Walk Down Memory Lane

Last month I took a week trip down to Missouri to celebrate my birthday with my family there. I had a great time with them and they had a neat idea planned for me for my 21st birthday. Tara, Mandy and Joan sat down ahead of time and tried to think of lots of places that were important to me growing up, or that had funny memories tied to them. As most people know I have about the WORST memory so some of these places took refreshers for me so I could remember where I was at! :D (not too many though) Very sadly though, almost all the places have either been knocked down or have changed companies, so if you see me outside a "Bed, Bath, and Beyond" don't think it's just a great store to me...it didn't USED to be that! ;) I'll explain under each picture though! :) Hope you enjoy this little peak into my past though!

Tara's house! Lot's of my time was spent here before moving up here

This little cabin/shed thing was on the property I lived on from the time I was 15 to when I moved to my Dads. It was an ugly old shed though, and we completely redid it! This holds a lot of memories though! We would all work on this as a family each night, and this was where we saw the first signs of my Mom not talking right and knew something was wrong. We had ideas for a long time after she died calling it "Peri's Playhouse" and having it as a store selling canned things we made and quilts and stuff

Me and my dog, Macy!!!! Greatest dog, left her in MO though!

This is my Dad's house where I lived for about a year a half...that's Lane with me!

The mall! ;) Spent too much time here growing up!

This is the paint store my Dad has been doing business with for EVER! At least as long as I've been alive! :) We used to go up quite often to see everyone and Mandy and I would always look through all the wallpaper books. lol

Mid Rivers Christian Church. This was the church I went to for most of my 'younger' life. Did TONS of plays and things here, guess this is where I first started acting. ;) This was a big time memory for Tara too!

LOL, the library! This is more of a joke place. I did go to the library quite often, but I think it made the top 21 places because I never could find my way there. It was only a mile from my house, but I am directionally challenged and well, it was just hard for me to get to! :)

Gou-Jon Academy of Dance...I spent most of my life here. :) As you can see it's currently nothing right now. My dance teacher passed away and they closed down, but I spent 6 days out of the week here for many MANY years.

Pundman Ford! Not sure why we always had to go to this Ford dealership, but we did. Every vehicle we bought I think came from here, except our little bug! They always gave out free popcorn here! :)

The sign says JJ's but when I was younger it was known as "The Roadhouse" Think I only ate there once but my Mom liked this place and Mandy and Tara seemed to remember it a ton! I don't remember liking it very much though! :)

Dance Techniques West...my first dance studio. I was not even 2 years old starting dance here. It has also closed down, but I have fond memories from that studio! :) I was young when I left though, 8 or so.

Can't explain this picture too much, but I came here quite a bit with my Mom when I was a lot younger. Holds quite a few memories. And right on the other side of this building was a VERY CREEPY cemetery, that always scared Mandy and me!

This was Phar-Mor (could be spelled wrong) I was young when it changed but I have one distinct memory from here...! I was 4 and my brother was pretending to play "beauty shop" with me at home before leaving and I told him not to really cut it and he said okay, but as we are walking into this store, my Mom noticed that a chunk of my hair had been cut out right in the back, my hair had been really long and he cut it quite short! Let's just say she was NOT happy with Kyle, but was able to hide the missing piece of hair! :)

The house I grew up in! :)

Our mailbox! :)

My neighbor's house. Clark and Kathleen Meyers and they had 3 girls that we'd play with all the time! :) Kathleen babysat us sometimes too! :)

THEN......and NOW! This picture was taken at City Hall in St. Peters. We'd go there all the time to get pics taken! Joan and my Mom would get us all dressed up and then just taken us to the park here and get pictures! The first one was taken in the same park when I was around 5 or so.

Chad Theatrical...this was where we bought our dance shoes and leotards and stuff! :)

Can't forget this place! :) Fritz's Frozen Custard! Our favorite place to go for ice cream..and we went OFTEN! :)

I've got a lot more pictures from the park that I'll probably post tomorrow! It'll just be a separate post though for the pictures. :) Hope you enjoyed the walk! ;) Oh, and I didn't take all the pictures, Joan had her camera, so she has more of the 21 places! :)

SMILE

Today I was doing my most favorite thing...canning....YEA RIGHT! :D Let's just say that canning is NOT on my list of "likes" but it's something that has to be done and I need to learn to like it. So, yea...I'm still working on that! ;) I had a pretty bad attitutude about it earlier today though and finally had to just change my thinking and it became fun today working with Mom making the salsa and cutting up the tomatoes and peppers. God gave me a little "smile" today too, so that 'kept me goin' :) Isn't God GOOD! :)

(Just so you know, I did NOT do anything to this pepper...this is how it looked when I opened it up! That'd cheer anyone up, right? :) Thanks God!)

My Princess Party!

I can't begin to tell you what an amazing day I had yesterday! :) My family definitely gave me the "royal" treatment! :) On Monday they made me go to bed by 11:00 telling me that even princesses have bedtimes! ;) I had no idea they were going to stay up and DECORATE! :) Tuesday morning was perfect though. They had me close my eyes as I came down the stairs to find the prettiest dining room ever! :) They had used pink sheer fabric around the windows and doors with white lights in it to make a very "pretty" soft look to it.

There were flower petals all over the floor and heart swirly things from the ceiling fan. Floating candles in a clear bowl with pink water and sparkley confetti stuff on the table! Just PERFECT! Mom did an amazing job sewing all the dresses and outfits for the boys! She really outdid herself on this! I am definitely not worth all that she did for me to make my day extra special! We had a fun time getting ready for the party and then around 1:30 or so we started it! :)

(The head piece is NOT part of the outfit!)

(Honored guest...Esau...lol)

(Dad and Me)

(The girls with Dad)

Mom with the help of Gabrielle and Jess I think made a delicious mexican meal! (my favorite!) Dad had to leave quick after eating for work so we did gifts real quick right there! :) Some were uh...umm...quite embarrassing! (Some pics I just CANT post) They were funny though, and well...I think it was JAMIE'S idea! :D My family got me very nice things though and one in particular was a scrapbook for the party. Mom got all different stickers and things for it! So we got quite a few pictures to fill the book! :) Oh, and Mom made me a shirt! I thought she had bought it cause it looked SO good, but she didnt! It's perfect though! ;)(Can anyone guess who I got this from?..JESS AND JAMIE)

(the gift....ahh!)

After gifts we had a "funny" time dancing! :D None of us really know what we are doing when it comes to that, but we tried anyway! :D Christian was somewhat willing to learn but Jordan just liked to twirl me around as fast as he could and get me SO dizzy! Mom was even getting into it! ;)

(Mom, Me and Gabrielle)

So after dancing we had cake, oooooh So good! Mom made a heart shaped cake but it was chocolate with reeses peanut butter cups in it!!! DELICIOUS!!! :)


After eating we took some cake to our neighbors, Dale and Addie. Addie is very sick but I had promised her that we'd go over in our outfits to show her. I'm not even sure she remembered me, but she definitely knows Mom, so it was a treat I think for her to see everyone so dressed up...or those who STAYED in their outfits! :P We had decided that it'd only be fitting to watch a princess movie that night so ALL dressed up we went to the movie store in town to pick out one! :D We got quite the looks but the girl there was really nice to us, maybe she thought we were royalty! Jordan was too embarrassed of us though, so he stayed in the van. :D

(This was at night...it looked SO pretty!)

When we got home I changed out of my dress and got to do what I love most, well almost most...RIDING! :) Jordan took Gabrielle and I riding for a couple hours. I'm seriously thinking it's my new favorite thing to do! Can't even describe how much I love galloping through the farmers field, seems like the whole world is disappearing and its just me and my horse! :) LOVE IT! :)

Anyway....on to the party! :) We finished the night by watching "Princess Protection Program" Surprisingly it was pretty good! :) If my family reads this...Thanks SO much for the wonderful birthday! :) And for treating me like a princess! :) Love you all!(This is Mom's great grandma's necklace that she let me wear)