NASCAR At Kansas Speedway For First Night Race!

May 9-10, 2014 ~ Well it's that time of year.... yep time to enjoy a little NASCAR at the Kansas Speedway! This year would be a little different because it would be the very first night race at the track! The best part... this year the weather would be perfect!!!

A high school friend, Kim (North) Ballard would be riding with us to the race track. She had won tickets with HOT passes to this weekends race and her hubby wouldn't get to come up until Friday night after work. This was going to be exciting for us because she would be experiencing this fun time in the garage/pit area! We only had one minor issue... I left my good camera at the shop! Thank goodness one of our employees drove like a crazy person to meet us! (We turned around and met at Arrow Rock exit) Geez Michele.... how do you forget your camera?!?!

We would be meeting John Sutherland up there and between us three we would show Kim the ropes! 

This is me getting my game face on... Ha! 

First signature.... Richard Petty! 

I think Kim likes how this is all working so far! 

Next up... Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

then we spotted Jack Roush

 then Clint Bowyer.....

but my all time favorite pictures were the following.....

Not only did he take the time to sign this great picture of Brandon and I with Carl at Texas Motor Speedway he even personalized it! I just wish some of the other drivers were 1/2 as nice as he is to his fans.

Yep that totally happened! Ha! 

Seriously he is such a nice guy! I have so much respect for Carl and his family because he is just a down to earth guy. I have never seen him be rude or hateful to anyone and if he was busy or didn't have time to sign something he would be polite and not just walk by and ignore you. I really appreciated him taking the time to sign my stuff and take a quick picture! (Thanks to my hubby for taking pictures on our camera!)

It was pretty cool that Scotty and Cara with Clear 99 even asked Carl about this selfie on the radio...

http://www.clear99.com/scotty-caras-pitstop-with-carl-edwards-51314/
You can listen to the interview here.... (starts at .52 seconds)

http://www.zimmercommunications.com/podcasts/kclr/05-13-14carlafterkansas.mp3
Love it! (Brandon thought it was pretty cool too!)

Thank you Scotty and Cara.... Y'all ROCK!!!
https://www.facebook.com/ScottyandCara

 Kim is a huge Dale Jr. fan and this picture made her whole day!

 Kim was pretty much a pro at getting autographs about an hour after she got there!
Photo Credit: Some random dude trying to make small talk... using Kim's phone

 Well y'all.... it was a pretty good day!

Got this awesome piece signed from Carl's car that was only ran twice with this custom design.
Thinking it was from 2012 in Michigan....
(thanks to John Sutherland for giving this to me)

 A awesome picture from Bristol....

a great view from Daytona....

and of course this awesome picture of all three of us!
(Jeff Burg with Grindstone Digital was a rock star while getting all of this printed for us almost last minute! Loved his suggestion of putting this picture on canvas... it looks awesome!)

After a long hot day we were ready to get checked into our hotel....

 They gave us our rooms....

and upgraded us to a nice parlor room between the rooms!
(Last time we rented hotel rooms here the GM said that if we stayed there again he would make sure that we had some awesome upgrades.... he stood behind his word and I appreciate that!)

This was our view off the balcony!

Well good mornin' my little sugar britches!
What did you say? Do I have a white shirt on under my grey one?

 Nope... those are just some burnt chicken wings! Ouch!

 May 10, 2014 would be the first time that Kansas Speedway will host a NASCAR Sprint Cup night race and we got to be there! So exciting!

We have never made it over to the start stop line to sign it until this weekend!

Pretty cool seeing everything from this view.... see the storm brewing?
(pictures were taken 5 minutes apart)

 Yep this one happened too!
What a nice surprise to see Coach Pinkel at a NASCAR event!

Yep... this is crazy ol' me captured by my husband! Ha!

Crazy how the sun was out but within 5 minutes the storm should be hitting us. They were calling for 70 mph winds and tennis ball sized hail.

We headed for the truck as the sky got darker and huge rain drops began to fall...

By the time we made it to the truck there was maybe a minute or two of big rain drops then the storm just went around us... thank goodness! We decided to watch the race from here for a little while to see what the weather would do.

We headed back over to watch the race.... love that sky!

It's fun just to watch these guys....
they are always watching something or getting geared up for a pit stop.

Look who we found....
Boone County Battalion Chief Gale Blomenkamp!

Let's go 99!

Those guys are incredible to watch!

We had a fun weekend and can't wait to see everyone in Charlotte in a couple of weeks!

Partners In Education Assembly

May 6, 2014 ~ Midway Heights Elementary School had an assembly for it's Partners in Education today! The students and teachers did such an amazing job making us feel so special. Each classroom gave us so many thank you notes that certainly brightened our day! I am so lucky to be a Partner in Education along with D and H Drugstore, Spectrum Utilities and Boone County Fire District to the best little school in Midway! 2014 is Midway Electric, Inc's 6th year as a PIE and I can't tell you how happy this makes me.... to give back to a school that taught me so much is a great feeling and to see the smiles on the kiddos faces is priceless!

Thank you to everyone that made our morning special!!!

 Special thanks to the tech savvy students of Ms. Chostner's class for your "Thank You" video!

The Big Red Barn - Rebecca & Cory's Wedding!

May 3, 2014 ~ Today was a very special day. It was the wedding day of Rebecca McMahan and Cory Jandro and this special event would be held at The Big Red Barn! It's hard to believe this little girl that was my train bearer in our wedding nearly 17 years ago would be getting married today. I have known Rebecca's parents, Mike and Pam McMahan for many years as they are friends of the family. I kept my fingers crossed for good weather as you never know what kind of weather you might get in Missouri! Thank goodness that you couldn't have asked for a better day and everything including the wedding was absolutely perfect!

Her decorations were simple and sweet. 

She loves birds and it was perfect to have birdhouses that they made to tie in with the decorations!

Her cake was a "naked cake" that doesn't have icing covering the whole outside.
I loved this idea and had never heard of it before!

Loved the girls flowers too!

The groomsmen and family came to get the hay bales set out for the wedding

while Rebecca watched from up above!

 Everything looked great against the red barn!
I found the old door at a flea market and dad cut me a piece of wood so I could paint with chalk board paint to use as part of the decorations! It looked great with Rebecca's theme!

I really loved how everything turned out around the actual ceremony spot!
The hay bails was such a great idea (since the ground was slightly uneven) and the wood with bouquets sitting on top of them brought made a great addition!

This has to be my favorite picture taken by Rebecca's aunt Terri Belcher!
Love! Love! Love!

Photo credit: Terri Belcher

 Rebecca was a beautiful bride!

 A couple fun pictures with her bridesmaids!

A fun picture with the groom and his groomsmen!
Photo Credit: Terri Belcher

During the wedding ceremony I perched on our scissor lift to capture the wedding from a slightly different angle..... Here comes the bride!

I love Cory's face when he see's Rebecca!
(The Arbor was built by the groom just for their wedding!)

Once the wedding was over we wanted to take a picture of everyone that came to the wedding (I've never really seen this done before and thought it would be a great photo) and capture the newly wed couple!

One of the coolest things I have seen at weddings is when the couple personally thanks each person attending by releasing each person row by row. As each row was released everyone made a row from the hay bales to the barn and when they got to everyone their friends and family threw bird seed on them as they made their way to the barn!

In Missouri you never know what kind of weather you might get when planning an outdoor wedding however it was truly a perfect day for this special couple!

Mr. and Mrs. Cory Jandro with their wedding party!
Photo Credit: Terri Belcher

What a cute bride and groom!
Photo Credit: Terri Belcher

Rebecca and Cory....
It's hard to believe almost 17 years ago you were the most adorable little girl all dressed up to help make our wedding day so special and today you are the most beautiful bride! Your wedding was perfect and I wish you two nothing but the best as you begin your life together as husband and wife. You both are amazing people and from the laughter and the smiles I could tell that you are truly meant to be together for a lifetime. I hope you enjoyed your special day and I am glad we could host this special event at The Big Red Barn!
Love you both-
Brandon and Michele


Please Note:
The Big Red Barn is NOT for rent. This was something we built for our own personal use and allowed a very special couple to have their wedding here as our wedding gift to them.