The Christmas Sweater...

For Christmas this year my mom surprised me with a new book from Glenn Beck, The Christmas Sweater. I was saving this read for Oklahoma City since I knew I would have a lot of time on my hands...I finished the book in one day! I couldn't put it down! What a great book, I absolutely loved it! The Christmas Sweater is a story about family, faith and forgiveness. After reading this book, I sat down to analyze my own life to decide what is truly important to me! It made me realize that no matter how awful things in this life can be...our Heavenly Father will always love us and is always there for us....NO MATTER WHAT! I would recommend this book to anyone, especially those who may feel like giving up on life...or just need a little "pick me up"! I am growing to love Glenn Beck ( thanks to my family...especially Blake)...he is truly one of the coolest guys and has such a great attitude about things in life. He hasn't always had a glamorous life filled with fame and fortune...he is a real person who shares real life experiences to benefit those around him. I hope that I can use his example and share my experiences that I have on a daily basis to uplift and encourage my friends and family.

We are FREEZING out here!

Mike and I have had quit the eventful week! Oklahoma declared a "State of Emergency Winter Blast Ice Storm" Monday afternoon! Of course I was freaking out, thinking that our power would go out, we would lose heat, have nothing to eat and practically DIE! Mike on the other hand was calm and practical and knew we would be just fine! The FAA closed their academy both Monday and Tuesday, all public and private schools were closed including Oklahaoma University and Oklahoma State! Restaurants were closed, malls and shopping centers...closed...practically everything in town was closed due to the storm! No need to fear...Walmart and Taco Bell were open in full force though! The local news stations reported mostly on the storm and little other news, they asked people to not leave their houses unless an emergency...to stay indoors! Tuesday, Mike and I were so sick of being indoors that we decided to walk to our mailbox which is on the other side of our apartment complex....bad idea...it was like 10 degrees outside and our whole entire parking lot, side walks...the grass...yes even the grass was frozen solid! Our parking lot was one giant ice skating rink! We did make it to the mailbox and back with no causalties...but we almost fell on our butts about 2o times! Our car was covered in so much ice, more than I could have ever imagined...probably about a 1/4 inch thick of pure ICE! Today I asked Mike," Why on earth does the FAA keep sending us to cold miserable places? Why cant they send us to sunny Florida or better yet Mexico!" Who knows why we keep taking these grand adventures to cold places, but I am truly grateful for all of the experiences that Mike and I have been able to be a part of! We have made some amazing friends, made life long memories and grown to depend on one another and love one another more than we could ever imagined! P.S. We are slowly thawing out of our ice cubes and the weekend looks promising!!!! Enjoy these crazy pictures of ICE!

Holly's Top 10 Things To Keep Her Happy
in Oklahoma City for 12 weeks:

10. MOVIES

I love watching movies, while in OK I have the chance to catch up on all of my favorites including Mama Mia! I have also had the chance to watch some "oldies but goodies" including 'The Devil Wears Prada' and 'A Walk to Remember'!

9. BOOKS

I {LOVE} to read...what can I say! Some of my favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks and Anita Stansfield! Right now I am reading Throstleford by Susan Evans McCloud...I am looking forward to The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck and Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella as well!

8. RUNNING

I am not a die hard fitness freak by all means...but occasionaly I like to put on my running shoes and go for a jog! Jogging give me a chance to be outdoors, enjoy some fresh air and think about where my life is headed.

7. KNITTING

While living in Anchorage Alaska my friend Brittany taught me how to knit! I love it! Its a great way to keep yourself busy, especially while watching tv! I have knitted scarves for me and my family and friends...but now I am working on a blanket!

6. BAKING

I enjoy cooking and expirementing with new recipes...but I LOVE baking! I enjoy making fresh pies from my mom's recipe and I love baking cinnamon rolls!

5. BLOGGING

I have recently joined the blogging world and started a blog for Mike and I...as you can see!!! I enjoy blogging about what we are up to and its a great way for our family and friends to stay in touch with us and see what we have been up to! I also enjoy facebook, because it helps me to keep in touch with our loved ones and I have reconnected with so many old friends as well!

4. TELEVISION

I hate to admit it, but I love television! Although there is a lot of trash out there...I am the first to admit that I am addicted to reality television! Some of my favorites right now are Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor!

3. HOUSEWORK

Sometimes I feel like I am cleaning an already clean house....since we dont have much to fill our apartment there isnt a whole lot to clean either! I dont mind doing the dishes, our laundry...so that fills up a lot of my time here in OK City!

2. CRAFTING

I love nothing more than finding a new craft and creating something new for our home! You would not believe how fun decorating something with paper could be...I love it!!!!

1. SCRAPBOOKING

Everyone who knows me knows that I love to scrapbook! It is an absolute passion for me! I find so much satisfaction in finishing a scrapbook page or mini book! I absolutely love when Mike wants to look back at our "old" books...we have so much fun remembering old times!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day = No School for Mike!

Oklahoma City Zoo here we come! We decided that since Mike had the day off from the FAA Academy that we should do something fun and enjoy the nice weather outside! After searching the internet, I found that the Oklahoma Zoo is totally free on Mondays in January! I was super stoked, because we have never been to the zoo together, isnt that crazy?!? We called up a few of our FAA friends to come with us and we all met at the zoo Monday afternoon! I dont particulary {love} animals as most of you know...but I do enjoy a day at the zoo watching all of the animals. Some of our favorites this trip were the GoRiLlAs and the oKaPi (which is half zebra....half giraffe). We had a great time exploring the zoo and seeing all of the animals!

This is the Okapi..isnt it totally rad looking?!?

Apparently EVERYONE in OK

are Sooners fans!

I love Zebras....they are my favorite!

Me and Mike just "monkey-ing" around!

This gorilla was loving his banana!

This little baby monkey was clapping with us!

Lions...tigers...and bears....OH MY!!!!

Oklahoma: Day 2!

*** We didn't have any furniture...no cable...no internet....So we decided to get out of our apartment and do some ExPlOrINg!

We decided to drive downtown which is about 15 minutes away and explore BRICKTOWN! Its a fun little area in downtown with lots of unique restaurants, a little taxi way and some really pretty walking paths! We really enjoyed the 65 degree weather and the beautiful sunshine! We explored on a Sunday afternoon, so we didnt eat at any of them...but we will be back!!! Our first impressions of Oklahoma City are pretty good! The people here are a bit "hickish" but they are super friendly! We have almost all of the restuarants and shops that we do back home, with a few new ones that I am dying to try! This weekend, we are going to do some more exploring and possibly hit a Oklahoma City Thunder game which would be pretty fun!

Oklahoma City here we come!

I { LOVE } our Apartment!!!

We really love our apartment! It is a nice gated community with great apartments! We are about 10 minutes from Mike's acedemy and about 5 minutes from a great part of town which includes Walmart (how could we survive without Wally-World)! We are very happy here! My biggest fear was that I wouldnt feel safe when Mike was at work, but our place is awesome so no worries there! We only brought our little car, so we left almost everything back in Utah! We were without furniture for four days and three nights, what a drag! Luckily our furniture finally came on Tuesday! We rented a bed, a couch and a kitchen table....everything else we ended up buying once we got down here! Can you say adventure?!?! I CAN!!!!!

Aren't they just so cute!?!

Here are a few more pictures of the inside of our apartment!

Notice that we dont have any decorations

or pictures or anything, they wouldn't fit

in the car, so we didn't bring them....

kind of sad. Luckily its only 3 months!

Our GRAND AdVEntURe to OKLAHOMA CITY OKLAHOMA!

We drove 1200 miles in two days! What an adventure! We feel so blessed that Mike made it into the FAA Air Traffic Control Academy here in OK City and the timing was great! We were so thankful that it happened right after the holidays! After much thought and prayer we decided that I would quit my job at Heartland Paper and embark on this adventure together! We arrived in Oklahoma City on Friday night around 9:30pm and stayed at the Best Western hotel. We got into our apartment Saturday morning! We LOVE our apartment! It is a one bedroom place, with a TON of storage...not that we need storage...since we didnt bring much...but its great! Our place was not furnished, so we lived without furniture for three days and without cable and internet for three days! Lets just say it was a LONG three days! I am so grateful to now have a couch, a bed and a kitchen table...plus cable and internet! You dont realize how nice it is to have all of those things until you dont have them!

Mike started his academy training on Tuesday January 13th! It was a long day for him, lots of paperwork and jumping through the hoops, but overall he enjoyed it! I am so grateful that he is willing to work so hard for our little family! He LOVES air traffic control and airplanes! I am blessed that he found a career that makes him happy and that he can enjoy doing on a daily basis. Although the moving has been difficult at times, first moving to Alaska and now to Oklahoma City...we feel so blessed and have enjoyed some amazing experiences together!


As for me....I am not working while here in OK City! I am taking advantage of this time to enjoy my hobbies, such as reading, scrapbooking, crafting, blogging, watching movies, working out and enjoying each and every day! Here are a few pictures of our adventure driving to Oklahoma City! Hope you all enjoy!

MORE TO COME SOON.....