A Family of Sharp Shooters

Our time in Oklahoma has flown by and soon we will be heading to Alabama to spend Christmas with our other family.  We will stop by to see Nana in Arkansas.  That will be fun because I haven't seen her in awhile.  I feel so blessed to have had so much time to spend in Oklahoma, but I always get a little sad when it comes to an end.  I wish so badly that we could live a little closer to my family so that we could see them more often.

We all definitely took advantage of the time we had together.  Some things we did besides doing all the Christmas stuff were:  We went to look at Rema's Christmas light display...

We played games (Phase 10, Sequence, Scrabble...)

We ate like pigs and watched a lot of movies (Elf, Christmas Story, White Christmas, Iron Man, Horton Hears a Who, Dark Knight, Monster's Inc...)

I made jewelry with some of the beading things I got from my Mom and Dad for Christmas... 

We shopped a little and even went to Starbucks!!!  Momma and I have also been making cards.  I'm making Valentine's Day cards and Mom is making Winter cards...

We also did something very very memorable this Christmas...

"A Family of Sharp Shooters"

What comes to your mind when you hear that there is a place called "Happy Hollow"?  Maybe you think of a nice wooded park where you and your family could go and have a picnic.  Maybe there are trails and a big field to throw a ball in.  Overall it would be quiet right?

Wrong.

The Happy Hollow we went to was a gun range!!  It did have lots of trees and there were families out there with young children, but it most definitely was not QUIET!!!

We decided to shoot some of our pistols at this place because it was more laid back and it was cheaper than taking five people to the Tulsa firearms gun range.  I don't know what I was expecting, but I did not feel laid back when I got there!!  As we pulled out onto the highway, Dad started to relay the different rules to us about when we can shoot and when we can't, etc. etc.  He talked about the guy who would tell us what to do and how they were watching us at all times.  He said we needed to treat the official on guard like the "superior being" and obey his commands at once or they'd kick us out!!  Once we pulled into the range I heard loud thunderous noises from guns that might as well have been cannons!!!  It was very intimidating for a girl that is used to shooting coke cans in her Nana's cow pasture!  Once in, I immediately put my "ears" on to protect my hearing!!  Every time a gun went off I would jump!  I felt ridiculous!!  Daddy set me up in the wrong place to start out with.  When the guy told us that the "line was hot" my entire family lined up and started to shoot at their targets!!  I was left standing there jumping and dodging shells!  Daddy came over and set me up, but everyone was shooting at the same time I was and that made me jump.  I also felt like the brass shells flying out of my family's guns were going to hit me....  I had to take a major break.  After a little bit I got used to the noise and the shells and I wanted to try and shoot again.  Daddy set me up to the left of everyone so I wouldn't get hit by any shells!  I actually shot a few rounds out of the 9mm and I did really, really well at hitting the bulls eye!  I almost hit it every time!!  Watch out bad guys!  Don't mess with me!!

*Sigh*

Good times.  After we eat lucky beans (black eyed peas) tomorrow we will start our trek to Southern country.  I don't know how often I'll get to blog at Jared's house.  There is a lot of demand for the internet and so I might just wait until I get back home. :o)  I miss all my friends though and I love reading about how you and your families are spending your holiday together!  Take care!!

Santa, I Know Him!!!

As always, my pictures are coming in late!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends!!  I know I did.  Here are some pictures of our Christmas in Oklahoma!

Later after Christmas dinner we all went outside and played a competitive game of Bocce!!  My brother, Chandler won!  Notice the athletic picture of mom as she lobs her Bocce ball!!  And me with my new scarf that Jared gave me for Christmas!!  

In the picture above my dad is holding our trusty companion, Sadie.  She was lucky she didn't get hit with any flying Bocce balls!  Jared did manage to peg my brother in the head accidently.  He has a pretty large goose-bump on top of his noggin...

We will stay in Oklahoma for a few more days and then we will begin our trek to Alabama to have a late Christmas with Jared's side of the family!!  I hope everyone had a great Christmas!! 

Catching Up

Whew!!!  How behind am I on posting pictures and blogging??  Too behind!  Here are all the fun shots that I haven't had time to post.  The first grouping are pictures of mine and Jared's Christmas decorations.  It's not much because we're just starting out.  Most of the stuff we have has been handed down from Mom and Pop Gott.  We did not purchase a real Christmas tree this year, but Mom Gott came through with letting us have the Christmas tree pictured below.  She was going to all pencil trees in her house and needed to get rid of this one.  It found a home with us and I think it made a beautiful little tree.  Hopefully we can resume our tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree next year.  It's one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time!!

Below are pictures of my trip to Oklahoma.  I flew out there to surprise Momma for her birthday!  It was so fun!!  She was so happy she nearly cried.  I had a lot of fun out there seeing my mom and dad.  Below are pictures of us and the Oklahoma Christmas tree.  This is before we put the ornaments on because Daddy was fixing to go to bed... hee hee.  Notice that little bitty blue bow at the top of the tree.  It looks pretty sad, doesn't it?  If you say "no it looks fine", you are just being nice!  I wanted to make Momma a beautiful blue bow to go on her tree because she likes the blue and silver Christmas decor.  I didn't get enough ribbon though and so it turned out to be way too little!!  Being a mother, she liked it and stuck it up on the tree anyway!

Above are some shots of Mom's birthday celebration.  Except for the picture of her making the snowman necklace.  That was taken from when we spent the afternoon at the beading store!  Which I must say has started a new hobby for me!!  More to come about that later.  (We'll see what Santa brings me for Christmas first.)  Notice what message Daddy wrote on her birthday cake!!  The thing on her back is what her best friend, Mrs. Hill gave her.  It is a camelback that is used for bikers to drink water and hold stuff in while they're cycling.  Mom's new exercise has been bicycling and she can go pretty far!!!  It's really impressive to me because I'd probably fall off the bike.  I don't even know if I still remember how to ride one!!  Anyway, I had a great time spending mother/daughter time with my best friend (besides my hubby).  Love you Momma!!

Beach Bums

Here are the rest of our beach pictures that I couldn't post because the internet in our beach house went out.  Notice my super crabbers in the center picture above.  These are what I wore to go sand crab hunting at night!!  Thanks for letting me borrow your shoes, Kara!!

Above are pictures Eric took of Me and Jared in front of their family Christmas tree!!  I'm excited because tonight Jared and I are going to decorate our house for Christmas!! YEAH!!