Oklahoma Wedding!

Whew!! 

Am I ever tired! The kids and I just returned from an Oklahoma wedding. Our cousin was married on Saturday about 8 hours away but we'd actually been gone since Tuesday night. My parents, a sister and two brothers came down earlier in the week to spend time with Mountain Man in southern Oklahoma. We drove down (5ish hours) Tuesday night to see all of them, Wednesday we spent the day with them and some other Oklahoma family there, Thursday we drove through pouring rain a few hours to the northeast corner of Oklahoma, Friday we had the rehearsal, Saturday was the wedding and Sunday we drove home. What a great week! Long and tiring but well worth it. 

Now, if I wanted to be mean to a bunch of my Indiana family I'd post photos of our trip chronologically. But I know there were some who didn't make it down for the wedding who would love to see some photos. I didn't get as many as I would have liked but I'll share what I have. 

Our cousin Al!! Isn't she just gorgeous! 

She tied one of our Grandpa's belt buckles to her bouquet. He had passed away this past May and yes I was tearing up taking this photo. 

Al married a wonderful Oklahoma rancher/farmer and in true western style the whole wedding party wore cowboy boots! 

Al asked if my kids would be in the wedding and I was happy to oblige. Though Friday night after the rehearsal I was nervous that my three exhausted kids would cause mayhem but they pulled through and did fabulous. 

Yahoo wasn't a flower girl but a sign girl! She carried a piece of barn siding right before Al that said "Here Comes Your Bride!" How cute!!! 

See those three little boys standing so perfectly still? Their mothers promised them ice cream and money if they behaved like absolute angels!!! 

I don't know about you but J, the groom, looks just a bit nervous to me! 

What a wonderful couple they are! Too bad we don't live closer though. 

I didn't SEE this part but I HEARD that when Al and J were kissing that my boys, the junior groomsmen, covered their mouths like it was gross and looked away. Anyone get a picture of that?? 

During the rehearsal I asked J if he had made the archway backdrop for the wedding, it was gorgeous! 

"You mean the Outhouse?" he asked, "We're getting married in Outhouse! But don't tell Al that, she doesn't think it's funny!" 

Oh, J will sure fit into this family! 

At one point before the wedding the photographers weren't in the dressing room and Al asked if I'd take some pictures of the girls. I was able to watch the bridesmaids pray over the bride. What a wonderful group of women these are! 

Party time!! 

I have practically no photos of the reception because Yahoo was asleep on my arm for most of it and the rest of the time I was cutting and serving cake! The kids and I had to leave way too early to get started on the 8 hour drive back. We had such a wonderful time with family I sure didn't want to leave. But isn't it nice to have a family that will drive so far to see one another? I still feel blessed! 

Purse Gurl and a Field Trip

Last week I told you my cousin Purse Gurl has come to visit us from Indiana. I figured I'd introduce you a bit more to her today.

Purse Girl is my 19 year old cousin who, after spending a year in college out East, has come to a sort of crossroads and is trying to figure out where she wants to go from here. She really enjoyed college last year but has decided she needs to choose a different career path and needs to figure out where to go now. What started off as a week long visit to Kansas though has quickly turned into a busy part time job!

During harvest DR hires extra people at the elevator to take care of weighing and probing trucks and all the computer work that it takes to keep track of all the farmers and product that converges on the elevator this time of year. And since he has had trouble finding part time help, DR offered PG a job helping during harvest, for roughly two months, we hope! Any harvest shorter and longer than two months just makes life miserable.

Purse Gurl's first day on the job started at 7:30 am and lasted till 8:00 pm...yep, that's a normal harvest day. That same day DR worked form 6:30 am to 9:30 pm. We took dinner to Purse Gurl and the rest of the office the other day. Yahoo loves to watch the semis drive by! And of course it was a treat for Purse Gurl and Yahoo to play together too.

Farmers drive their trucks full of grain onto a scale at the grain elevator where it is weighed and then probed. After they dump the grain then the truck gets weighed again to get an accurate measure of how much grain they brought in.

See that yellow inverted V shaped thing above the truck? That probe will go down deep into the bed of truck and take a sample of the grain; corn, beans, wheat, milo..whatever the farmer is hauling in.

The grain sample is put through a machine that tests for moisture, damage or foreign material. If the corn is too wet or has too much dirt in it for example then the farmer is docked money from the price of his grain. (DR brought home two samples of wheat for me the other day which I ground into flour....but more on that later.)

During harvest this is the women at the scale are kept busy practically all day probing and testing grain over and over again. There can be lines of semis waiting to dump grain for a mile or longer during the busiest part of harvest!

Even though she is working most of the time, I love having Purse Gurl around! She has style. I mean, check out those glasses and pink shirt she's wearing! My normal attire is a baseball hat and old tank top. I don't have style, not a bit. But PG is a girly girl, though it's hard to be a girly girl at an elevator. She has this awesome pink purse and a cute Victoria Secrets waterbottle she carries around! (Yahoo can't get enough of that waterbottle by the way.) My waterbottle? A left over Diet Pepsi bottle I fill from the tap and throw in the fridge. PG makes me want to put on makeup and do my hair in the morning. And you know, if I didn't have three kids wailin' at me from outside the bathroom door I would totally do it. Maybe I'll just buy a new water bottle.

Purse Gurl reminds me of all the wonderful things about being 19 that I miss (and don't miss). Having the freedom to pick up and take a road trip across the country, not being tied down, not having any money, the responsibility of finally having to make your own decisions, not knowing which way to turn, the ability for your personality to shine without the influence of others. Ah, to be 19 again!

I'm happy to have Purse Gurl here for a while. It sure is nice to see family when we are so far away (800+ miles) from most of them. Good luck with harvest Purse Gurl! I hope it isn't too rough on you!