Ice, Hail, House

The hail storm from way back in April cause some significant damage and we finally got things fixed... we went a little above fixing.  We got all new siding, with new paint colors and gutters to boot!  This has been such a fun project for me.

In the middle of it all, we have had two ice storms that have cause significant damage to trees and power lines all over the city.  The first time we never lost power, but we hosted a family who did.  The second storm took our power, but we borrowed a generator from some friends and did just fine.  We even hosted a party with Marna, Heather and family just as we had planned to.

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Tubing at the Baseball Stadium

 

Utah with Mom

Mom and I went and stayed with my aunt Pam for a few days in November.  She had an art show that was on display and we both really wanted to see it.  It was a very inspirational trip for me.  I'm really glad that I took the time to go.  I had a chance to see an old roommate (can't find the picture, darn!) and my friend John and his family.  Barb also drove down to see us and I was so grateful for the chance the we had to talk and catch up.  I learned a lot from her too!  We had a family dinner and lots of cousins and relatives came - so much fun!  We got to see Eric's house that he has been working on and have a few opportunities to catch up with him.  We visited the children's museum where Trent works and met Liz and the kids there.  Mom and I drove up to Salt Lake City and visited an elder that had just come home from Oklahoma and then Dayna, John, Karen and Tia.  While I was in the airport waiting to go home I remembered that John and his wife were headed to Hawaii that day and decided to text them and see if they were waiting around the airport too... they were! so we were able to have lunch together and a few more minutes to catch up. What a lot we squeezed in - so much fun!

    

Pam has a special diet that she uses and even make some of her own spices.  I got to make home made curry in preparation for one of our meals.

Food Truck Inspiration

While we were in Austin we visited several food truck spots.  There were places you could go to have lots of food trucks to choose from.  The first wasn't much of a location, just a dirt parking lot, but the food was amazing.  The second was a large, lovely place with a theme, a park and live music.  It has made me really consider getting some land and renting space out to food trucks here in Oklahoma City.  I've looked into it a bit and dreamed about it a lot.  We'll see...

   

Austin in October

We spent a few days in Austin during October and had some great fun with our Madison cousins too.  These pictures are from a pumpkin farm we visited and a really neat natural spring that we hiked down to swim in and and enjoy.

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August Trip to Texas

We spent a week in a really nice cabin in Texas with the Poyners.  We stayed at a huge resort that had lots of activities, several lakes and pools and lots of beauty.  Cousin time is the best!