Jackson Hole, WY

This past week Travis and I took an amazaing vacation in Jackson Hole, WY. Actually, we stayed just over the pass about 5 miles into Idaho in a sleepy little town called Victor. The resort was AMAZING! Our room had a full kitchen, two baths (including one giant jetted tub!) and a living room. We also had a private balcony which was great for relaxing at the end of the day...you could see every star in the sky! We basically had the entire resort to ourselves. We only saw a handful of other people there. Each morning we ate at their restaraunt which was outside overlooking the resort golf course...gorgeous and peaceful with a tasty breakfast :)

On Tuesday we just took it easy all day. We window shopped in Victor and Jackson Hole all day. There was an awesome new shop that just opened a few days before we arrived that was filled with fossils and rocks. We were both amazed at the beauty of the pieces. They had a palm fossil that was fully intact and stood about 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide. They also had a 5 foot by 7 foot table made of a petrified tree. Said it was the largest known and it was beautiful! Travis is still talking about how that would make a good conference table for his little oil company. At the steep price of $68,000 he might have to save up for a while though :) We had pictures, but unfortunately Travis' camera card got erased...bum deal!!!

Wednesday was a nice relaxing day as well. We drove up to Yellowstone and stopped at all of the gysers. They were so beautiful! Many of them were bright blue and looked like good swimming holes...except for the fact that they were 200 degrees!!! So much for cool dip :)

On Thursday morning, we decided it would be fun to do a whitewater rafting trip that afternoon. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to try to book something :) Luckily, we got the last spot on a trip later that day and it was amazing! The trip started off nice and slow with barely a current, much less whitewater rapids. During this time, our guide went over all of the do's and don'ts and all of the potential scenarios and how to deal with them....if you fall out, keep your feet up, hold on to your paddle, we will pull you back in the boat, yadda yadda yadda. Well, first wave of the first rapids and our guide falls out of the boat!!!! That was the ONE scenario he didn't go over!!! He thought it was hilarious, we were all a bit freaked out but also wondered if he did it on purpose...hard to say for sure but he swears he didn't :) We put our newly learned skills to use and pulled him back in the boat. The rest of the trip he stayed put and so did everyone else in our boat. It was a blast! After the 8.5 mile trip was over, we all wished we could do another 8 miles...and bigger ones!!! Wish we had pics to share of this awesome adventure, but our cameras are not waterproof so we didn't get any :) Maybe we will get the professional pic they took...who knows, we'll post if if we get it. Oh, and during the trip we found out that the only reason we got a spot on that trip was because that day happened to be one of 3 days of the entire season that the state allows the rafting companies to get in as many trips as they possibly can during those particular days. They did 4 times as many runs that day ... so we really lucked out!!!

So, notice in the pic below...the guide seat at the back of the boat is EMPTY! That's because he was either under the boat, or somewhere lost in the rapids!

We flew home on Friday and didn't roll into Norman until around 10:45. The kiddos were still at their grandma's houses until Saturday morning...so, it was nice to come home and settle back in quietly.

Anyway, the trip was awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time together and seeing some of the most spectacular places of this great country. A special thanks to Nana Nancy, Papa Dan, Memaw and PawPaw for taking such great care of our precious babes while we were away.

No Training Wheels!

We got Nathan a new bike yesterday...early birthday present for our almost 5 year old!!! It is a little smaller than the one we got last year so it is the perfect size and much easier for him to manange. We had it waiting for him last night when my parents brought him home from the lake. He was thrilled! And, a bit intrigued that it didn't have training wheels. That was the catch... if he wanted to ride it, he would have to learn how to do it without the training wheels (they are in the box, but we told him it didn't have any). It worked! He was so excited that he jumped right on. Travis worked with him on a few runs up the sidewalk from our house, but it was getting late so we didn't get to play with it much.

So, this afternoon we got the bike out again and after a few runs with daddy holding on, we gave him a good start and then let go! To my surprise, he did great! The first ride was about 20 yards and then he ran into the fence...oops :) But he got right back up and did it again. Each time gaining more control over his balance and eventually the steering and brakes. We are still going to have to work with him on getting started, but that will come in time. After about 15 practice runs behind the house, he was ready for the pavement. He was so proud of himself (and of course we were too) he wanted to show Memaw and Papaw his new biking skills, so off to their house we went.

Here is one of the first couple of runs....

Showing Memaw and Papaw his new biking skills!

After a good ride through the neighborhood we took the kiddos over to the park to burn some more energy before heading home for the evening. Natalie quickly made friends with another 2 year old little girl at the park, and the three kiddos had lots of fun playing. CLICK pics to enlarge

Norman Tornado! No joke!!!

So Travis and I had just settled into bed and were watching the news when I happened to see a lightning flash outside the bedroom window. I asked if he saw it and he said no and looked at me like I was crazy...there are no storms tonight...and they had not mentioned anything about storms on the news (which usually brings headlines :) So, I shrugged it off as just a flash from the TV. A few moments later the thunder proved I was right!!!

Of course we head straight out the back door to watch it from the back porch. We had a perfect view....it looked as though the storm literally started behind our fence. So, we pulled up a chair and watched as it grew before our eyes. It was incredible! At one point I asked Travis about a "hangy down thing" I saw, but figured it was just me hoping to see a real tornado. We both agreed it was probably just that, my imagination.

We had a couple of lightning strikes that were WAY too close for comfort so I went back inside to check radar on TV. They were finally talking about the storm that just "exploded" over Norman. The weather radio went off almost simultaneously....3 times in a row! First T-Storm Watch, then Warning, then extended the warning to 5 AM. Within 10 minutes or so it went off again, this time TORNADO WARNING FOR CLEVELAND COUNTY including East Norman!!!! From radar we could tell that it was just to the SE of us and we were in the clear provided there was no back building (didn't appear to be) so we watched outside the back porch.

So, that "hangy down thing" happened to be this weak tornado....I just couldn't see the bottom of it! We could only see the portion above the power lines, and it was not quite as well defined when we were watching, but that is pretty much what we saw! Plus, this pic was taken from the South side of the storm whereas we were watching from the North side of the storm. It was awesome, this was the best way to chase storms...right from the back porch with the safety of the storm shelter close by :)

This picture was taken by a storm tracker who happens to live in some apts off HWY 9, not far from where the tornado touched down. They have determined that it touched down around between Alameda and Lindsey around 36th. That's about 1.5 - 2 miles South and 3 miles East of our house :)

Check out this storm chaser's info here...http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21087

Here is the radar. I marked the location of our house so you can see exactly how awesome the view was from our backyard. We got a few minutes of heavy rain, but that was the extent of it for us. After the rain stopped, you could see huge towering storm clouds to the right of our
backyard and on the left side of the yard it was a beautiful clear night sky with stars...go figure!

New Flower Bed!

Nathan went to the lake with Memaw and PawPaw this past weekend. So, we only had one child to contend with which meant it was time to get started on the flower bed! Travis and I did the entire bed along with some flower boxes and a tree in the backyard.

Before....

AFTER!!!

Much better don't you think???

Our flower bed measures 20 x 13 feet...huge! Filling this bed was no easy task :) Once everything has a couple years of growth, it should look really good.

10 bags of compost (we have terrible clay soil)

15 bags of cocoa shell mulch ... which smells heavenly!

Natalie's Birthday Party

The day after her bithday, we had a small party with family at our house. It was just perfect. She was the star of the show and she had a great day.







After a great nap, she opened her presents from Nana & Papa and Memaw and Paw Paw. It's hard to say what her favorites were...she seemed really excited with everything she got :) It was lots of fun to see her open her own presents.

After presents we had some fun in the backyard...Nathan is a star baseball player...he can hit the ball right over the fence! Check out the video if you don't believe me :)

Wubbzy is the all time favorite cartoon character around our house these days, so he showed up everwhere. Presents, birthday cake, and of course we had to watch it when it came on at 4:30 :)

Thanks to all of the grandparents for making this such a special day for our special little girl. She is dearly loved and your presence in her life makes that apparent.

Toddler + Marker - Mommy = 1 colorful toddler

This is why children under 5 should be supervised at ALL times! Travis and I were both home when the house became unusually quiet considering both kiddos were home and awake. I head to Nathan's room to find out why everyone is so quiet and look what I found! My sweet girl coloring herself with brother's marker :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE!

Our 2 Year Old on her birthday!

Check out that ice cream! There was more than enough for the kids to share :)

Two years ago today, about this time, I was holding my baby girl for the first time. Wow, how the time has flown by. If only I could turn the clock back to that first moment I held her, I would be there in a heartbeat! But, I must say, we are really enjoying the sweet girl that is emerging from babyhood. A kind, soft spoken child with a sweet soul who goes with the flow and sparkles when she smiles. She loves to snuggle and give hugs which makes my heart melt. Her vocabulary is small, but the words she knows are a perfect reflection of her polite personality as she almost always says "pease" and "tank you". Where she is lacking in vocabulary, she more than makes up for with her physical development. She loves to climb....anything and everything....and loves to run. She is the fastest 2 year old I have ever seen and has no problem keeping up with big brother or getting away from mommy and daddy when we chase after her through the house. It has been such a joy to watch our little girl grow over the past two years and I look forward to seeing how she grows and developes over the years to come.

Today we celebrated with our friends at Chick-Fil-A. The kids had a great time scarfing down nuggets and lemonade then headed off to the play gym for some climbing and sliding fun...right up our birthday girl's alley :) We ended the party with a huge cup of ice cream.

This is just the beginning of the birthday celebrations to come over the next month...tomorrow we will be having grandma's and grandpa's and aunt's and uncle's over to our house for an afternoon of fun in the backyard, then some yummy dinner and birthday cake with presents galore. Next month we will have a huge party combining Nathan and Natalie's birthday for friends and family....that should be a fun time...more details coming on the dates and times :)

Tornado Drill

View of clouds from our driveway

Kids snuggling with Memaw and Papa after we got out of the shelter.

This is what the radar looked like after we got out.

The storm was moving SE ... you can see how it went right over us!!

Wednesday evening we had some severe weather roll through around 11 pm. Cleveland County was under a Tornado Warning and the sirens went off here in Norman so we gathered up the kids, dogs and of course Memaw and Papa, and headed down into the storm shelter in the garage.

New Words

Finally...a few more words have been added to Natalie's vocabulary!

Playing in the puddles

The kids LOVED playing in the rain last weekend. We put their play clothes on and let them run wild splashing through the puddles in the yard. After about an hour of this, we put them in the bathtub to warm up and clean the mud off, then we had a little lunch and by then, they were beat tired and went strait to bed. Both took great naps that day!!!

Notice the dog panting in the background of the video...then he runs in front of the camera...oh well.

You might be a fast driver if....

your almost 2 year old says "weeee" when you take off at a traffic light!

Too funny...true story....happened this morning on our way home from dropping Nathan off at school. Honestly, we were only going about 25, but we were passing a poorly running truck that was only going about 10 mph so it did seem like we were flying :)

For Grandma Wilson

Hello! Thank you for the sweet note! I am so happy to hear that you are enjoying the blog with all of the pics of the kids and their adventures. I have not be very good about having pictures printed so this is the best way to get everything organized and written down. I will keep posting new activities and fun information about the kids and our family as it happens...usually a few times a week or so.

We LOVE YOU! Hope you are having a great day!

Cat's & Dogs

It RAINED cats and dogs yesterday!

We got 2 inches here in Norman and I think both inches fell within a 20 minute time period. I got a couple of pics of our backyard after only 10 minutes of rain. If you click on the pictures they will enlarge quite a bit....you can clearly see the rain falling in the pics if you look close.

Touch A Truck

Our little Mail Lady

Today was Touch A Truck day at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds which is just down the street from our house. It was awesome! Every truck or emergency vehicle you could imagine was there. Firetruck, ambulance, helicopter, trash truck, mail truck, etc. There were probably 50 different vehicles for the kids to climb up in and explore. The horns were really loud therefore Nathan really didn't enjoy it much, but Natalie seemed to like them. I can't say that I blame Nathan for not liking the horns....imagine 50 horns going off at the same time!!! It was really loud but most of the kiddos there were loving every minute of their big truck adventure.

When we finished up with TAT, we strolled through the Flea Market and over to the dog show that was going on at the fairgrounds. All of the perfectly groomed dogs were on their grooming tables where people could pet them. The kids LOVED this part of our outing. One of the the dogs we loved on was huge...Petie was 105 lbs at only 3 years! He was so soft and very gentle with the kids.

Cheerios Anyone???

Natalie helped herself to snack this morning....we walked into the kitchen to check on her and look what we found! Notice Hannah looking on as if to say, "you gonna eat that?"