Pay it Forward

Okay, who wants to play along? I just read about this on Kim's blog and I'm excited to play along!
Here are the rules:
If you want to join in the fun and get a little something in return, be one of the first THREE people to leave a comment on this post and you'll receive a hand made gift from me during this year. Of course there's a small catch...You need to post this on your blog (or Facebook* wall if you don't blog). Be sure to reference this post. Then come back and leave a comment on this blog post, telling me you're in.
Fun, huh? And by in, you do know that means you have to "Pay It Forward" and give something to three people on your blog or Facebook page. It doesn't really matter if you make something...just giving something is good with me! I am going to try and make mine...after all, I have an entire year! LOL!
Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift from me. What you recieve and when, will be a surprise!

Ice, Ice, and More Ice

About two weeks ago, January 26-28th, we had an ice storm. It's not the first one I've experienced here in Arkansas, nor the worst, but it definitely caused an issue with getting Gilli to school! I watched the news all night, watching EVERY SINGLE school in the county and all the surrounding counties announce that they were going to be closed. Not our school district! So we got up and got ready the next morning, yet when I went out to warm the truck up, I couldn't get in! I learned from the last storm, that you have to literally chip the ice off of the entire vehicle. It gets completely encased in ice, like it was in an ice cube. You have to chip away the ice from the door handles, around the door jams, the windows, the windshield, etc. I spent 20 minutes chipping ice before I thought I'd be able to get the door open...NOPE! Not for me! I had every ounce of ice removed from that door and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't open. Then I realized the locks were actually frozen! That's right, I have lived in some amazingly cold places; Idaho, Colorado, Montana, and never have I experienced the actual door locks to get frozen in the locked position. (It may help that I've never really locked my car until we moved here!) Anyway, I couldn't get the doors open until 11:45am! Looks like she got most of the day off anyway. When she got home from school, she told me 6 kids were absent anyway. I guess maybe I shouldn't have worried about it, but I did get her to school! I'm just sorry that she won't get her perfect attendance award this quarter. She got it last quarter though!

Walking with Dinosaurs

We got to go see Walking with Dinosaurs on Saturday, January 31st! What a wonderful idea from my mom! She had read the previous post and noticed a link for the show at the bottom of my page, which reminded her to tell me about it. I hadn't even heard of it! I went to the website and only found one showing for it left in the US...Tulsa, OK. It looked to me as if their US tour is over, so I couldn't pass it up! I wish Mom was here to see it with us! We had such a great time!
Gillian had a basketball game to cheer at that morning, so I made sure we were all packed and ready to go the night before. We went to the game then drove nearly 4 hours to Tulsa, OK. We had fun singing songs and dancing. Gillian especially loves to play "I Spy" so I had my fill of that one for sure! We went to the BOK Center to purchase our tickets, and get this...I had to pay for parking since there was an event currently taking place, BUT I only had to pay once! The lady at the garage initialed my window tag so I could park there again that evening! YAY! And for a double yay, I didn't purchase the tickets online because there was an extra $25 fee and other fees here and there. I called the box office and they assured me that there would be plenty of seats left the day of the show. Low and behold, we get second row seats! We could have had first row seats, but the section we were in with the second row was better! Things were just falling into place so perfectly! (And that never happens for me!)
We found a hotel that was about 10 miles and only 15 minutes away. The best part? It was the cheapest hotel I had found online, had a pool, and was decently nice. It was no Hilton, but a very nice room, especially for the price.
We took our showers and got ready for the show. It was so amazing! It was so realistic! I just know that Bowen thinks they're real. He did get a little scared in a few places, trying to climb over my shoulder to get to the row behind us, but he did pretty good considering. I was really questioning if he'd be okay, but when there were no age restrictions at the box office, I figured it'd be fine. Our only downfall for the entire trip was that my battery was going dead on the camera, so I didn't get very good video, not to mention, Bowen was on my lap, so it's a bit bouncy! =)







Afterwards, we got some dinner and headed back to the hotel for some Disney Channel cuddle time! I don't think we've ever been to a hotel when Gilli had free range of the TV. She really enjoyed that. I was too busy just enjoying my time with them to care about what was on the TV. We did only get a full size bed, so Gilli ended up sleeping at the foot of the bed! She woke up at one point freaking out because someone stole her pillow. Of course it was just on the floor, but she made me laugh in the middle of the night. She's my little drama queen for sure!

We got up and had the continental breakfast, then went swimming. Just before entering the pool, we noticed a big ol' sign on the door that read, "The heater in the pool is broken! Sorry for any inconvenience" YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! That's one of the main reasons we picked that place...THE POOL! I warned Gilli that it may be too cold to swim, but get this...are ya ready for it? The pool was fine! That's right, another thing that went my way on our little trip! I couldn't believe it! Maybe it was the fact that there was steam coming off the water that gave it the illusion of being warm and therefore tricked us into believing it was, I don't know. It definitely wasn't warm enough to steam by the way, so I have no idea what that was about!
We swam for about an hour and then headed to the Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum. They have half price admission on the weekends through January and February, so here we go...another YAY! It only cost us $6. Our little detour turned into 4 1/2 hours, but well worth it. Our weekend truly couldn't have gone any better!

I think she would live in the water if it were possible!

Of course, this is the best picture I could get of the two of the together...

This was such a great picture with all the greenery in the background...Then I noticed a little Gilli nipple peeking out of her suit and had to cut the picture WAY down in order to get it cropped out. Poor thing! I can't believe I didn't notice it before I took the picture!

OH! I have to tell you, I would have been COMPLETELY lost without the Tom-Tom! Another big thank you to Mom for a very handy Christmas present! And Bowen says dinosaur now...Da-Ora (kinda like dora but maybe with a "w" instead of an "r"? Or dragging out D-o-o-r, with an a at the end! LOL)

Here kitty kitty...He kept calling the lions RooGooGoo. That would be for Ruger the Cougar, our cat!

Oh she makes me laugh!

Dino DNA

So I have to start this with Gilli's obsession with Jurassic Park at the age of 2! She LOVED dinosaurs! I would bet that we watched the movie at least once a week and I'm almost positive that she watched it everytime she visited Papa and Tawna too. We were living in Colorado at the time and Woodland Park had opened up a Dinosaur Museum. It opened right around her 3rd birthday, so that's where we went to celebrate. She was ecstatic! It wasn't until we pulled in the parking lot and she asked if we'd get to feed them, that I realized that she had no idea that dinosaurs are extinct! She thought we were going to a dinosaur zoo, or somewhere like Jurassic Park even! Poor thing. I had to explain to her the definition of extinct, and that they once lived, but not anymore. Of course that brought on more tears. Those ones were of course no longer because "we lied to her" but out of sadness that all the dinosaurs are dead. It took us quite a while to get her calmed down, but once we did, she was very anxious to go inside and learn about them and see REAL bones! She has been facinated with dinosaurs ever since and we have taken her to multiple dinosaur museums.

Here we go again...

Bowen LOVES Jurassic Park! We put it on during our last ice storm a couple weeks ago and it definitely caught his interest. It wasn't until Sunday morning when I told him to go pick out a movie, that I knew what we were in for! Low and behold, he starts growling and pointing at Jurassic Park. It was just too cute! He got out all of his dinosaur figurines that he got for Christmas and cuddled up on his Lightning McQueen couch and watched the entire movie...start to finish!

I guess I'm not surprised. But I have to say I was surprised when I realized just how young Gilli was when all this happened. I'm dreading the "extinct" talk with him, but at least I will be prepared for it this time. Not to mention it will expand his vocabulary...as it did Gilli's. He will try to find all kinds of reasons to use the word, just as Gilli did. "Look mom, I extincted that bug!"

(Top picture of Gary and Gilli at the museum in Woodland Park, CO August 2004. Middle ones of Gilli, and then Gary, Bowen and Gilli at a museum in Thermopolis, WY February 2008. I will add one later of Bowen watching the movie...)

Let's Try This Again...

Okay, we're gonna try this again! I think the reason I never continued with this blog before, is that we lived in the middle of nowhere, Montana and were on dial-up! It was just way too time consuming waiting for things to load and just when you think you're able to post..."you've been disconnected"!!! UGH!
We have since moved to Arkansas for Gary's job. He's working in the oil fields. Started out as a floor hand and is now a motor man. It's pretty good. He works 7 days on and 7 days off, alternating nights and days.
Anyway, I will promise to stay on top of things now. I'm very excited. There are so many of my friends that I find inspiring and will take a few lessons from them!
Love you guys!

My First Attempt

Well, here is my first attempt at this blog thing. I guess I just don't think people will read it, so what's the point. Then I started thinking about it as more of a diary/scrapbook. I love the way that Cassie uses it to document the milestones of her children. I'm very excited to start sharing pictures and keeping in touch with people who may actually be interested in what I have to say. So, once again, here's the first attempt. Let's see what happens...