ROCKETS OVER RHEMA

It's that time of year again - the 4th of July! For the past three maybe four years we have gone to Rhema for our big fireworks show. They have the blow up jupiter jump deals, pony rides, car show, concerts and a big display of fireworks - ALL FREE well except the pony rides! The kids love it and because it is a fairly new celebration in town it is less crowded than say for instance the river celebration. I have a feeling eventually it will be just as bad b/c each year more and more people are coming to Rhema. Everybody loves FREE fun for their kids! Anyhow..........we went last night and took my nephew Logan to meet up with my brother Curt and his wife Karen.

Wow Logan looks really white next to my boys!

Having fun in the jupiter jumps! See Elijah flipping while Logan & Zay jump!

The kids went on all of the blow up "rides and slides" then while they were riding the ponies my brother Rob and his family showed up. Martez and Tez went with the guys over to the car show while Karen and I reserved our prime fireworks viewing spot right next to the big playground where the kids played until the fireworks started.

Karen getting the kids to dance w/her during the concerts.

How cute are they?!?!?!

We had so much fun except for when we had to leave and the line out of the parking lot was horrendous! The boys were tired and covered with sand however that didn't inhibit the older boys from staying up until 2am. I now understand how my parents felt when my friends would spend the night. Logan spent the night with us and we got home about 11pm (way past their bedtime) and I sent them straight to bed BUT they just wouldn't stop talking.....until the duct tape......JUST KIDDING PEOPLE........I finally went to bed at 1:45am and gave up on them but I think they went to sleep shortly after that! Boy were they tired the next day at Meme's house! Your welcome Mom!

A TASTE OF SUMMER

All I can say about that picture is it is a dream come true! Imagine Blue Bell Ice Cream trucks all in a row..........outside your house! Gotcha there, huh! Well today we went to "A Taste of Summer" at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. Hey fun and all the ice cream you want - who can ask for anything more! The kids played on the jupiter jump deals (why are they everywhere I go!), got to get inside a fire truck and ambulance, toured the factory, got on old tractors with tires almost as big as Daddy, got to get tattoed, made things, got a little gift and ate ice cream. Well of course Elijah didn't b/c he is wierd and doesn't eat ice cream but the rest of us ate our fair share!

He doesn't look it but Elijah was actually happy to get into the fire truck

Weeeeee!

Howdy!

He is so funny!

Trying to catch some raindrops through the umbrella...hmmm!

SPRINKLER FUN

Today we did MAJOR yardwork! I had not edged the front or backyard yet this season which is totally out of character for me since I get obsessed with the edging since it makes the yard look ten times better than merely mowing. So I edged, pulled weeds, mulched and cleaned for over 4 hours! Fun! After all of that the kids were going nuts and I just wanted to SIT so I hooked up the sprinkler in the front yard and sat on my bench to watch the boys. The new neighborhood kids came over and played with the boys. Let me tell you I am just not a real neighborly person in fact in all of the places I have lived I have only befriended one neighbor that has lasted and shortly after they moved. Their just really isn't anyone around us I care to get to know. I know that probably sounds awful but oh well! In the first 3 1/2 years we lived here, there has only been one kid for the boys to play with and then they moved but in the past six months three homes have been FILLED with kids. Although I like the idea of the boys having kids to play with and they have fun, I just get seriously annoyed by these kids. We can't even pull into our driveway either b/c their bikes are laying in the middle of the driveway or they are riding up before we ever even get out of the car to ask if they can play. They are seriously annoying and not necessarily the kind of kids I want my kids to play with b/c of their upbringing but I guess they can't help the way they are raised so I still feel sorry for them. Sorry I went off on a little tangent. I really didn't plan on that! Oops! Hey once I get started.................

I couldn't get him to leave the sprinkler alone!

Elijah teaching the fine art of drinking from a sprinkler to Isaiah!

Jordan is a little sweetie but Mikale is a handful

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!

Elijah starts his first season of tackle football this fall and he is excited. He played one season of flag football for Upwards at Arrow Heights Baptist and did really well but apparently it isn't even remotely the same. I thought it was basically the same except for catching flags vs tackling but I've been told otherwise. He is pumped to get to finally play tackle. I guess we will see how long he stays excited after he gets hit hard the first time. He has played 2 seasons of Soccer, 2 seasons of Basketball and 1 season of flag Football so far b/c we were letting him play whatever he wanted until he decides which sport he likes best and wants to pursue if any; HOWEVER, my baby isn't a big boy and him getting tackled scares ME. I realize they will be kids his own age but STILL! Well it is what he wants to try so I promised him he could try whatever although secretly praying it wouldn't be baseball or golf b/c I can't stand watching either one. I really don't even like football mainly b/c I don't understand it but I guess I'll watch anything that involves my boy! All of this to show you guys his pics. He went today to pick up his helmet, pads and practice crap and he looked so darn cute I just couldn't resist. Wow that helmet looks really heavy on top of his little neck! He's excited though for now!

GO B.A.!

This is his "mean I am going to tackle you" face!

FATHER'S DAY

Happy Father's Day to all! First of all I want to tell you guys I think I have an amazing husband and he is not only a great "Daddy" he is also a great "Father" figure for our children. He works hard and loves hard. I will not lie he has his flaws but NO one is perfect. I think I got lucky according to other wives I've chatted with b/c they seemed shocked that we even switch off bath nights. Normal to me not so much for others. I still do WAY more than my fair share but at least my husbands tries. He loves me for who I really am and I love to watch him interact with our children and see just how much he loves them so for that reason today was HIS day! He wanted to go to a car show at Chandler Park so we went. His friend is some sort of leader of the club that was putting it on so we got in and parked for free which you all know I love!! Talk about HOT! I had sweat rolling down my back***YUCK***, running down into my eyes***OUCH*** and just plain in places I wish it wasn't! Well of course, like EVERYWHERE we go my husband sees a zillion people he knows and he has to stop and talk and talk to each one b/c he is so freaking friendly. I just stood there sweating and listening to the kids complain about being hot and thirsty! So we go up this hill and see a crowd of people surrounding a tall chain link fence and wondered what was going on when low and behold I see the front of a car appear ABOVE their heads. Wow what was that you ask.......well that is the same thing I said!! It was a hydrolics "bounce" contest! Pretty freaking cool! I had never seen or even heard of a "bounce" contest (severe white girl syndrome I guess - ha!) and it was amazing how high the cars could go!

They would drive the "souped up" car into the ring

While the operators set up the hydrolics with the remote, the officials would then slide measuring devices to the front of each car to measure its "bouncing" heighth.

Then they let it bounce and bounce and bounce all the while the officials hoping not to get smashed slide the measuring devices around with the cars which normally bounced around in a small semi-circle................TOO COOL!! Hard to see and get pictures with such a large crowd but it was a new and neat experience for me and the boys who are obsessed with cars anyway! Some of those cars were absolutely crazy! Some of them went almost completely vertical and appeared as if they were going to fall over backwards! One car dropped its entire frame and had to get towed while a couple of others had tires FLY off! Crazy I tell you and fun to watch!

I looked over and Elijah was on the shoulders of a complete stranger. When the man saw my face, he introduced himself. He said, "sorry to snatch up the boy but he was trying so hard to see so I just lifted him up onto my shoulders". I said, "no that is fine" since I saw Martez already watching him like a hawk while Zay was on his shoulders". Martez drooled over the cars and I tried to take pictures between the people in the crowd! We had a lot of fun watching the bounce contest then decided it was too hot and we were ready to eat BUT of course it took yet another hour to just get to the car b/c he had to stop at cars along the way and talk to a zillion people. My husband is very friendly and I think he would talk to a wall if it were to talk back and I know that is a nice quality to have BUT dear Lord it was HOT outside and I was sweating in places a lady just should NOT sweat! TMI, I know but seriously sometimes it would be nice if he could JUST SAY HELLO instead of talking forever b/c children don't like to just sit and wait and for that matter neither do I really! I finally got him into the car and away we went to eat and GO home!

TULSA TALONS VS IOWA BARNSTORMERS VS FAMILY REUNION?

Today we had to go to the family reunion on Martez's maternal grandmother's side of the family which I was "so" looking forward to.....sense the sarcasm! I was trying to be positive and pray that they were much nicer than his maternal grandfather's side of the family b/c his maternal Grandfather is an ass and that is putting it VERY nicely!!! In fact most of the relatives on his mom's side of the family do not speak to me willingly! His Grandmother, his sister, a couple of cousins and two aunts on his mom's BIG side of the family talk to me and are genuinely nice but the rest basically ignore or carry on a very forced fake conversation OR just outright tell me what they think of me being white. You know what really cracks me up is he wasn't really even raised by his father or really around that part of his family much but he is so much more like them it isn't even funny. My father-in-law's family is nice, outgoing, talkative and funny even to me and they actually like talking to me and invite us places .....hmmm......he is just like them not that his mom would like me saying that very much but it is true b/c my husband is nothing like his mom's family. Martez is outgoing and almost too nice...he will talk to complete strangers and he knows everyone somehow no matter where we are even out of town......not shy, snotty and quiet! They just don't like the fact that he is married to a white woman and actually grew up and moved on with his life.......OH but somehow they aren't prejudice at all? Explain that to me! Racism goes both ways baby! Ok so obviously I can never seem to even bring up his family without getting upset and going off on some tangent every single time so..............we went to the reunion where I notice that somehow over the past eight years I had not met these people. We were right on time unlike everyone else like usual. For those of you who know me you know I have a flair for tardiness but you haven't seen tardy until you attend an Oliver/Armstead/Gist event! I swear weddings, birthday parties, reunions, church will all start hours late! Well they were all "nice" for the most part not overly welcoming to me but oh well they weren't there to see me anyway. His mom got there about 20 minutes before we had to leave and then had to complain about us leaving and Martez really said, "Well we got here on time and we've been here. I told you we made plans and had to leave early but you chose to be a couple of hours late so that is your fault!" Go BABY! I love him! The reunion was to be like 4 or 5 hrs long but we stayed a couple of hours thankfully leaving before most of the "hatefuls" arrived BECAUSE Tammy and Jessie saved the day again. They got us unknowingly out of another family "not-so-social" occasion AGAIN for something else Martez would rather do and therefore leave early which benefits ME and my kids!!!! Yet another reason to LOVE the Harvey's: they have awesome timing!! I don't remember what the last occasion was but I remember I didn't want to go and then Tammy called wondering if we wanted to go to a 66ers game and of course Martez said yes so WOOHOO THEY SAVED THE DAY! THEN they saved my day again with yet another call. Tammy calls to see if we want to go to a Talons game and I said probably not b/c of the family reunion that we had to cancel the Branson trip for was that evening but I would ask Martez. Thinking he would say no I asked reluctantly but WOOHOO he said, "Yes we'll just leave the reunion early since we don't want to go anyway!" WOOHOO baby! Now those of you that know me know that I do not understand football! Tammy, Jessie, and Martez are all big football fans but I just don't understand it. The only games I plan on even watching in life are those games that my son's will play in and that is about it! HOWEVER I WAS MORE THAN WILLING TO LEAVE THE REUNION TO GO TO A TALONS GAME EVEN THOUGH I WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND MUCH OTHER THAN A TOUCHDOWN OR FUMBLE! lol Needless to say I just took pics and sat! Fine with me! Thanks Harveys!

Isaiah, Elijah and John

Footbally stuff that Jessie wanted pics of

The final score!

2 REASONS TO DISLIKE 80 MPH WINDS

Well the storm that I blogged about a few weeks ago took the south side fence and ended up taking our only shade tree in the back. We had taken off the fallen portion of the tree the day it fell but then the whole tree was wobbly - not good with kids and dogs back there! My brother came to look at it and ended up helping us take down the ENTIRE tree and some pretty but thorny bush that we hated anyway. It stinks b/c the tree was easy for the boys to climb and our only shade for the backyard. Our back yard is big with only one tree and the front yard is small with three BIG trees. Go figure! Now we have two HUGE piles of limbs out in front of the house much like others in the neighborhood but at least the city will be picking them up!

The fence was another story we decided to fix it ourselves which was a TON cheaper but a lot of work and I think a big mistake. It was much worse than we originally thought and worse than it looks in the picture. We ended up fixing it the night before our OKC trip with Shan b/c we couldn't leave since the dogs kept going into the neighbors yard. It just kept raining on us making a muddy mess. It was funny we (Martez, Tez and me) had our heads down, clothes soaked, standing in mud, spitting water out of our faces (even though it wasn't pouring it was still raining pretty good off and on) and working HARD when I said, "Hey Tez this is what Papa would call Family Fun!" Tez remarks, "What is so fun about this?" I just had to laugh b/c that was the same thing I used to say to my Dad everytime he would call WORK "Family Fun". I thought the rain had stopped so when I went in to use the bathroom I changed my clothes only to go outside and get wet again when the rain resumed 2 minutes later!! Gotta love Family Fun!

ROAD TRIP TO OKC

After discussing the cancellation of our Branson trip and the whole MIL situation my friend Shandolynne said well lets just go to Dallas or KC this weekend instead. I said, "Well if we went to Dallas I would want to stay longer than a day and a half and what are we going to do OKC?" Of course she named off several things and at this point it didn't even matter where we went as long as we just went somewhere, anywhere to get away from our busy lives even if only for a day or two. Martez said, "lets go!" Off to planning I went BUT we had one little hitch......the fence that fell the weekend before HAD to be fixed before we could leave town so the dogs wouldn't get lost! We fixed the fence the night before we left. It took much longer than we had anticipated because it rained and rained and then you guessed it....it rained on us off and on the entire time we were fixing or maybe I should say attempting to fix it until we get a NEW fence. I was standing in mud over my ankles and my flip flops (YES I was wearing flip flops!) kept getting stuck in the mud. I wasn't about to get my pretty tennis shoes all muddy! Did we give up? NO! We obviously REALLY wanted to go out of town! Of course we then find out that his Grandmother who I just adore was having a birthday party the next day (heaven forbid they invite us ANYWHERE with more than 24 hr notice) and Martez said, "we need to get away so we are only going to one event.....the birthday party or the family reunion?" I said, "You make the decision I don't care either way but we either go to OKC this weekend or Branson next weekend. I NEED to get away and I am tired of rescheduling everything b/c your family always invites us at the VERY last minute!" He decided to call and talk to his Grandma who said, "she'd rather us go to the family reunion and just bring her a nice present there!" lol Yeah for Willie Mae! Then I make a dumb comment to Shandolynne about our early departure Saturday morning something to this effect............"Are we going to be able to get up in the morning and by "WE" I mean "YOU"? We laughed b/c well neither one of us could be described as punctual esp. her!!! hehe! Love you Shan! Bad comment on my part b/c she arrived at our house ready to go and we weren't even awake yet! Oops! Can I say open mouth, insert foot!! We got off a little later than planned but who cares b/c WE WERE OFF! So we are driving along and who calls but my MIL all "hurt and offended" that we weren't going to his Grandmother's birthday party THEN she has the balls to talk about my family AGAIN and how we "always" do stuff with my family and never attend their family gatherings. He then asks her to name a family gathering THAT WE WERE INVITED TO and did NOT attend and of course she couldn't name one! He told her it had nothing to do with my family and they weren't even involved in this and half the time his own family doesn't invite him to stuff and when they do it is always at the very last minute and he didn't want to be around a bunch of fake people anyway! Woohoo! He explains that we just need to get away for a few days and do something fun. She then says she didn't feel comfortable at Isaiah's birthday party and basically my family is stuck up! (You have got to be kidding me! Shoot the horse!) He got ticked and said she had no reason to feel that way b/c they try to talk to her but she just secludes herself and she had no reason to be hurt b/c it was GRANDMA's birthday party and he had already asked her about it and she was fine! Needless to say he ended the conversation and was not in a good mood which apparently turn his foot into lead and well........................

First of all I must say you could drive a truck between the officer's two front teeth! Not kidding! We'd never seen anything like it! That was beyond gap it was like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon in his mouth! Second of all when my husband gets nervous and all police officers make him nervous, he gets a severe case of diarrhea of the mouth. He proceeded to argue with the cop over the acceptable amount of speeding! He kept saying, "well how fast can I go?" The highway patrolman said, "the speed LIMIT is 75." Martez would ask again, "yes but how fast can I go?" They went back and forth and I was saying, "Dear stop please!" He would then say, "but how fast can I go?" I was like HELLO the speed LIMIT is 75 quit asking how fast can I go?!?!?!?! Good grief what part of speed LIMIT don't you understand! He then said, "I thought I could go 5 over the limit and not get a ticket." The officer said, "WELL you were going 8 over and I can give a ticket to anyone going at least one mile OVER 75 mph! Do you really want to argue about this?" This entire time I am listening and secretly panicking BECAUSE I forgot to put the new insurance verification in the car! Crap! I had just got my tags about a month before and I had put the second verification into my purse which would've been fine IF I hadn't switched purses to come on this trip! I gave him the old verification promising over my husband's angry mumbling that we really were insured I just didn't put the new verification in the car after I got my new tags! This whole time the kids are saying, "hi officer!" and he is saying "hi guys!" The patrolman returns to his car and we all sit talking about the officer's teeth and fingernails trying to keep Martez calm which didn't work too well! I kept saying well the insurance ticket can be dismissed after we get home and send in the right verification! The officer returns and tells Martez to slow down, explains the LIMIT situation again and to get the 5 mph over thought out of his head............THEN proceeds to give him a freaking warning! YES BUT are you kidding me! No tickets for speeding or no insurance! I thought for sure with all the arguing, this pit stop in our trip was not going to end nicely but I guess our children's looks and great personalities wiled the patrolmen and he went soft and gave us a break! Thank you Elijah, Isaiah and Quinlynne!



FINALLY we arrive and went to see the Oklahoma Capitol and of course took some pictures!

NEXT was the Omniplex - Oklahoma Science Museum! I must say I loved the Omniplex!!!! Totally hands on learning for children of all ages including 32 yr old kids! We went to the Planetarium where Martez fell asleep and started snoring several times, the little kids play area, the giant tree house exhibit, weather exhibits, dinosaurs, space, rock walls, sound, electricity, energy, puzzles, gymnastics museum......................you name it..they have it and we ALL loved it!!! EVERYONE should take there! Another plus is it really isn't expensive either.....I think it was just $10 or maybe $13 dollars for everything and the little kids were free! Who doesn't love free! Don't we all cringe a little when our wee ones pass the free stage! Ha!

He's got the whole world in his hands!

What a smile!

The Planetarium was not as exciting as we thought!

Shandolynne loves a nice John Deere!

Shandolynne loves the different earthquake wave demonstrators but this one is WAY more "EXCITING" than the others! I think it's at the "focal point"!

Somebody find my girl a man, please!!

AKA A sleeping child will remain sleeping until awakened by another loud child!

Never wake a sleeping child!

A child running in my house will stop once they are stopped by an unbalanced force which would be MOM!!

Now time for some more fun at the gymnastics museum:

That night we went to eat, took the kids swimming at the hotel then me and Shan left the kids with Martez and went for our usual trips to Sonic (I think she is addicted to Sonic! No Seriously!) and Wal-mart. We get back and the kids are asleep.....woohoo Baby! He is so good!

Now that is just too cute!

Next morning off to breakfast at Crackerbarrel which I must say was a VERY long wait and then the service was terrible!!!! Off to the OKC Zoo.............where we got to see the elephants with the trainers. I think I was more excited than anyone b/c I LOVE elephants. They are so cute and HUGE!! You know I took pics right?!?!?

This girl needs some serious "support"!!

True case of "Monkey see, Monkey do"!

Feeding the ducks and fish

Elijah loves the gorillas, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes.......................I don't know if there is an animal he doesn't love! Among the 50 professions Elijah has in mind for his future, Zookeeper is one he actually stuck with for a long time along with a trainer at Sea World and to be the next Steve Irwin!!

I love this picture! True admiration!

He said, "Mommy take a picture so it looks like I am IN the aquarium!"

I said, "Okay but don't forget to hold your breathe."

He's too funny!



We left hot and tired and came home! Not a long trip but fun and very needed! Thanks Shan! I realized after getting home and looking on the internet that we missed a whole entire side of the zoo ................................ guess we have a reason to go back now. How we missed it I don't know but we had fun regardless!