Our family is hanging out in Branson with extended family for a long weekend – having a blast!! What I’m most excited to share with you though, is that our first two Meet and Greet events were SO MUCH FUN!!
I was excited about it and knew it would be fun to meet some of you. I just had no idea how much fun it would be. We laughed. We met each other’s kids. We shared. We asked questions. We laughed some more.
Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to come for a visit. This made me want to take a huge tour so that I’d have the opportunity to meet more of you! Someday, maybe our family will make it to your area. :) (Here are the upcoming Meet and Greet events we know of for sure. And if you’re anywhere close to Springfield, MO – please come visit on Tuesday, March 19! Read the time and location details here.)
Below is a picture of part of our group in Kansas City. There were a lot more kids playing in a different room, and another gal showed up later (forgot to get a picture at that time!). And just in case you were wondering, we hid all of our sugary drinks before having Matt snap the shot. Oh wait, did I just rat all of us out?!?! Oops. :)
Here’s the group at Branson. Don’t worry. We weren’t hiding our sugary drinks in this picture. We just hadn’t ordered them yet. ;)
Here is a good guess as to a menu plan for this week. Here’s hoping by the time we get home, I will have enough of a brain to follow it. If not, we can always resort to Creamy Mac and Cheese with a veggie.
Sunday, March 17
Banana muffins, apples
Taco bar with all the fixin’s (cooked by another family member)
Bbq beef brisket, baked potatoes, green beans, cream cheese corn (cooked by yours truly)
Monday, March 18
Giant breakfast cookies, applesauce
Burgers on the grill (cooked by another family member)
Supper – Reservation at Mel’s Hard Luck Diner (my dad has a gift certificate!)
Tuesday, March 19
Traveling day – not sure what we’re eating but we’ll see you Springfield, MO folks at Panera Bread at 10:30! I can not wait!
Wednesday, March 20
Baked oatmeal cups, clementines
Easy noodle stir-fry with broccoli and carrots
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas
Thursday, March 21
Pancake sausage muffins, applesauce
Cheeseburger macaroni, green beans
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, carrots, tossed salad
Friday, March 22
Honey whole wheat bread with peanut butter and honey, grapes
Homemade pizza, fruit salad
Salmon patties, rice with butter, tossed salad, steamed broccoli
Saturday, March 23
Homemade granola with dried fruit and milk
Leftovers
Potato soup, carrots
abbie says
My daughter and I where only 30 minutes into our trip to Bransonwhen i got aflat tire i was so sad i would love to see you in the fayetteville Arkansas area you should come on a Saturday and then go to our farmers market in the morn on square. :)
Laura says
Oh, I am SO sorry to hear that!! Thank you so much for trying to come. I hope you got your tire fixed and made it back home safely. :)
Meredith says
yes, you did rat us out. My sugary drink is behind my cookbook! :))
Laura says
It was SO great to meet you! Turkey sausage for breakfast tomorrow??!?! :)
Sheri Beeker says
We just got back from our spring break in Florida visiting my parents. It was wonderful…relaxing and so fun for the kids to spend time with their grandparents. We live far away from family. So a great blessing for us!
Laura says
Sounds like a wonderful time!!
Tracy Compaan says
I was SO close to seeing you in KC, we were there visiting my parents, but had to leave Thursday morning. SO sad I missed meeting you! I hope I’ll get another chance someday. :) So glad you did this, I’m sure it was an amazing time!
Laura says
Bummer! You’re from KS right? I’ll be sure to do one there eventually. I’d love to meet you!
Tracy Compaan says
Yes, I’m from KS, but we live in Liberal, KS right now. My folks are in Johnson County, KS. I do live a couple hours west of Pratt, which is where I think you were from? Oh, Yes, I’d love to meet you too sometime. :)
Katie Long says
It was great fun!! Glad we got our drinks after the picture, haha. :P Thinking about you this week and hoping you’re having a wonderful time with your family!
Laura says
Thanks! We are having a great time. :)
Jessica says
I would love to make the 3 hour trip to Springfield!!! BUT I’m 38 weeks pregnant & my last labor was only 3.5 hours so… Maybe next time. :)
Laura says
Yes, next time! Praying your pregnancy and delivery goes well!
Gloria says
Oh rats! We just moved from Nixa (in between Springfield and Branson) 7 months ago to the Nashville area. Headed there anytime soon? : )
Laura says
Bummer! Not that I know of, but who knows what God might have in mind? :)
Gloria says
Oh, while in Springfield my FAVORITE place to eat is The Grotto, http://www.gogrotto.com/. Affordable, yummy, fresh, nice atmosphere, but a little hard to find. It’s off of Battlefield (actually facing Jefferson I think) in a shopping center behind Buffalo Wild Wings. It’s the one place, besides Andy’s Frozen Custard (You are going there RIGHT???), that I miss eating at there.
Laura says
We saw Andy’s Frozen Custard a time or two but never stopped there. Sounds like we missed out!
Tracie says
It was so nice meeting you and your family! Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with us! And, for the record, I stuck with water! Although I really wanted one of those smoothies! :)
Laura says
It was wondeful to meet you! I still have the pictures from your girls. SO sweet! And you’re right – you did just drink water. Well done! :)
Samantha says
Kenna and I had a blast, even though she really needed a nap at the end! :)
She literally fell asleep at the stop light on campus! Hope you have a safe trip
And a good rest if your vacation!
Laura says
Oh, she was so tired! She is so sweet – I’m so glad I could meet you both. Can’t wait to hear news of your new little one!
Tamara says
Thank you so much for sharing so many healthy recipes. We finally made your Giant Breakfast Cookies & had a few questions. We are at a high elevation and our cookies turned out rather flat. We used Prairie Gold Hard White Wheat –freshly ground. Do you have any suggestions? (like adding baking powder or something?) Thank you for any help :)
Also, can the recipe be doubled?
Laura says
I use freshly ground hard white wheat as well. I’m not familiar with how to adapt a recipe for high altitude. I seem to remember that you need to add a little more flour? The recipe can definitely be doubled. :)