Oklahoma

At the end of April we had a randomly scheduled three day weekend (which we were pumped about) so we decided to take a short trip to Lawton, Oklahoma, to visit Tom's parents.

Everett loved spending time with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Meyer! 

Grandma Jean and Grandpa Meyer wanted to get E some "Oklahoma clothes" so we did a bit of jean and boot shopping.  E walked away with some really cute stuff (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). 

We also tried out a Korean restaurant in Lawton.  E loved it.  We do not have a good Korean restaurant near our house so it was fun to eat some Korean goodness.  We had bulgogi that reminded us a lot of the bulgogi served at GSIS! 

As these next few pictures show, the thing we probably enjoyed the most (aside from the great company) was just being able to play outside!!!  It was sunny and warm...perfect for a little boy to play around and get dirty. 

Hands down E's favorite thing was to play with the rocks in their water feature out back.  We ended up with a pretty good rhythm of Everett moving/throwing rocks and Tom going back to put the rocks back where they came from. I don't think Daddy enjoyed it as much as Everett. :)

Above you can see the lake that is practically in Tom's parents backyard.  We took E on a short hike to the lake where he got to do his favorite thing, play with rocks.  He was a tad grumpy for the walk back so he ended up cuddling with Grandma for the walk home.  Good thing it's a short hike--bubs is heavy!

After a full two days in Lawton we headed back home for the 7.5 hour drive.  For the most part E did a really good job on the drive, which is comforting since we are planning quite a few road trips this summer.  It was so fun to see Tom's folks, be in Oklahoma, and get away from KC for a while.  Since I have been struggling with morning sickness we had been feeling really cooped up at home and it was great to get out in the sunshine with people we love! 

happy birthday uncle james!

Last week was my brother's birthday.  Everett wanted to send his Uncle James some birthday love but it was a hard task to coordinate! After 13 pictures on an iPhone right before we left for school (hence the jacket and hat) our photo session ended somewhat successful and with me fishing a piece of paper out of Everett's mouth.  

Here are some of the pics from the process:

 I think this was the winner: 

 This was the one where E bit off the paper and I frantically removed it from his mouth.

Here's an oldie but a goodie of Everett and Uncle James: 

Happy Birthday Bro!

Go Mizzou!

The big Missouri vs. Kansas football game was this weekend.  Obviously my family supported the MU Tigers...well almost everyone did...  My brother's girlfriend, Jen, was sporting blue and red (KU colors)!  You know Jen must be accepted by the family if my dad is willing to sit with a Jayhawk at a Mizzou game.  Tom and I were sad we missed it, but we were cheering on the Tigers from Korea (figuratively speaking--the game happened while we were sleeping).  Go Tigers!

Jolene Robertson

This is a picture of Grammy Jo at Tom and I's wedding. We all really love this picture of her.

We've been asked by a few people about Grammy Jo's funeral information and so I wanted to post a link to her obituary. Rupp Funeral Home in St. Joe, MO is handling all the arrangements. My dad's cousin, JL Robertson, is the Vice President of the funeral home and he's been great at helping my family through this process. If you go to the Rupp Funeral Home website you can click on "Jolene Robertson" to read more about Grammy Jo and the funeral arrangements.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, emails, comments, and thoughtfulness. We really appreciate your love and support.

Grammy Jo

(This is a picture with me and all my grandparents in high school. From left to right: Papa, Grammy Jo, me, Grandma Bonnie. They were my cheering section when I played sports.)

I have been blessed to have some awesome grandparents! I've blogged about one of my grandma's before but I wanted to share about my Grammy Jo. We call her Grammy Jo because, as the story goes, my grandpa would always yell, "Jo!!!" to get my grandma's attention (her full name is Jolene). So when my brother was little he started to repeat my grandpa and yell, "Jo!!!" So the name Grammy Jo has stuck.

I was so blessed to live by all my grandparents when I was young, so I get to spend a lot of quality time with them growing up. These are some of my favorite memories....

1. sleepover's at Grammy Jo and Papa's house. James (my brother) and I would stay with them at least once a month and we would fight over who would get to sleep on their love seat (small sofa) in their bedroom. We would also get to sleep with Smurf bedsheets. Remember the Smurfs? The blue cartoons? I loved those sheets!!!
2. on sleepover weekends Grammy Jo would send Papa to take us to rent movies!!! Some sleepover nights we didn't get to rent movies and on those nights we got to watch either Matlock or Murder She Wrote. To this day I love watching Matlock. I know there are Matlock haters out there...but it's a good show!
3. picking cherries off the tree in their backyard. Grammy Jo would always make my dad's favorite, a cherry pie, to reward us for our hard work.

4. helping decorate at Christmas. You know those people that are really fanatical about Christmas decorations? Yeah, that's my family. I loved helping Grammy Jo decorate the Christmas tree each year! She'd also make sugar cookies and she'd let James and I use the cookie cutters to cut out the cookies and then decorate them with sprinkles.

5. her saying the phrase, "Oh, Jim..." in reference to my Grandpa. You know "Tim the tool man Taylor" from the TV show Home Improvement? Well, Tim always got hurt working on stuff and so did my grandpa! Papa was always causing trouble and Grammy Jo would just shake her head and say, Oh Jim...She is such a patient lady!

6. getting to go play at Grammy Jo's work! She managed the gift shop at a hospital and it was awesome!!!! Stuffed animals, trolls, games, and everything else a kid could envy. I don't know if we ever left there without Grammy Jo getting something for us. I had a huge troll collection because of her! I loved it.
7. the permed porcupine. One of my favorite stuffed animals growing up was "Porky" the porcupine. Porky was great because he had long soft hair that I could play with. When I got chicken pox my mom washed all my stuffed animals and Porky came out of the dryer with a perm!!!! I was crushed! But Grammy Jo to the rescue...she got me a new Porky that was perm-less.

8. dumplings. My Grammy Jo could make the best chicken and dumplings...oh man, my mouth is watering thinking about it.

9. her being at my wedding. She was so beautiful that day.

10. just the little moments of spending time with her. She is a wonderful woman that is gentle, patient, loving, and kind. I feel very blessed to have her in my life.

Here are some pics going from being a little kid-o to being in high school.