As she dreads the return to work after a wonderful long weekend at Big Cedar!!

Well, just back from a lovely long weekend at Big Cedar with Faith, Grace and Anne. Had a great time, and even managed to squeeze in a visit with Jana and Bryan in Nixa, and Jimmy met us on the way back through. So, a week spent with lots of folks that I love! Big Cedar was wonderful. The scenery (above) is just gorgeous. Had a nice relaxing time by the pool(s) and finally got some sun on my skin! We went horseback riding on Saturday morning to finish things off; Faith and her horse, Jake, led the group of us. Grace and I both had horses (Snickers and Hershey, maybe it was the candybar names) that had some trouble - they wanted to stop and eat various foilage along the way. This is apparently against "good horse" rules. Tell that to some animal that has me on its back and that is about 4 or 5 or 6 times my size. Anyway, good times, very relaxing, and now am dreading going to work tomorrow, of course. Although, the sooner Monday gets here, the sooner Friday will be here, which means #1 - my Thursday trial will be over, and #2 - most importantly - we'll be moving to the new house!!! More on that later this week.

As she reports that things were dry in Hannibal for the 4th... maybe too dry

Went home for the 4th of July. Had a good time - hung out with the ruthless and the toothless at Tanyard Gardens and heard a great band called Torque on Thursday night, saw lots of old cronies. Hung with the family on Friday, nearly broke my neck on a stupid carnival ride, and watched the fireworks from Union Street - perfect view!! Frog Jumping on Saturday night, and then a nice (thought short) visit with Katie and Regan on Saturday night. That pretty much sums it up: a little beer, family, friends, and a whole bunch of naps :) What more do you need from a vacation!! No mud volleyball makes things very different... drier, in more ways than one!

Happy Independence, all!

As she looks at the pictures from the weekend and says, OUCH

Great time had by all this weekend. We went to Kansas City to celebrate Anne's birthday by attending the Cardinals/Royals Game. We tailgated in the parking lot before the game, "watched" the game (I think Jimmy and I were in the line for beer for the majority of the time), went down to the Power & Light District downtown KC, and then it gets a wee bit blurry. Here are a couple of pics... you might guess which one is from the beginning of the night and which is from the end. :)