We moved!

Pictures and updates to come soon - once internet is set up at the new house!!

Hope your Christmas was filled with joy and laughter

Have a great Tuesday (and Wednesday)!

Packing!

I finally spooked myself into thinking "we must start packing.... or else!" So, I grabbed my newly purchased banker's boxes (no, I'm not banker, but I think their boxes rule!) and I packed up the guest room bookcases.

My Empty Bookcases... Ready to go!

My first 5 boxes packed and labeled! About 25 to go....

While I was packing, Jack was watching the Sing Off (I would come in and catch part of acts - it's such a fun show!) and working on his balancing act....

He is so talented!

Jack helped keep Duncan occupied; Duncan thinks he is a professional mover... well, by "mover" I mean thief. He is a known thief.

We will keep you updated on our packed boxes count and all other "moving and packing" related things.
Happy Monday Eve!
J&K

It's the 13th.....

And we didn't close today.

No problem; we will close on our house Wednesday at 3:00pm.

Until then.....we must start packing. Must..... start..... packing......


-J&K.

Dreaming of sugar plums

I snapped this photo of Duncan taking a nap this afternoon -

He sleeps in the funniest positions!

I think this may be his favorite; I often catch him in this sleeping position in the mornings. He enjoys a good napper!

-Jack and Kayla

Downtown in December - Ice Skating

Jack and I went ice skating Downtown last night! We had tons of fun!

There's tons to do Downtown!

We had only one wipe out - I lost my balance and got ice all down my right side. We made it around the rink about 10 or 12 times. We saw several of our college friends and some friends from our church small group.

Well, I can't figure out why it's blurry.. and why I can't rotate the picture...

Early that night, I had my work Christmas party of the Oklahoma City Art Museum. They have an incredible display of blown glass right now by Chihuly. This piece is incredible!

It stands about 55 feet tall (ugh, why are my pictures not rotating..!)

I'm not too much of a museum goer - but this is pretty incredible. 

They look like balloons and toys!

I'll take the blue one please.

I hope you and your family will be able to spend some time Downtown this December. The atmosphere is so fun - It's almost our own Winter Wonderland!

-J&K

Caught in the act!

Over the weekend, I have caught Duncan laying in our bed - just as comfortable and at home as ever. Now, he isn't allowed on the bed (we usually keep all the doors closed since he has been accused as a thief many times). I have been off my game and have been leaving the bedroom door open - only because I am coming right back in with laundry or something. My brief absence is Duncan's perfect excuse to jump on the bed and enjoy a few minutes in heaven (remember - he loves bed. He eats them). We can't help but to laugh at him and tell him in a light-hearted manner "off".

Caught in the act!



Look at his eyebrows...!

Oh Duncan Dog. One day, we will get you another bed. Until then, please stay off ours.
-Jack and Kayla

TSO!

My favorite December concert to attend is... Trans Siberian Orchestra! This was my 5th time to see them in concert and it was the best! It's the same show for the first part of the concert (based on their album Christmas Eve and Other Stories ) and they play new music the second part of the show. Here are a few pictures.

New Stage! The walkways were lowered from the ceiling!

There's all sort of lasers, fire, spotlights - it's exciting!

TSO - they get me into the Christmas spirit!

Andddd to get you excited about them coming next year (don't worry, I will remind you all when they are back in OKC; it will be December 2011!) here's a video. It's a tid bit blurry, but it shows just small fraction of the joy they bring!

Andd.... another one.

Baked Mac and Cheese

Earlier this week, Jack made some delicious baked macaroni and cheese! We made two versions - one wheat and one regular. Jack surprised me with my own special bowl of mac and cheese!

MMMmmm! In my sweet little Emile Henry dish!

Here's a link to the wonderful recipe

Jack didn't use onions or the bay leaf.

Hope you have time to try making this yourself!

Happy cooking -
Jack and Kayla

Wonderful Time of the Year!

With Thanksgiving behind us, it's time for Christmas! I didn't allow myself to listen to Christmas music until today (well, I did hear BC Clark's Anniversary Sale Commercial yesterday...and I'm sure I heard some playing on the Macy's Parade). Today, I  heard Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas is You" at BestBuy and thought - it's really Christmas time!

Last Tuesday, work turned on their Christmas lights.

Western looks good!

If you can't visit them in person, this YouTube video does it justice -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUVuQl-OE-Y


As for us, I have my iPod dedicated to Christmas music and even put up our first tree!

Courtesy of my great grandma (via my grandma)

It's a table top Spode Tree!

We will most likely be moving and unpacking boxes the days leading up to Christmas and following Christmas; for now, this little tree can be Our Tree.

Christmas is Coming!
-Jack and Kayla

Thanksgiving!

Jack and I headed up the turnpike (along with my mom) to spend Thanksgiving at my sisters. She did a great job hosting her entire immediate family! There were 6 kids under the age of 7 and I was the lucky "adult" to play hide and seek with them (it was truly fun, they asked to me play - and I got a shoelace to wear around my neck as the secret upstairs pass). I spent so much time playing, I hardly took any pictures! Here are a few --

Grandma cutting Maggie's toenails.

Henry and his cousin Millie.

Scotty and Alicia talking to Emily about Black Friday Deals.

After spending time at my sisters, we headed to Jack's parents for a little bit. It was such a fun day!

Hope your Thanksgiving was great!
Jack and Kayla

House!

October 1st marked the official "Jack and Kayla are house hunting" season. We spent about six weeks looking around NW Oklahoma City for our first house. As of November 11, we are under contract to buy a house! It's brand new, ready to move in, 3 bedroom/2 bath house in a great little neighborhood. We are set to close December 13th (and I think we are still on schedule for it). Here's a sneak peak on the house (I'll post more pictures once we have signed the hundreds of papers and it's officially ours).

We get to choose the color for the front door! We are thinking red...

We are excited to make this transition from renting to owning!

-Jack and Kayla

Funny Duncan

Last month, Jack was invited to go to the Missouri game while I was in Boston. We were a little nervous to leave Duncan in the backyard, by himself, for about 10 hours, at night. I asked Jack to let me know he was safe once he got home - I woke up in Boston to a picture of this funny guy....

His ears are virtually hidden, his tail - obviously moving, and I feel his lips are puckered.

We were so happy he likes to be outside during the day. He does love to take an afternoon nap on the couch.

-J&K

Duncan gets his teeth brushed

Jack and I have noticed Duncan's teeth aren't as pearly white as they once were. With that said, we decided to buy him his first toothbrush and attempt dental hygiene! I read on the package that it's recommended to brush you dogs teeth every day - we are hoping to make once a week.

We let him lick the toothbrush to get used to the brush.

He did surprisingly well! I thought for sure he'd run off.

We chose a peanut butter flavored toothpaste and he seemed to enjoy it!

Sleepy guy, resting on the Banma blanket (Banma is my late great grandmother. She made quilts!)

-J&K

Murder Mystery

Saturday night, our small group from church played a murder mystery game at our leaders house! We each received an invitation to attend, which told us what character we were to play. It also told us what to wear. Jack was Billy "The Kid", a baseball player. I was Malissa "Scoop" Orrthot, a news reporter. When we arrived at the host house, we received a book with facts about our character, and we began the first round. After the second round, we broke for dinner. After dinner we finished up with the third and fourth round.

Abby and Micah (Molly and Harrow)

Jack and I

Lea and Jack (Silky and Ernie)

Brittany and Shawn (Torchy and Socks)

The Girls

The Guys

Great game for a group of 8 people!

It was tons of fun!
-J&K

Sweet Duncan Dog

He still steals socks and tissues from the trash, but Duncan makes us laugh!

He really loves to lounge around.

He is getting so big and he thinks he is a lap dog.

He keeps us laughing. Free entertainment.
-J&K

Boston and the Greater New England Area

Home Sweet Oklahoma! I just got back from a work trip to Boston. Here some pictures from my trip!

Sam Adams Statue

Paul Revere's House

Site of the Boston Massacre

Road Trip to Maine!

Beach Bird

KG and JG! (We never did this in St Lucia, better now than never!)

Beach with great homes!

Awesome bakery in Maine.

Dinner at Bartley's in Harvard Square.

Boston Harbor.

Road Trip to Plymouth - it's the Mayflower II!

Plymouth Rock! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Road Trip - this time for Dinner in Rhode Island!

Providence is a cute town! 

I'm calling this October "Red, White and Blue October" (similar to the Sooners Red October in 2000), since I have been to pretty fortunate to visit some remarkable, historical sites this year.

Time to get back to Central Time Zone and back to "the real world".

Oh, Jack did a great job taking care of the house and Duncan Dog.

-J&K

blast from the past!

Who knew we would end up such great friends, roommates, kappa treasurers, sharing a bed in kenya,  biggest loser fans, each other bridesmaids, and sister in laws just 5 years later?!?!

I had no idea... but I'm so thankful it happened!
Disney World - 2011 - here we come! :)

-KDG