ATC/Military Ball '09

Last weekend was Aaron's annual military ball. This year it was in Hot Springs, AR at the Arlington Hotel (which was built in the 1830's). The day started early. I had to leave Stillwater at 7:30 (after I picked up Michelle, Aaron's boss's wife), take the girls to my mom and Claremore, and then drive to Hot Springs. It took about 5 hours to get there and we had to begin getting ready the minute we arrived. Aaron and Christian (his boss) had told both of us that the rooms were very old and smelt dingy and basement-like. We were hoping they were just playing some cruel joke on us, but nope they weren't. See lovely decor below:
Don't get my wrong, I mean, I am after all a lover of all things vintage...just as long as it doesn't smell vintage.
Here are some pictures from the ball

Recent Happenings

The week before Halloween Emmalynn had her Fall Festival at school. They had the playground set up really cute for pictures and each kid got to pick out a pumpkin. We went up there to take advantage of all the "photo ops" and got some cute ones



The next week was her Halloween party and she was SO excited to dress up as Cinderella.



On Halloween we went to Tulsa to the Pumpkin Patch. It was VERY warm and not fall like at all but the girls still had a good time.

Silly girls!

Tall Aaron fit into this little playhouse to play with Ellie

Always gotta throw in a princess pose in there

Ellie getting ready to trick or treat @ Nanny D's right after she bloodied her nose

Emmalynn can NEVER take a "normal" picture...look at those chins!

playin outside @ Gammie and Ken's...with her buddy Brody

Day 7/8

Saturday morning we got up and packed all our stuff up to head out. I was feeling way worse than I had the entire trip and was so ready to get home. We decided to try and make it to Gallup (again) because Aaron's grandparents who were on their way TO California were going to be staying there and we thought we could at least meet up at the same hotel. By the middle of the day I had absolutely NO voice at all and really couldn't even whisper because it just hurt so bad to even open my mouth. I could not stay awake and felt like I had been drugged. We pulled over to a gas station and I decided to take my temp. because I had been sweating all day but been freezing at the same time. When I took it was 103.2 (I believe, I know it was 103 something) and I decided I definitely needed to go to the ER. I went in the gas station to get some extra strength tylenol and felt like an idiot because I couldn't even talk or say thank you to the cashier. We made it to Gallup and decided that I would go ahead and go get in line at the ER, Aaron would take the girls to get something to eat, take them to the hotel and his Meme could watch them so he could come back to the ER with me. I waited for 5 1/2 hours at that stupid place. They did a strep test which was negative and decided I just had a "virus" and it could take up to 2 weeks before I felt better. I was very disappointed to (once again) not get an Rx for any antibiotics or anything else that would help me feel better but since it was 2 in the morning all I wanted to do was go to sleep. I fell asleep several times while waiting and don't think I have ever been more exhausted in my life. When we got to our room Ellie was asleep in a crib (from the hotel) which completely surprised and excited me because that meant I was actually going to get a good nights sleep in a wonderful, comfy bed with down pillows and comforter. I think it was the best nights sleep ever! Sunday we got up and packed up (again...we were all so sick of packing at this point), showered, and headed back out. I felt slightly better I think because I had gotten a good nights sleep and was SO SO ready to get home. We stopped at ate lunch at Cracker Barrel (again...I just LOVE that place...mainly b/c of their little shop). After I ate (I didn't eat dinner the day before) I felt better. The drive home was long and it got very cold the closer we got to home. We ran into some MAJOR fog that made it hard to see in. We finally got home around midnight. We went to bed right away and man was it good to be in our own bed!

Day 6

Since we didn't actually get to see a Dr. at the ER last night we decided to get up in the morning and go. We let Emmalynn go ahead and go to Disneyland with the rest of the gang and we headed to a different ER as soon as we got ready. The Dr. at the ER told us that she thought Ellie and I both had an upper respiratory infection. She didn't do any test (no flu, strep...nothing) which left me feeling slightly...unsure? She prescribed me tylenol with codeine (which I did not get filled b/c it would have either made me sick to my stomach or put me to sleep and I wasn't in THAT much pain!). We went to Wal-greens and got Ellie some Benadry and headed back to the hotel to get ready for Disney. Once we got there I was starving so Aaron got me something to eat while I fed Ellie. Instead of Ellie being really sleepy like she was yesterday she was very cranky and irritable. She didn't want to be in her stroller at all and just wanted to be held. I don't blame her I mean I felt like poo too. We decided to just walk aroun Disney for a little bit and then go back to our hotel and rest and come back later that night to watch the fireworks. Aaron and I rode The Tower of Terror which was not as bad as I thought it would be. Emmalynn got a Belle snowglobe to add to her collection, we rode the train around Disney, and then decided to head back to rest. We ordered in food, let the girls roam freely, and got into warmer clothes. Once we got started walking back to Disney (which wasn't too far) I realized I was going to be freezing all night. Ellie had on her fleece onesie Bambi jammies and Emmalynn is just hot natured anyways but I am very cold natured. I got some hot chocolate hoping that would warm me up. When we got back into Disney it was chaos. They were only letting people who had been in the park earlier that day in because it was so crowded. Aaron wanted to ride the Indiana Jones ride because it was closed the day before so we headed over there and I decided to just wait with the girls while him and Randy and Judy rode it.
Emmalynn waiting....and waiting...and waiting....

Of course it took them forever and of course Emmalynn had to go to the bathroom. I had NO idea where anything was and could barely push the stroller because there were so many people. Not to mention I felt like poo AND I was cold. We finally found a bathroom and by the time we were finished with all of that they were done with the ride. Emmalynn wanted to ride Its a Small World again but they were closed off because of the fireworks. We decided to take her to drive the go carts. We waited in line for probably close to an hour and by the time we were done with that the fireworks had started. Here is Ellie and I (miserably) watching the fireworks. I can only speak for myself...but I definitely felt as awful as I looked.


We went back to Its a Small World so Emmalynn could ride that again. It took them forever to open it back up. Emmalynn was asleep while I was holding her and Aaron had Ellie in the snugli on him. After we rode that I decided I couldn't take anymore and was done. We went to the gift shop, picked out our gifts, and left. When we got back to the room I told Aaron that I wanted to go home and that I couldn't imagine getting up in the morning and going to the beach and being away from home for 2 more days. He decided that when he got up he would call and cancel our reservations and we would pack up and head home.

Day 5/ 1st day @ Disneyland

Thursday (Day 5) was a VERY long day. Long for 2 reasons: 1.) It was literally long-We got up around 7 to be at the park when it opened at 9 and to get to Ariel's Grotto for breakfast and we stayed there until about 8:30 STRAIGHT. That may not seem like a very long time but trust me it was because of reason #2 which is that as soon as I woke up I felt AWFUL! I mean yes, I was tired so I just thought it was because of that and because I didn't sleep much since Ellie was in the same bed with me and was tossing and turning AND coughing ALL NIGHT LONG. We finally found Ariel's Grotto which was on the complete opposite side of California Adventure than we came in and I realized that I could certainly kick my thoughts of being sick to the curb because it was SO worth it seeing the look on Emmalynn's face when she saw each princess come out...I was tearing up and I'm not even ashamed to admit it. The look on her face was worth the $100 breakfast (and no I'm not kidding it was that much). Here are the pictures of us at breakfast. Emmalynn was too shy to take her picture alone with the princesses so I had to be in every-single-one. I haven't edited them (they need to be cropped) yet but here they are anyways.

With Ariel (Emmalynn had on an Ariel dress and shoes)

With Snow White (I think Aaron forgot to lift up the flash on this one)

With Cinderella (who Emmalynn is dressing up as for Halloween FYI)
With Sleeping Beauty (Aurora...whatever)

With Mulan (who I thought was the cutest)

After breakfast, Randy, Judy, Aimee, and Ruby were waiting for us in the park. Ellie fell asleep while we were finishing breakfast (because she was starting to feel bad too) and she slept in her stroller for awhile. We brought clothes for Emmalynn to change into but she decided she wanted to wear her Ariel dress a little longer. She ended up wearing that dress AND the shoes (which had a slight heel) ALL day...she just did not want to change!


We all (the adults anyways) went to ride the Soarin over California ride which was very cool.
After that we decided to go into Disneyland (which is right across from California Adventure). Here is a picture of us at the entrance

They had everything decorated really neat for Halloween/Fall. Behind us you can see (that sounds like a tour guide) flowers in the shape of Mickey Mouse :o) From here we headed to Sleeping Beauty's Castle

And to the carousel. I was proud of Emmalynn, she rode on the horse behind me and Ellie all by herself!

This is one of the few times today that Ellie wasn't sleeping. I'm glad she got to do SOMETHING fun that she liked!

After we got off the carousel we went and ate lunch and thats when I realized just how bad I felt. Ellie was really irratible and my whole entire body just hurt and I had a horrible headache. I was almost on the verge of tears. I was debating between going back to the hotel so Ellie and I could both take a nap or going in the room they have for mom's with babies and seeing if I could rock her in there. I decided to just go in that room and so Ellie, Aaron, and I headed that direction while Randy, Judy, Emmalynn, Aimee, and Ruby headed to ride some more rides. As we were walking in the direction of that room I got upset. I knew Emmalynn was going to be doing fun things and I wanted to be there to make memories with her but knew that Ellie and I both felt awful. I decided to go and find some tylenol...aspirin...anything. We found a "First Aid" station and after I took some I started to feel better. Ellie on the other hand just slept, and slept, and slept...the entire day. Her nose was running out of control and she was still coughing. We also discovered that she was getting her top 2 front teeth so didn't know if that was contributing to anything. This is what Ellie looked like most of the day

So sweet, but so SO sad!

After we got back with our group Aaron and Emmalynn went to pick out her and Ellie some "ears" (Mickey Mouse ears that is). I wanted the girls to get their names put on the back of them because I thought that was just precious and something they would have forever. Aaron came back and told me that Emmalynn had wanted me (ha!) to have the same ones as her and Ellie so Aaron bought the 3 of us Princess Ears w/our names on the back!
I didn't ever actually wear mine in the park but here is Emmalynn sportin' hers
Then we decided to ride "It's A Small World." I think this was probably one of Emmalynn's favorite things because she wanted to do it again the next day. It was nice to be able to sit down and Ellie enjoyed looking at everything too.

Woody made us feel like we were back in good ol' Oklahoma

After this we headed to ToonTown, got some delicious chocolate-mickey-ears-ice-cream-thingy (seen below)
And then decided ToonTown was too crowded to we headed to go on the Nemo ride. This is an actual submarine that takes you underwater and through the story of Nemo. It was pretty neat, some of it scared Emmalynn because it got dark, but I thought it was cool how it was done.

And while we were waiting in line and riding the Nemo submarine and even when we came back Ellie was still doing this...

By this time we were starting to get hungry again and there was a parade that was about to begin. We went and got something to eat and out outside so we could watch the parade. I noticed Ellie felt really warm while I was holding/feeding her. I took her back to the First Aid station and they took her temp and it was 102.3 (i think). We decided to get her some tylenol (we had been giving her motrin all day but that didn't seem to be helping). There were RN's in the First Aid station and they told her to alternate them until her fever came down (which I now knew from the first ER trip with Emmalynn). After we gave her the tylenol she got drowsy and I held her while we walked around and she ended up falling back asleep. We decided to just go ahead and go back to the room. It was cold walking around and my medicine was starting to wear off. We got back to the room and watched the fireworks from our hotel room. Emmalynn fell asleep really quick, she had to be exhausted. Ellie on the other hand was so miserable she couldn't sleep. We decided to take Emmalynn in Aimee's room while Aaron and I took Ellie to the ER. Look how sad/sick she looks

Since we had NO idea where a hospital was...Aaron and I both put it in our phones' GPS. He took us on a WILD GOOSE CHASE. It kept telling us we were off track and then we were on track in the same sentence. It also kept saying the signal was weak...IN THE MIDDLE OF ANAHEIM?! Finally we realized it was taking us...TO A HOSPITAL THAT WASN'T EVEN BUILT YET! It was one that had either been torn down or was about the built because we watched our little dot on our GPS and right when drove past this empty lot it said that was it. So we had to find another one...By then we were both agitated and Ellie was asleep from all the driving around. Finally we found another one. It was small and slightly ghetto. They got her in to do her vitals right away (they had to do a rectal temperature which was so sad...I think she was so drugged she didn't even notice :o() Then they sent us back out into the lobby to wait...and wait...and wait...There was a lot of ppl there and no one was being seen. She slept the entire time we were there. We decided to leave and come back in the morning since her fever was down to normal and she was so soundly sleeping. We made it back to our hotel way faster than we did on our way there. Ellie and I went to bed right away and she stayed asleep the whole night.

Days 3 &4/Quest to Disneyland

Tuesday and Wednesday were probably the most "normal" days we had on our trip. Tuesday we got up and went to meet Aaron's aunt Judy for lunch in a cute little shopping square and had delicious orange chicken and rice. Afterward we went to Target to pick up some extra vitamin C, wipes (because we used a TON on the way there) and some heavier jackets because we weren't prepared for how cool the weather was. After that we came home and just rested because Aaron's great aunt and uncle (Randy's parents) and Randy's sister were coming over and later Randy and Judy's daughter Tara. It was nice to meet all these new people especially since Randy's mom is Aaron's meme's (who is very special to me) sister. The girls went to sleep early again and we all got a good night's sleep.
Here is a picture of Emmalynn and Ruby in the shopping square we ate lunch at

And Ellie too of course!

Wednesday Aaron went with Randy and Tara's husband to play golf. Us girls just hung out around the house and enjoyed the nice weather outside. We also had to pack everything up (again). Wednesday night we left for Anaheim which was about an hour and a half drive from Bakersfield. It was a much more scenic drive because we got to see a lot of mountains and then of course drove through L.A. (it was dark so you couldn't see a WHOLE LOT). We finally got to our hotel around 9 or so. The parking for the hotel was ridiculous. Aaron had to park really far from our room and then carry our 1.2 million bags all the way to our room (in the dark and slightly cold). Here are the girls at our hotel in their "Princess" nightgowns because in the morning we were going to have breakfast at Ariel's Grotto with her and many more princesses!

Disneyland Trip Day 2

Ellie woke up early Monday morning (of course), I think it was a little before 6:00. I guess it was a good thing in a way because it got us up and around and back on the road. I think we left Gallup around 7:30 and shortly after Emmalynn got car sick again. It was back at the gas station and digging out the luggage to get her into clean clothes again and to stock up on plastic bags. Bless her heart, she was such a good girl...she made sure she got it in the bag the next time. After the second time we pulled over at another gas station (which was out in the middle of NOWHERE and the people at the gas station looked like hardcore mountain men/woman). I got her some crackers, gatorade, and chewable pepto bismol and that seemed to help because she didn't get sick anymore. I eventually decided that it was best that I stay in the back seat with the girls (in the middle of them) which I would not have been able to do if we hadn't of borrowed my mom's Expedition. The wind was blowing like crazy in that vast desert land of....nothingness. It sounded like our windows were all the way down and it was blowing the car like crazy. There is no way I would have been able to handle the car...way to go Aaron! The drive was really boring and looked like this:

We finally got to Bakersfield at Aaron's aunt and uncle's around 6:00. Ellie was ready to crawl around and Emmalynn was happy to be out of her carseat and on solid ground. I guess we ALL were happy to be out of the car for different reasons. It took Aaron a while to bring all our bags in and then we had to keep going back to the car to get things out that we had gotten out while we were driving. Aaron's sister Aimee and her daughter Ruby (who will be 2 the day after my birthday) were already there and the girls all had fun playing together. Both the girls fell asleep pretty early and slept really good that night (so did Aaron and I!).