Sunday drive

Clay heard at church that the scouts were going camping at the Glass Mountains, just outside of town. He wanted in on this because, well, you know Oklahoma, there's no mountains anywhere so where just was this special place?!

We took off and threw the destination in our phones. This is what we came upon. 

It had to be the place.

Not quite what we had hoped for. Oh well. We got out and took a walk around. Stretched our legs, and were pretty much back on the road minutes later. 

I guess this is as good as you're going to get out here on the plains. 

Hope those scouts have fun camping :) 

It was then that Clay decided he couldn't live here for the rest of his life. Me neither. Ha Ha Nice Sunday drive, however. 

Twister

For Clay's last rotation weekend, we wanted to try and find something to do outside of Enid. I heard about a fair and parade in this town called Pond Creek, population like 500? I don't know. The parade wasn't too bad. Nothing compared to what I'm used to for Burley's during fair week. I tried to get Kort to get candy, mostly for myself :)

We tried to find the fair grounds but never did. So, we had another plan. About half hour north of there was the Twister Museum. You know, the movie?! In the town of Wakita, Oklahoma. Kort fell asleep on the way there and it was lunch time. We decided to just look up a place there on the GPS which was appropriately called Twister Cafe. Sounded fine. We get there and it's practically desolate. And that cafe? Um, totally shut down. Luckily we found a little grocery store/convenient store and bought some nasty pizza and chili dogs. We made it to the museum/little building and took an hour tour while Kort made the place even more like a twister, tearing everything apart.

Wakita's water tower. The one you see in the movie.

Location map of places filmed at, all pretty close to Enid where we live.

The outside of the "museum".

Bill Paxton's pinball machine :)

The original Dorothy from the movie.

Aunt Meg's house before and after the F4 hit.

What the crew did to the town of Wakita. Literally made it a disaster. And to top it off, they left it like that for 2 weeks after filming, just in case they needed to come back and fix scenes.

It was actually pretty cool checking out all the stuff and hearing stories about the movie, since I actually knew the movie and like watching it. There have been people from all over the world that have come to the museum. There are actual storm chasers around here from England which made them stop by as well. Don't think I'd drive/travel 10+ hours just to come check out the museum, so it was pretty nice that we lived so close to check it out.

Labor Day

I thought it would be fun to explore a little more of Oklahoma, so I wanted to go check out Tulsa. I thought the zoo would be fun to take Kort to, so I kind of had that planned out. Well, after 94 hours and 7 days of work later, I didn't think Clay would want to go anywhere and would just want to relax. So I put those plans on hold. It was going to be 100+ degrees so we decided no on the zoo, and Clay wanted to get out of the house, so we opted for OKC instead.

Bricktown was our new destination. Come to think of it, we drove past the Thunder's stadium, and I didn't even get a picture. Guess that means we'll just have to go to a game this season to get one :) The only thing I can compare Bricktown to is a mini downtown with a bunch of restaurants - the party place after the games. They have a riverfront type thing similar to San Antonio (of what Clay told me) that you can take a water taxi on. We just ended up stopping at Bass Pro Shop and finding a place to eat lunch.

We ate at Jazmo'z Bourbon Street Cafe just off the riverwalk. Pretty good food, I got chicken fettucine alfredo, but I wouldn't get that again, even though it was good. Half the plate was full of grease after I almost finished. Clay got an appetizer of "alligator bites". He said it was just fried meat and had me try a piece. Dumb blonde of me. It was real alligator meat. Nasty. Ok, so it really wasn't all that bad, just really bland.

We had parked a ways away at the Botanical Gardens and I had planned on maybe letting Kort play in their splash area and us walking around. Well, it all lasted about 5 minutes until it was sweating hot and we just hopped in the car and left. Kort was getting cranky so I told Clay to just find a Target and they could take a nap while I went in.

Oh how I have missed Target! Well, the one we found quickly on the GPS was similar to the one we had in Austin, MN so not big and not a Super Target. Oh well. Kind of in the ghetto area too. I felt good when I walked into the store. However, that feeling soon dwindled as I wasn't finding any great deals. I then realized the one main reason I have loved Target was for their clearance and couponing. Don't get me wrong, I love all their stuff, I'm just a cheap-o and rarely buy full priced items there. I left the store with only the purchase of a bottled water for Clay.

Kort never ended up falling asleep so we headed home and entertained him with a water bottle and twizzlers. He went to bed early. We bought Battleship and it was AWESOME! Rihanna wasn't too bad of an actor and Liam Neeson is brilliant as always. It was such a great day though to be able to spend with Clay, seeing how I pretty much hadn't seen him for the last week. Good thing it's his rotation this weekend and it's fair time here!!! Yee-haw!

18 months (actually 20 months) check-up

Trying to get Kort's 18 month check up was a joke here. The process was ridiculous, but alas, we got an appointment . . . 2 months later. So here we are, 20 months old. 

Here's Kort's stats:

Height: 34 inches = 78%

Weight: 26 lbs. = 43%

Head Circumference: 48.3 cm = 55%

Still the same tall and skinny dude! I didn't realize they needed a check up at 15 months, so we obviously skipped that, so Kort got 3 shots, which he screamed for them, but he relaxed a few minutes later and was fine the rest of the day. I hate seeing him tear up. 

Here's a quick rundown of his daily schedule.

7:30 wake up, mommy be lazy, eat breakfast, get dressed, get 8 oz. whole milk

10:00 nap time - he still gets tired in the morning and will take about an hour nap

11:00 playgroup on Thursdays - that is, when we have the car and feel up to going

12:00 lunch time - 8 oz. whole milk plus lunch

2:00 nap time - this one usually varies - he'll fall asleep on his own, or not, so I put him to sleep, which he doesn't nap as long

5:00 dinner - 8 oz. whole milk plus dinner

7:30 get ready for bed

Yes, that's the basics. We lead a boring life so it's time for me to whip out all the things I've pinned on Pinterest and start doing activities with Kort :) Good idea, eh? ha ha We've gone to the splash pad a couple of times, walk around our apartment complex, go shopping, went to the park for a picnic, so not totally pathetic. Most days Kort doesn't get to see Clay, but when he does, he loves watching out the patio door for him to walk by and then run to the front door to see him walk in. 

For his check up, they had me score with a yes, sometimes, or not yet on things he's accomplished or progressed with, such as how many words he can say, his personality skills/traits, interactions with toys/kids, etc. We got the results back and apparently he's too low on some so they have what's called SoonerStart which helps toddlers through 36 months with developmental delays. Well, I definitely wouldn't consider Kort to have that, but it's free so whatever help is given, sure. On the questionnaire the ones I put Not Yet on were things I haven't even tried with him, but it still rates/scores it the same, so I think those were the ones that are considering him to have a delay. We'll see what happens. I blame myself for anything like that because I just don't get him out enough to interact with other children and he's always cooped up in the house like I am, so it's my fault anyway. 

Kort's doing great overall. He's still super active and won't give me a break! 

New things he's doing:

*Throws and kicks the ball

*Folds his arms for prayer and says "may meh" for amen

*Signs please, thank you, all done, and more

*Learning to use a spoon/fork

*Stands on his head and sometimes rolls over

*Will spin in circles saying "pin pin pin" for spin

*Still not a huge fan of large amounts of water, but loves splashing during bath time

*Loves to hear Skype ringing/calling

*Is pointing at everything!

*Takes his shorts off all the time

What a hoot he is to have around! I figure there's always going to be something that's hard to handle with a child. First it was sleeping, then it's eating, and yadda yadda yadda. It's never ending, but I still love our little monkey no matter what!

California Trip

Now that it's been months later after taking a much needed vacation, I think I should probably post about our memories before I forget them!

Monday (June 25th) we hung out in OKC and went shopping. We checked into our hotel, had dinner, and just relaxed. We had a 7:00 a.m. flight in the morning, so that's why we decided to stay the night instead of getting up at 3:00 a.m. to make the flight.

Tuesday morning, we tried to keep Kort asleep to at least the airport, but uh, that never happened. He didn't fall back asleep until during the flight - which was perfect anyway. We got into Orange County Airport around 9:45 (11:45 our time) and took the shuttle to get our rental car, which was a Mazda 3 - pretty nice, but too small for what we'd buy, but it was perfectly fine for the next couple days. We found an In-N-Out immediately!!! YUM! Our next destination was the shop for Clay's scuba trip. We drove to Venice Beach and while Clay was getting fitted, Kort took a long nap :) That took a good hour. I had previously planned to hang out at Newport Beach and check out that Temple, but since it was now out of our way, we were super close to downtown L.A. and the Temple, so we drove there and checked out the grounds and Visitor's Center. So pretty! Add another Temple to our list that we've seen! We also made a quick stop on the beach in Venice. I wanted to find the popular spot where you see everyone biking and roller blading, but I had no idea what area and I was just wanting to get out of the car. It was fun to watch Kort enjoy the sand for the first time though! We checked into our Anaheim Hotel, got settled, and then met up in downtown Disney with Barbara and crew (Brandon, Leland, and Barbara - Barb's mom) for dinner at Napoli's. We got these ginormous pizzas which were really good. We went back to the hotel after while everyone else went back in the park.

Wednesday morning Clay and Brandon set off for their scuba trip on Catalina Island. Kort and I left with the other three to hit up Disneyland! Kort was already asleep before we even got to the front gates. It wasn't bad having Kort there. The rides have parent passes. So I stay with Kort outside a ride while everyone goes through the standby line. Once they get back, I can take someone with me through the fast pass line to go through quicker. This way you're not wasting hours waiting to go through :) It was nice. In the meantime, whoever had Kort would walk around, go on kiddie rides, or whatever. Kort did fantastic on those rides, like Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and a few more that he could just sit on my lap and see all the colors! We were able to get a Hopper pass and go into California Adventure Land and go on Screamin' California and Soarin' California! Kort wasn't a fan of the carousel, by the way :) Clay and Brandon met up with us for dinner and Clay took Kort home so I could go back on some adult rides. We only ended up going to Tower of Terror, but that was perfect. The park also had this outside club that was an Alice in Wonderland theme. It was pretty cool.

Thursday Clay and I dropped off the rental car at LAX to pick up his parents and take a shuttle to the Catalina Express Ferry. We met everyone else there, ate some lunch, and boarded the boat. Catalina Island was amazing! We walked maybe a half mile or so to our hotel and just relaxed the rest of the day checking out the "beach" (there wasn't much area of sand so it was pretty small), going to dinner and exploring.

Friday morning we played in the sand before we had our underwater glass submarine ride scheduled. It was actually pretty cool. You could buy "torpedos" of food to shoot off once we got around a bunch of fish. It was amazing how fast the fish would swarm to the food. I've never seen so many fish in my life, and right all around us!

That afternoon Carol watched Kort while the rest of us went snorkeling. Can I say I looked pretty dang hot in a wet suit? JUST KIDDING!!! Our guide was great. I'm glad we had a guide, and wet suits. I was pretty much freezing by the end of the tour, well at least my ears were frozen and hurt. Once you stepped in the water, a couple feet out there were fish swimming all around your feet - and you couldn't see them outside the water. Fish were constantly all around you throughout the whole trip. We found some sea urchins and a sea cucumber - basically a really big, slimy worm. Nasty.

That night after Kort went to bed, Brandon, Barb, Clay and I checked out the town. We had fun visiting the different shops and walked to Descanso Beach. They had cabanas and chairs all out, but they were soaking wet so we just enjoyed them - this was all in the dark. Oh, and we might have had a picture taking fest making stupid faces. That was plenty of fun! We walked around the Casino, which isn't a gambling one, only a museum and movie theater. Great night away from the kiddo ;)

 Saturday we decided to rent golf carts and drive around the town around the huge homes, past the zipline, up to the highest point we could on a road, and overlook the Pacific Ocean! It was just gorgeous! We also saw a bunch of deer right off the road towards the end of our drive. We took a bus to the Botanical Gardens. HA, that was a joke, probably because it was in the summer so it looked like a desert. At least we enjoyed a hike. The guys also rented some kayaks for an hour and enjoyed paddling around the inlet, while us girls got ready to lay out on the beach :)

That evening was time to sail back to civilization to the main land. Good thing I got a hoodie because it was cold on the way back! Barb insisted on being a taxi and taking turns driving people back to the hotel so we could save money, but it took probably 3 hours total from leaving to getting everyone back. Oh well. We checked into our AWESOME Disney Marriott Hotel - BEST Hotel I've stayed in (except once for in Coeur d' Alene;) ). We ate at Red Robin - YUMMMM - late that night.

Sunday morning everyone parted ways and took a bus to the airport and left for home.  The night before I was trying to find out where we caught our bus for the airport (I ordered cheap tickets from getawaytoday.com - cheap Disney tickets, etc.) and the hotel internet was retarded as we could only check it from a computer in their business lounge. And then, our flight tickets through priceline had changed our flight to a later time so I tried confirming and printing our tickets the night before and so I was making all these phone calls trying to get it figured out which I ended up not. Very frustrating night with nothing figured out. Well, the bus ended up picking us up outside the hotel, so that was nice. We got to the airport early, thank goodness, because it took about an hour and a half to get our flight figured out. After that everything was just peachy. We got back to OKC late and picked our car up from the hotel and about an hour into the drive, we came into one of the towns along the highway and Clay forgot to look at the speed limit and the ONLY car happening to drive towards us was a cop. PO PO pulled us over! Luckily we got no ticket, but the warning he gave Clay went into the system so next warning = ticket :( We finally got home and went to bed! So nice to be home. Great vacation. Maybe next one we'll get together on a house boat at Lake Powell - anyone got connections there??? :) Really. Ok, now that this was a novel.
Hope you enjoyed our adventure, if you're still reading :)

*If any of you know how to make collages for blogger, I'd appreciate any feedback :) I've always done it on photobucket, but it's so confusing now with all the "layers" and that whole process.

Nursery time!

Sundays just got easier!

I'm sure many of you have gone through what we have with a toddler and trying to handle them through all three meetings at church. It's guaranteed that one of us won't make it through the last meeting (Relief Society or Priesthood) as Kort has way too much energy and it's past lunch time. It's also right after he wakes up from his nap in our arms so he wants to run around. That doesn't help.

Luckily . . . the nursery must love him because they let him go in at 17 months, four Sundays early! Ok, so the first couple Clay would put him in there during Priesthood and he did quite well. Now, he's in there the whole two hours after Sacrament and he is an angel in there ;) Yes, he's the typical newbie that cries once he gets dropped off, but he's good a couple minutes later after we leave.

Absolute hilarious story.

Fact: Kort does not sit still. Maybe give or take a couple minutes he will and then BAM - he's off on another adventure. I don't know if it's taking longer for him to "mature", but he still tries to eat crayons, can't sit still in a chair without being strapped in. So, now for the story, or rather a short story.

We love checking in on Kort during nursery to see how he's doing, if he's crying, biting, and what not. Well, this last Sunday, Clay went and checked on him and what do you know, they're trying to all sit at the table, eat their snacks and Kort is on top of the table, crawling to the other end, stealing the other kids' snacks. The teacher pulls him down, puts him back in his chair. This repeated a couple times. 

Ok, so I said short story. I meant it. Guess you have to know how Kort acts. I could not stop laughing for a good solid five minutes when Clay told me this. I can completely picture it. He climbs on anything he can. We have our apartment so baby proofed that we pretty much have nothing anymore. He's gotten to the point where he knows what to use to step up on to climb on the computer desk, the table, or up to the counter top. He uses diaper boxes, his toy box, or our little half circle chair thingy (whatever you want to call it). He is a monkey!

Anyway, it's so, so nice to be able to relax now in Sunday School and Relief Society! 

Then we come home and the madness continues.

happy 4th!

With us just getting back from vacation, we really didn't plan anything spectacular for the 4th. Kind of a bummer, since it's usually one of my favorite holidays, especially when we lived in Idaho. It was guaranteed that there was some sort of water involved, whether being on the Snake River boating, or swimming, cliff jumping, we were there. Then the fireworks. And who could forget the parades! Well, we got nothing of that this year :)

There was no parade in this town of ours. We went to lunch at Rib Crib. BBQ. 

Enough said :) Then had a movie marathon.

This was a really great movie. Awesome that it had clips from the real life story.

Napped through half of this - not on purpose though, since Clay started it after I fell asleep. But the main guy, Dartanyon, is from Percy Jackson - that Olympian movie :)

This didn't fail me. Great like the first one.

We grilled some hamburgers after Kort went to bed and continued watching. Didn't want to leave the house for fireworks since we're trying to get Kort back on schedule, or maybe we were just lazy. So we caught a few out the back of our apartment. It was a great day though. Just relaxing.

So thankful we have a free country to live in and that we have so many brave soldiers that have and are risking their lives daily so that we can continue to live freely and worship freely as we please.