Spring Break

Since we were at Disney World not that long ago, we decided to stick around town for spring break this year.  Randy was given the suite at the BOK center for a hockey game, so we invited the Keelers to go with us!

 I hadn't been to a hockey game since we moved back to Bartlesville over 14 years ago!  It was so much fun!  Jill and I both agreed that we needed to do this more often!

 Randy is obviously very used to me and my camera... Justin on the other hand, isn't so sure!  hahaha!  

 We've been so fortunate with Randy's job to be able to use the suite at the BOK to watch some incredible events.  This hockey game not only had a crazy fight, but went into overtime and then into a shoot out!  It was really exciting and we were really blessed to have been able to attend it!

 Also during spring break, we had a girls day!  We went and got pedicures... Ashton got the cute little chair!

 Look at the smiles on their faces... these are some lucky girls and they know it!

Afterwards we stopped over at McAlister's for some lunch!

 While we were doing our girl thing, Austin was out with the boys catching some fish!

He had his own special day with Tanner and Grandpa.

 I'd say they did pretty good!  He loves catching fish with Grandpa.  He also loves eating the fish he caught.  Grandpa does a good job of cooking them up for us!

Spring break also always includes some basketball!  We love filling out brackets for a little John family rivalry.  This year all the kids filled out a bracket!

We also hit up the movie theater to catch a movie!  We watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman, it was really good!!

 We also went bowling one day.  

 And then something else we had never taken the kids to do, roller skating!  Avery has been going skating with the Keelers so many times, she even bought her own roller skates!  But this was the first time for all of our other kids.

 Everyone had a blast!  Austin was the most unsure about it all, but as long as he was holding my hand or Randy's hand he did okay!

 And we finished off our week with a little golf!  The weather was nice enough to put on some shorts and hit the driving range!  Sometimes it's almost more fun to stay home for these kinds of weeks!  I think our kids would agree!

Shamrock the Ville 5K

So, after running my first 5K I thought I would be done with that type of running.  I just would rather not run around groups of people.  However when Randy mentioned running in Shamrock the Ville, I decided to go for it.

My family is so in to their Irish roots, especially my grandmother.  And as her birthday is coming up at the end of this month and with this race being all about shamrocks and Irish I knew I would make my grandma proud running in it.  I miss her a lot.

While we were out running, they did the fun run for the kids so I wasn't able to see it.  Luckily my mom was there to help with the girls and so was Sara and Sora.  I heard they did great! :)  Avery and Austin were both gone either at sleepovers or soccer!  Yes, I'm still catching up on my blog!

 Sara was competing in the couch race which was going on after the 5K.  Isn't she so festive?!?

 We made it through!  I was seriously so exhausted when it was over but I was proud of myself and didn't walk... always my goal!

 It was getting pretty cold and I was ready to go but Randy wanted to stick around and listen for the bracket placements.  I was completely shocked when they called out his name in his age group!  He got third place!  This was a much bigger race and I knew I hadn't placed, but I had no idea he might!  So very proud of him!!  

YMCA Basketball

This was Addie's first time to play basketball.  We signed her up thinking that she would be on a girls team but there weren't enough girls so the made co-ed teams.  I was a little nervous at first but I think it really helped her become more competitive.

 Addie was on a really great team of boys (there were only two girls on their team) and the coaches were really good about having the boys pass to the girls.  Addie played best at defense but I definitely saw a big improvement in her throughout the season!

 It was so much fun watching her play, she even made a couple of baskets!

Austin also played on the YMCA boys team with a lot of his Ranch Heights friends.  They also had a good team of boys and he had a lot of fun.  He was pretty quick with the ball himself and I could see flashbacks of his dad playing every once in a while! :)

 Austin is always outside shooting hoops and playing around.  I've seen such a big improvement in him.  We had so much fun watching both Austin and Addie play basketball and hope they continue to love it!

Imagine Dragons Concert

My first concert was when I was a senior in high school I believe and we went to the Tulsa State Fair and listened to Little Texas.  Ok, maybe I was a junior.  But our friends thought it would be a fun Christmas present to get tickets for our girls to go watch Imagine Dragons.  They have some great songs, and their lead singer is Mormon.  It was a great idea, the girls were so excited!

All of a sudden, we were the cool parents!  They didn't even mind that we came along!  I can't believe how grown up they look, though!  It happened so fast!

 We all met up for dinner beforehand at a little pizza restaurant in downtown Tulsa before hitting up the concert at the BOK.

 Avery with her lifelong friends, MaryKate Vaclaw, Izzy Vaclaw, Brigette Bulleigh and Julianna Ahlert.

 We had seats up in the suite but after a while Avery decided to go down and stand on the floor with her friends.  I was grateful to have a seat!  So I've only been to country concerts and I compared Blake Shelton to being at a rock concert which is still true, but I couldn't believe that Imagine Dragons was even louder than the Blake concert!  It was really awesome and I would totally go again!  I'm glad this was Avery's first concert, it will be one she will remember forever!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  This was how we started off our morning.  Some cinnamon rolls, a few kiwi, and even a little chocolate.  It's Valentine's day, we can get away with it!  These flowers actually aren't for me though!  Jordan was so sweet and called me up to get flowers for both my mom and Sara.  

 This is what I spent doing the whole day before Valentine's Day!  Both Austin and Addie wanted to hand out mustaches.  Ashton did the chocolate hugs and kisses!

 Avery leaves for school so much earlier than the other kids, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of them together!  I had to pick her up for a dental appointment so I grabbed a quick pic of her before I took her back to school.  She's so beautiful!  I love the red jeans today!

I signed up to help with Austin's class for the Valentine party.  Here he is decorating his cookie.  

I snuck down to see Ashton at her party, I love that she's still so excited to see me!

 I finally found Addie already at lunch in the cafeteria!  She took her lunch today and had a special Valentine's treat in her bag.

 When I got home I had flowers from my Valentine who has always been so good to me and who I love with all my heart!  Hope everyone felt loved and special today!

Watch D.O.G.S

 Our elementary school has started a new program that is called Watch D.O.G.S which stands for Dads of great students.  Dads volunteer to come up to the school for the day.  They greet the kids coming in, help during lunch, volunteer in classrooms, pass out stickers when they see someone doing good and help after school at the crosswalk.

 Our kids have been begging Randy to be the Watch dog, so on one of his Fridays off, he went up to the school.  Not only did he get a shirt to wear, but all three of the kids got to wear a shirt too.  They were also given stickers, pencils, bookmarks and they got to stand as their dad was introduced as the Watch dog for the day.  They were each able to also have lunch with their dad!

It is a long, full day.  It doesn't feel like a day off, in fact I think this job is harder than his real job!  But it was also very rewarding!  I think it is an amazing program and I'm so glad that our school has chosen to participate in it!

I came up during the lunch hour also and I loved seeing the kids so happy to have their dad there all day! I snuck this picture of Randy walking Addie back to her classroom.  I'm so grateful for a husband that spends so much of his time taking care of his kids... he truly is their hero!

Welcome to 2014

 Loved ringing in the New Year with some of my favorite people.  There's not a lot of people I feel like I can truly just be me around and these are a few of them.  There were a few more things we did during the Christmas vacation that were very memorable.

One of them was going to the Zac Brown Band concert.  Joe and Lindsay were coming through on their way up to Utah where they are now living so they said they would watch the kids while we went to the concert.  I almost didn't go because I wanted to spend time with them as well, but they insisted!  I was glad we did!  We had pit seats, well we STOOD in the pit but it really wasn't that bad!

 And look how close we were!!  The Zac Brown Band was AMAZING!!  These guys are so incredibly talented and not only did they sing their songs which I love, but they sang a whole variety of songs from every genre!  It was truly entertaining!

 Yes, this is my husband Randy.  I could barely believe it myself!  Randy was invited to go on a pheasant hunt with some vendors and he decided to go!  He was a little hesitant because how cold it was and he had never gone hunting before.  But this was a little different.

 There were different stations that the guys were set up at, and so it was someone else's turn each time that pheasants were released.  I was told he did great, which I'm not surprised at.  Randy is a natural at everything he does.

 He had a lot of fun and came back with pheasants to eat.  They prepared the pheasants there and sent them home in coolers, but I still didn't cook them!  We sent them over to Randy's parents house and they had us over for dinner.  The kids were so excited to eat something their dad had caught!  I just like the pictures!  He's so handsome!! :)

 We also took the kids ice skating during our Christmas break.  This was the first time for a least the younger two girls to go.  I think Austin and Avery have been before with friends but as a family, this was our first trip.

 Thank goodness for these little buckets!  They got Addie off of the wall!

 Austin was pretty brave!  I'm probably holding onto him for balance!

 Ashton felt safest between mom and dad!

 The kids had so much fun!

 Avery brought her friend, Peyton, with her.  They were both naturals.

 I believe Randy was trying to take Austin down and ended up going down as well!  I might have been the only one who didn't fall!

 Right before school was supposed to start back up, we had a huge snow that kept us out a little bit longer.  I believe at one point Austin was helping dad, but it looks like he might have been sitting here a while!  

We had all gone back inside to get warm and after a while we realized that Avery was no where to be found.  When we found her she was out shoveling our neighbors driveway.  We were so proud of her and her example.  So much so that we went and shoveled a few other driveways for some neighbors.  We love you, Avery!!