just miss kim

scraptastic weekend

I scrapped a lot this weekend! I really needed to recharge my creative juices and boy, did I have fun. Here's a sampling:

TGIF

I was going to be totally lame today and just do one of those prefab MySpace surveys. For the first question, I was asked how many of my MySpace friends I'd actually met. So, you know me, I had to waste 5 minutes counting them. The answer is 22 (of 144 friends). Just counting, however, brought back some great memories. It reminded me of the Dutton fan club meeting last Thanksgiving in Branson, where I met several of my online friends. It reminded me of the days when I was a paper scrapper and I used to meet up with friends for crops. I even have a couple of friends from high school on my MySpace.

Somehow that led me to filling out the questionnaire that I've been ignoring in my inbox for the last week. While we were on vacation, I got an email reminding me that my 20th high school reunion will be held in just a few months, and asking me to fill out a survey to update my former classmates on my life.

I have no intention of going to the reunion. In fact, I plan to be in Branson that weekend, snugged into our cabin in the woods. But I'm not such a total snob that I won't at least fill out a questionnaire. Which, you know, is why I filled it out right away and sent it off.

Actually, I tried to hire a ghost writer to spice it up for me, but I think he's studying Greek or Latin or something.

Sorry... I'm watching a rerun of Lost while I'm typing this and all I can think is "Dang. Dominic Monaghan is too cute."

And did I really have a point to this post? Just that somehow counting MySpace made me feel guilty about not having returned my survey. So I did it, edited a photo to go with it, and sent it off to appease my guilt. And now I have to sit here and face the fact that yes, it really has been 20 years since I was a cheerleader, since I was in the school play, since I was trying to decide where to go to college.

I'll be darned if it feels like 20 years. I'm just growing into my skin. The next 20 are going to be amazing. I can feel it.

taking a day off

I am just too tired, too cranky and too hormonal to post today. Hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

answering some questions, the remix

For Cyndy, who wants to know about Webkinz in Branson... the newest ones are down at Justice, a girls store at the Landing. However, the price is outrageous. $17ish. The best deal in town, with a decent selection, is at Dickens Gift Shop at the far end of the strip. They were buy 1, get 1 free last week and at Thanksgiving, they were buy 2, get 1 free. I'm thinking they're probably always running some sort of Webkinz promotion. They had some new released from January, but not as new as Justice.

For Shanna... yes, it is always Jason's fault. Seriously, if he hadn't photoshopped my head onto a body that was wearing leather, I bet I never would have noticed how good I look in leather. I do so love my new leather jacket. I will be wearing it constantly. OK, no I won't because I teach pre-K. But when I'm doing adult stuff, I'll be wearing it.

For Susan, who is trying to watch her diet and still enjoy food at SDC... I noticed a lot of fresh fruit in the new Giant Swing area (but didn't think to take a photo). And the new "trendy" food this year is sliced apples. Of course, they have caramel and nuts on them, but they're still apples. ;)

Thanks so much to those who posted the recipe for the soup at Dixie Stampede. I'm definitely going to try it.

Oh, and this isn't a question, but I totally have to brag. After the Haygoods Saturday night, we were sitting and waiting for the guys to come out and sign autographs (we left before they came out, but that's a different story). Jason Yeager, who was in the top 24 of American Idol and left a few weeks ago, was standing and talking to some people just a little ways down from me. I would be a lot more excited if I was actually watching American Idol this season. And Jason (my friend, not Yeager), if you read this, the white pants guy from Waxy's was with Jason Yeager. At least I think it was him. It was hard to tell because he was wearing jeans.

And thanks also to everyone who comments. I really do read them all. I'm horrible about returning comments unless you ask a specific question, but I read them and love to hear from my readers!

branson photos, part 2

Saturday we woke up without any real plan. We drove up and down the strip, just looking for inspiration. Then we saw it on the hill (and it was actually very close to our hotel, so we wasted a lot of expensive gas). The Butterfly Palace. I'd been wanting to see this place for quite a while... it's the photographer in me. Dan, the girls and I really loved this place. Brady spent the whole time screaming like a girl and acting like a fool if a butterfly even came near him. It was highly irritating. I can put up with a lot of my son's eccentricities, but this was almost too much. Still, I managed to get far enough away from him to get some photos, including one of a butterfly landing on Chesney's brightly colored shirt:

The mirror maze at the end was almost as fun as the butterfly area. And you can't beat the view of Celebration City:

After lunch, we went back to the hotel, swam a little, shopped at a craft mall a little, and packed up the gigantic amount of stuff we had all over 2 rooms. For dinner, we ordered delivery pizza:

Not just the best pizza in Branson, but some of the best pizza anywhere. This is where I had taken the kids on Thursday night, too. We really like this place. I'm a fan of the St Louis style thin crust, while Brady & Ches like the New York hand tossed. Personally, the thin crust with meatball topping would be my ultimate pizza. I'll be getting it soon.

Our show that night was a final visit to the Haygoods. We sat down in our seats and it became obvious that the mom and daughter beside us were Haygood fans. Sure enough, it was Tomiah, a girl I've chatted with many times. It was very fun to watch the show sitting beside someone who loves it as much as I do. Dan and I agreed that this was the best of the Haygoods shows we saw this week. Just very fun. I'll leave you with some of my favorite photos from the show:

It's just not a Haygoods review without that final photo of Shawn... love me some Shawn Haygood!

branson photos, part 1

So I left off on Thursday, when my husband was ill, and I was actually enjoying a night off in Branson. We normally have some off nights during our trip, but this trip we had a show every night except Thursday. I was exhausted for much of the trip. And not just because I didn't realize the sinus meds I was taking were nighttime pills.

Friday we again went out to Silver Dollar City. We arrived at 8:45 am, and I spent some time taking photos of the kids in the town square area. Chesney is such a character:

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the park opened at 9 am (due to the huge crowds the day before). We'd been prepared to just sit and relax for an hour, but it was fun to go right on the rides. We rode the Flooded Mine twice in a row (we'd missed it the day before), then went down to the Grand Exposition to play. Here I got to meet a fellow Haygoods fan and say hi, but not for long because she was working. We were pretty much done with rides by 10:30, but wanted to eat at the park, so we decided to kill time at the candy shop (isn't that the way to do it?). It was Mykiah's birthday, so we got her a chocolate covered strawberry as an appetizer.

On the way back into town, we decided to drive through one of my favorite places, The Wilderness. I told Dan that I wanted to see where our cabin would be when we stayed there in July. So we ended up booking a week there for our May trip, too. I just wanted a small cabin, but Dan sprung for the big one with a loft for the kids. I can not tell you how much I am looking forward to that May trip now.

Once in town, Dan and I dropped the kids off at the hotel and then headed out for a little shopping. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to pick up Mykiah's birthday cake, which I had ordered from a cute little Branson bakery, LaDell's Sweet Shop. The cake artist there had taken a photo I had sent her and created a way too cute tiered cake for Mykiah's 12th birthday:
And not only was it cute, it was totally delicious. We devoured that cake!

Our show that night was opening night of The Hughes Brothers. Before the show, we sat outside enjoying the gorgeous weather and took a few photos:
The show was really good. Not so good that we'll be going back this year, but I wouldn't mind seeing it again at some point. The brothers themselves were very talented. The costumes... well, you know I have a costume thing. And the costumes for the wives and children... Chesney thought they were wearing tablecloths. It was distracting, to say the least. But the show itself was fine, and I did like a lot of the songs. Not a bad way for a girl to spend her birthday.

We are home! I have lots of laundry and  the kids are dying to use the computer, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter! I'll have photos tomorrow!

I'll catch up later

This is our last day in Branson. By this time tomorrow, we'll be on the road. Dan just ran to get McDonald's for breakfast. This girl can only eat so much free hotel breakfast before she revolts. Since I last blogged, we went back to Silver Dollar City, celebrated Mykiah's birthday, ate a good dinner and saw a show. Today, we plan to hang out around the hotel, pack up, eat a meal at the American Bandstand Bar and Grill (Dan insists), and swim at some point. Oh yeah, and go see the Haygoods tonight. I have a bunch of photos I'd like to get posted, and I'll write up a full review of our days, but it will be Monday before they get posted. See ya then. And in the meantime, have a great weekend!

yesterday

I'm going to just copy and paste the post I made on my favorite Branson board about opening day at Silver Dollar City:

We've been back for a couple of hours. We arrived well before official opening and watched Sons of the Pioneers for a bit. After opening, a couple of family members hopped on Thunderation and then we spend the next hour or so at the Grand Exposition. We were all hungry (those hotel breakfast just never fill us up) so we stopped for lunch at 11:15 am. By the time we were done eating, it was crazy! I didn't eat with the family and wanted to grab a "stack of chips" from over by the Lumberjack camp. I had to wait almost 20 minutes just to order. Lines for rides and food were the longest I've ever seen (and we've been going to SDC for 7 years and been dozens of times). We've always been able to walk right onto the "Flooded Mine" ride, and today the line was clear out to the entrance. Every food place we passed had huge lines.

We left about 1:30 pm. Traffic was crazy. They were parking on past the SDC entrance and people were walking down Indian Point Road to the park. What's crazy is that they were walking 8-10 abreast, right down the road. Cars coming that direction were having a hard time avoiding them without swerving into our lane. Traffic was backed up from Indian Point turn off to 265 and as far as we could see down 76 with people heading to SDC (which my husband would like to point out is kind of crazy.... they were looking at least a half hour wait just to park, then another half hour to get into the park... by that time, they'd only have 3 hours left before the park closed). We decided to turn off on 265 and take it to 376 into Branson. Traffic was also backed up on 265, almost to the 376 turn off. It was really insane. We've been in Branson on 4th of July weekend and the day after Thanksgiving and thought this was the most insane thing we've ever seen.

On the other hand, I needed to get to a theater on the strip after getting back to the hotel. I was able to drive down the strip without a problem. Guess everybody's on their way to SDC. It was a gorgeous day, but I was sure glad we went early.

So that was pretty much how our day went. Dan and the kids ate at the RibHouse, followed by funnel cakes for dessert. I had skillet potatoes with them, then had a stack of chips. Hey, it was a craving.

We came back to the room and discovered that our rooms were not yet cleaned (turns out they were left off the list of rooms to be cleaned, but we did eventually get towels and trash, which was all we needed). We went up to swim, and here I discovered that once the temp hits the 60s, they turn off the pool heater. So not cool. I did get in for a brief moment, but brief is the key term here.

Almost immediately after we got back to the room, Dan began feeling seriously ill. I had plans to spend the evening at a piano bar with a friend, but I had to call and cancel. Dan was not going to be up to the peacemaking it takes when you've got 3 children in a hotel room. Instead, I had a fun night with my kids (which is maybe how it should be). We went to Luigi's Pizza -- Ches has been bugging me about this place every day since we arrived. It is her favorite pizza anywhere. The 4 of us ate an extra large pie all by ourselves.

We came back to the room, Brady watched a little basketball, I posted to my blog, and the girls watched the Disney channel. About 7 pm, the kids and I decided it was time for bedtime snack and we hiked over to the Imax for Baskin Robbins. In my book, hiking to get your ice cream negates any calories ingested.

I'm not sure what we'll do today. Today, my oldest daughter turns 12. Almost a teenager. If Dan feels up to it, we may go out to Silver Dollar City again. I know Mykiah is hungering for a salad from Montana Mike's, so that's probably on the list. I ordered her a cake from a local bakery, and we'll pick that up. And tonight, we're going to see yet another new show, The Hughes Brothers. Our trip is drawing to a close. I'd be sad, if I wasn't so tired.

And quick before I go, the birthday girl at Grand Country the other night:

Grand Jubilee review

Are my standards too high?

That's the question I was asking myself this week. I have high expectations when I see a show in Branson (or anywhere really). If I pay for a ticket, I want to be entertained to the full extent. I want to laugh, I want to be moved, I want to connect with the performers.

There are only a few shows that have met my "I'd willingly see this show again and again" criteria -- the Haygoods, the Duttons, Six. That's about it.

And now, Grand Jubilee.

From before the show even started, I was entertained. The comedian was funny; Dan and Chesney loved him, and that's the true test of a comedian in our family. I even liked the female singer, and I very rarely like female singers. Todd Bradshaw was an excellent male singer.

New South, the featured quartet, really made this show shine. The vocals were wonderful and watching them perform was a joy. They looked to be having so much fun while singing, and that's what I like to see. And the songs... loved almost all the songs. As I think I said the other day, I'm not a huge fan of older country music, but they made me enjoy "Elvira." I had so much fun in the first half of the show -- which was mostly country and gospel -- that I thought no way could the 2nd half ever equal the first.

I was wrong. The second half of the show was at least equal to the first half, if not better. It was a trip through the decades, starting with the 50s, and ending in the 80s. It was fun and again, great song choices. I particularly loved all the Eagles music.

Besides great songs and great vocals, Grand Jubilee had a couple of other minor things that made me love it all the more. First, major cool points for making jokes about the Haygoods and the Duttons. That cracks me up. Second, they actually started their show on time. Late starts are one of my huge pet peeves. I could rant on this subject for a long time, but let's just say it's one of my pet peeves. Third, the theater is right there beside the Grand Country Buffet. I can manage to work in a breakfast there every time we go to pick up tickets for the show. And I almost forgot #4 -- eye candy. Lots of eye candy.

So long ramble short, we'll be back again. In fact, I'll be making reservations for May when we get home next week. Can't wait.

And now, for some photos.... Jim Dandy, the comedian, and Mike Patrick, the emcee.

Todd Bradshaw:

Jason Pritchett (note the actual facial hair... I knew it was him!):

And me with Jason Pritchett. My legs didn't even shake when I asked him for a photo. I was totally sober in this photo, by the way. I know I looked totally giddy. I am. This might be my new mouse pad.