Sunday, January 26, 2014

A random group of pictures

As I said below, I just added a ton of pictures to the computer, and in an effort to remember why I took them, let me share with you some of my favorites.
 Best buddies
 Barak has gotten really funny lately about thinking kisses are gross. So I kiss him extra.
 Henry is completely in love with my mom. He smiles and talks to her like nobody else.
 Sebastian got into a roaring contest with my dad. I wish I had taken a video, so that I could always remember how high he jumped when he heard my dad roar back. 
 I LOVE matching Christmas pajamas.
 Poor Ammon was so sick on Christmas. And yes, Lizzy is sitting on the couch reading with a headlamp. Because she's awesome.
 I really love these next two pictures, because they show what it was really like at Christmas. I feel like there is a lot of happiness in these pictures.

 Jamming with the one-year-olds
 Buddies
 Living without furniture or dishes for the first week proved to be a fun challenge. The kids are sharing one cup of hot chocolate, because we forgot to buy disposable cups, but somehow remembered the straws.
 Henry, with awesome hair. I hope it really grows in that way.
 Henry's first taste of food. He has done really well with solid food, though he would really like to feed himself. 
 This is from yesterday. I can't believe how big Henry is already. Life has been a little hectic the past few months (since he was born, really) and I'm worried that I'm letting his babyhood slip away without stopping to enjoy it. He really is a wonderful baby. Sweet and loving and mild. He likes everybody and is generally content as long as somebody is holding him or paying him a little attention. 

Kids behind the camera

I finally got around to putting my pictures from the last month or so onto the computer. As I scanned through them, I was able in part to re-live the last couple of days in our house (which SOLD, by the way! Hurray!), Christmas celebrations with the Jensens, Christmas with the Washburns, and the first week in the duplex we're renting here. There were a lot of pictures. I realized how blessed I am, to have had really good friends who helped me so much with packing and cleaning, to be a part of two really fun, really caring families, to have found a place to live here with plenty of space for us all... I really feel greatly blessed.
Scrolling through, I also discovered a series of pictures taken by my kids. Isaac and I were trying to tie up about a hundred loose ends as the truck with all our things was delivered, and a maintenance man showed up to replace light bulbs.  To distract our kids, I handed them the camera, and wound up with some beautiful shots, like this one:
I think that's Barak

A whole lot were like this, of Barak's "cool moves."
 Barak's feet
 A closer look at Barak's foot
 Lizzy's feet, in case you needed to compare
 More cool moves, while Mom and Dad do boring things, like sign up for school and health insurance
 The view out our back door
 Barak's hand
I  don't know, I think they're natural photographers, don't you?

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Oklahoma!

Well, we made it. The truck came, our things have been unloaded (though not unpacked) and we finally have the internet. It's been quite a month. The journey getting here is worth its own blog post, but for now, I want to focus on my first impressions of life in Oklahoma.

  • It's going to take me some time to get used to the water here. When it comes out of the tap, it swirls around for a while in a most disturbing way, before settling into clarity. It doesn't taste too bad... but it doesn't taste too great, either. 
  • The weather is bipolar. The day we got here was sunny, but extremely windy. The next day was 60 degrees and gorgeous, and the following morning we woke up to snow which turned into ice and stuck around for a week. I am unable to discern any kind of pattern, and will just have to start trusting the weather man. 
  • The wind is insane. It's like being on the Oregon coast, except, without the ocean. Or the beach. 
  • It is DRY. Lizzy's poor hands might never be the same again. She applies lotion and goes to bed with gloves on, but in the morning her hands still look like they have lizard skin. I'm told the summer is just as humid as it now is dry, and I wonder, what will that do to my hair?
  • People here are very kind. On our first Sunday at church, I think everyone in the entire ward introduced themselves, and we were invited to dinner that very night. That was a great blessing, because our furniture had not yet arrived, and we were getting tired of sitting on the floor. More importantly, we made some awesome new friends. 
  • The grass is brown. And completely dry. In January. Weird.
  • It is beautiful here. The sky really knows how to turn blue. I'm looking forward to spring when all the trees get their leaves. 
I'm sure there are more things I could mention, but It's getting late, and Henry is getting bored with the hairbrush he has been chewing on, so I will leave you with a picture of the Washburns NOT in Oklahoma. It was taken over Christmas, in Utah, but at least it has all of us in it.
As a special note, Lizzy was throwing up in a bowl on the side of the road right before this was taken.