Celebrating at WDW!

So, we just got home yesterday afternoon from a trip to Walt Disney World.  It was a very different kind of trip for us.  We've never been gone away from our children that long!  It was nice, but kind of weird, too.  

We weren't away from all of our children, though.  We met up with the oldest! She's working at WDW this semester on the College Program, so not only did we get to see her, but she also got us into the parks for FREE! Can't beat that!!

We also got a discount on our room.  This is outside on our balcony at Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's beautiful there! Who wouldn't want to see giraffes outside their door every day?!  I wanted to bring one home!

Lauren considered this our birthday celebration and Disney is HUGE on helping you celebrate! We received birthday buttons when we arrived and restaurants treated us royally when they knew we were celebrating!  On of our sons said it was a 2nd honeymoon, which topped our first one to Amarillo, Texas, by quite a bit! :)  Vier means celebrate in Swahili!

We went to Animal Kingdom on arrival day, then went to Magic Kingdom the next day.  Breakfast at the Beast's Castle in the "Be Our Guest" restaurant was great! The food was fancy-ish and we didn't like all of it, but it was good.  It wasn't our taste, but we know that many, many would like it.  We would order something a little different if we were to go again.  But the castle was beautiful!

One of our daughter's roommates was working at the Christmas store that day, so we went by to visit her.  What a fun job to say "Merry Christmas" every day! :)

That night we ate at "Whispering Canyon" at the Fort Wilderness Lodge.  It was great and lots of fun!!  This huge mason jar was the biggest water glass my husband has ever had. He was sooooooo happy!!

The "skillet" was great, too!  Served family style and in a never-ending fashion, this meal really fills you up!

They had a few fun photo props to take pictures.  I really liked this jail!

If you need ketchup at this restaurant, you don't just ask for it, you YELL it!  'WE NEED KETCHUP!"  And then the table with the ketchup takes it to that table!  There were 15 bottles on a table at some times! It was definitely a play on words for this place to be called "whispering".  There's NO whispering! Ha ha!!  Such fun!

You can't beat seeing "Wishes" at Magic Kingdom.  Our daughter told us the story behind the song the little girl sings at the beginning and end of the fireworks show. She had cancer and her wish was to be a part of MK in some way. It's her song that plays and may be her even singing it.  She passed away, but she did get her wish.  What a beautiful song and story!

The most beautiful part of the trip was seeing the annual International Flower and Garden Festival going on at EPCOT.  It was truly amazing!

God made beautiful flowers and man finds a great way to share them all with us!  Especially at EPCOT!

We ate at "Canada" on EPCOT day.  It was a delicious steak!  And great desserts!

Our daughter works in the American Adventure as part of the staff at the Liberty Inn.  What great memories she will have!

In Germany I found the best dessert ever - a caramel bar! It's in the Werther's store, but it's not Werther's caramel (or if it is, it doesn't say it).  It was so good, I got it two days in a row!

They couldn't leave Elsa and Anna out of the flower festival!  Elsa can't freeze the flowers now!

I had always wanted to go to this festival. It was beautiful, but also educational.  We learned so many things about plants and how to plant them that we didn't know!  But mostly, we got to enjoy the unique way Disney does things!

Another treat was this violet lemonade made with real violets! I talked our daughter into eating the flower.  She wasn't impressed, but it was just strange, too!  But, the lemonade was delicious!

We ended the day with Illuminations.

The last night we ate at Cape May in the Beach Club Resort. It was a lot more seafood than we like, but the food was delicious! They gave us a special birthday cupcake, as well.

The sandcastle they have displayed is so neat! We sat right by it!

That day we were at Hollywood Studios. We took the time to go to drawing class. Can you tell what we drew?  I thought we all did pretty well!

My husband and I sat in the old car replica for a quick photo. It was fun getting lots of pictures of just us together! We never do that!

We ended the evening with "Fantastic"...a wonderful ending to a great trip!

Animal Kingdom Lodge is a great place to visit!  It is expensive, so it was especially good to get a great discount on the stay.  In fact, that's the ONLY way we will be staying there!

But the perks of staying on Disney property is really worth a little extra money.

Our trip home started early.  We had to leave the resort at 3:30 a.m. (Florida time) and arrived in Dallas at 8:05 (Texas time).  After stopping for Bible class, worship, and lunch at Babe's Chicken, we arrived home at 4:00 p.m.  The boys were glad to see us, and we were glad to see them!

It was a very special trip and we had a great time celebrating many things: Our birthdays (a month apart, but celebrating in-between the two), our anniversary (early for 27th, but a late 25th), and our daughter being a Disney CastMember (CP).  Another of our daughter's roommates gave us a special welcome packet for celebrating our birthdays and anniversary when we visited her at the Boardwalk Resort.  

And now we're celebrating being home! :)

(I'm adding this photo after posting this, so it's just tagged on to the end. This carriage is from the movie "Cinderella". It's the real carriage that was in the movie! So cool!!)

Happy 40th Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

Forty years ago this past July, my parents began dating.  Just three months later, they said, "I Do!"  A quick engagement!  That doesn't happen often (if at all) any more!!

They had known of each other in high school and went to college together, but had never dated.

A few years later, Mom was teaching at the time.  Dad was a farmer in his hometown, about 25 miles from her.  She moved to that small town to become a farmers' wife, continuing her teaching job.

The best part about them (for me, anyway!) getting married, was that it was a package deal.  Not only did my Dad become a husband that day.  He also became my Dad!  I was four then. The "Dad" deal was made official soon afterward, and I thank God for that!  

Thirteen months later, we added one more to our family with the birth of my sister. 

We should have taken more pictures while we were all together last weekend, but we didn't.  So, here are a few pictures of my sister and I with Mom and Dad from a few years ago.  They're just pictures of photos in frames, so not very clear.  

Surprise birthday trip with Mom.

Surprise birthday trip with Dad.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad! We all love you!

Family Weekend Fun

My parents are getting ready to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.  This weekend we happened to be going to see our daughter perform in a musical at college, so my sister and I also planned a meal and little surprise for them.

I didn't get a picture of them together that day, and by the time I thought about it the next day, dad had already changed from his church clothes to his overalls!  Oh, well....maybe my sister can get one of them on the 19th....their anniversary date!

 The surprise was that one of my mom's brothers and his wife came to the celebration!  It was fun surprising them!

 He's always funny, so got them this really cute card!

Later that evening, we saw Lauren perform in Will Rogers' Follies.  It was fun seeing her perform, since we don't have things like this in our small town! She enjoyed it, but was thankful to have an end to the late-night practices and having every evening tied up with something.

 I kept telling her to "break a leg", but she didn't like that much since many of the routines and dances were on really tall and steep steps!  Even her brothers enjoyed the show!

 Here she is with two of her cousins.  

We brought her flowers to help celebrate the performance.  So much fun!  

And, she's coming home for Fall Break today!  Yippee!  

25 Years Ago.....

...our life together was just beginning!  I had planned my wedding date for six years.  I wanted to be married on June 18th, after attending a wedding on that date in 1982!  At that time I was 13 years old! Who would have thought that those plans would really come true six years later!

Not a lot changed about my wedding details from the time I was 13 until the time I was 19.  My 13 year old plans had colors of ivory and pink and gray. But one very big thing did change:  THE GROOM!!!  That's a pretty major change and my original "groom" would have been a very, very big mistake!  Thankfully my more mature (well, more mature than 13, anyway) choice was a very, very great choice!

Our lives have been blessed.  We've laughed and cried together.  We've had ups and downs.  We've had disagreements and make-ups.  We've grown closer to God and closer to each other. We're committed to each other and believe that marriage should be a life-long commitment. We love each other, and look forward to many more years of marriage together.

The fruit of our marriage would be, of course, the births' of our four children.  Those would be the four most important days in our marriage, other than our wedding day.  The day we lost our little boy to stillbirth would also be an important day in our marriage, but not a happy day, at all....just relevant to our marriage.

I've included some of my very favorite wedding photos and photos of special things from our wedding and engagement. This picture with my dad putting a penny in my shoe is one of my very favorites. I love the look on his face! :)

 This is our wedding invitation.  The little phrase was on several things at our wedding.  I still like it a lot!

Here's a little poem from one of our showers written by a sweet sister-in-Christ.

These little papers were given as favors, rolled up and secured with a gold ring. (The inexpensive ones that come in bulk.)

I didn't take a picture of it, but I had a schedule all written out for our wedding party.....to the detail....and there were several (okay, many!) details!  Two songs that were led by Joe's uncle - congregational singing - then 13 songs (yes, you read that correctly!!!!!) sung by Joe's twin brothers and their wives.  Hard songs.  All acapella.  All very beautiful!  They did such a great job!  We have it on tape, but 25 years ago things weren't as clear as they are now.  

This is a very special picture for us.  My grandpa is on the left and did part of our wedding. He wasn't too sure about it, at first, but he did a great job! I didn't know for a long time that he was really sick and running fever that day!  And Joe's dad did the wedding vows and lesson for the wedding.  He was a preacher, so used to speaking.  Both of these special men have passed away now. We're thankful they had a wonderful part of our wedding day!

On this GRATITUESDAY, it's pretty easy to see what I am grateful for, isn't it?  And looking forward to many more years! To see what others are grateful for, visit HeavenlyHomemakers.com.

 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’^[b]? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Matthew 19:5-6