Happy Anniversary!

One year ago on this very day (November 22, 2008) Ryan and I were married!! It is crazy to think that it has already been one year. It has been a great year. We were engaged on August 13, 2008, and planned our wedding in 3 months. It was the smartest thing we ever did. You see, I am not really into this wedding planning stuff and as long as Ryan and I both showed up that day we were going to get married. This made it rather difficult for our good friend Bev Grimes who agreed to help Mom and I with the wedding. Thank goodness for her because we didn't have a clue!! It all beautifully came together... and let me tell you it was all because of Bev. It was so funny, she had lists of things we were to go through and say yes or no to and give back to her. Most of the things I did not even know were involved in a wedding. She needed some sort of ideas of what we wanted... but we didn't have a clue! Anyways, it all worked out wonderfully and Ryan and I had a stress free happy day. ( The "look" he gave my mother during the middle of the ceremony was priceless... and will be something I will never forget and laugh about for years to come.)

I feel like I am really the luckiest girl in the world. I have married my best friend and we are so happy. Below are some pictures from our special day one year ago.




They may be gone, but they are always with us.

My Grandma Hazel passed away just a few weeks before our wedding. Although we were very sad to lose her, my good friend and second Mom Lisa said that now she can really be here and enjoy our special day. I like to think that Grandma Hazel and Grandpa Menno were sitting in the front row with my parents and grandparents sharing our special day with us.

I know Ryan feels the same way with his grandparents. I never met Kirk's parents. They passed away before I ever met Ryan. I met his Granpda Al, and I know he was sitting there with Marilee and Ryan's other grandparents who have passed, Kenneth and Agnus, sharing our special day with us. Although we miss them dearly, they are always with us.


Another interesting tid bit of information. My Grandparents were the first people to ever be married in our church. They have now been married 59 years and are such an inspiration. I am so blessed to have them in my life.

What Will Tad Be When He Grows Up??

As many parents wonder, and I'm sure Bryan and Ashley do... what will my kids be when they grow up.

I went through various stages. In Kindergarten I wanted to dig up dinosaur bones. I can say what that is called and it starts with a "P" but I am not even going to try to spell it. Through most of my K-12 years of school I did not think about it much. When I graduated high school I still did not really know what I wanted to do. I had been in physical therapy because of my first knee surgery so I guess I decided I would become a physical therapist. The first week of school I changed my major to Agriculture Communications. It was a much better fit... for about 1.5 years. I then decided that was not what I wanted to do so I thought...hmmm...nursing might be fun!! Well after about 12 weeks I was enjoying the book work better than the clinicals which was a problem. So, I got out of the nursing program. I then decided that I was going to major in Business Administration with a minor in Human Resources (I had always talked about being in HR) and was going to finish that and get my degree. If I knew what I wanted to do after that and it wasn't in business I would continue my education.

I graduated in December of 2007 so during the summer of 2007 I was looking for internships. After many follow-up calls with nothing available I contacted Ditch Witch following up on the resume I sent them. They happened to have a full time HR Assistant position available and the HR Director told me I should apply for it. 3 interviews later I had landed a full time job!!

Isn't it funny how you try to plan your life, but God is always looking out for you. I like the phrase "When you make plans God laughs." So as Tad grows older and is trying to figure out just what he is supposed to be doing with his life, I hope he puts his trust in God because he will lead him to just what he is supposed to be doing.

However... I think Tad has already began his search:

Below: Tad is very interested in watches. Maybe he will become a jeweler!!
Below: Tad is always involved in our Greedy games. This could be a sign he is headed for the Casino industry.
Below: Tad had to try on Uncle Jake's welding hat. He might follow his uncle's footsteps and become a mechanical genius!
Below: Maybe Tad will become a sprinter in the Olympics!! That might change as he gets older... however his Daddy did run cross country! Right now he is getting in some good practice. Every time Gigi and Poppa come in the door he sprints over there to see them. So sweet.
Below: Tad grabbed my check. Maybe he is thinking about working in the banking industry.
Below: I think Tad may be destined to be a 911 operator. HAHA I have to tell you this story. Uncle Jake was teaching Tad how to dial 911, and I guess Uncle Jake thought he had hung up the phone... but didn't. Mom (Grandma Brenda) immediately received a call from the Sheriff's department about a 911 hang up call and asked her if everything was okay. Of course everything was fine but because of protocol they have to send an officer out to check everything out.
Below: Tad loves digging through my very unorganized purse and pulling everything out. Maybe he will become a professional organizer?!?!
Below: A financial adviser might be in his future. By the looks of it, he is already planning his retirement.
Below: This is a tricky one. Chef or drummer?? That night he was definitely leaning towards drummer.
Below: Professional cake decorator?
Below: One day we might walk into a bar and see Tad as a table dancer!!!
Below: He enjoyed chewing on my lip gloss. A sign of a professional make-up artist in his future??
Whatever Tad grows up to be, I hope that he finds something that he loves to do. With his supportive parents and loving family he will go far.

Tad's First Halloween

Tad's first Halloween!! I gave you all a sneak peak of his costume awhile back, and he was so darn cute that day!! Tad had a very busy day on Halloween. I kidnapped Tad and took him to surprise his Grandma Brenda at a Halloween Carnival at the nursing home she is working at. If you all don't know, my Mom works for the Enid Public School system as a Pre-K teacher. The Enid school system received a grant that puts Pre-K classrooms in nursing homes. She has residents come in daily and volunteer in her classroom. She has a morning class and an afternoon class. She also takes a few kids at a time everyday to go visit residents in their room. She absolutely loves it there and the residents do too! They had a carnival at the nursing home and my Mom volunteered to help.
Above: Tad and I surprised Grandma by showing up unannounced at the carnival. They gave him a goodie bag and tickets to play games. It was so cute.
Above: Mom was in charge of the ring toss game. Tad wanted to play too.
Above: Tad thought the residents walker was pretty neat.
Above: This is Grandpa Billy. Mom and him have become buddies.
Above: Getting ready to go Trick-or-Treating!! Tad was a lion this year (ROAR)!!
Above: The troops getting ready to head out. Tad visited HH, Gigi and Poppa, Ben and Angie, me and Grandma Brenda.
Above: Instead of candy, I got him a musical book!
Above: Meet my cat Beauty. She went to the groomer a week or so after Halloween and came home like this!! This isn't the cut she normally gets but was necessary this time. Beauty and Tad could have been twinkies on Halloween!!

Problem...

Ok, I admit... I have a problem. I have the inability to throw away any of my mail except obvious junk mail. It started when I lived in Enid. I labeled plastic zip lock bags with the appropriate bill name. Actually, now that I think about it, it started when I was very young. I think I have every birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. card ever given to me. That is unless my Mom threw them away in the move.

In Garber, for the longest time I had a paper sack by my nightstand that I would put the bills in after I paid them. The plastic zip lock bags made the move from Perry, but I had not taken the time to put each bill in their appropriate bag. Well, one night we got pulled over at a check point in Hennessey and I did not have my updated insurance with me. The officers got a pretty good chuckle as I continued to pull expired insurance after expired insurance form out of my car for a good 15 minutes. I then remembered PAYING the insurance but never putting it in my car (this story has a point I promise). The officers did let us go with no ticket. Well that I night I had to find that insurance and went to my paper sack beside my bed stand that would explode if I were to put one more piece of mail in it... and that was the mess I had to find my insurance in. Ryan decided it was time for me to get organized again. That was over 6 months ago.

During that time he convinced me to shred old bills from past apartments and houses that I no longer had any type of service with. I don't know why, but that was hard for me to do. For some reason, even though I closed the accounts in good standing, I thought I might need them one day. I did it though... and got everything organized and in its place. I haven't done such a good job since then.

Since then, I have not been leaving our mail in the bedroom. Paid bills have been going in a bowl on the table, and when it gets full they are moved to the guest bedroom closet. Well it has happened again. I received an unusually high (okay ridiculously high utility bill) and had to find all my past pay stubs so I could go talk to the people and see what was going on. If I had been putting everything away in its proper place this would have been easy BUT.... See below:
This was the mess I sorted out last night. Everything from bills, cards, magazines, etc. Don't let the pile size fool you! It is deceiving... the pile was never ending. So this is how the process works. Everything gets sorted into its appropriate pile. Below:
After everything is sorted (and no this is not all the piles) they go into their appropriate sack. I keep saying that I don't have room for a filing cabinet, but I seem to make room for all of this???

It gets even worse. Everything these days (well almost) can be paid online. You can receive paperless statements in your e-mail and save the environment, or use debit cards instead of checks. I refuse to own a debit card and finally gave in and got an ATM card even though I still don't like it. I don't know if it just feels foreign to me or what, but I like to actually write the check. That way I know a certain amount of money is going towards this payment and I will have a record of it. I will pay my bills online... not automatic withdrawal if I can help it. I think it is a control issue. I want to make sure everything is correct and in its place before I submit my payment. I still receive the paper statement. Got to have that record!! I know many of these statements can be found online when you log into your account, and I do that too, but for some reason I can't let it go.

So there you have it. One of my many quirks.

First Annual Reinschmiedt Pumpkin Carving Contest

The First Annual Reinschmiedt Pumpkin Carving Contest has officially been held. We all had so much fun and I foresee this being a long time family tradition. Below are some pictures from the fun filled day and the RESULTS. Above: We gathered the pumpkins and the Tad Man and took some pictures with him before the carving began. He had a GREAT time and thought the pumpkins were really neat.
Above: The day started off with Ryan, Ashley and myself carving pumpkins. Angie and the boys were rounding up cattle, so they carved their pumpkins later on that evening. Ryan had to leave for Dallas that afternoon so it was a two session carving event. It was a good thing it happened that way because we did not have enough tools for everyone to be carving at once. (Note to self for next year).
Above: Later that evening the rest of the gang began to clean and carve their pumpkins.
Above: The boys were not as nice as Ryan, Ashley and I... Hehe. They did not separate the seeds from the goo, so Mom had to. :) Mom always roasts the pumpkin seeds and she does an AMAZING job. They are so good!
Above: Jake is carving away on his pumpkin.
Above: Tad is very interested in what is happening to the pumpkin he was playing with earlier. His Dad carved it for him.
Above: Jake's pumpkin. Go pokes!!
Above: Ryan's pumpkin.
Above: Julie's pumpkin.
Above: Angie's pumpkin.
Above: Ashley's pumpkin.
Above: Bryan's pumpkin. Bryan actually carved each side of his pumpkin. He carved some of the brands that they use.
Above: Ben's pumpkin.
Above: Tad's pumpkin. Tad's actually had a smoky effect. Well actually, it just kind of caught fire. As you can see, there is a flame that is coming out the top of his pumpkin.
Above: The judges working hard to pick the winning pumpkin. I would like to thank my Grandpa, Grandma and Lisa even though I think they picked the wrong one! LOL... I'm just kidding guys!
And the big winner is..... drumroll...... RYAN!!!

Cowboy Football/Pumpkin Patch Adventures

Saturday we went to Perry to watch the OSU game at Ryan's parents. GO POKES!! They won! I have to say OSU has had a pretty good year. We were due one though. They play Texas this weekend in Stillwater so they better bring their A game! Erica, Kelly, Alyssa and Grayson watched the game there too. We have so much fun with them.



After the game Ryan and I needed to get more pumpkins for the pumpkin carving contest so we all went out to the Bolay Pumpkin Patch (I told you that place is awesome). Alyssa loved it. Below are some pictures of the day.The picture above is (L -R) Alyssa, Me, Marianne, Ryan and Grayson. Behind us is one patch of the pumpkins. I think there are 4 big patches of them. Different kinds in each one.
Above: The Davis Family!! They are so much fun. Love you guys!
Above: Ryan pushed Alyssa in the wheelbarrow the entire time. They always have a great time together. They have some pumpkins already picked in the barn you can choose... but we wanted the full experience so out we went with our wheelbarrows and clippers to find that perfect pumpkin.
Above: Me and Grayson. He is such a happy little guy!! He has the sweetest little smile.
Above: Meet Pudge. I love Pudge. He is a lazy big ole cat. I caught him eating his dinner lying down and it cracked me up. Such a sweet cat. And no... he is not named Pudge because he is pudgy... he was named after the baseball player Pudge.