My First Friend

The first friend I can ever remember is Andrea.  My parents were friends with her parents in Stillwater, Oklahoma when we were little toddlers.  Andrea and her family were always so fun to go visit.  They lived on the street behind ours and her mom used to take us to the college pool in town.  I can remember that being a huge deal to me.  It's funny the things you remember when you were 4 or 5 years old. 

I lost touch with Andrea after we moved from Stillwater when I was in Middle School.  I always thought about her and missed her, hoping we could get together someday. 

Life got busy and I went back to Stillwater to go to college. My boyfriend at the time went to Tulsa University and one day he called and told me he knew someone that grew up with me and she was in his dorm room.  Well,  it was Andrea! She had come to visit my boyfriends roommate and saw my picture in his room. She got on the phone and we were screaming we were so excited.  It was like we'd never been apart.  My boyfriend went to TU for another year after that call and I was able to hang out with Andrea quite a few times.  She was so fun and bubbly, she was almost like a kindred soul to me.  I'm not a quiet person.  I like to be happy and laugh all the time and I'm best around people that are crazy just like me.  When I am around Andrea, I see myself in her and I love it. 

I lost touch with Andrea after college and just found her on Facebook about six months ago.  We finally planned a lunch and met at Olive Garden since she only lives about thirty minutes from me and right near the restaurant. 
It was like we had never been apart once again.  It was so fun catching up with her!  She is still the wonderful, joyous person I've always remembered! 

Lifelong friends!

The other exciting thing I did after meeting my friend Andrea for lunch was looking at houses in the Harvest of Homes tour.  The houses were perfect! I would move into every one of them!

Look at this wood floor.  They called it a chipped wood floor.  Very unusual.

My friend Jennifer at the bar in the gameroom in one of the houses.  Fun!

Fun theater room - this would be perfect with teenage boys!

Rainy Soccer and Beautiful Football Weather

 We spent this morning at a very rainy soccer game.  It started out a little cool and cloudy and then the skies opened up towards the middle of the game.  The opposing team only had five kids show up for the game so the refs let them use a big sister as one of their players-funny!  They had to forfeit the game but we still played since they showed up.  Our team was up by fifteen goals at halftime so they didn't play as hard the second half of the game.  It was fun watching a girl play against the guys.  She didn't let them intimidate her at all! 

 Small Fry was explaining the last play to me! 
We're watching OU play Missouri right now on TV.  We went to the game last weekend against Iowa State.  It was perfect game weather and we had a great time.



Tator Tot must not have liked that play!  But look at the concentration on Mr. H's face!



 I love this pic of Small Fry.  He stands at the railing right in front of our seats and watches the game.  He looks so cute leaning on the railing lost in his own little football world.

 Look at the sky when the game was beginning last week.  It was the most beautiful sky ever!!!

We left the game in the third quarter and I caught Small Fry sneezing!  Guzoontight!

I have to admit OU games are some of the best family activities ever.  I know we are building great family memories for the boys and I'm feel so blessed that we are able to go as a family.

Octoberfest 2010

Every year Mr. Hautemama's company buys a table for corporate night at Octoberfest.  We went last night and had the best time!  I usually don't really enjoy Octoberfest because I'm just not the type to jump on a table and start drunkenly doing the chicken dance, but one of the newer guys in the company was there with his wife.  Greg and Kristi were so much fun.  Greg's the guy in the pics below that's wearing a chicken hat. He's crazy and so much fun, while his wife is a little more laid back.  They are just like Mr. H and I - I'm the crazy one and he's the laidback one.  Perfect matches!

We had the best time just watching people.  Octoberfest seems to bring out some of the funniest drunks in the world.  I especially get a kick out of the women who will go out onto the dance floor all by themselves, just boogying away.  Ha! Funny stuff!

The boys had fun too.  Their Aunt Melanie came over and took them to eat dinner at our local Mexican restaurant.  They love that place and love to go eat there with Aunt Melanie and their cousin Taylor.  After dinner, they went to their Nana's to see some of our cousins who had dropped by on their way from California to Alabama.  The boys really enjoyed seeing cousins that they hadn't seen in years!



Mr. H and I





Bonnie and I - she's one of the sweetest people in the world!



Crazy Greg and I!

Greg and Kristi

Every year Paul in the office wears his leiderhosen to Octoberfest! Mr. H, Paul and Greg

Paul and I - our families are both originally from the same small town in Alabama...we call each other cousins!

Greg enjoyed the Octoberfest chicks

Old Friends & PF Changs

 Last night I met two of my oldest and dearest friends Nancy and Jennifer for our birthday dinner at P.F. Changs.  Every month someone has a birthday, we meet for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.  In September it was Jennifer's birthday so we chose one of our fave places to eat Chinese food. 

I have known these girls since I started my first job in 1994.  Nancy was the receptionist and Jennifer worked in the photo lab at the aerial photography and mapping firm at my first real job after college.  The first day of work, Jennifer came in and asked if I wanted to go to lunch and I was so thankful because we were only two of the five girls at that office.  I was nervous and didn't know what I was going to do for lunch and Jen made me feel comfortable and welcome.  Ever since then, we've been great friends.  Jen has been the person to help me pack everytime I've moved and she was also the person that called me every morning after my divorce just to make sure I got out of bed and was ok during those horrible, lonely, hard days.  She even took me to dinner on Valentine's Day one month after my first husband and I separated.  I'll always appreciate that because that particular holiday completely and utterly devastated me that year. 

Nancy has also been there for me to always talk with when I'm down or need advice.  She is the most kind hearted person you will ever meet.  She's taught the two year old Sunday school class at her church for twenty-five years. She's a big kid at heart and Jen and I think she is the sweetest person alive!

We love to catch up at our dinners and talk about what everyone has been up to and discuss life in general.  I worked with these girls for ten years and miss them daily now that I'm not at their same company anymore. 

They brighten my day and make me laugh so much! I just love them!

The Farm

Mr. H and I have a dream to one day buy a farm in Western Oklahoma.  We'd like a farm that we can visit on weekends when we need to relax and just enjoy the quiet.  The boys would love to have a dirtbike and BMX bike track and maybe a few animals. The Watusi cattle from the previous post would be our farm animal of choice.  Plus, Mr. H always thinking like an accountant, would love to grow crops for profit and lease out the land to hunters.  Western Oklahoma is a beautiful area, even though it's a pretty desolate area.  The plateaus are gorgeous!

I've already picked out the exact farmhouse I want.  It's a design I saw on HGTV by Sarah Richardson.  I love, love, love it!  Everything about this farmhouse is perfect!

(Images from HGTV)