Oklahoma Revisited

On the 21st of June we were able to fly back to Oklahoma for the first time since we moved away 2 years ago. We were able to visit with family, friends, neighbors and former co-workers. It was a whirlwind trip - We only had 3 days but we covered a lot of ground.

The stockyards. Where they have great deals on boots.

Jay and Piper doing a little "window" shopping.

On Friday we went "shopping" for stuff we can not find in PA. We got authentic cowboy boots for some of our little ones that have out grown the ones we picked up 2 years ago before we left. Chase also got a cowboy hat (for his birthday) that looks just like his dad's. (Cowboy hats are common fishing attire in this family.) Daniel picked up a new belt and belt buckle. I got some great things for our "western" themed living room which I am now spilling over into my kitchen. (I know many of you have seen the 3 foot boot in the back ground of some of our pictures). I found a napkin holder, salt and pepper shakers, new vase for my sunflower arrangement and a "rope" container for my large cooking utensils that I keep on the counter. I had a container there but the mouth of it was too narrow and it was so hard to get all the spoons, spatulae to fit. My favorite find though was light switch plates and outlet plates that have barbwire going around the plates and it appears to have been branded. They didn't quite have enough and we weren't quite sure how many outlets we had in the living room anyway so we are going to have to special order a few. But you all don't know how excited I was to be in a place with more western accessories than I could have dreamed of. You CAN NOT find western stuff here!! I looked for 18 months to find any western themed coasters in our local stores. And when I did they were on clearance (lucky for me), guess nobody buys western stuff here.

Friday night we got all dressed up so we could attend the University of Oklahoma, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Resident Graduation. Our good friend Shawn D. (wife, Caroll) was graduating. It was fantastic and I am so glad we could be there for that. Last graduation we attended was our own and Caroll and I were crying as we said goodbye. This time it was so happy as they will be moving on as well. It was fun to spend the day and evening with Em and J.

Saturday morning the guys - J and Dan got up around 5 am and drove out to Lake Arcadia to meet Steve (former co-worker) to fish for Bass. A few fish were caught. Steve caught the catch of his life....

Saturday afternoon we took our old next door neighbors, Eli and Carolyn, to lunch at one of our most favorite mexican restaurants. They are the best next door neighbors you could ever have. We miss them dearly and I think they feel the same way about us. We drove past our old house and it was so sad to see how overgrown all the bushes and flowerbeds were. We loved that house!Saturday evening we went to the Scott and Cherie's house (great friends from church). They hosted a little barbeque for us with other friends from church. Our old ward no longer exists. It was carved up and sent out to 6 other wards in 2 different stakes, about a year after we left. So it was fun for everyone to get together because a lot of our church friends from OK no longer see each other very often.We headed back to Em and Js around 10:30 pm. I had a rockin headache (the begining of a summer flu I ended up having for about a week) and Dan was exhausted from getting up so early. Em and J had a soccer game that started at the very normal hour of midnight. I called her on our way back to their house saying we just couldn't make it - we were too tired. I could hear the very disappointed tone of her voice and when I got off the phone I told Daniel. He then decided that he should try to go watch. After arriving back at her house he informed them he would go but was there any chance he could play. They actually said they were short a few people so that would work out well. They found him a red shirt and some shin guards and they were off. (I knew it was great that Dan got to play, otherwise he would have been snoozing on the bleachers, he'd been up about 21 hours straight) Piper and I headed to bed.

Sunday we attended Sacrament Meeting at Em and Js ward. I had to take the baby out to change her and lo and behold I found 3 friends from my old ward that hadn't been at the barbeque the night before (their ward was just letting out). So I stood in the hall chatting for awhile. How I love seeing old friends!!!

We had lunch with Em and J then headed up to see Shawn and Caroll (the recent graduates) and their children. They had a baby girl just 2 months after we had Piper. So Piper and Natalie became friends, although I am sure they knew each other in heaven. Shawn and Caroll were nice enough to feed us dinner and then we headed off to Rob and Alison Bs. Rob and Dan had been great friends in residency. Rob graduated the year after Dan and joined a practice in the OKC area. He and Dan have stayed in close contact. They also had a new arrival we were lucky to see.

Then around 9 pm we came home and packed so we could get some rest. Waking up at 4:30am is not my favorite thing to do especially as I am getting sick. We flew to Baltimore and drove up to Delaware to pick up our big kids, all by lunch time. Isn't modern travel amazing. We had a awesome trip with the best behaved baby. We really are lucky to have so many special people in our lives. Thanks to all of you for making time for us!