Celebrating 50 years

We had a family reunion (15 of us) last weekend in Branson, MO in honor of my parents 50th anniversary. It would be appropriate to post a picture of them, but I neglected to take one! We were having too much fun. The waterfall was at the entrance to the Lodges we stayed at.

This is Bob and Dad on the front porch of the lodge. It has 4 bedrooms, each with a private bath. My sisters Rene' and Roxi were both able to come, along with their families. My kids/spouses stayed in a 2 bedroom lodge just around the corner. It was really fun to all be together.

We all drove down on Friday morning and met in Springfield, MO to eat lunch at Lambert's Cafe - home of the throwed rolls. From there, we drove onto Branson and checked into the lodge. Once settled, we made a quick trip to the grocery store and bought all the fixin's for a big taco dinner! The next morning, Parker worked his magic chef abilities and turned much of the leftovers into a scrambled egg bake, along with sausage and toast. Then it was off to play!

Our first stop was The Track to ride go carts. There were several tracks and all 15 of us rode them (although not all at the same time). We REALLY are a competitive family! There was much bumping and rubbing, as well as a few spin outs (helped along by others!). After a quick lunch, most of us rode the Ducks. This is a fun way to see the sites of a location, both land and sea. We ate dinner at McFarlain's in the Imax theatre where all the waiters sang Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad. Afterwards, we all attended the Jim Stafford Show. He's as funny as always (remember the song "I don't like spiders and snakes"). His son and daughter also performed. Then it was back to the lodge where we watched the ending to the UT/South Caroline football game (go VOLS!).

Early Sunday, we all went our separate ways. Bob and I, along with Parker/Amanda and Peyton/Mark, drove back to KC to catch our plane. We had a lively trip home, full of laughter and sharing. It was great that we could all be together to celebrate with Mom and Dad. Happy Anniversary!

Vicki's Pocket-full book

Here's my pages in Vicki's book for this month.

Here's the tag out of the pocket. The back has a quote about love from I Corinthians.

And here's the back of the page with a copy of a vintage postcard image.

Stamp Room

When I was in Europe last year, I bought quite a bit of paper. I carted the tube on and off the bus each day, swearing it got heavier as the trip went on (could be because I kept buying paper!). Once I got home, the sheets were laid out on top of a table in the basement and promptly forgotten about. I've found that I need to "see" things to remember to use them. The sheets of paper have all been rolled up and placed into a basket I bought last weekend.

I have the same issue with my stamps. Years ago when I first started stamping, I bought an adjustable shelf to house them. My husband then made me two more. Here's what they look like today.Of course, this is a SMALL part of my stamp collection, but I do use them more if I'm seeing them. Here's a pix of another wall in my stamp room - full of iris carts.

This is an addition to my growing collection of "doodle" flowers, going in this months calendar journal.