Friends ARE forever........

I love my friends!!! and Bruce and I are blessed with truly the best friends ever!! Since my college years at FHSU, we have all had very close ties with each other. We have supported each other through the joys of our weddings, the birth or our children, and our children's young years and then witnessed their weddings - AND we wouldn't have missed any of it. !!! Don't get me wrong - there have been plenty of trials and tribulations along the way, but you guessed it - we have been there for that too.......and supported each other through all of it. I really don't know what we would have done without each other to console each other, laugh, cry, and rejoice. We have been traveling with each other too throughout the country and are looking forward to more of that. July will take us back east again to Savannah and Fripp Island!! We truly loved it there. The picture below in the back row is Jim, Doug, Bruce - in front is Moi, Jacquelyn, Vicki and Gayla (our birthday girl responsible for us all getting together this time). We are older now, wiser, but there is no one on this planet who can have more fun than us. The guys laugh and joke that the screaming and laughing is about to commence. The guys sure had fun talking about work, farming, and all endeavors of their laugh. Their commonality are the GIRLS! Yes, the crazy ones! but we all love and treasure each ones individuality. God Bless them all!

The Girlfriends and Husbands

We are like sisters! She knows many of my thoughts before I do. How do you do it! Thanks for being such a light in my life.... Luv you Gayla!

Jackie and I have known each other since 1st grade and can tell stories on each other. She has been my rock for a very long time! You make me smile always.....Thanks Girlfriend!!

Thank God for Vic - she is such a treasure, I can't explain unless you know her! Truly a JOY in my life (a huge understatement!!) ..luv u too girlfriend!!

Was a total surprise to see Vicki and her husband from Bartlesville at Gayla's bash.... She got me through Accounting at FHSU and we were roommates. She is a jewel!

Jim & Vic

Doug and Jackie

Gayla and grandson Cash.....she is so proud of him!

Next weekend we have a birthday party for our Buggy and then a new little Papon will be here to greet us. Life is Good!!

Brrrr - it's cold outside!!!

With winter, comes cold, snow, and wind. None of which I like..... Bruce has been busy putting gutter up and I've been gone last weekend to a quilt retreat in Oklahoma. We sure had fun except for traveling on some roads that were a little snowpacked. However, my new Expedition handled it all just fine. I got quite a bit done and had fun with my friends!!! We went to Burlington's basketball game on Tuesday - it was fun to see all the kids again - and we got to see them score over 100 points. We were totally amazed. Might have to go watch them in tournament play.

LT has been coming in the house a lot - I guess he is my sidekick now . . . . . . and he likes it when I cook since I am so messy and some ends up on the floor!! Buggy and DeeDee would love to give him a big hug right now I'm sure - maybe he wants to go to Buggy's BD party for clean up duty!! We're getting very close to the new arrival of our baby boy - can't wait to get my arms around him.........

Carrie said the kids have been studying horses and their markings, so here's some homework. Below are some pictures of Blackie's legs and face. Can the K-Kids identify what they are?

Blackie had to show off his halter that K-Sis got for Christmas. Again here are his markings on his head. I think he is smiling :)

LT likes the snow and says hi to all the K-Kids. We got a little snow but not much!

I guess a blanket of snow on the farm is pretty. The birds at the feeders have been eating like crazy. Have to fill the feeders up every other day.

Oklahoma City Quilt Show

Well, I haven't blogged for so long - it seems like I have been trying to get organized, cleaning, and even sewing on some quilts. Bruce has even had me helping him some with guttering last week, so I'm usually gone somewhere. Kristi, Carrie's Mom, and I got to go to OKC to a Quilt Show last Friday, and it was a lot of fun. We met in Ponca City, and the fog was a bear in that region. We took our time and found the Cox Building and the quilt show. The quilts on display weren't the best I've seen but OK. However, the vendors were great. Found some fabric and cute kits to add to my stash and Kristi found a really nice travel case for machine. Anyway, we left around 4:30 and I took Kristi to bricktown where we walked around some. Was a lot more to see but it was getting late so we went to a brewery where I had taken my seniors to eat before a couple of years ago. The food was really good!! Then we made the trek home again in the fog. I got back around 9:30 p.m. We had a lot of fun and hope we can include Carrie next time we get together!!! :) Then on Wednesday, I went to babysit Bugs and we had a lot of fun playing with all her toys. She sure likes her babies. Finished the day literally with a big bang. I crashed in the driveway but seem to be healing fine. Looking forward to Moose's birthday bash tomorrow and I'm sure he is too.

This is the brewery where we ate.

We found someone in the brewery to take our photo.

Out touring Bricktown where the canal is.

New Year's Celebration!

Christmas and New Year's have came and went and with that - so have our family! Shawn and Carrie and family got here on the 26th of December and Eric and Theresa joined us on the 30th. When you get us all together things liven up quite a bit - actually - it is organized chaos! but I wouldn't trade it for anything at all! We have so much fun from shooting guns to riding horses to flying airplanes to playing Wii and even bagging a deer for the winter!! Enjoy the pictures below - they are so precious and also just a tad bit entertaining!!! Hope you all had a great Christmas! We wish you all a wonderful and prosperous New Year!

I'm not prejudiced much, but I do think we have a gorgeous Papon clan! Each has their own unique personality from Nascar fan to horse fan to dancing talent to construction know how. We took this picture using a camera on a timer! was quite an event trying to get everyone to look plus keep the dog out of the picture. What fun!

K-Buggy riding her unicorn in style!

Shawn with his 1st deer! We told him it's a good time to quit - 1 shot - 1 deer!


K-Girl in her fancy new western riding attire! My barrel racing protege!

All the K-Kids in their new PJs!!

Out on our Christmas tree hunt. Looking for a tree so we could hang bird seed to feed our birds this winter. The kids had fun making things to hang on the tree.

Part of the K-crew with Eric and Shawn!

Buggy and Daddy enjoying farmlife.

Eric's little baby vizsla.

Shawn wrestling Emmy! or is it the other way around!

KBaby trying on a new shoe!! Doesn't quite fit.

KBaby with her new Elmo!

Theresa with one of her Christmas presents! She also had a birthday on New Year's Eve.

Eric with Moose and Kman!

Carrie with some new Christmas gifts and some mighty fine present openers.!.:)

Moose with his new Nana boots and belt!

Moose with a present from K-Man - like awesome!

Our new K-Baby has a name - Konnor Eric who will be born on the 18th of February. Can't wait to meet him. Everyone assures me he will be the last but I told them we can always fan out for more pictures. HA!

Blackie is always the center of attention and everyone loves him ! Can you blame them?
K-Man is riding with Daddy leading him! Was pretty cold so we just led him to be safe.

Blackie loves his KGirl Cowgirl! She is a keeper!

And then we have our Princess K-sis who is either in her Princess attire, or in her dancing Tutu. And whats more, she can really dance! She even gave me personal dancing instructions. What a good teacher!

The Birthday Bash~es

Aren't birthdays fun?? I still enjoy watching the anticipation of eating that first bite of cake and wondering whats in those beautifully wrapped presents. In K-Baby's case, the first taste of her cake was MAGNIFIQUE, in my mother's words. She loved the frosting, the cake, and the icing. I have never seen a child totally consume everything as is illustrated in one of the pictures below. She loved her presents, babies, toys, and of course the wrapping paper itself. She knew she was the star of the show!! Shawn's birthday was downplayed somewhat after watching DeeDee's birthday showcase, but I think he enjoyed his german chocolate cake and his little trailer as well. It's the first time hes been back since March so he is very excited to be back to this part of the country.

I must admit, I was a little shocked at K-Sis' sense of fashion, but somehow she makes it work. From the pink cowgirl boots to the flowing princess dress and accented by her pink and black coat and her hair showcased a pretty princess hairband. Am I right or what?

K-Man and I took time for a little photoshoot.

KMan was a regular Daniel Boone with his Daisy BB gun. Takes after Daddy.

KGirl driving the john deere tractor and trailer. Needs to work on reverse though.

The star of the day - The Birthday Girl K-Baby

Opening one of her presents with help from Dad.

Shawn enjoying his BDay too!. Where's the toys???

I loved the Dora cake!, but almost couldn't find it at Dillon's. What a lot of drama looking for it!

KBaby knew it was her DAY! What a treat getting to share in that day!! :)

Won't be long now, and everyone will be here for the holidays. I always look forward to this time of year. We are always so busy but this is the time for us to remember our Lord and Savior. His birth was such a gift!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Yes, it's that magical time of the year!! The birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the beautiful Christmas lights, giving and receiving of gifts, and enjoying friends and family. We have to also throw in their the birth of baby calves - a joy for us to see! We are so anxious to have everyone here for Christmas or close to that! Shawn hasn't been home since last spring and we miss him very much along with all the rest of his family. Eric and family will also be home too so we are looking forward to hunting for a tree to put up outside with all the trimmings for the birds to also enjoy Christmas:) I had to put some pictures of the house in the blog because they are really so pretty - I love to look at them anyway and I'm sure all the grandkids will love them too! Let's not be in such a hurry that we forget the reason for the season - Jesus!Hopefully we are not too busy to give to a family or those in need. A warm wish for the season is appreciated also!

Christmas - yes the halls are all decked out with garland and the Christmas tree is up! Even looks like Santa has made it already!!

All we need are the grandkids to create utter chaos to these gifts!

Our neighbor Blake, surprised us this week by bringing over a load of firewood all cut up! and he stacked it for us and also brought us 2 dozen of eggs! We have the BEST neighbors ever......

Might have to bake some Christmas cookies and take them over soon - I know Blake loved the Pecan Butter Balls I made not long ago - he tasted them and really liked them!!!

Our newest addition to the ranch - Judy's baby girl! Any cute names to offer for her!

She is so very tiny - but Judy had her Tuesday morning at around 5:30 a.m. with no problems whatsoever. Blackie shared his stall for this little new addition. Was like 5 degrees out. Bruce said she had ice on her hair when he saw her...

Wishing all our friends and family - a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!! God bless you all!