The Graduate!

Matt and Sharon were in Oklahoma City on Saturday to see Matt's brother Will graduate from OU Law School. As anyone who follows this blog is aware, the Gosneys are die-hard OU fans. So is Lauri's (Will's wife's) family. Despite the devoted fandom, Will is actually the only individual in the two families who has a degree from OU. Both Will's undergrad and now law degree is from OU. Matt's dad started out at OU but then transfered to the University of Central Oklahoma (then known as Central State) after his military service. Then he went to law school at Oklahoma City University. Matt's mom went to Oklahoma City Community College for her Associates then went on to get two bachelors degrees from the University of Central Oklahoma. Matt did his undergrad at BYU (Will actually started at BYU then transfered to OU mid-way) got his masters at UCO, and is now working on a doctorate at the University of Arkansas. Matt's mom is academic super-star out of the group, as she was top of her class in junior college and graduated Magna Cum Laude for one of her bachelors (in computer science) and Summa Cum Laude in the other (secondary education.) Matt is definitely bringing up the rear having spent a semester on academic probation at BYU (a bit too focused on having fun and not as much on actually attending class) although he is pulling a 4.0 in his doctoral program right now. All of that could come crashing down this summer as Matt tackles what he hopes to be the last statistics class he ever is required to take for the rest of his life. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated. (It should also be noted that Sharon actually graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class and was on scholarship at the College of Eastern Utah before finishing up her degree in Accounting at the University of Phoenix. Apart from being a wonderful wife, Sharon fills a critical math deficiency in the Gosney household.) Sharon and Matt are extremely proud of the tradition of education in their families. Sharon's dad was a teacher (as was Matt's mom), so education was always an absolute priority at home. During the time spent in Salt Lake for Christmas Sharon looked through her mother's personal effects and found a consistent record of enrolling in school as soon as she moved to any new location (first Canada from Peru and then in the U.S.), as well as countless report cards and academic citations. What a great tradition upon which to build a family!

Will's graduation itself was blessedly short. Will's daughter Lucy, pictured here, entertained herself by chewing on some keys.


A poor photo below, but the recessional was played by a bag-pipe band. Sharon and Matt resisted the urge to shout out "Attention please, we have a downed piper! Repeat, a piper is down!" (See the movie "So I Married an Ax Murderer" for the quote reference. That movie is actually responsible for Matt and Sharon's marriage, but that's a story for another day.)


The president of Will's law school class was a bit of a flaming liberal and her speech was met with many "hurumphs" from the Gosney row. It's possible the reason Will's son Talmage (below) was hiding under the chairs is because of fear of what might happen to the nation should wacko lawyers like the one who spoke actually run the country. Wait a minute, one already is.


Finally, after all of the pomp and circumstance (and more bag-pipe playing) everyone took some pictures and then had lunch. Below is a picture of Will and Lauri's very cute family (Talmage is screaming "cheeseburgers!" which he believes should be shouted at the top of one's lungs anytime one gets a picture taken) followed by a picture of Matt, Will and Tagger. (Readers of the blog also know that Tag has a strong affinity for his Uncle Matt due to their similar ornery natures. Tag is at least cute and so his orneryness is endearing. Matt doesn't have that going for him.)


It was a great time spent with family and Matt and Sharon are grateful to have at least one side of the family relatively close by. They're also grateful Will will now actually be gainfully employed.

Fun in the woods!

Anyone who got within shouting distance of Matt over the last couple of weeks has been aware that Matt and Sharon had a vacation planned for a couple of days last week. Matt was just a bit excited and ready for a few days away from the office. Instead of the usual Branson vacation Matt and Sharon decided to mix it up a little bit and visit Beaver's Bend State Park in SE Oklahoma. Unlike the vast majority of Oklahoma the Southeast part of the state is extremely hilly (sometimes called the "Little Smokies" for how much it looks like the Smokey Mountains in TN.) It's densely-wooded and the state park has a river running through it that is dammed at one end forming a very large resevoir. The state park has about 50 (very economical!) cabins for rent and, given the stone tile floor, is dog-friendly. So last Thursday Matt and Sharon loaded up the car, piled in the doggies, and took off for Broken Bow, OK and Beaver's Bend State Park!

The first night Matt and Sharon just did a little exploring and decided to try out the restaurant there at the park. It was surprisingly good (Sharon believes she found the home-made chocolate cake that all others chocolate cakes should be judged by) and had a gorgeous back patio that was visited by the occasional forest creatures. Sharon shared a french fry with a squirrel who was most appreciative.

The next day provided absolutely perfect weather and so, after a hearty, non-cardiac friendly breakfast Matt decided it was time for Sharon to try her hand at horseback riding. Sharon had never ridden a horse before, so Sharon got to experience her first ride aboard the lovely Goldie. The ride was extremely scenic, winding through the forest with some white-tail deer (who clearly knew it wasn't hunting season) coming up to see what we were doing. Sharon admitted that half-way through the ride she nearly turned back to Matt and said, "I want one!" Some would argue that Auggie counts as a horse, so the Gosneys won't be full-time equestrians any time soon.

That afternoon Matt and Sharon took the dogs for a good, long walk (or as short-legged Penny deemed it, a death march.) Penny and Auggie seemed to enjoy the trip reasonably well, although Auggie made it clear he would rather go home by running to the back of the Pilot every time he walked past it as if to say "please open the tail gate, let me in and take me home so I can use the bathroom in my own back yard!" Auggie, being a somewhat timid giant, does not like using the restroom for an audience, certainly does not like the idea of doing so while attached to a leash, and certainly not in strange woods. So needless to say, Auggie was glad when we got home.

A Matt and Sharon tradition when vacationing is to stay at a place that has a grill so that Matt can grill a couple of steaks. Not to say that the steaks turned out well, but Sharon teared up a little she was so overcome with beefy emotion. Matt and Sharon of course got to enjoy some napping, reading, and puzzle-working (one of Sharon's favorite vacation activities.) The next day after some pancakes Matt and Sharon were back on the road. The trip was certainly enjoyable, despite the two ticks that Matt managed to inherit and the pollen-induced allergies that Sharon had to suffer through. Beaver's Bend is definitely recommended, however Matt and Sharon will probably hold off on another trip until the Fall to enjoy the changing leaves. And to avoid the pollen and ticks.



Below is a photo album of the trip. Hope everyone is well, and if any of you have a horse Sharon can have ... she's interested!

Football and BBQ

Matt and Sharon went on their monthly Oklahoma trip last weekend and had quite the fun times, indeed. Unfortunately, Sharon was "under the gun" to get some stuff done at work. Fortunately, she can do some of that stuff at home. So before leaving Sharon knocked out quite a bit right from the comfort of her very own kitchen table. Note the look of complete and total concentration and half-eaten pop tarts next to her. That's right, it was a two pop tart kinda deal.
One of the exciting aspects of this Oklahoma trip, as opposed to most Oklahoma trips, was the opportunity to drive down to Norman to attend the annual OU Red/White Spring game.

Followers of this blog have probably noted Matt's University of Oklahoma fandom. Sharon is slowly converting over to Soonerism, a process that is aided by Matt's willingness to buy Sharon cute OU-related clothing. It was a beautiful day at the stadium and, unlike on game days, actually affordable. And because it is open seating, sitting on the 50 yard line in what would normally be the alumni (or, rich old white men) section is actually feasible.

Of course some would argue that it's not time well spent to spend several hours watching 18 to 22 year-old boys practice playing a game. It is hard to defend the behavior, so the Gosneys won't even try. But they had a good time and got some sun. So really, time well spent.
Driving back from Norman to Arkansas Matt decided to "mix things up" and take an alternate route. Most of Matt's "alternate route" decisions are based on restauraunts that he knows of that are only accessible by taking the alternate route. As usual, a fair amount of Matt's choices are based on his stomache. This time it was the iconic "Van's Pig Stand" in Shawnee, OK. From the photo below one can clearly see Matt is quite fond of the choice that was made. Matt enjoyed the best-in-class ribs while Sharon was less pleased with her "chopped pig plate." Van's redeemed themselves in Sharon's eyes, however, due to their outstanding carrot cake. Good carrot cake carries a lot of weight in that girl's opinion.
So, all in all, a very enjoyable trip. Hope everyone is happy and well!

What happened to March??

So the Gosneys have been incommunicado as far as blogging goes the past several weeks. The first step in repentance is remorse, and the second is making amends. So here we go. We're sorry and we're here to make it up to all of you who actually read this. So here is a quick summary of March.

March included a trip to Oklahoma City for a temple trip as well as our nephew Lyric's first birthday party. Penny and Auggie always seem to think they get to go to OKC with us, thus the excitement in the car. Little do they know that they are on their way to the kennel. Oh well. They haven't figured it out yet.
Oklahoma City trips are always fun. It began with a visit to the Oklahoma City Temple. It was as cold as it looked.
Then over to Lyric's first birthday party! Sharon thinks that Lyric's big sister is absolutely adorable. Matt thinks that Sharon is just aware that their chances of having a little blonde baby are nil, so she'd best enjoy whatever blondie she can latch on to. Although, this is one cute kiddo.
It's hard for Matt's dad to hide his excitement at attending a one year-old's birthday party.
Most important, however, was Lyric's enjoyment of his birthday cake. Matt ate his piece of birthday cake in a similar fashion.
Matt and Sharon will from time to time honor Matt's heritage by baking a pie, what with Pecan Pie being a critical element of the "official" meal of the state of Oklahoma. What is the rest of the meal, you may ask yourself? Why, nothing short of an artery-clogging tour de force! Cornbread, Sausage and Gravy, Chicken Fried Steak, the aforementioned Pecan Pie, BBQ Pork, Fried Okra and Squash, Biscuits, Grits, Corn, Strawberries (for the vitamin C, no doubt) and Black-Eyed Peas. (H.C. Resolution #1083) What would happen if you ate all of that in one sitting? You would die, that's what would happen. Someone did the math, bless their hearts, and discovered that consuming that meal would entail 2,700 calories (you're only supposed to have about 2000 in an entire day,) 125 grams of saturated fat, and 5,250 mll. of sodium. There is a reason Matt and Sharon try not to honor that culinary heritage too often, for if they did they wouldn't be able to fit through the front door.

Nevertheless, a slice of pie from time to time is always welcome. So Sharon and Matt decided Banana Cream was the way to go. Because it's poor form for two people to sit and eat an entire pie by themselves (no comment on if it has happened in the past or not) the Gosneys felt it best to invite another family over to share in the pie-goodness. So the Flemings, who live just around the corner, came by with their two kiddos in tow. Sharon has Gavin, pictured below, in nursery. So Gavin is already a Sister Gosney fan. Feeding him pie only seemed to increase his appreciation for what Sister Gosney brings to the table (so to speak.) Although a picture of the pie didn't happen, here is Gavin wishing everyone would leave him alone to watch Kung Fu Panda.
Finally, the Gosneys spent a great Sunday evening with their good friends the Grahams and the Stapleys. Lots of good food and good visiting occurred, and as can be seen in the picture Sharon was able to spend more time with blonde children (dream on, Sharon, genetics are against us.)
Apologies for the month-long travel log as we promise to do better to update the blog more often. Life is good here in NW Arkansas. Spring is finally arriving complete with allergy-related misery. But the Lord has blessed us with Zyrtec and Nasonex, so things could be worse. Hope all is well in the far-flung corners where friends and family may be!

Whole new living room!

An unfortunate hobby that Matt and Sharon adopted when they were first married was to go to new construction open houses and walk around and dream about the big, beautiful new home they might want to buy. The problem with this, of course, is that too much looking means eventually you'll find one you actually want. Fortunately Matt and Sharon would always drive home (perhaps discussing just how much house payment they could manage in order to buy whatever home they'd just fallen in love with) pull into their own driveway and be reminded that their current home was actually just what they needed. So instead of going to open houses they decided it would be a good idea to just focus on making their current home everything they want and need.

One of the big "to dos" in the Gosney home re-model was to replace the carpet in the living room and front hall with a wood floor. Penny and Auggie have a lot of good qualities, but sweet-smelling is not one of them. Matt was forever shampooing carpets and sofa cushions in an attempt to keep up with the shedding, stinky, drooling machines. It was decided that wood floors and leather furniture would alleviate a lot of that concern, and also count as home improvement. So Matt and Sharon began planning and saving for the living room overhaul.

It began by selling the current furniture on craigs list (a highly recommended site, by the way.) Matt thought it would take a week or two to sell the furniture. Instead, it sold in a matter of 15 minutes. So Matt and Sharon picked the wood for the floor (with much help from Matt's Cub Scout committee, who each shared their opinion) and a date was picked to rip up the old carpet. Matt asked good friends Jace and Jason to come over for a Saturday morning full of entertainment. There are few things in this world that are more disturbing than pulling up old carpet to see just exactly how nasty it is underneath. Jace and Jason were rewarded for their efforts with a lunch catered by Sonic, and Matt and Sharon then went "rustic" as they sat on the concrete slab and awaited the floor guys to arrive.

While waiting, Sharon and Matt made a run to Tulsa to shop for furniture at Mathis Brothers. (Tip for Arkansans: Mathis Brothers has a better selection than anything in town, and since it is out of state you don't have to pay sales tax. Plus you can get a Jamba Juice while you're in town. Everybody wins.) Matt and Sharon had been looking for the right leather furniture set for months, but with the carpet up and the floor going down it became imparative that some decision be made. The Mathis Brothers sales person, weary from our multiple visits and indecisive natures, finally showed us "the one" and we drove back home the proud owners of new leather furniture.

The floor folks arrived on Monday and began a two day job of putting in the new floor. As you can see, they did outstanding work. By Thursday the new furniture had been delivered and, just like that, the Gosneys have a new living room that is easier to maintain and certainly smells less like a kennel. All are welcome to come test-drive! We won't be moving any time soon.

Valentine's and a trip to OKC

First off, an apology for those who skip over the written blog and go directly to the pictures. No pictures are accompanying this post mainly because Matt and Sharon oftentimes forget to bring the camera to significant events. They promise to repent of this bad behavior.

Valentine's Day was celebrated at the Gosney house a day early and in a fairly low-key manner. Matt asked Sharon where her ideal Valentine's Day dinner would be and she responded with a large Gusano's pepperoni pizza and frozen Mrs. Smith's Deep Dish Apple Pie. Matt then remembered all over again why he married Sharon.

The Gosneys teamed up with the Stapley's for a marathon, down-and-back-in-one-day trip to Oklahoma City for a visit to the temple. It was a highly-entertaining trip in which the Stapley's little boy Cole provided endless fun. He's a sweet kid and the Gosneys had fun watching him while his parents were in the temple. The only danger experienced during the trip was when Cole was watching Kung Fu Panda on his portable DVD player and Matt kept peering back in the rear view mirror to watch his favorite parts. Unfortunately for Sharon many of Matt's tastes in entertainment are the same as the average 2 year old. Matt and Sharon took Cole over to Matt's parents where they were joined by Matt's brother (Will), sister-in-law (Lauri), and their two kiddos (Tag - age 2 1/2 and Lucy - age 6 mos). All in all it was a house full of crazy fun and Cole seemed to enjoy every second of it. Matt particularly enjoyed the story of Tag visiting his mom's family and being asked by one of her brothers who is favorite uncle was. Tag, of course not worrying about offending his mom's side of the family, replied without hesistation "My Uncle Matt!" That's a good kid. Matt plans on telling that story a lot.

Life is good here. Matt and Sharon are certainly worried about the economic uncertainty right now across the country and right here in NW Arkansas. We know lots of folks have been impacted and our thoughts and prayers are with all of those struggling at this time.

The Gosneys go to the Oprey!

Matt and Sharon have been extremely excited to have Sharon's dad come and visit for the last couple of days. Dad Smith flew in to Tulsa on Thursday (after the ice started melting, thankfully) and Matt and Sharon have been able to have a lot of fun showing him around NW Arkansas and visiting. Friday was a driving tour of all of the hot spots in NWA with stops in the very cosmopolitan Hiwassee not to mention the booming metropolis of Gravette. He also got to see Bentonville and Bella Vista, but let's face it. When someone comes to this part of the country it's to see one thing and one thing only; Highfill, AR - population 341. Dad Smith has enjoyed his stay (or at least he says he has) and thinks it is beautiful out here with very friendly people, good food, and lots to do for a retiree with a penchant for country music and farmer's markets.

Speaking of country music, Matt and Sharon discovered and took Dad Smith to quite the hole in the wall music joint on Saturday called "The Little o' Oprey" in West Fork. Matt didn't even know West Fork existed prior to this weekend. The Oprey is an ancient building that has been turned into a music hall. The house band plays every Saturday evening with various performers from the area doing several numbers with the house band throughout the show. It's a great place for teen-agers and those who are just starting to get into the performing business to learn how to play in front of an audience and with a band behind them. The level of talent was varied. There was a rather unfortunate rendition of "Wabash Cannonball," and Sharon showed far too much enthusiasm in Matt's opinion for an spirited if not exactly skilled version of "Achey-Breaky Heart." The house band at the Oprey were actually very talented, particularly the steel guitar player and the keyboardist. It was fascinating to watch performers get up, tell the band the name of the song and what key it was in, and then perform as the steel guitar player watched the performer's guitar neck for chords while signaling the rest of the band when the chord changes were happening. It was clear the band were a bunch of salty old professionals just interested in helping out some kids learn their chops. The Little O' Oprey is not recommended by the Gosneys for those interested in high quality music performance. For those interested in hearing a talented band playing old country music standards behind kids who are three times younger than the songs they are singing, the Oprey may be for you. And no, the Gosneys did not spontaneously grow mullets after attending.

A few pictures from the Gosney's night at the Oprey are included, as is a video of the house band playing a song by themselves. The keyboardist is doing the singing. Pardon Matt's shakey hand (shakey-breaky?), and be sure to scroll down and push pause on the Playlist musicbox first so you can hear.



Hope everyone is happy and well!