Happy New Year!

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy New Year! Where did 2014 go? We sure enjoyed our first full year in Oklahoma. We have gotten to do some fun things: National Finals Rodeo, lots of swimming, several trips to the science museum, the zoo, the water park, toured the National Weather Center, traveled down to Texas, and traveled back home to Idaho a couple of times. We have also been fortunate to have had family visit out here. The weather was nice to us, and we were able to avoid seeing any tornadoes. The people and the community that we live in are awesome! The Oklahoma drivers -SUCK! lol. 

Ryson turned 2 in January and is approaching 3 very soon. He has been very curious and hands on. As he is getting closer to 3, his nice little self is starting to push and test his boundaries. He can definitely stand his own against his siblings, and has a bully streak in him. He is now potty-trained (woohoo!), and is able to say his abc’s and count to 10. 

Tate turned 4. He did his first year of swimming lessons, is in Awanas and is in pre-k. His teachers at school and church are always stating how sweet he is. He is our sensitive child. He is learning to sound out words and read small sentences. He has shown Curtis and I that he is a better learner than we ever gave him credit for.  

Ashlynn turned 6. She did her second year of swimming lessons this summer, is in Awanas, and began Kindergarten. It was a rough transition for her because she goes full days. To her, the highlight of her day is riding the bus home. She is also excelling in reading. Her memory is incredible! She is constantly amazing us with things she can recite or details she can recall. 

Curtis is continuously traveling everywhere for work. He has had a lot of change going on within his safety department, so his workload has been extra big and sometimes stressful. 

I have my hands full holding down the fort. With the kids starting school, it was a transition for me too. I actually have to wake up early. I also babysat some kids a few days a week and have been helping out with Awanas.

We still own our house in Idaho. This year we got new renters in it. It seems like it’s a ticking time bomb because it’s such an old house. We have done lots of improvement on it, but it seems that it’s always demanding more. Ugh! We still aren’t in a position to sell it due to the price it’s valued at now. It dropped about $15,000 in value since we bought it in 2009. The irony is that we have probably put that much into the improvements on it so far. For now we keep renting it out and hopefully in a year or two (if it’s God willing), we can be rid of it.

This year, the biggest lesson for me was to learn to be content. I’m the type of person who always thinks the grass looks greener on the other side. Curtis and I wanted the opportunity to live away from Idaho for a little while. We are now enjoying that opportunity, but we are also finding how it can be hard not living close to family. We are also really missing the opportunity to go camping in the beautiful Idaho mountains. One day we will get that chance again. For now, we are trying to soak up and enjoy what Oklahoma and the surrounding areas have to offer. If we are always striving for something different then we are going to have a hard time being happy. 

As the apostle Paul wrote, when he was in prison, in his letter to the Philippians:

11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

~Philippians 4:11-13

We hope ya’ll have a blessed 2015! 

Curtis, Michelle, Ashlynn, Tate, and Ryson Bolander

Love It A Lot, Hate It A Little

Potty Time!

Happy Birthday!

January started of with a few new events. My baby turned 2 and was introduced to the potty. He has liked the concept of it, but we haven't yet got him into a routine of using it full-time. Curtis and the kids got the opportunity to go to their first rodeo. It was the International Finals Rodeo. In February (actually on Valentines Day), my big boy got his first plane ride. The other two kids have been on airplane rides. Needless to say, all of them were excited.We ended up making a quick trip back to Idaho for another funeral. It seemed ridiculous that we had only been moved away for 5 months and been home twice for funerals. It was good to spend the short time with family regardless of the circumstances.We are planning a trip back in June, a much longer one, and one that is on our terms :)

IFR

Plane ride to Idaho

I keep the kids busy, and the kids keep me busy. The older ones have been in Awanas all year and learn bible verses weekly. I use the time that they attend it to get my grocery shopping done, since it's just my baby boy and I for a couple of hours. My other break of free time is once a week for a couple hours. I am attending a women's bible study on the book of Daniel. It is incredibly interesting and very in depth. I have learned so much! It's so nice because childcare is offered for the moms. The kids also have made a friend that lives in the apartment complex, and he comes over a few times a week to ask if they can ride bikes. That requires me going too. We also had our first play date on St. Patricks day with some other new friends. As a family we have taken a couple trips down to Dallas. One was to go to Ikea, the other was to meet up with some family members that were down there. It was so nice to see familiar faces and reconnect. There are endless activities and places to go and I love having those possibilities at my fingertips. Our schedule will change a lot in the fall since my big girl starts kindergarten and big boy starts preschool. They will also start sports. I have a feeling our lives will get a little busier.

Awanas Grand Prix award

Awanas Grand Prix award

 Big boys car

Big girls car

 I am finding that living here is a love/hate relationship.

Hate:

1. obviously- tornadoes
2. tarantula's
3. cockroaches
4. the drivers on the road
5. higher sales tax
6. chiggers
7. mocassin snakes
8. alligator gar
9. not practical to go camping here due to some of the previously mentioned creatures :(
10. ALLERGIES!!!
11. 24 hours from family

Love:

1. the warmer weather, ice storms, thunder storms, and humidity
2. being only a couple hours from Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. 
3. the southern hospitality
4. lots to do- water parks, amusement parks, shopping, sports, concerts, museums...
5. they cancel school due to bad weather
6. good education system
7. comradery and support of the sports teams throughout the community  ex: OU Sooners and Okc Thunder
8. my church
9. more ethnic diversity
10. 24 hours from family (this isn't a type-o)

Playing with their new friend 

spending time with family

riding the carousel together

tuckered out with daddy

the boys pushing their sissy

a beautiful day in Texas

Holidays On Our Own

Thanksgiving
making the turkey

Halloween
Spiderman, lobster, witch

I haven't blogged for awhile due to the fact that we haven't had a computer for the last few months and it's a complete pain in the butt to do on a smart phone. We have had many adventures since my last update. In October we made one more lengthy trip and went to Arizona. We went to visit family and watch our new adopted niece from Taiwan get blessed. Along the way we went through Texas and New Mexico basically traveling parallel to the old Route 66. We stopped at one rest area on the way home, in Texas, and their were warning signs for rattlesnakes and tarantulas. Curtis was the only one who got out and used the restroom there :)  After getting home, we celebrated halloween. It was so different because the weather was actually warm! We took the kids trick-or-treating from house to house, which was a new experience for them because usually we just go to trunk or treat events. We all had a lot of fun and ended up with too much candy. November rolled by quickly and next thing we new it was Thanksgiving. We stayed home this year and had our own little family Thanksgiving with a turkey that Curtis prepared. I happily slept in on black friday, and later that day we went and picked out our christmas tree. We basically decorated it with only lights this year due to the fact that we have three pair of grabby hands in our home. In December we actually did get some cold weather. We got some snow and some ice. They actually close schools down around here. They were closed for about a week. It made me giggle a bit because people around here don't know what to do when there is snow on the road. The freezing rain that we got was actually very beautiful. It was truly a winter wonderland. Trees were covered in ice for about 3 days. We also spent Christmas here in Oklahoma instead of trying to tackle all of the obstacles of traveling back to Idaho. That too turned out nice. Curtis had a couple weeks off of work so we finished up christmas shopping, took the kids to see Santa, went to the theater and watched "Frozen", took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese (I think Curtis wanted to go just about as much as the kids did), and took a quick trip to see a friend in Kansas. We have been able to have a lot of quality family time together and do some fun things in the area. That wraps up the year and I guess we will see what 2014 brings us.

bundled up to play 

christmas pancakes

frozen tree 

The Big Move

It has been quite a full month.  At the beginning of September, Mom and Jim came to visit us in Eastern Idaho.  We took them to Yellowstone. It was a beautiful drive going through Jackson hole and West Yellowstone. We only saw a few animals and went ice cream shop hopping in West Yellowstone seeing which one was the best.



painted pot

Old Faithful













Curtis and his friend saying goodbye

After we had our goodbyes with them, it was time for us to look forward to the next few days.  The movers came and boxed up our stuff. We started our four day trip to Oklahoma.





We stopped in Utah and got to say our goodbyes to friends and family there. Then made our way to Denver, which was a beautiful drive! We were also able to see some friends there. Next was to Kansas--BORING (I hate driving through that state, there is absolutely nothing). Finally we arrived in Oklahoma!!!! We were ready to be out of the car and get settled. For right now we only have a two bedroom apartment that is about 1000 sq. ft.  It has been a decrease in size from our 2200 sq. ft. house in Idaho, but honestly I love it.  It has lots of closet space and 2 bathrooms vs. our 1 in Idaho. We will only be in it for a year and then we will be forced to upgrade to something with at least 3 bedrooms.  The family is happy in Oklahoma. The weather is warmer, we get to spend more time with Curtis, gas is cheaper, and there is access to more things to do. The kids are in Awanas, so they are going to church every Wednesday and learning lots of bible verses.

After being in Oklahoma for a month, my aunt passed away.  The family loaded up in the car, and we made a 24 hour drive back to Idaho for the funeral. Luckily our kids are good travelers. We had a good visit  with some of our Idaho family and stayed for the week to make it worth our drive. I'm just hoping it will be our last trip to or from Idaho in the car, for awhile.


Aunt Joyce and I

Anyway, we are still just being ourselves taking one day at a time