Kinly Ann

What a weekend! We took my mom and Brandon's mom to the lake with us to spend some time together. Brandon's mom is not in good health and we wanted to take her so she could relax. We had some of our good friends down who just had a baby in December. Miss Kinly Ann is growing so fast! Thanks to Jill and my mom for helping with my mother-in-law. Brandon and Greg got to go to the races at the lake while we had some girl time! My mother-in-law had some good stories and we had some good laughs!

Stand for Stan

I love our St. Louis Cardinals and currently they have a campaign for Stan Musial. They are campaigning to ask President Obama to award Stan Musial the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor for his lifetime of achievement and service. Brandon and I this granite stone in the baseball stitch of the Stan Musial Plaza in Busch Stadium and I have this signed bat from Stan ready to be hung in our office. If you would like to print out and take your picture with Stan you can upload it on the St. Louis Cardinals website or visit www.stlouiscardinals.com and look under the fans tab and click on Stand for Stan Campaign. Let's play ball!

Olivia's Graduation

Tonight was my niece's 5th grade graduation from Lee Elementary School. I can't believe this little girl I remember seeing in the hospital the day after she was born 11 years ago has turned into a beautiful young lady and now middle school student! I am so proud of her and can't wait to see what opportunties unfold for her as she leaves the younger part of her childhood behind. She will be successful in anything she does in life and I am so happy she is apart of my life. Love you bunches Olivia Paige! Aunt Shell is so proud of you!

Smile!

Our Leadership Columbia class was attending our last "class" yesterday before our graduation on June 8th. I have been given a lot of static about taking so many dang pictures that when the group posed for a "group photo" they thought it would be cute to pull out their cameras/phones and take a picture of me taking a picture of them! I loved it! These guys/gals are a hoot and I am so glad I have had the last 6 months to get to know them. Thanks guys for making my day.... it's the little things in life that make you smile! :)

Fresh Strawberries!

My Aunt Carolyn sent me some of her home grown strawberries yesterday! My mom had 3 box lids full of them and this is what I have left! Home grown strawberries have such a different taste to them and these are amazing! Aunt Carolyn hasn't been feeling well for quite sometime and for her to have picked these to share with me means the world. Living in the country you would think that we would get fresh strawberries all the time... but I haven't had any that I can remember since I was a kid.... and they are just like I remember! Thanks Aunt Carolyn for the strawberries and thanks mom for bringing them to me :) 
(This is one of Grandma Ruby's bowls.... just something about old bowls that I love!)

St. Louis Cardinals

Last night we got to take in our first Cards game of the season. One of our suppliers, Crescent Electric Supply, took us. The seats were right behind home plate! We got there early enough to grab a burger and a beverage from Patty-o's and then headed to the stadium. There's nothing like being at a ball game! The storm that started in Kansas City, MO ended up in St. Louis for the 7:15 pm game but it was just a steady spinkle (it should have been raining like crazy). We saw Gov. Jay Nixon and Mike Shannon on the filed together in front of us before the game started. The Cards didn't win but it was a lot of fun! I still love the Cardinals!

Rag Blanket

I got my first sewing machine on Christmas 2009 from my mom and on January 1, 2010 started teaching myself how to sew. I wanted to learn how to make these "rag style" blankets so that I could give them as gifts for the many people I know having babies. I really enjoy making these kind of gifts because you can't buy them at the store and they are made from the heart. I have a ton of flannel fabric and just not enough time now that Spring is here. I was asked to make a blanket for a silent raffle coming up on June 11th. This raffle was important to me because it was money that was being raised for cancer research.... you see a good friend of the family passed away almost 3 years ago with brain cancer. Roger Garmon was someone that you never forget. Although there is no real cure for cancer it has touched someone we all know at some point in time. The money from this blanket will go towards cancer research through Relay for Life. This is one of the ways I give back to our community to help the life of others.

Mizzou Baseball

Yesterday I got to spend the day with the McKee family! I had won 6 tickets to the Mizzou vs. Nebraska baseball game at Taylor Stadium so I asked Misty, Charles, Olivia and Mikel to go with me! Thank goodness Olivia called me at 9:45 am to clear up directions for the day and we double checked the time of the game (my tickets said 1:00 pm) because the game had been moved up to 11:00 am for the weather. We had great seats (2nd row behind home plate) and the rain set in at 1:00 pm. We left and went to McAllister's for some yummy lunch! It was so good to spend the day with my best friend and her family.... and the Tiger's won 6-5 which is the ninth-straight win for the third consecutive season! Woo Hoo! Go Mizzou!

Little bluebird of happiness!

Isn't he just so cute!? We have mirrored glass here at our shop and the little birds will peck at the windows all day long! It is cute at first but drives you crazy with all the pecking going on all day long! What's cool is that when they rest for a minute and check themselves in the glass you can get right next to the window and they never see you! I like to call him my bluebird of happiness! :)

Golfin' around

Today started out as a rainy day but turned out to be really nice! We were invited to a golf tournament with Frost Electric Supply, a parts house that we buy material from, at Railwood Golf Course in Holts Summit, MO. What a great time! There were 3 of us playing on our team, myself, Brandon and Mike Arb our salesman. We played 18 holes and our score was 4 under par (67) which wasn't too darn bad for 2 of us who hardly ever play! I was stinkin' the putt shots like crazy! It was a blast and at the 18th hole is when it started to rain... so we were done just in time!

Shared Birthday!

This is my girl Kara. We are both in Leadership Columbia 2010 through the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. Yesterday was our next to last "class" and while visiting at Shiloh's we figured out that we share the exact same birthday.... yep we were both born on August 2, 1976! I was born at 2:59 pm and she was born at 7:00 pm. How cool is that! I have met several people in the last couple of years that share the same day but never the same day and year! I knew I liked this girl.... so no matter where we are for our birthday we will call each other and celebrate!

Now that's a chair!

We went to Menard's last night to look around and stumbled on this big ol' chair! As you can see there is plenty of room and accommodates 6 cold beverages of choice (3 on each arm rest). I felt like Edith Ann sitting in this thing! So for $99 you can have a big ol' chair just like this.... laughs are free!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was a special day... it's Mother's Day! My mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, hubby and I all loaded up in the car and headed to Claysville Store in Hartsburg, MO for some good ol' country fixin's! Now you know you're in the country when you see two dogs sleeping by the stairs and another sleeping on the bench as you get ready to walk in! Woo doggies... they must have gotten their bellies full today! We had the best time and great food... fried chicken, country ham, sweet tea, buscuits, mashed taters and gravy, green beans, cole slaw, and applesauce! Dessert was wonderful too... Chocolate Banana Cream Pie, Peach Cobbler, Blackberry Cobbler and Cherry Cheesecake... YUM! It really was a nice time to sit down and realx and let someone else take care of the cookin' and cleanin' for once and let our wonderful. fun. loving. and caring momma just enjoy her day! Thanks mom for everything you do for us.... you are loved very much!

A sad day...

Many of you might wonder what or where is this place... well it's one of our favorite eating places called "Grumpy's BBQ" and it's located at 240 & 40 out by Rocheport, MO. Bill "Grumpy" Woods and his wife Betty own this place and his daughter Sandy and grand-daughter Keota help out (his other daughter Theresa helps too). Grumpy and Betty just celebrated 47 years of marriage on April 29th and Grumpy turned 69 on April 30th. He had cancer which had traveled to his bones. He fell last week and again on Monday May 3rd. He passed away May 3rd. His funeral was today. It was very sweet and simple... just like Grumpy. He seemed at peace today and even though he wouldn't really tell you if he hurt you knew he did. The family asked Brandon to be a pallbearer and that meant a lot to us. We think a lot of the Woods family and consider them an extended piece of our family. As we left the funeral home in New Franklin they took Grumpy by their resturant one last time before taking him back up 240 to the graveside. Something I thought was a nice touch. He loved helping BBQ and visiting with the many friends that would come eat. He may be gone from our sights but the memories will last forever..... There are people in this world that touch your heart.... Bill made ours sing. One day we will meet again my friend.....

Bill "Grumpy" Woods

Today is a hard day. I just got the news that Bill "Grumpy" Woods passed away a little after noon today. Grumpy and Betty own a little resturant we go to called Grumpy's and they just celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary last week. He and his family were like an extended family of ours and although he has been fighting cancer for some time he never really was giving up on life. Betty, Sandy, Keota and the rest of his family are in my thoughts and prayers. He will be missed.

Visit with family

This past weekend was a busy one! We spent the day with Brandon's half brother, Mike, on Saturday and then drove to Illinois to see his step-grandma, Darlene, on Sunday. My mother-in-law went also and was the first time in a while that she has really gone anywhere since her 4 strokes almost a year ago. Darlene is battling lung cancer in both lungs and doesn't have much family and we visited her for her birthday. This would have been the 3rd time we have seen her in 18 years but she writes us a couple of times per year. You just don't realize what family really means to you and how important they are.