Great book

My mother-in-law sent me this book as a part of my birthday present. I'm about half way through it and it's really good. So if you're looking for something to read, I highly recommend it.

I love snow days!!!

The good thing about moving farther north...you know, closer to the north pole...is that it snows more here. That means more snow days! No work! I have to say I have fully enjoyed this surprise. I have loved being trapped inside with nothing to do. We have the next two weeks off for Christmas break. So far, we haven't been in school at all this week, so this is like a 3 week Christmas break. I'm guessing we'll probably have school tomorrow and Friday though. It's supposed to get above freezing this afternoon. As with any job, there are good and bad that go with teaching. This is one of the major benefits. It makes me nervous driving on slick roads and I love not having to worry about getting to work.

Who does this!?!

I know we all think about doing this, but who actually does it?! This is what I came home to the other day and it made me laugh really really hard.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I love you!

Great Game!

Chad and I had so much fun at the game. Here are a few pictures....
Pre-game stretches...I don't know if they showed this on tv or if they went to a commercial break, but at one point the Sooner Schooner got stuck. I don't know what was going on, but the horses weren't moving...for a long time. It was pretty funny.

I was actually pretty warm the whole night. I had several layers on along with my hand and feet warmers. It wasn't too bad...definitely worth it!

Post game celebration...

Can't Wait

Check out our tickets!!!! That's right, 10th row!!!! I can't wait!

Shopping with my Mom

This was taken very early in the morning. It's unusual for me to have a smile on my face this early in the day...but not if I'm up early for a good sale. My mom and I have a tradition of getting up super early the day after Thanksgiving and shopping with all the other crazy people that are out. We both love it. I think it's the competition of finding a good bargin that drives us, but it's always so much fun. I love bargin shopping with my mom!!!! While I was in town I was also able to have a late birthday celebration with my family and a couple of my friends! I'm so glad I got to spend time with everyone. I really miss you guys. For those of you I didn't get to see this time, hopefully I'll get to see you soon!

BIG XII CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

So I got a text from Chad during school today....guess who gets to go to the big game Saturday!!!! That's right, we do!!! I'm so excited!

8 Things Tag!

Here you go Dan,

8 Things Tag (in no particular order)
8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. Smallville
2. CSI
3. One Tree Hill
4. House
5. 24
6. Friday Night Lights
7. Heros
8. Football

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Milagros - Miami
2. Pizza Inn - Miami
3. Hamburgers the Kuku - Miami
4. Qdoba - Okc
5. Quizno's - Anywhere
6. In-N-Out Burger...unfortunately there's not one in this area of the US
7. Charleston's - Anywhere
8. Chili's - Anywhere

8 Things that Happened This Weekend:
1. Thanksgiving Break!
2. Rock Band party at our house
3. Had another incredible steak that Chad cooked
4. Gave a Geometry test
5. Started reading a new book
6. Watched a special episode of 24 that aired Sunday night
7. Watched an incredible OU game
8. Went to Christ Church

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Shopping with my mom Friday
2. Seeing my family and friends
3. Several days off of work
4. Sleeping in
5. Making new friends in Miami
6. Getting involved in a church soon
7. Christmas time...
8. Vacation with Chad

8 Things on my Wish List (For Christmas?):
1. Time together with everyone I miss!!!
2. Cute clothes
3. Pants that fit...mine are a little too snug now :)
4. itunes card
5. A Bible with my new name on it
6. A new pair of jeans
7. A good girly movie
8. ...sorry I can't come up with anything else at the moment

People I Tag:
1. Mindy Goff
2. Julie Harris
3. Stacy Mcclure
4. Dara Steward
5. Robin Howell
6. Becca Harris
7. Kendra Kelly
8. My mom

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Birthday Weekend

Chad took me out for a weekend getaway last weekend for my birthday. We drove down to Talihina and looked at the beautiful foliage on Talimena Drive. If you've never been, you must go. I think we missed the peak colors by about a week, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful. It was so nice to just get away for a bit. I love spending time together. He has a way of making me feel so special. Here are a few of my favorite pics from my camera. I'll post a few more once I figure out how to load them off of Chad's camera.

Check out the price of gas!!!!

Early Birthday/Christmas Present

Last night my husband gave me an early birthday/Christmas present...remote start for my car!!!! I am so excited! I don't have to go outside in the freezing cold to heat my car up! He is so thoughtful! How great is this!!!

About a month ago we were running errands together in Joplin. He wanted to stop at this car place to see about getting his alarm on his Yukon fixed. While we were there he asked about remote start. I was thinking to myself...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?! You don't even drive your truck anywhere...you walk to work. Why in the world would you need that. I didn't say anything though. I decided not to make an issue of it, but to give it some time and see if anything came of it. Looking back, I'm so glad I didn't throw a fit because he was actually asking about it for my car. Sneaky, huh? So fast forward to Friday... Friday morning Chad got up early to go workout, so he was up before I left. He went outside to warm up my car for me and start his. When he came back in, he informed me that his truck wouldn't start and he needed to borrow mine for the day. Sometimes his truck doesn't start, so I didn't even think anything of it. Later that night when he got home, he gave me my early present. This is so great! I really hate being cold! Thanks to Chad, now when my windshield has a layer of frost on it, I can go ahead and defrost it without even going outside! I can stay warm inside the house instead of sitting in my car saying "burr" for 30 minutes while my whole body tenses up. This was such a great gift! I keep thinking of how this would have come in handy the year my mom and I tried to defrost my door handles with hairdryers....those days are long gone now! Thank you for being so thoughtful Chad, I love you! You're the best!!!

Softball Champions!

Saturday Chad and I got up and drove to Nixon (a town close to Springfield, MO) for a softball tournament. I was pretty excited to get to play in this tournament....especially

because the winning team was supposed to be awarded $500. This was pretty big motivation, especially since we're trying not to spend money. All day while we played I kept dreaming about what we could do with the money if we won. Our team wasn't that incredible, but I knew we had a fair chance of winning because there weren't many teams competing. When I saw the first baseman of the opposing team light up a cigarette and start smoking while she was playing, I thought surly we have a good shot at this. I won't bore you with all the details, but we ended up playing 5 games and winning the tournament. I was so excited and even more excited about the prize money....until they explained that they changed their minds and decided to give us t-shirts instead. What a let down! I still had a great time though and I'm glad we got to play. This is a picture from the last tournament. I know it's not great, but I sorta felt like a dork taking pictures, so this is all I got. Chad hit 8 over the fence home runs in this tournament!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

These aren't like knock you out of your chair good, but for an easy healthy snack...they aren't too bad.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
1 Boxed Spice Cake Mix
1 Can of Pure Pumpkin
Mix together, pour in a muffin tin, and bake at 350 for about 17 min.

Just an Update

I know it's been a while since I've added to my blog...sorry. My excuse is that I really don't like to post with out adding pictures. My camera has been in Chad's truck for a week or so and I keep forgetting to take it out and take pictures. Anyway...here's some brief updates:

1. We went to a church in Grove last Sunday and really liked it! Yea!!! This has been a big struggle. The church we went to had a guest speaker, so we're going to check it out again this Sunday. It's just exciting to find a place that we both like.

2. I got to see High School Musical today at the Coleman Theater. I'll have to take pictures of it sometime. It's really old-timey and elaborate. The high school students performed in it and it was really pretty good. I love field trip days!!!

3. I'm looking for a new hobby. Those of you who know me, know that I love to shop...really I love to bargain hunt. I usually don't buy anything, but I love looking around and seeing what's out and how much things cost. I love getting a good deal on things. Well, since moving to Miami, that has pretty much stopped. There's not really anywhere to shop around here. That leaves me looking for something fun to do in my spare time after school. So this week I've been reading. I rarely read anything except for a devotional in the morning. However, Nicholas Spark's new book just came out...I'm on chapter 3 and it's pretty good. If you want to borrow it when I'm finished, let me know.

4. Chad's sister, Rachel, got engaged last Saturday! I'm so excited for her!!! I would give you more details, but Chad didn't get all the good details when he talked to her.

5. Since there aren't many restaurants in Miami, I'm always excited when I see things at Walmart that are from restaurants. For example, I love the TGIFriday's meals that you make in the skillet. I also like most of the Macaroni Grill pasta kits. I say most because I made one last night, Chicken Marsala with linguine, and it was pretty disgusting. Anyway, I was pretty exited when I saw Tony Roma's Ribs the other day. I fixed them tonight and they were delicious! I highly recommend them.

I hope you all are having a great week. I'll try to take some pics this weekend. We're headed to another softball tourn!

A Few Honeymoon Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our honeymoon. I can't wait to go back to this place. It was so incredible! I highly recommend this place! It's an all inclusive resort. The food was sooo good, and the service was great. We had such a fun relaxing time. I wish I could post all of my pictures so you could get a better glimpse of where we were. If you have the opportunity, you must go!!!

This was our resort. Everything was very clean and modern. There were wrought iron chandeliers and railing everywhere. The rooms were unbelievable with a balcony and a huge jacuzzi in each room. On the beach there were tons of cabanas...a perfect place to hide out in the shade.

Here we are having dinner on the beach one night...the best grilled shrimp I've ever had in my life. I think this dinner lasted about 3 hours. It was so fun. We got to see a beautiful sunset. When it started getting dark, they made us a candlelit path in the sand and lit a few tiki torches. We had a balcony outside our room with a hammock. I loved sitting out here. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect.

One morning we went for a bike ride around town. We stopped at this beach for a few minutes. Everywhere we went was completely breathtaking...

This was after dinner one night. I think there were like 6 restaurants at our resort that we could choose from. They were all so good....not to mention the room service! There is also a resort called The Grand that was next door. These resorts are both under the same ownership. If you stayed at The Royal (which is adults only) you were able to use all of the amenities and restaurants at The Grand (which is also super nice, but is for families). If you stayed at The Grand, you were limited to only your resort. This night we ate at an Italian restaurant at The Grand.

Tough Days for Students

One of the high school students was killed this last weekend in an accident. Please keep his family and friends in your prayers. The funeral is this Wednesday (tomorrow). It's a pretty tough thing to go through and it's a lot for the students to handle. A lot of people are hurting right now; please pray that God will use this tragedy to bring people closer to Him.

My first call to 911

First of all, I'm sorry I don't have pictures to go along with this one. I wish you could have witnessed this one go down... So last night, Chad decided he was going to fix our kitchen sink. It's been leaky for a while now. Our water out here smells pretty bad and stale stinky water smells even worse. Anyway, our house is pretty old and things aren't set up like they would be in a typical house. Normally there would be a shut off valve to turn the water off under the sink, but not at our house. There wasn't a place to shut it off, but Chad was determined to fix the sink anyway. He was carefully working on loosening the faucet when all of the sudden it came off of the hose...(or something like that...thankfully I wasn't the one with my head under the sink, so I didn't really know what was going on.) So hot water is starting to spew out everywhere really fast...our conversation continued something like this...
Amanda: Oh crap! What do we do?
Chad: Go grab some towels or something.
Chad: This is getting really hot. I don't know how long I can hold it.
Amanda: What do we do?
Chad: I don't know but we gotta do something. I'm going to need you to hold this (the water hose) while I figure out how do shut this off.
Amanda: Chad, but I just washed my hair....(I really shouldn't have said that. I didn't realize how bad it was. I thought he was just going to have me hold the hose while he turned a knob and I didn't want to get all gross.)
Amanda: Do you want me to call Bill or something.
Chad: No. I guess call 911.
Amanda: 911!?! Really? (I always associated 911 with life or death emergencies)
Chad: I don't know who else to call.
So then I called 911.
911: 911, What's your emergency?
Amanda: Um, our house is flooding really bad and I need someone to shut off the water.
911: Ok, is the water leaking on the inside or outside?
Amanda: Inside, but we need someone to shut off the water thing on the outside. It's by the curb.
911: Ok, I'll try to send someone over.
So then we waited and waited. Chad had been holding the hose that was full of scalding hot water for quite a while.
Chad: We gotta think of something.
Amanda: Like what?
Chad: I don't know just pray.
So then I prayed
Chad had a great idea to turn on all the other water faucets and the washing machine. This was a great idea. Our water pressure is pretty weak whenever we have water flowing out of more than one place. Then he told me how to adjust the hot water tank/heater thing to where it would only run cold water. These things made a huge difference. I was able to then hold the hose while Chad worked on things. We were still waiting on the firemen or whoever comes out for those calls. It seemed like it was taking forever. Chad made another call and was able to figure out how to shut the water off. About an hour and a half later, a city worker came by to help. Chad had already fixed the problem and we were cleaning up by then...I don't think they were in much of a hurry. Thanks to Chad's quick thinking, we were able to keep the water under control. It didn't flood anything and it didn't even get to the carpet. All of the water stayed on the linoleum floor in the kitchen and was pretty easy to wipe up. It was a pretty comical night.

Another Great Weekend

Chad's dad called Saturday morning to invite us to meet up with them at the Tulsa Fair after the OU game. We were excited to go! When we got there early in the evening the parking was a mess. We decided to park down the street in Reasor's parking lot. Since we needed to stop there to get some steak seasoning anyway, we thought this would be the best option. However, when we arrived, we saw that there were security people all over the place. One of the cops stopped me to ask me if I was planning on going to the fair (he was ready to kick me out)...I told him I needed to go in Reasor's and after answering about 15 questions he let me park. It was a huge ordeal. Then some man chased us down in the parking lot and told us if we didn't buy a $5 parking pass, they would tow my car. I found this to be really irritating. I was a customer, didn't I have a right to park my car there for free? Can you only park your car in a lot for a certain amount of time? How are they going to know if we go to the fair? I was getting frustrated because I didn't know what we should do. On one hand, I thought it was completely ridiculous to have to pay to park there...but on the other hand, I was going to be really mad if we came back and my car was gone. We decided to take our chances and forgo the parking pass. Thankfully, when we came back, my car was still there. I'm glad we went, and I'm glad we got to spend some time with his family while we were there.

Sunday, we decided to watch lifechurch online. I know..it's important to meet with other Christians and build those relationships. That's something that we both desire, but we just haven't found a place here that we're really excited about yet. This was the first week we stayed at home and watched lifechurch. I really miss it. Hopefully we'll find our church home here soon.

I think this was probably the best Sunday afternoon I've had here. Chad grilled us some steak and it was sooooo good! I think he's mastered grilling steak! I can't even explain how good it was! It was so nice of him to cook for me too. I loved it. Later that afternoon, we watched the Cowboy's game and then went outside and played corn hole...aka bean bag toss. It was such a great day! If only the weekends could be a little longer.

A Couple of Days in OKC

Thanks to a math conference, I got to spend a couple of days in OKC last week. I had a great visit that was full of little bonus surprises. The math conference was kinda boring....not as good as I had hoped, but I did learn a thing or two while I was there. I saw several teachers that I had taught with before. They all shared their stories about what their students are like and it just made me really thankful to be where I am now. The students I teach here are really pretty good students. I also ran into Susan DeMoss while I was at the conference. For those of you who don't know who she is, she spent a lot of time really investing in my life while I was in the youth group. She also happens to be a math teacher. I'm so glad she was at the conference. We got to talk for a while and catch up on life. It was a huge blessing to get to see her. Another unexpected bonus...I walked to the downtown Quizno's for lunch and it just so happened that my friend Amy was on her lunch break. She came over and sat with me while I ate. It was great to see her and catch up with her as well. I can't tell you how much it means to me to see people I know these days.

Thursday night we had Hattie's birthday party at Brent and Keely's. I can't believe she's already 4 years old! She is so precious. Here are a few of the pictures I took.

Brent and Keely also invited Craig and Danielle over for Hattie's birthday party. I had so much fun with everyone. Danielle just dyed her hair a darker color and it looks fabulous! I love it. I don't think I've ever seen her with brown hair, but it looks great!

I don't have any pictures of the rest of my family...but it was really good to spend time with all of them.

Happy Birthday Hattie!!!

Today is my niece's birthday! Happy Birthday Hattie! I am so excited because I get to come to OKC tomorrow and I'll get to be there for her birthday party! I can't wait to see Hattie and the rest of my family and Danielle. By the way Hattie, thank you so much for your letter you sent me. I loved it. You made my day!

Bikes Blues and BBQ

Last weekend Chad and I took the motorcycle to Fayetteville, AR. Every year they have this big event called Bikes, Blues, and BBQ. Chad's been a few times, but this was my first time to go. We both had a great time. I heard someone say that there were around 400,000 people that came this year. I've never seen so many motorcycles in my life. There were all sorts of people there and all sorts of bikes. It was kinda like being at the fair. There were food booths everywhere with really good food. There were live bands playing in all along Dixson Street. We also got to watch a couple of guys do some stunts. It was so much fun...especially the ride down there and back. The roads in Arkansas are a lot more fun than the flat straight roads in Oklahoma. Here are a couple of the pictures we took.

I'm not sure what this is but there were several of them. I think they look pretty fun.

I think this was the Hillbilly's motorcycle. Check out the seats.

This guy was obviously a Razorback's fan. I wish we would have caught it in the picture, but when he rode by he was doing the horns down sign...Arkansas played Texas that day. Speaking of...OU is #1 right now!!!!! One of the best things I heard last week was when Chad yelled across the house that USC lost!!!! I just really don't like USC or coach Pete for that matter. Anyway...back to Arkansas...

One last picture...pictures after riding aren't my best look. Hope you all are having a great week. We miss you!

7 WEEKS!

So Chad and I have been married for about 7 weeks, and....


Just Kidding! I'm not pregnant. I just didn't take my water pill for a few days and I thought this was pretty impressive. I'm not even sticking my stomach out!

Welcome to Fall!

So this is the first week of fall and I love it! I love coming home and putting on a hoodie and curling up with a blanket...ok so it's not really that cold outside yet, but I do it anyway. Since it's fall, it's the beginning of a new softball season! I'm so excited! We have our first games tonight. I love playing, but it always makes me a little nervous when I play in a coed league. Some of those guys are pretty powerful hitters and I just hope that I play smart and don't get hit in the face.

In other news...
I just got my new driver's license! It's not the best picture ever, but it is a major improvement from my previous one. I also decided to be an organ doner. I have been thinking about it for a long time. If you know me very well, you know how I view things...I don't like to have things sitting around that I'm not using. I would prefer to sell or give away the things I'm not using if it could be useful to someone else. So, this just kinda fits who I am and my view on things. If I'm gone, I'm in Heaven and I'm not going to miss my organs. If someone here can use them, they should have them. If I'm healthy when I go, I feel like it would kinda be a waste for me to take my organs to the grave when someone else could benefit from them. I try to think of things from the other point of view. If someone in my family were on the waiting list for an organ, I'd be praying for a doner. Maybe when it's time for me to leave, I could be an answer to someone's prayer...helping give them a better life. So really the more I thought about it, I couldn't come up with a reason not to be a doner....it keeps highlighting the word doner. Did I misspell that? I can't think of another way to spell it.

I also changed my voting information so that I could vote here instead of OKC. If you've moved, don't forget to update your info. Express yourself and vote!!! I'll tell you the story later, but voting for the President is kinda a HUGE deal to me.

SWEET POTATOES!!!! I was at Wal-mart yesterday and I came across something new that I love! I love this new trend in the frozen food section...you know, the bags of frozen stuff that you steam in the microwave. Well, actually I love the corn and the green beans are growing on me. I really don't like vegetables. Anyway, OreIda has these new steam and mash sweet potatoes and oh my gosh are they good! I love sweet potatoes, but I hardly ever make them. These are so easy and delicious. You just put the bag in the microwave and then add butter, milk, and brown sugar. You have to try them. I can't wait to make them with candied pecans and marshmallows. Mmmm...

SPLENDA! I've been trying to make healthy meals for dinner and it's going pretty well. I've found several really good recipes that I like. I'll share some of them with you later. One ingredient that I've learned to love is splenda. Chad's used it for a while, but I never really had. I'm impressed with how well it tastes and it does great when I cook with it. It doesn't make things come out all weird. Anyway, another new treat I found at Wal-mart yesterday was SPLENDA BROWN SUGAR! It tastes really good...on everything.

Speaking of food...it's almost dinner time. I'm out.

My Week

Me and Chad...I have the best husband ever!

Due to parent/teacher conferences and our internet being down, I didn't get to post anything last week. Here's the quick catch up.

Church - We've been to different places every week. Friends Church, First Baptist, and this week we went to Newsong in Grove. Finding a church is a little more difficult than I thought it would be. We like the ones we've visited...some more than others. It will just take time to find out place.

Parent/Teacher Conferences - I always dread these, probably because the first few years I taught it was just a really bad experience. However, last year my conferences went really well and this year they went well too. Yea! The people I've met here have been really nice and they are all so laid back. I like that a lot. The first night I only had a few, but Thursday night I had a pretty full schedule. It was great to get to meet some of the parents. Teaching here is different, but I really like it.

Friday - Since I worked late last Tuesday and Thursday night, I had Friday off. I thought what a perfect time for me to go see Mindy and Daisy! I am so excited for the Goffs. Daisy is so beautiful! I'm glad it worked out for me to be able to come see them Friday. I could hardly stand being this far away when she was born. Chris and Mindy are going to be such great parents! Here's a pic of Mindy, Me, and Daisy.

While I was in town, I also got to see my mom, Brent, and Nandy. I'm still trying to figure out how to balance my time. It's just hard because I don't get to see everyone very often and when I'm in town I want to try to see everyone...however, when I'm just there for a day, I can't really do that and it just makes me sad. So to everyone I didn't get to see this time, hopefully I'll get to see you soon.

Audra and Rachel - Happy Birthday!!! Two of Chad's sisters have a birthday in September, so we all met up in Tulsa on Friday night to celebrate. I had a great time and it was fun to get to see everybody again. I feel really blessed to have married into a great family.

I think you're pretty much caught up. Here are a few pics. I'm also trying to figure out how to make a slideshow on here. We have a lot of really good pictures from our honeymoon that you all need to see. I can't describe how beautiful it was, you'll just have to see...hopefully soon.

Actually this picture was from last weekend, but every time I look at it, it cracks me up. I thought you might get a kick out of it too. Chad always leaves a mustache whenever he shaves off his scruff. Thankfully he doesn't keep it.

This is from today. I was waiting in the car while Chad went into Pete's to get me a Sunday paper...I really do miss all the ads in the Sunday Oklahoman. You know what else I really miss...I usually get the Joplin Globe and they usually don't even have any pictures from the OU games. I mean, I know that it's a Missouri paper, so it's ok that they don't put OU on the cover of the front page. I understand that, but seriously they should at least put some pictures in there. My poor bulletin board at school is pretty bare because I don't have any articles to cut out and post. Speaking of, I feel kinda lost on Saturdays that OU doesn't play...what do I do?

OU vs Cinncinati 9/6/08

Have a great week! If you're like me and you've moved, don't forget to change your voting location. I think my mom told me the cut off date is somewhere around October 6th.

Cool Shirts

These shirts are some that Chad's friends made for us as a wedding gift....I know you wish you had one too. They both say Asphalt Outlaw on the front. Mine says "I'm his princess" on the back and his says "she's my biker chick" on the back.