Ohhhhh snap, I got my hair did!

I have been saying for a while that I was ready to cut my hair since it was long enough to donate again and I finally did! Sticking to my sneaky ways lately, I made a secret appointment for Thursday and didnt tell anyone not even Matt or anyone at work for the whole week. But I ended up telling Shay on Wednesday night when she called because I just had to tell someone but she lives in Tulsa so I knew no one else would find out.

Thursday was a really rough day at work for me so I was so glad when it was time for my appointment because I was needing a break big time. But I was running a few minutes late and then got stuck behind a train so I thought I might not get to get it cut afterall. The cottonwood secretary lady was being really uptight about me being late so I drove incredibly unsafe and made it just barely late with no wrecks or tickets.

I have never been there but it was awesome! You get a head and temple massage as well as an arm and hand massage when your hair is being washed. Plus some other complementary services that I didnt take advantage of because I was in a hurry. And since I was donating my hair, they didnt charge me for my haircut and mailed it for me also! What a deal!!

These are the only pics I snapped that day. I was so flustered from my day at work and running late I almost forgot to take any. She cut off about 11 inches here and then about 12 total after it was all said and done.

Voila!

The above picture was taken much later in the evening when I got home and the bottom picture was right when I got back to work from my haircut.

Since no one knew, my work friends were totally shocked when I came back. Matt was shocked too because he also didnt know. I love surprises!! It has been about 3 or so years since my last major cut to donate and so I was ready for it again especially since it is getting so hot now. I love the cut and plan to keep it short for a while then start growing it again for the next Locks of Love donation!! Bring on the summer!!!

Vancouver trip re-visited (like 6 weeks later)

Well, as I do often, I have neglected my blogging and I havent even blogged about the best trip of the year so far!! I havent really forgotten I was just putting it off because I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hate putting pictures on blogspot especially when there are tons to choose from. For as many people that use this website, you would think it would be more user friendly especially in the picture/movie uploading features but it definately IS NOT! I have been contemplating switching websites but dont really know of other ones that are better. Any suggestions??

But anyway, back to Vancouver...

We had an absolutely fabulous time there. Everything was beautiful and there was so much more to do that we had time for. For those who didnt know, we got to plan such a wonderful trip because Matt had a chemisty meeting conveniently located there. It takes place twice/year in various locations around the world and in April in was in Vancouver. And because he is such a brilliant fellow, we got it all payed for (except my plane ticket because i have nothing to do with OU) but we did have credit card milage that allowed me to get my ticket for almost nothing! That is part of what made the trip even more awesome!

We got to go for one whole week and few days we got to do stuff together and a few days Matt was at the meeting and I did stuff by myself. Aside from getting plantar fasciatis, I can think of no bad things to report about the trip. The town was beautiful! It is the 5th greenest city in the world and you can definately tell. The have recycling bins in the hotel room! If you stay downtown, you can do big city stuff, yet you are within walking distance of hiking, parks, beaches and a bus ride away from the mountains and kayaking. It was just wonderful.

But as previously mentioned, I hate puting lots of pics on here so I think I am just going to direct you to my facebook page and put them all up on there with comments about where we were and stuff. I took so many it is really hard to cull down for blogger. So go here and look at my pictures to see all about our wonderful Vancouver expedition. If you ever get a chance to go, I highly reccomend it!!

Baby boy beanie

This is a cute little baby boy hat I made for my friend this week. I really like the design and will probably make some elf new born hats as well for baby photos. This hat is for a 6 month old baby.

I always struggle to come up with cute ideas for baby boy stuff, but I thought this was cute and still masculine enough :)

Weekend funtivities!

This is the first weekend we have been home in a while without crazy activities and we had lots of fun! Charlie was here with us while her parents were rockin out with Josh Ritter in NYC. Friday, we came home and did a bit of yard work before we grilled out dinner. Matt cleaned out the dog pools which makes the front half of our yard a mud pit and the dogs got really nasty but had lots of fun doing it!

I dont know what Matt is doing here but Charlie is getting ready for it :)

And then Lucy is getting down and dirty with her frisbee. Needless-to-say, they got a good washing before they came in that night.

Sick Lucy, sick!

And here is what we had on Friday night, dry rub pork chops, sweet potato fries and broccoli. We really love sweet potatoes...I have been cooking them so much lately and they are always so good and good for you. Much better than regular potatoes.

And right after dinner, we decided to go to Orange Leaf (not to be confused with Orange Tree) to get some delicious yogurt. Can you guess which one is Matthews bowl?

And headed to the lake to eat it. There was some amateur band playing at Louie's but we didnt stay for that really. They werent very good but it was fun to walk at the lake at sunset. We dont do that nearly enough. I kind of forget about going to the lake except when I am driving by to and from work.

A good picture after several tries, we are getting better at these :)

And of course a silly one, I am not good at silly faces but Matt is :)

Saturday, we took Lucy to get her annual shots and ran a few errands in Norman and then hung out at home the rest of the day. And since we were in the grilling mood, grilled out again on Saturday. This time it was steaks, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts on the grill.

It has been a fun relaxing weekend and I am glad we had good weather to enjoy the outside.

Our Dog is a Vegan

My mom would approve of this message since she is a bigtime vegan. But yeah, if you didnt know, my dog Lucy LOVES grass! She eats it all the time and will eat it like its a treat. If Matt is about to mow the yard, she eats around the edges of the fence seemingly as if to beat him before he cuts it all off. She will eat it while laying in the grass and also loves for us to feed it to her. It is weird but funny! I tried to take some pictures but she moves too fast in them so I didnt get many but I did get a video.

I dont know if grass is good for dogs to eat so much of but it is better than table food probably, she sure does love it and its free!

Oh yeah, I'm that guy....

One of those people that has a Topsy Turvy! I bought one at the end of the year last year to try this season and ended up buying another to try and grow tomatoes and yellow peppers. And guess what, it appears to actually be working!! And here is the proof:

It is the first tomato on the vine! And I looked a little harder and there are several more tiny ones too! YEAH, I didnt actually think it would grow tomatoes but so far it is going well. Apparently, they grow where the flowers are after they die, I also didnt know that before either.

The one below is the pepper plant. Only flowers so far but then hopefully peppers. It was slower growing than the tomatoes and just started blooming flowers this week.

Too bad I didnt do a whole garden again this year, maybe next year. I am sure I will keep you updated on how these plants are doing as the veggies mature.

My Slaw is a Master!

In case you dont know what that title means, it is the nickname Deanna gave me recently. I forgot where she heard it but its pretty funny! (Slaw = sister-in-law)

Well as mentioned in the previous post, not only did Matthew just graduate with an advanced degree, Deanna did as well! Two weeks ago, Deanna graduated from Abilene with her Masters Degree in Missions. She along with a few other families have been training for over 2 years for a church planting mission in Concepcion, Chili. They are currently being funded by a church in College Station for this last year leading up to their departure in January of 2011 and they are all in the process of trying to get funding for their time in Chile. I was trying to post the link for you to read about their team but I guess they removed the promotional thing from the church website. Wah, wah :( But anyway, we are all so proud of her and the team and all their plans to do great work for God there. I know they are getting excited and nervous and I would just like to solicit the prayers of my friends for their team as they make their final preparations for this mission. So here are a few pics from her big weekend!!!!

Deanna getting hooded (and she found out later all the hood were upside down, oops!)

Post ceremony pictures:

John and Monica (the proud parents)

Aunts and uncle

Trina and Deanna visiting at the awesome burger joint we went to after the ceremony.

And for dinner, we went to this cute restaurant in the country. This band was the entertainment for the evening. They played lots of classic country tunes and it was cool that their bass player was a woman! Never seen that before.

John and Monica being silly and hiding their chins :)

They had all the saying on the trim of the ceiling and this one was the most unique and I had never heard it before.

The whole clan at the end of the evening (minus Monica, I guess she took the picture),

And our ever necessary bed picture. We probably could have squeezed John on there dont you think?

On Sunday, we cooked brunch for the family for a mini-Mother's Day Celebration. We made bacon and carrot cake pancakes. They were sooooo good!

And one last group picture...let us not forget our doggies :)

Congratulations again Deanna! I am so proud and honored to be your s-law and will be sad when you move but look forward to coming and visiting you! I am glad we got to see you two weekends in a row and I cant wait for WALTONIA!