Boomer Sooner

Wahoo! OU beat TCU last night! We are now #1 in all polls. Next week: Baylor.

And, yes, we were really hot and sweaty in this picture. :)

Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch

We headed to the Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch on Friday night with Josh and Mandy. It is located a little bit east of Shawnee, and is totally worth the drive. The Corn Maze was huge (5 acres, I think) and so much fun!

We also shot corn cobs from a Corn Cannon. Landon wanted me to be sure and mention that he was the only one that hit the bullseye with his corn cob. :)

We loved the Pumpkin Patch! I had never been to a Pumpkin Patch where you can actually pick your pumpkins and cut them from the vine. We probably looked at pumpkins for an hour. So fun! Also, notice the size of the HUGE gourd in the last picture. It was so heavy that I would barely pick it up!

We highly recommend that everyone checks out the Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch! It was such a fun fall activity!!!

Hooray For Friday

We are so glad it is FINALLY Friday!!! We have a fun weekend planned...corn maze and pumpkin patch, going to the OU game, hanging out with my sister who is in town from Chicago, and hanging out with a friend who is in town from Oregon. Busy, busy. Pictures and such to come.

Hopefully the Sooners will be ranked #1 after this weekend! We are SO, SO happy that Oregon State beat USC last night. Crossing our fingers that we don't get beat by TCU. :)

Random Pictures

Just some random pictures I found from the last month as I was trying to organize my picture folders. Again, really random. Enjoy...

Dinner with college friends (and lots of babies and babies in the bellies)

Our BabyDog Lucy

Guitar Hero!

Landon and Al Capone (the wax figure)

Jen and Julie on Chi-O Bid Day

Sarah Palin

No, I don't really have anything to say about politics. I also don't really have anything exciting to say about Sarah Palin for that matter, though I do like her. I do have some things to say about her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. When Landon and I went to Alaska in June, we spent quite a bit of time driving through, talking about, eating in, or meeting people from Wasilla. You get the idea. Here's what we have to say about Wasilla...

1. I'm sure you've heard someone say "Wassup" in that oh so annoying voice. Where they extend the word forever in a really weird voice (I'm not sure how else to explain the word). From the beginning of our trip, Landon began saying Wasilla in the "Wassup" form. Yes, we were totally delirious from flying all day at the time. Since our trip, I have not thought of Wasilla as most would pronounce it, but instead in the "Wassup" form.
2. They were getting their first Target. I'm not sure where Alaskans buy all their necessities. We only saw one Walmart in Anchorage, and a few Walgreens and CVSs throughout the state. I can't imagine. I'm happy for Wasilla that are finally getting a decent store.
3. We went on a halibut fishing trip in Homer with a group of old, retired men. One of the guys, Tony, was from the town of Wasilla. A couple of things on Tony... 1) He had a below the knee amputation on his left leg. Because of this, he had a prosthetic leg. Throughout the course of the day trip, he would remove his leg and put it on the table or set it next to him on the floor of the boat. As the waves came, it continually fell over, hitting people in the foot or falling off the table onto their lap. I still laugh about this. 2) As most of you know, I was horribly motion sick on the fishing trip. I threw up 30+ times. I had vomit in my hair and on my face and clothes. Everytime, he would tell me how horrible I looked. He was so sincere.
4. For a glass of water, the Wasilla Subway charged the price of a regular drink. We paid over a dollar for those little tiny plastic cups of water. Annoying.

That's all. I know, I know...this is an incredibly profound post. :)

Camping

So, we decided a few days ago that we should go camping this weekend. The weather was supposed to be nice and OU wasn't playing football. We spent Thursday night packing everything we might need...

1. More food than we could ever eat.

2. Way too many jugs of water.

3. Our zero degree sleeping bags for 80 degree weather.

4. Little BabyDog Lucy's necessary items.

5. Playing cards and books for the downtime.

6. Our camera, tripod, and remote for the beautiful scenery.

7. Tent???

We arrived at Robber's Cave State Park, near Wilburton, after a 2.5 hour drive from Oklahoma City. We found a perfect campsite next to a really pretty lake and we were so excited to spend the weekend outside. We started to set up our tent and quickly realized that we were missing a few important things. Try to set up a tent without poles or stakes? AHHH! After driving all that way, and packing way more than we could ever need, we forgot the most important things!! Landon was in shock that we had actually left the tent poles and stakes at home, and I was laughing hysterically with tears rolling down my face. We debated on whether to sleep in the car or get a room at the lodge, but we had Lucy with us which made both options sound not so appealing. We decided to try to see the caves and then head back the city. Good thing we love spending time with each other so much! Five hours in the car on a Friday night is FOREVER. :) I think we have a good new memory!

Here are a few pictures from our short trip...

Rambles

I have a pretty posh job. My hours are usually 9-4ish. But, I love days that I need to come in early. Why? Because that means I get to go home early. And, if I come in really early, I reward myself and go home REALLY early. This morning I came in around 6:30. I will definitely leave by 1:00pm or so. It's so nice to have most of the afternoon and the whole evening to enjoy.

We had the best weekend! We have a huge honey-do list going right now, and we were able to check off so many things. We both love being busy with projects, so it was actually really fun for us to be able to leisurely work on projects together. Big things checked off the list: lots of yardwork, sanding/painting a dresser, sealing tile, and shopping for pavestone. Now we just have to put the pavestone in the back patio area sometime this week.

Of course, the most important part of the weekend was watching our precious Sooners beat Washington. The team is looking really good! Next weekend is a bye weekend, so we are thinking we might try to go out of town. We'll see what we come up with.

Speaking of going out of town... It is almost our one-year anniversary. The year has flown by. We have loved being married and don't want this first year to end, though we are excited for the years to come. We are so excited to go out of town on a mini-vacation to celebrate our anniversary. More to come on that later.

Have a great week!

Recipe: Baked Potato Soup

Landon and I made a really yummy dinner this evening. We ate the soup out of homemade bread bowls that we made this afternoon from scratch. Both were so easy to make and so good! Enjoy the soup recipe...

Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients
1 pound baking potatoes, cut into cubes
1 (12.25 ounce) can chicken broth
1 cup milk
3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
1/4 cup sour cream

Place cubed potatoes in a large microwaveable bowl; microwave on HIGH 5 minutes, stirring after 2 1/2 minutes. Add broth and milk to bowl; stir. Microwave on HIGH 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. Mash potatoes with a potato masher. Reserve 2 tablespoons each of the bacon and cheese and 1 tablespoon of the green onions; set aside. Add remaining bacon, cheese, and onions to soup. Serve topped with bacon, cheese, onions, and sour cream.

The Office

Well, we finished Season 4 of The Office. Just like all the other seasons, it was amazing and hilarious. We can't wait for the new season to start two weeks from today. Pam and Jim MUST get engaged this season. If they break up, I think I might have to stop watching the show. That's all.

My Obsession

As my 5-year-old cousin Kelsey said after she found the golden egg at our family egg hunt, "The family must be so proud of me." (Side note: I showed her exactly where the egg was, so technically the family should have been proud of me.) I finally beat Minesweeper!!! Maybe this wasn't so smart of me, but I have always thought that Minesweeper was a game of chance. I just clicked on the squares and counted the points that I got. When a bomb went off, the game was over. The higher the points, the better I did. It wasn't until mid-August that Landon taught me the correct way to play, and I have been obsessed ever since. And now I have conquered. Here is a picture to prove it...

Mom, aren't you proud?! :)

A Wedding And A Birthday

Happy Wedding Day to Cassidy and Aaron! These are the only two pictures I took at the wedding, though they are both pretty bad. The pictures at least get the point across...Cassidy was beautiful and we all had fun. Cassidy is Landon's cousin. I like to call her a supermodel. :) I always tell Landon to keep his fingers crossed that our children get the supermodel gene that runs in his family. His cousin Kristin is also in the background, the second from the right. She is also a supermodel.

Happy Birthday Justin! We celebrated the birthday of Landon's brother, Justin, at Shoguns over the weekend. The little guy in the pictures below is Chase, Landon's nephew (and mine now). He had never been to Shoguns before. As you can tell from the pictures, he was loving it! It was really funny to watch him as they cooked up our food. Every time the chef was throwing a knife around or lighting something on fire, he would scoot really far back at the table. I think Chase might have been as entertaining as the chef.

The plan for the rest of the weekend is to watch The Office Season 4. We are only on the second episode, but they are good so far. I'm sure we'll have them all finished in a few days!

Gumbi Does Halloween

Landon and I have been laughing hysterically at this clip from America's Funniest Home Videos...

Recipe: Oreo Balls

Thanks to everyone who either really liked or pretended to like my Oreo Balls. :) Here is the requested recipe...

Oreo Balls

Ingredients
1 package Oreos (I use reduced-fat Oreos)
1 8 oz block cream cheese, softened (I use fat-free cream cheese)
1 package chocolate flavored almond bark, melted according to directions on package

Mix crushed Oreos and softened cream cheese in a bowl with spoon or spatula. Roll into quarter sized balls and set on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes prior to dipping (this allows them to harden just a bit). Dip Oreo Balls into chocolate and return to waxed paper. Let set and enjoy!!!

Labor Day Weekend

I can't believe that the weekend is already almost over! We have immensely enjoyed our long weekend together. We are relaxing and watching football tonight and getting ready for the week to start tomorrow. I have noticed that I am dreading Mondays more now that Landon is at home studying during the days. It would be so much more fun to be at home with him!!!

We enjoyed watching the OU-Chattanooga game on Saturday. The party was at our place, as Landon had to show off his new TV. :) We have been looking forward to football season for months now, and were glad to see our Sooners start off on a good note. Hopefully we will have a good season. My freshman year of college was the last National Championship, and I am hoping that we win again this year for Julie's freshman year. I still remember all the football excitement and it was 8 years ago. (Yes, I'm old now.)

After the game, we picked Julie up and headed to my parent's lake house for the rest of the weekend. It's always nice to have a couple of days at the lake with family, though we missed Whitney (who road-tripped this weekend from Chicago to Niagara Falls). We spent our time at the lake swimming, napping, playing games, and eating. And, I got my first tan of the summer, on the last day of August. Can't beat that!

Hope everyone has a great 4-day work week!