Our Life in the Yellow Brick House

Kyle and I had a great weekend. On Saturday he surprised me with date night. We went out to Da Vinci’s, the new Italian restaurant in town. (I give it 1 ½ thumbs up. The food was tasty and although the bread is better at Joseppi’s, it was nice to try something new.) After that it was off to Marble Slab to pick up a fabulous ice cream cake and then back to the house to watch our wedding video. I’ve been begging Kyle to watch it with me for about a month and he finally gave in! Such great memories! Heaven in a box! On Sunday I had a ton of things to do around the house, including the budget. If you have ever met Kyle, you’ve probably heard him complain about our budget. He and Dave Ramsay do not get along. I’ve never loved keeping up with the budget but lately it’s gotten a lot harder because there are about a dozen things I’d rather be doing. Last month it took me four hours to get everything to balance and after that I decided enough is enough. Don’t worry, mom, we are still keeping tr...

Despite the horrible heat, this has been a nature-filled couple of weeks for us. It started with the brilliant idea the Murphy House ladies had. (I work for the Foundation, and we purchases a historic home across the street from our main building called the Murphy House, which is were my office is. There are six of us over there. All female and Michal and I are the only ones under 50, but Michal is on maternity leave right now.) To save OSUF a little money and spend some quality time together, us girls decided to spend a morning doing yard work. So we picked a date and prayed it wouldn't rain. With beautiful things like this outside the Murphy House, spending a day outside should be enjoyable! Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Until... The skies were clear that day, but unfortunately last minute things came up so three of the ladies had to cancel. Judy and I spent three hours outside trimming bushes, washing windows and getting too many mosquito bites to count. (OK, so that isn...

There are certain times in life that people tend to think about themselves more than they think of others. Sometimes it’s expected, like in high school, and other times it’s understandable, like when you’re planning your wedding, but I don’t think it’s ever good for these phases to last too long. Kyle and I have been in the “worry about ourselves first mode” lately since buying a home and dealing with insurance companies and medical bills. I forgot how draining it is until I was finally able to something for someone else. Last week I found out that one of the girls at work is leaving. Katie and I have gotten to know each other over the past year. She came here from Chicago (talk about a big adjustment) and although I’m sure she has enjoyed her time at the Foundation, it is time for her to move back to her home town. A group of OSUF girls got together on Monday night to wish her farewell with Hideaway pizza and music at Joe’s. It was definitely a small gesture, but I think she enjoyed...

This weekend we got to get out of the house and spend some quality time with both families. I know most people think they have the best family in the world, but Kyle and I are pretty sure that title belongs to us. After the accident, Kyle's dad has come to Stillwater not once, but TWICE just to mow our lawn. To think that he makes the 45 min. drive and spends hours in the heat just to make our lives easier means so much to us. We are so lucky to have him! He even brought us some gardening tools on his last trip. Somehow I don't think the oatmeal cookies I made come close to paying him back for all of that, but I know he's not keeping score! :) My parents are in Branson this week celebrating their 29th anniversary, which was on Sunday. I cannot imagine what it will be like to be married for nearly 30 years, but I'm excited to find out! After almost two years, I can definitely say that I am nowhere close to being an expert, but my parents have it pretty much figured out....

Kyle's surgery went well on Friday, so thanks to all of you who were praying for us. He is still recovering and missed work again today, but if he feels OK in the morning, he is going to report for duty! It was a long weekend for several reasons. 1) I had Monday off thanks to the 4th of July. 2) The days pass REALLY slowly when you are cooped up in the house. When Kyle isn't feeling well, he likes me to be in the same room with him, so if he wasn't napping, I tried to keep him company. He got control of the remote since he was the one recovering from surgery, so we watched golf and car shows ALL weekend! We had a lot of visitors, though, including my family who "invited themselves" over on Saturday to cook dinner for us. It was really good to see everyone and the conversation was much more entertaining than what we would have otherwise been doing. Also, I got to eat some homemade ice cream, which was delicious! The 4th of July just isn't the same without it! H...