HOUSE PROGRESS

We have PROGRESS!!! On June 26th a crew came in and poured the footing for our dream home and since that date things have been happening so fast...which makes me a very happy camper! 

I felt so bad for these guys because it was so hot out there but I guess they are use to it because they never complained.

On July 10th they had the "Safe Room" framed up and ready to be poured.

And on the 11th the framer's were framing the house.

By the end of the week this is what we have!! 

Now I would say that is PROGRESS!

Work is very slow in the summer. DUH!  When you take school picture's for a living and school is out during the summer, it's pretty much a no brainer! It's kinda nice to re-group...re-organize...& sleep in!!! Here is just a little bit of our slow paced...relaxing week.

(sorry for the blur...but you can get the idea)

YES THIS IS A ENTIRE VAULT FULL OF WINE!! AND NOW WE OWN EVERY BOTTLE!!

If you know Lonnie...you know that he can sale anything, but what you might not know is that he can get a bargain on just about anything too. Lonnie has an old friend that owned a liquor store in Norman for several years and he sold his building and was wanting to get rid of all the inventory. The building use to be an old bank. Lonnie stopped in to get me a few bottle's of wine and Rob took him over to the old vault and asked Lonnie how much he would give him for the entire room. Well after a couple of numbers were thrown out they settled on $250.00!!! Yes $250.00!!! There is approximately 500 bottles of wine here people! The bottle's ranged from $6.00 to $63.00...now I would call that a bargain!

With that much wine you need the proper wine glass! Just kidding...We bought it to put all of the wine corks in.

Now this is what I'm talking about! And yes that is Lonnie's redneck wine glass that he so proudly drinks his wine out of! 

Saturday we got up and headed to the Local Farmer's Market. I was wanting to make some homemade Pico (Thank you Patty Moreno for the recipe!) Lonnie's childhood friend has a stand at the Norman Market 

And here is the delicious Pico! YUMMY!

Later that afternoon we drove around Thunderbird Lake just for fun and we came upon this set-up. It just cracked me up! You know you're from Oklahoma when you hang window units out your car window! LOL!

Saturday night we went to the Casino to just hang out for a while and found out that Wade Bowen was in concert. Of course they were sold out, but Lonnie knew the lady at the ticket booth and got us tickets 4 rows from the stage! (Again another BARGAIN!!)

I know that this post is a little bit of picture overload but oh well what can I say ... I LOVE PICTURE'S

Thanks for stopping by...I hope you have a great week!

Farewell Grandpa

Early this week I received a call from my mom. She called to tell me that they have put my Grandpa in a Hospice Care facility. He was dying! We knew that his health had been declining very rapidly, but no matter if you expect it or not...it still hurts! My Grandpa lived a good 89 years of life. He has accomplished many things in his lifetime...many I am sure I don't even know about. He is a war vet., he was a very talented athlete and even survived being shot during a robbery while serving on the Tulsa Police Department. The list goes on and on! One thing I do know is that my grandpa was a fighter and he fought up until his last breath! Here's to you Grandpa...I love you and you will be missed!

 "Pistol Pete Annex" 

1949 Tulsa Hurricane Football Quarterback.

Lonnie and I went to visit Grandpa on Wednesday and he woke up a few times and seemed to be aware of what was going on from time to time. By Thursday he was not waking up at all. They told us that when your kidneys shut down you kinda put yourself into a self induced coma. Early Friday morning his breathing became very labored and because of all of the fluid on his lungs he began to rattle with every breath. Mom called me around 10am and told me it wouldn't be long so Lonnie and I headed to Tulsa. I bet we weren't there 1 hour before he was gone. 

My mother was great! She was by his side to the very end, holding his hand and rubbing his face very tenderly. I knew that when I got there Friday she was exhausted! This picture was taken literally 10 or 15 minutes before he died.

My Mom and Dad.

Mom moved over by dad so that the nurse's could turn Grandpa and then another nurse came in to give him a breathing treatment. We were all just sitting there watching him and I saw his eyes open. He began to look around and I leaned over to mom ( who was hugging my dad at this point) and said "He has his eye's open!"

For some reason I knew what was happening!! It was the strangest feeling! Mom went over to him and it was like their eyes locked!! She grabbed his hand and everyone in the room moved closer to his bed. With his daughter holding his hand and the rest of us surrounding his bed he took his last breath! It was a great feeling not to watch him suffer anymore...but a terrible feeling knowing he was gone!

The facility the my Grandpa was blessed to be placed in is called Clarehouse. It is truly the most amazing place I have ever been in! 

It is such a peaceful place to be, which is weird because everyone there is dying! They only have 8 rooms. Each room has a balcony overlooking beautiful landscape.

Volunteers brought in home cooked meals daily. Everyone there was so nice and comforting! The nurse that was in the room with us when Grandpa passed hugged each of us and cried with us! I can't express how great these people are! They are true angels from heaven!

After someone passes, the nurse's light a candle outside of that person's room! This is Grandpa's Candle.

They have 2 beautiful fish aquariums within the home. They were gorgeous.

When the family is ready and after your loved one passes they let you release a butterfly in their memory! I had to head back so I didn't get any photo's of this ceremony. But here is a pic of the butterfly cage.

Again this place and the people who work and volunteer their time here are AMAZING!!

Services for Paul Annex will be held Tuesday July 3, 2012 at 11 a.m.at Rose Hill Mortuary. 4161 E. Admiral Tulsa, Oklahoma 74115.

Any Memorials can be sent to Clarehouse Hospice 7617 S. Mingo Rd. Tulsa, Oklahoma 74113.

Thank you all for you thoughts and prayers for our family during this time. It is greatly appreciated.