It's A Crazy Wonderful Life on Calico Creek: I've been everywhere man....I've been everywhere!

Wow...July has flown by and I've been doing some traveling! I wanted to do a better job of blogging, but it has been busy around here. I'll try to back up and recall the events of this month! The second week of July was spent in Hot Springs attending the Miss Arkansas pageant! One of our friends Miss Abby Turner was a contestant in the pageant and she represented her area very well. Not only did she look beautiful, she was talented and smart as well. She made the top 10, which is a great accomplishment! Congrats Abby! One of Natalie's sorority sisters Sloan Roberts won. She too will be a great Miss Arkansas! Savannah enjoys going as much as I do. Fun week watching all the beautiful and talented girls!

The very next week we headed to Branson for a week of dancing! It was Showbiz Nationals and Savannah's studio MKDS was competing! I was so proud of each and everyone of these dancers...they were amazing. They ended the week with 4 of their dances winning 4 1st places...I know crazy!! Plus their musical theater number "Coffee In A Cardboard Cup" won the highest award, the Icon Award for best overall dance! We also won the Sportsmanship Award! Excited to say the least! We also did some serious shopping while in Branson. My girls and I are really good at this "sport"! :)

Sterling and Savannah....not use to seeing them with black wigs on! Cuties!

Monsters...so funny to see them so serious!

Their trophies!!

Dancing Buddies...so proud of them!

Ms Karen and Savannah! The best dance teacher ever!

The winners!!Yea!

Saturday, while in Branson, I got to have lunch and spend the afternoon with my cousins Teresa and Dina! I had not seen Dina in 35 years and Teresa only a few times in the last 30 years! It was so fun to sit and reminisce about our years of growing up on Barren Hollow! I enjoyed spending the day with them so much! Hoping to do it again soon..not going to wait 35 more years!:)

When we got back from Branson we spent one day at home before taking off again! We celebrated Paul and Jessica's birthday on Monday! I love having everyone over for family celebrations. I feel so blessed that our children live close!

My sweet hubby's birthday! This is his favorite chair in the whole house!

Matt and Jessica aka the birthday girl!

Ben and Natalie watching everyone opening their birthday gifts!

Paul and Ben showing off their new shoes they got for their birthdays! Ben got his early...his birthday is not until September...but he needed this now!:)

Tuesday we packed up and left for a road trip with Savannah and her friend Eden. Our first stop was Nashville, TN. We started off going to the downtown area and seeing all the sites. We had dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. It was my first time to eat there and the food was delicious! The next day we spent the day shopping at the outlet mall next to The Grand Ole Opry! It was one of the best malls ever. We ate at The Aquarium. Another wonderful meal...plus it was so cool to see all the fish and sharks floating around us! That night we went to the Grand Ole Opry. Rascal Flatts and Lauren Elaina were there just to mention a few! I loved it! I grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry, but had never been. I will definitely be going back! That was such a fun time and wonderful memories for us! The next day we left for Gatlinburg, TN and Asheville, NC. We ate at some more wonderful restaurants and took in the downtown areas. There was a festival going on in Asheville called the Bele Chere, pronounced (bell Cher). We walked the entire downtown area and took it all in! And boy was there a lot to take in! Kinda reminded me of the 70's with all the hippies that attended the festival. We had another great meal at Mellow Mushroom! I think it was the best pizza I have ever eaten and trust me I've eaten a lot of pizza in my life. If you ever get the chance to go to one you will not be disappointed! After Asheville, we headed to Franklin, TN. The Harpeth Festival was the happening thing there this past weekend. It was a bluegrass festival going on in the downtown square. Lots of good food and arts and crafts. Again we had a wonderful meal at Pucketts on the square. This place had a lot of character! The weekends require a reservation and it stays sold out. They have live entertainment Wednesday thru Saturday! Such a neat place. Sunday we headed back to Little Rock. Home Sweet Home!

I love vacationing and I love coming home! ( Only the laundry is about to get the best of me!) So much to do today that I must get off and get busy. So thankful for this beautiful country that I live in!

The Olympics is going on now! I am so impressed with these athletes dedication. (Makes me want to compete...not really:)!)

Abundantly blessed...Lisa (A few pics from the trip!)