random christmas pics

christmas morning 2009

The kids had a great Christmas morning. They really loved the fact that Santa ate the cookies they helped make and drank the hot chocolate. Santa's reindeer also ate the reindeer food that Kaitlyn's class made.

I am working on getting photos out on Picasa nut I am trying to figure out the app I have for that. Haha!!

Here are a few in the mean time.



Dylan's Hot Wheels stunt set.



Kaitlyn's dress up princess clothes.



Kaitlyn's new cowgirl boots.

randi's turn

As you might recall I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a root canal last year right before Thanksgiving.

Well, now Randi has to have one. She has had it rough lately. She started with 2 ear infections with A sinus infection at the same time. So as that was healing up, she started having a tooth give her problems.

So to the dentist she goes tomorrow afternoon to get worked on right before Christmas.

Now, this is where I normally post a photo of who I am talking about. And I have a great one of her sleeping one morning. But as I mentioned earlier, it is almost Christmas and I want Santa to come, so I will be good. Haha...

So instead, here is one of the kids.

kaitlyn is feeling the spirit

Kaitlyn's school is having their spirit week this week. We missed a day or to but we nailed it today!

It was a peice of cake for a guy like me today. It was Nerd Day! Haha... She looked so cute though. Here is her and Dylan before we left the house this morning.

Finished at Penn Square Mall. Man it was a mad house! So now we are at another store behind the mall. Gotta keep going while we have energy!

You know parking is bad at Penn Square Mall when people are hoping curbs and parking on the grass!

Well folks, it is done. That is right, another semester has come and gone. I took my statistics final at 8:00 am this morning.

I feel pretty good about it too, which is a nice change. There were only two problems, but they were insanely long!

So now I just sit back and wait for the next semester, and all the brain drain that it will entail. Haha

a look inside a true trout man

If you get some spare time, you have to check out my buddy's blog. It is the blog of the mighty Harley.

With the weather change, it has around again to the outdoor season. So he has once again picked up his rod, he is making his flies, and trickin' out his trout cycle. This might be one to bookmark as well, because if we get lucky, he will get some photos with his new invention for the season, the Troutcam!

But on a serious note, he went down to Broken Bow last weekend for a serious fishing adventure, and did capture some gorgeous photos down on the river.

So take a look, he is at lattahouse.blogspot.com.

dylan 3-year update

Dylan went to the doctor today for his 3-year checkup, and all is good.

We even found out that he is growing out of the need for the nebulizer! Woo Hoo!! So that was about the best news of all right there. But now we have to start figuring out the allergies. Chances are that he has a lot of the same that I have, judging by how he reacts to some of the weather changes like I do.

And here are his stats as of today:

Height: 31 3/4"
Weight: 34lbs

... and we'll leave the lights on

I actually accomplished something today. I know that sounds terrible, but when it comes to things around the house, I just feel like I never accomplish anything.

But with the help of the kids and Randi today, not to mention my awesome ladder that rocks, oh, and the dog crap I stepped in (loved that, don't have a dog, but thank goodness someone else's pooped in my yard for me to step in!), I managed to get Christmas lights up on the house. We just did the front of the house for now, and might expand that later, but we aren't too in love with the lights we used. So next year we are going to try and find better ones.

But at least we took the first shot at it finally. So now we have the tree up, the outside lights and the stockings. So we are doing pretty good.

randi's cake

I may not be the best husband in the world, heck, most of the time not even an "ok" one. But at least I can say I remembered the cake on the wife's birthday! haha...

From the nuthouse

Heading to Home Depot to buy some outdoor lights to put up around the house. This should be interesting! Haha!

Had my last lecture today in statistics. Final is next Friday. So please tell me why the prof assigned three homework problems due the day of the final!! And to top it off, two of them are topics that aren't even on the final!! I just don't get this guy!

Finishing off some quick Subway, then out into the frigid outdoors to watch the Ada Christmas Parade. I must be crazy!! Just goes to show i will do anything for my beautiful wife!

happy birthday randi

Happy birthday to my beautiful wife! Love you honey!

fun day

Today was a pretty good day (except for the weather!)...

First, a big happy birthday to my nephew Austyn. He turned the big 10 today! Happy Birthday Austyn!

Second, I ended up not having to take a final! woo hoo! My rec leadership class ended up assigning us an extra 100 points of homework. So if we have the points we need to reach the 'A' mark at the original points for the class, then we don't have to take the final! So one down, one to go.

The second final though is my statistics final. I have heard some urban legends on how he designs it, but I am hoping they are not true. The worst one is that his final is one single problem worth 100 points. So if that is the case, it may be very interesting! haha!! But it is the Friday of finals week. Nothing like waiting till last minute! haha...

Enjoying a lovely dinner out with the fam. I have some awesome kids and a lovely wife!

the ultimate film camera kit

I received the camera kit I purchased off of eBay today!! I am so excited to get to finally use all the stuff.

The kit is a Praktica MTL3 camera body, lenses, filters and other assorted goodies. And it is all in a pretty awesome leather camera case! So to the best of my guess, here is a breakdown of my new inventory:

• Praktica MTL3 SLR camera
• 2 - "old school" shutter remotes
• Pentacon 2.8/29 lens
• Pentacon 1.8/50 lens
• Pentor 1:2.8 f=135mm lens
• Pentor 1:2.8 f=28mm lens
• Pallas Auto Tele Converter 2X lens
• Vivitar Macro Adapter +10 49MM
• Vivitar 55MM->58MM adapater
• Vivitar 49MM Close Up Lens No. 1
• Vivitar 49MM Close Up Lens No. 2
• Vivitar 49MM Close UP Lens No. 4
• Vivitar 49MM Skylight (1A) filter
• Vivitar 58MM Skylight (1A) filter
• Vivitar 49MM Polarizing filter
• Vivitar 58MM Polarizing filter
• Vivitar 49MM UV Haze filter
• Vivitar 58MM UV Haze filter
• Vivitar Wideangle Hood 58MM
• Vivitar 49MM rubber hood
• 49MM hard plastic hood
• Eyepiece sun hood
• Eyepiece vertical extender
• Kick-butt hard leather camera case
• All the original sales receipts for everything (including original camera sales receipt dated 1979.
• The original paperwork and user manual

I would tell you how much I got all this for, but I am nearly positive that no one would believe me! I will just say it was for about the price of one dinner out with my family of four!

So now I have my work cut out for me. I have to figure out what all that stuff is for! haha... I have to figure out stuff like... Why the 49mm over the 58mm? Which filter to use when? How to group them (I noticed he had a couple stacked up on the end of a lense), and why? All the goodies like that. Should be fun, we will see! Here are some pics of the new toy.

the semester is rolling

I have finished the first two tests for this semester, so I guess things are officially rolling now.

My stat test went ok. It took me about 15 minutes to complete the whole 3 problems he put on the test. haha.. I was able to get my grade on it this afternoon, and I made a 100%!! And we have had three homework assignments, all of which were 100%. So I have an 'A' in there so far.

I took my recreational leadership test today though, and I think I sat a new world record. From the time the test hit my desk, until I put it back on the coach's desk, was a whole 3 minutes!! So needless to say, I felt pretty good about that one. But we will see come Thursday!

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camera play

I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. A while back I had come across a plethora of old camera antiquities. One of them was a 35MM Praktica MTL3. I took it to work one day to have one of our photographers look at it and let me know what they thought. And I guess he took some photos with it using black and white film. For some reason, I completely forgot about that, and didn't even remember seeing the resulting roll of film.

Just the other night we were digging through boxes of photos trying to find one printed photo of Kaitlyn as a flower girl (for show and tell at school), and we came across those photos. And wow! They looked really good!

So I got the old gal out of the attic this morning, and we hit Wal-Mart. No luck in black/white film, so I just bought a pack of Fuji 400. I figured that would be better than nothing, and to even see if the time spent in the attic had damaged it even more.

Luckily, it seems as though it didn't! I took one roll and we had it developed today, and it didn't look too bad. The lenses are very, very dirty, so I spent some time cleaning those (best I could at least). And then it also helps out if you know what the heck the dials are for on it! haha

So I hit the ol' Google and bingo! Found a PDF of the old user manual (and even found one for .99 Canadian on eBay! haha... So now that I know how to adjust the shutter speed and ASA for the film, then I think this next roll might even turn out better! It has been a lot of fun using it though.

There is still one camera in the box that I haven't played with yet. It is a 3D camera though, and both the film and the development is very, very hard to find. So I am still trying to decide if I want to try that or not.

But the funniest is taking the kids pictures, and then having to explain why they can't see the photos yet! haha.. Having to tell them that the photos don't show up on a screen, that you have to take them to the store and have them print them to see them. Funny how quickly technology changes our world!

the kids just keep getting bigger

Man, this has been a big week for the kids, and it continues today!

First, Dylan decided that it was time to be a big boy. He has been doing so good with potty training, and not having very many accidents at all. But the coolest thing is that he has now decided that he doesn't need to sit down when he pees!! haha.. That is right, the little guy just bellies up to the toilet and stands up "like daddy". He is one sharp cookie!

And Kaitlyn is still having a ball at her ballet classes and is doing really good in Pre-K. They have already taken a couple automated comprehension tests, and she has scored a perfect score on both of them! We are so proud of her.

Well, then this afternoon came along. We were wondering around Wal-Mart looking for film for the old 35mm camera that used to belong to Randi's grandma, when Randi asked Kaitlyn if she wanted to pierce her ears. Well Kaitlyn wasn't sure about that. But Randi explained it to her, and with a little hint of some possible orange sherbet if she did it, she hopped up in the chair and got down to business.

So here are some pics of the little lady (a.k.a. ballerina princess). She came running out to the car when they were done and she was yelling "it didn't even hurt!!". Man, they just grow up so darn fast.




Dylan had to get it on it too! haha..

the start of a new semester

I made it through day one of class. Not a whole lot to report today though. Just one class on M/W/F and one on T/TH.

My class on M/W/F is business statistics though. So I am a bit worried about it, but everyone keeps telling me that the guy I have is good. His name is Dr. Hongzai Zhang (I believe the spelling is correct). He is at ECU by way of China, Louisiana, and Alabama. He has been in the U.S. for 20, but is still pretty hard to understand. But everyone has told me to just show up, take notes, and turn in homework and I should be just fine. So we will see. At OSU I took this class three times and always did good until the midterm, so that will be the true test! haha..

The thing I hate about ECU though, is that for about the first week you can't find a parking place! I left work 30 minutes early today to find a spot, and still made it to the classroom with only 3 minutes to spare. But it is hilarious because by the second week of class you will be able to find completely empty parking lots! lol..

gallup daily

Looky what I found. I have always watched the Gallup web site, especially the Presidential approval rating. I know many may not agree, but I am happy with it's current direction.... down...

So you can now just watch our site to keep up with it. I have even added it to the sidebar!

big girl starts school

We made it through the first day! Kaitlyn started her school today. She was so excited all morning getting ready and she barely ate breakfast.

Randi dropped her off, and she never shed a tear (neither of them.. haha). Now if I was there, I probably would have, so that is a good thing I guess. But she learned about classroom rules today and playground rules. And she did some coloring as well.

So now if we can just teach her to keep out of trouble, and to pay attention when people are talking to her or reading to her, I think we will pretty much be smooth sailing. Well, for a few years at least! haha....

dylan is keeping up

While Kaitlyn is really coming into her own, and getting to be a big little girl, Dylan is kicking some butt in the growing up game as well.

He is now nearly potty trained! Still have an accident every once in a while, but he is wearing his big boy underwear to day care now. He is so excited when he has a good day and keeps from having an accident in his race car underwear. haha..

But along with his getting older, is also his attitude. So every once in a while we have to have a little attitude adjustment session. But half the time, about the time he has you ready to pull your hair out, he does something silly that makes you nearly fall out of your chair laughing. So he is learning! lol!

our little girl

Ever since Kaitlyn was born, we have always been told, "Enjoy it, time will fly by". And man, that is true! Our little girl is growing up so fast!

This Thursday, she will start Pre-K at Latta. She is so excited. She came in the kitchen when she got home from day care tonight, and asked me if she started day care in "2 days". When I told her 'yes', she started jumping up and down and screaming how she was so excited! It was a sight to see! haha.

Not only is she now in school, but she is also going to start taking ballet lessons. We enrolled her for that last week, and her classes start next Thursday. So we bought her some ballet shoes and some pretty little practice outfits, and a purple bag to carry it all in. We are still working on on having her say 'ballet' correctly. When she gets excited about it, it sounds like 'bal-la-lay'. haha..

the song continues

Still working on my song. But i think i may have it where i want it. It is just music, but pretty cool sounding!

anniversary photos

Randi and Jonathan's 10 Year Anniversary

I am having problems with my own photo gallery again. Will probably be dropping my own site and photo gallery soon. Been a pain lately. Just thinking of going back to the easy free stuff.

Anyway, Randi and I really had a ball on our trip. I have never actually seen a true "forest" other than the many acres of trees around Payne County. So it was awesome to be staying in the Ouachita National Forest area.

The first afternoon/evening we were there it rained somewhat on and off (more on though), so we wandered around the park area to see what there was to see.

The second day (our anniversary day) we ran out in the morning and did some fishing at a neck in the lake. That was pretty dead, so we headed over to one of the rivers. And after a few casts, I actually caught a trout! I was so shocked, and the coolest part was being able to see the trout come back against the fast flowing stream and bight the hook. It was unbelievable! We were going to do some swimming in the afternoon, but instead decided to drive around and see more of the sites. We tried out a local fancy restaurant for dinner. The food was really great, and at $22.00 for a filet mignon, it darn well should be. But the part is that it was actually darn near the best tasting, most well prepared one that I have ever had! But then one of the waitresses tried to be super woman and picked up a tray with about 7 or 8 glass water glasses (full) on it to carry it outside to the tables. Well, three almost immediately fell off, and as you know with basic counter weight, it instantly flipped the opposite direction and dumped the remaining glasses. Well, glass and water went flying. I felt a few big pieces hit my leg but didn't think anything of it, as did Randi. But then Randi ran her hand over where it hit her leg, and she was bleeding! So I checked mine, and I was too. We both ended up with cuts on our legs! It was crazy. But I still have to say, the best darn steak ever!

The third day was the toughest. It started at about 5 AM when giant thunderstorms rolled in and started rattling everything in the cabin. And the worst is, you can't hardly get local weather there. The locals either were primarily Texas or Louisiana. But we rode it out, and it ended up raining, nearly non-stop, until mid-afternoon. After that we decided to call it a day and start working towards dinner and then margaritas!!

I have to say though, I am still madly in love with the woman I married 10 years ago. We were able to spend 3 days and nights together with no kids and even rained in a day, and we still had so much fun!

Our first 10 years brought us 2 wonderful kids and a new house. So I am just so excited to see what the next 10 bring us!

been a while...

It has been a while since my last update. But a lot has happened. We have been having a pretty fun summer thus far. Kaitlyn and I start school in a couple weeks (that sounds funny as heck to say!), Kaitlyn has been to 2 bible schools, Dylan is darn near potty trained, and Randi and I have celebrated our big 10th anniversary!

I have a number of pics to get added. I am going to kick it off with photos from mine and Randi's 10 year anniversary.

the big hair cut day

Big Hair Cut Day

Today was the big day.... The day of hair cuts for the kids.

Kaitlyn was very excited because she had decided to donate over 10 inches of her hair to Locks for Love. So she was very excited to get in the chair today. But she had to wait on Dylan.

Dylan wasn't so sure about the whole deal, but when I got there, he was in the chair, and doing everything the stylist told him to. If she told him to look down, he would, to tilt his head, he did it, and he sat very still! I was shocked!

Kaitlyn got in there, and just had a great time. I was worried she might start getting nervous or changing her mind, but she just sat there and looked in the mirror while they cut 11 inches of her hair off! I was really proud of both the kids.

fun with dylan

We got to spend a little time at the ER tonight. Dylan had a funky fever come on pretty quick today. So tonight about 9 his fever really took off, and he was complaining of a hurting stomach.

Come to find out, after about 2 hours at the ER, he just has a case of strep throat. So even though that is bad, it is much better than I was worried it might be.

So now I am just hoping that the rest of us can keep healthy, and that we get Dylan back up and running soon.

the shaved look

I can't believe it, but I actually did it this morning! That is right, I am now a clean shaven man. First time since around 2001! haha..

So don't be afraid, I know it looks scary, but it is actually me. Or as my wife and everybody at work said "it is the 12-14 year old Jmo". I am not sure about that. Looks more like a chubby 15 year old! haha..

first night of band practice

Tonight was my first night of the garage band practice! Just me and Harley and a couple beers. It was really fun! It has been a good number of years since I have picked up the ol' bass, so it felt good to get it all tuned up and do some messing around.

We rocked out to a couple AC/DC, The Who, The Ramons, and then some home-made goodies that Harley wrote when he was back in college for Harley Deric and the Reverse Cowgirls.

But I was really worried that I would be beyond being able to play, but it kind of came back ok (for the first practice). So now I will have to do some practicing and getting ready for our next practice!

thursday playin'

Thursday Playin'

Brought the kids home from day care this afternoon and decided that we needed to go outside and play. So I decided to snap some photos of the kids and just the all around beauty that was this afternoon.

finally some photo updates

I have our photo gallery working again, finally! haha...

So to get it all rolling, I have placed in it some photos from last Saturday when we took the kids to the Children's Museum in Seminole as well as some photos from my Civil War trip that Harley and I went on a few days ago.

There are a few that I caught with my cell phone, so once I get those pulled off, I will add those to the galleries.

Enjoy! You can use the link at the top of the page for the nuthouse photo gallery, just click here!

the official end of the semester

The spring 09 semester has now officially come and gone. I really didn't think I would do that good in biology, but as crazy as it is, I actually did. I don't know if it is because I actually learned it somehow and was able to regurgitate all of it for the final, or if it is just because my professor for it lives 3 houses away from me. haha... Anyway, here is the official results.

DISCLAIMER : Don't pay any attention to the GPA information. lol... It isn't that good, but ended up in the shot anyway. But it is a long ways from the 1.45 that I started with! haha...


Look at that biology grade!! Woo Hoo!!!

what a tuesday...

You know you are going to have a bad day when you go into work, turn on your MacBook that was working fine the night before, and get this for a start up screen.


Instead of the Windows "blue screen of death", it is the Mac "blinking folder and question mark of death!

Yep, apparently somewhere between when it was working fine about 1am Tuesday morning and going to work about 8:30am the same day, the hard drive just decided to die. Not exactly sure why, I guess it just didn't like me anymore.

There were just two relaxing moments though. First, when calling Apple Support, I discovered there was 300 more days of service left on it! Thank God for that! Second, with the add-in of Time Machine in OS X 10.5, I actually backed my entire hard drive up about 2 days before. Just by pure happenstance. I never, ever, backup. But I was like... 'hm.. wonder what exactly this Time Machine thing does anyway...". Well, luckily it may be my lifesaver. We will see.

So now I am without my laptop for about 4 days. Kind of feel like I am missing a leg or something! lol... But I will try to survive. Later!

aaahhh.... and it comes to an end (the semester that is)

Before I continue, I would like to send out a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE NIECE!! She turned 4 today! She had a killer birthday party yesterday! Happy Birthday Madison...

And now...

Yes, it is true.... Another semester has come and gone... THANK GOD!!!!

So to celebrate the end of this one (since I had summer school and have gone pretty much a year solid), my lovely wife and kids took me out for a great dinner!

We headed over to Polo's, and let me just say, they have a Sangria Swirl Margareta that is just delicious... haha... So good in fact that I had to take a picture of it to just share. yummy!!


And this is just the medium! They have a larger size!

sometimes you should just get out of the car

So dad sent me a text this morning about a thunderstorm that was about to move over Ada. At the time I was sitting in my car waiting for my biology class to start since the one before had finished early.

About the time I got dad's text, I looked out and noticed it was sprinkling, but though "ah, no biggy, I will just wait a few more minutes." If only I had known...

About 2 minutes later, I looked up from sending Randi a text, and noticed that it had gone from sprinkling to a torrential downpour and sideways-blowing rain. Well, that was also about the time that I needed to start heading to class. So out of the car I hop and off I sprint!

Needless to say, there was very little I could do though to beat the rain. By the time I reached my building, I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower. I was completely drenched. So bad that even my jacket pockets were full of water! Anyway, I snapped a photo of my waste down and you can kind of see the dry line of my slacks.

Also, I snapped a photo as I drove by our Sinclair station. The big green dino that sits outside the station was actually knocked over by the winds, that is how bad it got! And then there were just some other photos I thought of adding. Enjoy!


My little monster


Little monster showing his shirt




Pants and shoes after the swim to my class this morning


The big Sinclair dino that was blown over this morning

change in finals week

Boy, what an eye opening class this morning for choices in wellness.

The instructor was kind of enough, today, two days before Wednesday, to let us in on the fact that we aren't going to have a final during finals week. It was scheduled for the Friday of finals week.

Nope, instead, we are taking Wednesday, as in two days from today!! Hhhmmm.... panic?!?!

I have been worrying about biology because that final was going to be first. So now I have to try to finish the stuff for my wellness class, cram and try not to bomb that test on Wednesday.

On a good note though, I am done with school after my 8am final, the Monday of finals week! haha... So I told my friend Harley that we can start up the ol' garage band next Monday night! lol...

big weekend (busy at least... haha...)

This was a really busy weekend (and back breaking!) It all started with a trip to the annual Children's Fair that the Nation sponsors every year. It was at the AgriPlex in Ada, and there were a ton of things to do. Everything from arts and crafts, to a four wheeler train ride, to big blow up slides, and everything in between.

So after a couple hours there, we headed back to the house to try and tackle our brilliant landscaping idea.... trying to replace the flowerbed at the front of the yard with limestone blocks.

Well, I will just say that for our first landscaping project, it was a beast! But at the same time, it turned out really nice! We are going to give it a week or so to make sure that everything sets up ok and it can hold it's own. At that point we will come back and fill it in and raise the bed up and then put back some pretty flowers and what ever else Randi tells me to put in there (that is not my bag.)

Anyway, here are some photos from the weekend that we snapped.














After (thank goodness it stood!)

interesting show

If you have a chance either this Monday night, or next Saturday night, you will have to flip over to OETA (see their site for the time).

There is a short little documentary on the 1909 hanging in Ada. I have heard about it ever since I have been down here, but never had actually heard the full story and explanation of what happened. Anyway, I found it interesting. Here are the details from the OETA site.

Death of the Old West

program / series description:
The 1909 lynching in Ada of four men suspected of murdering a local rancher.

beautiful saturday

Yesterday turned out so nice, that I finally got the kiddos outside again, and actually did some of the "honey-dos" that I have been putting off.

First thing I attacked was the gutters. Man, I have never lived anywhere that I had to clean out the gutters. Hence, I never knew what a bad idea it was to clean them out after a rain (when you live on the north side of a dirt road). haha... So the first handful of leaves I grabbed, SPLASH!, mud slung all over me, the house and my new ladder. An eye-opening experience I tell ya.

But I finished that until the gutters where crystal clean. Then I headed in the garage and did some more arranging of stuff to try to get things a bit more out of the way. Also did some measurements so I can start planning some storage ideas for what is left.

Then we finished the night off with some fresh cut steaks (cut about an hour before we bought them!), and some grilled zucchini and squash! YUMMY!!

So here are some pics I snapped off yesterday. You can see my new ladder that is really pretty cool. It is one of those ones that converts to different heights and angles. Took some of my new clean garage! haha..., and then of our pretty red maple by the front door, and last but not least, the awesome dinner!