Goodbye 2012... Hello 2013!

2012 was a good year, well for the most part... as for most years, 2012 had its good times and its bad, but mostly good times.

Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the year... Hopefully I will be able to find pictures to add to this post!

In January we said "goodbye for now" to my Grandma Austin. She fought a good fight with the cancer that had stricken her body and was able to leave this world with grace and dignity. I know it may seem odd, but my family and I were relieved when she passed for Grandma was no longer suffering and in pain. When she passed, she was surrounded by her family that loved her dearly. She was able to see each of her great grandkids before she passed.

Me with Grandma Austin in August 2011 when we were home for our Tulsa Wedding Reception.

February brought my 32nd birthday and an unexpected snow day! We received 28" of snow overnight!!! How exciting is that! The snow was sooo beautiful! I wish we had been in the mountains to really enjoy the snow, but alas, we made the best of it in the city.

Buddy on our back deck unsure of what to do! The snow was higher than the poor lil' guy is tall! We had to shovel a path off of the deck and into the yard for the lil' guy in order for him to attempt to go out to do his business!

My birthday weekend was very eventful... on Valentine's Day just before I left to pick up our romantic dinner for two from Pizza Hut, our DVR decided to go on the fritz... cue an hour on the phone with the Customer Support people from DirecTv... So we had to wait for a new box to arrive... the next day, on my birthday, our remote went out and the other remote wouldn't work upstairs either... so another hour or so logged with Customer Support... the next day I found myself in a car accident as I was getting onto I-76 from Federal. A car, two cars ahead of me, decided to yield (about a block past the yield sign) and the car in front of me and I both slammed on our brakes. I barely tapped the car in front of me, big sigh of relief... then as I started to pull foward to get onto the shoulder of the on-ramp I glance in my rearview mirror to see an older minivan accelerating towards my stopped car... I am lucky and I have an amazing husband who spoiled me rotten that day!

I know it doesn't look like much... but... they had to replace my trunk cover, my bumper, the rear quarter panel on both sides, the cover thingy under my car and repaint the rear portion of my car... apparently my trunk was twisted and it almost needed to be replaced too!

March seemed to be anti-climatic after February. I'm going to have to look in my calendar to see what we did! Nothing is standing out to me as being good, bad or otherwise! We spent time with the Colorado Cousins and each other! One of the biggest UPS of 2012 was when my good friend Ed came home from Afghanistan after being gone for almost a year! He was stuck in Kentucky for rehab from an injury, but alas, he was HOME!!!

April Showers bring May flowers... or so they say... one of my close friends was married in April and the following weekend Ian's cousin was married. We were unable to attend either wedding as they were both  destination weddings (one in LA, the other in Vegas) but we still sent our love to the newlyweds!

May found Ian finishing off his first semester of school!!! Yes! He went back to school part time!!! He LOVED his classes that he took and enjoyed learning new things! I found myself packing my classroom and moving all my stuff home. Change was in the air and I was looking forward to the change in work locations!

I started working for a pediatric home health company in June and found myself providing services for 6 kids after Summer School ended. The kids were a blessing in my life and I found myself remembering just WHY I got into this profession, and no, it wasn't because of the paperwork and politics in the schools... Also in June brought the arrival of our previous nephew, Henry Thomas! He is adorable beyond words and a joy to the family!

July... wow! It was a busy month! We spent the end of June in Aspen with the Keelty-Smith family celebrating the (long awaited) nuptials of Sheridan and Lo... it was great to see a majority of the family and see Sheridan and Lo tie the knot! We spent a great weekend in Aspen! Wedding and reception, night on the town with cousins, Aspen Summer Music Festival and some alone time... We spent Fourth of July with the cousins having a great BBQ. Then it was our 1st anniversary. We managed to get "THE ROOM" at our favorite hotel in Breckenridge. This was "THE ROOM" that Ian had been trying to get since the summer of 2009!

After our anniversary get-away, we had a week of working on Ian's first official "Black Dog Property Services" project before my parents came to visit us! We went to Silverthorne and subsequently to Steamboat with my parents. Mom sucked up her fear of heights and rode the gondola with us in Breckenridge too!!!

And finally, Jason came to visit at the end of the month! This brought a trip to Colorado Springs and a drive up Pike's Peak (and yes, you can drive a 2.0 ltr 4 cylinder Honda Civic coupe to the top of Pike's Peak)!!

Just before going back to work, we went home to see the newest addition to the Stiller-Titchener family... I took Jason to the airport Monday night so that we could leave early Tuesday morning for Tulsa ourselves!!!

School started for me immediately upon returning to Colorado and business took off for Ian. Life took a turn for the busy and not much time for anything else! We said our final goodbyes to the Jeep Grand Cherokee and welcomed the new Ford F-150 into our family. We did manage to find time to run off to Breckenridge for the Annual Ducky Derby (which we were late for because of the uber slow salesman at the dealership)... Unexpectantly, we got word that Uncle R.J. passed away from a heart attack around mid-month. He had been battling lung cancer and was showing signs of beating the cancer when he had the heart attack. Uncle R.J. was an amazing man, husband, father and grandpa and he is definitely going to be missed by all that loved and knew him.

The fall brought about new friendships and fun times. I introduced Ian to my old friends from Texas who had just moved to Colorado. We went out to Conifer to hang out with Jonathan one fall day while Amanda was out of town... I lost my digital camera, which Jonathan was convinced the deer had stolen... my shot improved dramatically since the last time I shot my bow!

The rest of the fall season seems like a blur of testing students, writing reports, meetings, Sewing club at my old middle school, private speech sessions for my 3 students and doing more paperwork! We found out that grocery shopping on Halloween is a good time to be out, very little traffic at the grocery store AND avoiding the kids going up and down the street trick-or-treating!!! Halloween also brought sad news to me and the rest of the BTW c/o 98. We found out that one of our classmates (and good friend) had passed away very unexpectantly leaving behind his wife (one of my close friends since elementary school) and a loving family.

 We celebrated Thanksgiving with Jonathan and Amanda at their house in Conifer. It was fun and I hope we do this again next year!

 Jonathan and Amanda- my friends from Ft. Worth! Crazy to think we met my first year teaching and now we are teaching together again in Jeffco!

The end of November brought sadness to my life as I found out that a very special woman in my life had gone on to an eternal party in heaven. She will always be remembered as being an angel to so many people whose lives she influenced and improved. May she rest in eternal peace and celebration with my grandma and others that we have loved and lost in the years past.

To end the year, Ian and I loaded up the new truck and headed back to Tulsa for a week with the family. We had a good time with the extended Keelty family on Christmas Eve, then the Stiller's on Christmas morning before joining my family for the afternoon. Our gifts from the heart were a big hit with the families and everyone had a great time! McKenzie turned 12 while we were home and we were able to go to both of her parties AND have her and Syrina spend the night with us at the hotel!

New Years Eve found the two of us at home hanging out together having a low-key kinda night. Christmas pictures will be posted in another post since this one is getting to be long...

2011 In review

I can't believe how quickly 2011 flew by!!! It seems like just yesterday we were in Tulsa preparing to drive back to Denver from Christmas with our families and now we have two days left in the year!

2010 ended with the death of a very special woman in my life. Grandma Ida, my adopted great-grandmother, passed away on 12/30/2010 as we were leaving to come home to Colorado. Grandma Ida was 99! Unfortunately I was unable to return to Tulsa the beginning of January for her memorial service, which was a beautiful service dedicated to her beautiful life and the wonderful memories and legacy that she left behind. The rest of January was spent working in a place that I was becoming more resentful and unhappy, being sicker than I had in a long time and making final plans for our wedding. We had tastings for two different caterers, several floral consultations, and final decisions made on our wedding invites. We got to see Zach and Whitney for the day when we went to Golden to tour the Coors Factory and explore in downtown Golden. Then the next weekend they spent the night with us!

February was an exciting month... we received our cocktail napkins for the wedding, our wedding invites arrived and were sent out (5 months early for our wedding) and we received two photo books. My birthday came and went with me being laid up on the couch sick (again)... Ian, not having a job at the time, bought me the cutest (and most awesomest) stuffed frog for a combined Valentine's and birthday gift. (I still sleep with that frog every night!) Grandma Austin went in for her annual check up for her cancer... and we got the news that it was back... decisions to be made once more information was gathered.

March brought the "international" invites going out (on the 1st) and the selection of our caterer... we had a hard time deciding between the two caterers! We decided to do our own flowers rather than pay a lot of money for someone else to do what we could do on our own. In effort to save some money, we stayed home during my Spring Break and did work around the house. We built me a desk/craft area and refurbed an antique table base. We also bought enough seed to cover the earth (or so it seemed) to reseed our front and back yard (in an attempt to get some grass to grow...) and soil conditioner and fertilizer and even some flower seeds and bulbs. We were hoping that the gardens would be in full bloom when our families arrived in July...

April 1st was 100 days from our wedding! What an exciting day! Ian told me that he didn't care about the count down until we hit 100! We continued our project of improving the yards and garden... still hoping for some amazing blooms in July! I had my summative evaluation with my principal. All remarks were proficient, meets expectations, exceeds expectations in almost all areas, the only areas that were needs improvement or improving were in the areas of SBS (Standards Based System). I was a little relieved after this evaluation meeting. Grandma found out that she needed to have a hysterectomy to remove the cancerous cells from her body near the end of the month. Now the wait was on to find out when the surgery was going to be scheduled... Nothing like hurrying up to wait for the insurance company!

May brought us even closer to the wedding. Our plans were coming together seamlessly. Invites were out, decorations mainly purchased, photographer set, engagement pictures taken, caterer finalized and steps were in place for the Tulsa reception in August. Then I got the letter... well actually the meeting with my administration team... I was being non-renewed because I "didn't fit" with the building... I was devastated but at the same time, I was already looking for another job because I was not happy with where I was professionally. Drama was starting to settle down amongst the natives regarding the wedding plans. I taught my Severe Needs Special Education class how to sign the National Anthem and we signed it in front of the entire districts participants at our STARZ Track ad Field day for our special needs kids!!! I was sooo proud of my kids (and my staff!)!!!

June finally arrived! I drove home for a whirlwind 10 day trip. Two bridal showers, my nieces dance recital, two veil fittings, a hair appointment, dress fittings with mom and my reception dress,  and time with my little brother and Ana, oh and an interview. It was quite the trip that is for sure. During my trip I got to talk to my favorite GI Joe, Ed Johnson, just before he loaded up on the plane to go to Afghanistan for his 9 month tour. After returning to Colorado the whirlwind continued... dress pressed, nails done, spray tan completed, bridal portraits, jewelry party, makeup party, shopping with friends to finish up decorations and last minute details. I even met up with my friend Karin to sew purses for the bridal party AND 100 corn sacks/tubes for wedding favors. We celebrated Ian's birthday in his requested low-key style. You'd like information on my interview huh? Let's just say that within 30 minutes of finishing the interview, I received a call offering me a job! I accepted within 15 minutes! Grandma Austin had her hysterectomy with enough time to heal before my parents came out to Colorado for the wedding. However, just before coming out we got the news that there was some suspicious fluid in/around her stomach and intestines...

Our wedding month FINALLY came around! The weekend before our wedding we decided to jet set off to Aspen... on July 1 we dropped the dogs off at the kennel to be boarded for the weekend and we were off! We had never driven up Loveland Pass before so we decided to give it a shot, we had all the time in the world! Loveland Pass was beautiful! After that side trip we stayed on the passes and took Independence Pass into Aspen. Since we had never stopped at the Independence Ghost Town before (prior to my father visiting summer 2010) we thought we'd stop and hike and explore the area! After the ghost town, we headed on into Aspen and decided to check out Hunter creek before meeting up with Ian's cousins for the evening in Basalt. Saturday morning we got up and headed home, but we decided to take the scenic route home again. This time we stopped at the Day Grotto area on the pass where we explored the Ice Cave for the 3rd year in a row. Then we headed home the same way that we arrived. Who does that!?!?! The weekend before your wedding go out of town!!! We came home to tag the favors, place stickers on the water bottles and stuff hotel guest sacks and start cleaning like crazy people in preparation for my family to arrive on Wednesday! The fourth of July was another low-key affair, Kodi is scared to death of loud noises so we had to stay home with her to make sure she didn't freak out. My parents came in early to help out with final plans for the wedding. It seemed like everything had been coming together so smoothly and then the week of just fell apart! We went from having 60 RSVP'd guests to 40... the flower lady called to say that the flowers I had ordered didn't arrive... had to go to two different stores to get the flowers... it was storming, like Oklahoma thunderstorms... we hadn't finalized the slideshow and the music playlists or selected our vows, and it didn't seem like it would ever happen! The final straw that nearly brought me down was the phone call from Ian's mom saying that her sister wasn't going to be able to make the wedding... no biggie right? WRONG! Her sister is the one who had the veil!!! AUGH!!!! About the time that I was getting weak in the knees and tears were flowing over my freshly spray tanned face, Ian found out that the veil had been overnighted to us!

The wedding was beautiful, despite Ian being sick... I wouldn't change any of the details if I could do it over again. (See posts on the wedding). Finally, our families went home, Ian started to feel better and we prepared to go to Tulsa for the next reception.

The beginning of August was very hectic as well. I was starting orientation and moving my stuff into my new classroom and we were packing to go to Tulsa. That four day trip left my head spinning and my body wishing for a day off before returning to training! The reception was fun and we had a lot of people come by to wish us well and to catch up with us. It was so great to get to spend time with Kelly and Jack as well as Zach and Whitney. My new job started and I was loving the team that I worked with at my elementary school. For the first time in my career my caseload was less than 50! The team that I worked with was organized and open to helping me and supporting me. We finally got the news from the doctor that grandma had a rare form of cancer brought on from the over-radiation 7 years ago when she initially was diagnosed with Colon cancer... this new form of cancer was determined to be untreatable. She didn't make it to our reception because she wasn't feeling too well, but we did manage to spend some time with her before the party.

September brought Ian a job with Handyman Matters. He was working like crazy, which was good for him and us.  Work was still good and I was still loving it!!! The fall foliage was beautiful and we were enjoying being married. I even got to see my friend Jen from Fort Worth!!! Grandma was still doing well and living in her apartment, although we were wondering how long that would last...

Then in October work slowed down for Ian. Boo!!! We took a day to go to Estes Park with our friends, Ilene and Franco and their crazy kids, Shi and Sergio. The scarecrows in Estes were fun! I think that we will be trying that again next year! Grandma Austin's health was starting to decline- she was starting to have difficulty eating and her blood count was low. She was tired a lot and was starting to have pain.

November brought my parents making preparations for Grandma to move in with them. Since grandma's health was declining more rapidly than they expected, my parents flew me home the week before Thanksgiving so that I could spend time with her. I had a great visit at home. I got to spend time with my grandma sewing and some quality one on one time that I never really had the chance to have as a child growing up. I will always have the blankets that my grandma and I made together. I flew back to Colorado on Wednesday before Thanksgiving so that we could spend our first married Thanksgivingtogether.

December... my first Christmas to NOT be with my family... this was a tough pill to swallow for me. But there was no possible way that we were going to be able to afford the trip to Tulsa. We bought our first Christmas tree and decorated it with the various decorations that we have collected since we started dating... we even hung our stockings under the mantle! Having the decorations up made it a little easier being away from our families. And it was a little nice having a quiet day together, not being back and forth between his family and mine and time together... Grandma was living with my parents by this time. Her health was declining a little faster than expected, my mom was starting to have to come to grips with the fact that this would be the last holiday spent with her mother. :(

New Years Eve 2011 came with us ringing in the new year with Ian's cousins and friends. It is great being able to spend time with family and develop these wonderful relationships!!!

March Fun

So far March has been a fun month! We have had one catering tasting, and two flower consults. We have one more caterer tasting this weekend... then to contact our original caterer to get a similar proposal to the other two and make our decision! The florists both said that they would email us the proposals within a week to ten days...

In other wedding news, we finished our invitations last weekend and have already gotten five response cards back!!!! So far only four people are going to attend... should lead to a fun night! :) I am sure we will get more cards this week from other family members... the wedding isn't for 125 days. I realized after we got our first response card back that I totally forgot to put the ribbon on the card to coordinate with the invitation! Oops! Guess I can always add the ribbon now right?

Yesterday we drove to Colorado Springs to spend the afternoon with Jen. It was good to see her after not having the chance to see her for almost a year! Sight seeing in Manitou Springs was fun, even with the horrible wine tasting that we attended...

In other news, Ian has had an in-person interview and a follow up with one company, hoping to hear back from them soon on whether or not he got the job... he has another in person interview tomorrow with another company... Keep the prayers coming that he is able to find a job. Lord knows he wants to find one!

I have also been hired by a home health company based in Denver. I need to contact the other speech therapists to shadow them before I get my first clients since it has been 7 years since I have dabbled in the medical side of my profession, mainly swallowing and some of the more cognitive therapies for post-CVA patients.

CSAP season is officially in full swing and once we are finished with CSAP, we will have SPRING BREAK!!! THEN... 100 days!!!

Hiking in the Ice Caves and Hunter Creek

This trip to Colorado has been a little more interestin than the last. The last trip was only 4 days and with so much to do and see and so little time to do it in, it is no surprise that this trip has had more adventure packed in!!! Today we went hiking at the Ice Caves between the Continental Divide and Aspen. (I will post pictures from there as soon as I can hijack Ian's mac) It was mildly sprinkling when we arrived at the trailhead to go up to the caves... it only lightly sprinkled during most of the hike, which was beautiful in itself... there was still some ice in the caves, but apparently not as much as usual at this time of the year. Ian has loads of pictures of me "playing" on the rocks with a huge grin on my face to prove that I had fun today! He had to turn around often to check on me either because I was REALLY quiet, or I was squealing and he wasn't sure if they were happy squeals or "I'm hurt" squeals.

Inside the ice cave. Check out the awesome curves!!! Ian has some other pictures that are more incredible than mine, but I don't have them yet...

Ian likes this picture, he says it is better than the one he took on his incredibly better camera than my little 5.1 megapixel... :) I'm not proud or anything... no not me...

Ian between taking pictures! Isn't he handsome?

Me and Ian in front of the cascades. Notice the color of my shirt and the lack of moisture... see below for the after shot only 45 minutes later!!!

Hunter Creek in Aspen, Colorado. Here is a view of the "creek" looking up the creek... not exactly MY definition of a creek, but hey, who asked me?

Me and Ian together looking up the creek... yes, I am sopping wet... yes I am hiking in 50 degree weather in the rain... and yes... I am still smiling...

Rocky Mountain High...

I am home from my (too short) trip to Basalt, Colorado to see Ian... the absolute LOVE of my life! I left last Thursday on that jet plane to Denver, a little nervous about what was going to happen that weekend... nervous about maneuvering through Denver Int'l Airport on my own... nervous about seeing him again... I honestly have no idea why I was nervous about seeing him, but I was! I just had this fear that he would see me differently in Colorado than he did when he was home in March. The drive from Denver to Basalt was beyond pretty, well at least what I saw, apparently I slept through the prettiest part of the drive! But by the time we got to his apartment most of my nerves had settled, at least I thought they had, he tells a different story!

That night we just hung out at his place, enjoyed being together after not getting to spend too much time together while he was in Tulsa. It was great to be able to just be together with no worries about timelines and deadlines! Friday he took me through Snowmass and into Aspen where we walked around for a bit. Saturday we drove up to the lake that is near his apartment. I think it is Lake Ruedi??? We saw some elk, some mountain goats, some deer, and lots of awesome scenery. Sunday we ventured out and walked down to the river that runs behind his apartment. It was a little chilly on Sunday and I didn't have anything remotely warm in my suitcase... Very early Monday morning (like 1:30 am) Ian directed my attention to the window where it was SNOWING outside!!! Imagine my excitement to SEE SNOW in the middle of April!!! Monday morning found me outside taking pictures of the beautiful snow that covered the area before we drove to Denver to put me back on that jet plane for Tulsa. :(

My departure from Denver was quite an emotional rollercoaster that is for sure! It all started when we got to the airport at 4:30 for my 5:25 flight. He took my suitcase out of the back of his Jeep and leaned in to give me a hug... I had told myself that I wasn't going to cry, yea right... that was wishful thinking!!! As he is telling me that he already misses me and that he loves me and all sorts of other sweet things, the tears start rolling down my cheeks... I make it into the airport at 4:40 only to realize that there are 2 agents working the 4 checkin stations... my plane boards in 15 minutes... at 4:50 I am making my way toward the security area with cell phone to my ear calling Sasha for emergency rescuing if needed. 4:59 going through Security, someone was looking out for me because a new line was opened when I needed it most! I arrived at the VERY LAST terminal at the VERY LAST gate at exactly 5:05 and we started boarding our plane at 5:06... yea... Can I say thank you to my guardian angel enough????

Here are a few of the pictures from the trip, I will post more as I get them. Ian is slowly sending them to me daily from his camera!!!!

These are the three little rocks that we found that looked cool when we went to the river. We also thought that the big rock was neat. It was my idea to take the picture of our "Rock Family."

One of my favorite pictures of us so far. I am hoping that there will be plenty more pictures of us in the future!

Ok this is OFFICIALLY my FAVORITEST (yes Annie I said FAVORITEST) picture yet!!

Mid-Month Review...

April Showers Bring May Flowers... so they say... I have decided that I really need to invest in a cute pair of golashes so that when the ark (or rescue boat) floats up to my door I won't ruin my shoes wading out to get in! It has been raining cats and dogs out at my parents house and it seems like it is never going to end!

Other updates for this month... bowling was great fun! I managed to bowl in the three digits the first game... I think my score the first game was straight up 100... the second game however... yeah... well... the whole purpose of the bowling event was to raise money for an awesome group AND to have fun... so that is exactly what I did! I granny bowled the entire game... and managed to end up with a final score of like 80??

Spring Soccer season is in full swing for McKenzie. Yesterday was her second game of the season (she's had one game cancelled and then had a few by weeks due to tournaments) and my lil' girl played soooo well!!! Oh my goodness, she is goin to be good when she gets older if she gets the proper training and skill drill. She was stopping the ball, getting in the middle of the group and fighting for the ball, and just being aggressive!!! I will have to post a video from her game. I was so proud of my girl, so proud that I texted E to brag about her skills!!!!

State testing... a wonderful time of the year... I "enjoyed" state testing while working in Texas. It was great... I used the card of "I'm not a certified teacher... can't monitor OR administer the test..." But here in Oklahoma, you don't have to have a teacher's cert to monitor the test... Apparently you don't have to have a state certificate to be a classroom teacher to administer the test... as long as you have a state cert from OSDE... so I get the PRIVELAGE (trying to remain optimistic) of administering the test to one of my students. A student that I enjoy working with, on short timeframes... like thirty minutes at a time with at least one day in between sessions! I have requested hazard pay and/or extra mental health days as compensation for this endeavor. I have been told that I can't either, but I do get a soda AND a candy bar... WOOHOO!!!

However, I am looking forward to going to Colorado the week after state testing. I don't think that Ian and I could have planned the timing of this trip any better! I am going to be 100% ready for a relaxing weekend!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

This year I actually got to go over to Grandma Ida's house to see all of the cousins in their adorable costumes!!! The last time I did this, I am afraid to say, Ana was probably only 4 years old????

We had a crazy time at the house as usual!!! It never ceases to amaze me how we can all fit inside Gran I's house at one time and not be crawling on top of each other! But I guess it goes to show that just like your heart grows to love each and every child in your life, your house will grow as well to accommodate them!!! Ethan agreed to come over and meet the rest of my "family" since hadn't met anyone other than Tom, Ronda, Blake and Ana. I honestly don't think that he knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to come over!!!

The Hankins-Sutton clan on great Gran's swing!!!! This is an annual tradition to take a picture on the swing on Halloween for Uncle (well I call him Uncle at least, they call him Papa) Jim.

Even Uncle Jim got into the spirit of the holiday and had Kimbo paint his hair orange too!!!!

Cousins Luke and Lauren looking so sweet and cute! Luke was Indiana Jones (so fitting for him!) and Lauren was a fairy pumpkin (very fitting for her!!!)

Lauren by herself...

Luke by himself... with Lauren dancing in the background...

After we left Gran I's house we met up with my nieces!!! Syrina decided to NOT dress up this year, apparently at 14 she feels like she is "too old" to dress up...

Kenzie Ann as a cute witch...

Me as a black cat with pink stripes in my hair and the "teenager" so cleverly dressed up...

Me and the girls... gotta love the look on Kenzie's face!!!!

She is looking MUCH happier now!!!

Who ME????

We had the cutest trick-or-treater ever come over, but she wasn't big enough to enjoy the candy so we just held her instead... Olivia was a cute pumpkin, her mommy Whitney was a jack-o-lantern and her daddy was a pumpkin patch!!!!

Here is the Serio family.. See the adorable lil' pumpkin that came to Trick-Or-Treat with us???

Has it REALLY been 10 years?

Can it be that we have really been away from the HIVE for 10 years???? It seems like just yesterday we were roaming the halls of the delapitated Booker T... not a care in the world... definitely not caring that we couldn't drink the water from the fountains cause it wasn't clean... or that the walls in the foreign language hall were slowly moving toward the English wing...

We were HOPING for 50 classmates attending the reunion... I don't think that we ever DREAMED we would have 100 classmates register and attend the banquet!!!!

Here we are back at the HIVE for our 10 year reunion weekend festivities!!! As stressful as all the planning was... I definitely would be on the committee again!!!

All the Hornets at our Meet & Greet Registration Reception... we are all standing around the school seal in the front hall of the main building... otherwise known as being in the "Historic Building" to the current students! We had about 40 people turn out for the registration and tour of the NEW building...

The committee goofin around before the classmates appeared to register!

Me and Shanista... my "sista" and my saving grace during all the planning!

Some of the girls at Jewel on Friday night... we had a good turnout for our happy hour event on Friday night... about 70 people showed up at the Jewel to drink, dance and catch up!

Me and Val... one of my best girls even after 10 years!! My how time has flown by...

David and me... to think we were in the first grade together at Owen Elementary... and now look at us... :)

Me and Ethan!!! Aren't we a cute couple!!!

The ladies of 1998!!!

Me and Val at the end of the night...


The reunion was a success... the technical difficulties that we experiences didn't phase the rest of the reunion attendees... praise be for that! We did have some minor issues that we didn't expect pop up... but just like planning any event, such as a wedding or reunion, there is bound to have something happen... I must admit that my heart fell out of my chest when I clicked on the slideshow and nothing showed up but red X for all of my pictures! Luckily, I had my laptop with me and Ethan got that set up for me while we took our class picture!!!

Adventures of Gilligan's Island

Growing up, I can remember the intrigue and mystery of the boat that was floating off of Hwy 169 in Tulsa... what was that boat doing there off of the highway??? How did it get there???? Why would someone want a boat in the middle of a golf course??? Well, for me, the mystery was solved the first time that I went to All Star Sports Complex to play miniature golf with some of my friends... now it is my turn to be the one to help solve the mystery of the boat to my nieces. Only difference is that in 2007 you can't walk through the boat anymore because it is sinking slowly into the pond in the middle of the course like you could, say back in 1992...




Kenzie and Syrina had a blast playing mini-golf, even if Kenz didn't quite get the right idea as to how to hold the putter... or if my mom never realized that she didn't need to hit the ball hard enough to send it soaring down the freeway into the greens like at the PGA... Kenzie actually had a hole in ONE and Papa had two hole in ONEs!!! Uncle Davie had to come out to help Kenzie near the end of the course when the obstacles were more difficult, but he didn't mind being rudely woken (awaken??) by Kenzie screaming in his voicemail!!!!



All in all, a good time was had by everyone! The girls still don't quite understand how when I was their ages we could walk through the boat and even golf on it... or how the boat even played a part of the course, but they still liked the boat!!!