Nothing's better than Summer in Oklahoma

The day after VBS Paul and I headed north to Oklahoma to visit my family for a week. We had a very relaxing drive up there. It was nice knowing we were both on break (Paul only had a 3 week break this summer :( and had just completed a preceptorship at a pediatric clinic in the area. You can read about his experiences on his blog storyofawhitecoat.wordpress.com) and that we wouldn't have to turn around in a day and make the 8 hour trip back home.

Once we reached Oklahoma we headed straight to my youngest brother, Steven's, baseball game.  His high school team is playing summer ball and we were lucky enough to see him play 3 games while we were in town. Steven loves baseball and is actually quite fun to watch as were all my little brothers I have to admit. We are a baseball family.

Steven pitching. He also plays shortstop.

Nice Hit.

That same night I also found out that one of my good friends, Kendra, got engaged. I am very happy for her. Paul and I even got to have dinner with her and her lucky fiance while we were in town, she lives in the Oklahoma City area. For some reason I was not good with my picture taking and forgot to take a picture. The funny thing is that when I got her text that she was engaged my mom was in the middle of tellimg me a story about one of her co-workers engagements.

My older bother also came home for a visit while we were there. I love hanging out with my neice and nephew. They are tons of fun and full of personalitly. I am also very excited that I will be welcoming a new neice or nephew in December.

It never fails that when all my brothers and Paul get together that some sport has to be played. typically it is backyard baseball and you can always count on a fishing expedition if the weather is right. Last year they got into playing soccer with makeshift goals in my grandma's front yard. This time around they found enough tools to play a game of lacrosse with. I am not sure they knew the exact rules of lacrosse, but they made some up anyway.

Mark, Tyler, Steven, Ben, Paul, and Nick playing lacrosse.

More lacrosse action

After lacrosse and once the sun started setting, all the boys headed out to go fishing while my mom and I made a trip to Lowe's. My mom is redoing her kitchen and bathroom and I was enlisted to help pick out paint, light fixtures, backsplashes, etc. I love to decorate and can't wait to be able to decorate my own home someday. The only problem we encountered is my mom is a terrible decision maker and I am not much better. I hate to say not many decisions got made by us alone the week we were there, and even once a decision was made it wasn't set in stone. So after sifting through 50+ paint chips and painting 6 different shades of yellow and green on the wall I think we have a color picked out. When the boys returned from their fishing trip I have learned through experience that someone probably got hurt, fell in the water on accident, broke something, lost something etc. This particular time my older brother got a flat tire on his car and Paul got a pretty bad puncture wound on the bottom of his foot. Good thing he's a future doctor and knows how to care for himself (note sarcasm). I think it needed stitches and he did too, but as a future doctor he informed me that he didn't have any stitching or lidocaine so it wasn't getting stitched. (It is healing nicely though). The best part of the fishing trip was that my nephew caught the biggest fish, and he was very happy.

The next few days were spent shopping and selecting items for the remodling. We even got to visit Paul's Uncle Tommy in the hospital after he had surgery. He was in such good spirits and hardly seemed affected by the surgery at all. I really admired his strength and attitude. We continue to hear he is doing well and are very grateful. We also enjoyed a couple rounds of Paul's favorite new game "Ticket to Ride"; which he has still only won once.

On Wednesday night, we took a trip Weatherford to see my brother's Brett and Mark who had to return to summer school that Monday. I had never seen where my little brother's went to college or their apartments before this trip. My brother Nick took me on a tour of the campus, while Paul and the other boys went to the fishing hole. Later my mom and I joined up with them and they decided to take us to their spot on the river where they like to fish. My brother's girlfriends Mallory and Kayla joined us on the river. It was my first time meeting Kayla and it was nice to walk along the river and get to know her and catch up with Mallory. Little did I know that our little walk along the river was probably a mile up stream and you had to wade in the water to get to it as there was no bank to really walk on in most areas. Despite the disgustingness of the river water and gunk around my feet the area was quite scenic and pretty.

Brett reeling in a fish.

Brett with an ugly Gar

Mark and Paul fishing

Dasher "helping" Paul take a fish off the hook

Steven, Mark, Brett, and Nick fishing.

Dasher digging holes. He loved being at the river.

Mallory even caught a big fish.

 I really enjoyed getting to see where my brother's live and fish at near Weatherford. It will make the stories they share more visual. I ended our time in Oklahoma with a shopping trip with my grandparents (always enjoyable and interesting) while Paul played video games with my youngest brothers. I hate living so far away, but do enjoy visiting when we get the chance. We all had a good time, I just wish it didn't end so soon.