Giving Thanks...Better Late Than Never

You know when life just gets really slow and boring and there's really not a lot to talk about? Well, that's what has happened to me...thus the reason for no blog updates lately. Just nothing to talk about.

Not buying it? I wouldn't either.

Let's get caught up, shall we? Is it sad I had to look through my camera just to remember what all has happened lately? What a blur...and not because copious amounts of wine were involved.

We spent Thanksgiving in Oklahoma this year and it was wonderful. Brad and I are going to try this thing were we actually enjoy the holidays with our families. This means slowing down and not driving to six different locations throughout Oklahoma and Texas. It'll be a tradeoff each year. So far, I think it's a great plan.

Back to Thanksgiving...time for pictures!

My lovely mother in law and darling sister in law

(Don't we look cute in our gray and black?)

Making Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

(don't mind that pitcher of mimosas sitting there)

My Handsome Helper

Time to eat!

Let's not forget the "kiddie" table

Stella was in the giving spirit. She was giving Charley hell when it came to sharing toys.

The Aftermath of Thanksgiving Dinner

The following Saturday was BEDLAM! And we were pumped. This was a huge game for both OSU and OU and there was only one way to get the day started off right...Orange Pancakes. If you haven't had them, you're missing out. They are a staple in the Bingham household on gameday. That and mimosas...we had to keep the orange theme going.

Fellow tailgaters heading north on I35

We got lucky this year for Bedlam and had a night game. Which meant an entire day full of tailgating.

Brats, burgers, chicken...she did it all. Delish!

A little Jenga action...always entertaining.

Let's take a moment to stop and look at that last picture once more. You may notice this:

I have no words.

The game was certainly exciting but the outcome was not exactly what we were hoping for...so we're going to skip that part.

The following morning we met my parents and grandparents for a beautiful (and tasty) brunch at Bellini's in Oklahoma City.

From left: Baby Liam, Hailey, Grandmother, Granddad, Carmen, Dad, Brad, me, Mom, and Riley

We spent the afternoon catching up with my grandparents, Dad, and Carmen before hitting the road back Dallas. We had a big Monday ahead of us. The day had finally arrived and we were closing on our new house. After 98 days in hotels, we were about to be in our very own place...

TheLaska....Part Three

Time to wrap up our amazing trip to Alaska...

5/15/2006

I'm back on a plane leaving the greatest trip ever! My days are all mixed up because we haven't actually slept yet (except for a few minutes on the flight from Anchorage to LA) plus we had a pretty busy day yesterday. Scott and Mindi made us eggs and french toast for breakfast then we packed up lunches and drove out to some "moderate" hiking trail. Moderate according to whom? It ended up being somewhat difficult and we might have made it to the top if it weren't for the 30 pound bag we were lugging and the mosquitos that were the size of small birds! Instead, we hiked back down and had a picnic at Kincaid Park with Mt. McKinley as our backdrop. We did a little more hiking and called it a day.

Since it was Mother's Day we figured we'd better find something good for our moms so we went shopping in downtown Anchorage. We found some great souvenirs and cute gifts then made our way back to the house.

After getting cleaned up and resting a bit, we all started dinner. It turned out to be delicious!! Grilled salmon, corn on the cob, a tasty salad - yum! We played CatchPhrase before heading to the airport for our flight that left at midnight. I wish we could have stayed a few more days but now it's time to start thinking about my next adventures. Moving, the big interview, the cruise, and then Italy! I'll worry about catching up on sleep later.

Goodbye, Alaska!

**I think if I could re-live any month of my life (with the exception of the month I married Brad, I would do that over in a heartbeat) the month we went to Alaska would have to be it. Not only was our trip to Alaska incredible, but three days after that I went on a cruise through the Caribbean with my dad, stepmom, and sister for a week. THEN a few days after that vacation I flew to Italy for a couple of weeks with my mom's side of the family. May of 2006 was certainly a whirlwind adventure filled with wonderful memories....if only I'd started blogging earlier.

TheLaska...Part Two

Back to our Alaskan Adventure....if you didn't read the post yesterday you may find yourself a tad lost, so get on it.

5/14/2006

Where to start?! The past two days are days I hope I NEVER forget. We got up Thursday morning, ate a little breakfast, and drove about an hour and half to Talkeetna. It was this tiny little town with no more than five or six streets. We went to Talkeetna Air Travel (or something close) and they told us we could go ahead and go on up. So Brad, Stephanie, Scott, myself, and another couple get in this seven passenger plane with our pilot, Bill. We finally take off and the first part of the flight we were flying over Musket (I think) and we could spot a few houses. There were three rivers that came down from the glacier we were headed towards. There were just enough clouds out so we could just barely make out Mount McKinley but other than that it was gorgeous!

When we arrived at the base of the mountain the snow was pure white and every so often we could see glacial pools that were electric blue. They didn't even look real! I didn't really grasp how big this glacier was and how high we were until Bill pointed out these climbers who were camping out in the middle of the glacier. They looked like ants, no - smaller. The crevices that looked like divets in the snow were actually one hundred or more feet deep!

We landed on the glacier and were able to get out and walk around. I still can't comprehend the magnitude of this thing. What looked like one mile away was actually five. We took some pictures and got back in our plane. I sat in the back on the way home so I could see out both sides. Just stunning.

The plane got stuck in the snow

After our plane ride, we found a local pizza place, ate dinner and headed on back. Scott, Brad's uncle, ended up having to work at the hospital so we just came back and crashed (which was good since I woke up at 5:45 am the next morning).

Our third day was again, incredible. The four of us (Brad, Stephanie, Scott, and myself) drove to Seward, which was about a two hour drive through the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen! Mountains covered in snow, lakes that looked like mirrors; it truly looked like something out of a movie. When we got to Seward, the first thing we did was visit The Alaskan Sea Life Center. We saw sea lions, fish, giant crabs, puffin birds, and a lot of other interesting creatures.

After The Sea Life Center, we headed over to the Kenai Fjords Tours to check in and look at all of the boats. The town had about 3,000 people; it just seemed like this perfect little fishing village. We started out our trip sitting on the top deck at the back of the boat. It didn't take long for us to get inside to thaw out. The first part of the trip was relatively uneventful. The scenery was incredible but all we really saw were a few mountain goats. The boat dropped everyone off for lunch at a cabin on Fox Island. We had a really great salmon meal then walked around the beach.

After getting back on the boat, things got exciting! We joked all day about wanting to see whales not thinking it would actually happen. From what we were told, it was too early in the season for that. First we saw several doll porpoises but that was nothing compared to the pod of orca we saw swimming in a cove. The captain stopped the boat and we watched the pod for a while. A few minutes later two humpback whales came along, too! We had whales to the left, right AND in front of us. Then one of the humpbacks jumps out of the water like he knew we were there and he wanted to put on a show. It was unbelievable! Something you'd only see on the Discovery Channel.

A little later we saw a large group of sea lions all laying out on a big rock. They didn't even seem real. We saw two or three big groups of sea lions throughout the ride. On the way back to Seward, there were a few more mountain goats, several bald eagles, and a couple glaciers. When we were pulling into the harbor, a large sea lion that had a big fish in its mouth was taunting all of the seagulls. He'd jump out of the water and fling the fish around while the seagulls were dive bombing him to get a piece. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

Oh! I completely forgot what kicked the whole day off! We woke up to a moose wandering around the backyard! It was awesome! I'm out there in my pajamas, a towel on my head at 6:15 in the morning taking pictures of a moose. He ended up jumping the fence and went strolling down the middle of the street. We knew it was going to be the best day after that and it was.

Unfortunately, Scott got called back into work so after dinner we went to the hospital to take him some spaghetti. He let us sit in the helicopter he flies which was amazing. By the end of the evening, we were spent. We went back to the house and crashed...again.

Another Bingham Adventure......Before I WAS a Bingham

I've had this backpack that has moved from place to place with me ever since I left college. It was the backpack I used my junior and senior year but once I moved to Dallas, it rarely got used. And yet I still tote it around from place to place. Two apartments in Dallas, our first house, two apartments in Germany, hotel in Germany, hotel in Dallas, now our corporate apartment and soon to be our fabulous new townhouse.

I finally decided to dig through it and here is what I found: a shopping guide to Italy, a lint roller, a picture of Brad when he played baseball at Northeast, a notebook I took on my New York and Chicago trip in 2005, a fruit roll up, and the best part - a mini journal from our trip to Alaska.

Brad and I graduated in May of 2006. A few days following graduation, the two of us as well as Stephanie and her boyfriend (at the time) hopped on a plane for Alaska to visit their Uncle Scott that lived in Anchorage. It was one of the most incredible trips we've ever been on (and we've been to some pretty fantastic places) and I love that I thought to jot some memories down. I figured I'd post what I wrote on those pieces of copy paper for all of you to read. This was Jen, pre-blog days:

5/11/2006

Well, we're here! The trip wasn't the most exciting since Brad and I were stuck in the emergency aisle with only two seats for both of us to "sleep" in; not to mention we were there for FIVE hours! But it is going to be more than worth it! Not sure what all we're going to do yet but possibly a trip to the zoo, maybe Mount McKinley, a boat ride, and who knows what else? We'll see.......

5/12/2006

Yesterday was amazing! We got up and had brunch at a local cafe' where we met Mindi (Scott's girlfriend). Then Scott drove us around town and we went to a neighborhood area that overlooks the whole town. We could see mountains in every direction and the ocean in the distance. Since we might not get to see much wildlife we took a trip to the zoo. Then we drove along this windy road to a town where people can ski when the snow is good. We had nachos and hot chocolate at Chair 5 Lodge. The locals are all really nice!

From here we drove a little further where we took a one-way tunnel into Whittier. It was this small fishing town with nothing but boats and a few local bars. Of course we stopped and had a few of the Alaskan brewed beers. :) Delicious! Since the tunnel was about to close we headed back towards Anchorage. Along the windy road we saw about twenty bald eagles fishing. It was incredible!

We met Mindi and her friend from high school at this really great sushi place. I think we ordered just about everything they had on the menu. I tried cold sake for the first time - it was actually pretty good. It's crazy here because the sun doesn't completely go down until about midnight. We left the sushi place at 9:00 pm and the sun was still high in the sky. Crazy. But we rented a movie, got ice cream and called it a day. But tomorrow should be even more incredible!

**Ok, so it appears I was about as long winded in my writing at 21 as I am now. Soooo, as not to bore you with a ridiculously long post, we'll break this up. Stay tuned for the rest of our Alaskan Adventure.

Trick-Or-Treat!

"Bing-bong, yeah it's me, just give me the candy."

Part of me feels like I'm getting old - I was more excited this year about staying in and just passing out candy to kiddos than getting crazy. However, I'm clearly still a kid at heart - I guess you could say I don't hate costumes (pretty much anything with a theme and I'm in) and I'm like a 5 year old when it comes to candy. I have no self-control.

This year we spent the evening with our dear friends, Micah and Aaron, up in Oklahoma....I mean North Frisco, but same thing, right? We grilled burgers, drank wine, passed out candy and watched the (unbelievably disappointing) Rangers game.

Micah and Aaron just became the proud parents to this little cutie. She's an 11 week old Italian Greyhound named Lily. I'm going to guess she weighs 2 pounds...about 54 pounds less than Miss Stella, but wouldn't you know they became the best of friends.

After a few strange looks from the mothers in the neighborhood, Micah and I decided to nix the wine glasses and switch to plastic Rangers cups. Too bad it didn't bring them good luck.

The game may not have had a good outcome but our Halloween certainly did. I say that now but when the 12 candy bars I ate last night catches up with me, I'll be singing a different tune.

I hope all of you had a very Happy Halloween, too!

The Latest Happenings

Yea, yea, yea - I know, it’s been too long. What’s sad is I really have no excuse. I think I had it in my mind that I would really get moving on my blog once I learned a little more about my new computer. We paid for this “One-On-One” training thing at the Apple store....I just haven’t started yet. No reason. Just haven’t done it.

So what have I been doing? Hmmm. Well, let’s see....I suppose the most exciting thing to happen in recent events was the purchase of our new home! Now I’m really kicking myself for not keeping up with the blog the past few weeks. The sequence of events leading up to that was just mind boggling. Let’s retrace our steps:

1. Discover that we’re moving back to Dallas 2 years too early. Decide we should buy a house. Start working with a realtor.
2. Determine that we’d rather travel our little hearts out and rent an apartment for a year or so.
3. Move from Germany to Dallas and live in a hotel for a month and a half.
4. Pass by some beautiful townhomes and write down the website. Learn they are much more affordable than expected.
5. Decide that we’re crazy and squash that idea.
6. Drive by beautiful townhomes with Mom and walk through the model home just for kicks. Immediately fall in love.
7. Take Brad back for a look....he falls in love. Only problem - our balcony will back up to our neighbors giving each party a clear view into the other’s house.
8. Squash the townhome idea for a second time.
9. Spend all of Columbus Day looking at apartments. No luck.
10. Brad gets a half day the following day so more apartment shopping. Narrow it down to two....but can’t make a decision.
11. Make my pro/con list (because we all know I’m about as type A as they come) - still can’t make a decision. Both apartments waiting for our phone call to firm up the lease.
12. Phone rings. It’s the agent for the townhouse. She convinced she’s got the perfect place for us with no balcony issues...so we go for a visit.
13. Two days later we’re signing a contract and the house is ours!

Our families think we’re crazy because everyday for about three weeks we had a different story about where we’d be living. But I think in the end, EVERYONE is happy. Brad, who over-analyzes every tiny detail about our finances (which I love) is more than certain we’ve made the right decision.....so I am too. We move in the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Brad doesn’t know this yet but we’ll be moving in to the sound of Christmas music. It’ll be the greatest day ever.

I’m counting down the days until we’re in our own place and sleeping in our own bed on our own pillows. (Did you know I've been living out of a suitcase and sleeping in a bed that wasn't mine for 64 days now? But who's counting?) Fortunately, we were able to move out of the hotel and into a corporate apartment for the time being. It’s small but much better than living in a hotel room. That was only great for about a week; I have no problem making my own breakfast so the hotel life wasn’t really worth it. HOWEVER, since we stayed there for 43 days I’m already a Gold Level Starwood Member which means our trip to Sonoma in the Spring may be covered...well, the hotel part of it anyway. Be jealous.

Ok, enough about our living situation. I’m even bored with it. What else has been going on? Well, Brad’s best bud, Josh Mueggenborg, got married in Oklahoma City (Yukon, to be exact) on October 16th. The bachelor party was the weekend before so Brad has had his fair share of travel across the Red River these past few weeks.

We took our cousin, Aaron, with us to the OSU Homecoming game last weekend. It was my first time back since the big surprise last year and Brad’s first time back since the Bedlam game in 2008. We gave Aaron the tour of campus and even got him wearing orange for the game. This was quite a feat as he's grown up in a family of die-hard OU fans. I think he looks good in orange, don’t you?

Stella is loving living in Dallas. She has grandparents that adore her and spoil her rotten. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when we have an actual child. This is just hilarious. She has spent quite a bit of time at my mom and Riley’s house where she gets to run and run and run to her hearts desire and Riley sneaks her cheese every chance he gets. She’s also made two trips to Oklahoma to my in-laws house; of the 30 stuffed toys she had for their beagle to play with - only 2 have any stuffing left. One word....rotten. But I love her.

For the most part, Brad and I are acclimated to being back. However, I still find myself wanting to call Walmart and Walgreens, Valmart and Valgreens. I still have Euro change in my wallet (or vallet) and I don’t see myself taking it out any time soon. I’ll occasionally say “danke schoen” to a cashier without realizing it. And I get frustrated when driving on the highway that semi-trucks are allowed in the left-hand lane....and that I can’t go as fast as I want.

I’m not going to lie, I have had moments where I wonder why on earth we ever had to leave Germany and that I’d give anything to just hit the rewind button. But all in all, it has been great moving back. I can’t tell you how excited I am to move into our new place. And I love that we get to see our friends and family as much as we do. (Peeps in Germany - don’t think we don’t miss you.) The only missing puzzle piece is where I’ll be working but I have faith that’s going to work out, as well.

Ok, my goal is to actually go to my “One-On-One” training at the Apple store and potentially revamp my whole blog....or at least post more than once a month. Baby steps, right?

Until next time....

Who Says You Can't Go Home Again?

Today is two weeks since we arrived "home" from Germany. While we continue to miss so much about our former home, I must say it has been wonderful to be back with our friends and family here. Saying goodbye to friends and the life that we had truly come to love in Deutschland was beyond difficult but we're looking forward to this new chapter in our lives.

We're getting back into the swing of things. Brad went back to work on Monday and is getting settled into his new position as Project Manager. We're on the search for a new place to live (I'm over living in a hotel) and I'll hopefully be going back to work soon....just not sure where.

But the best part has been catching up with friends and family! My mother-in-law and father-in-law drove down from OKC to pick us up at the airport when we arrived and we were able to spend the next couple of days with them. (My sweet Grandma and Grandpa were there to greet us, as well, with a bag FULL of Central Market goodies. Love them!) We've already had three family dinners with The Gonzales' Family, two cookouts with the newly married Evans' family, a shopping day with my girl, Amy, a weekend with my little sis and darling nephew, dinner with friends in Uptown (Stella even got to come), and Brad's back on his softball team with his buddies. We're just picking up where we left off....except now Stella's included in the majority of our activities.

Speaking of the pup - our first weekend back we made a trip out to Bridgeport to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa. It was Stella's first trip to the lake and she had a blast!

Hailey and Brooke

Little Miss Bella

Breathing it all in

We found three of these spiders...Grandpa assured us they aren't poisonous. Ewww.

Stella had more fun watching everybody from upstairs. Silly puppy.

The Little Man - Liam

Liam made for a lovely centerpiece

Grandpa, Grandma and their baby Bella

In other news, my car arrived on Friday which was a nice surprise. It came about two weeks earlier than we expected so we're wondering if the rest of our household items will arrive early, too. In which case, we need to find a place to live!

But for the time being, we'll be spending the majority of our time in a hotel. I don't think Stella minds....

Making herself right at home

So all in all, it's been great getting back. It'll be even better when I finally get to see my Mom and Riley and my Dad and Carmen. Oh, and one more thing - when we finally make it to Stillwater for a little OSU football! Go Cowboys!!