O'er the land of the free and the home of the....BIGGEST marshmallow you've ever seen

Fourth of July weekend was an exciting and eventful one for us! On Saturday, we joined a few friends and made the long trek to the big city, Oklahoma City. We spent Saturday night in Bricktown and really enjoyed our evening out. We had the opportunity to meet the family of one of our friends and that was a real pleasure. It's always nice to be able to spend time with someone's family. We had dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse, which will always hold a special place in my heart. My grandma and grandpa used to take my sister and me there when we were kids, it was always such a treat! After dinner we went to one of those places that boasts approximately one million beers on tap. A must-see for beer connoisseurs such as Eric and myself. Our last stop was a dance club and as those close to me know, nothing makes me happier than hours of dancing! It was a great time. We woke up on Sunday and I made my maiden voyage to the Waffle House. I know it's hard to believe that I haven't dined at this establishment before, but it's true. It was a first. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had plans for another first: to host our first holiday party here at 3517 on Monday afternoon. There was a lot of debate about whether or not there would be fireworks or if we were even allowed to grill. Our entire county (and all of the surrounding area) is under a burn ban due to out-of-control wild fires. When we got home from Oklahoma city, Eric diligently began researching how we could host a law-abiding cookout. He discovered that we could in fact grill so long as the grill was perched on a concrete pad. The fact that we have a concrete pad was a huge relief because I could not fathom a Fourth of July without a cookout and fireworks. We still weren't certain whether any fireworks were going to occur, but at least we could have our burgers! 

With much excitement, we set out on a mission to bring home Eric's new baby. We visited all three places where purchasing grills is possible in Altus: Sears, Wal Mart, and Atwoods. Sears won. After much hemming and hawing over whether we needed a smoker, charcoal, and gas grill combo spaceship OR a regular grill, Eric decided a regular grill would suffice. He selected this beauty. Getting her home was a struggle as both Eric and I drive compact cars. This experience only added fuel to Eric's "we live in Oklahoma so we need a big truck" fire. Thankfully, our friend let us borrow his jeep, and we got her home in one piece. Later that afternoon, after we confirmed that we could provide the grill, some friends joined us for a 4th of July cookout. Eric made his (and his dad's) famous hamburgers and our guests each brought side dishes.

We enjoyed barbecued shrimp kabobs, homemade pasta salad, potato salad, and fruit. Delicious! For dessert, we had big plans to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Our belief that the "bigger is better rule" would apply to marshmallows was misguided. We each had one s'more and ended up covered in marshmallow goo (with the exception of one very skilled s'mores eater who came away spotless). Definitely an idea better in theory than in actuality. But here is proof that these actually were the biggest marshmallows that ever existed. You may have  museums, restaurant variety, rooftop decks, walking paths, live music, crowds, and excitement, but we have the biggest marshmallows. So there. The number one reason why living here is better than living there. 

At the end of the day, we shared a nice feast and lots of laughs. It was a successful first holiday away from home. After our guests left, Eric and I put on a movie and settled in to enjoy some quiet time together. We don't get nearly enough of that these days. Just as the movie was about to end, we heard a strange noise...a boom. Could it be? Were the fireworks actually going to happen? They did! And we could see and hear them from our front yard (another benefit of small town living). This was actually very cool. There Eric and I stood on our own front lawn, just the two of us, watching the fireworks. We felt both fulfilled and sad. A strange combination of emotions that I believe will become more familiar as time goes on.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

While I promise I will not use this blog solely to poke fun at Altus, I had to share this with you. We received the most awesome gift from Eric's sister Kelly and her husband Rick; a puzzle of a map of Altus with our home at the center. Can you see the little house-shaped piece!? First of all, I LOVE puzzles so this was the perfect gift for me. Second, once I start them, I can't leave them alone. Despite it's small size, this one kept me busy for days. Take a look at this picture and I think you will understand why. Our personalized puzzle is primarily composed of white puzzle pieces with little brown lines. Anyway, here is a bird's eye, zoomed in view of our hometown. I hope you find it as humorous as we did. It was such a thoughtful and creative gift! Now that I've completed it, I think I'll frame it. I think it would be fun to have a puzzle of each of the places we live over the next few years. And don't be surprised if whenever you move, you get one of these nifty gifts from us (we're totally stealing this idea from you Kelly and Rick)!

Speaking of awesome gifts, we were also sent some East Coast love from our dear friend, Teri. While she worried that after days in the heat they would arrive in the form of sugar water, they arrived in perfect condition. One bite of these brings us right back to the Eastern Shore. Bliss.

Toto, I think we're back in Kansas...(month one: Altus, OK)

And what a whirlwind it has been! I drove into town on May 25th, cruised around for a few hours "exploring the new city" then drove to our soon-to-be new house for our final walk through before closing. After we walked, we went to our closing meeting, signed a bajillion papers, and the house was OURS!!

We celebrated the purchase of our first home over a lovely meal at a nice little Italian restaurant called Romas. Familiarize yourself with this name because if you ever visit, you will dine there. You will also eat at The Plaza or Pick-Up Taco. Otherwise you will eat at home.

 We couldn't move in for a few days because of our agreement with the previous owner, so we stayed in temporary base housing.  Eric had been living there for months by that point and I honestly don't know how he did it. Our new house is only a few minutes from Altus, AFB. From time to time over the past several months, Eric and I have asked ourselves, "Why us? Why Altus?" But when I arrived on base and saw this sign, I knew why. It was our destiny to come here. As a child, Eric was a member of the Indian Guides. During this time, he named himself, "Flaming Arrow" .....need I say more?
 
We moved into the house on the 27th of  May, which was a very exciting day! We spent hours walking around the empty house, admiring every room. Our household goods were not scheduled to arrive until June 1st so we geared up for a good 5 days of  indoor camping. The first night, we slept on a pile of blankets, but on the second day, a colleague of Eric's let us know they were selling a mattress. We scooped that right up, and we were happy as clams for the next few nights. Just in case you didn't catch on, this means we now have a mattress for every room! That's right, folks, TWO whole guestrooms for the hoards of visitors we are expecting! We had a great time in the days before our belongings arrived and we got right to work on projects that we knew would be easier accomplished without furniture in the way. We painted the living room, our bedroom, and the master bathroom. It was fun, but it was a TON of work! Eric and I got busy watering our gardens and grass and trying to keep the green things alive in this intense heat. We kept finding ourselves doing the chores and routines we've watched our parents do our whole lives and joked that we had turned into them overnight. We feel like real, live adults and it's great!

We lived in the bliss of happy home-ownership for days, weeks even, until we got rocked by a massive hail storm. This storm was the most extreme weather either of us have ever seen. It was well over 100 degrees outside when the sky started to cloud over. We celebrated the coming storm because it had been so long since we had seen any rain. The hail started and it was really cool! We were running around all excited and trying to take pictures of the little tiny beads of ice falling from the sky. Eric was trying to catch them in his hand and we were marveling at how funny it was to have snow in 100 degree weather. Then it got worse, and worse, and windier, and WORSE! The hail was the size of golf balls or small baseballs and was pounding into the sides of the house and onto the roof. It sounded like we were getting bombed or like a train was blazing through our house. We started to regret ever buying a home as the storm continued on like this, powerful and relentless for a good 45 minutes. After the storm finally ended, we joined the rest of the neighborhood to survey the damage. We lost a portion of our fence and could see that we had some trim and roof damage. There was also a frightening number dead birds...it was like a scene from a horror movie. We found close to 10 in our yard in the days after the storm. It has since been confirmed that we will need a whole new roof and likely all new trim as well. Others had it worse. Some people's cars were totaled and a lot of people had windows break. A boy across the street got knocked in the head by hail as he attempted to run into the house from a car. He had a big knot on his head with a gash in the middle of it. I thanked Eric for not getting the bright idea to "see what the hail feels like" during the storm. We are thankful for homeowners insurance, but laughed because we found ourselves filing a claim before we had even received our policy in the mail. Such is life!

As for life in Altus...we are getting used to it. It is such a big change from what was familiar to us. I have been to Wal-Mart more times since I got here than ever in my life, I haven't had to fill my gas tank yet (probably won't need to for some time), I already see people that I recognize or know everywhere I go, and the temperature is well over 100 degrees every day. This extreme temperature is accompanied by a constant and less-than-refreshing  HOT wind. Put it this way, the weather report on the news a couple of weeks ago just said, "ridiculous." It definitely seems like we are going to have to be creative about finding things to do here, but we have met some people who we can have a good time with, which is really all that matters. We miss our family and friends so much, but are determined to make the best of this and every adventure. I close with a picture taken within walking distance of our house. Altus: a tiny town built around a grid of four main roads surrounded by endless fields...call it home.