HEADLINES FROM THE HOLTS: OU Orthodontic Alumni Meeting

We had a fun trip to Oklahoma, visiting with Tyler and Sonya
while Dad attended the OU Ortho Alumni meetings.
Our dear friends from Ortho days, Bill and Mary Ann drove up from Texas
and as always, we had a great time catching up with them.
On their first day of meetings, Mark and Bill stopped
to take a picture in front of the OU dental school,

which was their "home away from home" during those ortho resident years.

That night we went to Oklahoma City Museum of Art for a OU Alumni reception
with all the residents, staff and alumni.

Mary Ann and I, standing in front of the gorgeous glass statue
in the entry of the Museum.

While the boys went to the meeting the next day,
Mary Ann and I dragged Sonya on our shopping adventure and tour of Oklahoma City.
(I say "dragged" because that Sonya is such a sweetheart,
putting up with Mary Ann and me reminiscing about our "Oklahoma years"
and patiently listening to our stories about "the ~~bad~~ good old days".)

We hit up the Jason White's House Divided at Penn Square mall
and grabbed some OU earrings and necklace. A must for the game!
Then we headed over to the new Oklahoma City Outlet Mall to check it out.
We made our way over to Target
to see if by chance they had any of the "goods" from the Mossimo line left... but NO luck.
They were almost completely sold out except for some velour striped hot pants,
a couple of headbands and a scarf or two.
After coming away from Target empty handed,
we started talking about "the olden days"
when we could only afford to shop at the Nearly New Shop shop on Western Avenue.
We wondered if it was still around, so we googled it and sure enough it was.
We decided that we just must take a trip down "memory lane"
and Sonya was so good to accompany and humor us.
We headed right over via Nichols Hills, which is such a beautiful neighborhood in OKC,
and we "ohh and awwed!" at all the big gorgeous homes!
We arrived at the Nearly New shop to find that it was bigger and better than we ever remembered!
We asked about the $2 clearance rack, which was always a favorite spot to shop,
but sad to find out that it no longer exists.
We had to get a picture and then decided that we were so close to Mary Ann's old stomping grounds,
the house on Carlisle Road, where Bill and Mary Ann lived so...

we drove over to the home and got a picture of Mary Ann in the driveway.
The home hasn't changed a bit and neither has Mary Ann.

That night, they had a dinner at the Skirvin Hotel for all the alumni and residents.

It was fun to visit with our favorite OU resident, Adam Hoyberg and his darling wife, Whitney.

Adam and his family lived in Granite Bay years ago
when his father was mission president of the Roseville mission.

Mark was Adam's orthodontist and we have kept in close touch with him ever since.

We are thrilled that he attended OU dental school and is now in the OU residency program.

It's always fun to see him and catch up with his sweet family.
And I love that we now have that OU Ortho connection.

The class of '89 OU Alumni, Mike, Mark and Bill with the wives.

Only missing Chris and Kelly Sorokolit.

Bill, Mark and Mike, three of the cutest OU Ortho Alumni and best friends.

Game Day

OU Sooners vs. Missouri Tigers

Tyler and Sonya came to pick us up at our hotel
in their car that was donning the OU flags. Boomer Sooner!

We were invited to join an OU tailgate with all the other OU Ortho Alumni.

We were told that Dr. Shanahan's party would be near the duck pond
and the only tailgate with the American flag above the OU flag.
That seemed like pretty vague directions to the tailgate but we were assured that we could find it.
Sure enough, we found a tailgate party with the OU flag above the American flag
and we were ready to join their tailgate and party except no one looked familiar.
It had to be Dr. Shanahan's tailgate because there was an OU flag above the American flag, right?
Wrong. Here is Mary Ann looking a little lost and confused, pointing to the flags.

So we walked around the duck pond and found a second tailgate party
displaying the American flag above the OU flag.

Again, Mary Ann is confused, as she points to the flags that should be marking the spot
where our tailgate party is supposed to be taking place.

Finally, we find the flags and Dr. Shanahan's tailgate party
and boy, are we ready to tailgate!

Dad is checking out the red and white OU grill
complete with a poster size picture of Coach Stoops.
Every grill in Oklahoma should have one!

So we settled into our Sooner chairs in front of the big screen TV,

while Dad grabbed some Boomer Sooner BBQ.
Now we knew for sure that we are at the right tailgate party!

Sonya enjoying an OU cookie. Yum!

And I'm not going to turn down something red and white and sugary!

Dr. Currier, the Orthodontic chairman, taking a tour around the parking lot
on the Boomer Schooner cooler scooter. Boy, that's a mouthful... and I'm not talking teeth!

After watching Dr. Currier zipping around on the scooter,
Dad just had to try out the Boomer Sooner soda pop cooler scooter
(that's right, I'm sure there was only soda in that cooler scooter.)
This photo is kind of embarrassing and I really can't believe that I'm posting it.
For the record, Dad asked me to take this picture. For reals:)!
It is true, that I have been known to ask family members to take awkwardly staged
or at times, silly photos.
But Dad was the driving (literally) force behind this one.
Even I know when to draw the line on ridiculousness when it comes to staging a clever photo:)!
But I have to admit, the more I look at this photo,
I can't stop smiling and thinking that Dad does look absolutely adorable, right?!

Looking pretty official in his OU shirt,
just like the coach on the screen behind him,
Dad just loved this set up.
If only it came in blue and white...
and said Cougar Nation!