I spent Thanksgiving 2008 in Holden, Missouri (50 miles southeast of Kansas
City, Missouri). My mother bribed me to come by promising she would do all the cooking for my visit! I couldn't pass up that offer.............
This is a picture above of my mom and (step)dad going to church in the snow..... It was icy cold!
Here they are again after debating the best way to build a fire... I'm not sure who won that debate. In the end, there was no convincing of the other. I think I heard same discussion multiple times during the few days I was there!
Clarence Crawford, my grandfather and my mother's father, is sitting in the middle. He will celebrate his 94
th birthday next month!
This picture was taken in Odessa, Missouri at the church building. This is my dad's favorite picture. He was the Bishop when the building was remodeled 3 years ago so he choose this picture and others that hang in the building.
Beautiful snow on the 34 acre farm in Holden.... This is the view from my parent's back porch.
Now you aren't going to believe this but it is true that this is downtown Holden! The grain elevators are in the background. They store wheat, corn, and soybeans that are grown in the local area. This is a little country town in the heartland of America. People are very friendly and make you feel welcome. I wanted to take more pictures in the other directions from city center but my mom and I had too much fun at the local craft fair. Actually, I had a really hard time deciding what to buy since I was low on cash and most vendor were not set up to accept credit cards. It was dark by the time we ended our shopping spree so no more pictures until next time. We did have a great time.
While I was in Holden, I introduced my family to the coconut cream pie shakes at Sonic. We all loved them! I'm sure you are impressed that this little town of Holden has a Sonic! They even had their Sonic before we got ours here in Vancouver, Washington. (Subway is the only other fast food chain restaurant in town.) On the right, in front of my father, is my step-brother Alan. He is the life of the party and entertained us greatly while I was there.
My mother is standing in front of their house. She was disappointed that I didn't get her cat in the picture also. Poor Tiger sleeps in a box on the porch. The box has a rug flap so he can go in and out of the box himself. My mom says he keeps warm.
This is the largest of three ponds on the 34 acre farm. This pond is full of catfish. Ponds are man-made and are used to give animals water and also to grow catfish and bass. There are ponds all over the area on the farms. The water level is 8 feet deep in this pond. My mom says that you can make a pond on top of a hill in this area because the water level is so high. This was early morning the day I left.
This is proof that my mother did the cooking! She was making homemade noodles for turkey noodle soup in this picture. Prior to this she made her first, and one of my favorites, pecan pie. It was absolutely delicious! I could have eaten it all myself. I brought her a ceramic pie pan with the pecan pie recipe stained in the bottom. I'm hoping she'll make another pie the next time I come to visit whether it is Thanksgiving or not!
What a fabulous, relaxing holiday visit! I loved it. We watched Hallmark Christmas movies, talked, and ate yummy food. The good news was that I didn't gain any weight during my visit! It must be that healthy cooking! It had been five years since I had seen my grandfather so I'm grateful I was able to see him also! (He just moved to Missouri last summer. Before this move, he had always lived in Pennsylvania. He still misses Pennsylvania but my parents are taking excellent care of him.)
Happy first birthday to Brielle! This is Brielle's birthday picture. Misty had all of us write a note to Brielle about what we like about her. I wrote that I love her little hugs. She is great at hugs and gives lots of them. I know where to go when I want a hug!
Misty made a delicious birthday cake for Brielle. We had cupcakes and she had her cute little cake. Brielle especially loves the purple hippo on the right of the cake. She carries him around a lot. These animals are from the Noah's Ark set that she got for Christmas from her grandma Waldram. When I saw that cake, I was just like Adalei and could hardly wait to have some. It was a delicious oatmeal cake.
Brielle was clapping her hands and smiling while we sang happy birthday to her. Misty helped her blow out the candle. Then she opened her presents.
Brielle was really happy with her little piggy bank! It doesn't take much to make her happy.
Brielle was getting the hang of opening her presents. Adalei was such a helpful sister without needing to be asked. I think Adalei was having as much fun as Brielle.
Just a cute picture of the happy family - Nate, Misty, Brielle and Adalei.
Brielle - the princess for the day! She was enjoying all the attention.
I gave Brielle a stuffed hippo and a zoo book about a hippo. It seemed like a good gift because she loved to carry around the other little hippo. I am a very happy grandmother! This is my 2nd granddaughter. I'm so happy she lives nearby.
I just had to include this picture with her cute little face! I'm not sure how to interpret her nonverbal communication but you can see from the cake that she was eating it and enjoying it very much.
One hand wasn't enough - she had to have both hands getting cake at the same time! She loved that cake! You'll notice that she didn't play with any of the toys. She definitely was focused on eating her yummy birthday cake.
I was amazed at how clean she stayed with her eating. She wasn't messy at all.
This was the picture of her first bite! Happy, happy birthday to Brielle! I'm so happy I was able to attend and celebrate her first birthday with her!
Weston was so cute. He took off his shoes and then played with them! I just love this picture. Weston is adorable beyond words! I didn't get many pictures of Weston since he left 24 hours before I left Paisley. I get to spend an extra day with Weston in San Francisco in a couple of weeks so I'll make up for it then! 
