Silver Dollar City

The Harts and Despains all met in Branson, Missouri to have a week long fun-filled vacation! We rented ourselves a huge house out in the boondocks, grilled out for dinner, stayed up late playing card games, and bought season passes to Silver Dollar City! 

Branson has a special place in my heart. I remember going with my family nearly every single summer, staying in hotels on the strip, going to fun shows, riding the roller coasters with my brothers, having absolutely delicious breakfast (my dad's a huge breakfast lover), and shopping in the many outlet malls. 

Not only is it a special place because of those vacations but because Devin and his family have been on a family vacation in Branson as well. It amazes me to think that it's a slim possibility that one of those consecutive summers where my family went to Branson, that my future husband and in-laws may have been there, or that we had gone to the same stores, restraints, or touched the same gate at a roller coaster in SDC. I'm silly, but it kinda gives me goosebumps :)

Devin and I arrived around 2 o'clock on Saturday, my grandparents were a couple hours behind us, and then my parents and brothers came the next day because Derek was just getting home from a church camp that same Saturday and they couldn't make it in one day. 

So on Sunday, my grandparents, Devin & I went to SDC and rode all the rides to test them out for Derek and Chance :) On Sunday, while we were eating lunch in the park, Mom called me and they were in the park looking for us, so I went on a family hunt, and found them. What's the first thing mom wants to do when she sees me? Well of course after a hug, she wants to take pictures of my brothers and me :) She must like us. But we decided to be funny and take our "Moooommmmm" picture of the day. Enjoy.

My brothers have a very special place in my heart. With both of my parents working far away from home growing up, I did a lot of the shuttling to their sports practices, and attempting to get dinner started for my mom and helping her around the house. I like to think I have a small glimpse of my mom's love for us, and an even smaller glimpse of Heavenly Father's love for us. I truly have the greatest brothers in the world. And the handsomest brothers in the world, that's for sure!

My Granny & Pops are cranky old stinkers, but it's nice to see that they actually like each other every now and then. We all like it when they get along and stop griping for 10 seconds. Hahah. They're pretty great grandparents, I couldn't ask for better ones. 

All the kids are here. From left to right, Derek, John (My Granny & Papa's Foster Child that they are thinking about adopting), Devin, Me, & Chance.

Here's another one of those "Welcome" pictures that is a bit out of place in the scheme of this post. Oh well. We're funny. :)