Our Life in the Yellow Brick House

There’s just too much to share from last week, so I’m splitting it up in 2 parts. As I mentioned before, Kyle and I are extremely lucky to have wonderful families, and this year, we had THREE Thanksgivings! All that food is a little overwhelming, but we love seeing everyone and spending some quality time with family. However, even with all the togetherness, there was always someone missing. As we get older, life takes us in so many different directions that it’s hard to stay connected. It’s part of growing up and even though sometimes I secretly wish we were all 12 again, there’s no going back. I am thankful that our families are multiplying and moving on, taking advantage of new opportunities and spreading their wings. We may not have seen all the siblings and cousins, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t thinking about each and every one of them over the holiday weekend. So, happy Thanksgiving to all those who had to miss out on the big family gatherings. We haven’t forgotten about...

I wanted to get one more blog in before I’m stuffing my face with turkey and noodles and napping! I know noodles aren’t part of a traditional Thanksgiving, but they are for us. In fact, all 3 of our Thanksgiving celebrations are going to include them. Yummy! :) As you know, Nov. 8 was our second anniversary. Although we celebrated on the actual day, we wanted to do a little something more, so we planned a weekend trip to Oklahoma City. It was great to spend some quality time together and actually have one weekend away from our day-to-day routine. It was fabulous and even though we were there for less than 24 hours, we managed to: get lost wondering around Bricktown, eat a 22 oz. steak (Kyle ate it while I watched in horror. That thing was huge!), take a carriage ride, break our bathroom sink, buy a Christmas tree, get my wedding ring cleaned (it’s so sparkly now!), shop for a new mattress, watch parasurfing on Lake Hefner, complete 90 percent of our Christmas shopping and meet up with ...

This week has been a somewhat strange one as I came to the realization that two of my closest colleagues at work are actually going to be leaving before Christmas. :( They are moving on to better situations and I am happy for them, but that doesn't mean I'm not sad at the same time! It's funny how the people you work with become your own little family. Like family, you don't always get to pick them and they are not always easy, but they are yours and you learn to love them -- at least 90% of the time, anyway. :) I am blessed to work with some wonderful ladies, and I have a lot of fun with them. We are different in many ways but they teach me so much about life and are so supportive. That is one of the many things I am thankful for this season. I know it's also something that is always subject to change as life takes people in different directions. This hand, I've been dealt a great work family and it's something I do not take for granted. Odds are that in my...

Even though I posted not that long ago, I feel like there are a lot of things I've left out, so here are some highlights over the last few weeks. 1. Mark and Karin are finally married! Kyle and Mark have been friends for years so when Mark and Karin started dating, we became couple friends. Those are good to have. I'm glad to say that now they are one of our MARRIED couple friends. Their wedding was beautiful and we are so happy for them! My husband with the groom! 2. Much to Kyle's delight, the time finally came for him to get a new phone. Even though he knew he wanted an iPhone 4, he asked the salesman to tell him the difference between that and a Samsung Captivate. Besides the fact that the Samsung was half the price (obviously that's the one I was rooting for) and offered pretty much the same features, Kyle had get the iPhone. He loves it and was up til 11:00 that night playing with it. Needless to say, I'm glad he's happy and now I can buy as many Christmas...

This week, Kyle and I have started doing what we say we are going to do. For Kyle, that means finally putting together the shed in our backyard. We've had it for almost two months and every weekend he intends to put it together, but nothing actually happens. Well, last weekend he and his friends spent SEVERAL hours working on it. It's looking great and it's almost done! Hopefully by Sunday, we'll be moving things out of our garage! I'm so excited. For me, I've finally started working out. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not, nor have I ever been a health nut. I eat pretty much what I want when I want and do little to no exercise. I don't know if it's my rapidly advancing age or the wedding band on my finger, but all of the sudden, that plan isn't really working for me anymore. I have an elliptical at the house, but since the move, I haven't really used it. I needed something to get me motivated, so I signed up for boot camp at the Seretean...

Last weekend was OSU’s homecoming and since we live in Stillwater, you couldn’t get away from all of the school spirit! Not that we’d want to. It keeps us young. Unfortunately last weekend was a rainy one. As an adviser, I spend a lot of time with the students. Since school started, not a week has gone by that I haven’t heard something about homecoming. Whether it’s someone stressed out about all the pomping they have to do, or someone who is excited about seeing it all come together -- that’s all they've been talking about. So in the early morning hours on Friday when the rain started, I was sad for them. That didn’t damper the spirit, though, and all events went on as scheduled, rain or shine. Had the Cowboys won, it would have been the perfect end to the weekend. It was a great reminder that we can’t control our circumstances, and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. That’s something I’ve been working on this year. I am a planner, which is not always a great q...

I really look forward to October because my favorite season is fall and my favorite holiday (besides Christmas) is Halloween. I was super excited this year because I finally have a house to decorate! Unfortunately, Kyle doesn’t feel the same way. I would say 90 percent of our “heated discussions” are about money. I’m a saver, he’s a spender, and therein lays the problem. His phone contract is almost up and he has been dying to get a smart phone. The only problem is that not only are they more expensive up front, but it’s an additional charge each month. So every time he brings it up, I tell him that we need to wait a few months and then see how it fits into the budget. (We are still getting used to paying the mortgage and waiting to be reimbursed for Kyle’s medical bills.) I can only imagine how frustrating it is for him, and overall he has been VERY patient with me. But that patience ended when he came home to discover that I had gone crazy buying “junk” for the house. Obviously w...