Winter Wonderland

Yesterday we played in the snow with our neighbors for the first time this season. It was really cute watching the boys trudge through the snow.



Keenan had a blast. They made a slide out of snow and he went sledding for the first time.


Draiman, on the other hand, didn't like the cold for very long.


Yet, he was even more upset when I brought him in. (Or maybe it was because instead of taking off his cold clothes, I was snapping pictures of him.)

Tyrel's Day at Work

Okay, Tyrel has officially discovered the blog. I apologize for his ramblings, but as a good wife, I couldn't tell him no. The following is his blog, not mine. I want to emphasize that. Enjoy . . .

The day started out at 3:00am when my alarm went off. I woke up hit snooze and went back to sleep. At 3:09 it went off again repeated my previous actions. This evil cycle continued until 3:36 when I got up got dressed and went to start my truck. The battery was dead so I pulled out the battery charger hooked it up and went back in the house for about ten minutes. While in the house I called Josh and told him that I may be a little late. My truck started and I drove to the shop and was only five minutes late. I got all my stuff loaded in the truck, I thought. Josh said he would drive to Bridger Compressor Station an Enterprise facility about forty miles north of Farson Wyoming on the Jonah Field. We left the shop on our way to the wonderful Jonah Field I fell asleep at about exit 18 on I-80 I woke up at about 5:45 to the truck sliding on the road and Josh yelling profanities. We stayed on the road and everything was fine. I went back to sleep. I woke up again when the truck exited WY 191 onto Luman Road. Luman Road is a heavily traveled and not very well mantained dirt road on the Jonah Field. It was 6:40 it's hard to fall asleep with the truck bouncing and the driver complaining about the Texans that can't drive in Wyoming. They go way too slow. When we arrived at the compressor station I found the super for the contractor I was working for and asked him if we could go to work. He told me we had to wait until x-ray was done shooting a weld before we could bolt up a pig launcher we broke out on Monday. Josh parked the truck out of the way and we took a nap. I woke up again at about 9:30 and noticed x-ray had showed up and didn't think it would be too long before we would be doing something. I decided I should get all of my ppe on. This is when I realized I had forgotten my hard hat. I asked the super if he had a hard hat I could borrow he said he did. The problem with it was it belonged to his wife and it was covered with girl power stickers and I felt like a homo wearing it but I have to be safe. It took x-ray until 2:30 to finish. So from about 11:00 until then I played Bomberman on Josh's Nintendo DS. We bolted up the pig launcher and everything went good. I was there to torque a 36' 600 and a 42' 600 series flange. These flanges each have 28 2.5' bolts they require about 7500 ft. pounds of torgue. Everything went pretty smooth I got everything done that I needed to do. I left about 5:50 and began the long journy back to Evanston. I got back to shop at about 8:00 unloaded the truck and went home. This is about typical for my day at work except the forgetting my hard hat. I do feel like a homo alot. But only when someone grabs my butt or I grab someone elses. You have to be very comfortable with your sexuality to work in the oilfield.

Wisdom from the Mouth of Keenan and Christmas from his Eyes

Wisdom
Everytime I think I have heard the funniest thing Keenan can come up with, he manages to surprise me. Earlier as I was trying to fold laundry, he was rambling away. Since I had a thousand things on my to do list for the day, I had gone into my "uh-huh" zone. For those of you who have not yet experienced an entire week (or day for that matter) of speaking only to people under the age of three, this means that I was randomly saying, "Uh-huh" while I was actually thinking about all of the tasks that needed doing. I was suddenly pulled back to conciousness by these words:
"And Dad is really stinky. He farts a lot."
Trying to speak through my giggles, I said "Yes, Dad is stinky. You're right."
Keenan responded with this glimpse into his future:
"And when I get big and get a beard, I'll be stinky too. Right, Mom?"
What could I say? He actually seemed excited about the idea of being stinky with a face full of hair. So, I again tried to mask my chuckles and said, "Yes, Keenan. You are right. One day, you will have a beard and you'll smell like Dad."
Keenan: "Cause I'll fart a lot too, right?"
"Right."
And with that, I suddenly realized the significance of being the only female in my house.

Christmas
This will be Keenan's first Christmas that he actually "gets" the concept. (Well, at least he understands about Santa and toys.) We watched "The Polar Express" on t.v. a few nights ago and now Keenan cannot stop talking about the bell that Santa will be bringing him, along with the movies and toys, of course. So now I need to find a sleigh bell that only rings for kids who believe in Santa.
The following day, we got out our Christmas decorations and decked the halls. When we put up our Christmas tree and turned on the lights Keenan looked up at it, his eyes got wide, and he whispered, "Wow." He said nothing else; he just looked at it for a few more minutes. He was completely mesmorized.
Next we had a discussion about Santa Clause and how we needed to be good so he would give us our presents. Keenan looked at me and cocked his head to the side and said, "That Santa is a good guy."
Since then, Keenan has run into my room every morning at the crack of dawn and said, "Did Santa come?!" It's going to be a long month.

Our Story

Tyrel and I met when I was his boss at Domino's Pizza. When he was first hired I remember thinking, "He's cute, but I would never date him." With a little persuasion on his part and a little sympathy on mine, Tyrel convinced me otherwise. I was shocked and amazed at how different he was from the person he tried to make people think he was. Anyone who knows me is aware that romance is totally wasted on me. So, I was even more amazed at how quickly I fell in love with him. After a short four months (and a little encouragement from Keenan) we were married. It was a beautiful ceremony . . . at the court house in jeans and t-shirts. But hey, it only cost us about $25. Now that's my kinda' wedding.

Keenan was born seven months later (we'll just say he was premature) and only 14 months after that, Draiman came along. Our short time together this far has been nothing less than fulfilling and exciting. I look forward to the rest of my life with my three wonderful boys.

Okay, you win Dianne

After months of badgering from my mother-in-law (whom I am very grateful for, by the way), I have finally broken down and created a blog so that all may know of the chaos that ensues in our little family. I make no promises to how frequently it will be updated; nor to the quality of posts, pictures, and layouts. Frankly, I am not sure what I am doing so forgive me in advance for the lack of organizational quality. Actually, I don't even know what is going to happen when I submit this post. Nonetheless, here is our blog. Enjoy.