August in my world...

The date was set... my stuff packed and moved out of my former classroom in Claremore... my goodbyes said in Claremore to my favorite faculty... then came the hard part... parting from my precious babies at the church and leaving my family. But before I left I had a lot of packing to do... lots of boxes shipped via the postal service, lots of stuff moved into my storage, the storage all sorts of arranged and rearranged and my car loaded down, literally...

The backseat of my car (above) and my trunk (below)... all creatively packed with love by Ian and his amazing dad Rick!

Ian and I managed to find room in my little Civic for ourselves and off we went in search of the infamous yellow brick road to Aspen! Once again we found ourselves getting along nicely on the cross country trip and enjoying ourselves on the drive. Ian made sure that we didn't stop at many (if any) of the "Points of Interest" along the highway in Ks by being sure that he was the driver... punk... alas we made it to Limon in one piece...

We drove with some assistance from our newly acquired GPS that I have lovingly named Samantha Stiller (we need a good middle name that starts with O for her... suggestions?). Sammi gave us ideas for places we could stop for food, gas, lodging and even shopping! There are so many things that she provides for us in the car!!! Entertainment is another feature that she provides us. Ian has decided that he wants to create an app for the GPS that would allow it to do more than just voice recognition, but also talk back to the voice heard... wouldn't that be fun...

The gas station we stopped at... it says 24 hour fuel... but it is closed... have no fear, there is an antiquated credit card machine between the pumps to assist in fueling up when the place is closed...

Me on the road again... very happy about the car moving!!!

Once arriving in Aspen, I realized the wonderful things I had been missing out on in Oklahoma... like being able to wear JEANS and not melt in the heat... even when the temps got up to 90 and above jeans were comfortable! We have had dinner with the family, played softball with friends and had a BBQ with friends since I have been here.

Now to begin the transformation of the BACHELOR PAD to the COUPLE PAD... more details to come...

Adventures in Breckenridge

On the day before I was to leave Colorado, Ian and I set out on a quest to visit the quaint town of Breckenridge. Armed with my luggage and the COLORADO magazine and address of our hotel we set off on hwy 70 towards Frisco, Silverthorn and Breckenridge. We stopped and ate pizza in Silverthorn before visiting the gigantic outlet mall... then headed back into Breckenridge. Mind you I had read the comments on the hotel itself the day before and THOUGHT (key word is that I THOUGHT) I had even called the hotel to confirm our reservations... I knew that the hotel was "a little outside of town" and that is was even "somewhat difficult to find." But, we are young and invincible...we can find it... besides, my boyfriend will google the directions before we leave right??? WRONG!!!

So picture this... Ian driving and me in the passenger seat (been there most of the day) looking at the Breckenridge map saying, "Honey, it says that the hotel is in quadrant H-1. See... over here... in this corner... just go through town and we will see it..." This led us to end up in Blue River City, the OTHER SIDE of Breck before we knew it. Now rather giggly, I call the hotel (or what I THINK is our hotel). Here is how that conversation went...

Lady: Well where are you at?

Me: Somewhere outside of Breckenridge... (giggle giggle giggle)
Lady: What road are you on?
Me: I dunno... Main street??? (More giggling)

Lady: Are you still on Main Street?

Me: We never turned off of it so I would hope so!!! (Continuation of uncontrollable giggling)

Lady: Ok, come back to "downtown" Breck, when you see South Park off of Main street you are

going to turn left and... (I didn't hear the rest I was too busy laughing about there being a

SOUTHPARK street in Breckenridge... too much time in a car for sure!!!)

So about 15 minutes later, Ian and I are still driving in circles, finding all sorts of other hotels but not ours... so HE calls back... shockingly enough, he got the same directions I got (hahaha! To think he was threatening me with not being the navigator again!!!) So after driving around for a little longer, I looked (yet again) in the Breckenridge magazine for some miraculous guidance... it was then that I realized that I had called the WRONG hotel... no wonder the lady's directions kept taking us to the GREAT DIVIDE LODGE and not the LODGE AT BRECKENRIDGE!!! Once I composed myself and could talk, I called the REAL hotel to get directions. Here I am laughing so hard I can't sit up and am crying while Ian is in the front seat about to kill me... Ian got the directions to the hotel, which lo-an-behold we had driven past the intersection for the hotel a few times...

After an extended drive through Breckenridge and back, we find the hotel and it is amazing!!! Looks like a huge log cabin!!! We go check in and go up to our room... Which was adorable as well... we changed clothes and headed out to adventure in the town of Breckenridge. We had dinner at the Kenosha Steakhouse which was fantabulous! We could have split either of our meals, which he chose a grilled chicken dinner and I had the pulled pork bbq sandwich! After eating we hit the streets. Most of the shops were closing by this time so we went into the ones we could and decided to come back again!!!

The view from our porch/deck/balcony...

The view of the front of the hotel, the lighting stinks but what can a girl do when she only has one chance to take the picture lighting or not...

Colorado in July

My trip to Colorado has been all kinds of exciting and busy!! I arrived on the 1st with enough time to relax briefly before we ran over to the cousin's house for birthday dessert for Sheridan. The dessert and conversation were amazing and I really like Ian's cousins!

While we were relaxing on the patio before leaving for Berkley and Russell's for Sheridan's birthday party. It was warm enough to shed my jacket for a while!

Fourth of July found us in Aspen in the morning watching the parade down main street. The parade was amazing. There were motorcycles galore... a massive herd of children on decorated bicycles, firetrucks covered with kids and family members... then the most impressive part for me was when the veterans passed by. There were vets from WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Normandy Beach, Okinawa, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gulf War, and any war in between... There were HUNDREDS of veterans, in uniform, with signs denoting their particular theater/tour of duty. It was amazing the support that these men (and some women) received from the crowd that day. Having friends in the military, and that have served in the Middle East in the last 6 years of this ongoing war, it brought tears to my eyes and a chill down my skin to see all the vets. After we painted an office for a while, we came home, took a brief nap then headed to Glenwood Springs for fireworks. Above is a picture of me waiting for the fireworks to start while enjoying the Glenwood Springs Symphony.

Some of the fireworks that we were blessed with watching! I love fireworks!!! I also enjoy the amazing freedom that is signified by them on the 4th of July...

Sunday we drove to Crested Butte... we made a brief pitstop in Redstone on our way. We checked out the old coal coke pits and then attempted to drive through Marble to Crested Butte... the Marble idea went out the window when the road became muddy, bumpy, rocky and incredibl narrow. I was enjoying our offroad adventure, however, Ian was not so we turned around and decided to take the OTHER route through the Paona Reserve. That drive is amazing!!!

After walking around in Crested Butte on our way home we stopped to admire the various wildflowers that are on the side of the road. Ian got some amazing shots of the flowers and a few pictures of me in the process.

Here is one of pictures that I took while standing/sitting outside the sunroof while driving home. Ian is completely rubbing off on me... I typically don't take pictures of the sky, clouds, and scenary... but now...

And last night... he brought me flowers... He had been working in Aspen and I decided to stay home to relax... when he came home he told me to close my eyes as he walked in the door... so I closed my eyes and attempted to cover them, but he took my hands down from my eyes and put this beautiful bouquet of flowers in my hands!!!!

Just in case I haven't mentioned it lately, I love my boyfriend!!!!

Soccer Camp

This past week McKenzie participated in the British Challenger Soccer camp out in Sand Springs. Although none of her teammates were at the camp with her, she had a lot of fun. Both of the coaches that were running the camp were amazing with the kids! I picked up on a few ideas to use with my students from them in the two days I went with Kenz!!! Their teaching method totally reinforced to me that my philosophy of learning through play is a good idea! Kenzie was super excited about all the "cool soccer tricks" she learned each day and was ready to go back the next day, despite the heat and her apparent likeness to me with heat stroke readiness...

Here's a picture of Kenzie on Friday after she started to have a heat stroke during camp. She felt terrible, but she didn't want to leave. She really wanted to be out with her group playing!!! I just liked how I was actually able to capture all the feelings she was displaying in the picture!!!

Here is Kenzie with her coach Nick on Friday. I think she has a crush on him. She told me several times that she would like for him to move to Oklahoma to coach her team... as if he doesn't have a job in London or his own soccer team that he plays on there!

Each day the coaches had homework assignments for the kids. Everything from creating a juice drink, to looking up information about UK online, to bringing dress up items to put on the coaches... Nick took off part of his attire for the World Cup competition before camp ended, but here he is with Kenzie looking all sorts of silly.

The entire camp. The photographer from the Sand Springs paper came out and took their picture for the paper... if anyone happened to see if it made it in the Sunday paper let me know!!!!

Kenzie is super excited about starting her fall soccer season and learning more soccer skills. I am thrilled that she is pumped about the sport!

Happy Birthday Baby!!!!

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!!!!

In honor of Ian's big 3-0 birthday, I thought I would list 30 things that I love about him and him being in my life... so here goes...


1. He makes me SMILE, all the time with the silly things he says or the things he does for me.
2. He does LITTLE THINGS for me that mean the world to me!
3. He LISTENS, wholeheartedly.
4. He is CARING and SHOWS his CARE for others
5. He will text with Kenzie, even when he is busy and/or tired!

6. He COMPLIMENTS me, on my cooking, how I look, without cues.

7. He RESPECTS me and my ideas, goals, values

8. He is SUPPORTIVE of my goals and dreams

9. He enjoys being ACTIVE, can't handle being inside too long...

10. He's a HORNET!!!

11. He enjoys taking PICTURES.
12. He is THOUGHTFUL of others
13. He is GOAL DRIVEN
14. He will take pictures WITH ME
15. He is usually SMILING



16. He strives to be MORE, to do MORE, to see MORE
17. He loves to TRAVEL
18. He LOVES... all things, photography, animals, sunsets, clouds, ME, rocks, plants
19. He has FAMILY VALUES
20. I can TRUST him with all of my being



21. He shows AFFECTION... in his words, his deeds, his actions
22. He steals KISSES in public... and let's me steal kisses
23. You can tell that he LOVES me by the way he looks at me.
24. He is incredibly PERSONABLE and EASY-GOING.
25. My family (dramas) don't SCARE him...


26. He wants to get to KNOW my family, especially my nieces.
27. We have a lot in common, while having a lot of things different
28. When he tells me he loves me, he makes it PERSONAL and you just KNOW he means it!
29. He wants to have a FUTURE with me!!!
30. He is just overall... AMAZING!!!

I hope that your special day is all that you hoped it would be. I can't wait to be there and to celebrate with you... I love you so very much and I am so thankful that God put you BACK in my life after all these years! Thank you so much for being everything I had dreamed of and then some! I know that you are the ONE for me... it seems OBVIOUS to me now after this week. I LOVE YOU!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Random Summer Fun

So far this summer at home has been fun! I have watched Ana and swam with her some as well as gotten together with some of my friends!!! I can't believe how much Ana's skills have improved! That girl has some talent when it comes to swimming!!!! She is such a hoot to watch jump into the pool off of the diving board. She likes to make up dances and such as she comes down the board until she jumps!!! Here I am watching her from the swing the other day...


Saturday I was blessed with the chance to see one of my best-good girlfriends and hang out poolside at her parents house. We had a good time as usual and caught up on our guys! It is so great that we are both in love AND with such amazing guys!!!! I love ya Val!!!

And last but not least... my babies... yes my family grew the last time I visited Ian in Colorado... Growing up, my grandma had these plants called Hen and Chicks that I watered religiously and helped her replant as needed. When I moved away to Texas, she sent a few of them to me in a pretty yellow pot. Well, when I moved home after her passing, I (ignorantly) left the plant in Texas on the back patio. So... while at the nursery with Ian one day I commented on how much I loved those plants and how I would like to have my own. Ian suggested I get a plant or two of my own to care for in Colorado. So... I did!!! We now have our own hen and chick family, two hens and about 5 chicks! He is a good daddy and hasn't starved them off water and I have been a negligent mommy and abandoned them with their daddy for 3 weeks...

CHANGES...

Change is good...right??? Well in the spirit of keeping my blog and actually using it... I am making it an open blog again... that is right... anyone can read my blog now... So... remember to bookmark my page or become a follower (thanks Trish!!!) so that when I update you will know!! I am going to try to make a valiant effort to blog at least once a week once I move to Colorado the end of July. My blogs will hopefully have pictures and stories of what Ian and I are up to and how work and life is going for me.

Be sure to continue to check back soon!

A day at the Bells

A beautiful spring day at the Maroon Bells...

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...

New blog title...

Well family and friends... it is official... I AM MOVING to COLORADO!!!! I was offered a job in the Basalt/Carbondale school districts, just north of Aspen!! I am MOVING to the ROCKY MOUNTAINS!!!! I am beyond excited...

I will post pictures, update my blog and pictures and give more details soon!!

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!!!

Moving On...

So many of you know, Ethan and I broke up almost 3 months ago... he told me that I needed to do what was best for me... to do for me... I must admit that dating was NOT at the top of my list of things to do for me... getting out and meeting new guys that could potentially break my heart didn't even make it on my list!!! The things that made it on my list were to get out and do more things with my friends, to see my cousins and do things with them, to work on my scrapbooks and quilt, to get to know me and figure out who I am without a guy to define me, and to continue to work on making the daily decision to be a better me! All of these things I had been doing, and doing well I think... until...

In January after my not so cryptic "life sucks" posts on both Myspace and facebook, one of my friends from high school was quick to inquire about what was going on in my life. Note that this is a guy that I was acquainted with him high school, but definitely didn't hang out together much, if at all... but we reconnected at our 10 year reunion... it was at this point that he and I started to talk about what was going on in both of our lives, coincidentally, he and his girlfriend had just broken up as well, ironically enough! So for the month of January up until about my birthday, we leaned on each other and helped the other deal with the pain of having lost a loved one without so much a DECENT reason. We both felt that our relationships could have been saved if both parties put forth the effort and that they were worth saving. Around my birthday things started to change... we started to build more of a friendship and we started to talk more about things we both liked and less about the EX's... we even started to flirt with each other...

Fast forward to March. He came home to visit his family, and subsequently me... I was very skeptical about seeing him when he came home, partially why I wanted to hang out with him with other friends at first rather than alone. Skeptical you say... yes, he is male... male's tend to have minds of their own and intentions that they keep to themselves... but alas, we went out with one of my best-close girlfriends and her guy that first night and we hit it off. We couldn't stop laughing and smiling and I even think that at one point in the evening, we were in our own world and totally forgot that Val and her guy were at the same table as the two of us! After that night, we saw each other for at least an hour every day he was home... the picture at top is after we went to dinner one night before he went back to Colorado.

So I guess it is official, I am starting to move on. I do care immensely for Ethan and I do wish him the best in all that he strives to achieve. However, I have seen some interesting traits in him since we broke up that are making it easier for me to move on. Like him saying he wants to be friends with me, and yet he won't talk to me or see me... maybe that is his way of dealing with him pain, I don't know and I may never know. He will always have a special place in my heart and I will probably always care about him. Is that bridge burned you may ask? No, no bridge is ever completely burned (in my world that is, unless you do something to totally make me not ever want to see you or talk to you again) until I have said "I will" to a guy after receiving a proposal.

I'm moving past the hurt and the pain. I am starting to smile again and laugh. I am enjoying the warm and fuzzy feelings that I get from being around someone that is fun and easy going. I am NOT enjoying the 900 mile separation from the person that is making me smile and laugh so easily, but I will cross THAT bridge when we get there. For now, I am enjoying the ride of being infatuated (so to speak) with someone and getting to know them better and feeling like I am someone special and wonderful.

To the "mystery" guy in the picture. THANK YOU for helping me during that bleak time of my life just a few months ago and THANK YOU for your friendship, it means the world to me. Things happen for a reason, I am a FIRM BELIEVER in that and God has a plan for each of us. I truly believe that God puts people in our paths at times when he feels necessary and that there is a plan for us, whatever it may be. You have brought laughter and smiles back to my life. You have made me feel so carefree the past two weeks and feel like I am loved. I am very thankful that I got to spend as much time with you as I did last week and am looking forward to visiting soon in Colorado!

Spring Break...

My precious niece... so photogenic... so... adorable... so loving... so caring... so much like her aunt that it isn't real!

A candid picture taken of the two of us in the flowers. One of several in a series!

Check out the look I am being given by her! The look was better about a millisecond before the shutter clicked!!!

I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with Kenzie Ann at Woodward Park on Sunday afternoon. One of my great friends from high school joined us and snuck some pictures of us together while we were playing in the flowers! I will post those pictures as soon as I get them from him. Check out the eyes on my little princess! I can't believe how BLUE they are!

This little girl means the world to me! I can't believe that she is growing up so fast! It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms as an infant... and now she is sitting in the front seat of the car, reading books to me, and almost too big to have slumber parties with me in my bed!

I have this funny feeling that my little girl is going to be a photographer... she took some AMAZING pictures at the park... especially considering she is only 8...

A flower that Kenzie photographed... looks great!