips with friends. It means you will always have a photographer! 

Mary called this one the "crotch shot" because of obvious reasons with the statue.

A good time was had by all!

Snick's Gift.

Well, since November has come and gone, I better tell you all what happened in our little lives recently. I was able to spend almost all of the days working in Tulsa, and I didn’t have to commute too far to work! It kind of felt like I won the lottery…Cha-ching! Any way, the first week of November I was staying with Mike & Mary German in Edmond, Oklahoma and commuting to Harold Hamm Diabetes Center in Oklahoma City. I mentioned before how much fun Mike & Mary are I’m sure.

I have to tell this story on the pups. So every night, Mike puts the dogs outside one last time and just before heading to bed he lets them in. Well one night there were no pups waiting at the back door to be let in and he wouldn’t come when you called them. They were up to something. After some convincing we rounded up Daisy and Fritz, but Snick wasn’t giving in… he was hunting! After donning jackets, shoes, and flashlights, Mike & Mary cornered little Snick. He was caught underneath the brush pile and wouldn’t come out, so Mike had to dig the fellow out. I noted Mike’s disapproval the next morning at breakfast.

I can’t remember if it was the night before that happened, or if it was the night after, but there was another hunting expedition the pups embarked on that left both Mary & I literally screaming and jumping onto the furniture! After the pups had been outside for some time, we thought they would be ready to come in. Well, Snick was the most ready of all. He had a gift to show us! He came barreling in and ran strait under the bed in Mike & Mary’s bedroom. So me being little nosey me, crouched under the bed to see what he had. Bad idea.

That’s when the screaming began and onto the furniture I ran! He had a HUGE mole in his mouth! GROSS!! Mike immediately heard the screaming and came to Mary and my rescue and retrieved the dead mole from Snicks watering mouth. Thank goodness for brave men in my life!

These picture were mostly for Jason, so he could see how good Snick was at hunting.

 Daisy was so interested. I think if she could talk, she would have been saying, 

“Can I lick it? Can I lick it? Can I lick it?” 

She is so nasty some times.