My mom, Marquita Sutton

My mom Monday evening had her 4 grand kids. She actually had watched Jaycee and Jackson Friday and Saturday. Then on Sunday she got Kiley and Keely for a few days before they start school on August 25th. Monday, she had taken Kiley and Keely to Duncan to do a few things. She called when they were leaving and asked if Jaycee wanted to come to her house to play with the girls and to stay the night. Well, of course Jaycee said YES! She kept looking out the window asking where is Mam Mam? Anyways, mom arrived and they came into the house. Well, immediately the house was filled with screams and laughter. Jackson crawled up in mom's lap and said Mam Mam Go! So he thought he needed to go as well. So mom said okay we will take him. Earlier I told Jaycee that Jackson wasn't going it was just going to be a girls night at Mam Mam's. When Jaycee discovered Jackson was going she wasn't too happy! I told her he would go for a few hours and then either mommy would come get him or Paw Paw would bring him home. She was okay then. Mom and her 4 grand kids loaded up in the pick-up and off they went! Dad did bring Jackson back in a few hours.

Then yesterday, mom made a big lunch for us all. We had brisket, green beans, macaroni, sweet potatoes, corn bread, and strawberry spinach salad. Oh, Jaycee had mashed potatoes and chicken nuggets! Anyways, I asked how the night went with the girls. Come to find out right after dad left with Jackson, the 3 girls started playing in the mud! I guess Dad actually started it by allowing Jackson to play in the water. Well, the girls decided that wasn't enough and got in the mud in the back yard. Now, for all of you who haven't seen Oklahoma dirt its red clay not your typical dirt okay! Mom just sat back and let the girls have a ball in it. They rolled in, they threw it at each other, and just got nasty. I said Mom what were you thinking? You totally allow so much more work for yourself. She was like oh they were just having fun it was fine! I am thinking it definitely must be a grandma thing b/c there wasn't a chance that Amy and I would have EVER been allowed to do that. Maybe the reason behind that is b/c my mom made us wear those frilly itchy dresses all the time! When the girls decided they were done, mom laid out towels from her backdoor in her bedroom into her bathroom. Mom said Jaycee had a big pile of mud in her ear and she really didn't think they were ever going to get all the mud out of Keely's hair. I just can't even imagined what they looked like. I was bummed that she forgot to get her camera out and take pictures of them.

Bath time at Mam Mam's house is the best. Well, when Kiley and Keely are there. They take a bubble bath in mom's big tub. They will play for a good hour in there. Jaycee usually has to stay in until the very last bubble goes down the drain. After the bath, I guess Jaycee decided she wasn't ready to put her pj's on. So my mom allowed her to run around her house for 2 hours with no clothes! Mom said it was hilarious. I guess the girls had a big pillow fight in the living room. Well, actually I think it was more like Kiley and Keely throwing them at Jaycee. Jaycee loved every minute it. Also, they were trying to catch grapes in their mouths. Mom still can't find one of the grapes that landed up by her TV that is on a shelf above the fireplace.

I guess all that matters is that the girls had a great time together. My mom enjoyed every moment with her granddaughters. I am sure my dad was glad that peace and quiet was back in the house last night. Can you imagine 3 screaming girls?! What wonderful memories they made together and I am glad that they have those memories and that it wasn't at my house!

Rain, Rain, Go away come again another day!

This picture is to the North side of our house looking out our back patio.

As you can see we have a waterfall in our yard now!

This is the fenced in yard! You know the dogs are loving this right? Not a chance!

This is a wider view of the first picture!

This is the road in front of our house and all the water running into this culvert to make another waterfall for us!

The is to the North of our front yard!

This is the road in front of our house! Well, actually its totally covered by water at this point!

This is part of our back yard under water.

This is the other part! Looks like we have lots of lakes now!


I am so thrilled for the ample amount of rain we have received. BUT we are leaving in a week for Washington and we don't want to be welcomed by the jungle when we return. We have some lawns that NEED to be mowed.

We received 3 1/2 inches of rain yesterday. It stopped for a while and picked back up last night. Probably in that time we have received at least another inch of rain if not more.


Here are a few extras! The last is Zoe! We call her our Mexican Terrier now! We LOVE her short hair!

Rain, rain, and more rain!

I am most definitely NOT complaining. We were in desperate need of some good rain. With the rain it has brought much cooler temperatures. Byron even said yesterday, I am liking August so far. Usually, August is one of the hottest months in Oklahoma. This past week its been around 90 and think our high for this Thurs. is 79. So that's great!

This past Thursday night we had a pretty intense storm. The wind blew like crazy. Thankfully, our electricity stayed with us. It went out a couple of times but would come right back on. The only bad thing is when it storms our dish satellite goes out. So its difficult for us to know how bad things are. Thankfully, my parents still have their trusty antenna. So mom always calls to let us know what the weather man is saying. We have bought a Noah (SP?) but it doesn't work in our house. We think since the house is metal it won't allow radio frequencies. Because of the nasty storm my clock and timer on my stove no longer works! I discovered that when I made the kids cinnamon rolls on Friday morning and burned them! I had reset the stove clock and the microwave clock earlier that morning. Once I discovered I had burned the rolls I clicked the timer off. The clock on the stove was 15 mins. behind the microwave time. Everything else on the stove still works which is great and really that is all that matters!

Its rained most of the night. The radar shows that we could be getting a little storm here in bit. We are very thankful for the rain, but we hope this whole week isn't like this. We have way too many things that need to be done before we come to Washington. It will be one busy week preparing for our visit! We are stressed, but so excited! We know once we are there we will be able to relax and just enjoy being with our family and friends. Can't wait to see you all! Have a great day!

2 weeks left!

We are getting closer! I hope these 2 weeks go by fast! Then I hope our time in Washington goes very slow. The kids (especially Jaycee) is so excited to visit Nana and Papa's house. Lately, that is all she has talked about. Getting to play with Nana's toys, sleeping at Nana's house, and of course going to Birch Bay to find baby crabs. She is also getting very excited to meet her 2 new cousins Kathryn and Isaac. Nana sent pictures from Kathryn's birthday party to us. Those pictures are now with her stack of birthday cards. Everyday, more then once, we look at them. She is really ready to see Lukas and Evalin. She can say every one's names really well. It should be lots of fun.

So far our plans are Wed. evening we are having a BBQ at Caleb and Hannah's house for our old small group. We are so excited to see all of them. We really have missed our small group. It was such a great group up believers and we loved our weekly time with them. They have all become some really great friends of ours. Then Friday night, Josh and Susan are having the Nooksack gang over to their house. We look forward to that as well. As of right now the adults still have the upper hand. I think their are 14 of us and 12 of the kiddos. I hope my calculations are correct. I really hope we can get a picture of all the kids but I know it might be a great challenge. Amy and Bruce's daughter Bailey is the oldest. I believe she will be a 5th or 6th grader. The 11 remaining are 4 yrs and under! So it should be a wild and fun night! It will be great to see all of our friends there as well. We miss seeing everyone from up that way!

The weekend will be great family fun. Not sure what all the plans will be, but Aunt Ann and Aunt Gail are coming up to visit from Vancouver, WA. We are very grateful that they are willing to travel on Labor Day weekend to see the family. So we should have a grand time during the weekend with all of the cousins together.

The rest of the days we aren't sure what our plans will be but I am sure each day will be wonderful. We will make visits to several parks, maybe a little shopping, and whatever else we want to do. So I hope all of you in Washington are ready for us b/c we are all ready to see you! This time I am getting lots of pictures! I always say that and then I forget my camera or I take it and never get it out, but not this time! So everyone better be ready to smile for the camera! I need updated pictures to frame, hang on the fridge, and so forth!

Empty Me!

Lately, this has been my favorite song. Its the cry of my heart these days. I have done enough in the world that even though those things are fun for a season there is nothing everlasting about it. It just causes me to be a very selfish, prideful, and cold hearted person. God has just been really "at me" lately. I am so thankful for that. Even through all of my wrongs God's unconditional love is still there. I am so grateful to know that it will always be there. So this song gets me at my roots especially the chorus part. I totally want to be empty of myself and totally be filled with everything that God is!

This is Chris Sligh's song- Empty Me

I’ve had just enough
Of the spotlight when it burns bright
To see how it gets in the blood
I’ve tasted my share
Of the sweet life and the wild ride
And found a little is not quite enough
I know how I can stray
And how fast my heart could change

Chorus:
Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds onto
Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with You

I’ve seen just enough
Of the quick buys of the best lies
To know how prodigals can be drawn away
I know how I can stray
And how fast my heart could change

Chorus:

‘Cause everything is a lesser thing
‘Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to You, compared to You
Compared to You, so I surrender all

My walk with God has been a struggle for me. God is so breaking through all of the barriers that I have had. In my mind, its like I want everything that God is and if I can't have that then I am not sure what to do. In that statement, I mean to be the Proverbs 31 woman, to be everything to my family, to be this woman that is a prayer warrior, to have this most incredible relationship with God,etc. At times, its been so overwhelming to me. Which I know is not God. For me, its if I don't feel like I will be successful then I don't want any part of it. I have been reading the book Captivating and listening to a series on Walking in the fear of the Lord. God is truly ministering to my heart and breaking the religious mentality that I have had for so long, but wasn't willing to accept. The more I press in the more I hear God say, its your heart and its a relationship that I am after. Its not rules, its not what you should do,the appearance of you and so forth. Its just totally being in love with me, your Heavenly Father. Being at peace, with who He is and who He created me to be. I so desire to live at peace and know that all is well, all is well with my soul. That God is everything I need and so much more. I do feel I am at that point of wanting and desiring to be on a mountain top screaming at the top of my lungs my love for my Savior. Nothing will be right or settled in my life if my relationship with my Jesus isn't right. Yes, I know that there will be obstacles that I will face, but knowing that God is truly Lord of my life, my best friend, the lover of my soul, my rock, my refuge I know that He will see me through it all.

Walking in the fear of the Lord always through me for a loop. Obviously, I think well I am not suppose to "fear" God like I would fear walking through the woods at night, or an angry bear, or failure so what is it? The fear of the Lord, isn't well I shouldn't do that b/c God will strike me down by lightning. Because the bible says God didn't give me a spirit of fear, but of love, peace, and a sound mind. It comes down to my relationship. If I walk closely to God and worship Him for who He is then I will LOVE what He loves and HATE what He hates. That God will so consume my life that everything He is will be in me. Walking in His love is the greatest of all. To love people the way God loves them. So I am so thankful that God has been revealing Himself to me by opening my eyes and speaking to my heart. I so look forward now to my quiet times with Him. Its now out of my passion and love for Him and my relationship, not b/c as a Christian this is what I am suppose to do! I don't have to fret about who I am or worried about what others think or being accepted. God thinks the world of me, that He accepts me for who I am and loves everything about me, b/c He created me. My relationship and love for Him is what He desires most from me. B/c from that, He will work through me and use me for His purpose. AWE, what a refreshing thought, its none of me and its ALL OF HIM!

Hooray for Jaycee!

Here is an eating update on Jaycee. Monday night I had made corn dogs. Yes, corn dogs. I know that many of you out there are like kids and corn dogs go hand and hand. Well, Jaycee refused them. Once again we did the long drawn out process her not eating. Tuesday, she did eat some dry heart to heart cereal, but not much. I wouldn't let her have anything else. At lunch, we presented the corn dogs once again. She is one tough cookie and didn't cave at all. We had to make a trip to Duncan that evening. Byron took us through a drive-thru and we sat in the parking lot of Wal-Mart to eat. Jaycee was really excited until she realized that I brought the corn dog with us. After a little coaxing and a promised milkshake, she gave in. She ate the corn dog. Guess what, loves them now! Crazy girl! I was very thankful b/c going to Wal-Mart with a child that has an empty stomach just really doesn't go over well. After we were done she got her oreo milkshake. She finished the entire milkshake.

The greatest news is that today for lunch I made a casserole. It had taco meat, refried beans, tots, cream of cheddar cheese soup, and grated cheese. She sat down didn't say a word and ate! YAY! Byron and I were so proud of her. She is getting there. I really hope in about another week we will be doing great with it! When we all got sick around here, we backed off. None of us really wanted to eat so we made do and I did the easy stuff the kids really like to eat. I think if we stay consisted with it then her "routine" will change and she will accept it. So Hooray for our Jaycee!

Pictures from the past week!

PawPaw,JackBoy, and Keely

Mamaw, Jackson, and Keely

Jaycee and Kiley

JackBoy

Mamaw with her little handsome man and puddin'

What a tired little boy!

Our little man!

Look at that smile!

Sprinkler fun!

Watch out JackBoy!

Jackson's face!

Jaycee's turn!

That is one cute little girl!

All boy! He was so dirty when we got done!

Jaycee going through Monkey Business

Entering the maze part!

Ready to ride the roller coaster

First loop of many!

Gettin' her groove on!

Kyla and Jaycee 2-steppin' well sort of!

Jaycee and Jackson at their first Velma Parade!

Jaycee hard at work!

Byron's favorite part of the parade! Jackson loved the wheels!

Class of 1998- Not a great turn out,but we only had 43 in our class anyways!

Jackson "posing" for the camera!

3 weeks away!

Actually tomorrow we will be 3 weeks away from our arrival in Washington. Let me tell you we are so ready! The heat has been ridiculous. Yesterday on our drive to church @ 10:00 in the morning, our gauge in the car said it was already 100. Craziness! So its been pretty miserable. We don't dare take the kids outside in the afternoon. If you do you better have lots and lots of water to play in and to drink!

This weekend we had a lot of fun. Friday night after I put Jackson to bed, Jaycee and I went to the Velma Picnic. Its not really that exciting, but they have carnival rides. Jaycee was very excited to go. She road on the mini roller coaster. She was probably on it for a good 15 mins. The worker of the roller coaster would stop it and ask the kids if anyone wanted to get off. If they said yes he would get them off and if they said no they would stay on. So Jaycee kept riding on that thing. The only other thing Jaycee wanted to do was called Monkey Business. Its an obstacle course. You go through punching bags, then through a monkey barrel, into a pit of balls. After that you claim up a rope bridge, walk over a swaying bridge, then into a maze and then down a covered slide to the end. I think she did it 7 times. She wasn't interested any anything else! They also have a live band playing country music with a dance floor (concrete area in front of the band stand). She wanted to dance. She would get out there and sway back and forth. She was pretty excited when a long distance relative, came and asked her to dance. Kyla will be a senior this year at Velma. She took Jaycee to the middle of the dance floor and tried to 2 step dance with her. Jaycee absolutely loved it and now has a new friend! We left there around 11 that night. The temperature was probably 95 at that point!

Saturday morning was the Velma Parade. We met my parents and watched the parade. Jaycee worked extremely hard to make sure her Wal-Mart sack was full of candy. Jackson had his serious face on the whole time trying to understand what was happening. He got a little worried at the beginning when the fire trucks set off their sirens right in front of us. He really enjoyed the horses that rode through the parade. Yes, it was hot. Both kids were red faced and sweaty. Jaycee's hair was glistening beautifully in the sun with sweat!

After the parade, we met with my classmates for lunch at the school. I can't believe its been 10 years already. It was fun to see all of our kids play together. Jaycee and Jackson did very well. They were excited to run around in an air conditioned building! I was a little disappointed b/c a few of my classmates that I really wanted to see didn't show. It was a little weird at first seeing people after 10 years, but it was okay. Our class wasn't the closest class in the world so there was still that tension there. I know we all have gotten older but the memories you have of each classmate is 10 years ago. So in your mind that is how you view that person/people. I know I tried to go in with an open mind knowing that people can change, but not so much in this case. The partying crowd in high school is still the partying crowd now. Everyone after about 5 mins. went back to their comfort zones from high school. It was still nice to see everyone and "catch up" on their lives.

Saturday evening, my mom came up and watched the kids. We went to dinner at the ChuckWagon with my class again. After that we went to the Velma Picnic. Byron hasn't ever been and pretty sure he won't go back. There isn't much to do, but for me I enjoyed seeing people that I hadn't seen in a long time. I saw a couple of my classmates that hadn't made an appearance at any of our gatherings that weekend. They actually were in the Velma rodeo so they weren't able to come. We visited with them for quite a while. We also chatted with different teachers I had throughout my years in school, and with people I went to school with but didn't graduate with. That part was nice, but nothing that I think we will mark on the calendar for next year. Well, except the parade. Next year the kids will probably ride in it. Next year it will probably will be on mom and dad's 4-wheeler. Hopefully in a couple of years the kids will be able to ride mom and dad's horses in it!

Yesterday after we got home from church it was a total relaxation day. Both kids went to sleep on the drive home. We carried them in and put them down to finish their naps. Both slept for probably 3 hours if not longer. Byron and I ate lunch in peace and then took a nap ourselves. The rest of the day we lounged around the house. It was a great day!