She Travels Too - Final Phase

We have been back home from Tulsa for a few days now. Matine keeps asking me why she can't be held by grandpa, Nona, aunt Michele, Uncle Clark, Courtney, Uncle Bob, cousins, neighbors and friends - all before lunch.... I think she is a bit bored with only mom and dad's faces. At least the dogs are helping us continue the showering of love (they do it with slobbery licks).

Oh how we miss our family and friends, but it felt really good to be back in our little home with our family all together.

So, here are the images and stories of our final phase of Tulsa. We will remember this trip the rest of our lives. There is nothing like going home anyways . . . all the people, the love, the memories. But to able to go home and show off your new BABY to all those people in your life is incredible. Matine is loved beyond words and it made my heart burst to know that the people I love adore her as much as I do (especially Uncle Clark).

Mom, Clark, Courtney, Jim, Matine and I drove down the famous Route 66 to Arcadia, OK to visit Micca and Josh. We stopped on our way home at Pop's... Basically a very large and fancy convenience store with every kind of "pop" (soda, coke, whatever you call it) that you can imagine. I think they actually call it a "soda ranch." Check out their website to get the full effect - it's quite a sight! We each picked our favorite flavor and the most obscure brand or bottle we could find. Clark chose a Russian looking bottle that tasted like Squirt, mom and Courtney opted for some classic creme soda and I chose a very delicious grape soda. Yummm....

If you didn't know... We Cottongim's take stupid pictures. The stranger the smile or "fake smile" the better. Someone forgot to tell pretty Courtney that she looks WAY too pretty to be in a picture with these two yayhoos...

At Micca's we got to see our favorite one year old - Henry! And his mom too. It was hot and by the end of the night, Henry was down to his skivvies.

We enjoyed their beautiful yard and of course, their company. Matine missed her aunt Mic. Josh disappeared into the corner with Matine for a while and fell in love.

One of the coolest things we did on our trip was visit Uncle Clark's "flip house." Clark and his friend Clark Neely have embarked on a very brave endeavor. They bought a very run down house which they affectionately named Thelma P. O'Reilly with a mission to fix her up to her former and even better glory and sell her for a pretty penny. Thelma resides in beautiful and hip midtown Tulsa. They have completely re-done everything from walls, moved staircases, windows, knocked down walls, installed new air conditioning systems... Thelma is going to be one hot babe by the time "Clarks of Tulsa" are done with her. She will likely be sold in a few weeks and they will do it again.

After meeting Matine, Clark's goal is to do this "flip thing" a few more times, make some $$ and move to Montana! Wouldn't that be fun?

Dad, Matine and Clark -- Thelma in the background.

Thelma 75% complete... To come - new yard and landscaping, finished paint job, and MUCH more inside. We are very proud of Clark.

Her Royal Cuteness after another morning hot tub soak.

More love from Uncle Bob and Aunt Michele. The house was literally a revolving door of visitors the entire week.

Aunt Michele came every single day after work. She loves Matine.

Talking to my Nona.

Annie Bynum was a bit jealous and confused. Why were her parents paying attention to that little bald thing? She doesn't even have hair!

My good college friend Carissa (check out her blog) came over with her THREE kiddos Easton (4), Emmy (2.5) and Cohen (4 months) - they are adorable! This momma is awesome - her kids are so well behaved, so cute and funny... It was fun to see her!

Me with little Cohen

This is adorable Emmy... She sang us her favorite song, Old Yeller (seriously) and it was one of the funniest things I have seen in a while.

Easton, Emmy and ANOTHER friend who came to see Matine, baby Dillan. Dillan is Jane Taylor's first grand baby, and daughter of Beau and Kim. Jane came to see Matine (who was asleep the entire time she was there), but we got to play with Dillan and see her in real life. Thanks gals for coming to visit!

Matine also got to meet her cousin's Sarah, Emily and Meg! These are my step-sister Tracee's beautiful daughters. More girls in the family!

We also went to my friend of high school, Holly's house. I finally got to meet her beautiful girls in person and we got a nice good visit in! Holly is an amazing photographer and she took some pics of Matine (which we can't wait to see)! Holly is having baby #3 (Colin) very soon. Somehow I didn't take a single picture of our time with them... But you can read about Holly, Clay, Peyton and Eden's life on her great blog. We will see them in Montana for a vacation soon. I know they would love it here! Thanks for spending time with us Holly!

Well, now can you see why our little house is quite boring for a kid? Now we have to play catch up with all our friends who missed Matine while we were gone.