A Collection of Happy Days: Oklahoma and the End of May/Beginning of June 2015

It was an interesting experience this Oklahoma trip. If you didn't already know Oklahoma and Texas have both broken their all time rain records for the month of May. Of course it was right at this time we decided to take a trip. Jacob and I drove up Friday afternoon/evening and didn't hit too much rain. He was SHOCKED when we drove over the Red River though. It looked like the water was within 10 ft from touching the bottom of the bridge. Saturday Jacob's parents drove up and fortunately they got there before the worst of the rain began to hit. Jacob, Kayla, and I went to Oklahoma City Saturday late afternoon. As we were leaving the city and headed back to Granny's house his Mom called (I wasn't aware of the full conversation until we got back to the house) to tell us there were tornado warnings in Oklahoma City, Moore, and Blanchard. All of which we were driving through to get back to his Granny's house in Blanchard. As we were about 5 or 10 minutes from the house, cars kept pulling over on the side of the road and I started losing it (which is why I wasn't unaware of the full conversation). We turned on the radio only to hear that there was a tornado just a few miles the opposite way of the highway. We finally got back to Granny's house and the power was out. About 10 or 15 minutes after we got there the tornado sirens started going off. So of course Jacob and his Dad went outside to look for the tornado. Meanwhile I was trying not to freak out even more. And Granny and Janice were looking for candles. It went off for a good 10 minutes. And within about 30 minutes the power came back on. Turns out the tornado hit about a mile away. And the rest of the night was just torrential downpour. I believe it was over 4 inches an hour that evening. I was so relieved the tornado watches and warnings were over!! My only concern was the rain/flooding on the drive home. Sunday was a much more peaceful day. We went to church. Had a nice lunch. And then went to check out the farm. I had never been to the ponds at the farm because since I've been around they've been pretty much dried up. No surprise that with all the rain they were fuller than they've been in years! Decades even. Jacob had never seen them so full. We enjoyed spending time with Granny and Junior that evening, and then the next day we headed back home. We were very fortunate on the way home. The rain got really bad while we were in Oklahoma, but it was in spots where we were practically stopped because of traffic. At the border/Red River, the river had gone over it's banks and could be seen on the side of the highway at least a quarter of a mile or more from where the river actually was. Fortunately it did not go over the bridge and we had no troubles crossing it (my biggest worry). And we barely got some sprinkles the rest of the way home once we were in Texas! (and any flooding in Texas on our way home had gone down by the time we went through that area)

This little one has always had strong little legs. If she's sitting down and you have her hands or her hands are around your fingers and you lift up she'll push her whole body up. Here she's standing on her own except for where she's holding on to Jacob's fingers.

Sweet girl and Daddy after church. Church is normally 3 hours, but because more rain was expected and the flooding in the area had been bad they released after about and hour or so.

Happy girl!

At the farm checking out the ponds

Soaking up the sun. "Ahh this is nice" is what she would say if she could talk. Haha.

Kayla and Granny

Kayla with Granny and Junior

Kayla, Granny, and Jacob

4 generations.

Mike, Granny, Kayla, and Jacob

Red River on the way there

On the way there

On the way home

The Red River seen on the side of the highway about a quarter of a mile before we were even at the river (on the way home)

Stopping in Dallas on the way home to get Stephen's car and have dinner. This is Kayla waving bye to Uncle Stephen.

The sunset/sky was incredible!! Shortly after I took this Jacob explained it as "it's like God put the sky on an amber colored filter". I tried to take a picture but it didn't show up like you saw it in person.

If you pass by a buc-ees in Texas, you HAVE to stop. It's just a rule.

Came home to this. "My favorite brother is Stephen" (as the board states) and he was kind enough to feed the dog while we were gone.

There's two Stephens BTW. One is my brother and one is Jacob's brother. When I refer to Stephen and Gina it's Jacob's brother. When I refer to Stephen, Caitlin, and Bella it's my brother. We also both have a Michael. It can get a little confusing :P

This little one was so tired after her 4 month check up. She got 3 vaccinations. 1 oral and 2 shots. She was 16 lbs and 26 in tall. That's about 87% for her age in weight and 100% in height.

Her first time eating bananas.

She now eats rice cereal, bananas, and sweet potatoes. She drinks 6 oz each bottle. She's been sleeping through the night for about a month. She loves to roll over (still to her left only), play her with feet, suck on her hands, play in her jumper, and stand up. She is the happiest little girl. Always laughing and smiling! She wears 6-9 months clothes. But mostly 9 months, the 6 months are getting snug. She keeps growing and learning and we just love her so much!!

The little frog is her favorite. She sits there and spins it. She thinks it's hilarious!

A few days after we were home from Oklahoma and saw my brother's note, we had some friends over and it got changed to "my favorite friend is Susan".

Love that grin!

She wants to move so bad!!!

We picked Bella up from daycare the past 2 days. They both had a hoot being next to each other. The whole time Bella was with us anytime Kayla would laugh, Bella would say "Kayla is so funny"!