Crazy Christmas!!

A White Christmas?!?! We couldn't believe it!!

The weather was predicted to be bad on Thursday, Christmas Eve. We normally don't see a lot of snow in Oklahoma & the chances of a "white Christmas" in OKC ( or anywhere in OK) is 3%!!

So dad & mom came down on Wednesday. Dad left mom at our house Wednesday night & went back home. By Thursday morning (Christmas Eve) it was sleeting, then by 10am, it was snowing & then it quickly turned into blowing snow & "white out" conditions! The interstates were CLOSED!! It was wild!! I was SO glad that we were not out on the roads!

The sun came out Christmas morning! It was beautiful, but DEEP & the roads were still dangerous!

The girls were so excited that it snowed!!! Lydia got a bike, but she had a ride it in the house!!

Dad couldn't make it back for Christmas morning, but Tori & Russ were able to make it over for Christmas brunch.

The girls played in the snow & over the next few days, we had a snowman, snowdog & snowfort! They had a great time!

But the snow did put a damper on our plans to go to Woodward. The girls were upset, but Scott took them to the Omniplex on Saturday. I decided to stay home because I thought the roads were still too bad. Dad was able to come on Saturday & take mom home.

14 inches of snow is crazy for Oklahoma. It will be a Christmas that we will always remember!

2009 in review

Wow! What an amazing year!!!

Let's see if I can remember ALL the things that happened in the year of 2009 (I'll have to look in the scrapbook!):

January: Caraline turned 2 & got a "big girl bed"
Tori & Russ found out they were pregnant!

February: Katy turned 33 & Scott turned 38

March: Lydia bottle fed a calf for the first time

April: Easter was rainy this year so we hunted Easter Eggs at grandma's on Saturday.
Caraline was sick this Easter...so was my mom!
Lydia went to her first movie in the theater. We saw Earth. She loved it!

May: Lydia "graduated" from Preschool at Peace Preschool.

June: Lydia & Caraline went swimming for the first time in a "big" pool at Tori & Russ's house.
Scott's dad, Elwyn, turned 70.

July: This was the first 4th of July that we went to see the fireworks...Lyida wasn't sure she liked it!
Tori & Russ had a baby shower in Perry for Sadie.
We went on our first family vacation to Red River, New Mexico. We went with Scott's family. The girls loved it so much Lydia wants to live there!

August: We got to tour the Braum's dairy plant in Tuttle.
On August 25, Sadie Laine Furgason was born @ 1:10pm at 8 pounds

September: Lydia started Pre-K at Peace Preschool in Ms. Teri's class.
Katy took a photography class through Franis Tuttle with a friend, Sharon Schwidder. She got a new camera, a Canon XSi, and started taking pictures of friends & family.
Nana turned 60 this year! We surprised her at school & then all her family surprised her at Pizza Hut in Perry.

October: We went to Storybook Forest to trick or treat with the Cox's, Churchwell's & met the Schmidt's there to roast marshmellows. We had SO much fun! Lydia was Cinderella & Caraline was Fern & she carried the pig, Wilbur. Later on Halloween, she decided she wanted to be a princess too. So when we went Trick or Treating in downtown Edmond, I took TWO Cinderellas! Sadie was a Little pumpkin!


November: Lydia turned 5!! She had a costume party with friends on halloween & then a party with family at Nana's on the 1st.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Papaw's side of the family, whom we don't get to see that often.
We had Thanksgiving at Grandpa & Grandma's in Pawnee. We took tons of picture while the girls played on the hay bales & swung on the gate. I took picture of Amber & Adam & the Furgason family for their Christmas card. It was a beautiful day!

December: We went to see the tree lighting in downtown Edmond. We also watched the light parade.
The girls & I went to Perry to Nana & Papaw's church & had breakfast with Santa. We ate pancakes & got to talk to Santa. Then we ran downtown Perry to Santa's house to see him AGAIN!! The Santa's looked a little different & Lydia thought the one at church was the REAL Santa because he had a long beard!
We wrote letters to Santa & mailed them.
We had a WHITE Christmas!! More like a BLIZZARD of a Christmas Eve. 14 inches of snow!! We couldn't go to Woodward like we had planned, but we are going the following weekend.

So that was our year in a nutshell. As I look back on the last 12 months, I KNOW God has blessed us beyond what we deserve! Time together & health is a blessing that I thank God for everyday! I pray for more blessing of God's protection for our family.
Thank you God for loving us, being faithful to us & dying for our sins so that we can live forever with you in heaven!

This girl "gets it!"

Lydia is SO funny!! She is growing up SO fast!! She knows ALL her letters & sounds & I've been working with her on reading three letter words & simple sentences.

Now she has really taken off with it! Last night, she came in the living & said, "Mom, I think I can read some of the words in this book." I said "Ok, let's see." It was a first grade book with simple sentences & she tried & got a lot of the words right!! I was VERY impressed!

Then the next day at church, she wrote a card to baby Jesus. She wrote " i lib ppl" She said "Mom, look at what I wrote in that card." I looked at it & I said "Does it say 'I like purple'?" "Yep!" She said! She was SO proud of herself!! (Since I taught first grade for 6 years, I've become an expert at reading inventive spelling!)

Lydia KNOWS the real meaning of Christmas! We were reading a story about Christmas & Santa one night. It was about a family named "Kringle" and it said "The Kringle family loved Chistmas so much that they named their son after you-know-who."

Lydia looked puzzled & asked "They named him 'Jesus'?!" I was rolling!!

sweet prayers

Caraline really enjoys praying..she prays about EVERYTHING, which is what God wants us to do!

For example, she had a little bit of a cough a few days ago. Scott watched her cough once & then pray to God, "Dear God, please help my cough. Amen." The next day, she never coughed!!!

WOW!! Maybe that is what God meant when he said to come to Him with a "child-like faith."

Awesome!

"Let the little children come to me." Matthew 19:14

How do we know the Bible is true?

Yesterday as we were driving to school, Lydia asked me, "Mom, is the story about baby Jesus a real story or make believe?"

God gave me this answer: "Well, we know two things: that is says in I Timothy that 'All that the Bible says is from God.' and we know that God never lies, so if we know those things, when we know that the story of baby Jesus is true!"

She said "Ok" Then we go on to talk more about God & Jesus & how God is everywhere all the time. We said "God is with Daddy at work, Mimi & Papa in Woodward, Nana & Papaw in Perry, Sarah & John in Guymon, ALL of our family where ever they are!"

Lydia responds with, "That's A LOT of Jesus!"

I'm so glad that I serve an awesome & BIG God!:)

Thanksgiving 2009

I LOVE fall!! Thanksgiving is at my grandparents' house in Pawnee. The girls' favorite thing to do is stand on the gate, play on the haybales & ride in the back of the pick up to feed the cows! We have done this the last two years! I was SO glad it was a nice day out because it can get really crowded in my grandparent's house!!

I'm so thankful for my wonderful family!

Lydia Claire is FIVE!!

What?!?! Yes, my "baby" Lydia is five!! She is growing up TOO fast!!

She is in Pre-K at Peace Preschool in Ms. Teri's class. She was having some trouble with crying & not wanting to leave me lately. On her birthday, she brought snacks for the class. She walked in all by herself without a sniffle! She brought cupcakes & her class sang "happy Birthday" to her. (That was her favorite part of her day!) Ms. Teri said "Lydia, I'm so proud of you! You didn't cry today!" Lydia replied, "I know! I'm big! I'm five now!"

We celebrated by having a birthday party on Halloween with all her friends. It was a costume party! She had a pumpkin cupcake cake. She picked it out herself! (She wanted a pumpkin cake & wanted me to make it, but when she saw this cake at target, she decided on that one...THANK GOODNESS!)

Then on Sunday, we had a party with family at Nana's house. Nana made her a princess cake. Nana also got everyone wax lips!! Grandma & Grandpa were SO funny wearing their wax lips with zest!

That girl can swing by herself, go across the monkey bars on her own & likes to be places early.

She can act so grown up one minute & turn around a throw a fit the next! She likes to pick out her own clothes.

This year she got a "real" purple Bible for her birthday. She likes to read in Acts 16 about "Lydia".

At her birthday blessing at school, she stood up & said the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) in front of the WHOLE school! I was SO proud of her for doing that! She was pretty talkative up there & felt VERY special!

She is a sweet big sister to Caraline!

I can't wait to see what the next year brings for her!

I pray that God will open the eyes of her heart & she will accept Him. The Holy Spirit is working on her life & God has BIG plans for Lydia!

"It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us." 2 John 4

I love Halloween!!

I LOVE Halloween!! We celebrated ALL week!

One Monday, we went to Storybook Forest with the Cox's & Churchwell's. We got candy, played games, rode on the hay ride & made s'mores. It was SO fun! We met up with the Schmidt's at the campfire & ran into Jen, Abi & John.

Lydia was a princess (thank you Lana for letting us borrow 4 princess dresses!)

Caraline was Fern from "Charolette's Web", she wore overalls, carried a pig & had a spider on her shirt. She wore that one Monday to Storybook Forest, to Lydia's school Halloween program, but by Saturday at Lydia's birthday party (yes, it was on Halloween!) she was NOT wearing those overalls anymore!!

So by the time we went downtown Edmond to trick or treat, I had TWO Cinderellas!:)

We met up with mom, dad, Tori & "pumpkin" Sadie. It was super crowded downtown that we only stayed 30 minutes. But we got ENOUGH candy to last a while!

What a fun time of the year!

Photography Class

So these last 6 weeks, I've taken a photography class through Francis Tuttle. My friend, Sharon, suggested it & she had signed up to take it too. I had to buy a new camera, an SLR camera. Scott was going to get me one for Christmas, so he gave it to me early. I got a Canon XSi.

I think I learned a lot. I learned about compostion & shutter speed & ISO. We also did some cool things with light.

>My friend Monica asked me if I would like to take her family's picture for their Christmas cards. I jumped at the chance! We went to the OU campus one Saturday morning & I shot 500 pictures of them!! We had a great time! I think many of the pictures turned out so cute!

I had so much fun that I would LOVE to do it again!! I can't wait to take more pictures of friends & family!!

I'm really glad I took that class!!

I love to learn new things!

New cousin, Sadie!

Today the girls got to meet baby Sadie. We have been talking about her for months now!!

Lydia was ready to hold her! The second Russ bent down to show them, Lydia started reaching for her!

Caraline, on the other hand, was not so sure who this little baby was! She didn't really want to look at her at first. We asked her "Who is that?" Caraline really didn't know! She had never seen this baby before!

The girls sat with Nana on the couch & Nana helped the girls hold Sadie. They both gave her a kiss.

They loved it!! I can't wait to see how their relationship developes!

Happy birthday, Sadie Laine Furgason!

Today, I became an aunt! (again)

My sister, Tori, went in today to be induced at 7:30am. We thought things would be slow & mom planned on coming up in the afternoon, dad was working until 2 or 3 & Scott wasn't coming home to watch the girls until 1pm.

God & Sadie had other plans!!

Mom rushed up to my house early, about 11:30 & Russ called about 11:50 & said they were fully dialated & were going to push soon! I had to call Scott to tell him to come home early so mom & I could get to the hospital before it was too late!

As mom & I FINALLY found a parking place, Russ called again to ask where we were. I told him we were RUNNING in the building at that moment!

By the time we got to her room, mom walked in & they were puching. The nurses paiged the dr three times!! SHe finally rushed in (from lunch, I guess) at 1pm...& at 1:09pm, Sadie was crying!

Sadie wanted to nurse right away. So Tori nursed her at minutes old.

Sadie weighed 8lbs, 8oz, 20 1/4 inches long. She had some blood sugar issues because of her size. But the nurses weren't all that concerned, they could handle it. Sadie needed to nurse to keep her blood sugar up.

Tori was so giddy & happy!!
Lana was so excited she was beside herself!!

Lydia & Caraline are going to see baby Sadie tomorrow. They are ready to see her!! Caraline kept saying, "Baby Hadie out Toto's tummy!"

I will post pictures of the girls & Sadie & family with Sadie!

Our first family vacation: Red River, New Mexico

This year we decided it was time for our FIRST family vacation!! We decided to go to Red River, New Mexico with Scott's parents & his sister & her family. We rented a condo & Scott & I & the girls got a separate room, but spent most of our time with the whole family.

We had the most wonderful time!! Here is a breakdown of the week:

Sunday, July 19th:

drove to Woodward for the Loomis family reunion,

drove to Guymon late, to stay with Sherry, Scott's sister.

Monday, July 20th:

Left Guymon in the morning, arrived in Red River 3pm (mountain time)

checked out the hotel, unpacked, relaxed, fed the ducks at the hotel pond

Tuesday, July 21st:

Early in the AM, the kids, Sarah, John, Lydia & Caraline all fished in the

hotel pond. Lydia caught her first fish!! Caraline tried, but didn't have

the patience!

Then we all went to the Red River Community House & made & painted

boats & had boat races in the river. Caraline was so tired, she fell

asleep on my shoulder....her boat won third place & she never knew it!

Then we saw a trapped little black bear right before it started pouring

rain! It rained the rest of the late afternoon, evening.

That evening after dinner, we went back to the Community House &

line danced! Caraline LOVED it!

Wednesday, July 22nd:

The four of us did a little shopping, buying a few keychains &

a magnet that said "Red River"

Then that afternoon, we played at the school playground & made

walking sticks at the Community House

After dinner, we went out for ice cream.
We also wanted to roast marshmellow, but it was too wet, we

had to roast them on the gas grill outside!

Thursday, July 23rd:

The kids saw "Santa" fishing at the pond & he gave them toys!!

The girls & I went back to the Community House & did the Mommy &

Me gymnastics. Scott came to take pictures!

We visited the Little Red River School House Museum

Went to the shoot out at Frye's

When we came back to the condo, Sherry was running a fever, so

she needed to get home, so, the Lindley's left & we decided to

not do the fish fry.

Then Scott & I & the girls went back to the Community House & made

s'mores & listened to a story teller.

Friday: July 24:

We were on the road home by 7am sharp (Oklahoma time...6am mountain)

We stopped in Guymon for lunch & we took a break in Woodward at Mimi's

for a few hours. (Lydia threw up at Mimi's & I was worried, but she was fine.)

We were home by 9-ish & were glad to be home! But Caraline started

crying because she wanted to go back to Red River & not home!

The girls traveled so well, we were really lucky! The Red River Community House really made our first family vacation a wonderful one! We were so grateful for ALL the free activities they offered there.

We can't wait to go back!

Fourth of July 2009

Waiting for the fireworks
Caraline with her ears covered

The gang's all here!

Lana, Lydia & Caraline: cousins

The Furgason's

The girls with Nana & Papaw

The girls with Scott, Mimi & Papa

The fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays! It is a tradition for Scott & I to go to the Edmond Liberty Fest parade. Scott & I met on July 4th 1998 & were engaged July 4th 1999.

I love a parade & fireworks & sun & swimming & watergun fights!

This year Scott's parents came to the parade from Woodward, my parents came as always & Tori, Russ & Lana. Also keeping with tradition, we sat by the BSU & met Day, Jenifer, Abi & John Zimbelman. (Day was Scott's roommate that year we met)

This was the first year we decided to take the girls to see the fireworks. We went to the park that was across the street from our old duplex, the same park that Scott proposed to me. The girls were SO excited! They got to play on the swings while we waited for the fireworks to start. At first, the fireworks were small, to get everyone's attention, but then they got bigger & LOUDER!

Lydia thought that the fireworks were too close & decided to watch them from the car. (Another little girl I knew, a LONG time ago, decided that watching fireworks from the car was better since the sound wasn't so loud...I think her name was KATY!)

Caraline was ok with watching them outside, but preferred Scott to cover her ears with his hands!

Overall, the girls liked the fireworks and were asleep before we got home!:)

What a fun day!

"He sends peace across your nation & satisfies you with plenty of the finest wheat."

Psalm 147:14

Edmond's best kept secret!

My little jail birds!

Time for sup!

Rocking on the porch after a day in the fields!

Yesterday, we had "Wild Wednesday". "Wild Wednesdays" are Wednesdays during the summer that some friends get together with our kids & do fun stuff. Yesterday we went with the Cox's to the Edmond Historial Museum. Inside they have a Children's Museum that we had never been to. It was so fun!!

The girls dressed up in pioneer clothes, shopped & bought crops at the General store, visited an old fashioned bank, even got arrested & put in jail for robbing the bank's vault!:) They had train tables & a teepee & an art table!

They had so much fun that we went back again today & brought the Schmidt's to join in the fun!

The best part about it is it's FREE!!

Dressing up & pretending are so fun!!

"Clothe yourself with the armor of right living, as those who live in the light." Romans 13:12

9 years!

Today, June 24, 2009 is Scott & my 9th wedding anniversary!
I can remember it like it was yesterday! I planned EVERY detail to the letter! It was my dream wedding....in some ways.

I didn't plan on coloring my hair green two days before the wedding.

I didn't like the fact that my childhood dog was really sick on the brink of death on my wedding day! (Rascal went on to live 4 more years. He died a sad death just a few weeks before Lydia was born.)

I didn't plan on my dress being stained in the limno because Scott spilt the bubbles on the red leather seats & it stained my dress RED!

I didn't plan on my candle I would use to light the unity candle won't light. We both used Scott's candle to light the unity candle. (My cousin had trouble with her unity candle too at her wedding 2 months later)

I may not have planned for ALL those crazy things to happen but I loved every memory of that day!

9 years later, we have been blessed with our two sweet daughters, Lydia, 4 & 1/2, & Caraline, 2 & 1/2. I get to be a stay at home mom & love every minute! Scott is a perfect daddy to his little girls!

We really are the Blessed Boyle's!

"There are three things that will endure-faith, hope & love-the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

swimming at Lana's

Caraline liked climbing the ladder

Daddy helping Lydia kick

I think those googles are on upside down!:)

Lydia, Daddy & Caraline in the water!

Lydia has never been in a "swimming pool" bigger than a wading pool in our back yard. Scott & I are really overprotective (sometimes to a fault!) so when Tori invited us over to swim in their "big blue pool", I didn't want to say "no" for fear of sounding ridiculous!

I didn't know if I could really help Lydia in the pool & keep an eye on Caraline! So Scott decided to take the afternoon off so he could go with us to Tori's to swim.

Lydia LOVED the pool! It wasn't as deep as I thought it would be, which was a relief. She wouldn't put her face in the water but that's ok!:)

Caraline just liked to climb the ladder. Then she decided that she was going to take off her swimsuit!

We had a great time & I didn't have to put on a swimsuit!!:) I got some GREAT pictures for the scrapbook!

"Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea-the Lord on high is mighty." Psalm 93:4