Wrapped and Ready

With Christmas just about here, we are wrapped and ready for the festivities!

Wrapped.

Ready.

Also ready are some sweet treats from our kitchen. We should have plenty to share!

No Bake Cookies.

Oreo Cupcakes.

We can't wait to spend time with our family. In just three short days, we will get to see almost all of our Oklahoma family. That's pretty awesome. We can't wait.

Wish we you a very, merry Christmas.
-Jack and Kayla

One Year Later

I can't believe we have been homeowners for one year now.

This year went by WAY too fast.

Home sweet home.
-Jack and Kayla

An Angel Came Down.

My mom, Jack and I spent an evening with who my mom and I consider are best friends in December - Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We know them by name, we know their songs by heart, and maybe we tend to sort of dance to the music when we are by ourselves.

I have come to love this tradition. It was my sixth time to see them. The Christmas Story (the beginning part of the show) is always the same with a few minor adjustments. This year, some of the vocalists were different (three friends didn't tell us they would not be here). A new song, new vocalists - same awesome show and a great night.

The show starts with the song "An Angel Came Down" (hints the blog title). They end the show with a short version of Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), which is the video above.

My mom took a lot more pictures and videos than I did. 

Part of the stage lowered and was right in front of us. This is Angus and Andrew.

Their hair is long and it shines.

I think they enjoy their jobs.

We can't wait for them to be in Oklahoma City. Next December. Until then...
TSO rules.
-Jack and Kayla

Decorating the house

Although it's our second technical Christmas in this house, I'm saying it's our first. If you recall, we closed on our house December 15, 2010, then a short 3 days later left for Colorado, then 5 days later returned for a few days prior to Christmas, then heading to Norman and Duncan (the city). Every minute in between was spent  packing and not decorating our first Christmas. So, we are making up for it this year. Big time.

My Spode, one of most favorite gifts. I didn't like receiving it as a 10 year old, but golly, I love it now.

Our new tree skirt.

Our first tree!!

Up close. We love this tree.

 New stockings and garland. Jack's Nutcrackers.

Here are the other Nutcrackers. Jack says he gets one every year, however I am only counting 18 - therefore there could be 6 nutcrackers on the run....

Our small Spode tree from my Grandma. This guy served as our tree last year.

Our Nativity. Joy to the world!

So the inside is totally ready, and our outside is too!

It's much better in person. We are hoping to add some red and green lights as our lights by the garage. Oh, and garland around the front door.

We are super excited. And maybe I have named a room in the house the North Pole. You know, a room to wrap, sing loud, and be all Elf like (oh, note to self: watch Elf!!!).

Plus, we are seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra this weekend with my mom. It's our Christmas tradition and I love it. I may or may not be trying to memorize all their songs prior to Saturday. It's hard to recall them each year, since you only listen to them once a year.

We hope you are getting ready for Christmas (and I hope you are staying warm and stress-free!). 

Now, we just some snow...
-Jack and Kayla

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came quickly, but we enjoyed our time away from work and time with our families. Jack and I went to Duncan (the city) for Thanksgiving lunch at my mother in law's parents house. The whole family was there and it was lovely - great food and tons of laughing.

Before we left OKC, we snapped a few pictures in hopes they would work out for our Christmas card. Luckily one will work (which I won't spoil the card by showing) but here are the rejects -

Just a sweet little kiss on the cheek.

and then a second, bigger kiss.

Jack needs kisses too.

And for said kisses, he wants a belly rub.

Bad placement... and his skunk - Stevie - was in the picture.

No more pictures, please!

I will post our final picture and card once they come in.

Hope your Thanksgiving was full of family.
We're thankful for so much.
-Jack and Kayla

Weekend Fun

It's always nice to have a weekend home with no football games to attend and no real plans. This was one of those weekends.

Friday night, we made our own cinna-pie. You know, like a dessert pizza. 

Jack preparing for baking.

The product. Quite delicious.

As always, Duncan supervises.

We love Duncan Dog. And we are pretty sure he loves us.

Saturday, Jordan and Trey came over for dinner and some fireside fun. It was a very windy evening, but we managed to keep the fire going.

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Trey wanted to climb to the top. So he did.

He survived the climb.

Duncan wanted to follow up him; Jack had to restrain him.

It was a wonderful weekend. Soon, our weekends will be filled with more football, holiday gatherings and holiday decorating.

We will take the rest now.
-Jack and Kayla

Updates, long over due

I've updated the blog (you're welcome Grandma and Laura). I've been meaning to update for a while, but I had computer issues, then I resolved them. Then I waited until my new monitor came, and it did and I love it. Then, Jack and I started watching Criminal Minds every night... then I ran out reasons.

So enjoy the updates. I will be better at posting since I now have a working, awesome computer with an awesome monitor.

Happy reading.
-Jack and Kayla

Earthquakes?!

We woke up Saturday morning to learn there was an earthquake in the middle of night that woke some people up.

We slept through it.

I was kind of bummed. I have never felt an earthquake and really wanted to. So, I made sure I placed it on my imaginary bucket list.

I got to cross "Feel an earthquake" shortly after.

Saturday was a normal gameday in Norman. We tailgated, we watched the Sooners win, we drove home. Jack stayed up to watch the LSU/Bama game and the OSU/KState game. I feel asleep on the couch. I woke up a tad bit angry that I had fallen asleep on the couch, so I ran into the bed room to get in bed only to find clean clothes on the bed.

Darn, I knew I should have put those away earlier.

So, still tad bit angry, I started hanging the clothes up in their rightful place in the closet. Jack was getting ready for bed. And it began.

I remember hearing something first. I thought it was in the garage or possibly the dryer. I knew nothing could make that noise in the garage and the dryer had t-shirts, not shoes, in the there. I asked Jack "what is that noise?". As soon as I said that, we could hear the rattling of the house. We saw my hanging clothes and empty hangers sway back and forth. We felt the ground beneath us become not so study. We froze. We didn't take cover in the door frame. My heart might have missed a beat. It was definitely pounding out of my chest.

Hindsight, we have no idea how long it lasted. We think about 10 seconds; I've heard others say 45 seconds. Either way, we felt an earthquake..... then got on facebook to see what our friends were saying about their earthquake experience. True Okie style, right? It did register at a 5.6 - the largest in Oklahoma History.

Those are all the earthquakes the past weekend in this great state. the largest yellow was the one felt by many.

We haven't seen any damage done to the house. No cracks and no shifting of items.

Then, if you look above you'll see the blue box. The second earthquake I felt. This one occurred during a severe weather warning with horrible wind and rain. I thought this earthquake might have been the wind since I didn't feel the ground shake per se; I heard rattling more so in parts of the house. Jack was in class and he felt it too. There was a tornado in the southwest part of the state earlier and I think it's suppose to freeze later this week?

If Oklahoma had a resume, I think it would look like this:
2011 - Coldest Day Ever for Oklahoma
2011 - Biggest Snow Fall Amount Ever
2011 - Largest Hail Ever
2011 - Hottest July Ever
2011 - EF5 Tornadoes
2011- Largest Earthquake for Oklahoma

I'm sure our state has other accomplishments to place on here.
I think Will Rogers quote couldn't have been more true.
-Jack and Kayla

Halloween!

I'm not scared to say Halloween isn't my favorite of the holidays. We didn't even bother getting pumpkins for our porch. I was excited and thrilled to pass out candy in our new neighborhood.

For small group, we had a Halloween themed food night. We made spiderweb pretzels.

Delicious and very fragile.

For a special treat for us, Halloween funfetti cupcakes. 

Jack had class on Halloween, so it was my job (and Duncan's) to pass out candy. 

One tradition my family does is tally how many trick or treaters come.

 We had 49 trick or treaters. Two of them include two girls that were my height, but dressed up. It also includes three 10 year olds that weren't dressed and commented on my tv show. He called me out on watching "reality tv". Relax kid, it's just Dancing with the Stars. It could be a lot worse.


The little decoration we did include these fun spiders from Jack's old babysitter. We loved seeing them hanging out around the fireplace.

We hope your Halloween was spook-tacular.
-Jack and Kayla


Oh, check out the Harpers!

 Check out my mom's front porch!

Rusty isn't a real diablo... he is an angel.

And... I guess I sort of dressed up for Halloween. I volunteered myself to be Snow White at a co-workers daughter's birthday party. I'll admit ... it was fun!

This might be my new weekend gig - Disney Princess.

Frost

It's getting cold here!

I guess Fall has fallen and Winter is approaching.....


I hope it doesn't snowmageddon again...Or maybe I do.....
- Jack and Kayla

Date Night

With our busy schedules, we try to keep Fridays to ourselves to enjoy some good food, whether that's eating out or cooking ourselves.

Since the burn ban was lifted, Jack bought some firewood and we had ourselves a fire!

First, our great food. 

We tried a new way to make potatoes. Crispy, yet soft.

Mmmm. Steaks.

 Our fire. It was our first fire of Fall and our first time to really utilize our patio furniture.

  Who doesn't love a nice Oklahoma evening, next to a fire with a glass of wine?

Duncan doesn't. He managed to get his toy on the other side of the fence. Jack jumped the fence to rescue the toy.

We hope for many more nights like these.

Fall is fun, unless my allergies say otherwise.
-Jack and Kayla