5-Day-Super-Extravaganza-Anniversary Celebration Continued

Early the next morning we headed to the Fish Hatchery!  It was really cool.  They gave us a tour of the whole hatchery that is right by the dam at Table Rock lake.  They had all different sizes of trout at this hatchery.

They sorted the trout by size in different pools.  They had pool after pool of fish!  The trout in this pool (below) were about 10" long.  We got to feed the fish and they just dog piled over each other to get to the food!  The surface of the water looked like it was raining because all the little mouths were trying to get to the food first!

After the hatchery we went to Table Rock lake for a picnic lunch!

I love just sitting with Neil.  We have so much fun just doing nothing!

That afternoon we hit the outlet mall!  Wow we found some good deals and even started on our Christmas shopping!  

After the mall we went to Silver Dollar City!  If you go after 3pm you get the rest of that day and the whole next day for the price of just one day!  

We got there and jumped right on the Wild Fire!  It has all kinds of loops and cork-screws!  I thought I was so tough and even commented to Neil how cool it was that we both enjoy roller coasters!  Well I spoke too soon because as soon as we got off I felt sooo dizzy and then we had to take it easy for the rest of the time!  We only rode one other ride :(  Poor Neil!  He said that next time we will have to go with a couple so that they boys can ride and the girls can just hang out! lol

We saw lots of demonstrations, like glass blowing, knife sharpening and blacksmithing.  We also got to see the magic show, some cloggers and a cajun band!  We had a really fun time and made some wonderful memories for our first anniversary :)

Grow old with me, the best is yet to be!

(this sign says come, but its wrong! lol)

5-Day-Super-Extravaganza-Anniversary Celebration

We had SUCH an amazing time on our anniversary trip!  It was awesome :)  On our way out of town we stopped at Busick State Conservation Area.  Neil wanted to check it out and see if it would make a good camp site in the future.  It was a really nice day and a beautiful park.  Neil got some really nice pictures!

We ended up going on about a 4 mile hike!  It was intense, uphill and down with a very rock terrain! 

For lunch we stopped by this little creek and waded in the cool water.  It feel so good on our hot tire feet.  We had packed a nice picnic and Neil gave me a sweet anniversary note.  How romantic!

We had the camera all set up to take this lover's shot, when suddenly I looked down and saw a crawdad!  Right in the water by my feet!  I scooted WAY back and yelled for Neil who was setting the timer on the camera!  He came running into the shot for the picture, oblivious to my yells about the crawdad!  When he finally saw what I was yelling about, he said it was too little to worry about and to just pose for the picture!  I on the other hand was too worried about my little toes getting pinched to pose for a picture!

Here is the result of that:

When we finished our hike we headed down to Branson, checked into our hotel and got rested and cleaned up for a big evening.  We went to dinner at Chili's and then to the Shepherd of the Hills play!  

By this time, Neil's knee was injured from our big hike and he had to hobble all over the Shepherd theatre, poor guy!  He still had a good attitude anyway :) 

The set of the Shepherd of the Hills is outside and they had livestock and a HUGE fire in one of the scenes!  Before the play started they had giant bullfrog races!  The audience was invited to get a frog and be the first to get their frog to jump outside of this big circle!  It was so funny!

Fourth of July

Better late than never!  

The fourth of July is just about my favorite holiday!  We always have so much fun, going to the Bethany parade and having a wonderful family lunch, then off to the fireworks show! 

This year was extra special because we celebrated Father's day a little late, 

and.... we had a surprise baby shower for Lisa! 

 Karen hosted it all at her beautiful house.  Her backyard is AMAZING!  Like a resort!  A perfect aqua blue pool backed by a wall of magenta crepe myrtles with a huge patio!  It is wonderful :)

Neil and I got her a Nursing Necklace.  That is a super sturdy, well built, specially designed necklace that babies can play with while they are nursing so that they don't tear out mom's hair, earrings, eyelashes etc. 

Also for her pregnancy celebration Lisa wanted to have a Henna Party!  For those of you who don't know, Henna is a dye that you can get in a paste and then apply to your skin in a design.  It stains your skin for a couple of weeks and slowly fades away.  So all of us girls got some henna!  I painted on Lisa's belly, a shell for Karen Schell, Lisa (and dad) did my back, Lisa did mom's shoulder, and Lisa and Karen did a bird on Lori's shoulder

Here's Lisa with the paste still on.  Isn't she beautiful?! :)  Its really dark and glittery at first while the paste is still on.  It has to stay on your skin for about 24 hours.

Here's me with the paste washed off.  This is the lighter stain that it leaves on your skin.

Here's me and my mom (with her beautiful Henna!  What a cool mom!)  

The flash kinda surprised her in this picture!

What a wonderful weekend!  I love my fantastic family!

(Bryce and "Haha" watching the fireworks.  Bryce pointed at every one and said "Wow!  Look at that!")

Everyday Love

Yesterday I got home from work, and this is the scene that awaited me

Some of you may ask, Wow, flowers and grilling out! What's the special occasion?!  

Well, I'll tell you..... it was Tuesday :)

I'd like to quote from one of my favorite Rascal Flatts songs now:  

It's ordinary plain and simple
Typical, this everyday love
Same ol', same ol' keeping it new
Emotional, so familiar
Nothing about it too peculiar
Oh, but I can't get enough
Of this everyday love

Thank you Neil for making "everyday" extraordinary :)

Worship Emphasis Weekend

Neil's parents came in to spend the week with us in the middle of June and that very same day Neil and I were hosting a Worship Team Barbeque!  That weekend was a big worship emphasis weekend and Neil and I were so busy running all over the place.  Randy and Karen were such a HUGE help in getting everything ready and set out. Randy cooked all the meat and it was delicious :)  The barbeque was a success and I think everyone enjoyed it.  

The next night we had a Gospel Homecoming, which is an event our church has each quarter where we sing old Gospel favorites and hymns.  Its a big hit with the older crowd who is not to fond of our contemporary worship style *grin*  Neil and his dad sang two songs together and they make a wonderful duet :)  Neil also sang in a quartet and he turned out to be quite the crowd pleaser when he decided to sing soprano for part of the song!  I didn't know he could sing that high ;)

(Thats Neil - with the guitar - and his dad singing their duet.  I'm in the choir on the very right of the stage)

We had such a fun time getting to spend the week with Randy and Karen.

Angel Fire

For Memorial Day we went to the mountains of New Mexico with some of our small group friends.  There is just something about being in the mountains, high above a sunlit valley.  Its like the whole earth just seems more calm and still there.  You can hear each bird and showers of aspen leaves blowing in the wind.

The mountains are Neil's favorite place to be.

Neil's uncle has a cabin in Angel Fire and he was so generous to let us stay there!  It was so beautiful, right on the side of the ski slope.

Here are some barbarians :)

Thats Amanda and Jon, Justin and Kimberly, then me and Neil.  I think it was a refreshing and much needed vacation for all of us!  On our first day there we went to Taos, a small town near by.  First we went to the Taos Pueblo which is considered the oldest continuously inhabited community in the US.  

Their adobe buildings were most likely constructed between 1000 and 1450AD.  We met a villager who tried to share her meal with Kimberly, said she thought Justin was cute, and told us her dog's name was "hot dog" and "radar".  We had fun shopping around and taking in the sights.

On Saturday the boys wanted to go fishing, so we girls decided to head to Red River and do some more shopping.

Little did we know that on Memorial Weekend Red River hosts a huge biker rally!  There were SOO many motorcycles!  It was crazy.  

Amanda got slightly stalked by one biker so Kimberly and I had to stay close by.  Then we had a store owner give us some New Mexico Salsa.  (you can barely see it in that last picture, tucked in my arm). We didn't even ask for it or buy anything from his store, he just started talking to us and then ran after us as we were leaving to give us some salsa!  I think that was largely in part to Amanda also.  She is so outgoing, she can have a conversation with anyone!  Way to go for free salsa Amanda! :)

On Sunday the plan was to take the ski lift up to the top of the mountain, have a picnic lunch and hike down.  When we got to the ski lift it looked like this.

See how it just goes white at the top?  That is a cloud.  So we were about to get on the lift and the worker at the bottom gives us this stern speech, "You do realize that it is raining at the top, don't you?  Are you sure that you want to go up?  Do you want a trash bag to wear as a poncho?  Its very cold and wet at the top."  He was a nice man and just trying to look out for us, but he just didn't know how determined we were to hike around on this mountain!  So we started up on the lift and we are literally being encompassed by this cloud!  It was really cool and cold too.  It was raining on us and we were soaked before we even got to the top.  Then we started our descent.

It was too cold to stop and eat our picnic so we just kinda ate as we walked.  We ended up having a good time despite the wet cold.  Now that is the sign of a true barbarian :)

On Monday our friends went their separate ways and Neil's parents arrived!  

We had a great time with them and we ate soo much!  I always have a fun time with them.  I already feel like we are family.

(i was saying, "lets jump when we take this pic" - me looking like a leprechaun is just a bonus *smile*)

We went back to Taos with them to find some pottery bowls for Neil and I and that was the day I ate the biggest meal of my life at my new favorite restaurant, Michael's Kitchen!  I had stuffed sopapillas and ate the ENTIRE huge dish plus another sopapilla with honey for dessert!  I was still full the next morning!

We wrapped up our trip by swinging through OKC for Bryce's birthday party!  It was a great two weeks!

St. Louis

Wow what a rainy June week we have had... kinda feels like a rainy april day.  And what does rainy april bring?  May flowers!  So lets focus on that!  (how was that for a segue?)In May we went to St. Louis with Kenny and Karen! For those of you who don't know, that is my sister who is married to Neil's college room mate.  They also get credited with getting Neil and I together!  Needless to say we have a special bond with the Schells :)  So they came up and spent the night with us on their way to St. Louis for a concert and then Neil and I met them up there for the day on Friday.  

We went all over the place!  St. Louis has this cool place called Forest Park where they have an art museum, history museum, science museum, zoo, botanical

 gardens etc. and its all free!  Isn't that amazing? 

So we went to the art museum, ate a gourmet lunch and headed to the awesome zoo.  I was thinking, really how cool can this zoo be? I mean, its free!  But it was amazing!  So beautifully laid out and tons of animals.  

My favorite parts were the penguin exhibit where they had tropical and cold climate penguins and the tiger area. The tigers were a special treat because they had several tiger cubs all in the same area.  Usually they separate tigers when they are grown, but these tigers were still young, even though they looked full size.  They kept playing and splashing in the water, just having a blast!  

Friends forever, Apart or together!