Oklahoma!

We have returned from our adventure to Oklahoma.  What an incredible state.  Jeff, Jessi and I left on Thursday and flew home late last night.  Ben and Carrie live in Edmond, OK.  The friendliest people I have ever spent time around come from Oklahoma. ( Utahns could learn from them.  We should be the friendliest people.)  The respect that is shown to women is amazing.  I have been "Yes, ma'am" and "No ma'am" all weekend.  I could get used to that.  There are as many Baptist churches on the streets as there are LDS church houses in Utah.   What a great area to raise a family; wonderful Christian values.  
We were met with bats, pumpkins, chains, and lots of treats when we arrived at the Crosland home.  The decorations were so fun.  There was even a green hand floating in a bowl of Sprite!!  We played Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, ate white chicken chili and pumpkin sugar cookies, and had a wonderful Halloween party.  What a delight to see Cody and Macey so excited to host us at their party.
We visited a pumpkin patch, swam at the hotel, went to a movie, and watched Cody ride his two wheeler without training wheels.  The highlight of our trip was being able to attend the baby blessing of Mackayla.  Their ward members were so complimentary of Ben and Carrie.  They are such an incredible asset to their ward.  What a sad time it was to leave them, knowing it would be several months before we see them again.
 Sometimes I question my child raising techniques.  I always wanted to instill in my children the desire to reach for the highest, to be the best they could be.  Now as Ben is doing just that and excelling in his profession, I realize that the drive in life I wanted him to obtain is what is keeping them from returning to live in Utah.  Oh how I wished they lived closer, but oh how Proud I am of the decisions they are making.

It would be really nice if I had some pictures to share of our trip, but I left my memory card to my camera in Oklahoma.  So check out some great pictures of our trip at Carries blog here.