Well, here we are!!!!!!!

We wanted to update everyone and let you know that we made it safe and sound and without too much drama. Just a little in the beginning of the trip :) but what kind of a road trip would it be without something. The picture above was taken early today by Shay. We tried to find Jack for the family pic but he was in a hidey-hole and was no where to be found until later.

Earlier this week we had a great crew of muscular men, women and babies to help load the truck on Thursday which really helped us out a lot and Friday was much less stressful in that aspect. Friday evening, some of our buddies came over for a last supper feast consisting of left overs that we were trying to eat before we left and a few more moments of fellowship together before we moved! Then some more family came in to help finish loading things and cleaning. I hated saying bye to my best bud Katie but I know she will visit soon so it helped but it was still sad.

We woke up SUPER early in the morning to finish everything up before the vet came to give Jack (our cat/panther) a sedation. That was quite the event and one I hope I dont have to do again. We had to not give him food and water after 6ish and so he was starving and confused about what was going on and really fought the vet to get the injection. She had to stick him 4 times before she was able to administer it she got it finally and then we hurried on our way. It was creepy too because I thought it would be more like an anesthetic and he would be sleeping but instead it was more like Michelle Pfeiffer in "What Lies Beneath" when Harrison Ford sedated her with a chemical and she was fully aware that he was trying to kill her and of what was happening but couldnt move her body!!!! AND his eyes were open the whole time!!! I told Matt that it was his turn next time!

Unfortunately, I was in the animal car by myself the whole time to Tulsa because Shay was in her car and was kind of freaking out the whole time that the cat was dead and that his eyes were drying out and that he was going to wake up in an hour. It was a bit of mass hysteria but then I got myself together when I stopped in Tulsa and the rest of the trip was better. I got to see my mom one more time before the move, acquired Shay to assist in the animal car for the rest of the way and continued my mission to hurry up to St. Louis before the cat could move around! We stayed ahead of the rest of the pack and made it there at 3:30 which was amazing (8 hours total even with our stops so really like 7 hours driving time). I made shay "blink the cat" like every 5-10 minutes because we were afraid his eyes were going to dry out and make sure he was still breathing along the way. Amazingly enough, he made it the whole way before he really started being able to stir which in hindsight was more enjoyable for him but very traumatic initially. He came around later that evening and is already back to his normal self but a little more loving than his norm.

We unloaded the whole truck by 8:00 pm on Saturday just in time for dinner and in time to go to bed early. My grandpa and cousins left in the morning and Shay and Janoah got to stay until today. We dined on some local pizza at Imos for lunch and cooked some turkey meatballs for dinner and Shay and I made some trips to Trader Joes before she had to go.

This last week has been an emotional one for Matt. He has been trying to be tough on the outside but crying himself to sleep at night because he is missing everyone at OKC. I have been the strong one and consoling him but sometimes he is an unstopable crying machine......NOT!!!!

But seriously, last week was tough for me especially and sad but we are really looking forward to this new stage in life. Our moving experience was about as good as it could be. Not too much furniture damage, no wrecks, no tickets, no close calls, no moving injuries or anything. We are so blessed to have such great friends and family to help and we cant thank you enough. We will miss you all like crazy so you better come visit us when you can. We have lots of room and want you all to visit when you are able and we will be back often as well. Matt starts his new job on Wednesday so please keep him in your prayers. We love you all, thanks for everything and keep in touch!!

p.s. this is the last official post on this blogging website and hopefully we will get internet in the next week or so and I will post a link here to our new blog address.

Graduations all around!

Well as most of you know, we have been quite the busy traveling bees lately! Rather than go in chronological order and start with vancouver posts, I am going to mix it up a bit and start with this last weekends celebration since it is fresh on my mind and not as many pictures to choose from (the real reason)!

OU's 118th commencement ceremony was on Friday and Matt got to participate, even though he isnt quite finished yet. He still has his thesis to defend in a month or two but it was a great celebration weekend none-the-less. I have been so excited about this weekend that I could hardly sleep on Thursday and Friday. Way back in January, I asked off for those days so that I could get things together for the celebration and be able to accompany him to all the festivities in Norman on Friday. The first of which was at The National Weather Center for just the graduate college. They had some awesome food for us and Dean Williams gave a mini speech in front of the weather globe projecting the weather for the past couple of weeks.

Deanna is standing by the tornado measuring machines from Twister

The reception ended earlier than expected so some people walked around campus and we ran some errands. Matt is standing in front of one of many statues dressed in robes.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and the ceremony was moved to Lloyd Noble instead of the football stadium. Here we are freezing in line while the adults waited in the car for a little while longer :)

This Scottish bagpipe band played the processional music. I LOVE bagpipes!!

These indian head dresses were awesome! (and dave if you read this, i immediately thought of your facebook pic when i saw them and laughed at an inappropriate time)

Matt and Dr. Glathofer walking up to the hooding.

Matt and his new BFF David Boren! The doctorate candidates were the only ones who got to be hooded and walk on stage (besides the super smart undergrads).

Deanna is making good use of the glow sticks here at the end!

Dr. Glatzhofer reinacted the hooding since I couldnt see it live and the dude mispronounced Matt's name (however that is possible). And we could barely hear him at that.

This is one of my favs!

We got to go down to the floor for a bit afterward and take a few more pics.

The whole group that was able to go to the ceremony. They didnt give us enough rain tickets so my mom and grandpa couldnt come :(

And then when we got home late, we started working on the rest of the cake preparations. Here is Matt attempting to make his Ferrocene molecule that wasnt to be. But good try Matty! I didnt post a pic but Shay and I had quite the time trying to roll out the fondant. Apparently the trick is to use shortening of somesort not powdered sugar which one website suggested. We finally got it on the second try but as you will see later, it wasnt thin enough.

The girls decorating flowers, dejavu eh?

We borrowed all this cool glassware from Matt's lab for the table decor except the test tube racks, I bought those on Ebay.

I made these nerdy element placemats too. I think I just made like 10 different ones and lots of copies.

Dinner was catered by Mama Roja's and it was delicious! They need to package their food better because we had an incident with the beans but not a major problem by any means, just a big mess!

Liesel and I got to hang out momentarily for the first time. I havent ever seen her and her parents since before she was born! I am a bad friend :(

Friends and family

(p.s. Mom you are starting to semi-smile like grandma again :))

And here is the cake. It was a collaborative effort by all. Katie Rowten made the figurines, Deanna and I made the sheet cakes, Shay and I rolled the fondant, and I wrote the table elements and "strategically" placed the figurines to cover up my mistakes. It was a successfuly first attempt at using fondant in my opinon. And as I told many of my friends, I was pleased with the outcome enough to not throw it in the trash and go to Cheesecake Factory. I was annoyed by the sagging sides though. I guess our fondant wasnt thin enough and made it to heavy. I dont know. None-the-less, Matt loved it and that makes me happy!

Here you can see Matt's Houston team logos, his rubberband ball, signature yellow hat and sick duct tape sandals which he wore most of college and we still own.

His trombone, some frisbees (for frisbee golf of course), and some molecules.

A top view. I origianally wanted to shape the whole periodic table but it would have wasted too much cake. It worked out well anyway, so we could put all the stuff on it.

Ta-Da!

The table decor

Matt ate the head off of himself before we served cake.

"Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor"

Grant and Cary played most of the evening and Matt sat in for a couple of songs. He hasnt played in like 6 months, which is more than I can say for myself.

The boys popped the balloons at the end of the night. It sounded like we were being attacked with all the echoing.

Shay is excited, cant you tell.

I forgot I bought silly string for everyone to get Matt with but Shay, Deanna and Rob took care of that just before we left.

Well it was a whirlwind of a weekend but it was so much fun! I love hanging out with our family and friends and I am sooooo proud of Matthew!! He has worked so hard and is almost finished, just the thesis left to defend sometime in June or July and he will officially be Dr. Matt! Congratulations again my sweet husband and thanks for working so hard always (even though it isnt official :)!!! I love you!

Next post: Deanna's graduation, which was actually the week before Matt's.

Birthday Month

Well now that my birthday month is over, I guess it is time for an update. I had an absolutely wonderful birthday month - and I celebrated with friends and family just about that long too! I think the festivities officially began the day before my bday with my bday lunch with work friends, then pre-birthday dinner with my grandparents at Iron Starr. They came to take us out to eat that evening. Then the next morning, my work friends brought a whole bunch of delicious breakfast food because I was only working a half day because my sweet hubby planned a weekend away for us at a bed and breakfast in Arkansas. I had been looking forward to that for months! We stayed at the Beland Manor which was located just across the Oklahoma border in Ft. Smith. My favorite part of the weekend was the massage that we got Saturday morning right after breakfast. We dont get those nearly enough!! We continued our eating festivities and had dinner at a great little Spanish/Cuban restaurant one night and ate at a German restaurant the other night. Both of which were delicious. We didnt do a lot of shopping but I did get to go to the yarn store there in town and we also played frisbee golf at their park which is always fun! We also watched some movies, relaxed in our room and I was often sitting in the rocker by our fireplace in the room! So that was my first celebration weekend!

Then, the weekend after that, the Meredith clan came to visit us! They made it just in time before we got all the snow that weekend. Luckily we only lost power in the middle of the night or that really would have cramped our style on Saturday! We did a lot of hanging around the house which is always nice. We cooked some delicious food, watched tons of movies and played with some of my new bday gifts too. I got a super awesome Italian Cook Book from Deanna, a few clothing items and a new Wii game called Just Dance from John and Monica and then a surprise present that is not here just yet from everyone which is: a new laptop!!!!!!!!!! (But since this post was originally written, my laptop came in and this is the official new post from my new lappy)! Matt got a super good deal since he is a student at OU and surprised me with it since I always steal his :) We had tons of fun with the new Wii game (which included forcing the boys to play) and just enjoyed being with family and not having too many plans to attend to. And we again managed to eat out a time or two that weekend too!

And then, the weekend after that (last weekend), we got to go to Tulsa and spend time with my family! Shay just moved to a new apt and we went and helped her get all set up in there. And everyone knows how much I LOVE organizing and moving things!!!!!!!!!!! We did tons of shopping but Shay certainly won the spending contest by a factor of 10 or more :) Matt and Janoah got to play frisbee golf, Lucy got to play at the little dog park near by alot, we met up with my grandparents, had delicious desserts from Whole Foods, and got to meet up with some dear friends that we haven't seen in almost 3 years! Way too long! Shay got me a whole bunch of knitting books with tons of cute ideas in them and mom got me a kit to make knitted boots and all of the ZOE group cds that I didnt have and have wanted for a long while!

I am so incredibly blessed to have friends and family that love and care for me so much! They do way more for me than I deserve and I love them very much! I am sure I dont say that enough too!!! Thank you everyone for all the special things you gave me for my bday and for spending time with me and for loving me so much. I love you all and very much!!!!

**sorry for the lack of pictures, I didnt take very many with my camera but I got a few from the John and Monica

babysitting fun!

Last week, Matt and I got to hang out with Olivia while Katie and Ryan went out for Ryan's bday. We had loads of fun and Olivia really enjoyed interacting with Lucy as always. She only got mad at me when I tried to make her go to sleep, she won that battle the first time! After I conceded, we then we came back out into the living room and played with Lucy and Jack for another hour and she was perfectly content. I guess she is just a partaay girl! At least she slept good the whole night I hear so that her parents could enjoy some much needed sleep I am sure :)

Matt tried to get her smiling but it didnt work out. You cant really tell in this pic, but Olivia has a big wad of my hair in her mouth!! At least none stayed in there though!

Oliva the Wise

When it snowed a bunch a few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of spending lots of time with some of our best buds, the Isenbergs. And while I have no pictures of us, I have lots of Olivia! Imagine that. These are the best ones:

I saw this cute buret pattern that looked cute and easy and decidided to try it out. When knitting sometimes, I just decide that I think I know what is best and kind of disregard suggestions by the pattern writer. Well this is what happens when you do that, you end up with a giganto hat instead of a baby buret. But is is super cute anyway, she just wont be able to wear it until like a year or so. But we had to take advantage of the photog moment.

She looks like a very wise mini-buddha, but obviously cuter!

She's like, "you know what i'm talkin bout Willis"
Another day they came over, Olivia was all into reaching for Lucy, and as you know, Lucy loved to lick the babies. This is her face after all the licking. Looks like she is trying to tell me to wash her hand please!

I tried to put these pics in order but blogspot is being stupid again. I say this alot, but I really feel it should be more user friendly than it is. It is always messing up and it is quite cumbersome to put pics and videos in. But anyway, you get the idea. Maybe it will be fixed sometime soon!

A Late Christmas For My Dear Friend

Can you guess who she is?

You might find her here:
Here: Here: Here: Or even here: But NEVER here (that's crazy talk):Give up, well here is one more clue, this is her office:

Merry-very-late Christmas Katie!! You don't have to learn how to finish your green scarf now!! (Although if you find it and want to still, I will be glad to show you how :) )