Meet me in St. Louis.... er.. Kansas City

If you have seen the old Judy Garland movie, "Meet Me in St. Louis," then you are very familiar with the title song.  I am close, but not quite St. Louis, but Kansas City!

Lovely vacation time has rolled around once again.  Thanks to the event of Eric coming home from his mission to Sao Paulo, I decided to fly home and visit the family.  What a wonderful 4 days so far.  In 2 more days I will be heading to Utah to see the other half of the family.  The vacation has been relaxed and the conversations amazing.  I am starting to feel re-energized and that was sorely needed.

Today, I SO wanted to go to Lambert's restaurant in the Ozarks or in Sikeston, Missouri.  It ended up being too far and with a few things to do in the morning, we were unable to go to either location.  Mom, Eric, Zack, and I then decided to go donate blood at the local blood bank.  So, today, my family and I saved 12 lives.  Not too shabby of a way to spend the afternoon.  It was a fun afternoon to say the least.  I "created" a competition to see who could donate the fastest (which I won by the way, however I continued to bleed longer than the others) and joked the entire time. 



After donating blood at the local Community Services League in Blue Springs, Missouri.
Meg, Mom, Zack, and Eric



Afterwards Eric, Zack, and I went to the local bowling alley and were able to bowl 2.5 games.  The local staff was incredibly kind and waived our shoe rental fees.  It is always fun to go back home, know people, and get comped.  Oh, and Eric kicked our buts by far with his fancy curved bowling techniques and several strikes.



Start of Pizza Fest 2011


Tonight, I was ready to put on Pizza Fest for the family.  After purchasing and preparing every pizza topping imaginable, the kids let me know all they wanted was meat lovers pizza.  Wow, if I had only  known....  Mom and Dad were so complimentary with how much they loved the food.  (This was something I was fearful of as Arnetto Pizza is a time honored tradition in this family dating back to before I can remember!)  I still decided to make a couple specialty pizzas with Chicken Alfredo and Barbecue Pizza.  Oh my, it turned out SO delicious.  Mom and Dad had more than what they were originally planning on.  High compliments in deed.

The night finished on a high note of Dad getting home early from work and a night watching Tangled as a family.

I really miss living close to home.  These moments of coming home and reconnecting with the family is incredibly important, especially now with the decaying of the home and government.  Strong families need to banned together and to confirm who they are and the ties that bind each member to the other. 

Thank you to my Heavenly Father for giving me such an amazing family, for a few days off of work, and for a family so loving and welcoming.  This was very much a needed trip.  I cannot wait for the next couple of days!