Farm Fun!

Our trio took a trip out to the farm this Sunday. It was sort of a spur of the moment trip on Hal and I's part. It ended up being a lot of fun but my initial motive was to have some built in rest time in the car. Let me explain.....

Sunday was my longest training run yet. I won't even go into my feelings about said run but just know that I had convinced myself and then reconvinced myself that I was DONE training when the weekend began. I had a horribly stinky attitude about the 12 mile run on the training calendar. How is it possible to be so angry at a piece of paper on the fridge? Well all I know is that I've wanted to rip it off and burn it numerous times in the past two weeks. With some much needed encouragement from my better half I ended up headed out for the run (without my usual running partners) with determination and vigor. This eventually turned into me wanting to collapse around mile 10. There's this problem I have with my Runkeeper app....the lady on there keeps reminding me of my pace and it doesn't take long until I feel like I'm competing with her (or myself, I guess)....but either way when I'm running alone I always end up forgetting the whole concept of pacing myself. By mile ten I'd hobbled into the door and tiptoed to the fridge since Riley and Hallie were sleeping. I downed a bottle of Gatorade and then realized that was a bad idea as it wanted to come right back up. I inhaled an orange, stood at the counter doing some soul searching, told myself I was a big fat pansy and found myself running out the door to finish the last two miles. Training guilt is such a cruel MONSTER!!! When I finished and finally did collapse on the garage floor to stretch I thought how nice it would be to have a few minutes of silence to rest. Nope. Out the door runs a rested, rambunctious and energized Lil Red. Oh no. My body was screaming "noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that munchkin supposed to nap a lil longer?!?!?!" The only muscles that were capable of functioning were my eye muscles. Oh good....I could watch her start a fire but wouldn't be able to get up off the couch and rescue her. Ha! Ok, I kid. But when Riley mentioned a couple minutes later that he was going to drive his blue truck out to store in Papa's new building I immediately suggested that Hallie and I follow him and give him a ride back to town. YES! Sitting. All I needed was a bit of ankle motion and my hands resting on the wheel. I'll take it!!!! 

When we pulled up and got out to walk toward Papa's new farm building I noticed that Hallie was looking a little strange. Watery eyes, red cheeks and an unusual frown on her pretty face. But all of my concern was thrown to the wind when she lit up after spotting Papa. Riley and Bill spent a good fifteen minutes discussing what angle they should park their trucks. I kid you not. 

"How bout a 45 degree angle, babe?"

"Does it really matter dada?"

While the guys made the tough decisions Hal and I were reminded of the baby pot belly piggies down along the fence. Did someone say baby pigs??? Ok, WE. ARE. THERE!

The six piggies were squealing and snorting as we walked up which meant that Hal suddenly wasn't so hip on the idea of getting close to them....

"snort" "oink" "squeal"

"No offense guys but I think I'll just stay back here and talk to ya."

The important truck parking angle decisions had been made (whew) so next we set our sights on something even more fun than pigs. It was time for Hal's first go round on the tractor. Her usual timidness about loud objects mixed with the fact that she was starting to get sick made for a very unsure countenance....

"Has Papa had the proper training on that thing?"

"Ok, so he's a good driver...but tell me why I would want to ride it...."

"How bout I just ride it next time we come to the farm??"

Papa and Hallie hopped up on it before she could say no and got to driving.....

She steered for part of the ride and waved at me proudly. I've got to be honest and say that I'm surprised it didn't end in tears and screams because of the loud noise. I guess she's a farm chick after all! After we said goodbye to Papa we drove across the street to pop in and say hi to grandma Ida whom Hal has named "Meme." I find it slightly ironic considering she already has two meme's in her life....Emmi is "Meme" to her and grandma Detrixhe is "Meme" as well. I'm okay with three special Meme's if she is! Hal played the piano and went on a hunt for her regular toys that she plays with out there. It was cute to see her ask Ida where the tractor toy and bunny were. Ida was as happy as could be watching her play around.....

It became apparent that something just wasn't quite right with our girl after she began banging at the door to leave and hurried to the car and crawled up in her carseat to sit perfectly still. This doesn't happen. Despite ending the day on a yucky note with a fever and feeling crummy, I'd say that we had a great trip out to the farm.

Daddy's Cowgirl

Are you sitting down? Ok, good. I'm about to share something shocking. 

I, Ashley Diane Fanning, suggested a trip to Stillwater for homecoming. 

That sentence sounds so weird. 

I kid, I kid. Well, kinda. To tell the truth I had a great weekend and was happy to be able to share some of Riley and I's history with our girl. It was rather odd though to be packing her bag full of orange and black. For me it wasn't about the game or the team of course....it was about spending some time with family and friends and eating yummy food! Speaking of food, Hal started digging in the minute we pulled up at Nanny and Papa's campsite on Friday evening....

Pre-dinner snack

Kylie met up with us at the camper and someone was excited to see her....

The six of us headed down the road from the campsite to one of Riley and I's favorite places to eat. El Vaquero! It'd been quite some time since I'd delighted in their chips and queso! Far too long. Hal sort of enjoyed her time there. Ok actually, she was a cranky little turd but I've sort of blocked that out....

Dinner was sort of a blur as I struggled to keep her occupied and happy while trying to scarf down my food and keep her from making a two-year-old scene. She did however enjoy being serenaded by these talented fellas....

We then made our way to Kylie's house and left from there to trek down to the walkaround. Me being the only one sans orange I thought it appropriate to snap a shot of the orange and black crew....

Walkaround was crazy and busy and loud and fun all in one. Hallie was a bit overwhelmed by it all and spent a lot of time trying to decide whether she wanted to ride in the stroller or jump ship and run around or let me lug her around while I tried to walk in heels. Note to self: don't wear heals to walkaround. ;)

It brought back a lot of memories walking around campus. I only spent one semester at OSU and despite not having the best time while I was there I do have many hilarious and wonderful memories from my first semester of college life. Riley and I were in the same dorm building and didn't even know it....

This sweet little gal was in awe of all the pomping efforts and amazing displays...

The weather was perfect for the evening and we walked around for quite a while....

I wanted to make sure we swung by the library fountain before we headed to Iba but alas, it was a bit too dark outside for Hal to see the orange water....

We made a last minute decision to all head over to the Hoops and Homecoming event. I thought "what the heck? may as well try." I must mention that Nanny is the official stroller pusher. Nobody else is qualified in Hal's eyes. We tried to fool her a few times while she wasn't paying attention but always got caught by that sly little gal. 

"Nanny push! No Ky! No momma!"

She was so grown up while walking in holding my hand and just taking in all of her surroundings...

She crawled right on up and took her seat....

The clapping didn't take long to get started. She sat quietly and began to cheer like all of the rowdy greeks that she could spot down below.....

She lasted about thirty minutes running back and forth from lap to lap down the row while managing to moon quite a few people along the way....

"Nanny, this is blowing my mind."

Bed time creeped up on us and our family of three headed back toward Kylie's house....

Kylie opened up her guest room to us and Hal slept in her pack'n'play right beside our bed. Nanny and Papa headed back out to their camper for the evening after she whipped up something for breakfast in the morning. Nobody stirred until 7:30 when my alarm sounded. I got up and ready quickly knowing that we would be pushing it to make it to the parade early that morning. Luckily everyone else was moving around fast too and we made it to the parade in time to see a large portion of it. An OSU fan I am not, however I must admit that it was an awesome parade. It was pretty chilly that morning but Hal was armed with her cute new warm outfit and a blanky....

Hal and Nanny sat along the curb and fought the sun to see all of the action going on in front of them....

Hal hollered out to the "cows" aka horses that trotted by, she cheered and clapped for the cheerleaders and dancers and just had a great ol' time....

The Fanning crew 

We walked the few blocks back to Kylie's house, ate a delicious breakfast of french toast casserole prepared by Nanny and then parted ways with the game goers. Nanny headed off to Tulsa to see Grandma Vice while Kylie and the guys walked across the street to the stadium. Did I mention that she couldn't have a more prime spot for gameday. Check out the view from her front yard....

While the game started Hallie and I drove over to Boomer Lake for an attempt at a relaxing afternoon walk. Our walk turned into an inevitable playdate on the playground but either way we were outside in the gorgeous weather so I was in heaven. Riley and I spent many a Sunday picnicking and going on long runs out at Boomer when I would visit him on weekends. I couldn't wait to introduce Hallie to such a pretty place...

Here's where things got very entertaining. I watched as Hal instantly made friends with two young girls at the park and imitated their every move. I didn't even mind that she shooed me away when I came to take a picture of her and the silly girls who were telling her how to pose and what slide to go down and so on.....

I am constantly in awe of how big she is getting and how much she is learning....

She was a tad bummed when I took her from the swing (and her new BFF) but I have a feeling that we would've kept swinging until the cows came home. I wanted to take her on a short little stroll to see the ducks...

"So embarrassing mom!!!"

Well she sure showed me.....

"Take that mom! I wanna go back to the swings!"

It was almost halftime when we arrived at our next highly anticipated destination. We drove out to Kyser's aunt Judy's beautiful home. Two weeks in a row with my best friend from Arkansas??? Is this real life? We were beyond ready for the two munchkins to meet up and we showed up just in time to watch Adalyn get her orange and black gear on. Hallie and Hadyn looked on as she got dolled up...

Her daddy was probably none to thrilled to see her dressed in cowboy gear instead of Arkansas red but she did look mighty cute....

Hallie and Hadyn were on picture duty that afternoon....

The boy took some pretty awesome shots, dontcha think??

I'm just in love with this picture!!!

Hadyn went on a shooting spree!

Pam spent some time playing with the girls on the floor while I snapped pics of the red-headed ladies....

Hal sleepily snacked away to distract herself from the fact that she was downright exhausted from all the busyness that'd been going on....

"So sleepy...I mean hungry, yes hungry."

We hated to leave but it was time to head back to Kylie's for a quick nap before the game ended. My timing was a bit off because we barely missed seeing my good friend Tessa who showed up right after we pulled away. Hal obliged and let me take one last pic of her while we were there in Judy's beautiful yard...

Hal fell asleep in the car and stayed that way as I carried her in to lay down for a snooze. Kylie came in a few minutes later and headed off to meet a friend while I waited for the guys to walk back over after the game. Riley and I ventured over to David and Lisa's tailgate across campus while Hallie kept on napping. Riley dropped me off and went back to wake up sleeping beauty while I soaked up the sun and relaxation time while scarfing down a chili dog that was delish while catching up with Lisa and Cristen. Cayden was the perfect high energy playmate for Lil Red once she finally arrived. Cayden taught her a number of impressive gymnastics moves which Hal tried her best to imitate. Hilarious! She had a lot of us laughing our booties off!! That moment went in my book of funny Hal moments I'll never forget....

The girls were adorable together and despite the age difference they really take to eachother. Very, very sweet!

Can't forget about the third gymnastics girl!!!

Impressive Aunt Lis!

We spent the rest of the evening hanging at the tailgate until around 6:00 when it was time to hit the road. Of course my camera was busy clicking away. Uncle Dave made sure that Hal had plenty of hotdogs for dinner hot off the grill....

The weekend proved yet again just how amazing our family and friends are and how much support, love and fun they provide to our lives! Blessed, blessed blessed!!!! We survived our first family weekend in Stillwater...next up....NORMAN!!! Yeah right, I'll drag Riley down there when pigs fly! ;)