Oklahoma Highlights

We are partially back to Utah now. Michael's manager needed him back here asap, so we packed up two cars worth, packed the rest into the garage, and headed out to Michael's parents basement until we can sell our house and buy one here. We are excited to be back near family but it was very hard to leave our ward and friends in Ardmore. Here are some highlights from our year in Oklahoma!
The only snow of the winter, in January. We miss you First Home, wish we could have hauled you out here.

Our ward Halloween party and Trunk or Treat

Our awesome back yard!

Baby tarantula. Wish we would have gotten a picture

of their migration across the farm roads

Our trip to Lake Murray.

Our trip to the Alamo and Schlitterbahn water park with the Masons

Playgroup trip to the zoo with Bryson, J.D., and Nathan

Yep that is bologna. You won't find many vegetarians out in these here parts.

Turner Falls. We went a little late in the season and the water was a little cold. Just down the path from the falls swimming area is "The Castle", not medieval, but not clear on what it is.

We won't forget the Arbuckle Wilderness!

Plenty of sun for swimming all spring, summer, and fall.

Michael and Halie's trip to Mexico in June with Danny and Deja Young.

Oklahoma City Memorial

Our neighbor and Adrienne's best friend Sam Wells.

Adrienne's friend Lincoln, who moved back to Utah in May

Fire ant attack

Our trip to the Gainsville, Texas Zoo

We miss you Oklahoma!

Arbuckle Wilderness

Last weekend we went to the Arbuckle Wilderness which is about thirty miles north of us in the famous Arbuckle mountains ( or as we Utahns call rolling hills). It was lots of fun feeding the animals out of the car, Adrienne absolutely loved it!

No that is not zoomed in... I was literally eye to eye with a camel!

I couldn't help it, my dad wouldn't let me wrestle like my brothers. I think it is because he knew I would probably make the boys cry.

Little reader

When Adrienne looks at her picture books she is usually quiet unless she sees favorite items (choo choo, ball, bikasill (bicycle), etc.). But if she picks up any other kind of reading material she reads it.

Tornado

As many of you may have heard, tornado season came early this year here in Oklahoma. These pictures are of the destruction in Lone Grove, which is about five miles west of our home in Ardmore. This tornado killed eight people in a trailer park and one truck driver as it crossed the freeway just north of Ardmore. On Saturday our stake organized the "Mormon Helping Hands" group to help with the cleanup. Michael spent most of the morning picking up debris from some fields so that it will be safe to put the cattle back in them. Michael's parents were visiting for the week and got to experience a little more of Oklahoma than they wanted. That night we had just come home from dinner to celebrate Michael's 28th birthday. As soon as we got out of the car we heard our neighbor yelling across the street to another neighbor about a tornado, and then our siren went off and we went in the house to turn on the news. It was exciting at first to hear from the storm chaser on the news that it had touched down twenty miles south of us, and that it was going north at forty miles an hour, then to hear that it was going strait for Lone Grove made us realize that if it started to turn east it would be coming at us. My mother-in-law was not the least bit excited about any of this, especially realizing that we did not have a storm shelter yet! Relief mildly explains how we felt to hear that it was going straight north through Lone Grove, and crossing the freeway just north of our little town. All of our ward members were very lucky, some of their homes being missed by just yards, and the most damage done to any of their homes was just missing a few shingles.

Super CUTE!