just miss kim

Thanksgiving 07, Day 4

At Pierce Arrow, we got a fun Santa hat, and I just had to try it on:

And a photo of Dan and the girls at the Grand Village:

That night we went to see the Duttons, so I'll share some Duttons photos:

Josh and Evette, otherwise known as Freely Bound

The Dutton women:

Chesney onstage:

Santa Ben... the funniest part of this was Ben Jr. behind him in the mouse costume, mimicking his every move:

And the ever-popular Boil 'Em Cabbage Down finale:

One of the photos I'll treasure. The Official Dutton Family Fan Club:

And if you'd like to read the last chapter of my report Download thanksgiving07day4.rtf

Thanks for sticking with me through this! I love to read your comments!

Thanksgiving 07, Day 3

So we're up to Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Dan and I got up early to do some Black Friday shopping. If you want the details for that, you'll have to read my written report: Download tgiving07day3.rtf

Later that afternoon, we took photos on the balcony, and I'm super pleased with them:

Our show that night was Pierce Arrow. Here's a picture of Desta for Jason (sorry it's blurry!):

And our favorite comedian in Branson:

My favorite part... the eye candy, I mean, Pierce Arrow, the group:

Tomorrow's chapter: Saturday, our last day, a meeting, and a group photo

Thanksgiving 07, Day 2

What a gorgeous view we had off the balcony of our condo.

Isn't that a great Thanksgiving Day photo?

I had ordered our Thanksgiving meal from a local grocery store. We had a ton of turkey... more than we'd ever eat, and all the sides.

After dinner, we went down to the Branson Landing and walked around and did some shopping. We would have stayed to listen to the free concert, but it was too cold and Dan was not in a shopping mood.

For dinner that night, Dan, the girls and I all had another slice of pie. Brady, of course, has to have an actual meal, so I ran him to a convenience store, where he got this:

Our show that night was The Haygoods -- again. We had 2 seats on the front row, and 2 on the 4th row (Dan really doesn't enjoy the front row, but I love it, so it was a compromise). Here's Ches and I before we left the condo, being silly:

It was really hard for me to get good photos during the show. The lights were too bright and everything was washed out. That was just fine because I could just sit back and relax and enjoy the show.

Still, I managed to get a good photo of Tim.

If you want to read my detailed trip report that I wrote that day, you can download it here: Download tgiving07day2.rtf

Next up: Black Friday shopping, and yet another show!

Thanksgiving 07, Day 1 Part 2

To really understand how excited I was to be sitting in the balcony at the Haygoods show, you really need to read my detailed trip report, which you can download: Download tgiving07day1pt2.rtf

However, here's a photo Mykiah took of me sitting in the balcony that captures my feeling pretty well...

The show was so fun. I always love the tap portion, and it was my photos of that segment from March that had me dying to sit in the balcony. I call this my money shot...

But my favorite photo from the night was this one...

And after the show was over, I got this photo of me with the man who will be this week's eye candy.
Michael tore his Achilles' tendon in late Spring, and was sitting on a stool to perform until about a month ago. I sure missed him performing up front and dancing with his brothers. He was just having so much fun this week, and his joy in performing really made me enjoy it more. And have I mentioned that he sings like an angel?

If you really want the nitty-gritty, download my written report. And if you want more pics, they're here

As always, thanks for reading, and maybe sharing a smile with me. It's much appreciated!

we interrupt this trip report...

For all the digital scrappers out there, I want to bring your attention to the Designer Spotlight at OScraps.

And I'll go ahead and share the layout I did for the challenge, because I'm not going to get it posted in a gallery until at least Thursday:

Thanksgiving 07, Day 1

Our first show when we hit Branson was Six. The Knudsen Brothers do acapella music, with a lot of beat boxing and bass vocals to make it almost unbelievable that the whole thing is done without instruments. We were excited to see their Christmas show, and it didn't disappoint. In fact, the Christmas portion was one of the best we've seen. The Christmas music really lends itself to their style of performing. This is now Dan's favorite show in Branson, so I'm sure we'll be back.

And this photo I took because I thought maybe this trip I'd amuse myself by taking photos of some of the worst costumes in Branson:

It's really not that bad, but the rhinestones just put it over the top. We love Jak, though. He's a great bass singer, and he makes Dan and Ches laugh so hard they start crying. And hey, he's a big bald man and if anyone can pull off a rhinestone studded shirt, I'm sure it's him.

We had gotten up to head for Branson at 4:30 am, so by the time we left Six, we were dragging a bit. OK, dragging a lot. I personally was drinking tons of caffeine, something I usually don't do past 2 pm. Ches chose to take a moment in the condo to sit in the window seat and read a book:

So there's my photo report for day 1. It's kind of light on photos because I didn't pull my camera out much. If you'd like to read the very detailed trip report I wrote for that day, you can download it right from my blog. Download tgiving07day1.rtf Just save it to your hard drive and then open using your favorite word processing program.

Next up... a massive Haygoods report, with lots of details for my message board friends!

P.S. Here's a link to the Jim Shore stuff that I discovered. We got a big nativity piece, and I got a snowman as my first piece of the collection I plan to build. A piece every trip, that will be my motto. And oh my gosh, I just saw the Amish stuff... must have....

a little gift for my fellow Haygoodies

I made some quick desktop wallpaper for everyone who has been attending our chats, following my blog, or just enjoys the Haygoods. Directions on how to install are below.
Or...

Installing these is a 2 step process. To use the top photo as your wallpaper, Download haygoodscolorfinale.jpg . Once you have it saved on your hard drive, open the photo and right click on it. Choose the "set as desktop background" option. I sized it to 1024x768, but if someone needs another size let me know and I can send it to you.

The second photo is here:
Download haygoodsfinale.jpg

Instructions for installing are the same. If you have trouble, drop me an email. Enjoy!

Edited to add... when I click on the links, my browser opens the photo. If that happens for you, just skip to the right click and choose "set as desktop background" option. Should work!

trip report...

I've been writing a trip report each afternoon, and it's pretty long. Because of the size, I don't really want to put the whole thing here. I think what I'm going to do is a photo report here on the blog, with a link to download each day's "chapter" if you're inclined to read the play by play. It will be in rich text format, so most people should be able to open it in a word processing program.

Hoping to get home in time to download and edit photos and get the first day's up online in time for tomorrow morning. We had a wonderful trip and thanks so much to all who wished us safe travels!

letters to Santa

From Brady:
Whaz up?
I like totally want:
1. Sports Cards
2. Basketball
3. Video Game
4. New TV (same size as old one)
5. Mini Couch (with built in speakers)
6. Chiefs Stuff!!
7. New front tire (for bike)
8. Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper
9. A new kicker for the Chiefs
10. and an offensive line
Dude!
From Brady

By Mykiah:
Dear Santa, I would like,
1. An iPod
2. A hair crimper set
3. CDs/karaoke CDs
4. A DVD player
5. *clothes*
6. *shoes*
7. Nintendo DS games
8. Hairspray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9. Bath and Body Works Shampoo
10. Books
Love, Mykiah

The above was written on paper where she had drawn lines to keep it straight and rewritten it twice. The girl is neat to a fault.

And last, but certainly not the least, Chesney's:

Dear Santa, I need and want socks, dolls, polly pockets, a girl basketball, a tennis ball, a tennis racket, a baseball, a baseball bat, me and Brady want a glow and adark basketball, brady really wants sports cards, i want a new bike, gum, watermelon gum, hair clips, bows, candy, ipod, dvd player, idog, mp3 player, game cube. Dear Santa, I beg you to get me a Bratz dimond and Vanessa Huchens doll. Love Chesne

Yes, she really misspelled her own name. And no, she's not getting most of that stuff.  I can probably swing the watermelon gum though.

Loved these letter. They make me smile.

black Friday

That's my motto, anyway. I hope everyone finds all the gifts and purchases you need today!

By the time you read this, I hope to be done with my shopping. The outlet malls in Branson opened at midnight, and I had every intention of checking it out in the wee hours while everyone else slept.

You can sleep anytime, right?