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!

yea... finals week!

Well, yea, and boo, both!

ECU finally released their final week schedule, and while I am glad that it is finally here, I hate what I ended up with!

My biology final, just my hardest and the one I need to study for the most, is Monday morning at 8am!! It really stinks because he said he is going to change the format of the final to short answer and essay and "make it harder". So that isn't going to be fun.

And then my blow-off class, choices in wellness, final is Friday at 8am. So I have the whole final week to study for the easiest final! haha... Guess my luck ran out on that one!

easter weekend

Easter 2009 & Bella's Bday

We had a really good Easter weekend. We got to spend time Saturday with Randi's family. We ate some great burgers and dogs. And then all the kids got to go out and hunt Easter eggs.

Saturday night, Kaitlyn was a little worried about the whole Easter bunny deal. I guess the fact that a giant bunny was going to come hopping into the house kind of freaked her out! haha... But I think that once she put two and two together, and realized that the Easter bunny equaled basket of candy, it really help it be ok. lol!

Sunday we went up to Stillwater to see my family and enjoy some good BarBQ, followed by some birthday cake for little Bella's 1st birthday. So it was rather eventful. And since it was cloudy, cold, and rainy, we had the older kids hide the eggs in the house and then the smaller kiddos got to hunt them. So they got to do even more egg hunting.

mission garage sale - complete

Thank goodness it came and went! Randi and her mom did a fantastic job! For those of you that had seen the garage before the sale, you would be shocked at what it looks now! The picture here is still with the remaining stuff on tables. Now we have everything boxed up for the charity we are going to give it to, and then we just have what little we kept. So it is very good!

So now there is plenty of room for me and Harley to start our garage band! haha...

good friday all

Hello everyone. Just wanted to drop a line to let you all know that yes, we are still doing well down here. Well, I don't know if "well" describes it.

We have been through a bout of sickness with everyone but me (knock on wood). First Kaitlyn woke up a couple weekends ago throwing up one day and "other" stomach problems the next day. Then Dylan has those lovely "other" stomach problems. And now Randi is battling a sore throat.

So even though I love the weather this time of year, it sure seems to mess with everyone's health!

School is on the downward slope finally. I was beginning to wonder if this semester was ever going to end. But in just a short 4 weeks it will! And I am all enrolled and ready to go for the next fall semester. I am going to "attempt" the class that royally kicked my butt at OSU. That is right, business and econ statistics. That class is truly my nemesis. Taken and flunked three semesters in a row at OSU. Not bragging of course. haha... But I am going to take that (my hard class) with what I hope to be a blow off class, recreational leadership. I have heard rumors that is the one to take when you have a really hard class to do. So we will see.

But I decided to take the summer off this year. Spend a little time with the family and also I want to really work on our yard this year and be able to do some of our own landscaping.

Well, we have a busy weekend ahead. We will be spending Saturday at Randi's folks for Easter lunch and fun, followed by a Sunday trip to Stillwater to have some Easter fun with my family, and to celebrate little Bella's first birthday!!! So as long as we can keep the kids entertained in the car back and forth, then this is going to be a fun weekend! haha....