Ok, so more about my wonderful trip to Texas & Oklahoma...

On Saturday I slept in, showered, and hung out by the pool for a couple hours...then after dinner, the Leyva's and I went to dance performance put on by RACE Dance Company. The performance was interesting...I enjoyed a few of the dances and now I would have to say that its opened my mind up to seeing stuff like that more often. After the performance the kids headed off with a friend, leaving Jen, Jason, & I to hang out...we went out to dinner & drinks with one of their very interesting friends, and I just enjoyed listening to him talk about performing, acting, etc. Afterwards (around midnight), we headed to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial...it was beautiful and there was something that made seeing at night so different...reverence maybe.





We hung out there for a few minutes, then drove around downtown OKC for a while...I got to see Bricktown and Jen & Jason pointed out some of their old hangouts and other places that meant different things to them. Finally we ended back up at Jen's Mom's...and what did we do...we went swimming...from about 1 until 3:30. It was so much fun just hanging out with Jen and Jason. And of course it wasnt easy waking up Sunday morning...but once I did Jen, her Mom, and I headed out to do some quick errands. After that we all had a quick lunch and said our goodbyes to Jen's Mom...she is such a sweetheart. Sunday afternoon and evening we hung out with Jen's Dad and family for a while...had a wonderful dinner at this great Mexican place, then headed out to head back to Fort Worth...I have to say OKC was pretty cool...and the scenery between OKC and Forth Worth is beautiful.

The last full day of my trip was probably one of the best...the kids had a Les Miserables camp, so Jen and I headed out for some shopping. We had a lot of fun, just hanging out, looking around...it was great. We shopped at the Old Stockyards, which was pretty interesting...they had "cattle drives" and other performers, including a guy with a whip.






After picking up Zach & Sadie, the four of us headed to the mall for some more shopping. Zach is at that age where if he doesnt want to do something you're making him do, he says, "you hate me"...after several "you hate me"'s and a promise not to say it anymore, I bought Zach a Monster...not the best idea...from then on anything you said would be followed by the comment, "your mom...". So I got punished for that one. At one point we went into one of those stores that has massage chairs, etc. So we took advantage...




Then we just caused a little more trouble...






After the mall, we ended our adventure at Walmart...where of course we caused trouble...again...




...geez, what a day...

What?! Vacation?!...I did take one. It was WONDERFUL! It was so nice to just get away from home, work, and the stress that comes with it. So I went to Texas to visit this wonderful family that I absolutely love and miss. It was so nice going to visit the Leyva's (a family I used to babysit for at Double JJ). My trip was great. I flew from Grand Rapids to Atlanta (and now I officially hate the Atlanta airport), then I flew to Dallas/Fort Worth. I was picked up by Jason and Zach and I was super happy to see them. Zach is 12 now and getting so tall. His voice is getting deeper too and he's already becoming more mature. The Levya's always have a crazy busy schedule, so as soon as I got there we were rushing back to Artisan Center Theatre (which is owned by a very nice Mormon family). Jason & Zach gave me a nice little tour of the Theatre, followed by an hour or so wait for "Oklahoma" to begin...starring Jason as Ali Hakim. When intermission came along, so did Jen and Sadie...Sadie's getting taller and more mature already too...but she's still as cuddly and sweet as before. It was so great meeting up with Jen and getting to talk for a while...I missed that family so, so much. After "Oklahoma", we headed back to the Leyva house, ate dinner, and hung out. We got to bed late, but I wouldn't have traded it for sleeping in my bed. The next day was started bright and early (noon) to eat and then pack up to head for Oklahoma City...

The drive to Oklahoma City was nice...Sadie was snuggled right up to me in the car and Zach was in his own little world...there were these beautiful rock cliffs on each side of the highway, but sadly I can't remember where exactly (somewhere on I-35). We drove past the town where Toby Keith grew up and little places that Jen & Jason had stories for...it was a great 3.5 hour drive. While driving through OKC, we passed where the bombing memorial is, the hospital where Zach was born, and more little places. We finally arrived to our destination with enough time to take a breather, grab a bite to eat, and then head out to see a hometown performance of "Annie". I did enjoy the play...the child performers did great, along with the former Miss Oklahoma (I believe) that played Grace Farrell...Daddy Warbucks on the other hand was not great...he kept calling Annie a he and couldn't sing that great either...but I can't be too harsh seeing as I wouldn't have wanted to be on that stage. After "Annie" we headed back to Jen's Mom's, watched a movie, and talked. It was really nice.

More about my great trip will be coming soon...

Wow! Its been forever since I last wrote and so much has happened in the past month...

Over the course of the month we've slowly been getting settled into the new house. Its kind of a rough task because the people that lived here before smoked, so we've had to wash all the walls and clean the floors several times, but its getting there. Everybody else seems to be settled into their bedrooms and the house is almost completely settled in...but then there's me...I've been crazy busy (working and I took a wonderful little vacation), so sadly I haven't been able to get my room to the way I usually like it...