Happy Anniversary #4

We never put pictures up on the blog of our wedding - so, here it is! Ta-dah! Four years ago we got married and here's the picture to prove it. 

For our anniversary, we went to this beautiful bed and breakfast in Broken Bow, OK. It had a beautiful pool/ hot tub, a cool theatre room, delicious food, and there was a huge picture window in the room that opened up to this incredible scene of Broken Bow Lake - it was perfect. But I can't show you what I'm talking about because the picture I took of the picturesque scene is on my broken phone.

Without fail, every anniversary, I try to talk Evan into some outdoorsy adventure. This time it was canoeing. Easy enough, right? Wrong. Even more wrong was that I brought my phone with me. It's not going to get wet, right? Wrong x2.

Here's the story: The Circle of Life [A Reflective Essay]

I've never been on just a canoe trip. It's always turned from a recreational activity into an epic journey that redefines the meaning of life! This was no exception.

Evan and I suited up, got into position, and the bus driver gave us a shove into the cold water. We just had to make it back to the rental shop, easy enough - right? Analogy: we come into this world with a gentle shove from someone we trust we'll see again. We trust that the final destination will be there (Heaven). And we trust that we'll make it back again - in one piece.

It was only about 100 yards down the river before we hit our first major obstacle - rocks! AND rapids! Fast moving water and huge rocks led us right into: getting trapped! We tried to work together by scooting along but we failed miserably. A guy from the group ahead of us came back to offer his help, but I was too proud to accept it. We kept on scooting... and yelling. But we were still stuck. Another group passed us. They stopped at a little alcove just after the rapids and one of the guy's walked up and offered to help us. So with the boat 100% submerged, we both got out, and stumbled to shore.

Analogy: this is adolescence. Such a turbulent and tumultuous time in our lives. Friends will come and go, we'll get tried, we'll fail a lot, and it will suck sometimes. We'll even deny help from those reaching out with a kind heart, because we definitely know better. And because we can't see the rest of the river and what's just around the bend, our decisions can be short sided and dangerous. But we will have to eventually choose: keep going or stay stuck. So - take the help. Find an alternate route. Don't stay stuck.

After getting to shore, gathering our oars and shoes, being sad about the dead phone in my back pocket, and dumping out the water from our canoe - we got back in and headed out again.

Always get back in the canoe.

With me up front and Evan in the back, we started out. I kept my eye on the path ahead - shouting back orders to Evan. Left! Right! Straight! Whoa!! Rocks - watch out - SPLASH! And we were out of the boat again.

"Don't let go of the boat." "Grab the oars." "What are you doing?" Evan was done with my bossy mouth and was becoming unresponsive. So, I tried to slow it down, took a breather, walked the boat to the shallow edge of the river, and waited. When he was ready, I talked him though dumping the canoe and getting back in without tipping it.

This time he sat up front and I sat in back - hoping to steer us in the right direction. About 200 feet later we hit another rocky spot. We were both squirming and leaning trying to avoid tipping but it was a little too much to the right and SPLASH! Back in the river. Scrambling to gather our stuff again, we limped back to the shallow water's edge.

My experience finally caught up with me and I was able to laugh. Now this is a canoe trip! I was even borderline excited to have a tale to tell. However, Evan was not okay. "You get back in the canoe and I'll just float along next to you," he kept saying.

"That's not how this works," I replied. "You have to get back in the canoe too."

Just after we got everything back together to get going, Evan told me he had to go to the bathroom - like... not just #1. "Can't you hold it?" I asked.

"Nope," he replied. So, I got back into the canoe and help onto a small tree branch while Evan took a little journey through the woods to do his business.

Analogy: welcome to marriage. Two people, struggling to communicate, dumping out left and right, and when you might be at your lowest - "crap" happens. I thought about how easy it would be to just let go of that tiny branch. Or how easy it would be for him to just not come back from his trip in the woods. So I held on, with everything I had, and he came back from the woods.

After he got back, we talked about what it meant to communicate in the canoe, what I expected from him (as I was steering again), and what he expected from me (being the guy up front). As we shoved off from shore again this time, we were almost smiling.

But as we were going, the communication still wasn't solid. So I asked Evan to speak more clearly and (when we came to a fork in the river) to make a quick, clear decision. We slowly got things going and we started to almost work together as a solid team.

Now you can definitely see where I'm going. Life is just like this little adventure. Communication, especially with your spouse, is such a corner stone to a successful relationship. Communication isn't comfortable all the time but you can't navigate life without it.

So guess what happened next? We did it! We actually did it! We were able to stay steady and balanced, we were able to communicate clearly, and we worked together - finally! Because we were staying solid, we actually got to look around for the first time and it was so beautiful. The woods and the river were just amazing. One of our favorite sights were the sunbathing turtles - so cool!

The landing spot came into our view, so we lined the boat up and headed in. Soaked to the bone, freezing, sad, angry, excited, and DONE!

Hopefully we'll end up looking back on this little adventure fondly, but it's just a little bit tender right now. Just like life.

THE END.

I know this was long winded - but I wanted you guys to have a little piece of our anniversary adventure too. The rest of the weekend was great! We ate great food, watched "The Saint" in the theatre, and met some cool people. I wonder what I'll talk Evan into next year...

A Midsummer Night's Dream

You know the drill - get ready for more pictures than you really care to look at! Here's what's been happening around here:

Starting with the month of JUNE:

It started with working my butt off getting ready for girl's camp. The theme was Treasures in Heaven. I was in charge of the 2nd year's cabin #2. I had an amazing time - canoeing/ flipping the canoe over, rafting, swimming, and seeing the growth of these incredible girls.

The rest of the month was spent having little adventures with our friends - we took them to a really good desert rose hunting spot:

We also went to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History:

And we sat outside and watched our neighbors shoot off fireworks the whole week preceding the 4th.

JULY:

Speaking of the 4th! Road trip! Evan had work off and we took a couple extra days and a lot of hours and went to Bemidji - to see these people.

It's been a couple years since I'd seen Eli. He's been in Utah, Nevada, and West Virginia working on pipe line projects, he the lead hoe-hand on most of the projects.

It wasn't all kicks and giggles though because right before we came my family got hit by a crazy wind storm. My parent's lost almost 50 trees! Eli's house had no damage. Sierra's house had some big trees down but none of the houses were damaged. And my Grandma's duplex had some big trees down and some branches just scraped the side of her house - but no major damage. Evan helped Dad pull whole trees out of the ground! It was nuts.

But I did get to have a lovely lunch with some good friends - the Habedanks/ Williams. Katie and I grew up in Bemidji together and went to BYU-Idaho together too. I worked for her on campus at the Career and Internship Office. It's been almost 3 years since we'd seen each other which meant that I hadn't met her daughter yet: Adele. We had an awesome time together!

And then we were out of there! We did come back with a sweet prize - a new outdoor pool! It's 18 feet wide and 4 feet deep. It took us a little while, but we finally got it all filled up and mostly patched up and went for our first swim last night. It was way fun! And the forecast is showing over 100 degrees every day this week - eek!

We took a little weekend trip to Tulsa with Nate and Matt. There was a rock and mineral show! We also met some friends for lunch at this awesome Asian-ish place - Desi Wok. Then we went shopping - I mean... looking at rocks :) We did end up getting some Peridotite. It's beautiful and fun.

Also, we have a roommate! More like personal chef. Matt is geo-physics intern working in Evan's department at Chesapeake. He's been going to BYU getting his master's degree. He's spent the summer here - away from his wife, three kids, and one on the way! The A/C went out at his old place, so we offered him a room here. He cooks the most incredible food! We've had fun enjoying it :)

That's all folks! Thanks for staying with me - we really have had an awesome summer. Hope you're having fun too. Love you all bunches!

The Sun - It Hurts Me!

Before you read any of this post, I have to warn you - it's gross. There are graphic images of blisters. They are spreading over Evan's legs and arms like wild fire.

Let me back up. It's Memorial Day weekend. In Minnesota, when I was growing up, that means it's the first weekend we went camping as a family. For some reason I caught the bug and was itching to go this year. We joined our friends at their spot at Lake Tenkiller. We got in late Saturday night. We spent Sunday relaxing, playing ladder golf, going to a petting zoo, making s'mores, and playing dominoes. Our friends even hooked us up to have an air conditioning unit blowing into our tent - it was glorious!

Monday morning we woke up to blisters all over Evan's legs and arms... :( The meds he's on makes his skin really sensitive. We still loaded up in the boat and I got to tube for a little bit - it was awesome! But we were back on land by 9am and home by noon. Karma hit and I got two blisters on my thumbs - from tubing. He's been sleeping most of this Memorial day away - hopefully his body will heal fast.

Hope you had a great weekend! We love the Bagley's pictures from their time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. And I hope the ward party went well for the Smith's - my parents hosted a goodbye party at their house.

Love you all!

Oh - and shout out to the Hopkins. They are our dear friends from Stillwater that are moving to Arizona this week. They were our first friends here and we owe them a lot! Good luck and peace be the journey :)

Sophe, Meet Oklahoma - Oklahoma, Meet Sophe Ann!

We had such an incredible Easter vacation in Washington! We love spending so much time with family and spending time exploring the outdoors. Thank you for making it so much fun. Here's one of my favorite pics of Evan at Dry Falls - it looks so epic -

From Washington state to the Caribbean! Evan had the incredible opportunity to participate in a work field trip to the islands of the Caribbean - Turks and Caicos. They got to snorkel, hike, take an areal tour, and get a horrific leg infection, rash, and sunburn... oops...

Evan is doing much better - he's back to work today. He went to a doctor on the island and as soon as he got back into town we went to the ER. They are not 100% sure what it was... so he got an anti-biotic and was told regularly apply lotion. He still has an ichy rash and blisters from his sunburn, but the infection is gone - phew!

While the cat is away, the mice will play. My parents, Sierra, and Sophe (10 mo) came to visit us for a whole week!

Our main project was landscaping. We were able to start with the foundational things and plan for the future. The best deal was when the mowing crew showed up for my neighbors yard and my dad asked for them to clean up our backyard. We had a mess and they cleaned it right up! It looks so much better. Now we'll be able to get back there and trim up the trees. My mom and sister went through the yard and cleaned up all the trash and the big sticks/ rocks. It was a much needed start to what's going to be a really great space for us.

After cleaning things up, we needed to spice things up! Wayne to the rescue! He's this little man with a lot of property and a lot of plants. He and his 4 giant dogs helped us plan out which plants we could use in the future (for the front of our house) and we picked out two rose plants for the mailbox boxes. We didn't have a traditional bucket to water them - but who needs traditional sometimes :)

We also got some planters and flowers to add color to the front and back porches. The mini-pool is a temporary addition to help little Sophe cool off a little. She had fun for about 5 minutes because it was a little cold for her sensitive skin. But it was fun while it lasted and she looks so cute in her swim suit!

But all work and no play isn't how we roll. As for tradition, these girls got mani-pedi's - even Sophe!

We also had to treat them to some fun nights out. One of our favorite spot's is Joe's Crab Shack. We ate on the deck outside and shared King Crab legs - yum, yum! But they couldn't come to Oklahoma without visiting the Steak and Catfish Barn! All you can eat catfish, hush puppies, and fried okra - mmm...

Party time! I didn't get any pictures of the party - which can be a good and bad thing. Good, because it meant I was busy having fun with everyone and bad, because I can't show you how much fun we were having! But I can show you the 2nd part of the BBQ party - Bonfire! We had a huge pile of branches and grass from our hard work and burning it to the ground was super satisfying. For the party my dad made his famous Sloppy Hog BBQ - everyone loved it!

And now just a couple for Sophe's fan club - okay, just for me. She did great for most of the week and then spiked a fever near the end - teething coupled with being away from home was not a good combo. But it did make for cuddle time - with mom. She is just so sweet.

She perked up again on the last day - thank goodness! She talks all the time - just baby gibberish - and she screeches like a wild woman! I love having her around.

I balled like a baby when they left and I love looking around our house and seeing touches of them in every corner. Thank you for such an incredible week and for helping us kick off summer right!

Interior Design and the Annual Banquet

Out with the old and in with the new! We've settled in a little bit (way more pictures pending). Here are some fun pics from the last couple weeks:

Farewell 711! It was fun while it lasted.





The last load was the craziest! While Evan was at work, I cleaned out the old apartment and moved the last items - in the jeep. It was a great idea until I used the biggest box ever! I had a kind neighbor help me lift the box into the jeep, then I drove 30 mph the 10 miles to our house. The wind was blowing like crazy and the box almost flew out the back! THEN when I got to the house I realized that I was the only one around to get the box out of the jeep... 20 minutes later I was huffing and puffing but I'd blown the box out of there!!



It was all worth it because it's one hundred percent ours! Thank you all for your incredible support that got us to this point. We are beaming and having the time of our lives!



Finally - finally! Here are some interior pictures. Just a couple... here's the new furniture we got to fill up the house. Our old furniture was barely hanging on. Our couch was being held up by bed risers and the wall it was leaning against :) This new one is super incredible!



Here's the color scheme for the living room/ kitchen area - black, brown, yellow, grey, cream. We like mostly neutral tones with a blast of a fun color. The yellow helps brighten everything up and it makes me smile every time I round the corner :)



Time for the annual T. Boone Pickens School of Geology Alumni Reunion/ Banquet! The last two banquets we attended as students, this time we were alumni - so awesome. We were graced by the presence of Mr. T. Boone Pickens and Mr. Harold Hamm, two of the oil industry's and Oklahoma's and OSU's biggest names. This year we were sought out by an LDS prospective student from St. George. We had a blast telling him about the school and the church in Stillwater.



Evan also received recognition for a grant he was awarded from Mr. Herbert and Shirley Davis. They are such an incredible couple and their story of rising from nothing and now giving back to the community was so touching. We thank them for the help they were to us during Evan's schooling.



The cure for a busy schedule is a relaxing weekend watching general conference! On Saturday we had some friends over for both sessions, then we swapped houses and went to their place on Sunday. Love, love, love the words of the living Prophets and Apostles! (For more information please visit lds.org)



To top it all off we also got to mow our very own lawn for the first time! Cheesy, I know... but it was so fulfilling and exciting to see the transformation.



Then, like most of our evenings now, we sat on the porch and just chatted while the sun set. We are so blessed, so thankful, and so happy to be here - in this moment - right now.