Wild Goose Chase

For those of you that might not know, my dad has a side business that specializes in 'Goose Removal'. This just means that companies or groups hire him to collect the geese that are living on their property and to relocate them in some sort of reserve-type location.

Here's the catch: this is by no means a 'one man job'. Therefore he has to recruit the entire family to get up at the crack of dawn and drive to the location and submit themselves to heat stroke, extensive sweating, and eventually being covered in goose poop, blood, and feathers. Why wouldn't we gladly volunteer?!?

The process goes like this:

1st - Set up the pen
2nd - Decide on a stategy (this step is usually performed silently in Dad's head and then comunicated to us in some sort of mumbly-say it under his breath-"You go there. You go here."-none of us have any idea what to do-sort of way)
3rd - We spread out (in what we hope is the correct pattern laid out in Dad's head) around the geese and slowly walk together. The geese cannot fly during this time of year and so they are herded right where they are suppose to go
4th - We then close the pen around them, extract 4 or 5 feathers, and place them into the tralier

Usually we will have a few geese that will try and go against the flow of things. They are the real challenge. Herding one paniced goose is much harder that herding 20-100 alert, but calm geese. They really do like to stay with their friends.

The reason that we pull the feathers is that by the time the feathers grow back and the geese are able to fly again, they have forgotten where they came from. This way, they don't fly right back as soon as we move them. It's a lot like pulling a hair from your head or pulling a hangnail: not fun but not too irritating.

This year, we only had about 22 geese and none of them escaped from the pack. It went excetionally well. It was the best job we've ever done.

But no matter how easy it was, no matter how well we did, it is still CRAZY that this is something our family does. Seriously, who does this kind of stuff?....We do.

And to us, it's normal. That can't be good.

Taking our positions

Here they come!

If they get on the water, like they did, Kevin uses his Kayak to herd them.

Closing the pen. This is usually the point where panic sets in and someone gets told they aren't moving fast enough. It is very stressful, as you can see with Mom's tense pose.

Directions being given.

Look at that Expert Feather Remover! Man, she's good!

Everyone gets recruited!

It's not everyday that you get to hold a goose.

Geese Wranglers

As much as I tease and as odd as this hobby is, it's all worth it if this is the look on Dad's face when the job gets done.

OMJ

The weekend in Dallas was a blast! All the planning and anticipation paid off, big time.

We planned to leave Friday morning at 7:00. I couldn't sleep the night before and woke up at 4:00 Friday morning. Mom couldn't sleep either and woke up at 5:00 and just decided to go ahead and get up. When she come out of her room, both Ashleigh and Hannah were awake watching tv. They had both gotten up at 4:00am!! Ashleigh had less than two hours of sleep that night. We could have left at 5:30 for all we knew!




We made it to Dallas without any trouble and spent the day shopping in Frisco. We spent most of our time at IKEA and Sam Moon. Ashleigh spent most of her money at IKEA; she has a new apartment in Stillwater that she is planning for. And Hannah, of course, had the most fun at Sam Moon. (it is a jewelry/purse mega-store that had to have been designed with her in mind)


After shopping, we went to Jim & Jackie's house in Plano. We were so thankful for letting us stay with them; they are greats hosts!

The next day we left for Arlington around 3:00.

When we turned on the highway and saw the new Cowboys Stadium for the first time, my blood pressure spiked a little. When we came into clear view of the stadium and we saw the Jonas tour bus, my blood pressure rose even higher to quite an unhealthy level. It was as if all the planning and excitement for this day all boiled up at once and spilled over.

The girls were hungry and thirsty and so we needed to make a few stops before we parked at the stadium. How they could even think about food and soda at a time like this was beyond me! But, reluctantly I stopped at Arby's and we ordered dinner. However I made them get it to-go, so we could eat as fast as possible in the car. I also made Hannah use the men's restroom because there was no time to waste waiting in line. (no worries, it was a single stall bathroom) Keep in mind, that we are about three and a half hours early; there is absolutely no hurry at all. But in my mind, the sooner we got to that stadium the better. Once we were in the car, I could not even eat because I was so excited. Literally I think I would have thrown up if I had eaten.





Once we parked, we walked around a bit taking in the sites and then we found our correct doors and got in line. We only waiting in line for about 25 minutes and found our seats with only a few U-turns.



During the next hour and a half before the show started, we admired the new stadium, analyzed how hard it would be to be famous, laughed at the cute little girls dancing in front of us, tried to have our text messages posted on the jumbo-tron, visited the merchandise table & turned around as soon as we saw the lines, and anxiously hoped that Miley Cyrus would do a guest appearance.

This was my favorite part: they were two huge screens that wrapped around the building. I was mesmerized!






We made signs that morning and we were planning on holding them up at the show, but the excitement got to us and we neglected them in the end. Oh well, I'll display them for you now.













Finally, at 7:00, the show started with a band called Honor Society and Jordin Sparks (from American Idol). We enjoyed this but we were anxious for the JoBros. Their show started at 8:45 and Hannah & I didn't calm down until well after 10:30. It was great!









The biggest suprise of the night was awesome! I had hoped all weekend that Miley Cyrus might do a suprise appearance because she has a duet on the Jonas Brothers new album. I thought maybe because this was the first concert of the tour that it just might happen. Well the JoBros played their last song and said goodnight. The crowd kept cheering and screaming and we were expecting them to do an encore. However, I was totally shocked to hear Miley's voice and that is the point that I had a miniature panic-attack. For real, I have never acted like that before. I was screaming and trying to get my camera working and my mom says that I just kept saying "It's Miley, It's Miley"....It was hilarious! And we laughed about it all night. I am laughing now, just thinking about it.





Overall, we were very impressed and we had a great time. We have decided that if the Jonas Brothers have a 2010 tour, we are going again. And if we could have THAT much fun from the seats we had, then we can only imagine how much fun we could have from the front. So we are going to splurge and do it right next time! I, however, am not sure if I will survive being that close to so many Disney stars. The close proximity might just send me into cardiac arrest!

Workin for the Weekend

It's almost here....

Only two more days until we invade Dallas!

Mom, Ashleigh, Hannah, & I will leave Friday morning for the much anticipated Jonas Brothers weekend.

Here are a few things we have planned:

IKEA
Sam Moon
Urban Outfitters
Swimming in Kevin's Grandparents sweet pool
Poster making
Screaming

Here are a few things we are taking:

Sally Garmin
The new Jonas Brothers CD & a special DALLAS MIX cd
poster making supplies
Tylenol
Diet Coke
Shoe Polish ??? (Pictures to follow)


I hope that everyone else is as excited as I am. Hannah packed four days ago, Ashleigh has a list for IKEA, Mom bought the Good Housekeeping with the Jonas mother on the cover so she would know as much as possible. So I think that I am not the only one who is excited. Oh, and I am getting daily texts from Hannah updating me on how many days until we go.


My current status: Antsy & Excited

Feeling at home in Norman

Kevin & I visited his parents this weekend. They are enjoying their new house and they wanted to think of a way to decorate their guest room so that Kevin and I would feel more at home when we visited. Kevin's folks are not the hunting-type but they are really loving to the 'country lifestyle' and they had a lot of fun with their decorating adventure. Here is what they did:










The photos were my favorite part. Especially the racoon-wrestling-action-shots above. Very Funny!

Corrections

I would like to make a correction regarding a previous post.

As someone very pushy pointed out: I forgot to give credit to the photographer of the photo featured in the 'Photo Frenzy' post.

Therefore, here is the credit:

The photo featured in 'Photo Frenzy' was taken by my brother, Joey Nelson. I am never in front of the camera and therefore we have no pictures of me. He was thoughtful enough to steal my camera and snap a few shots of Avery & I. I am eternally grateful for his photography skills and quite frankly, I do not know if I could have the strength to blog without him.

All for Nothin!

Kevin won the battle of the weight loss. I weighed EXACTLY the same and he had lost 1.2lbs.

He didn't even try. He just decided that he would win and it miraculously happened. I, on the other hand, ate very little, drank about 25 gallons of water, and logged HOURS running at the gym.

Someone tell me in what universe is this fair!

Photo Frenzy

Taking and editing photos is one of my favorite things to do. Some changes are for the better and some just look ridiculous; but it's always fun to play around. I usually edit my photos manually, either on Windows Photo Gallery or through online editing sites.

However, I have found some really cool and really easy editing websites. I don't usually like to share secrets like this; I prefer for others to think that I am just super creative and ingenious. Only because these websites are so cool, am I sharing them now. So the secret is out: I'm not super creative or ingenious, I'm actually quite normal. Disappointing isn't it?



So here is the original photo:



The first site is a Japanese site that only provides one edit option. It makes photos look very old. The site is http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds. Click 'English' in the top corner.



The next site is Photoshop.com. It isn't really a user-friendly site. It requires a bit of patience. I've only added one photo from this site because it takes such a long time to complete an edit. However, this site allows you to be very specific with what you want to do to the photo, so it does have it's benefits.



The next site is loads of fun; it offers numerous editing options. The site is befunky.com. Each of these changes are a one-click effect. The changes are pre-designed and very easy to apply.



















I hope that some of you can spend some time on these sites. They really are a lot of fun and people will be so impressed with your talents.

Enjoy!

2 years

Yesterday was our 2nd anniversary. Two years ago yesterday we were praying that it wouldn't rain, stressing over what might get wet, which dresses or tuxes might not fit, what might melt, and who might cause drama. But Oh! What a memorable day it was!



However, today marks the day that I remember most. The day after the wedding might have been the best day of my life.

The stress was over, there was nothing to worry about and we were headed to a beach in Mexico. It was like all the stress, worry, and exhaustion wore off and all that was left was joy. We woke up in a gorgeous room in downtown Tulsa, took our time getting coffee & buying books for the flight, and even retrieving our forgotten passports (my fault). Our flight and connections were smooth sailing. Once we landed in Mexico we had the adventure of renting a car in a foreign country (quite exciting) and driving down an unlit Mexican highway and finally arriving at our beautiful (and well-lit) resort. It was bliss.

Kevin & I are using the Disney trip to celebrate our anniversary, even though it is next month. However, as always, Kevin broke the rules and bought me a gift. I was actually quite impressed with his creativity. He bought a 'Disney' scrapbook so that I could document our anniversary trip. It is very cute and has all sorts of stickers and decoration pieces. I am very excited to finish it after our trip.



This might be my favorite part: He couldn't use any of our wrapping paper because I would find out what he was doing. So he used magazines from work and made his own paper. It's actually very cool. He was very proud of it. I think he liked the box more than the gift.



My thoughts for today: Our first year of marriage was really good. However this past year was even better. And I am predicting that our third year will top the others.

Someone Save Us!

My dear friend Amanda & I are currently trapped in a horrible, horrible workshop. As you can see, we do not need to focus on the speaker because she has said the same thing a MILLION TIMES!!!

We are located around 11th & Lewis. If you are in the area, please drive by, honk, and we will run out and dive into your vehicle. You don't even need to stop, just slow down a little. We will be forever indebted and grateful to you!

Starving

Kevin and I are currently having a contest. We are competing to see who can lose the most weight by the end of the week. I think it's actually pretty unfair because he can just think thin and about 5 pounds fall off of him. I, on the other hand, can look at a cookie and 5 pounds instantly stick to me.

Because of this contest, my current status is: HUNGRY

Congrats Kevin!

Last Friday, Kevin was enjoying his first day off after working 8 straight days when he received a phone call from Owasso Fire Department. They hired him #2 out of 40 applicants. And the crazy things is, they only hired 2! He will start in January. Which will be wonderful because he can finish Paramedic school in November and have some time to study for the National Test before he starts fire-training.

We give God all the glory for this wonderful news. For the past 18 months we have been doing things that would hopefully lead to the fire department: EMT school, Paramedic school, Tulsa interviews, and now Owasso interviews. However I don't think either of us thought that it would happen this soon! Many guys apply year after year to get hired. And it is only because of the grace of God that Kevin was hired so quickly.

I really am so happy for him. After years of playing around with carer idea after career idea during college and after, nothing lit him up like the thought of firefighting. And the thing is, he is REALLY good at emergency medicine. This really is his calling. So needless to say, we are very excited over here at our house. It still hits us in the middle of something and one of us will say "Oh my gosh! You're hired." or "I'm on the fire department!"

We appreciate ALL the prayers that were said on his behalf. I think half the state of Oklahoma has prayed for Kevin through each step of this process and it obviously made a difference. So thank you!