Gastronomical Tour of Tulsa

Sunday was our 12th wedding anniversary. 12 years! I can hardly believe it. Feels like 12 minutes.... under water! hehe... I stole that joke from Geoff. He says that EVERY time someone asks how long we've been married!

To celebrate, I started planning a little weekend getaway to Tulsa a few weeks ago. It started with tickets to Wicked the Musical. Something I've been dying to see and because I know that Geoff is a sucker for musicals I knew he would love it, too!

Now, going away by ourselves would have been great. But, bringing along another really fun couple would be even more fun!!! {separate rooms, of course} So, I invited our dear friends, the Ricchettis.

Basically, it was a weekend of doing things and eating things that we never would with our kiddos! And it was a blast!

Friday we went to dinner at a really good Brazilian Steakhouse called The Gaucho. Kind of fun. They bring out all of these delicious meats on these big swords and use machetes to slice off pieces for you {at least that's what they looked like to me}. At $30 a pop we probably won't do it again but at least now we can say we've been there.

After dinner we hunted down a place that actually had iPhones in stock. Because everybody knows that you can't be friends with my husband without him talking you into an iPhone.... so the Ricchettis fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I just wish we got some kind of kickback!

On the left is our friend Larry. In the middle {with the tongue sticking out} is our friend Jeremie. She goes by JR. The guy in the blue shirt was the really sweet Apple salesman who was helping Larry and JR buy their first iPhone.

After doing a little shopping in the mall I came back and goofed around a little with one of these things. They are pretty fascinating. I loved how Apple actually had all their phones set up so you could use the Internet and actually make phone calls if you needed to. Sweet.

This kid is REALLY dedicated! That was an actual tattoo. There's no going back now, kid. Actually, his name was Cody and he was great. I thought he looked a lot like the guy on the Mac commercials. And very smart. Especially, because he told us that we were a good example of married folks 12 years out! He caught us on a good day.

Saturday morning was spent looking at cars {which I would never do with 4 kids in tow!}. Geoff was somewhat partial to this little smart car. I test drove a ginormous SUV. And Larry and JR test drove a Dodge Charger.... fun times!!

We had the best Indian food EVER for lunch! So, so yummy!! I think Mango Custard is my new favorite dessert!

Then we headed to the Expo Center to hit the weekly flea market advertised on the Expo's website. We parked. Walked in. Paid $6 a person. Then quickly realized that it wasn't a flea market after all! They were having some kind of high class arts and crafts fair. Crap. What a waste. At least Geoff was napping in the car so didn't I waste 6 bucks on him!

Geoff snapped this photo of the giant driller outside the Expo Center while we farted around a bit in the craft show trying to get our $6 worth.

THEN the moment we were all waiting for!!! WICKED!! It was FANTASTIC!! I've read the book and loved it! But this musical was the bomb! Breathtaking.

JR and Larry outside the theater.

Geoff and I outside the theater.

Did I already say that it was fantastic!? Worth every penny.

We didn't have time to eat before the show so we had to try to find a place that served food at 11 o'clock at night other than Denny's and IHOP. Someone suggested The Full Moon Cafe so we broke out the handy dandy iPhone looked them up and gave them a call.... sure enough! They were serving food until midnight! Thank goodness because we were famished!

The food was great! The waitress was awesome! And we were entertained by The Dueling Pianos {one painted OU and the other OSU}. It was a success!

The next day we grabbed some lunch at a little Mediterranean restaurant on our way out of town. Helen of Troy. SOOOO GOOOD! So good, in fact, that Geoff felt it necessary to snap a few photos of the food:

Falafel with Baba Ganoush..... oh my heavens.

Gyros with fries {because according to the waiter "We're in Oklahoma. You have to serve fries."}.

Lamb Shank with fries.

Geoff and I took the Baklava to go. So yummy!!

JR loved the Baba Ganoush so much she actually licked the bowl!!

I gave Geoff a weekend in Tulsa free from the kids and the stresses of home. And Geoff gave me this:

He did good. Real good. Story of the ring in the next post!

Day Dreamer

As I lay down to try to nap this afternoon {I've been kind of sick} I found myself thinking random thoughts instead of actually sleeping. One of them finally forced me out of bed. It was this: Andyn is almost 3 and has yet to potty train. But because she has a late birthday and will be home with me an extra year I decided not to worry about it.

Brought to you by the letter 'P' and 'Poo'.

Naptime with AJ

Sometimes my kids enjoy taking a nap under the dining table. I don’t know why. It must be comforting somehow. Or they’re just weird. I’m opting for the latter.

Recently, during one of their Under The Table Naps, AJ joined them. They pretty much forced him to. You can see it in his eyes.

 

Here, Ainsley has him in a choke hold. The things he has to put up with.

 

 

Can you see him begging for mercy?

 

 

Somebody, please save him!

 

 

He finally gave up the ghost. Out like a light.

 

It’s a good thing too. Because I was about to bust his chops for doing this:

Silly dog. Doesn’t he know he could die doing crap like this?! It was plugged in to the wall!! {shaking my head} 

3rd Annual McClain Family Luau

Disclosure: some of the images in this post not suitable for most stomachs.

Two years ago my dad mentioned that he would like to have some kind of party at his house. A party that we could invite all of our family and friends. A luau, maybe.

Well, us kids took it and ran with it! As long as he was paying for it we might as well make it big and fun! That is exactly what it is. Big and loads of fun!

We'll start with the pig. I call him Babe (no hate mail, please):

Now, we don't cook Babe in the ground like at a traditional luau. We smoke him in a ginormous smoker that my brother-in-law Jeff built with his own two hands.

This is the Sad Hickory that gave it's life so we could eat some Good Pig.

Babe gets smoked all night long. But before we cook him we have to give him a massage and wrap him up.

Here Jeff is telling Babe that everything will be okay.

I took this little video of what Jeff REALLY did to Babe.

Now that he's been rubbed down with oil and some spices, he's ready to go. (Don't ask what Jeff's doing here.)

So, while the pig was smokin' away the troops got to play...

Except for Geoff. He had to actually work. He's trying to maintain his Favorite Son-In-Law Status.

There was limbo.....

There was some guitar playing...

Some kids, including my son Asher, overcame their fear of the diving board. A few days later so did my 2 year old. Oy ve!

There was some major cuteness going on! Especially with my niece, Sophie.

Here she is with her mother (my sister), Terra.

This was some major cuteness, too! My friend Chrissy's little girl, Zella. I think she was tired. I love her polka dotted bathing suit!

At some point it was time to eat the pig. Here he is with a few chicks.

This is Babe getting chopped up and served. Dang it was good with some Head Country BBQ Sauce!

Now back to the festivities...

This guy is Graham. He's a great guy. Married to a great gal, Megan. And they have two great kids. Their son is about the same age as our son and his name is, get this, Asher. Fun, huh. Their little baby girl is Cambry. Super cute baby. Why do I tell you about these people? Well, you see, Graham decided that our party just wasn't exciting enough and he and his son Asher decided to jump off the diving board together and break it! He was totally embarrassed. But, like the pure gentleman that he is, he went straight to the hardware store, bought the piece needed to fix it, and came back and fixed it! He was our hero!

There were lots of great people in attendance. Like these folks:

Laura and Garon Tidwell. They came early and helped us with a few minor details!

Until next year!!!

Moving Target - Elder's Style

Last fall I posted about a little game that we adopted from the Dahle's called Moving Target. You can read about it here. Since that time we have had lots of quality family time playing this. But we generally only play it when the Elders come over for dinner. I've actually taken video of it a couple of times and keep meaning to post it on here. They were here on Thursday and I'm remembering to share!!

This one is the most recent - Elder Harrison and Elder Conrad:

This next one is Elder Harrison (he's been here for a while) and Elder Olsen back in March:

And this last one is an example of what happens when you let 4 missionaries throw stuffed animals at your sweet little angels:

I find it fascinating how clean and empty our apartment looks in the previous post of Moving Target. And now, it just looks stuffed and cluttered! We might have some good news in that department very soon!

Book of Remembrance

I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't logged on here in a month.

Why is that?!

I used to love blogging!

Now, it's just something on my long list of things to avoid, like vacuuming the stairs.

I know I need to to do it. I'll feel so much better once I have done it. But, yet I still avoid it.

I've grown more accustom to Facebook because it is short and sweet. And, I have hundreds of my peeps that read it. Which is weird. Because when I started blogging I remember it was so I could keep a record of sorts of my family. I didn't really care if other people read it.

Like with other things in my life, I'm just REALLY out of the habit.

I want to do better with it. Because, truth is, it is still a great way to record the happenings of my family. A Book of Remembrance of sorts.

So, here's my attempt.