Easter

Spring has sprung! Well, it’s cold and cloudy here in West Texas, but, I’ll take it. I like cloudy days. I am ready for the warmer weather, though. Not the hot summer weather. I’m not really a summer girl. I’m a 75 degree and calm weather girl. Thinking Hawaii is a good fit for me. But anyway, enough of the weather.

We just returned home from our annual Branson trip to attend the PraiseFest. PraiseFest is a 3 day event that is full of southern gospel music. Some of the groups that sang were, Legacy Five, Greater Vision, Triumphant, The Booth Brothers, Jim and Melissa Brady and several others. It was non-stop singing along with hilarious stories. I love to see the groups interact and have fun. It was a sold out crowd with 3,200 people from all over the country. We finished off the event with a concert by Guy Penrod. His pianist was Michael W. Smiths son. Who knew! The comical part was that his band looked like they could have been teenagers. When he introduced them, they were all married and had several children each. I think that’s what happens when you get older. Everyone looks like they are 10 or 12 years old.

What made this year so much fun was a blogging friend that I met 5 years ago at a blogger/writer conference attended PraiseFest with her husband. We briefly visited at the conference years ago and I have followed her blog all these years. When we met at PraiseFest, it was as if we were lifelong friends. Our husbands hit it off and we enjoyed dining together and even got in some shopping. What a fun trip. I would love for you to visit Lea’s blog. Just click on the link and it will take you straight to her site. http://ciciscorner.com

My mom loves PraiseFest and Branson and we always stay a few more days to enjoy some shows, shopping and site-seeing. This year we went out on the Branson Belle Showboat, Legends in Concert and SIX. Many of the shows were not up and running yet. My favorite store, Secret Garden was closed as they were moving in to a new building. We did manage to get in plenty of shopping though. Our favorite spot to stay, The Keeter Center, was awesome as always. I LOVE that place. When we received our arrival letter along with chocolate covered strawberries, the note said “Welcome to your 19th stay at The Keeter.” I told Jim that we were out of control and we just needed to buy one of their rooms. Wouldn’t that be fun! The students of College of the Ozarks work the lodge and you are treated to first class service. It is immaculate, clean and everyone is so friendly. Not to mention the food in the dining room is top notch. Most of the ingredients to the dishes served are grown and raised at the college. Honestly, I can’t say enough about the college and the Keeter Center. I could be their spokesperson. Good idea, we could live at the Keeter and travel for the college and recruit for them! Perfect!

I’m so glad I decorated for Spring before we left. It was nice to come home to the First Day of Spring and be decorated. I’m still working on my closet. I move all my fall and winter items to another closet and move in spring and summer. My closet will keep me busy this week.

I thought I’d share a few pictures of some spring decor around the house.

I’ll share more pictures in other posts in the next couple of weeks! I do hope you have a wonderful first day of Spring. We have a breakfast patio and I have plans to load it up with flowers. We will see what happens. If it is a success, I will share with you. Just remember… we live in West Texas and it’s a miracle if anything grows or doesn’t blow away.

I am linking this post to A Wise Woman Builds Her Home. Welcome to all the readers that are visiting from such an informative and encouraging blog.

Happy Spring!