purple, love, and tumbleweeds

 

My thoughts are in a bit of a skirmish....so much water has passed under the bridge, that I don't know where to begin! Spring Break is history, I've been to Kansas, Roxie and Jeremy are now Mr. and Mrs. Koehn, and it's already MARCH 10!! What more shall I say?! It was incredibly inspiring to journey to the western flatlands to witness the vows of my dear friend and cousin, and to hang out with Jill and Max! Although it is still a great mystery to me why anyone would voluntarily choose to dwell in Kansas, the bumbling, bouncing tumbleweeds did sorta tickle my gizzard! Other than the hypnotizing windmills, the land just lacks character in my opinion. {I realize I am not writing this epistle in spatial order. Please forgive.} On the way, we ended up veering from the planned route due to obediently following the faithful GPS. We ended up taking 55 north through AR instead of 20 west out of Jackson to Dallas like we had originally planned. I didn't mind; we actually got flurried on by several snowflakes, and saw fields of the white stuff around Wichita. Backing up again, I want to tell you where all we ate! LOL! Dad treated us to the Western Sizzlin' buffet in Magee, MS for lunch. {Of course, we had a laundry basket of snacks for in between meals.} For supper, we settled in at an Arkansas Waffle House. I highly recommend their pecan waffle! We soon sacked out in style at a fairly new Sleep Inn in Van Buren, AR. I swam solo in the heated pool before calling it a day. After whisking ourselves down for complimentary waffles the next morning, we headed west again. It got warmer as we got closer to Ingalls, much to my dismay. I was relishing wearing my winter boots for once!! Aunt Sue and I settled in at Jill's grandparents house; Jill, Jan, and Max soon arrived! Max is just growing up like the cutest lil weed! Next event was the "Saturday Night Supper" as we commonly call it! I was thrilled to meet the other members of Roxie's family, and to see friends I hadn't connected with for ages! After eating, all those that were so inclined stood together around the projector and sang their hearts out. Back at the Schmidt's, we got to visit with Louis and Amy and their 4 kiddos! {They are just a tiny bit older than we are! Help!} Louis and Daniel have been friends for years, so he was disappointed that Danl hadn't been able to come with me. Jill and I stayed up as late as we could of course. All too soon, my alarm was ringing its head off! The wedding day had arrived! Roxie was a beautiful bride in a lovely, yet simple, dark lavender dress. The bridesmaids wore teal, which complemented the purple perfectly! Rox and Jer were full of excited grins and goofs! {I loved my side-view seat!} "I do, I do, I will, I will," and away walked the bride and groom, towards their new life together with huge smiles on their radiant faces! After eating the delicious wedding meal of yummy pork, roll, coleslaw, beans, cake, and coffee, I was dismayed to see a purple toaster, just like the one I had already purchased to give them at their Florida reception, come happily through the gift line. I had applauded myself for not procrastinating for once, all to no avail! Now WHAT in the world shall we get them for a present?! I had picked out that toaster for Roxie at Target long before she was even engaged!! Such is life. At their send-off, we riced them down thoroughly,{Anthony was even on the house roof and doused them good as they came out the door!} and sent them away to honeymoon, their car billowing with balloons, streamers, and caution tape! I didn't go to church in the evening, opting instead to spend precious time with Jill, Max, and my cousins from PA and WI. We said our sad goodbyes and left out Monday morning, after shopping at "Just For You" in Montezuma. Bought myself a teeny-tiny glass dog to add to my collection for a souvenir, and got some Kansas beef at the local grocery store to take home for Daniel! This time, we headed for Dallas down through the beautiful scenery of Oklahoma and northern Texas. Braums was a MUST for lunch! I loved my thick, onion-y chili and two scoops of ice cream! White chocolate raspberry and cherry pecan chunk.... yummo! Several hours later, Dad treated us to Pancho's Mexican Buffet in Dallas. Fresh-made flour tortillas and hot sopapillas hit the spot! I drove some intricate loop-de-loops in downtown Dallas since the GPS couldn't figure out the construction zones. Finally after midnight, we stopped for a few zzzzz's in Marshall, LA. Or maybe it was Marshall, TX. I don't know! With home sweet home on the horizon, the last stretch of the way dragged along! Stopped again in Magee for lunch, this time at Dairy Queen. Finally, we rolled into Atmore! Then on to 6350 Garrett Road and into my hubby's arms! HOME at last.