United Way Golf Tournament

When there's barely room for a carseat among all the Titleist boxes shoved into the minivan, we all know what time of year it is!  Once again, Randy said this will be his last year in charge of the United Way Golf Tournament.  And once again I say, "I'll believe it when I see it!"

The tournament goes on for four days, so each day I brought a different kid out to see and experience Randy's hard work, and to get some yummy Dinks BBQ for lunch!  Day 1 was Addie's turn.  You should have seen her face lit up when she heard her dad over the sound system as he began the raffle prize give away!  That was one of many "proud daughter" moments I was so proud to witness.  Randy started this tournament 11 years ago now.

  

After lunch, we went out to the shaved ice stand out on the course for some dessert!  

Day 2 was Austin's turn!  The weather is always the biggest challenge but once again, even the weather was a success!  By the end of the tournament, around 900 golfer's will have played this course.

Ashley also came out with us on this day.  We attempted the ride out to the shaved ice stand but the battery ran out on our golf cart!  But no worries, we had two studs to our rescue!!

Randy throws an amazing tournament.  If he didn't, he wouldn't have created a 4 day tournament that sells out in half a day!  He knows you have to spend money to make money and his prizes are proof of that!  Day 3 was Avery's special day...

But Randy loves having the kids come out as much as they love missing a little school and seeing him!

For the first time, I attended the reception they hold Thursday evening for all the venders.  I'm just so amazed by the whole event and where it has come.  So many people would come up to me and tell me how impressed they were with my husband.  I even met the CIO of ConocoPhillips and especially enjoyed hearing how impressed he was with Randy.  It made my heart so happy and I too am so proud of Randy and all his accomplishments.  He puts his whole self into anything he does and he is such a great example to me and to our kids.

Friday was Ashton's turn to come out and support her dad!

Friday is a little more laid back so Ashton was able to ride around a little with Randy.  This year they set another new record of raising just over $350,000 for our local United Way.  The money all stays here and helps our town of Bartlesville.

Ashton also got another special treat!  Bubba and Jenny came to town so Bubba could play in the tournament so Jenny and Sophia came for lunch!

This was our first time to meet Sophia Ann!  She is so beautiful and we were so excited to finally meet her!

After school I brought Addie and Ashton back to help clean up and of course, grab yet another shaved ice! (And some chips! hahaha)

The next day we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa John's house so the other kids could finally meet Sophia as well!  Avery and Sophia our birthday buddies!  They now share the same birthday!

Austin and Sophia

Ashton entertaining Sophia once again

And Miss Addie loving on her little cousin!

Labor Day Weekend with the Petty's

Avery was asked to guest play on a Tulsa team in a soccer tournament down in Dallas over Labor Day.  She was nervous and was wanting us to go.  She was heading down with a friend and we knew she would have fun.  Randy had gotten tickets from a vendor to the OU football game in Norman, OK.  So we decided to take Austin and the Petty's down to Oklahoma City and then continue our journey down to Dallas and surprise Avery.  Knowing this wouldn't be fun for the little girls as it involved lots of sitting, we left them home with family.  We enjoyed showing Ashley and Scott some new things, starting with Sal's Daylight Donuts!

When we got to Oklahoma City, we took them down to the River walk and showed them around that area.  Scott found a crazy looking duck and took a picture of it and sent it to his mom.  Somehow when she wrote back, "duck" changed into a really bad word and if you know Pam she would never have said that which made it all the more funny!  She will have a hard time living that one down!

And one of me and my boys!

After that we found a place to eat, and then walked over to this fun little spot for another picture.

Avery has come up with some fun names that have stuck for Scott and Ashley.  She calls Scott "Scotty-Doo" and when she's talking about both of them, she calls them "Scashley".  Ash has joined in on the fun and now calls Randy "Randiva" and me "ShallPal".

It had been years for me since I had been to the Oklahoma City Memorial and Scashley of course had never been there so we took them over to see it.  This statue is across the street from the memorial.

This was the fence that was put up after the bombing and the wall behind it is all that is left of the federal building.

On one side of the entrance says 9:01am and on the other says 9:03am with the reflecting pool  in the middle representing the time that elapsed when the bomb went off.

The chairs represent the people that died and what floor of the federal building they were on when they past away.  The smaller chairs represent children.

It was really neat being there with Austin, you felt like you were on sacred ground.  Here we are standing behind the surviving tree.

This tree was the only thing to survive the bomb.  It's the Tree of Life and has represented hope for so many.

I'm so glad we took the time to come here, I'd love to come back with the rest of my kids when they are a little older and can comprehend and appreciate it all.

They had a little area with chalk where you could write down messages of hope, so Austin took a minute to write something.

After that, we headed over to the football game.  I hadn't been to a game since high school and was so excited to finally be back!

We had to get a picture of Scott, who is a HUGE ASU fan in an Oklahoma t-shirt!  We converted him... if even only for a day!

We got there early enough to see the football team parade from the bus to the stadium, 

grab some food, and get ready for the pre-game show!

This was going to be the highlight of Austin's day!

Our football team is still doing amazing and stomped all over their opponent.  

I loved being able to spend the day with Austin!

After the game, we headed down to Dallas to swim and stay the night so we could catch Avery's game the next morning.

All rested and ready to cheer on A-VA-RY!!!  (Scott gave her a name also... you have to sing it!! Hahaha)

She had a big smile on her face when she saw us!  She said she had a feeling, she must of heard us talking about it, but she was still happy to see us!

Ash and I, chillin' in the shade!

Nothing but sun and tans for these boys!

And after the game with Avery's biggest fans!  She played great!

So, we had been showing Ashley and Scott all around, but now it was time for Ash to introduce me to one of her stopping grounds!  She couldn't believe that I had never been inside an IKEA!!!  We had a blast!

After some "girl time" we figured the guys needed a guys store, so we headed over to the PGA store.  Austin found something to do while the guys shopped.

And then it was back to the soccer fields!  Avery had a blast playing with her Bartlesville friends on the Tulsa team.  Here she is with Peyton and Sydney...

and then again the next day with Sydney, Peyton and Kiara.

Before heading back to Bartlesville, Scashley introduced us to another first... Bahama Buck's.  Oh man!!  Good thing they don't have this in Bartlesville!  It's just like the Yeti we tried in Branson with the ice cream on the bottom but 10 times better!!!  Heaven in a cup!!  We had so much fun hanging out with Austin and the Petty's this weekend!