Anniversary Extravaganza!

WARNING!! LONG POST!!
Okay, let me start by apologizing again for the lack of posting. I've been a little busy and I have had to put some things on the back burner. (namely, The Blog!) December is always a crazy month for us! With Thanksgiving coming so late this year, it kind of through a wrench in my decorating schedule. I just can't seem to find enough hours in the day anymore.

Last week my Handsome Prince and I went to Branson, Missouri to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary. We had a fabulous time! This little trip has sort of become a tradition for us, because it a short drive from home, and with our anniversary being so close to Christmas we usually finish up any shopping we have. This time we wanted to stay someplace a little more special, so we decided on a condo at Thousand Hills. We were VERY pleased with the accommodations! A nice, clean little house with a kitchenette (okay a fridge, coffee pot and a microwave, but everything we needed!) a King size bed and there was even a Jacuzzi tub. I was really impressed that they even had it all decorated with TWO Christmas trees, garland and candle rings. We had a tree in the bedroom, and in the living area!

Sunday night we went to the old part of downtown Branson and watched their Adoration parade. What fun! It was really cold, but we got there early enough that we were able to get a seat on some bleachers they provided, fairly close to the start of the parade route. It has been so long since I've seen a parade, and we both really enjoyed it. They had 16 bands, and too many floats to count. We saw one float that was just dogs with Santa hats - CUTE! And there were longhorns from the Dixie Stampede!

When the parade was over, we went to The Shepherd of the Hills and drove through their Trail of Lights. If you ever have the opportunity to do this - GO! It took us over an hour to drive through this and it was AWESOME! I got a few pictures, but all were taken from inside the truck since you aren't allowed to get out (Safety reasons, didn't want to get ran over!) They have hundreds of these little "windows" with really cute themes.
Larry and I were trying to figure out how many MILLIONS of lights they had strung, and how many man hours it would have taken. Words just can't even describe how pretty it was! Can you tell we like Christmas lights? There were MANY ooh's and aah's! One of the trails...
I leaned out the truck window for this one of the mill...

We could see this church as we were coming up the hill toward the Inspiration Tower, but I thought I would have a better photo op when we were closer. The only problem is when we got closer, we were heading down a hill around a curve. You can still tell it was pretty!

When we finished at the Shepherd of the Hills, we went to another light display that is just off of the Shepherd of the Hills Expressway. I think it is called the Trail of Lights too. It is not as big of a display as the Shepherd of the Hills, but it was bigger this year, and they are adding more lights next year too. One of the highlights of this display for me is the Twelve days of Christmas. I wasn't able to get a picture, because it's too big! I love watching the Ten Lords a'Leaping! Here are a few of the pictures I did get...

I tried really hard to get the whole word, but the car behind us was impatient. I don't get that?! Why would you go to look at lights, PAY to drive through, and then PASS US because we were LOOKING!?

I just LOVE Christmas lights!

Monday and Tuesday we spent shopping during the day. Monday night we went to see the Christmas show at the Dixie Stampede. LOVE this show! Their live Nativity gives me goosebumps EVERY time. Tuesday night we went to the Andy Williams show. It was good, but I can't say it was the best show we've ever seen. He still has a very good voice, there just was a lot of "fill in" chatter that wasn't all that funny. And he seemed to really need his teleprompter.

Wednesday, December 10th was our official 25th Anniversary. We woke up to snowy/icy mix on the roads in Branson, so we decided to head home. We went, we saw, we shopped. We broke!

Merry Christmas from in front of the fountain and tree at Branson Landing!

Conversations with Randy

It's official ya'll - I'm a GROUPIE!!! Tonight my Handsome Prince and I headed to Walmart* after work to stand in line with a BUNCH of other, ahem, old folks.

Randy Owen, the lead singer of Alabama, has released a new solo album and a new book. He was at Walmart* to sign copies of them, and since we have had many a good time listening to his music, we were THERE! Here is my Handsome Prince being a good sport about having his picture taken IN WALMART. He's been told a time or two that he kind of looks like Randy! See all those people in line behind us? We were very excited that we got there when we did. I went right to the books and got one, and then to the CD's while Larry got in line and held our place. People were lined up the full length of the aisle, all the way back to the shoe department and winding back towards the fabric department.

Here he comes! You can barely see his head above the "Unbeatable" sign. Look right below the sign that says "picture" beside the SmartStyle sign. We were only that far back in line.

It was finally our turn! I actually went ahead of Larry, so I could get his picture with Randy. I can call him by his first name now, because we became BFF's tonight. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Hi Randy! It's great to see you again!

Randy Owen: It's great to see you to! (He remembers me!!)

Me: I really want to Thank You for providing my Husband and I with some great entertainment over the years.

RO: Really? When did you get married?

Me: On the 10th of this month it will be 25 years.

RO: Wow! Isn't that the Silver Anniversary?

Me: Yes it is

RO: What are you going to do? Anything special?

Me: We are going to Branson, where we watched you perform many times over the years.

RO: That isn't very far, is it?

Me: No, a couple of hours.

RO: How far away is Mountain Home?

Me: A couple of hours.

RO: I have a friend there. Used to be a turkey farmer.

He's done signing my CD now, and the big burly body guards are kind of looking at me like I should move on. I'm wanting to be sure he is done talking about his friend the turkey farmer from Mountain Home. When I decided he was...

Me: Thank You! You have a Merry Christmas Randy!

RO: Thank You, you do the same.

Larry got to wish him a Happy Birthday. (It's the 13th of December, for all you Non-Groupies out there)

I took this one when we were able to wade through the sea of people that decided NOT to wait in line, but just stand there in the way so that all of us that WAITED OUR TURN couldn't get a good photo.

Here's our loot!

Born Country book - $17.96

One on One CD - $9.00

Standing in line for over an hour for a conversation with Randy - PRICELESS

Happy 51st Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
I love you!