Life's Little Miracles: Oklahoma

I LOVE spending time in Oklahoma. I grew up going to Ft. Gibson at least 3 or 4 times a year to visit my family. The best part is that both of my parents grew up there so both sides of the family live within 5 minutes of each other. I have crossed the Missouri/Oklahoma border probably 100 times in my life, but this particular time was extra special-it was Nathan's first time! I hope he grows up loving visits to Oklahoma as much as I have.

We got to Ft. Gibson on the 26th in the afternoon and stayed until the 29th. Nathan traveled so well! He slept the entire time except for 30 minutes 1/2 way to Ft. Gibson (Springfield, MO) to eat. We hung out with family on the 26th and then opened presents on the 27th with my Uncle Alan, Aunt Norma, and family. After opening presents on the 27th the girls went shopping while the guys went to shoot guns. We visited my dad's brother and his wife (Uncle Don and Aunt Lynn) on Sunday morning. It was great to see them! My cousin Nick was there with his son Graeson. Sunday was my Aunt Norma's birthday so we went to my cousin Evan's house for lunch. Sunday evening we went back to my Uncle Alan and Aunt Norma's house and hung out. Joe and my Uncle Alan played an 8 hour game of Axis & Alies. (they went to bed at 4:00 a.m.!) On Monday we got up and stayed around the house and headed back to St. Louis after lunch. Nathan did great on the way home, too! He only woke up once to eat, again at Springfield.

We had a lot of fun in Oklahoma. My aunt & uncle's pecan tree produced pecans this year so we spent time outside collecting pecans and then shelling them. It sounds silly, but it was wonderful to shell pecans again. My grandma that I loved so much had a pecan tree and every year that her tree produced pecans we would do the same thing. Joe was leary of the whole pecan thing at first, but after about 15 minutes he was really into it! In fact, the first night he asked my mom how many pecans were needed for a pecan pie. She said about 2 cups. 2 hours later (a very long time for such a small amount of pecans) Joe had 2 cups shelled. My aunt Norma made Joe his very own pecan pie with a "J" in the middle using the pecans that he shelled.

At night my cousin Mallory stayed up with Nathan until 2:00 a.m. each night. Joe and I went to bed early (every night except the last) so we got plenty of sleep before Mallory brought him to bed. It was great getting 5-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep! Mallory was so good with Nathan. She knew how to calm him and talk to him. When she would wake up in the morning, if he was fussing, he would stop immediately when she'd hold him. She doesn't even have any kids! It was so funny!