June 2011

We had a wonderful trip to Oklahoma and Texas the last week of June. Our first stop was in Norman, OK where we celebrated my dad's 83rd birthday, my brother Vester's 56th birthday and my brother-in-law Cole Menaker's 48th birthday on Saturday June 25th, 2011.

Sunday after attending church with my mother we drove to McKinney, TX to see Laura, Jeremy, Anne, Sarah, Kaley, Kirsten, Emily and Katie. We ate dinner with them and visited until the Alleman's (Jeremy's parents) were through with the fireside that they had to attend. We then visited with Stu and Cindy Alleman for a little bit before spending the night at their house. Monday was a busy day with Laura and the girls. First I was able to go to Kirsten's dance class and watch her dance which brought back a lot of old memories of when my daughter's were in dance when they were young. After dance class Kirsten and I went shopping for Katie's birthday present while Clinton stayed with Katie who was taking a nap. (He even changed a diaper) In the afternoon we made banana bread and frosted the cupcakes for Katie's party. Clinton and I went to Dickie's Barbecue to pick up dinner that was enjoyed by all before going to the park for Katie's birthday party. Katie's first birthday party went very well, she was overwhelmed with all of the presents and had to be coaxed into finishing opening them--but she did.

Tuesday Clinton and I went to the Dallas Temple and did initiatories, sealings and an endowment session. I did the initiatories for four of my great aunts and the endowment for my Aunt Matt. I have so much family history work to do and am trying to get with the program. I was able to get my mother signed up on New Family Search and on Ancestry.com so she is helping me a lot with the research on my dad's family.

Wednesday we went swimming with the girls. Emily loved the splash park. Kirsten is learning to swim so well, and of course Sarah and Kaley also swim very well. We had a good time. We went to lunch at the new In and Out Burger in Allen, TX and it was swamped! After lunch we headed back to Norman, OK to my parent's house and had a good visit with them on Wednesday evening. Iva, Cole and Bryston came over to visit for awhile. Thursday morning Clinton and I left early on the search for car parts for his new toy--a 1968 El Camino that he is restoring. We hunted parts all morning and did not leave Oklahoma City until after noon.

When we got home, Thursday evening we loaded up his engine into the truck and all of the car parts that we had gotten. Friday morning very early we left for Coffeyville, KS to take the engine and parts to his stepsister's house. Her husband Rick is going to switch out engines and transmissions. Clinton is really excited to be working on this car.

Friday evening we went to Bartlesville, OK to see our good friend Steve Christiansen and his family that were all at his son Brian's home. We had a nice but short visit with them before heading back to Topeka Friday night. We did not get home until about 1 on Saturday morning. We had a lot of catching up on laundry and stuff to do on Saturday, party on Saturday evening with his golf course group. Church on Sunday. Monday was full getting yard work caught up and things done around the house. Monday evening we went to the Crow's for dinner with the Robbins and the Crawford's, then we walked over to Lake Shawnee to see a fantastic Firework's show for July 4th.