A 26th Birthday, Golf Baseball, and the Broom Trick

This past weekend Sean and Caitie came up to visit us and celebrate his 26th birthday. During the day the boys played golf while the girls went shopping. Then that evening mom made a delicious dinner of flank steak, broccoli, Caesar salad, and rice complete with a chocolate cake TO DIE FOR! After dinner we went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. We started practicing our golf game and chipping practice turned into a new game Brian and Sean invented called Golf Baseball. Basically the “pitcher” chips a practice ball (or real ball if you’re feeling adventurous) to the batter, who uses the handle of a golf club to try to hit the ball back. It is surprisingly difficult but gave us at least a couple hours of entertainment! We were also resurrecting the “Broom Trick”. My dad’s friend invented this trick many years ago. It basically consists of stepping through the broom with your right leg, then around and back through with your left leg, then contorting your body without letting the broom out of your hands so that the broom comes over your head and then back down your back. Sean, Caitie, and I were able to do it and we got a KICK out of Brian trying to do it! LOL! (Those of you who know Brian can envision how funny that actually was.) Sean was also able to jump through the broom with both legs at the same time without dropping it. (It was a feat very difficult and something that I couldn’t muster the courage to even try.) All-in-all it was a great time. Happy Birthday Bud!! Sarah's try at the Broom Trick

The Broom Trick got the best of Brian

Hanging out in mom and dad's backyard with the pups

The Finished Product, well sort-of

Here are some pictures of our finished garage! The outside is finished, but we will probably take 2-3 years to finish the inside and upstairs. For now though, it is wonderful to be able to park the vehicles inside and out of the blazing Oklahoma sun!

BBQ, BEER, and BOTTLEROCKETS 2009!!

Complete with BBQ sandwiches, Oklahoma brewed Choc 1919 beer, Penny’s margaritas, Elizabeth’s famous cake, and a fireworks extravaganza, the Flynn 3rd Annual BBQ, Beer, and Bottlerockets Party was another hit! Thank you so much to our family who traveled from Arizona and North Carolina, we love you all so much!
Brian and I had so much fun hanging out with our family and friends. How lucky we are to have met such wonderful friends here in Oklahoma!
Thank you all for celebrating our wonderful nation’s birthday with us and let’s not forget the brave soldiers who fought, and continue to fight, to keep our nation free and safe.
Happy Independence Day!

Garage Update

Well to our surprise, it looks like our builder was able to snag the speediest construction crew on the planet! We were shocked at how much they were able to get done while we were in Colorado. Thanks to my parents, we have pictures of the operation to share with you all.
Looks like they will probably finish sometime at the end of the week!

Colorado!!

Hi everyone! I am finally finding time to post again!
Brian and I recently returned from a 10-day trip to Colorado. It was SOOO much fun! We got to hang out with lots of friends and family at the Baxter-Kelly wedding and then we headed down to beautiful Durango, CO for some much needed rest and relaxation. Durango is a wonderful town with lots to do and we rented this great house with a hot-tub on a beautiful deck overlooking the valley. It was perfect! One of the days we went on the train from Durango to Silverton. It was a blast and my FIRST TIME on a train! What a great way to see the pristine wilderness of the San Juan Mountains! We also spent a day at Mesa Verde national park. We had an expert guide, Hondo’s father, who used to be the chief archeologist at Mesa Verde. He then took us to one of his private digs and that was really amazing. Talk about being face to face with history as we were surrounded by artifacts 800+ years old. Brian did get some fishing in on the Animas River, but I’m sad to say, didn’t do any catching. He’ll forever be talking about the “one that got away”.
Anyways, I hope this posting finds you all happy and in good health!
Till our next adventure!

Ground Breaking News!

Looks like our garage won’t take as long to build as we first thought! These pictures show the progress. Today I just received word that our slab has been poured too! WOOHOOO!

Memorial Day Weekend at Big Cedar Lodge

Over Memorial Day weekend Brian and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri. Big Cedar is a Bass Pro Shop owned lodge located on Table Rock Lake and this last vacation marked our fourth trip to the resort. We have been going since before we were married and we absolutely love it. Complete with fishing on the lake for Brian and massages and facials at the spa for me, it certainly is one of our favorite places to visit. We really had a great, relaxing time staying in our log cabin, watching movies, and sitting outside awing at the holiday fireworks. I would recommend it for any couple. Check out their website if you want at http://www.bigcedar.com/.

Finally! Our New Garage!!

It's been a long time in the making folks, but it is now official. We are breaking ground on our garage as we speak! I will post pictures as it comes along so that you all can see the progress. We are just SO excited that we will be able to park our cars INSIDE soon! The builder says it should take 3 months, but we are banking on more like 4-5 months so we'll see.
Have a great day everyone!

Graduation, Shuffleboard, and Laramie, WY

Ayn Rand once said, “The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.” Last weekend Brian and I, along with my parents, traveled to Laramie, Wyoming to celebrate my brother’s successes at his college graduation. Sean was three years through a tough mechanical engineering program at the University of Wyoming when he decided to think about who he wanted to be once his college life was over. Knowing the great financial success an engineering graduate usually receives once finding employment, Sean put his passion ahead of his wallet and changed his major to Kinesiology and Health Promotion. He has always had a great passion for physical fitness and felt he wanted to help people find their way to a healthier lifestyle. I have no doubt this world will be a better place with Sean at the forefront of health promotion helping a society struggling to get fit! Good luck at the NCED in Norman bud!

We flew into Denver on Friday night and promptly drove up to Laramie via Owl Canyon Road. Brian has many fond memories growing up in northern Colorado and loves to drive around reminiscing. Friday night we stopped by Altitude’s for dinner, a great place to eat and drink and a Laramie icon! Saturday morning we enjoyed seeing Sean in his cap and gown finally accepting his diploma at the graduation ceremony. After the ceremony we all headed to our hotel suite for a little party complete with Winger’s wings and a cake imprinted with two of Sean’s cutest baby photos. Around 6pm we headed to the Ranger to play shuffleboard. Who would have thought that sliding metal pucks down a salt covered lane would be entertainment? But it is my friends, I am now a shuffleboard addict and we hope to have one in our garage one day. After shuffleboard and several cocktails, we decided to hit the Cowboy (another Laramie icon) for some country swing dancing. My husband is a wonderful dancer and I love to dance with him! We had a blast dancing and we all burned off some of the calories in the wings, cake, and cocktails with cardio-packed dancing! A good night out in Laramie wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Taco Bell at 1am for some tacos and burritos. After eating in attempt to soak up some of the alcohol in our systems, we hit the hay around 2am. Sunday morning was Mother’s Day and Brian and I had breakfast with my mom in the morning and then drove down to Fort Collins, CO to surprise Brian’s mom! She had no idea we were in Laramie so she was really excited to see us and it was a great surprise.

All in all it was a perfect weekend. College was such a fun time for us and it was so neat to relive it, if only for one weekend.
Have a great day everyone!

Kansas City, the Detroit Tigers, and Great Friends!

Kansas City is home to the “boys in blue” and the brand new Kauffman Stadium. But who would have known that KC is also home to great restaurants, upscale shops, and a mix of art and history museums that would overwhelm even the avid museum-goers!

Brian and I were lucky enough to visit KC just a couple weekends ago with our good friends, the Kelamises. We started out our weekend with a night filled with Mexican food and margaritas at Baja 600, with the night ending in drinks at the Irish pub, Tom Fooleries. Then Saturday morning we were in for an overwhelmingly powerful trip to the World War I museum in downtown KC. The tragedy and death felt by so many societies and cultures worldwide was truly palpable in the state of the art museum. After a greasy cheeseburger to ease our hangovers, the girls hit the shopping in the Plaza District while the boys had a beer at the pub. Saturday evening was time for baseball and the Tigers weren’t disappointing with a win against the Royals, 9 to 1. (I even got to see Mags hit a home run!) Also not disappointing were the Royals fans. Brian has been around the country watching baseball and he says the Royals followers are the nicest fans. Obviously Tigers fans decked out in our English D fan wear, the Royals fans were never without a smile for us or a warm welcome. Trips to the concession stand lead us into cheerful (despite losing) fans sharing a genuine love for America’s favorite pastime. After the game we went to the Westport District for a most entertaining night full of martinis, pizza, and people-watching.

Thanks Kelamises! Hanging out with you two never ceases to come with lots of unforgettable moments!

Enjoy the pictures everyone!