Flight Show (from a while ago)

The pic above is just of Izzy playing outside...she loves being outside.

I think I mentioned a while back that we were able to go to a flight show at the Air Force base here in September. It was a lot of fun for all of us. The planes were very loud and Izzy didn't seem to like that as much...she would not keep her earplugs in her ears. Matt and I really enjoyed seeing all of the planes on the ground and then in the air. They are pretty amazing!!

It was neat to imagine my friend, Ian, flying one of them and what he could do. I still can't really imagine what it feels like to be up there going at the speed that they are. Here are some pics that I got with my 35 mm SLR...I just got the pics today.

Family Separated

Well, we are a separated family this weekend. I left with Isabella on Thursday for a six hour car ride to Tulsa, OK to visit our dear friends, the Lees. Matt left to go back to Harlingen for a mans weekend with the husband of the friend I am with this weekend and three other men from our old church. They are all having a great time together on the beach and enjoying talking and relaxing. Us girls are having a great time with the kids. It is just so nice for me to be with someone that I feel comfortable with. Sarah (my friend) is someone I can bring anything up with and it is just refreshing since I have not had that kind of relationship with any of the woman in St. Louis. It is difficult only being in a place for a year because it takes time to get to know people.

We have been talking a lot about community lately and what that means. It is very hard to define in a few words. But if you are not purposeful about it... it is not going to happen. I am kind of rambling. I guess I am saying all of this because we have had some great community in our years of marriage together--in Philadelphia (we had an incredible community there) and it was wonderful in Harlingen. We are finding great community in St. Louis too, but it is just different because I don't think people are wanting to put time into forming relationships with us when we are leaving in 7 months. This is hard for us because we thrive on community with other believers.

All of this to say.. I am really enjoying my time here in Tulsa and am finding myself not wanting to leave. Izzy and I will be driving back on Monday and I will post some pics when we return.

Fall fun!

We had forgotten for a little while what fall was really like. We loved the leaves changing on the trees around us, but we forgot that those leaves most come down. Our backyard is FULL of leaves! Matt started yesterday to get them up and Isabella seemed to enjoy "helping" him.









She was pretty tired because she didnt' take a nap that day. She knew she
was looking pretty cute.

Happy Halloween!

This was from Sat. night..Isabella's first trick-or-treating experience. She really loved going up to all of the houses and saying those three magic words. Her little bird friend is Caleb who is her new best friend. They had a fun night together. Sorry in warning these pictures are a bit out of order.
This was my favorite picture of the evening! She was so excited!




This picture was taken on Sunday morning.. she wanted to put her
pumpkin back on.

This picture was from a couple of weekends ago when Matt's uncle turned 60. It had been over 6 years (our wedding day) since we had seen a lot of the family that was here. Isabella had a great time playing with the girls and all of the different toys they had--she did not stop for 4 1/2 hours!

This was the start of the evening when we were starting to hand out candy. She kept on asking if she could have some...she already has a sweet tooth--it is in her blood though so I can't hold it against her.

1st Visit to the Arch

We had a beautiful day here yesterday and we were out all day..it was great being outside and enjoying St. Louis. We went to Grant's Farm again...it is a great place to go for no money. We have learned that you can park off site and walk about 5 minutes to get in for free! We love that even more.
We then went to the famous Soulard Farmers Market. There is a lot of food there! Then we decided to head downtown and walk around. We decided to go to the Arch and got a metered spot that had 50 minutes left!! This was turning into a very cheap day out in St. Louis. Here are some pics from the Arch:


Isabella was not wanting to sit and take a picture with me.
But it had the potential to be a very cute picture.
She thought she could climb the tree like Winnie the Pooh.. it was pretty funny.
I was feeling artistic.. I don't know if it is or not, but I think it looks pretty with the color of the leaves.
The Arch is really pretty and huge. I like these pictures because the sky is so blue.

Grant's Farm

So, it has been WAY to long since I have posted "real" post and I am so sorry. I am blaming it on the fact that I do not have a laptop and I hate sitting at a desk to type..so, I shall just do the blame game for now. Also, now that I am out of the first third of my pregnancy I am started to feel more energy..so, maybe I will not have as big of a problem sitting at the computer desk. We shall see..
Matt was off one day a couple of weeks ago (yes, a couple of weeks ago) so we decided to go to Grant's Farm for the morning. It is a really cool place we found out. It is the original home of the Bush family. They have turned into a an animal park (I guess you could call it). As you will see they have all sorts of animals...it was really fun for all of us.

She LOVES these!! She has a very hard time if we see one and she can't ride it.


They had two bald eagles there. They were both injured and would never
fly again so that is why they are there and can't fly away.
Palmer here is your namesake...I thought he was strong and hansom.
I thought it was a very fitting name.
The camel wasn't really that close.. it was just the angle.
The elephant, Mickey, was great! He did some amazing tricks..
Isabella loved clapping for him.
The clydesdales were one of my favorites! Those horses are huge!
All I could think about was what it would be like to ride one of them..I think
my thighs would really hurt after a while. But it would be completely worth it.

The Taco Ring!

This is a Pampered Chef recipe:

3/4-1 lb. ground meat or turkey
1 package of taco seasoning mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp. water

2 packages of refrigerated crescent rolls

*Preheat oven to 375
*Brown meat and drain
*In a medium size bowl mix the meat, taco seasoning, cheese and water

*Unroll the crescent rolls
*Separate into the triangles and arrange the triangles on a round stone with the wide ends overlapping in center. You should have about 5-8 inch wide diameter opening in the center.
(if you do not have a round stone, then I will explain another way to arrange them on a cookie sheet at the end).
*Scoop about two tablespoon full-size of meat evenly onto th ewidest end of the each triangle (the part that you overlapped).
*Bring the points of the triangles up over the filling and tuck under the wide ends of dough at the center of the ring.
*Bake for 20-25 minutes.. check at 20 minutes though..until golden brown.

It is really good with shredded lettuce, tomato, more shredded cheese, sour cream and avacado.

** Now if you don't have a stone than you can do this instead of the ring: THE BRAID
*Unroll the 2 packages of roll
*Lay them flat with the longest sides of the rectangles across the width of the sheet. Roll dough to seal seams.
*starting on the longest sides of the baking stone, cut side of dough into eight strips, about 1/12 inches wide and 3 inches long.. then fill in the middle with the meat mixture.
*Starting at one end, lift one strip of dough; twist one turn and lay across top of filling. Prepeat, alternating sides of dough to form a braid. Fold bottom edges of dough up at ends of braid.
*Bake for same amount of time.

I hope those of you who try it will like it..don't worry if your rings or braids don't come out the way you think they should.. it is good no matter what it looks like! ENJOY!