Recap: Labor Day Weekend

Hi everyone!  I haven't posted all week because I knew this recap post would be pretty lengthy.  I just got back from a great Labor Day weekend in Oklahoma.  The best part was getting to see my in-laws and some of my friends!  (Well, I don't know... the best part may have been the food too...)  The worst part, as expected, was not having Heath to share it with.  Cue the "awwwwww".  I wish I would've taken more pictures, but I was just so excited to see everyone and catch up that I forgot.  Keep reading to hear about my weekend.

FRIDAY

I left early evening for a 3-hour drive to Rush Springs.  I thought there was going to be holiday traffic plus rush hour, but taking the back road was the best decision I had made all day.  Heath's grandparents, aka Granny and Papa, had a yummy dinner waiting for me: chicken tetrazzini, side salad, rolls and fruit.  I meant to take a picture, but I was way too hungry at the time to get a chance.  Anything Granny makes is delicious... and filled with butter, milk, and carbs.  But who is on a diet when you go to Granny's?  If you are, you can't go to Granny's.  You just can't.

It's always good to see Granny and Papa, but it was even better now that we are officially family members!  We spent the rest of the evening catching up when Heath's dad and his sweet girlfriend Jennifer joined us.  There's always a homey feeling at Granny and Papa's, and it was relaxing to chat and look at some of our wedding pictures.  I got a full 8-hour cycle of sleep that night (hallelujah!) and hit the road the next morning to my next destination.  But not before I had some of Granny's breakfast: scrambled eggs, biscuits, gravy and bacon.  I may or may not have had four slices of bacon.

SATURDAY

Zip, Bang, OBU!  I wanted to surprise my best friend Da-Nell in Shawnee Saturday morning.  I knew she was going to be tailgating before the Bison football season opener so I wanted to show up to say hi.  Their tailgating area is on the intramural fields on campus, and they named it "Tent City."  It was surreal to see fees for parking and crowds of people all over campus to come witness the first football game in 73 years.  I read that 5,600 people came to support OBU football that day!  Crazy.

Even crazier that it was also one of the hottest days of the summer!  Well over 100 degrees, I accomplished my goal of surprising Da-Nell at the tailgate.  In the heat... the scorching, lotion melting on my legs, should've put more deodorant on, why did I wear make-up and straighten my hair for this kinda heat.  I also ran into one of my friends and Heath's old roommate and teammate, Hayden, at Tent City.  He had a booth for his up and coming nonprofit, Witness Kicks.  I supported by purchasing a T-shirt and got to take a picture with the CEO himself!  Check out their website for more information, and see how you can help!

After Tent City, I went to meet up with my dear friend Ashley.  Yes, notice I did not stay for the game whatsoever.  Someone had to pay me to stand in that heat.  It was just like old times again where all of our favorite things came into play- food, drinks and laughter!  We met up with more friends (Allie, Garland, Dakota and Da-Nell) for dinner at my FAVORITE restaurant in Shawnee.  I couldn't make a trip to Shawnee and not eat at Cazadores.  Or Cazadorez.  Or Casadorez.  UGH- Dora's for short.  (It's hard to know how to spell the restaurant name correctly when their menu, uniforms and front sign all have shared different spellings at one point.)  Of course their $1.99 margaritas were involved, chips, salsa, cheese dip and a lot more laughter.  The only thing that wasn't involved was taking pictures, which I wish I would've remembered at the time.

After I passed the point of overeating and achieved a food baby, it was time to leave.  We were going dancing at Cowboy's that night so we obviously needed to go wash the Mexican grill smell off of us!  Cowboy's was fun dancing with friends, and pretending to know all the line dances.  I had to link off after Cotton-Eyed Joe got a little too fast for me.

SUNDAY

On the road again!  After conquering Rush Springs and Shawnee, my agenda left Edmond, Oklahoma City and Kingfisher.  And I was crossing off that list all in one day.  I went to see Heath's Aunt Crissy in Edmond, and we had a wonderful time catching up.  Uncle Devin and our cousins Tayte and Logan weren't home at the time so Crissy and I shared some girl time!  Heath and I love going to their beautiful home.  They host the best family gatherings with the best food and the best couches.  I may have napped a time or two after lunches here.  All I know is that Crissy deserves a vacation soon because she is Superwoman right now!  :)  Insert repeated sentence where I wish I would've taken a picture at this moment.

Next up was to see my fabulous girlfriends Lauren and Allison in Oklahoma City.  We met up for dinner at Fuzzy's Bricktown (another one of my food groups).  Allison's fiance and Heath's best friend and old teammate, Eman, also joined us for dinner!  It was just like old times again except there wasn't any Thunder games to go to/watch or any trivia questions to answer.  I will miss weekly dinner dates with these girls so much.

And at last, I made it to Kingfisher in time to hug my sweet sister-in-law Annie Rae.  I stayed the night at Grandpa and Grandma's because family was coming over the next day to celebrate a very special birthday.

MONDAY

Happy 72nd birthday to Grandpa Claude!  And happy Labor Day.  For his birthday gift to us, he smoked some pork and pork tips.  What a generous birthday boy.  We also had bratwurst, queso dip, baked beans, rolls and Kyle's yummy pasta salad (I had about four servings of that alone).  It was a full house!  Heath's cousin Kylie and her fiance Bryan also took their engagement pictures this morning so it was fun to tag along and help them with their poses.  Glenda is such a great photographer, and she had some good looking models too.  They get married end of April and I couldn't be happier for them.  We got to FaceTime Heath after we had lunch.  We all missed him so much!  He probably missed Grandma's homemade butterfinger ice cream more though.  I sent him a picture of us waving through Viber (get. this. app. NOW!), but of course not all of us were on the right time.  Or we could blame it on Uncle Rick who took our picture ;)

After a competitive game of Girls vs. Boys in Heads Up (girls won!), we lounged and took some afternoon naps.  It's always a fun time when the whole crew is in Kingfisher!

It was a successful weekend.  I had so much fun that I forgot to take more pictures.  It was also cool getting greeted as "Mrs. McKay"!  Now I'm back in Bedford, and it's always good to hear something sweet from my favorite (and only) nephew when I walk in the house: "Mimi, you look so pretty."  Cue another "awwwww".

Now back to counting down the days until I leave to go see Heath.  I know I promised a post about a letter/visa update so be looking for it this week.  Love you all!



Until next time,

Natalie