3/29/11

Hi, world. I'm back at the blogging thing. I can't believe it's been almost a year. I won't even begin to go over everything we have been doing over the past year. I'm just going to pick up as if I haven't been neglecting this thing for 12 months. Cool? Great!

This week I am gearing up for the wedding of my brother-in-law, Kyle, to Diana. Diana has become one of my best friends over the past 3 years and I am thrilled that they are getting married. The wedding will take place at Bali Hai and a reception will follow at Bahama breeze. The day after the wedding they have planned a party at the Golden Nugget pool. I am the Matron of honor and B is the best man. We have been planning a funny speech. We are not the sentimental types, so I hope the guests at the wedding get our sense of humor. I won't tell you any of our jokes, but I will say I am making my singing debut to the world. That in itself should be pretty friggin' hilarious. The whole tiny-bridesmaid-dress-bathing-suit-in-public thing has me on a diet of nothing, nothing, and nothing. I'm hoping to look my best come this weekend. Either way this will be a weekend we will cherish as a family for years to come. I am super happy to be welcoming this gal into our fam!!!

Last week I visited my family in Oklahoma. P loved it there. She always does. B couldn't make it this time around, which was kind of sad but allowed me some good, quality girl time with my Grandma, Aunts, and cousins. Being home is the happiest it gets for me. I love Oklahoma. I love how different it is from Vegas. I love that my Grandma feeds me good and teaches me how to bake. My Grandma is 79 and I still use her make-up and borrow her clothes. She constantly impresses me with her kindness and beauty. I PRAY that I "grow up" to be just like her. My Grandpa kept P entertained and laughing the whole trip. My cousins are always good to entertain P as well. She can't get enough of the cousins. We took a trip out in to the country to visit my Aunt Sandy. She has horses, goats, dogs, a barn, ya know, the whole 9. P really loved that visit and for the first time in my life being a cowgirl actually looked appealing! It was way peaceful and pretty out there in the sticks.
One funny thing I want to remember is my arrival into town. I flew into Springfield, Missouri. It's about a 2.5 hour drive from my hometown in Oklahoma. The tickets were less expensive and my Uncle offered to come pick us up. He has a company vehicle with free gas, blah, blah, so t'was all good. He picks us up, we grab lunch and head on to Oklahoma. While driving through the great state of Missouri I noticed that there was NOTHING around! Well, nothing except for horses, cows, and the occasional gas station. We were in the COUNTRY!!!! As I'm daydreaming about what these folks could possibly do for fun in the middle of nowhere I notice that the car is smoking from the hood. Yep, car.broke.down! Straight up car probs out in the sticks. Luckily we pulled off the road into a place that helped us out. The toothless(i'm not kidding) woman that worked there was very kind and sent us on our way with free sodas in hand and a rigged up vehicle. The next stop we made was at a mechanic who informed us we'd need to go back to the airport and rent a car to get to where we were going. A guy that worked there offered my uncle a ride back to the airport while I stayed with the girls at the shop. I was scared at how little people were around. I asked my uncle if he had a gun on him (i'm still not kidding) for protection. He said, "for what? You're in the safest place in the world. These are nice people." I was just thinking if I screamed no one would ever hear me. It dawned on me then that I am so used to living in a city. I live in a place where it would be naive to trust your neighbor or to leave my car door unlocked at a convenient store. These people, these counrty-folk, WERE nice people. They were HAPPY people. They were HAPPY to help us. I felt a little humbled and a lot less judgemental when we FINALLY drove off in our Toyota Prius (leaving behind our broken-down ford explorer.) I wanted to write this down somewhere, because I am grateful to the people of Duenweg, Missouri for helping this city girl out and reminding me of what hospitality means.
Once we were on the road we had a few good laughs about the situation and were excited to get back to town to celebrate my cousin's birthday. We made it just in time to party! The week was amazing and I can't wait to visit again and neither can P!