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