catching up

i am sitting in a dark hotel room while levi is sleeping. jason had a work thing and wanted me to come along. great for the drive! not so much now that he's in his meeting and levi and i are in the hotel room. anyway...its been a while since i've blogged. we had a great holiday season. we spent thanksgiving in tulsa with jason's family. we celebrated christmas in st. louis with my family. it was great to be home and always fun for the family to enjoy time with levi. our christmas trip was busy and short...but we had a great time. this was levi's first christmas...he didn't really get into it like i thought he would...but i think next year he will. we got back to our house the day after christmas. we flew into tulsa, did christmas with jason's parents and then drove the 3 hours home to lawton. during all of that traveling, levi was a trooper. we were home for 3 days, and then back on the road. we spent new year's in tulsa and saturday morning, i received the call that my grandmother had passed away. i knew the call was coming, it was just a matter of time. while i'm sad that she's gone, it brings great comfort knowing that she's in heaven now, rejoicing with Jesus. we headed back to lawton sunday night and then flew back to st. louis tuesday. the visitation was tuesday night, and the funeral was wednesday. we flew back to lawton thursday and now we're an hour and a half from home in lone dell, oklahoma. i'm so ready to be back home...for good. its taken a toll on levi. he's cutting his molars and just hasn't been himself since new year's. he's cranky, feverish, and just overall miserable. our happy, talkative baby is now whiny, grumpy and unhappy. i hate seeing him like this and i'm praying its over soon. 

Christmas at home

my family

Christmas eve with my grandma

Christmas Day 2011

busted

for a long time, levi was really good about not messing with rudy's food and water. just recently it has become a problem...he's always sneaking over there and messing with one bowl or the other. i've had to pull dog food out of his mouth a few times and i'm constantly washing his hands. this particular day...he didn't know i was in the room...

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day. I am thankful for the men and women who have served our country and for those who are serving today. Jason is now out of the Army, but I am thankful for the time he served. He served a total of 11 years and did 2 tours in Iraq. While the military life wasn't always easy, I miss it. I'm proud to be the wife of a US Army Veteran. 

CPT Giltzow and CH Glover in Iraq 

reunited after a year long deployment to Iraq

taken right after his promotion to CPT - December 2008

wordless wednesday

Halloween

this post is a little delayed...but here is the Halloween post. we had our friends over for dinner. chili...because that's what we have for dinner every year on Halloween. the point of Halloween this year was to dress Levi up in his adorable costume, walk to a few houses and take lots of pictures. he really had no idea what was going on. he was a trooper in his costume though...never messed with it or tried to take it off. all in all, it was a fun night, and the pictures are super cute! 

The Pumpkin Patch Round 2!!

Levi and I are currently in St. Louis, visiting my family. Sunday was a beautiful day and our family took advantage of the weather, along with everyone else in St. Louis, and went to the pumpkin patch. The difference between this pumpkin patch and then one we took Levi to in OKC was unbelievable. First of all, everything is green in St. Louis. And the pumpkin patch had an abundance of pumpkins and activities for the kids. And...it was FREE! Each activity had a small fee, but it didn't cost a dime to get in. We had a great time and all the kids had fun. 

Alyssa rode the train with Levi...she said he cried the whole time!

up on the tractor!

Uncle Brian was nice enough to tote Levi around for awhile

first pony ride...he loved it!

Alyssa, Haley, Levi and Sean

The Pumpkin Patch

Fall is my favorite time of year. And going to the pumpkin patch is the perfect fall activity. The pumpkin patch in Lawton isn't open this year because of the terrible drought we had this summer...so we I decided we would just go to the one in Oklahoma City. At first Jason wasn't super thrilled with the idea of driving an hour and a half to go to the pumpkin patch, but he decided to the make the best of it. We set off after lunch and it literally starting raining the second Jason put Levi in his car seat. Remember that the Lawton pumpkin patch isn't open because of the drought? It hasn't rained here in month...and it rains the one day we want to do something outside. We decided to chance it and go anyway. We took the scenic route and enjoyed a change of scenery from Lawton. We basically outran the rain, but you could tell it was coming. 

As soon as we got to the Orr Family Farm, we paid our admission and set out to make the most of our time there before the rain hit. We visited the animals and then took the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Levi was overwhelmed with everything but seemed to have a good time. Levi stood around and looked at all the pumpkins and then picked one up and then immediately threw it down. :) We snapped a few pics, grabbed a pumpkin, and then jumped back on the wagon to beat the rain. The rain started just as we got back to the main part of the farm. There were several other things I had hoped to do, but it didn't look like the rain was going to quit anytime soon. We visited the little store, bought some amazing apple butter and pumpkin butter and called it quits. I think we were there for a total of an hour, but it was fun and I'm glad we went. I thought it was pretty expensive to get it, but Jason said it best...Levi's face was totally worth the price of admission. 

Since we were in Oklahoma City and had driven 2 hours to get there, we decided to stay and find something else to do. Lawton lacks in restaurants...and really everything else. I looked up nearby restaurants and saw they had a Red Robin! Yum! After eating, we stopped at Academy so Jason could look at some hunting gear and then headed back home. Levi was a trooper, and slept most of the way home. All in all, it was a great day with the two guys I love most. I'm already looking forward to next year's trip to the pumpkin patch!