Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Heart Day!

I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day.  When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.  ~Author Unknown

 

For you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
~Rosemonde Gerard


Happy heart day from our house to yours.  

Love, 
Nicole & Andrew
And all our children
XOXO

Saturday, February 12, 2011

February Birthday Blessings

As promised, here are my February birthday blessings.  I have a lot birthdays to celebrate this month, so I am doing them in more than one post, bear with me ;)    

Sarah is most definitely one of the sweetest girls I know!  It is a shame we didn't become friends sooner, but I am so glad we are now.  Our friendship grew when we went on a mission trip to Nicaragua together during medical school, then it continued to grow in San Diego, where we went for a medical convention to go on vacation with lots of shopping and running.  On our runs through the amazing city, we found out that we had quite a bit in common and quickly became great friends!  Over the years we have continued to run together when we can and enjoy a few lots of vacations together along the way!  We most certainly did not end up in the AOA magazine once twice, the last time being on the front cover in cat outfits running a 5K in Vegas.  We also did not go to NYC in the smack dab middle of winter without snow boots and have to search high and low for a pair.  Oh the memories and so many more to come!  I love you Sarah!  I think you are amazingly incredible, will be the best OB doc in town, and feel so lucky to be able to call you my friend and have you in my life.  Hope your birthday was fabulous!  XOXO   


And then there is my friend Chelsea.  She married one of my friends from high school.  We met during my first year of medical school and have been great friends ever since.  She is one of the only girls I have ever met that I had an instant friendship connection with.  The first time we met, we just "clicked." She is so easy to get along with, and we get along so well.  Even though months may go by where we never see each other, as soon as we meet again it is as though we pick up right where we left off.  She is an incredible person that shares the same crazy love for dogs as I do.  And now that she is a mommy she has developed this indescribable love for her child that makes one realize she was meant to be a mom.  From a pediatrician standpoint, she is the kind of mom that makes me love my job and wish all my patients moms were just like her.  Happy birthday Chels!  I hope it was a day you will always remember!  Time for another baby ;)  You can follow her blog here http://baby-reed.blogspot.com/.


Robin Dyer is an angel sent from God to live on this Earth and make it a better place.  I love her to pieces and honestly don't know what I would do without her in my life.  She helped me go through an incredibly tough, difficult, and emotionally draining time in my life.  She has been there for me through thick and thin, seen me at my lowest of low, and played the trumpet at my highest of high.  She is one of the most humble and selfless people I know and would give the world to those in need if she could.  I could write a book on how much she means to me, but I will spare you all.  I hope you have the best birthday in the whole entire world!  So very blessed to call you my friend!  


And then there is my brother Mud.  He toots his own horn, or rather marches to the beat of his own drummer.  In other words, he is the female version of me, kinda.  10 years ago you could never in a million years get me to admit that we share a lot in common.  I once thought he was quite annoying and always picking on people, uh umm...sound familiar?  He loves to irritate the crap out of his other siblings, ring a bell...NICOLE!?!?  What I once thought was so annoying and irritating, I now love about my brother.  When he comes home from college, the house gets noisy and is always full of something interesting going on.  You can bet your life that he is either irritating my sisters cat and trying his lactic acid buildup experiments on the poor thing or he is irritating my sister herself.  Either one cracks me up, no offense Shannon.  Mud and I  also share this ginormous love for dogs that I think only we understand.  So thus far, I have realized this about myself: I am irritating and a dog lover....


On the other hand, even though he may not apply himself like he should, my brother is the smartest out of all of us.  He is also extremely hard working and dedicated at the things he is passionate about.  His love and passion for running is the most love and passion for something that I have ever witnessed by anyone.  And I must say he is pretty freaking incredible at it too!  Although I wouldn't tell him this, he has grown into a pretty amazing young adult.  I am proud to be his sister and I wouldn't change a thing about him!  Why?  Because I am said to be just like him Cause I like him just the way he is!  For those interested you can follow his blog at http://miletomile.blogspot.com/  Happy Birthday Mud!  I hope you have an awesome day!

Happy birthday month my dear friends.  I love you to the moon and back!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Dear God

Dear God,

Please, please, please. I beg of you.  NO.MORE.SNOW!!!
                                                                                    
                                                                      Love, Nicole


Sunday, February 6, 2011

Beautiful Mess

Will Rogers once said, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it'll change." 


I find it incredibly amazing that 2.5 days prior to the history making blizzard of 2011 that hit Oklahoma, it was sunny and 70 degrees.  On that Saturday, people were out and about everywhere enjoying the gorgeous weather that God gave us at the end of January.  Even though I was still dealing with the head cold from H E double hockey sticks, we decided to spend a few hours at the zoo.  I think the entire state of Oklahoma decided to do the same thing.  As we pulled into the parking lot, the line was a mile long.  I have never in my life seen the zoo so crowded.  It was craziness.  So instead of waiting, we drove through the park and ended up at a nature center that I didn't even know existed.  It was pretty neat with some cool trails and my husband got to fuel his obsession once again.  Remember me telling you about my husbands new found obsession with taking pictures???  Well, I got to be his victim subject again that day.



Two and a half days later it was, no joke or exagerration, 15 degrees out and sleeting.  This then turned into the blizzard that shut down the city!  God sure has a sense of humor!  It snowed and snowed and snowed.  We received 21 inches of snow at our house.  You really had to see it to believe it, because boy was it unbelievable!  Even my friends up north didn't believe me, and for good reason I suppose.  We usually get one good winter storm a year here, but it never paralyzes the whole city like this did.  Owasso was completely shut down for two days.  There were still are cars and semis and four wheel drive vehicles stranded all around.  The two major highways that take you in and out of the city were CLOSED down for some time.  My little car that can't, still can not make it out of the neighborhood. We are going on day 6 of receiving NO mail.  The grocery stores are still wiped out of supplies.  And we were stuck up to our waists in snow...literally.


Our crazy lab, on the other hand, definitely knew this snow was a gift from God and embraced the beautiful mess.  She had a ball!  She now sits by the back door and whines to go outside and play with her duck.  More to come on that later!




I spoke to my grandmother a few days ago, and she said that in all her life, she has never seen anything like this, amazing!  So glad my family and friends stayed safe and warm.  I sure hope all of your alls did as well.  And the best part about the whole thing?!?!  We received 6 more inches this past Friday, and are expected to receive 10+ more inches Tuesday night into Wednesday.  Incredible!  

Oh and just in case you were wondering, Will Rogers wasn't joking!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The blizzard of 2011

We made history in Okie land yesterday!  The blizzard of 2011 will be one that will for sure be talked about for years to come.  Even my grandmother said she had never seen anything like it.  The whole town here shut down, even Target was closed!  We got 21 inches of snow where we are.  Its crazy!  There is so much snow one must see it to believe it.  Besides having the worst head cold turned sinus infection gone bad that has simply kicked my bootie the past 8 days, it was a nice two days to relax.  Andrew and I spent a lot of time together eating, drinking, and being merry watching movies and playing with our crazy psychotic lab.  She loves the snow like I a fat kid loves cake!  Andrew has a new-found love of taking pictures and yours truly is forced loves being his victim subject.  Here are some pics that Andrew took to recap the history making blizzard of 2011.  I sure hope you all stayed warm and cozy and that your loved ones were safe and sound!