Welcome to Guymon, Oklahoma!

Sorry Mom, I haven't blogged in a while... A couple of weeks ago we had our Primary Program. I wasn't sure if I would have four Primary kids, or possibly six kids, or if I was really lucky nine kids. I wasn't sure if I would be singing in a trio or doing a solo. But we ended up having seven kids and it was a trio musical number not a solo. It was a busy day however, I was the chorister for Sacrament Meeting, I gave the opening prayer, I led the kids through their music, and I spoke. I was a little frustrated though because I kind of felt like I should be able to tap dance too, but alas wasn't given the opportunity. Much to say the least when I got home from church that day...I gave a big sigh of relief...and didn't feel like blogging.

Last Sunday, it was my sweet little boy's birthday! Holy moly, I cannot believe he is five!!! (I'll post some pictures next week). And, obviously, no blogging.

So here we are November 13, we have now officially been in Oklahoma for six months. I thought it was about time I introduced you to this lovely metropolis!

Our first, and most brief home...

Room 128, home sweet home. If I recall, we pulled into this parking lot loaded to the brim with every possession we could possibly cram in, pulling a Uhaul, we are all absolutely and utterly exhausted from the trip, and I just looked at Brayten. I'm pretty sure volumes were spoken in my glance they may have said something like, "Hi there. Remember me, your wife Steph. Yes I do enjoy roughing it, bugs are cool-when they're outside, camping is fun, I even like sleeping in a tent...but I don't like sleeping in a "tent" as our sole living head quarters. You have got to be kidding me, right?" I'm pretty sure that's what my eyes said to him because he immediately got on the phone to find us a different place to live. Only three days in this gem, thankfully!

Home #2, our friends (and a co-worker of Brayten's) rented this home in advance. It was sitting vacant waiting for their arrival in a couple of weeks. So we settled here temporarily...but it was definitely an improvement from the motel, motel, with a "m", despite the eight legged fiends.


Home #3, I think I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed at this point.

Home #4...Wow we moved a lot in a month and a half.

This is the backside of Apache Trace. We are on the outskirts of town.

The town is quite unique for several reasons but one of those reasons is it has a pretty high population of Hispanics, about fifty percent. One thing I love are their cars...Awesome, racing stripes, flames, low riders, music pumping. It makes me smile everyday. What I love especially is Tommy's reaction to these cars, "Mom, did you see that truck, it's so awesome, I want a truck just like that." Here is a picture of just one of these unique vehicles.

Guymon Branch, the chapel and basketball court are one and the same and then there are several small rooms surrounding it and that is it. It is unusual to take the Sacrament underneath the basketball hoop. It is a bit more unusual to try to keep Maddie from "shooting" her toys at the hoop during Sacrament. If you'll notice the church is surrounded by fields so it is even more unusual and not very cool that slithering friends like to come to church too.

Cotton fields, they grow the plants until the cotton is mature and then they spread a plant killer so it is easier to harvest the cotton.

Garage sales, something that they love around here, it's like a sport. I kind of think they all just trade around their junk every Saturday.

Another sale, don't mind the guy picking his seat, apparently he didn't realize I was taking a picture of him.

This is a pretty average residence in Guymon. Notice the "lawn". I remember when we came here I was fathomed at how terrible the yards were. Even the nicer areas of town, the lawns are mostly partially mowed dying crab grass. I did notice the last time I visited Utah I was fathomed at the yards. "Wow, did you see that grass? Oh my gosh, look at that grass! All these yards have great grass! I just want to lay down on it and roll around..." I have found I am getting used to being in Oklahoma, I hardly notice the "grass" here any more.

There are a few big homes on the outskirts of town, then is a pretty good sized middle class neighborhood, then there are a lot of home like this that I would consider low-income, or even poverty level properties, and then there are a lot of trailers. The thing that I think is interesting is driving by a really terrible property and seeing five sweet vehicles parked out front. They are spotless, custom painted, low riding, and sparkling in the sun-and then their house is this. It's weird. However, at the same time a huge portion of this town is living in poverty and squalor. It breaks my heart watching these cute kids walking home from school knowing they might not have a good home to go to, knowing that they might not have a good meal to eat, knowing that they might only have the company of their television that night. Can't I just scoop a few up and bring them home with me?

We spend every Monday here and find outselves leaving with a huge stack of books. Tommy goes directly to the shelves all about animals. The kids love it. And I love it-especially when we leave without Maddie having destroyed anything.

This is one of the shops on Main Street. It is funny, one half of the street is owned and operated by Hispanics, the other by white people, there is a bit of a distinction.

I picked this lovely purple frock for you Juneal...I hope I haven't spoiled the surprise, I just know you'll love it!

Main Street.

This "gas station" is actually a really yummy Mexican food joint. That is one thing that is pretty good here, Mexican food, but if you eat it more than once a week your digestive track gets mad at you.

Mora's Market.

Northridge Christian School, Tommy's oasis. He still enjoys going to school everyday and hanging out with his buddy Junior who according to Tommy, "Talks Spanish and English, just like me." I love that everyday Tommy usually doesn't tell me a whole lot about what he actually learned in school that day but he will talk and talk about who got their name on the board. But I am loving the curriculum he is learning, this is a great school.

We go to the Post Office everyday. When we first moved here I would tell the kids, "Just wait in the car, I'm just going to run in and snag our mail." I now let them come with me, everyday, because for goodness sake we have nothing else to do. We're not in a hurry...at all...ever. I sometimes have to remind myself of that when I get stuck behind someone going 15 mph in 25 mph zone. I start getting that city twitch, the slight urge to rant, or even pass them in a non-passing zone just like my Dad. Then I breathe deeply and repeat, "I am not in a hurry, I am not in a hurry..." about five times.

We do love this Post Office though. They actually know us...weird huh? These small towns are great! The other day we had been eagerly awaiting packages from Utah for Tommy's birthday. We went and grabbed our mail out of our box and there it was, the yellow slip notifying us that there was a larger package that needed to be picked up from the counter. Tommy, barely able to contain himself, carried that lucky yellow slip as we walked into the counter area. We were waiting in line when one of the postal workers saw us. She got a big smile on her face, went into the back, grabbed a big brown box with colored balloons on it, handed it to Tommy, and said, "Someone must be having a birthday! Happy birthday!" It was pretty special! There are some great people here.

Seaboard, the pig factory. I think I have said before that this factory processes 20,000 pigs a day, yes that is not a typo, a day. Before the factory was built they actually told the towns people that the pigs wouldn't smell any worse than the cows. They lied.

We were driving by Seaboard the other night and Brayten said, "Don't you just wish you could just bottle that smell?" I laughed while muffling my face in my shirt and said, "That would be awesome and then we could send it to my brother Tom. He'd get a package from us and think, wow my little sister is such a sweety, then he'd open it..." Now if only I knew how to phonetically spell the sound of vomit I would insert it right here.

The town tornado sirens, luckily we haven't heard what they sound like yet. But when we moved here I signed up to be emailed if there are any emergencies. I have received a lot of emails-high wind warnings, thunderstorm warnings, hail storm warnings, freezing temperature warnings, crop freezing warnings. The system emails me everyday and lets me know that everything is fine. I know, however, that if I get more than one email on the same day, we have a problem. So far it hasn't been too bad. Although I really do not like the wind (I know, why am I in Oklahoma, right?). I was petrified as a kid when the wind blew hard that our gigantic Cottonwood tree would fall on our house , right onto my bedroom. I think those latent wind fears are not so latent sometimes here in Oklahoma. I will lay awake in bed listening to the wind while our kids are snug in their beds and Brayten sound asleep at my side thinking, "Damn that Cottonwood tree."

Snow shack, this summer we had snow cones almost everyday. One day we actually forgot to get snow cones. The next day Tommy said, "Mom, you need to make sure that we don't forget to get a snow cone today. Maybe you should make a list." Unfortunately the snow shack closed on labor day despite it still being 100 plus degrees outside. I don't fully understand that logic in that decision, but oh well.

Go Guymon Tigers! There are these tiger paws leading from the high school to the football field. There is huge team spirit here. On game days you'll see moms all decked out at Walmart, t-shirt, earrings, scrunchies, bracelets, you name it. They have football commentary and even interview high school players on the radio, everyday. Most vehicles are adorned with a tiger paw. There is a huge blown up tiger at Walmart. It is like a football festival every Friday. I love this! What I love even more is that the Guymon Tigers haven't won a game this season. The last game score was 55-0. But heck, I need to get me one of those scrunchies.

The best store ever! What I love about Guymon is that there is nothing to do...at all. So Friday and Saturday nights Walmart becomes State Street in the 1990's. If you go to Walmart on the weekend the girls are all dolled up and the boys are strutting about gettin' their swagger on. Heaven help me if I have to get some milk on a Saturday night-I wear my baseball cap low and get in and out as quickly as possible before I drown in the swimming pool of hormones.

This is what we are surrounded by, everywhere. Fields and fields and fields. If I go running this is the scenery but also mix in a bunch of curious cows too whom I don't think have ever seen a runner before.

YMCA, we spend a few days a week swimming at the Y. While they don't have a fun slide or a big toy at their pool, they do have a therapy pool that they keep at 90 degrees. It is usually just us swimming and we have the warm waters all to ourselves.

So there you have it Guymon, Oklahoma, a small taste of our routine. So far it hasn't been too bad, a bit of an adventure. We are looking forward to December 21st though, when we'll start the trek to Utah for a visit...it will be here before we know it! XOXOXO

Getting Back Into The Groove

Well we're getting back into the groove, back into our regular schedules after our trip to Utah. The kids, however, are already counting down to Christmas and the next trip to Utah. They are keeping busy, playing hard, and excited about upcoming events. Halloween, Tommy's birthday, Thanksgiving, Maddie's birthday, and then finally Christmas in Utah.

They certainly have been getting into the Halloween spirit by wearing their costumes almost everyday. I'm pretty sure we will get our moneys worth out of them. Tommy needed to be a tough, cool Batman. Maddie is obsessed with pigs. She points out the piggy trucks, she lets me know if she can smell piggies (which is never a good thing for any of us), or if she sees a piggy "house". She loves them...me, not so much, but Maddie sure makes a cute piggy.

Painting pumpkins. Lucky Maddie got to paint pumpkins and her shirt (and by her shirt, I mean my shirt, awesome).

Other than Halloween activities the kids find themselves busy in all sorts of adventures. Often they put on their "flight" goggles, fly their jets around, then jump out of the planes with their helmets and back packs on for a little sky diving. Who knew Guymon was so exciting?

This is one of our favorite places...actually it really isn't, it is just the only place. And lucky for us you can drive anything you want to the Walmart. Cars, trucks, bikes, skate boards, and even riding lawn mowers. You know you're in Oklahoma when riding lawn mowers are parked at the Walmart.

Here we are at Walmart...again. This time at night, probably on the same day, who knows. We had the blessed event of smelling pig. Maddie was plugging her nose and saying, "It's stinky," while Tommy took cover in his shirt. We found out recently that Seaboard the pig factory in town processes twenty-two thousand pigs everyday. These pigs are trucked in from pig "houses" all around town. Each house holds one thousand pigs. The drive from our apartment to Brayten's job site ten minutes away we get to pass 18,000 pigs. It is so disgusting... The people in town tend to give us weird looks as our whole family jumps out of our car, clutches our faces, and runs into the store attempting to evade the nastiness. I just wish that one day my brother Tom could come out to Guymon because I would love to watch him "react" to the smells that surround us each day. I'm pretty sure instead of his weak constitution just retching he may actually puke, it is that bad.

I have found that since we have been in Oklahoma and Brayten is busy at work and we don't have any family around to watch our kids for us, ever, that I sometimes seem to dissolve into my roles as mom and wife. I sometimes start to lose "Stephanie" in the everyday monotony. Not that I would have it any other way because I do love raising my kids and being with my family as often as I am, but sometimes I start to lose me. It is never a good situation because when I lose me I sometimes get a bit grumpy or a bit depressed. Well this past week "me" was not there. So on Saturday Brayten sent me out the door. I went and had a manicure then saw Footloose. It was a good few hours of reintroducing myself to myself. When I got home I saw Brayten's list. Awesome! Please note, "Feed," and "Feed again." I love it...only a man...and I really didn't mind that they were still in their pajamas.

So it is good to be getting back into the groove, getting back to everyday life, but at the same time it is so Terrible, and I mean terrible with a capital "T" that life in Utah is moving along without me. I mean, I'm my parents only child...except for my brothers and sister of course... Really, are my parents even eating? (That's a quote from a commercial that I love, it makes me laugh and laugh, and is quite applicable to me). My nephew Logan broke his first bone while I've been away. Who better than me to be there for him when he breaks his first bone? But I wasn't and it kills me. Then Karson has the audacity to kill his first deer and where am I, oh right Oklahoma... good job Karson! The Jone's had their cute dog Kiska pass away while I've been gone and puppy Slush has found a home with them and I am here. Then sweet (and giant) baby Max is born and I haven't even kissed him yet, or hugged my sister-in-law Megan, or given my ugly brother Russ a congratulatory bear hug (maybe he's glad I'm in Oklahoma). Groan...Sigh... It's breaking my heart that the world still turns in Utah without me. But alas, here we are and we are doing well, and all in all I'm so happy that everyone back home is doing well too. We love you guys!

Maybe a Coincidence...But Probably Not...

Since we have been here in Oklahoma Brayten has had this fire for missionary work. It is interesting but almost everyday he has opportunities to talk about the gospel and generally it is not him bringing up the subject. These discussions seem to fall into his lap when the other men he works with realize he doesn't swear, he doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, he doesn't chew, he is moral...they are amazed at his standards. And their obvious next question to him is, "Why?"

Brayten decided a while back that if anyone had a discussion with him about the Church he would give them a Book of Mormon. He told me last night, "You know Steph, giving out Books of Mormon hasn't been hard at all for me. It has even been easier here than it was on my mission." We both made a few observations in an effort to explain this: 1) So many people come to him curious about his behavior and happiness. They are all working at a construction site where, let's be honest here, the stalwart are generally not found. They see that something is different about Brayten and they want to know what it is all about. 2) Brayten has grown up (I know, I know he still has a ways to go) but he isn't concerned about what others think of him, especially in regards to his religion. 3) He has found confidence as he has given out Books of Mormon and received such a positive reception. These co-workers are appreciative of the book and are actually excited to read it. 4) The image of the Church has not necessarily changed over the last decade, but rather, it has grown. Most of the people he talks to have heard of Mormons but once they find out Brayten is a Mormon they ask, "So, how many wives do you have?" The Church is definitely known-but there are some amazing misconceptions about it.

About a month ago one of Brayten's friends from his job site had an incredible loss in his family. He had an eleven year old son who was so happy, a little boy full of spunk, life, and curiosity. He loved making everyone around him smile and laugh. This little boy had found his Dad's unloaded shot gun, he then found some shells, and accidentally fatally shot himself.

What is worse still is that two years ago this same man lost another son. One of his twins who was two years old at the time. This little boy was being babysat by his sister and her fiance. The fiance physically abused the boy and as a result he ended up passing away.

This family has lost two sons in two years.

When Brayten was at the funeral for the eleven year old boy his friend said to him, "I am just so angry. I am so angry at God." Brayten at the time didn't feel like it was the right moment to talk to Selso about the gospel. But as he watched Selso walk away, a man heavy in sorrow, one of their other friends said to Brayten, "You have to talk to him. You know. We (pointing to himself and the other men around him) don't know anything. You know. Talk to him."

Brayten later found a time to talk to Selso. He gave him a Book of Mormon, he talked to him about eternal families and the plan of salvation, he told him he knew that his boys were okay and that he would be with them again. He also told him that he couldn't imagine what he was going through or how immense his heart ache must be and he hoped to never know how he was feeling but God knows and he loves you.

As of a couple of weeks ago Brayten had given away nine Books of Mormon. Six of those nine were to men who live in Childress, Texas a small city about four hours away from Guymon. Selso and his family live in Childress. Brayten found the phone number for the mission home in Texas that includes Childress. He was talking to the secretary about how he had given out some Books of Mormon and was wondering if there were missionaries in that area who could visit these families.

"Well, yes," she said, "In fact, we have two elders serving in Childress right now. They are Elder Shaffer and Elder Harrison."

"Did you say Elder Harrison?" Brayten asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Is Elder Harrison from Bountiful, Utah?" he asked.

"Let me check. Yes he is, Ben Harrison, from Bountiful, Utah," she replied and then gave Brayten the Elder's phone number.

Brayten hung up the phone with a smile on his face. Ben Harrison was in our Ward back in Utah. He is an amazing, smart, talented, and kind young man. He also comes from a family who has had an abundance of sorrow. Ben's Dad struggled with pancreatic cancer for several years and ultimately lost the fight with it almost five years ago.

Brayten quickly dialed in Ben's number. "Hello, this is Elder Harrison," Ben said.

"Hi Elder Harrison," Brayten replied.

"Hi, how can I help you?" Ben asked.

"This is Brayten McGee," Brayten said.

"What?!?" Ben replied.

It was a joyful reunion by phone. Ben actually was performing service at the time doing some sanding, "Something," he said, "I actually know how to do." (His Dad had been a wood worker).

Brayten later called Ben's mom. "Hi Lisa this is Brayten McGee," he said.

"Hi Brayten," she replied.

"I've been talking to your boy," Brayten said.

"My Ben?" Lisa said.

They talked for some time and both concluded that who better to teach the gospel to Selso and his family than Ben, someone who knows what loss feels like and through the embrace with the gospel has found peace and comfort knowing that his Dad is up there and he will see him again. Who better than Ben, someone who knows Brayten and is good friends with Brayten, can teach all of Brayten's friends, who have received a Book of Mormon from Brayten's hands, the gospel.

Maybe it is all just a coincidence...but probably not. It still amazes me to see that even with the whole world to look after God still is present in individual lives, in each of our lives.

9/11

Last Sunday I had intended to post pictures of Guymon onto my blog today. I had planned on a few funny remarks about the quirks of this town but hadn't realized then what today's date would be.

I remember ten years ago. Brayten had already gone to work at Salt Lake Cable and Harness. I was alone in our small North Salt Lake Apartment. I was assembling cables, a small side job I did with Brayten to help pay for college. I sat on the tan colored carpet, listening only to the sound of my own breathing, with yellow, purple, red, and black cables before me all organized in rows.

Brayten called me, without saying, "Hi babe," or even, "Hello." He said, "Steph, turn on the radio." At the time we didn't have a television and this seemed like a funny request.

"Why? What's up?" I asked.

"Just turn it on," he said.

I did. Then I sat cross legged on the floor and listened as the world came tumbling down.

Brayten came home shortly thereafter. We clung to each other for a moment and then headed to my parent's house to watch as the calamity of history took place. I was young. I recall that this was the first time I ever realized that there are people in this world who hate Americans. The reasoning for this hatred was confounded. I wanted a direct answer, "They hate us because..." But I wasn't getting that. I couldn't fathom this. I had never really hated anyone in my life so it was hard for me to understand.

I remember being glued to the tv, all day. I remember the vivid images, the moments in time that are now etched in my memory. I remember my civil engineer Dad saying over and over again, "Those towers can't collapse. They won't collapse. They're constructed to not collapse." And then they did. I remember my two year old nephew being nervous about airplanes for years after 9/11. I remember feeling so sick, so sad.

Ten years have now passed. I've grown up a lot, I'm, unfortunately, not quite as naive as I used to be. I've brought two beautiful children into this crazy, mixed up, muddled up world. A world that sometimes seems too awful for sweet babies to come into. A world that sometimes scares me and at times I fear for my kids being in it. But in the words of Mr. Frank (Anne Frank's father), "We must have children, and raise them to be fine people. That is how the world can be changed."

So we move forward with faith, we accomplish hard things, and take one step at a time into the unknown future.

I'm grateful for my family, I'm grateful for my religion, I'm grateful for all of my blessings, and I'm grateful for this amazing nation in which we live. I'm grateful for all of those throughout our history who have fought for freedom, been in harms way for freedom, and died for freedom. I wonder what the next ten years will bring. Hopefully a bit more good in the world...hopefully a bit more peace...hopefully a bit more love because Heaven knows we could use it.

I love you all, until next time.

Welcome

Welcome to our apartment in lovely Guymon, Oklahoma. Now a few of my family members have been after me to actually take a some pix of where we live. This week I finally obliged them with photos of our apartment. I have been hesitating for so long because I just know that a few of you will be green with envy. I know, I know, you wish you could live here too, just try to keep your jealousy in check alright? Next week I'll take a few pictures of the town, it should only take a few (the town's not very big).


Apache Trace Apartments, Unit 109.

Master Bath, I know, it is phenomenal, right?

Computer Station on a Walmart rectangular card table, equipped with folding chair.

The "Work Bench" as quoted from Grandpa Wilding. And, yes, my night stand is an action packer with a sweet Walmart special lamp, $4.99 baby!

Family Room as viewed from the kitchen. Couch $150.00 from a garage sale. That thing in the corner, a continued source of marital tribulation, a Walmart special. Obviously Brayten won that one but he hasn't won the cable disagreement...yet...I'm holding strong.

Dining Table, I'm still curious why we chose not to bring any furniture with us. I guess, however, when it comes to moving again and we can just fold up our tiny table we will relish our genius...in the meantime, I'm not sure what we were thinking.

The spacious Kitchen.

Kids Bath.

Kids Room, featuring Maddie's cage.

Kids Room, featuring bunk beds that we purchased before we realized Maddie should be caged.

Despite our living conditions being drastically different than what we are used to, we are doing great. The kids are doing well. This has actually been a good exercise for me. I recognize all of the "things" that were necessary for me before are actually not necessary at all. It is nice being able to clean our entire living space in less than two hours. I can be happy without the granite counter tops, I can be happy without the exercise room, I can be happy without the steam shower-oh, actually scratch that one, I actually think I really need a steam shower.

We are happy but we are not happy about some little, little being a relative term, unwelcome "friends" who think they own our apartment. The other day while Tommy was at school and Maddie napped I actually splurged and decided to read a book. I laid down on our bed, picked up my nook, and started reading in the silence of our apartment. Soon my literary rendezvous was interrupted. I could hear the slight scampering of critters. On occassion they even had the audacity to chirp. "You shall die my small friends," I thought.

Let me introduce you to one of the hundreds that currently occupy our home. Not cool.

When we first moved in we would catch them and throw them outside... Then we began to flush them down the toilet... Now, in an effort to preserve water, we just squash them in a tissue. And trust me if you have never actually squashed a large cricket in your hand, you are missing out! I get the shivers each time I do it and then promptly coat my hands in sanitizer. We kill at a minimum fifteen crickets a day, inside. Sweet!

The other day we were cleaning the house. While I scrubbed the bathrooms Tommy was running the vacuum with the hose. He is awesome with this! I love it and he actually loves it too. He cleans areas I would almost never take the time to do. So he is working along and I am working along and Maddie is working along making messes for us to clean. When all of a sudden Tommy emits the scream of death. This is never a good sound, definitely something to be avoided if at all possible. The scream of death was followed by severe blubbering and frantic crying and just for good measure another scream of death.

I ran to him scooped him up to see what had happened. Through his tears he says, "There is a giant spider under your exercise mat."

He had been vacuuming in our entry closet and was emptying it out to get it even more clean, when he moved my yoga mat, and the world came tumbling down. I put my little boy down, sucked up my courage, put my brave face on, and gentle grabbed my yoga mat and while carefully inspecting it moved it out of the closet. I then emitted the scream of death. Took the still running vacuum with it's long hose and sucked up the 1/4 lb. spider.

Then leaving the vacuum on, I picked up Tommy and said, "Are you okay buddy? Because I'm not, hold me."

Well we survived. I had Tommy vacuum for another 20 minutes and once he was done I took extra precautions to make sure the apprentice to the devil was unable to emerge from the vacuum.

I think the giant spiders that live around here are actually Wolf Spiders. Now, I'm not talking about the little fuzzy, almost cute, black ones we have in Utah. I'm talking about Wolf Spiders that have bred with giants and mutated to flesh eating monsters. The spider that was in our entry closet, a mere five feet from my bedroom, was the size of my palm.

I get the shivers just thinking about it. In fact, I was agitated to the extreme for the rest of that day. So what did we do. We finished cleaning, mopped really well, and then coated the apartment with spider spray. That cute little entry closet, yeah, it has about two cups of dried spider spray on its floor. Die, vermin!

Well, enough about that. We probably should end on a positive note that has nothing to do with the terrible things that live with us. Tommy has been making great strides in swimming (well really, if he wasn't I would think something might be wrong with him considering we swim every single day). Here is the little man, doing what he does:

Well I hope you enjoyed a tour of our house and an introduction to our cohabitants. I know, you wish you were me right now! We love you all! Have a great week!