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!