P/V Anniversary

Paul and Vicki celebrated 54 years of marriage with us this year.  We were excited about this milestone in their lives and decided we would go out to eat with them to celebrate! 

Anna sent them flowers and she picked out the same color they had at their wedding.  They were very pretty and we put them in a vase and set them on the mantle.  

We made reservations at Farm Table and requested to sit at Elaine's table (Noah's mom).  Farm Table is only open for dinner and it's a little on the pricey side so we didn't take the kids with us on this dinner trip.  Vicki and I both ordered mac and cheese except I got bacon mixed in and she did not.  B and Paul shared their meals which one was a steak and one was stuffed chicken.  All the food was delicious and I think we had 3 go boxes with leftovers.  P/V shared a key lime dessert which is one of their favorites.  

It was a really good day and evening for the two of them.  Happy 54th anniversary! 

Oklahoma Thanksgiving 2017

Our Thanksgiving this year would be spent in OK because it might be the last holiday in Edmond for P/V.  They recently retired and sold their business.  Their goal is to move to Texas to be closer to their kids and grand kids. 

B had to work Wednesday so we left Wednesday afternoon (11/22) and drove to OK.  We arrived around 11 pm and our kids were so tired.  We put them straight to bed and then stayed up and talked a bit.  Christopher was there to surprise everyone and it really was a nice surprise. 
Thursday morning came quickly and preparations began for an early afternoon meal.  The Vikings had a game and I knew it was important to watch that game along with other football games of the day.  I had already made a few things and froze them in TX but they thawed during our drive.  My crockpot corn was going to be easy to throw together.  It's hard for me to remember all the details because I'm trying to write this 6 months later!  We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal and the kids played outside a lot.  The older cousins took the younger ones to the park down the street and I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time.  Aunt Mo took some time to take pictures of kids and couples in the backyard and that was nice.  We ended our evening watching football and eating dessert (mostly pie). 

Friday morning started early with the guys renting a U-Haul and throwing a lot of trash away from P/V's house.  I think it totaled to 2 tons to the dump.  It was a lot of work.  Anna, Mandy and I just hung with the kids and after feeding them lunch, we took them to see the movie Wonder.  It was a sweet/sad movie and for Christmas, I wanted to get the book so I could read it aloud to the kids.  Instead of leftovers (again), we ate dinner at Ted's.  I think we had 2 tables full at Ted's: one kid table with 10 kids and one adult table with 9 adults. 

Our last day together was Saturday and it was spent just being chill at the house.  I woke up early and walked around the neighborhood, trying to burn off some of the food I had consumed over the last 2 days.   There were some important college football games on Saturday, the biggest of which was OU's game against West Virginia.  LSU was playing also, but my game would be on the back burner because I was in Sooner country.  I enjoyed cooking football food and snacks for the game, though, and cheering when I could.  Marcus put the LSU game on after the OU game was over so I got to watch a little of my Tigers.  We ended the night with a fire outside on the back porch and s'mores with the grandkids.  Making s'mores and sitting around a fire is always a nice way to end a family weekend. 

Of course we drove home Sunday with all the other millions of people.  I don't remember how long it took us, but it took a lot longer than any other day of the year.  At least we were together.  Our time in Edmond was fun and it could very well be the last time we make a trip up there since Gran and Papaw will hopefully be moving down soon. 

COVID - 19

I started this post in 2020.  It's almost 3 years later and a lot has changed.  We don't have to wear masks anymore (except to doctors offices) and we can do normal things like eat out, movies, and go to sporting events.  I'm pretty sure everyone in our family has had covid at least once even if we didn't test for it.  P/V have both had it and bounced back after a couple weeks.  We didn't get the vaccine but respect anyone who does.  It's a personal choice. 

What a few months it has been.  This world wide pandemic has taken the world by storm and totally changed how we do life. It started in March, in China I believe, but spread to the US and flights were cancelled, people worked from home, and then school was basically cancelled after Spring Break.  Teachers did their best to have "online" school, but it's not the same.  Even my school didn't return after Spring Break and I had to host zoom classes for the remainder of the semester.  It's been a wild ride. 

First we had to quarantine to our homes and neighborhoods.  We could walk outside but had to socially distance ourselves from others at least 6 feet apart.  Restaurants, the mall, businesses and the movies all closed.  Bryce started working from home and I had to facilitate my classes and help the kids maneuver their online school with limited devices.  We requested another device from the school and were approved so we had 2 laptops instead of 1 plus R used her Kindle.  The older 3 kids were pretty independent, so I just had to work with E everyday.  We finished the school year out online on June 4.   Since everything had "shut down" and become remote, we decided to take our family vacation early and we flew to NC for 10 days.  J/K Gillam sold their house in Raleigh and bought a house in Oak Island, NC.  We stayed with them and basically went to the beach everyday after school was done.  We were in NC from May 22-June 2.  It was the best (and cheapest) vacation. 



So fast forward and it's summer now (2020).  B is still working from home and the only summer activity is E's gymnastic class. There's no VBS, no pine cove, no Civitan Camp, and no swim team.  i9 Sports cancelled their spring/summer seasons too.  CG just went back outside after doing virtual only for 8-10 weeks but they still have a virtual program.  I've been doing outside camps 90% of the time but occasionally I'll hop on a virtual workout.  It's just crazy to me how things have changed.  We don't see P/V as much anymore trying to keep them safe/healthy since they are high risk.  I've been doing V's grocery shopping for her and dropping them off.  They don't come over for dinner anymore either. 

It's just a weird time and we are so over it, but we have to comply with the rules.  We have to wear masks when we go in a store or business and we have to stay 6 feet apart from others too.  I don't know if things will ever go back to the way they were, but we still only get our food to go from restaurants. 

group picture before looking for crabs

Bree's favorite donut place

Our flight to NC

Cheapest tickets EVER! 

Our daily set up

One afternoon we went kayaking

tie-dye t-shirts

Ice Cream

Vacation!

My New Role

I've always been a teacher.  Sure a wife and mother, but my calling and occupation has been a teacher.  I love teaching and love middle school students especially.  My role these days is quite different.  I've transitioned to being a caregiver and I'm really honored I have the chance to do that.  B's parents live with us now and I take care of them full time.  I could list the things I do, but really I just love and care for them.  I really do love them.  They are our family.  I no longer think about my family of 6, rather my family of 8.  It's nice being a multigenerational family (most of the time) and of course we have our ups and downs just like any family.  

My FIL has Alzheimer's and my MIL has some physical restrictions and not much strength.  Bryce and I made the decision to move them in with us around Christmas time and I began looking at houses.  We finally found the perfect house for us in March and moved in April.  P/V sold their house in Texas and flew to NC April 22.  We've lived together in this new house for 9 months!  Our house is great.  There's enough room for all 8 of us and we have a bonus room upstairs so the kids can have some space away from adults.  We have so many funny stories and I wish I would have written them all down, so maybe I'll try to document them here.  

Let me try and play catch up LOL  

Bryce got a job at The College at Southeastern (SEBTS) and we moved to NC in August 2021.  Rin is in 9th grade at Franklinton High School.  She participated in the Marching Band and right now she's on the high school swim team.  Abe is in 7th grade at Cedar Creek Middle School.  He made the school football team and is on the wrestling team.  Wes is in 6th grade also at CCMS.  Wes was the manager of the football team because he was too young to play and he's also on the wrestling team.  Ell is in 4th grade at Youngsville Elementary.  She's on the Battle of the Books team at school.  Her school is year round so every 9 weeks, she has 3 weeks off that she gets to stay home with me!  Paul and Vicki come with us to school events and sporting events too.  I take them to all their doctor appointments, nail appointments, hair appointments etc...  We call them our adult children :) 

Wow....Just wow

I cannot believe I've gone an entire 6 months (half a year) without documenting anything.  It's pretty sad and a little unbelievable all at the same time.  I'm trying to talk myself back into getting in the habit and rhythm but I want to be realistic and reasonable.  It's summer right now, June 27th to be exact so I have time.  Question is: Will I use my time to blog? 

Here's our most recent family picture.  June 16, 2018 after the Spartan Sprint and the day before Father's Day.  I have tons to upload and update. 

CG Games 2017 "Rise Above"

Last year I competed in CG games with 2 Fit 2 Quit.  This year B & I competed together on a co-ed team with Mike & Alli Kelley.  Our team name, Flex n Finesse, was really clever and Alli made our shirts.

Prelims were held in August on 2 different Saturdays.  We competed in both although not everyone did all 4 events.  I did all 4 on the first Saturday but knew that I could re-do them the following Saturday as well.  B's parents were in town for the second Saturday of Prelims so they came to watch and sweat with us.  I love competing with B and hear him cheering me on too.

Our van, Stormy, on the way to CG games

200,000 miles on Stormy!

Once all the times were put in, our team made it to finals as #21 out of 25 to qualify for finals.  We were so excited and wanted to do it even though we knew we were not actually going to win. There was no way because the teams ranked 1 and 2 had times minutes faster than us.  But we were proud of ourselves because there were plenty of co-ed teams that didn't make it to finals.

Finals were scheduled November 18th in Austin, TX.  We made plans to go and spend the night in a hotel for Friday night and Saturday night. Since it was my birthday weekend, we wanted to make it a fun weekend in Austin.  Check-in was Friday night so we met A&M at the CG headquarters.  After checking our team in and getting our bags, we went to dinner at some hamburger place (I can't remember the name) and it was really good.  While eating, we went over the events and all the rules once more and tried to talk strategy about the events for us to split.  We tried to get back to the hotel and get to sleep before it getting real late because we wanted to be at the fields at 6:30 am. 

Saturday was a lot of fun and our team's goal was to just finish and not die.  I was worried about the monkey bars on the peak event and Alli was worried about the endurance.  Our schedule was set for us and we had breaks built in between each event.  Our first event was interval which is one of my favorite and then Peak was next.  Peak was just a big obstacle course sort of that had sandbell throws, bear crawls, monkey bars, balance beam, and a few walls to climb over.  There was also a large inflatable slide that we had to climb up and then slide down.  Since we were a team, we each ran through the course once and had to switch over a timer we wore on our ankles.  Our third event was Endurance and it was tough because we had to carry two 15 lb sandbells on a run after doing mat exercises with those two sandbells.  We made it and none of us quit.  We finished with Strength & Agility where we each had to complete two events for a total of 8 events.  There was one that was a sandbell throw over a bar, so Alli took that one.  In our practice, I tried to throw a 20 lb bell over a field goal post and could never clear it, so I did not feel comfortable with that. 

When everything was over, we packed up and went back to the hotel.  I sort of wanted to stay and watch the finals, but we didn't know anyone who made it to the super finals, and our kids had been out there all day.  We found a dominoes and ordered pizza and went back to the hotel to watch the LSU game.