When you go across the river you enter into JENKS, OK, which is where i attended highschool! Funny that my last name is Jenks, huh?! It was amazing to see how much Jenks, OK has grown. Holy cow. It is awesome.
Here is our Football stadium where magic happened. That big building right there is their new fitness center. That is my first time seeing it! It is awesome. Our class 6A football team was the Best of the BEST. Seriously. I was there at the best time when we had the Legion of Doom. Their defense was the best of them. They whooped(and i mean whooped!) anyone that came their way. They were ranked No. 5 Nationally! They were awesome and they were so much fun to watch. Their rivalry is Union and i think they played them every single year in the championship game.They would hold the games at Stadiums like OSU...where about 40,000 would attend or more. It was a HUGE deal. There's is a storied highschool rivalry. It's a legacy. WOW...okay, can you tell i am proud? I love Oklahoma football, not only b/c of my highschool but b/c we have OU football. Quite a few guys from my highschool played for OU....its a big thing for me! :) So, it was so fun to go back and see the stadium. Go Jenks Trojans! :) (i know, i am a dork)
This is where highschool graduation was held. They held it at Oral Roberts University in ONE of their many buildings.
This is for my friends from Tulsa. Jenks is in the process of building two new buildings on the highschool campus. One is an aquatic center...
The other is a math and science center...
The YMCA! This is where i worked out and it is also where i had my first job at the age of 15. I was a lifeguard and i also taught swim lessons. I was also on a swim team here too. Oh the memories! :)
Here is the house i grew up in...
haha...just kidding. Actually, there are TONS of new houses that have gone in all around where i lived. This is one of them. They are b.e. a. utiful. We decided that we want to build our future home like this so we took a picture and it will come in handy in 4 years. :) haha!....i wish.Now, for real. This is the home i grew up in....
The window on the FAR right sort of hiding behind the trees is where Stephen's bedroom was at. The window closest to his room to the left of it is where our formal living room was. Then the window to the left of that is just the foyer, but if you look into the window you will see the stairs that lead you up to my room, and holly's room, which are both on the right side of the house. Her window overlooked the backyard and mine overlooked the neighbors yard. My room was slightly above stephen's room. the gameroom and office are upstairs to the left.. The window that is to the left of the front door is where our formal dining room was. And the window on the far left is the garage. And the window above the garage is the office. The kitchen is back behind the formal dining room. The TV room is behind the formal living area and the stairs. My parents room you get to by going out of my brother stephen's room, walking down the hall, walking straight towards the back of the house and there is their room. Oh, actually, the office is where Brion's room was. It turned into the office(which is what it is supposed to be b/c its small) when stephen moved out b/c then brion moved into stephens room. There is a door that is in the TV room that leads out to the wood deck,pool, and hot tub.. OH i miss it.
Aaaahhhh, i mowed that lawn so many times. So many memories here! We lived on one acre of land. I LOVE this house and miss it terribly. What you don't see is that we had a pool and hot tub in the backyard. Oh i miss that. No words can describe how i miss it. Shane knows that coming up soon we are going to have to buy a home with a pool in the backyard, or when we build our home we will have to put one in. That is one thing that is WONDERFUL to have. Also, my dad would always mow a baseball diamond in the grass so we could play ball. We also had a basketball hoop in the driveway that i would use all the time. After living in our home in cleveland for so long and just living in tiny compact space....going back to tulsa i forgot how nice it is and beautiful. I didn't realize how good i had it as a teenager. But i guess most teenagers don't ever realize anything good....well, i didn't. :) That area is beautiful and full of trees. I want to move back so bad. Well, sort of. I would just like to take my old neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods with me to wherever we move to.
The window on the FAR right sort of hiding behind the trees is where Stephen's bedroom was at. The window closest to his room to the left of it is where our formal living room was. Then the window to the left of that is just the foyer, but if you look into the window you will see the stairs that lead you up to my room, and holly's room, which are both on the right side of the house. Her window overlooked the backyard and mine overlooked the neighbors yard. My room was slightly above stephen's room. the gameroom and office are upstairs to the left.. The window that is to the left of the front door is where our formal dining room was. And the window on the far left is the garage. And the window above the garage is the office. The kitchen is back behind the formal dining room. The TV room is behind the formal living area and the stairs. My parents room you get to by going out of my brother stephen's room, walking down the hall, walking straight towards the back of the house and there is their room. Oh, actually, the office is where Brion's room was. It turned into the office(which is what it is supposed to be b/c its small) when stephen moved out b/c then brion moved into stephens room. There is a door that is in the TV room that leads out to the wood deck,pool, and hot tub.. OH i miss it.Aaaahhhh, i mowed that lawn so many times. So many memories here! We lived on one acre of land. I LOVE this house and miss it terribly. What you don't see is that we had a pool and hot tub in the backyard. Oh i miss that. No words can describe how i miss it. Shane knows that coming up soon we are going to have to buy a home with a pool in the backyard, or when we build our home we will have to put one in. That is one thing that is WONDERFUL to have. Also, my dad would always mow a baseball diamond in the grass so we could play ball. We also had a basketball hoop in the driveway that i would use all the time. After living in our home in cleveland for so long and just living in tiny compact space....going back to tulsa i forgot how nice it is and beautiful. I didn't realize how good i had it as a teenager. But i guess most teenagers don't ever realize anything good....well, i didn't. :) That area is beautiful and full of trees. I want to move back so bad. Well, sort of. I would just like to take my old neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods with me to wherever we move to.
Tulsa is so pretty. They have lots of trees and its pretty hilly. It sure isn't flat like texas. It's funny b/c the drive home we realized how quickly it went from hilly and lots of trees to flat and not many trees when we got closer to texas. I like texas though. It's great. I just love the people. We have made some wonderful friends here and i just love em! :)
It was great to visit my hometown. We also went to my old ward. I am surprised how many families are still there. And we met a family in that ward that wasn't there when i lived there whose daughter is here at sheppard air force base. Her husband is a dentist. What a small world. So, i am going to look them up and find them. i also surprised myself with the feelings that came over me. When i saw all those people in that ward it suddenly felt like i was seeing FAMILY that i hadn't seen in ten years. They felt like family to me. I cried when we left tulsa b/c i had so many feelings coming back, so many memories, so many bad memories, and most of all, visiting was a good experience. I have grown up a ton since i was last back there so my eyes were opened to the place in a different way than they were before. I mean, it has been about 8 years since i had been there. BUT those were only visits. It's been since i graduated in 1999 that i have really lived there. Anyway, i didn't want to leave. I felt like i was home. I have never had a place that has felt like a home where i belong b/c we have moved so much. I mean, i make memories at places, but we have never lived somewhere long enough to feel like it is my home. Tulsa in the one place i have lived the longest, for sure. 6 years. Plus visits for holidays after leaving home for college. I mean, listen...i was born in Oklahoma. After living there awhile we moved to Ohio, then to Michigan, then to south carolina, then back to oklahoma...then i moved to idaho then to utah, then moved back home to oklahoma but that was very temporary b/c then we moved to minnesota. Then i moved back to idaho and then we moved to ohio and now we are in texas. So, you see why no place has ever felt like it's my HOME HOME. Well, going to tulsa made me realize....this IS YOUR HOME. This is where you can feel you belong. And i miss it. I wanted so bad to be able to go up to my home in tulsa and walk in and see my family there. It cries making me think about it. I want that for my kids. As much as i am now liking moving around and seeing new places all the time, i want a place ,y boys can call home...where all their memories are made. A place they can feel the same way i feel about tulsa.
I have more pictures to post...mainly of the boys from our trip to tulsa.
2 comments:
Great post, Ashlee. You made me miss Tulsa AND miss you!! I REALLY miss football games there. Some of the best times!
How could you forget to mention the Y where you played BASKETBALL! Hello Ash. I mean, we held the title for being the BEST...I mean, the worst. HAHAHA!!! (I can see why you left out all the boys that we loved that we met at the Y...) Did you happen to pass you-know-who's house on the way there and maybe honk once for old time sake! :) hahaha. Sorry. I'll stop now.
Oh, wait. I'm not done...remember when you were grounded from going to the Y but we drove out there in my Dad's car and got a FLAT TIRE! lol. Someone was honking and waving at us and we thought they were nuts, but they were trying to tell us our tire was flat. Hilarious! (If your Mom reads this, I love you and I'm sorry!!)
Anyway, thanks for posting all the pics. Those new buildings that they are planning look AWESOME! Man, that'll be nice! I miss your old house and all the memories. (Like when I went puking down the hallway..the entire hallway. lol) Okay, I'm really done. Loved the tribute to Oklahoma though!!! GO TROJANS!! hehehe.
hahaha! lauri it is so funny you mentioned that about chris b/c i totally wanted to go drive by not once but twice and HONK...but shane probably would have thought that a bit odd...so i didn't mention it. :) ahahaha! i am dying laughing right now!
THe flat tire!!!!!!!hahahahahaha! lol! oh my gosh, you are killing me!
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