Things I loved about Oklahoma

           I have been thinking a lot about how crazy it was that we lived in Oklahoma for only 6 months, because I had been anticipating living there for a solid 3 years. I had SUCH mixed emotions when we moved. I had fallen in love with the state in such a short amount of time and enjoyed living in a small, rural town. Living in Oklahoma was like going back in time, in a good way. Seeing livestock for miles on the highway, we never got tired of saying "LOOK THERE ARE COWS!" while driving to church or to Fort Sill. The people we interacted with, both military and local civilians, were so easy going and accepting. There was no "keeping up with the Jones's" attitude really, it felt like a very close knit community over in Elgin. I enjoyed a break from teaching, since the previous two years were insane with Richard in residency and me teaching in 2017. Moving to Oklahoma was a fresh start, a breath of fresh air, and I had my hopes up of finally getting to raise chickens. I'm still crazy bummed I didn't get to do that, since I had planned on getting chicks in the spring but we moved.
Here's a random list of things, in no particular order, of the things I missed from Oklahoma.

1. Fort Sill was very family friendly. They had an awesome splash pad and a few play grounds for the kids. There was this lake on post that we went to once, and it had sand. Not too shabby! The commissary was much nicer than the one at Fort Hood. And I actually went to it regularly, since it was the best grocery store for miles around. They had a huuuge gym on post with some intense classes and tons of machines. No childcare, but I'd just go when my kids were in school.
2. Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge was beautiful, and it is literally connected to Fort Sill. Mount Scott had the best view --we loved to drive to the top (Richard ran to the top once or twice). I loved the little visitors center they had and seeing prairie dogs, bison, long-horns, hawks...and visiting Medicine Park right next to it. There was even this strange but interesting area where they built a mini version of Jerusalem with scenes from the Bible. We had fun romping around that area around Thanksgiving with my family. Sometimes I'd just go for a drive and we'd look out the window at all the animals. I loved it.
3. Cows everywhere. I loved seeing those cows get all bushy in the winter, that was so weird to see such fuzzy cows. In the summer, the cows had nasty flies all over their backs. I felt so bad for them. It didn't even smell like manure, the cows all were grass fed so maybe that's why? Or maybe it's because they had so much land to spread their poop around?
4. Elgin -- the town we lived in was the smallest I had ever lived in. But the schools were good and we settled in quickly. I loved the home we rented there-- we almost bought it but got orders to Indiana before we could. It had a chicken coop in the backyard, a shed, a storm shelter and almost 1 acre of land. Which meant a lot of mowing! And the property had a riding lawn mower but it kept breaking! So we had to borrow mowers a lot from our dear neighbors. Another interesting fact-- we had to pay a toll every single time you got onto the highway. We started calling it "TOLLklahoma" after awhile. 
5. The weather! I was overly anxious about tornadoes, since I read too much about the ones that hit Moore Oklahoma in '99 and 2011. Freaked me out. But we never saw a tornado while there, although some did touch down in the state. Apparently the location of Oklahoma topographically makes it such a hot spot for tornadoes. We saw some crazy clouds and colors, experienced a wide range of temperatures in a short amount of time. Oh, and the WIND! The wind is nuts! Just like the song in the musical "Oklahoma"....."where the wind 'doth blow across the plains" It's really a thing
6. I loved our teeny tiny ward. Church was a solid 30 minute drive away but I didn't mind too much.  The sister missionaries became frequent visitors at our home, my girls loved them. I loved that people would show up at church in their jeans and work shoes and nobody batted an eye. It was such a small congregation that everybody knew everybody in a half second. This meant all hands were on deck as far as callings go. I like to brag and say I had 4 callings at one point, but really it was just because they hadn't released me yet from a couple of them. Abby loved primary and had a great time learning "I will be what I believe". She still sings it. I miss my ward friends. I got to know some families closely when I facilitated a self-reliance class. I highly recommend the self-reliance program -- even though we have done Dave Ramsay's stuff, we strongly believe our opportunity to come to Indiana was a direct blessing from being a part of the Self-Reliance finance class.
7. Although there weren't a lot of places to go out to eat, we loved Boompa's burgers in Elgin and ate there more often than I'd like to admit. They were legit delicious. 
8. And my last one is the science museum! We had a membership to the science museum in Oklahoma City and I loved taking the girls there as often as I could. I thought they did a fabulous job demonstrating so many different scientific topics and principals.

I'm sure there is more but I think this sums it up! I just wanted to record some memories before it becomes so long that I'd forget. <3 <3