I can’t believe it is has been almost 15 years since Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bombed the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK.  The bombing killed 168 people, including 19 children.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial opened in April 2000.  While we were in Oklahoma City a while back, we decided to visit the memorial.

From the Gates of Time to the Survivor Tree to the Field of Empty Chairs, the Memorial is full of symbols of the horrible act of terrorism that occurred on April 19, 1995.  The smaller chairs (representing each of the 19 children killed) are especially sad to see.

If you are ever visiting Oklahoma City, I recommend visiting the Memorial.

We were one of the few people at the memorial the day we visited so I was able to get several unobstructed photos.  Here is a slideshow of several of them.

2009 was quite a year.  The most important and exciting thing that happened to me this year is that I bought my first home.  I’ve looked and talked and planned for several years.  The pieces all fell into place very quickly at the end of July for me to officially begin my search for a home.  The house I bought was the first one me & the realtor that assisted me looked at together.  Greg (my realtor & Lindsey’s father-in-law) found me the perfect house.

My other major purchase of 2009 was a Nikon D90 camera.  I’ve had fun playing with it this year.  Although, I haven’t ventured far from the automatic settings yet.  One of my goals for 2010 is to learn more about what all my camera can do.

Lindsey, Kelly, Hayley, & I saw the Paisley Party Tour stop in Tulsa in January.  It included Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, & Darius Rucker.

My mom’s birthday in January marked the beginning of a very bad ice storm.  I don’t remember ever having weather like that.  The ice was crazy.

In March, Kelly & I went to San Antonio for a few days.  We saw a bit of a history at the Alamo, had dinner on the top of the world, and even visited the beach.

In April, we took our annual trip to Dallas/Fort Worth for some NASCAR.  While down there, we visited the Sixth Floor Museum & Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated.  Jeff Gordon finally won a race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Memorial Day weekend I traveled to Charlotte, NC to visit Penni and go to the NASCAR races that weekend.  It was a weekend full of rain but it was a great weekend of visiting old friends and meeting new ones.

In June, I went to a couple of concerts.  The first one was Casting Crowns at the Church at Pinnacle Hills.  The second one was Chuck Wicks at the Poultry Festival.  I got to meet Chuck in person twice (once by accident) that evening.  It was great!  He’s hilarious and very down-to-earth.

Lindsey, Shelby, & I made last minute plans to go to Junction, TX in July to our cousin Lacey’s wedding.  We made Mom come too.  We took our time going down to visit Mom’s brother (our uncle) Mark and also to visit Dublin for some wonderful Dr Pepper.

In the beginning of October, Shelby & I traveled to Dallas.  The University of Arkansas Razorbacks played the Texas A&M Aggies in the new Cowboys Stadium.  Shelby, our uncles Mark & Rod, and I went to the game.  It was an awesome game in an aswesome stadium.  I’m hoping we get to go again next year!

In mid-October, I traveled to Phoenix with a couple others in my department for an SAP conference.  Besides the conference, we took some time to do some sight-seeing.

The last trip I took in 2009 was with Shelby the first weekend of November.  We went back to Dallas/Fort Worth for the NASCAR race.

Here are the blog entries I wrote this year related to my year in review.

January 3, 2009 10:57 pm - The Nikon D90
January 4, 2009 5:54 pm - New Camera – Day 2
January 10, 2009 10:32 pm - New Baby
January 11, 2009 2:38 pm - The Red Coat
January 24, 2009 8:56 am - Tulsa Bound
January 26, 2009 6:40 pm - Family Tradition
January 28, 2009 1:34 pm - Be Still!
January 29, 2009 6:32 pm - Tulsa Time
January 29, 2009 8:27 pm - Ice Storm
February 1, 2009 12:02 pm - Ice Storm Aftermath
March 5, 2009 9:00 am - San Antonio Bound
March 6, 2009 9:25 pm - Where’s Dad When You Need Him?
March 7, 2009 8:31 am - 173 Years Later
March 14, 2009 3:03 pm - Life is like a box of chocolates
March 14, 2009 3:59 pm - A bit of history
March 15, 2009 6:38 pm - The San Antonio Zoo
March 15, 2009 6:57 pm - The Texas Beach
March 15, 2009 8:03 pm - Sea World
March 21, 2009 2:40 pm - Tower of the Americas
March 21, 2009 4:15 pm - San Antonio Re-Cap
April 18, 2009 4:05 pm - Who Dun It?
April 18, 2009 4:45 pm - He finally won
June 20, 2009 3:58 pm - Chuck Wicks Times 3
June 27, 2009 4:47 pm - Casting Crowns
August 9, 2009 4:58 pm - My New House
August 23, 2009 5:42 pm - My New House – Before
October 7, 2009 9:52 pm - Long Wait
November 6, 2009 3:32 pm - Shop a Little, Race a Little

As far as 2010, I don’t really have any plans for any major traveling.  I know we’ll go to both NASCAR races in Texas in April & November.  Other than that, this may be a year that I take it a bit easy as far as traveling goes.  I do need to catch up on here with some blog entries.  I really want to share what my house looks like now that I’ve gotten it painted and decorated.

Friday night, Mom, Lindsey, Shelby, & I headed down to Little Rock for a little mini-vacation.  We stayed at the Peabody Hotel (more on that in a second).  The purpose of the trip was to go to an event called Holiday House.  It was basically a craft fair with mostly holiday-related booths.  I got some ideas for decorating my house and also got a few goodies to help out.  Going to the event definitely got me in the Christmas spirit.  On to the hotel…

We stayed at the Little Rock version of the famous Peabody Hotel (originally from Memphis).  We made sure to time our trip on Saturday so we could see the duck march.  (We also made sure to time our trip for a stop in Russellville on the way back to eat at Feltner’s Whatta-burger but I guess that’s another story)  The little honorary duck master was adorable, as were the kids waiting very patiently to see them.

Oh yeah…Arkansas played Troy on Saturday evening in Fayetteville (3 hours away).  Troy’s band stayed at the Peabody Friday evening & then went on to Fayetteville on Saturday.  Evidently, there weren’t any hotels large enough to hold them all available up anywhere closer to Fayetteville.  The duck master wished Troy luck but stopped short of cheering them on.  We were still in Arkansas after all!!!

Shelby and I are leaving this evening to head to Dallas.

I’m getting closer & closer to moving into my new house.  While in Dallas (Frisco, actually), I am going to visit IKEA.  I’m sure I will find way more than I can afford or need but I look forward to look around for ideas.

Sunday is NASCAR time!  Shelby and I have the best seats we’ve ever had (up near the top at the start/finish line).  I thank the season (actually lifetime) ticket holder that decided to sell their tickets for the great view we will enjoy!

Jeff Gordon won on Sunday, April 5, 2009 not only for the first time at Texas Motor Speedway but also for the first time since October 2007 (47 races ago, if you are keeping count).

This was the first race I attended with my new camera.  I wasn’t really sure how it was going to work given the high speeds.  (I was spoiled to the sport/action setting on my old camera.)  I think my pictures turned out ok for my first try.  Here are some my favorites (picture-wise and subject-wise).

I probably say this after every race when I share pictures but I love seeing the crew members lined up on pit road during the invocation and the national anthem.

Dale Earnhardt Jr started 20th and finished 20th in the race after having a little connection with the wall.

Jimmie Johnson started 9th and finished 2nd.  Jimmie & Jeff battling for the win made the last few laps pretty interesting.  Given the wind at the track on raceday, I’m surprised the drivers could keep their hats on riding around the track.  Jimmie’s trying a different technique by wearing his backwards.

We’ve been lucky to have a direct view down pit road and of the exit of pit road when we go to TMS.  From this view, pit stops sometime look like mass chaos with cars and crew members everywhere.

This is Max Papis.  I love this photo.  He’s so enthusiastic.

Boogity! Boogity! Boogity! Let’s Go Racin’, Boys! When I’m seeing a race in person or even later in the season when DW isn’t an announcer, I so want someone to yell this.

You can see all of the pictures I took at the race by visiting my Flickr photo album.