Oklahoma City

So Ryan and I got to go down to Oklahoma City last weekend...alone. It was so great! I have a friend who volunteered to take them for the night so we headed down and spent a night there. We had such a fun time, but still found ourselves exhausted by 10:30.
After Ryan got off work on Friday we drove down there, checked into our hotel downtown, and went to Cattleman's restaurant. It isn't the best looking place to eat, but it was dang good. It's been around for 100 years and has been featured in lots of magazines and food shows on TV. We've heard about it so we decided to check it out. We left there extremely full and completely satisfied. We also discovered while we were here that the camera I brought alot to take pictures had a dead batter...and of course I didn't bring the charger, so we took no pictures (I'm getting all these off the internet.)
We headed back into town and walked around bricktown for a little bit. We went to see if there was a movie we wanted to catch, but didn't see anything of interest so we picked up some ice cream and headed back to our hotel room.We spent the rest of the evening eating our ice cream, watching TV, and relaxing.
In the morning we decided to check out the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. It was a very sobering experience, to say the least. This photo shows the reflection pond where the road previously was that ran next to the Murrah Federal Building. The museum gives a detailed description of the happenings of that April day in 1995. I was only 11 years old when it happened, so I don't remember much about it. I only remember seeing stuff on the news-the pictures with the building half blown away. If you ever go to Oklahoma City I would definitely recommend going to this museum. I learned a lot, and felt a lot. It was a beautiful memorial and museum! I left there feeling physically and emotionally sick. It is hard to imagine all the lives that were changed in one day, one instant.
After the museum we looked around Bricktown a little bit more then headed over to the temple. The youth of our ward were going down there so we signed up to go help. It was so nice to be there especially after the museum. Isn't it so great that families can be together forever. We enjoyed our time at the temple. Afterward, we ate some dinner then headed back home. We really enjoyed the trip-it's the first time we've left our children...we'll have to do it more often than once every 5 years!

Other happenings

We've been enjoying life since we've come home from our big trip this summer. Halli and Carson have been much nicer this week after catching up on sleeping and getting back to their regular schedules. They really did pretty good on our vacation too though, but it is always nice to get back in the routine. I went to girls camp with our church for a week 2 weeks ago. I had my friend Kristin braid my hair. I love it! It was so nice to not have to worry about my hair for a week. It kept me a lot cooler too. I think I'll have to have her do this to me once every 6 months or so. It was just a nice break from my hair.
We went on a rafting trip during camp, and it was a blast. These are the fun girls I got to spend the day with. I don't think any of them had paddled a boat before so it was fun to teach them how to control the raft. We only got stuck once!
This was after I took my hair out of the braids, but before I brushed it. It was a good bit bigger after I brushed it.
I'll be making another post soon, but I just needed to play catch up on all these posts. They aren't too exciting...the next ones will be more so-Promise.

Georgia Trip

Here are some of the fun things we did during our stay in Georgia. We had a log of meals together with the family. My parents and little brother were there as well as Carson, Halli, and I. We stayed with my brother and his family for the first couple days of our trip then we switched and stayed with my sister and her family for the last couple days of our stay. It was so fun to see them both and be able to hang out with everyone every day. I wish I lived close to one of my siblings! Halli and Colby checking out the happenings outside.
Carson and Daisy playing

Future plumber.
Getting ready for the fireworks show. This is my dad, sister Dantzel, neice Mara, and brother Ryan. Yes, my brother's name is Ryan, and my husband's name is Ryan, and Aubry's husband Michael-his middle name is Ryan. Pretty popular name for our family.
Enjoying the fireworks
Being scared of the loud noises some of the fireworks make.
My mom bought all the cousins matching shirts. They were going to take some really cute pictures, but Halli wasn't about to let that happen. She refused to cooperate.
My first time eating at Waffle House. It was so tasty...the waffles were delish.
This is Halli's first silly face. I asked her to make a silly face and this is what she did!
My sister Dantzel took us to play at the mall one day during our visit. They had a fun play area and some little fountains in the mall. It was fun to walk around then let the kids play a bit. This is Carson and Halli with their cousins Rachel and Mara.
Carson and his cousin Ben getting along-that didn't happen much on the trip so I had to document it. Boys will be boys I guess.
We had a wonderful visit and enjoyed each day with my family. We just wished Ryan could have been there with us, but he was busy fishing with his dad and uncles out in Utah for the week. That is alright though-he had an awesome time with them as well!

New York City

Finally I am able to sit down and make a post about our fabulous vacation. Here is a photo journal of our trip. Our first stop was Times Square. We got there Tuesday afternoon and walked down to the busy spot in town. We ate lunch down there, went and played around in the huge Toys R Us, went shopping, and then that evening we got to go see Mary Poppins on Broadway-it was SO good! I loved it-the scene changes were amazing, the music was fun, and I of course loved the dancing!

Day two started with a trip to the Statue of Liberty. Before we rode the boat to see the lovely lady we ran into this guy and took some photos with him for a nominal fee :) Halli wasn't so sure about him.


Here's the view while on our boat ride out to the Island. Man I would love to live in this city! We all posed to get some photos in front of the Statue of Liberty. I love this one of Carson and Halli-they aren't fighting! Then we got a family photo with the view of NYC behind us!


Our hotel (Empire Hotel) was right down the street from the LDS temple. We didn't go inside, but we walked passed a bunch...next time we'll have to take some time to go inside! I think it is so amazing that there is a temple in Manhattan!
Mom and Dad walking with Halli-familiar sight on this trip.
We got to go to a Yankees game while we were there. My little brother Ryan is a huge fan, and we had the opportunity to go down to Monument Park and take a look around. It was really fun. A manager of the park gave us a tour around the Park and field-it was really cool!

There were some cool stairs at the Lincoln Center so the kids and I took some fun photos on them. The words on the stairs say Welcome in a bunch of different languages.
This is Ryan and I in the subway. I totally loved the subway...no traffic, fast transportation, and no weather to deal with! If the opportunity ever came we would seriously move to NYC. We loved it, and we can't wait to go back again. Next time Ryan and I will be going by ourselves for a getaway! I'm planning the trip already!
This last photo is Carson helping Halli get around the airport-she was riding on the suitcase.

NYC

So our stay in New York City is over, but we are still vacationing. The kids and I are now in Georgia, and Ryan is currently in Idaho. He is having a family reunion all next week and I'm spending the week with most of my family here in Georgia-so we kinda have our own separate family reunions. Anyway...New York was AMAZING. We are already planning our next trip back (this time without the kids...although they did Great!). I'll talk all about our time there in an upcoming post, but I just wanted to share a short story...
So we stayed at this fancy hotel just off Central Park and the shower in the bathroom (shoot i should have taken a picture!) had glass covering half of the shower. So there was a big opening to get in, but no door to close up the shower. So the first night Ryan got the kids ready for the shower and put them in then thought where the heck is the door. So he called the front desk and said "my shower doesn't have a door." The receptionist informed him that it was the way it was designed. I laughed so hard when he told me that-I bet that wasn't the first time someone has called wondering where their shower door was.
It was a really cool shower though-the shower head was on the ceiling, and there were bamboo planks on the floor of the shower so you weren't standing in water - so there wasn't a ton a splash out the door. I'd like a shower like that in my house plus the other half of the door though so I didn't have to clean up a wet floor every day.

Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains

So we took a visit to Oklahoma over the past weekend. Ryan and I got to go to the temple in Oklahoma City Friday night then we spent the night down there and had a fun time. We took the kids swimming a couple of times so they loved spending the night in a hotel. Carson was very sad to leave Saturday afternoon...and he keeps asking when we can go to a hotel again.
Saturday we woke up and spent a few hours in the city checking it out. We went to "Outdoor World" in bricktown there and enjoyed looking around there for a few hours. It is kind of like a Cabellas...but not quite exciting. It was fun though and we all enjoyed it. Here are some photos from the store.
Afterwards we went outside and enjoyed a nice scenic walk by the river which was right outside the store. Don't you just love the colors of fall?

We walked on down to Toby Keith's I love this bar restaurant. If you ever have the chance to go there get the ribs. They were delicious! They make a special Toby Keith barbeque sauce just for the restaurant, and it is really good.

We headed back home after lunch. The kids both slept half of the way so it was nice to get some nice quiet time. It was a really fun relaxing weekend with the family. Can't wait for the next one!