Albuquerque New Year

We were able to go to Albuquerque to spend New Year's with my family. It was the first time most of my siblings had met Lily. 

All three kids were great on the drive; we only had to stop one extra time to feed Lily both ways.

We got to Albuquerque on Monday just in time to see OU bomb their bowl game.

On Tuesday Dale and I got to go to the temple for the first time since Lily was born. That night we went to see the River of Lights. It was frigid and windy and we were glad that Lily stayed at the house with Grandpa. 

My cheeks got wind burned!

Wednesday morning Dale, my sister and my mom went skiing up in Santa Fe. Dale came back sore but had lots of fun. It was awesome. Cameron also lost a tooth. He missed singing the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" by less than a week! He was very worried that since the tooth fairy had been in Oklahoma a week previously, that she wouldn't make it to New Mexico in time. Fortunately she did.

We celebrated New Year's eve that night and both boys made it past midnight. 

Dale and I stole away on Thursday for a date to Olive Garden. Friday morning we left early and drove to Norman. We spent a few hours there with Dale's brother and drove home late that night.

Our car was packed to the hilt! My brother gave Lily a giant stuffed lobo for Christmas and he gave us an Xbox 360. 

All in all, we had a lot of fun. It was crowded but we got to spend lots of time with family, catch up, play board games, etc.

Chickasaw Cultural Center

The Chickasaw Nation has a large presence here and has done a lot to make sure their establishments add to the beauty of our little city. Just over 1/2 an hour away, they have a large cultural center, so we went there for a day trip during spring break in March. It was totally FREE and we learned so much about their culture.

The boys weren't terribly into the stomp dance, but afterwards, Kimball moved like a whirlwind from one station to the next, wanting to see everything they had to offer....from a skit about the Three Sisters (corn, bean and squash) which inspired our garden this year...

to skinning a hide...

to shooting a bow and arrow for the first time. This was perfect timing because Kimball had asked just days before how a bow and arrow works since we'd been reading about Nephi's bow in the Book of Mormon.

Cousins from Down Under

Last week I got to drive 8 hours with my boys (Dale had to work) to see two of my cousins who had come to America for a few weeks from Australia. I hadn't seen them in 13 or so years and it was so fun to catch up and spend a few days with them! Krystal and Esther were so great with my boys and Kimball and Cameron loved being at Grandma's house for a week :)

While we were there, we went to Bandolier National Monument where there are Native American ruins and you get to climb up ladders to get into their caves. Kimball was a monkey and loved it.

The Saturday before Memorial Day we went to the lake where both of my boys were little fish and loved the boats/water. Cameron would even jump from boat to boat nearly scaring me to death!

All in all it was a great week and I can't wait until the next time (whenever that is) that I get to see all of my cousins from Australia...and all of their spouses that I have yet to meet!

Dallas

My fabulous mom came out to Oklahoma to watch our boys so that Dale and I could go to the J Reuben Clark Law Society Conference (basically the Mormon lawyers club), which was held in Dallas this year. We drove down Thursday afternoon so Dale could attend a student leadership meeting and got home Saturday evening.

I was flabergasted at how friendly such a large group of lawyers can be! It was amazing the connection that all of those complete strangers had with each other because of the church...after being away from BYU for a year and a half, it felt wonderful to just talk about church stuff and have everyone understand :)! I was especially grateful that everyone there was really good about talking to the wives and including them even if we had no idea what they were talking about.

On Friday there were a few spouse activities so we didn't have to sit through all of the lectures given. Southern Methodist University hosted the conference (which I still find ironically hilarious) and they even pulled out their collection of rare LDS literature such as a first edition Book of Mormon (picture on the left), Deseret letter Book of Mormon, first edition hymnal, etc.

That afternoon all of the wives went to the 6th Floor Museum which is where Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK from. We also got to go to the Kennedy memorial which is a large, open cement room, and Pioneer Plaza with who knows how many statues of Long Horns.

This was the longest I've been away from my boys (first time overnight away from Cameron) and it was so much fun to spend time with my husband and meet other women who are in my situation or have been here and could relate. I also really enjoyed the speakers I did listen to, such as the US Ambassador to North Korea, Area Legal Counsels for the Church, a former Attorney General, and many more amazing lawyers/judges, etc. I learned a lot and had more fun that I thought was possible!

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A Oklahoma! OK!

For the first time since my mission ended in December '04, I boarded an airplane and flew somewhere. Also for the first time since then, I left the Mountain Time Zone. It was a big week. Thanks to the generosity of my brothers, I was able to pull it all off for less than $250.

So, I was supposed to fly out Tuesday at 6:35 am, but they have this thing called freezing rain in Oklahoma that happens once every winter, and it happened on Tuesday. So, my brother and I woke up early to head to the airport, saw one flight was canceled, got scheduled for another one, and woke up a few hours later. Safely at the airport and through security, I wait only to have this flight canceled, and then another when all flights to OK were canceled for the day. I took my ticket for Wednesday at 6:35, and Judy came and got me, which was fun to spend the day with my family off of work.

Wednesday arrived and we just got me to the airport barely in time to board and I was off. I remembered that last time I flew I thought I should get some Dramamine, but by that time it was too late and the peppermint gum and ginger-ale proved ineffective, so my hopes and dreams of trying to be a missionary on the flight faded away to quiet nausea.

On the ground, the first thing I noticed was the great parking place my plane got as I was outside the airport in less than a minute from deplaning. Then I realized the airport was a whole lot smaller than Salt Lake's. The next thing that caught my eye was the John Deer tractor so diligently working to plow the ice from the roads and parking lots...a JOHN DEER as a snow plow at the airport, I knew I should have worn my Stetson! When my brother got there to pick me up, I noticed how flat it was, but the implications of this flatness would not be realized until I tried to get around on my own.

So, all of the University of Oklahoma was still closed due to the storm, so Wednesday afternoon I took advantage of my brother's connections with some current law students who had gone to BYU for their undergrads too. They were great. Dropped whatever they were doing on their unexpected free day to meet me at Borders and give me the inside scoop about Sooner law. They had lots of good things to say about the school, and not many bad things. The resounding message was that of an accessible faculty and administration that sincerely cared for each student in the school and would stop at nothing to help them succeed.

The next day, my visit to the school proved their point as I met with at least three deans who all took as much time as I wanted to talk to me and answer questions. One even did so unexpectedly during the middle of a meeting. Now, this could raise the concern about them not having anything better to do, but it did not seem so to me. The facilities were all very nice. There was a good mixture of modern style and technology with their rich heritage (Should I go, I will be in their centennial class).

Rent prices in Norman seem to be comparable to Provo, but what we're thinking is the price of housing. We could be in a $100000, 3 bedroom home for less than $600 a month, which we could then stay in, sell, or rent at the end of law school. Awesome!

All in all, OU put up a tough fight for me against other schools that may accept me (I still haven't heard back from any others that are on my first choice list). Even mighty Duke is in danger, should they choose to accept the humble author of this post and not put up a good showing on a visit there.

Now you know why I don't post very often. I'm a novelist that doesn't like writting. I can't do anything short because that just wouldn't do, and I hate writting long things. Anywho, now I ramble.