Home of the Throwed Rolls

Not long after Chris revealed my big birthday surprise, Chris, the kids, and I loaded up in our car and headed to my parents' house for the weekend. I mentioned that my Dad turned 60 years old on the same day that I turned 32, so we had planned a family weekend to enjoy the milestone. 

My parents love to plan fun activities (especially for the grandchildren), and they often have something up their sleeve. My dad especially likes having a surprise for the family, and this weekend was no exception. On Saturday morning, my dad told the older grandkids that there was a surprise coming to the house that began with an i and ended with a t. After a hour or so, he gave another hint, and continued to give hints until almost 11:30am, when the "surprise" arrived. I figured out from the clues that an "illusionist" was coming over, but I'm not sure if the kids figured it out or not? 

Either way, it was a super fun surprise! I think the whole family enjoyed it, though my dad said that it was really for the older grandkids. My parents live outside of Springfield, MO (so, not far from Branson). My dad is an instructor at a Bible Institute, and one of his current students used to work at Silver Dollar City doing Magic Shows. Dad had this student (Dustin) come over and give our family a personal show. Since Dustin actually did this for a living at SDC, his show and talent was legit. 

The show was like an hour or so long, but we were so entertained that it flew by!

What show would be complete without a little juggling :-) ?

Not long after this photo was taken, Dustin stole my mom's watch right off of her wrist! She had no idea until he held it up for her after she had sat back down.

Here he is in the actual process of stealing the watch (with my brother and Chris unknowingly helping out). I didn't know what he was doing either.

We all got to participate at one point or another. In this photo, Chris and my brother-in-law, Russ, were tying him up. He got out of the knots in a snap!

Not long after enjoying the fun show, we all loaded up and headed to Lambert's. For those of you that aren't from the midwest, Lambert's is a popular home-cookin' restaurant that is famous for it's "throwed rolls".

We had to sit at two tables, but we had a great dinner anyway!

At Lambert's, server's come around the tables with huge pans of fried okra, fried potatoes, fried tomatoes (notice a trend here, haha), etc. If your table wants a serving of that dish, you put down a paper towel and they put a huge spoonful on the towel for everyone to eat. They also literally throw the hot rolls at you from across the restaurant. They will shout out, "Hot rolls!", and when you raise your hand they will chunk one at you. The rolls are beyond yummy!

My brother and Brenson . . . Bren was too busy eating for photos!

My Mom and Dad <3: p="p">

My sister, Lisa, and her family:

My brother, Jeremy, and his family:

My little family (my 13 year old nephew took this photo . . . not bad, huh?):

As the birthday girl and boy, my dad and I got free entrees, balloons, and HUGE cinnamon rolls. I didn't actually eat any of mine (not my favorite treat), but they looked good!

My sister and her family had to head home not long after dinner, but the rest of us stayed another night. The next morning (Sunday) we all got up and ready for church. Brenson and Jeremy were both wearing sharp argyle sweaters, so I thought a photo was in order:

Shawna, Kaylee, and Brianna were all wearing purple:

Jeremy had an appointment to preach at the church where Shawna's folks are members (not far from where my parents live), so they left and I snapped a few more pics before we went to church with my parents. Brianna is never very cooperative for photos, but I thought this one came out okay:

All in all, it was truly one of the best birthdays I have ever had. I can't say enough how much I loved my surprise from Chris, and getting to spend the weekend with my family was just icing on the cake. I am beyond blessed!