No, we have not died and gone off the face of this earth...

Ok, so maybe it's been awhile since we've posted anything. When most people say that, they usually haven't posted anything in a few weeks. So, it's been a few months (more like 6 months) for us.I've just been really postponing this blogging thing. I just see everyone else's cute blogs, and I get discouraged. I don't have the patience for this whole blogging thing (to make it look cute anyways.) But today, I decided to take some time and put some pictures up of what we've been up to for the last 6 months. Isn't everyone proud of me?!! yea!

ok, back to business:

Well, after the honeymoon, reality kicked in, and we were back to work. (ehh..not the funnest). James has a great job with great co-workers. The owners of his business really like James and do a lot for us. (They got us a really nice grill with all the utensils for our wedding AND the owner's wife just gave him a $100 bill for whatever else we wanted) The job is perfect for while he's still in school and everything.

My job is a good job too. I'm not really a people person, so it's a little different for me. That's ok, since I am an accountant and work in the accounting department at the bank. But, I work with a bunch of women. Need I say more? ...drama, drama, drama. They just like to gossip and it gets old after awhile. I generally like most of the people I work with. My supervisor is the best! She really likes me and we have alot of the same interests and values. My actual job just doesn't require alot of people's skills, so it's gets a little redundant and boring after while. There are two girls that I work with that I could definitely live without. They're the gossipers. I can think of great nicknames for them that also share a common name for a female dog. Imagine that?! But, anyways, altogether, my job is a great, stable job. It's perfect so I can help support James while he is in school. Ok, enough of the boring stuff...I'll show some fun things that James and I have done within the last few months.

Alright, so, in October we went to a concert that we'd been dying to go see for awhile. They're a band from Dallas, Texas called the The Rocket Summer. James and I have very different tastes in music. But we do agree on one band-The Rocket Summer. So, we decided it would be fun to go see one of their concerts. They were touring and the last day of their tour was Oct 18, the day we were going to see them in Dallas. It was pretty awesome! The main guy Bryce Avery, is really awesome and really, really talented. He can play any musical instrument and has a great singing voice. Karri and Jared, and a couple of their friends also decided to join us for the concert.

James and I actually had really good "seats" at first. (It was actually a no-seating concert, which we thought was cool, at first) We got there like 3 or 4 hours early and decided to wait in line. We didn't know how packed this concert would be since it was Bryce's hometown. We'd been waiting in line for a couple of hours, and noticed that it was kind of a small line for one his concerts that was supposed to start in an hour or so. Just as they were starting to take tickets and let people come in, we noticed that everyone had receipts with them AND their tickets. We finally asked why everyone had receipts. And apparently, this was a special VIP line, and only if you bought a certain amount of merchandise from the House of Blues (the place where the concert was at), then you could have first dibs in the VIP line and get to stand right behind the barricade for the entire concert. We thought getting there 4 hours early, would have been good enough. So, we didn't really want to waste the time we HAD been in line, so James went and got some souvenirs from the shop, just in time for them to take our tickets and receipts. But, to top it all off, the stupid guys didn't even check the receipts! So, we ended up buying a bunch of crap ($50 worth) we didn't need and for no reason! Well, the concert started and we had AMAZING standing spots. We were right up close and saw everything. But, I guess this kind of music was also popular for a bunch of 14 yr old girls and that's when it got crazy. The opening bands were pretty cool, but they got all the girls too excited and James and I literally could not move one bit. We couldn't even scratch the top of our heads. I could literally lift my feet off the ground and still see everything, cause the crowd was that close to everyone. We didn't have any water with us, so it started to get really hot. I almost passed out, but the security guard/ bouncer helped me out and pulled me out of the crowd. We ended up watching the rest of the concert in the balcony with Karri and Jared. It was still pretty fun. Nice to get away from the crazy girls. Let me just say one thing, downtown Dallas is awesome! Which is why we decided a New Year's gathering would be fun there...

A week or two after the concert, my dad decided to have his fall cookout in southeastern Oklahoma. That was alot of fun too. Even though we had to ditch out on a really wonderful, awesome Halloween party in McAlester (the one that I was absolutely looking forward to cause Halloween's my fav holiday), we did have alot of fun in Broken Bow, Oklahoma ( i know, it's a funny name). This camping experience was not like our usual camp-outs with dad. But, of course, we DID have some new additions to the family who were a little too young to actually go camping (tents, sleeping bags, campfire and all). Bradon and Matthew wouldn't have lasted with my dad's idea of camping. The camp-out ( I don't think I should even call it that) was so much fun though. It was a nice log cabin with three bedrooms, nice leather furniture, big screen TV, two bathrooms, king sized beds, a jacuzzi/hot tub outside, a ready-to-go campfire, nice patio...and tons more! That night, we roasted hot dogs, s'mores, and ate every other kind of junk food there possibly is. Everyone got in the hot tub because it was so freezing outside. It was so much fun! The next day, we hiked around a little bit and saw some of the scenery.
I'm not sure what we were do here exactly, but they had some shops around the area and a nice little lake that we went and visited. This is at one of the shops. We also did a little four-wheeling there. My family are fans of 4wheelers. My dad has a couple of them. We like to ride them whenever we get a chance. My dad only brought one 4wheeler though, since we only had his truck. And he doesn't have a trailer for them. So, it was a little awkward at first. As there was only one 4wheeler and 9 of us. But, we still had fun. We each took turns. It was a blast!

Here's a cool one of Luigi before he left on his mission. Aww, I miss him already! He is a pretty scary 4 wheeler driver though.

Here are some other cute pics of Brayden and Matthew on that trip:

Ok, I know this pic on the top left is not one of Matthew or Brayden, but it was part of the trip, and I had to stick it in here. I think I'm doing one of my famous poses.

The next couple of pics are kind of random, but here goes:

This one is James trying on my lifeguard shirt. He thought he looked like a body builder, so he decided to get out his weights and pose for the camera. Isn't he so cute? And, yes, I did have permission to post this pic. He even e-mailed it to me so I could save it on my laptop and upload it on our blog. I think he's pretty proud of it. Also, this pic shows proof to people that he actually works out. He's definitely a cutie!

This pic, on the left, is a little more dirty. We'd actually been having a bug problem (when I say bugs, I actually do mean roaches, not fun) So, in the process for the bug man to come spray our house, we had to move everything out of the kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets. We had to move the refrigerator and oven out, so they could spray behind there. And we found a little surprise when we moved the oven out. It looks like it had not been cleaned for AT LEAST a couple of years. There were beer bottle caps, cigarette butts, refrigerator magnets, etc. The people that lived there before us, were Nathan and Nichole and we know they didn't drink beer or smoke. So, yes, there were all kinds of goodies and treats behind the oven. It was pretty disgusting and this pic shows what we cleaned up that night. Needless to say, we actually have not seen a roach in a few weeks. But, we will be moving out when our lease is up. They're not the greatest apartments or the greatest apt managers. They obviously don't clean the apartments when new people move in. We're thinking about moving into The Links, which is an apartment complex that has a free workout room/gym, free tanning, full washer and dryer in each apartment, huge pool and hot tub, and other nice commodities. But, we'll see...

The next few pics are around Christmas time and I'll try to tell about each one (I'm getting kind of tired now):

This is James meeting one of his heroes, Glenn Beck. James found out that Glenn Beck, a conservative radio/TV personality and recent convert to the Church, was coming to Oklahoma City for a book signing. He thought a great Christmas gift for his dad (and himself) would be an autographed book written and signed by Glenn Beck. And the chance to meet him was a dream come true. So, on a Friday, while I was at work, he took off a couple hours from work and went with Kara, his sister, and another friend, Burck to go and get books signed by Glenn Beck. Burck is a huge fan too. So they were pretty nervous on the ride down. He had no idea what he wanted to say to him. So, Burck and James conversed back and forth practicing on what they would say to Glenn. On the way down, they listened to his radio show on some AM station. Glenn was calling people and pretending to be someone else, named Clem, he would ask politcal questions just to see people's views on certain subjects. So, they were all laughing listening as Glenn (otherwise known as Clem) prank called a few people, just to get a reaction out of them. When they got to the store for the book-signing, Burck grabbed a magazine with President Obama on it, and thought he should have Glenn sign it. They thought that would be pretty funny, but decided not to do that. So, they were getting closer to Glenn, and finally it was Burck's turn to have Glenn sign his book. Burck said, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Beck." Glenn replied, "you know, you can just call me Glenn." James heard this conversation and instantly said, "Are you sure it's not Clem?" with a smile on his face. Glenn was a little shocked at first, then he realized that Burck and James had listened to his radio show that morning. He started cracking up, laughing. The pic actually shows Glenn Beck laughing at the response James gave. They were about to walk away, when Glenn called after them and said, "You two...come here!" They turned around and Glenn gave them each a signed copy of the constitution and said, "Have a good Christmas!" The rest of the line was shocked and a little jealous that they didn't get anything extra. It was definitely a memorable experience.

This is Christmas day, at the Scifres home in McAlester. I'm wearing my new PJs and opening up something from Bath & Body Works, I think. Good times...(sorry I'm really tired now, but determined)

With some Christmas money, we decided to go ice skating in OKC at the outside rink. Tons of fun! And, yes, I have had the beanie for about 5 or 6 years now. Christine and I got matching ones at Old Navy in the baby section. They were baby hats, but we stretched them out. Remember, Christine?

Me, ice skating away!

This is the last time I saw Logan since he left on his mission. I think I'm crying in this picture. (I actually DO have emotions) We were at the church, right after he got set apart. It was a bittersweet moment. He went into the MTC on New Year's Eve. We miss you, Logan!!

Alright, I think I'm done for the day. I hope I caught everyone up on what we've been up to lately. I think I should probably go take a shower now. Havent done that yet for today. It's been such a lazy day. James and I love those days. Oh yeah, before I leave, James and I are Primary teachers in the Church. We teach the 7 & 8 yr olds. They're a fun class and keep us on our feet. We actually have to teach Sharing Time tomorrow AND teach a lesson for class. So, we better go do that now. Later!