Memorial Day

So I had a chance to go shooting on Memorial Day morning.  It was at the farm of our Elders quorum president.  It was great to go out and hear the bangs and smell the gunpowder.  All in all I didn't do too bad for not having shot anything for over a year.  However, I had the unique opportunity to shoot a 50 caliber black powder rifle loaded with a 150 grains of black powder a couple of times.  For those of you not familiar with weaponry all that really means is a really Big boom, hard kick, and giant hole left in whatever you shot.  I shot from a 80 yards away standing free hand with no scope.  

I know that as my dad reads this he is either thinking that I am lying or that it was a fluke.  He wasn't the only one so here is the picture of my other shot.  In closing I would just like to say that yes it hurts, it really hurts to be so GOOD!

Tristan

Tricia's Green Thumb

Tricia has done such a wonderful job with our garden and we are getting the first fruits already.  We have gotten several strawberries and two cherry tomatoes.  The Roma's and squash have many blossoms also.  I am very proud of her! 

Tristan

Picnic

Sorry it has been so long since we updated.  Last weekend our good friends Brandt and Lindsey invited us out to picnic.  It was so much fun!!!!  We made burgers and polish dogs.  After we played bocce ball.  It was a really pretty park and it could not have been a more beautiful night.  We finished off by making smores.  Lindsey had the idea to substitute the hershey chocolate with a reeses pieces peanut butter cup.  They were incredible!!!!

The Grass is Always Greener

For those of you who have been anxiously following for any updates on our grass, because you care...here are some pictures of the past several months. We were SO SO SO excited to mow the back yard for the first time today. The backyard is basically ready for anyone to come camp in if they choose to do so. 

It's amazing what a little elbow grease will do.

Post Session

Some people have been curious about what I am doing during this post session.  We have been playing with alginate and microstone.  Everyday I come home pretty dusty and dirty.  Anyway I brought home some of the casts that I made and Tricia thought that they were neat.  Here are some pics for those of you who were curious.

Cheers

Tristan

Template Help

Does anyone have any good links or cute ideas for a new blog look? I'm trying to update and have been striking out.

OKC Bombing Anniversary

Last Saturday, April 19th, was the 13th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. We've visited the memorial grounds several times, but this time the museum was free to the public. We spent our afternoon there and it was neat to see all the help and volunteerism that occurred the following weeks. There is a tree that survived the blast. It's called the Survivor Tree. Every year they give out saplings of the tree. We want to get one the year we leave and plant it wherever we move. It would be neat to know the story behind it. 

These pictures show the building next door. All the light brown windows are actually bricked up. They were never replaced. 

The other picture shows a gate. The water is a reflecting pool where the street in front of the Federal Building was. The street continues on either side of the memorial, but this section is closed off. The grass in the background is where the building was. There are 168 chairs representing those killed. You can kind of see them. The gate you see says 9:01 above the opening, the other gate (behind me) shows 9:03...before and after the blast. It's a really neat memorial.

Anniversary

Sorry this has taken so long to post.  We had planned to go out to a place called Red Rock Cafe. However, when I came home from school Tricia had decked the house out in tea candles (about 50)  and had cooked a beautiful meal of parmesan chicken.  Of course it was way to bright outside to light any of the candles but the food was amazing.  Our cake was still really really good.  We were pretty surprised b/c after all it was a year old and had traveled across country.  Thank goodness for thick insulating fondant.  I just wanted to publicly thank Tricia for all that she does and is.  She works so hard for us not just here at home but also bringing home the bacon while I am at school.  She it the best thing that has ever happened to me.  Everyday I get to spend with her makes even the bad days great.  Tricia you are my everything and my all.  

Love you always,

Tristan 

Happy 1st Anniversary!

I can't believe it's been a year already...and at the same time it's only been a year since Tristan and I got married. The time has flown but it seems I've known him forever. I can't imagine my life without Tristan.

The day was beautiful and both our families were all there, which made the day all the more perfect. There were only 3 sealings in the Salt Lake Temple that day, which made for a peaceful quite celebration, and a less crowded area more so we could focus on the special sacred part of a wedding day. The tulips were blooming (my favorite) and the trees on Temple Square were in bloom and when the breeze blew, all the blossoms would come down like a waterfall.

If you can tell behind the bouquet, this is when I accidentally flipped off everyone at the Temple. I was trying to demonstrate limp bunny ears. The guys got a kick out of it.

We had a dinner with our closest friends and family at Noah's in Pleasant Grove. The room was decorated amazingly by Angela, Tristan's mom, and the food was all prepared by my mom and aunt Sue and several others. Everyone made it so nice for us. Even though we didn't have dishes suddenly for the dinner, I was so pleased with everything else paper would have suited me. But thank goodness to make it nice Angela stepped in to save the day. :) These are the girls trying to catch the bouquet, and Tristan helping me get cake off my face. If you look closely you'll see that our cake top is two elephants with intertwined trunks.

I feel so blessed to have a wonderful family and be part of a new family.

Tristan, I love you so much! I am glad we can spend our lives together and all time after that. I am amazed by how well we go together. I am constantly surprised by what a great person you are and I keep thinking none of this can get any better, and it does...and we're only in the first year. You are the most amazing person in the world and I feel so lucky to be your wife.

Love me

Eischens

We went to this great restaurant the other night with our good friends, Lindsey and Brandt. It took us forever driving in the middle of nowhere to get there, but it was so worth it.  The menu was extensive, they serve half a fried chicken, or a whole one.  It's just the greatest chicken. If you want to feel like a redneck in OK this is it. No utensils, just a lot of napkins, no cups, just a can of whatever pop you order and for sides nachos and okra (fried of course!). No plates, just a piece of paper. Anyways, we got there early and it's a good thing too, because at lunch and dinner it gets PACKED!! There is no hostess of any kind. Those who want a table just stand around you until you are done. When you leave, they pull up a huge garbage can, chuck everything off the table and the next group sits down. It was great!Oh yeah, they only take cash so we had to use the atm next door and this was posted. Nothing like a small town in the middle of farming nowhere.

My Kite

For Easter I got a My Little Pony kite in my basket. OK is perfect for flying these because it's always windy. We tried it out the other day.

Our New Neighbors

So, our kitchen window looks into a window of the house next door. The lady who owns it lives across the street in another house and  uses the one next to us as a large storage unit. We thought it was empty, but last week some fun new neighbors moved in. I shouldn't spy but they left the window open. :)

Thunderstorms

We have been having some really big thunderstorms lately.  Most of the really damaging stuff has been to the east of us near Tulsa and the Arkansas border.  However,  I really don't know why but the thunder here is sooooo loud.  As an example of this a couple of days ago while Tristan was at school, a thunderstorm hit.  It kept getting closer and closer and louder and louder.  Until BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A huge lightning bolt crashed outside and the thunder that followed was so loud it made our house vibrate and made my car alarm go off!  I know my brother Ben will be jealous because he LOVES thunderstorms. Anyways, we'll post pictures soon.

Tornadoes

At 1:30 this morning we awoke to the sound of the tornado sirens going off. They go off if there are circulations in the clouds that could possibly touch ground. I distinctly remember thinking it was my alarm clock and how I wanted to break it, and why in the world it was going off at that time. 

Once we got our minds cleared, we turned on the tv. I wanted to hide in the closet like I've been trained (No, not like that) but we realized it was north of us. It probably affected some of our friends and ward members. Well have to check on them. I think today I'll take a nap. 

OKLAHOMA!

The great thing about Oklahoma is that we have a state song. You guessed it, Oklahoma from OKLAHOMA! Not only is our spelling of the state better, but we are learning the words to the song because at large events, everyone will stand and sing it together. It's like being in a Broadway, with no dancers and I don't know my lines. It's fun, I love it!