Bill & Mary Ann Since '61

Fried Pickles - Really?

2009-01-08T07:12:00.001-08:00

I see that it has been awhile since my last blog - well actually three months. A few things have happened since then! Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went - and a good time was had! Erin and her family came for Thanksgiving and that was great fun. Of course we dragged them down to see the Arabia - We take everyone there who comes to visit because it is soooo awesome! We all then went to Megan & Matt's home in Arkansas for Thanksgiving and that was great. Jesse flew in and Susan and Laura came so we had everyone but Richard and Gary - they were missed.

After Thanksgiving I went home to Utah with Erin and spent two weeks there. I had a great time - spending time with Erin, Matt and the boys, Gary, Eileen and Mom. I got to see all of Eileen's kids and their families and that was fun. Gary came and took me to see Hale Theatre's "Christmas Carol" and that was great fun. I got to go to the Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert with Erin, Karl (my brother) and our nephew, Steven and that was awesome. I was able to attend two concerts presented by Alex's school - Alex plays saxaphone in the band and he sings in a jazz choir. It was very impressive! Then it was home to quickly prepare for Christmas.

Christmas was quiet at our house with just Bill, Susan, Laura and me but it was nice to be together. We all went to some friend's for dinner Christmas day - thanks Cliffe's for a wonderful feast. We did have our traditional ableskiver's for Christmas Eve but they were a failure of momental degree! The day after Christmas Bill and I headed down to Arkansas to spend a few days at Megan's home and had a fun time there. We were able to keep Bill in one spot for five whole days! We did some fun things while there; visited the Clinton Library in Little Rock, took a tour on the trolley (that was fun!) and walked the Big Dam Bridge. This is a bridge that spans the Arkansas River over a dam (hence the name). It is a walking bridge and was pretty awesome.

So on to the reason for the name of this post. While in Arkansas it was mentioned that we should go to Fat Daddy's, a local eatery, and have fried pickles. Well now I had never heard of fried pickles - have you? We didn't get time while we were there so last Saturday Bill and I went on a quest to find fried pickles in our area. We found them at Tom Foolery's, a local eatery, and I must say they were good. Bill said he probably wouldn't go out of his way to get them again but I would! And I am sure they are good for you - they are a vegetable aren't they? Anyway, we are now settled in for the winter hoping for Spring to come soon and with it maybe some more visitors. We love visitors!!!

Freedom Rock and Bridges of Madison County

2008-10-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to take a little one day road trip and visit Freedom Rock in Iowa. We have seen pictures of this rock for a few years on emails that came around and when we found out we were only a few hours away we decided to go see the real thing. It is painted by a young man who has been doing it for about 10 years, he started painting it while in high school. Every year he paints a new scene and has it ready to dedicate on Memorial Day. The front of the rock is a tribute to the soldiers in some of our major conflicts. The north side is dedicated to the Viet Nam veterans. The green helicopter actually has ashes of 12 different Viet Nam veterans painted into it. The east side is a dedication to the Medal of Honor recipients so far in the Global War on Terror and the south side is a tribute to our wounded and disabled veterans. If you are ever driving through Iowa on I-80, take a minute and get off on exit 86, go South about 1 mile and see the rock for yourself.

The trip had an unexpected bonus - while driving to the place where the rock is we went through a town called Winterset and there was a big sign that said "Welcome to Madison County, Home of the famous Madison County Covered Bridges." Well - that was something we had to see!! We were only able to see three of them - but what a treat. We also ran across a sign that said Mt. Pisgah, Mormon Trail Historic Site, so of course we checked that out too. Check out en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pisgah_(Iowa)
for a little information about the place. All in all - A very fun day!

Our Amazing Trip to Washington, D.C.

2008-10-02T08:53:00.000-07:00

Last week Bill and I went on an amazing trip to Washington, D.C. We only had Thursday afternoon through Monday evening to do all that we wanted to do - BUT we got a lot done. We saw everything on our list. This was Bill's first time to go to D.C. and he had a wonderful trip. His favorites were the Viet Nam wall - it is an amazing monument - and the Washington Cathedral - again and amazing place. I knew he would enjoy seeing all that stone in one place!! We were able to spend some time with my brother and his wife, Karl and Gisela, and that was a treat. When I was trying to take their picture in front of the Supreme Court building, a policeman was about to write out a ticket and was calling to have our car towed - that's why the frantic look on the faces. We were also able to attend the Washington D.C. temple. It is a beautiful place and we feel fortunate to have had that experience. Bill had so much fun he is ready to go on another trip, and for you who know Bill, that is an amazing thing in itself.

I wanted to say a little about the monument at the Pentagon. There was a bench for each person killed in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Their name was on the end piece and if you were facing the Pentagon while you were reading the name they were killed in the Pentagon. If you were facing away while reading the name they were killed on the airplane. The youngest person killed was a 3-year-old. You can see the benches face different directions and they were in lines of the year they were born. An interesting monument and very moving.

Jessie's Visit

2008-09-05T11:57:00.001-07:00

Jessie came to visit. She came toward the end of July and was able to stay over two weeks with us. We had a great time creating! We sewed swimming bags, made leaf print bags, sewed headbands and Jessie made a cloth portrait of her dog, Lexi. We also did lots of other stuff includng a trip to Colorado to help Laura move out here. While in Colorado Jessie got to see her BFF in Fort Collins, Tyque. Her grandpa and I really enjoyed having her and look forward to next year to do this again.

This is Jessie and her friend Rachel in the process of making their swimming bags.

Jessie, Rachel and Laura at the Precious Moments Chapel.

Jessie, Rachel and Laura again at the Precious Moments Chapel.

Jessie and Tyque in Fort Collins.

Jessie and Rachel with finished swimming bags.

Jessie with picture and cloth portrait of Lexi.

Jessie and Rachel with Gus T. Bear (see earlier posts about Gus)

Then James came to visit

2008-07-22T06:45:00.001-07:00

When we took Liam back to his parents we traded for James and he came to stay for a week. We really enjoyed his visit here and above are a few of the pictures from his visit. The first one is at the Liberty Jail - that is always an interesting tour. As you can see Grandpa is still a little taller than James - HaHa. The next picture is taken at an exhibit called The Basketball Experience (or something like that). James and Grandpa really enjoyed that - it is an interactive exhibit and James got to participate in a pick-up game while there. He measured his feet against those of some of basketball's great players (Shaq ONeil's is a size 23 and James is a 13 - How would like to have to buy those shoes!). Next is taken at a restaurant in North Kansas City called Chappells. The owner is a great collector of sports memorabilia and the place is full of sports stuff. This picture is taken by a Heisman Trophy. The last picture is of James with some friends of ours, Matt and Steven Untch, at a Royal's game, which they all enjoyed. The last night James was here he was invited to play tennis with some friends of ours so now has been introduced to yet another sports activity. The week went by fast - and James we loved having you here!

Liam came to visit

2008-07-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

Liam came to visit this week and what a fun time it was for grandpa and me. He came home with us from Tulsa and was here for a week. He got to go swimming a couple of times with some friends here in Liberty and we went to the Children's Peace Pavillion down in Independence. On the 4th of July we went to Liberty's 2nd annual 4th Fest. I think Liam had a good time - grandma and grandpa got a few more gray hairs (if that is possible). We forgot how hard it is to keep track of a busy 8-year-old in a crowd. It was a fun time - there were lots of games and activities for the kids and entertainment. Our Bishop's son sings in a group that performed - Called Kitchen Sync - and they were awesome - it was fun to see them. And of course there was the community band. They were a lot of fun. Then came the fireworks - they were awesome.It was an amazing feeling sitting in a crowd of people in a small town in the heartland of America celebrating the 4th of July and I was glad to be a part of it and very grateful to have Liam with us. One of the songs that was played during the fireworks was "American Soldier" and I am proud to say Liam sang along and knew all the words. After it was over he turned his head and whispered in my ear - "grandma, that song always makes me cry" - Well me too Liam!

As I can't figure out how to label each picture, I will tell you what they are about in order. The first one actually should have been the last - it is of Liam going home. The second was while we were waiting for the fireworks to start. We were actually having more fun than it looked. The next one is Liam and his new balloon friend at the 4th Fest. Next is Liam waiting for a table at the Smoke House BBQ. Last was taken at the Children's Peace Museum.

Mother's Day in Arkansas

2008-05-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I asked Megan how hard it would be to wangle an invitation to come to Arkansas for Mother's Day. She was gracious enough to invite us so Bill and I packed up and headed down to Cabot. We had a really good time being there, seeing how much the kids have grown and checking out flea markets. The pictures were taken at a beautiful place called The Old Mill. One of the highlights of the trip was going to church with the family and listening to Matt give a talk in Sacrament meeting. He did a great job - Way to go Matt! The lady who spoke before him gave a lot of his talk and it was fun to see him up there scribbling away revising and rethinking - as I said, he did a great job. While there Jessie and I challenged each other to a walking program. We bought pedometers and set a goal to walk to Salt Lake City, like the pioneers did. We will each keep track of our miles and when we reach it we are going to treat ourselves to something great. Don't know what yet - have a few years to decide. At least that's how long it will take me to walk that far. Check out our mileage keeper at the bottom of the blog. I am eagerly awaiting the stimulus check from the government so I can stimulate Circuit City's economy by purchasing a new camera so look for further posts with pictures from my new camera. Next week we are off to Colorado for Laura's graduation and to meet up with several of our kids and families. Should be a great weekend.

My goodness how time flies!

2008-03-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Wow what a few months it has been - and I still have Christmas on my blog - Sorry Jessie. Let me catch up! I flew over to Utah in January to help out with my mom who had fallen and fractured a vertebra in her back and had to have surgery. I was there two weeks and then Erin and her boys drove over with me to Colorado to help Megan, Matt and the family make their big move to Arkansas. I wasn't much help physically but was able to get in a lot of good Myles tending. Bill flew over to help drive and we made the trek to Liberty. Megan and Matt went on from there but their RV broke down just about 45 minutes out from Liberty. They had to leave it and go on so the next weekend we picked it up and drove it to Cabot for them. By doing that we were able to see their new home, neighborhood, schools and town and have a visual point of reference for them. We are looking forward to more visits now that we know the way to get there. When I got back I had a couple of weeks home. Susan and Laura came over and we all journeyed on down to Tulsa to see David, Lauren, Mikayla and be there when Gavin was born. That was a great experience.

After this trip Susan, Laura and I drove over to Colorado and I went on from there to Utah to spend two weeks helping my family get my mother ready and moved into her new assisted living apartment. While there I ended up with the gumboo everyone was getting and wound up in the emergency room with pneumonia. Not a fun time. During that week, James broke his leg and Erin fell while helping at Grandma's and severely sprained her ankle. However, we were able to get mom settled in her new place and she seems to be happy with the arrangements. While there my brothers, Lynn and Karl, came in for a ski trip so we were able to spend time together and that was great!

Today for our great weekend adventure Bill and I went to the boyhood home of Jesse and Frank James - the notorious outlaws of the 1850s. It was interesting to learn about them and see things from their day (I always like to look at old stuff). The picture shows the original grave site of Jesse James - it was in his mother's front yard so she could keep an eye on it. He was moved to the cemetery in Kearney, MO after his wife died but his original headstone was destroyed by souvenir seekers who chipped away the stone until very little was left. The stone that is on the grave now was put there some time in the 1960s or 70s. Bill said it shows signs of people chipping away at it even now. An interesting side note: While the grave was in her yard, his mother would keep gravel covering the top of it and she would sell pieces of gravel to souvenir seekers. When all the rocks were gone she would go down to the river and get more and sell those. At one time the Pinkerton agents came to try to find Jesse and they threw a bomb into the house. When it exploded it killed his 9-year-old brother and severed his mother's arm. She went the rest of her life (she died at 86) with just one arm. I thought another odd thing was Jesse's mother's name was Zerelda and that was his wife's name also. It is an unusual name and to have your mother and your wife of the same name I thought was odd.

To end all this, it is good to be home. Bill was getting really tired of eating just potatoes and salad. We are looking forward to next week when Megan and the kids come for a visit. We are planning all sorts of fun things.

Christmas Pictures

2008-01-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

Myles and Liam - Uno Attack.
So much fun!

Myles waiting to open Santa

gifts.

Jessie and Gus T.

Grandma, Grandpa, Myles and Gus T.

Gus T. Bear

Trying to get a good group picture. Between Myles crying and Liam pulling funny faces, it was a challenge.

Busy December

2008-01-07T11:47:00.001-08:00

December was a very busy month for me - I felt a bit like a wanderer when it was over. I was fortunate enough to get tickets for the Mormom Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert so I made plans to fly over and go with Mom and Erin. The day I was supposed to leave we got an ice storm - the picture is out my back deck. Be sure and click on the picture and make it bigger so you can see the Cardinal perched on the icy branch. It took two days and four reservation changes to finally get to Salt Lake but I made it and we had a great time. We were able to see the concert and then on Monday we saw a production of the "Christmas Carol" which was excellent. My brother, Karl, flew in on business and he and my sister, Eileen, were able to go with us. I got to spend one night with Erin's boys, Alex, Jordan and Ian, and we made a ginger bread house. That was a lot of fun for me and it was interesting to watch the boys' different styles of decorating.

I got home from Salt Lake City on Thursday with thoughts that we had a few days until Bill and I were to leave for Colorado for Christmas. We watched the weather and it looked like it was going to get bad so we took off for Colorado on Saturday (it was a busy Friday getting ready). We spent the Christmas holiday in Fort Collins visiting with family and friends and we had a great time. We attended church in our old ward and to our surprise it was a "farewell" meeting for our dear friends, Ed and Georgia Haynes, who are going on a mission to Canada. That was a surprise blessing for us to be there and get to see them one more time before they left. We wish them the very best!! I learned that it is harder to be the one leaving than it is the one staying - and leaving to come home was difficult. But on the other hand it was nice to get home to our cozy little place and get settled. Erin and her family gave Bill and me a teddy bear named Gus T. Bear. He is to accompany us on all our adventures and we have a few pictures with him with more to come as we continue our exploration of our new home.

Susan and Laura came to visit!

2007-11-25T20:18:00.000-08:00

We had visitors!! Susan and Laura came to visit for Thanksgiving week. We were so excited to have them come and had a great time while they were here. We took them to see where dad/grandpa worked, to the Arabia museum and to the Archiver scrapbooking store (of which I did not get pictures). One of Bill's coworkers invited us for Thanksgiving dinner, which we did attend. It was very kind of her to invite us and everyone treated us like family. The picture of us at the table is taken in the midst of our after dinner Bunko game - Susan and I tied for the most losses and we both won a prize! The picture at the airport is taken as they are leaving - what you don't see is how sad we were to see them go. Liam - the picture of Laura with Lawrence the mule is for you. So I just have one more thing to say - NEXT!!

Armed Services Memorial

2007-11-03T18:39:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the company Bill works for installed this Armed Services Memorial in Lenexa, Kansas - in a Catholic cemetery. We went to see it today and it was really impressive. The gray panels in between the etched panels will have names of deceased Veterans. Bill said it was truly a spiritual experience to be involved in this memorial to honor those men and women who give so much to protect our freedoms. Click on the pictures to enlarge them and see the detail of the panels. The single panel is the back of the Army panel. One side is modern day Army and the back side depicts a history of the service. Bill said it was the biggest project that he has been involved in and was an awesome experience.

Halloween

2007-11-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

Just a note on Halloween. Every year for the past 10 years or so Bill has taken Chili to work for Halloween. I thought this year we wouldn't be doing it but at the last minute decided to go for it - so this is the pot of chili that he took. I make this one big pot and then I am sick of it and never make it again until the next Halloween. The trees are two trees that I pass on my way home. They have been spectacular - my picture taking ability does not do them justice. With the sun on them they are brilliant. I do love the fall!

2007-10-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Today was certainly a day for contrasts! Bill and I decided we would head down to Independence to the Church's Visitor's Center. They have an exhibit about the Dead Sea Scrolls and we thought that would be interesting to see. Also, we wanted to tour the Community of Christ's temple and auditorium. Bill had never seen any of this so off we went. We had a difficult time actually getting to the site as all the roads leading into it were closed off for a parade. After cutting through a few parking lots and running more than one barricade, we made it to the parking lot for the Visitor's Center. We hiked over to the COC Temple, walked through the door and were met with a cacophony of voices - hundreds of kids gathering for a colloquy (a peace prayer). We were struck by the level of noise in what we thought would be a temple. There were no tours of the temple itself because of the colloquy. We started through the museum that is in the basement but had to leave because they were closing for the colloquy. They have many interesting artifacts that belonged to Joseph and Emma Smith, the door to the Liberty Jail (we have the key, they have the door) and much more. We will go back there another time and finish the tour. We then went over to the COC auditorium. No tour there either but they did let us in to see the auditorium itself. Very interesting. On the way over to the Visitor's Center we ran into the above float for the parade. They were starting to gather for the parade and were lining up in the road between the Visitor's Center and the temple. When we went into the Visitor's Center we heard hymns playing and when we came out there were bands warming up, scary music from Halloween floats, rock music blaring - more contrasts. I think the most interesting contrast was the gathering of all these Halloween related things between two important religious buildings! Apparently the Halloween Parade is the biggest thing all year in Independence. We enjoyed seeing everything - the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit was very interesting - but one of the best things was that we ran into a friend from Fort Collins while in the Visitor's Center - Pam Little was there with her daughter, who lives in Liberty, and her granddaughter. It was fun to see her. Every time we go somewhere Bill says "we'll run into someone we know today" and I always say, "yeah, yeah" and we never do until today. That was our adventure for today - looking forward to next week.

Our Trip to Wichita

2007-10-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

Our big adventure today was a trip to Wichita. Bill had to take some granite down to a customer and so I rode along hoping to find something exciting to see. As you can tell by the pictures, there wasn't a lot to get excited about. The picture of the lake was kind of interesting. It is a man made lake that is gradually inundating the area and it is full of dead trees. Kind of eerie looking. The other picture was funny. We kept seeing signs for "cattle pens" coming up. When we got there it was what it said - cattle pens in the middle of nowhere. Apparently people bring their cattle there and the trucks come and load them up and haul them off. It was odd to see along side of the tollway. I guess it beats the old cattle drives! The postcard from Kansas wins the prize for the best thing we saw on the trip. Not a great adventure but it was fun to have the day to spend together and I did get to see Wichita - hadn't ever seen it before. Stay tuned for something greater next week.

Historic Liberty Square

2007-10-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to stay close to home and visit Historic Liberty Square right here in Liberty. Actually it is just down the street from us and I had no idea it was there. The two pictures with Bill and me in them are from the Clay County Historical Society and the bank picture is the Jesse James Bank and Museum. It was the first bank to be robbed during peace time and it was robbed allegedly by Jesse James and his gang. That history seems to be a big thing around here and will take some more exploring. My knee was giving me grief so walking a lot wasn't an option. We will have to go back another day and catch everything as there was lots to check out in the area. Last week I was able to spend the week in Fort Collins while Bill was in Omaha working hard. I had lots more fun - I got to see James play football and Laura play rubgy. I was also there for Laura's 18th birthday and James' 14th birthday. It was great fun to be there and hard to come back home again. We are looking forward to visits from family in the coming months and plan to get the knee better this week so we can continue our adventures around the area. We will take suggestions from people who know the area or have visited something fun in Kansas City. Because someone commented that we didn't look like we were having fun in our pictures, we both tried hard to smile in these. It didn't work out all that well but we were having fun!

Our House

2007-09-23T20:20:00.001-07:00

Our cozy front room

The other side of our cozy front room

Our dining room

Our cozy kitchen

More of our front room.

Thought I would post some pictures of our cozy little home. I think cozy sounds better than tiny or small home. I can stand on my kitchen rug and sweep the whole floor - not a bad thing at all. Takes Bill but minutes to mop the floor and possibly 1-1/2 minutes to vacuum the front room. Leaves us more time on the weekend to have our adventures.

The Plazas

2007-09-22T19:11:00.001-07:00

Today for our Saturday adventure we visited two of Kansas City's plazas. The first one was the Crown Plaza which is Hallmark Card's corporate headquarters. It was really fun to see all the stuff over the years that they have done and how things are made. We then hopped over to the Country Club Plaza, which is fantastic. There was an art fair going on so we need to go back another day to check out all the great statues, architecture, fountains, etc. There was about a bazillion people and hard to check anything out. The art fair was kind of fun, though. Couldn't afford anything but it was fun to look. The fountain picture and the statue picture are from Country Club Plaza and the other one is me looking grouchy at the Hallmark visitor's center. I wasn't really grouchy, I really enjoyed the tour, especially the Christmas trees! When we came home we were going to check out Historic Liberty Square here in Liberty but we were hot, tired and by then grouchy so stay tuned for the Square on another day. It's Bill's turn to choose the next adventure so we'll see what happens and where we go.

Discovering the Steamboat Arabia

2007-09-15T14:19:00.001-07:00

Today Bill and I went to explore the "The Treasure of the Steamboat Arabia". This is a museum built to house the treasure found when the old steamboat Arabia was excavated in 1988. The steamer was bound for Council Bluffs when it hit a tree snag and sank. No human lives were lost - just a mule whose owner left it tied to the railing below deck. (The excavators have named the old mule Lawrence - a play on words). It was found in a corn field 42 feet under the earth - The Missouri's course moved and left it under a lot of mud and underground water. When excavated its cargo was nearly intact. The people who found it decided to house it in a museum rather than selling it off and it is a tremendous thing to see. They have been restoring things for 20 years and have 15 to 20 years more to go to restore everything. It had over 200 tons of cargo and most of it was still intact. It was exciting to see all the things that were important to people in the 1850's. My favorite things were the buttons and the dishes. Bill's favorite was all the displays - especially the tools and hardware and clothing. This is a must see for all of you who are coming out to visit. I'm making a list of great and fun things to do so we can keep you busy. We went for BBQ on the way home and all in all it was a fun, fun day.

A 150-year-old antique, also an old boat!

2007-09-09T21:24:00.001-07:00

Exploring we will go***

2007-09-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

We are now at our first full week here in Liberty and have already had a grand adventure. On Friday Bill announced that he had a little project at work he had to do on Saturday - is anyone who knows Bill surprised at this - and asked if I wanted to go along. Well, the project turned out to be a trip to Tulsa (that's in Oklahoma) and is a short 4-1/2 hour drive from here. We left at 3:30 a.m. and headed out. I slept most of the way and it rained torrents most of the way - fun Saturday activity I was thinking. Bill got his business taken care of (its still raining torrents by the way) and we went in search of lunch. A few years ago we met up with David (our grandson) his wife Lauren and their new baby, Mikayla at a restaurant named Cheddars and so we wanted to go there. We were able to find it and have lunch - it was fun reminiscing about seeing David, Lauren and meeting Mikayla for the first time. Bill said he remembered how good the shrimp was - I remembered the baby. Bill said he remembered where we sat - I remembered the baby. You get the picture. Anyway, we headed back (its still raining torrents). Coming back we found signs for the "Precious Moments" Chapel. On a whim we stopped to see what that was all about. Bill took a nap in the truck while I toured the Precious Moments Chapel - does that surprise anyone who knows Bill? Bottom line it was a lot of fun - a site to go see when all you guys come to visit. Note to Erin: I got a new "Precious Moments" nativity. We jumped back on the freeway only to find it closed at the next exit. When we got off there were no signs to say where to detour so we had a nice tour of rural Missouri while we tried to find a way back to the freeway. Its hard to get direction when the sun is covered and we went quite a bit East before we realized we were on the historic Route 66 and it went EAST not NORTH which is where we needed to be going. There was a lot of flooding and we supposed that was why the freeway was closed. End of story is that we eventually found North and the freeway and our way home. It was an adventuresome day and I am grateful to have seen the Precious Moments Chapel!

2007-09-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

Saying goodbye, going away, seems like goodbye's such a hard thing to say.
Touching our hands, wondering why, it's time for saying goodbye.
Saying goodbye, why is it sad? Makes us remember the good times we've had.
Much more to say, foolish to try, it's time for saying goodbye.

Somehow I know, we'll meet again

Not sure quite where and I don't know just when
You're in my heart, so until then

It's time for saying goodbye.
~written by Ralph
Burns and Jeff Moss

We are pioneers - If you please

2007-09-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

1. Loading the wagon

2. Dick (the wagonmaster) and Bill tethering the horses

3. Eastward Ho

This past weekend Bill and I started a new adventure in our lives - we moved to Missouri. We felt a bit like the pioneers starting out into the unknown - but we went East instead of West. We have made a few major moves in our lives but this one for me was the hardest! Again, I felt a little of what the pioneers must have felt as I sorted through my stuff deciding what I could take and what would have to be left behind as we are moving to a small apartment. The hardest of all, though, was leaving family and friends behind - lots of tears were shed and are still being shed as I sit in my little apartment wondering what on earth I am doing in Missouri. However, I know that Bill and I are supposed to be here and it will be an adventure finding out why. This morning I have been unpacking pictures and of course every one of them brings new tears as I am missing my family terribly. I am grateful for email, long distance phone service and airplanes. Hopefully, we will get some visitors - anyone who comes through Kansas City (actually we are in Liberty) had better stop in and say hi!