Curling

I love watching the Winter Olympics.  Figure skating, speed skating, skiing, and my new favorite, curling.  I love it!  It's like a mix of bowling, marbles, and ice dancing all rolled into one.  But, if you don't know the rules it's a little confusing.  I just figured out how it all works tonight, then Allen sends me this delightful graphic.  Thanks to Ciaran Hughes and the Times of London for posting this up:

Now we all know.

Saturday Togetherness

I love my family.  Most of the time we always have something to do--school, work, chores, paperwork, church.  We do these things together for the most part, but it doesn't compare with being together just to enjoy being together.  Last night and today has been one of these times.  After school, we got home and just hung out--exploring the backyard (which is always an adventure), then going to eat out.  It was one of those places that you pile in a little booth and you're so close to each other it makes it easy to laugh and talk.  Then today we stayed home and played.  Dolls, houses, the keyboard, dancing, you name it the girls did it.  It was cold, wet, and foggy outside--perfect weather for being together.

Playing Barbies

When I was a kid, my sisters, friends, and I played with Barbies.  We would make these elaborate houses and cities out of our rooms and spend hours upon hours playing.  Quite a few summers were spent dressing up Barbies.  As we got older, of course, the Barbies were put on the shelf, but the memories of those days lives on. Now that we have our own little girls, the Barbie rage has begun again!  My niece, Joscelyn, found a little dress in with our bag of My Little Pony toys and wanted to know what it went to.  Ali told her it went to the Barbie baby.  Well, she had to ask Aunt Shell for it, and Aunt Shell came through! The girls and I went up this weekend and took the Barbie bag with us to find the baby.  What fun we had!  We found the Barbies, our favorite outfits, things we didn't remember (we decided they were Candi's), and the Barbie baby.  Joscelyn loved playing with her Mama's first Barbie doll.  She dressed it, made her dance, and even gave her a smooch from Ken!  Playing Barbies NEVER goes out of style.

Rugged Terrain

I have been always amazed by western Oklahoma's terrain.  It is scant, with lots of grasses and an occasional evergreen here and there.  Up until we moved to Woodward I thought it was mostly flat.  I was wrong!  I knew about the Quartz mountains down by Hobart and Altus, but I didn't know that there is quite an amount of plateaus and mountains (Oklahoma style) in northwestern Oklahoma.  It is absolutely beautiful!  It is hilly, and when you are driving you don't expect it.  You crest a hill and Bam!  A view.  The way to my sister's house in Kansas has a view like this, whichever way I go (and there is a few ways).  It takes my breath away.

Lawter Road

This link is to a video that our friend Chess put together.  He is one of the most talented people I know.  The song is called Lawter Road--a road in Weatherford that has lots of happy memories--hanging out, having fun, growing up.  Enjoy!

The Black Streak

Hello!  It's me, Hagrid.  I haven't taken over the computer yet, so I thought it was my turn!  I am the newest member of the house and I belong to Lauren, even though I love them all.  I like being a black dog.  In our new house,  the carpet is dark.  It is my hiding place!  I know I can get somewhere to chew on socks by myself if I go where there's not too many lights on.  I love it.  The people call me black streak because I come out of nowhere running...and I am fast too!

I have to tell you about my adventure today.  Well, first I have to tell you I experienced snow this past week--lots of it!  I could barely walk out there.  Now I couldn't hide very well out there.  I stuck out and everyone could see me in the white snow!  Anyway, that snow stuff was really cold.  I didn't like it very much.  I'd rather be curled up with my girl inside all cozy.

Back to my adventure.  I found a spot in the fence that was a little bigger.  I dug a little underneath it and whoopee!  I was free!!  I ran all over the neighborhood before I got caught.  I talked to the phone guy, some kids, and ran thru the park by some little houses all stacked up (I think they were called apartments).  The big tall person that usually holds me and loves me found me.  He was not very happy!!  Then we had to ride in that moving thing to get home.  I don't like that very much, then my Lauren put me in time out!!  After all that freedom it wasn't very fun.  BUT--my people still love me.  They hugged me and cuddled me and even gave me a treat later.  I guess that's what being a family is.