Aside from the occasional judging stare, (no, District meeting was NOT just an excuse for a double date) it's really fun being married to someone from my mission. We share a lot of memories and friends, and know the same areas. It seemed a great idea, therefore, to visit our old mission haunts on this, the 10th anniversary of our service. The fact that BYU was playing a game in the very city to which we were called sealed the deal.
After a not-so-bad seven hour drive, where we were even prepared with quarters for the many toll roads (and realized that Dallas is WAY less crowded than Houston), we arrived in Tulsa at our hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel I had reserved was not up to my standards (I'm not a snob, I just don't want to bring cockroaches home with me). Fortunately, one of the little perks of Brad's job is that we have access to a travel discount site, which meant that we got our room at the Comfort Inn next door to the yucky place for about half of what the BYU fan in front of us got it for!
As you can see, the University of Tulsa has a very pretty campus and the game was very exciting, even though we ended up losing. We had second row seats, and Ty LOVED seeing the players up close, and loved the band, and the fireworks going off every time they scored, etc. Now every time we see a football game on TV he thinks it's at Tulsa. He screams all excitedly, "Tulsa! Tulsa! Football in Tulsa! Remember Tulsa?"
Sunday morning came too early after our late night, but we got up anyway and drove about 40 minutes to attend church in my beloved Cleveland Ward. (It was a branch ten years ago. Also
Home of the Cleveland Cut of '97) I served in Clevie-Land twice on my mission: my second area and my last area, so a big chunk of time was spent there. It was so great to see people I hadn't seen for so long--many of whom were people I taught or new converts when I was there, now serving in Bishopbrics and Relief Society. What an AWESOME place!
We stayed with the S****** family Sunday night, and had such fun. Their three little girls, Ashland, Savannah, and Courtland, aren't so little anymore. They're in 12th, 11th, and 10th grades now, respectively. Savannah especially took to little Ty and he adored her. So crazy that when I was there, she wasn't much older than he is now!
After Charlotte's FAMOUS chocolate chess pie, some great recipe sharing, talking, laughing, and more Cleveland Highlights (Bishop Jeff doing a little dance for us!) we took our Homemade Loaf of Bread (yes, I meant to capitalize it, it is
that good!) on the road through Northern Arkansas up to Branson, MO.
They make this bread every Saturday night so that they'll have homemade yumminess for the Sacrament.
We found this big chair at a store called "Oops!" It has a bunch of factory seconds and other odd and interesting items for really cheap. It has TONS of holiday decorations, along with anything else you can think of. I was bummed when they said there aren't any other Oops stores. I don't think I'll make it up to Springdale, AR very often.
We found some great deals on this trip! We managed to get a bagful of stuff at this Oops store for under $20. We also ran across an Old Navy Outlet store that was closing, so everything was 60% off already marked down prices! And we seemed to hit it at just the right time because there was a lot of selection still. We majorly hauled on clothes for Tyler! There were also random yard sales all along the way, and we stopped at a couple, picking up toys and random things, as well as talking with the locals. I love Southern people. So very very friendly.
This entry is getting long, and I'm getting tired, so stay tuned for Part Two, Branson: Land of Senior Citizens.
One day we "Rode the Ducks." These are amphibious vehicles from WWII that go on land and water. They have little tours that go around Branson and then onto Table Rock Lake. Once on the lake, Captain Scott let all the kids drive. Ty LOVED it! He kept going to the left, and to the right, and back again. The people got a kick out of it.
Here's Branson's version of Las Vegas' Bellagio. This whole new mall area (Branson Landing) is new since we were here before. We really enjoyed strolling downtown Branson, where I did much of my street contacting on the mission. It's crazy how many memories popped up for both of us as we would drive the same streets where we'd been.
Of course we went swimming every day. Ty's getting to be quite the kicker. He can kick himself across the pool all by himself (with his life jacket and floaty on).
I love this pic of Brad and Ty. It's so cute how he's looking at him like that. This is somewhere in Arkansas. After three days in Branson we took a couple days to get home, stopping in Hot Springs National Park (don't go out of your way to go there, it's no Yellowstone!) and down through Eastern Texas.
