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When one piece of chocolate goes awry

Best. Thunder. Game. Ever.

First of all, I just want to point out that our friends Michael and Susanne Kimball are fantastic, even if they don't give us their tickets to see the Thunder. But they did. Because they're amazing.

We got to sit in their season ticket seats because Kimball lucked out and got upgraded to the second row. Second row. Like, it was the Kimballs, the first row and then Kevin Durant.

Getting to sit there is amazing no matter what game it is, but it just so happened to be one hell of a game. Watch this video he shot of Kevin Durant hitting a buzzer beater to beat the nefarious Dallas Mavericks.




Yes, it was that amazing. I might have peed my pants.

That's how it is

Family haircuts

After Mia spent all of Christmas looking at the back of her bangs, it was clearly time for a trim. She was either relieved or distirbed that Leigh also got a haircut while we were at the shop. But she was perflectly still anyway. Why can't she be still for me like that?

Unsafe driver

The no-pants Christmas

Christmas was so fun. We left out cookies for Santa.


And Santa left Mia some great toys in her stocking.


Then we all opened presents. I gave Leigh a new wedding ring. He gave me a James Harden shirt. And Leigh got Mia a really adorable plane.


We went and ate an early supper with the Kimballs because they didn't have any family in town either. It was amazingly delicious. It was so delicious, Mia didn't want to wear pants.

Christmas Eve traditions

We decided when Mia was a baby that we'd always spend Christmas Eve at our house so Santa could find us and we could wake up there Christmas morning. This year we decided to maybe create some of our own family traditions. So we spent Christmas even doing two things.

1. Making cookies for Santa.

2. Visiting the Festival of Light in Chickasha, which had a petting zoo with camels that Mia was absolutely not interested in.

What happened?

Mia has all kinds of adorable catch phrases now. Her newest: "What happened?" She asks this all the time, usually after something breaks. She always accepts the answer we give her.

Mia, standing over a torn-up coloring book: "What happened?"
Me: "You tore your book."
Mia: "Oh."

Sometimes she'll ask us what happened when we just come in from another room. She one time asked me what happened when I was putting on makeup. Maybe I should do that more often. The best one was when she accidentally kicked Leigh in the junk, sending him to his knees.

Mia, after Leigh set her down: "What happened?"
Leigh: "You kicked me."
Mia: "Oh."

Airport security

If you're going to drop off your parents at the airport, be sure to take security with you, preferrably the world's littlest girl with the world's biggest umbrella.

Goodbye

We had to say goodbye to our families, so we had one last breakfast together. Mia enjoyed "serving coffee" to everyone. And tearing apart the restaurant.

Coppernoll Christmas

OK, first of all, let me say this: I'm still getting used to my camera. Therefore, I only have two photos from Christmas. I swear there were lots of relatives there, I just have no proof. But it was so much fun!

The Coppernolls

After driving across the southwest for the past two Christmases, we are hosting the Coppernolls for the holidays this year. Exciting! In retrospect, it might be easier to drive out of town than to get your house ready for company. Nevertheless, you know it's a party with a bunch of Coppernolls. This will be the first time Leigh's parents have met my extended family.

I love this picture of my grandparents. We went out to supper, and this woman at the bar started talking to Nancy while she was getting drinks. "Are you with that lady in the hat over there?" she asked. Nancy said yes. "She's one classy broad." So true, drunk lady. So true.

Chicken-fried amazing

I feel obligated to introduce my in-laws to America culture, which, to me, means American food. Come to Oklahoma for Christmas? We're going to Ann's Chicken Fry, a Route 66 landmark that offers chicken-fried steak in two sizes: a pound and a half a pound. At least you get to choose from a variety of gravies.

Sarah Soles

We lost one of our friends this week. Leigh met Sarah Soles through LOYAL. She had a blood clot in her lung, the result of a brain tumor that had been treated but recently returned. We didn't know she had a tumor at all. Her passing was a shock. She was a smart attorney who specialized in being snarky and hilarious. She always supported us and Vilakazi. We will miss her for sure. I wrote this blog about her.

I confirmed the obvious

I wrote a column about the state-mandated end-of-instruction exams that Oklahoma high school students have to pass before graduating. I decided to take four of them, and I confirmed the obvious: I'm good at English. The rest: meh. So, for all my teachers who wondered if I learned anything, the answer is yes.

Click here to read it.

Bow, please

Today was an exciting day, people. Mia requested a bow. She asked for it. Why of course you can have a bow!

We made it home

After just a day in Mountain Home, we had to turn right around and come back to Oklahoma City.

We survived the drive with Mia, who is still thankfully an angel in the car.

Christmas - Round 1

We celebrated our first of several Christmases this year in Mountain Home. We woke up and opened presents like it was Christmas morning. Mia found it all super amazingly wonderful. She helped my mom pass out presents and she helped pretty much everybody open presents.


After that, we had a chance to go see the Baxter County Library, which is absolutely beautiful. I haven't been able to see it since it was rebuilt across town. It's wonderful.


For supper, my mom invited over lots of family friends that we haven't seen for two years. It was so nice to see everyone: Jackie and Carol, the Bergmans and Bobbi Burchard.