~~~Tis' the Season~~~

We have been enjoying time with our family and doing the things we all do so well this time of the year... Baking those wonderful cookies for the holidays and sneaking 2 or 3 when they come out of the oven with a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate... Going out shopping for the things that have been on your list for months for your family, the kids and your friends... Enjoying the many pageants, parades, and special event of the season... Riding around looking at the Christmas lights... Watching all those wonderful Christmas shows on TV and listening to the sounds of Christmas... And most of all being with those you love!

I have enclosed some GREAT videos of the Amazing Christmas light display done by the Hodo family in Van Buren, Arkansas that is set to Christmas music. We took these one evening when riding around looking at Christmas lights... Hope you enjoy them and if your near the area stop by and visit. I can guarantee you will LOVE it!

Before you watch the videos scroll down to the bottom of the page and turn off my Christmas tunes... Thanks & Enjoy!!!

I hope that you all are having a chance to enjoy these priceless times too...

Until Later... Have FUN & Enjoy Life!

♦♦♦Leaving Spring Hill COE Park & Moving on♦♦♦

We have been at Spring Hill COE for 3 weeks and loved every moment of it... It is so beautiful with all the trees, the Arkansas River, the wildlife and thousands of feathered friends... We'll be back here soon... We have reservations for 4 days at Park Ridge RV Park right off of I-40 exit 3 in Van Buren, Arkansas. We needed someplace to stay for Labor Day weekend and it was almost impossible to get into another COE or State Park for the holiday weekend. The good news is that it is just a hop, skip & jump to Jennifer's house from this park. Right after Labor Day we will be moving up to Lake Fort Smith State Park in the Boston Mountains (Ozarks) near Mountainburg, Ar for 3 weeks then we will be back at Spring Hill.

This park (Park Ridge RV Park) is good for a stopover... W/E/S Not to bad of a park but there are a lot of permanent people here. It is $27 dollars a night with a Good Sam discount. Also they want to charge us 2 dollars for each kid and 3 dollars for each adult who would be visiting us more then 2 hours... Never heard of that at any park. So we will be going to Jen's house rather then them coming here to visit. We are always in the woods near tress....

The Office and Store & Picture of Lee Creek

Saturday I spent the morning getting my hair & nails done... It's been a while and I was getting pretty shabby... Then we went over and stayed with the grandchildren while Jennifer went to her study group. For those of you who don't know she is in her third semester of nursing school. When she graduates next April both of my daughters will be nurses... I am so proud of them! It was a beautiful evening back at the campground... We enjoyed a stroll by the creek and watched the sunset.

Sunday my SIL came back home after being away on a job for 2 weeks... I am glad he is coming home not only because I miss & love him but he is the best BBQ'n cook I know and being that Monday is Labor Day he can cook us up something good (pork roast)... I am going to make the "Neely's Cole Slaw" that I loved so much in Memphis and Orange Delight... Jennifer spent the day with her study group again while Eric (my SIL), Ralph & I went and did some errands. After we were done we went back to Tassie and just rested .

Today we did the traditional cookout and spent the day playing games... We had a lot of fun and ate til our bellies were busting... We had Smoked Pork Loin, Pork Steaks, Mild Sweet Italian Sausage, Homemade Baked Beans, Corn on the cob and Cole Slaw

For dessert we had the Orange Delight; Recipe below

ORANGE DELIGHT
1 - 3 oz. pkg. orange jello

1 small can mandarin oranges - drained

1 pound cottage cheese

1 small container cool whip

1 small can crushed pineapple - drained

Walnuts - chopped

Mix all ingredients together & chill for a couple of hours

So Easy to make BUT so delicious

Tomorrow morning we will be pulling out of here to go up to the mountains to Lake Fort Smith State Park... I don't know if I'll have Internet at the site but right up at the visitors center there is great reception. I will have to go there to visit you and do a post.

Hope you had a great holiday weekend and Stay safe!

Until Later

♥♥♥ John Wayne & me ♥♥♥

Thanks Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday...

Go on over to Designs by Gollum and check out the rest of the great bloggers who have participated in this fun event...

Lots of food stories, great recipes & fun ideas...

"BIG JAKES STEAK HOUSE"

We went to dinner yesterday for my granddaughter Alyssah's birthday to a restaurant called BIG JAKES. Now it is named for John Wayne and is totally done in western style with posters of him throughout the restaurant. They have very good food and a great atmosphere. I love the shelled peanuts on the table, bread, and pinto beans as an appetizer. They are also doing what a lot of the restaurants are 2 dinners for $20 and I am telling you that is something that can't be beat. We had an appetizer to share, 2 complete meals and 2 desserts... For our appetizers we chose Chips & Salsa & Jennifer ordered an Awesome Blossom.

Check out the beautiful meals that we got! Ribs for me and steak for Ralph

See the cute little train under the wagon that travels all around the inside walls

All the waitresses came out to sing Happy Birthday to our sweet little angel..

Look at Hannah (oldest granddaughter)with her mouth full of dessert ☺

Alyssah got a HUGE Ice Cream Sunday for free and

Hannah with her mouth full again

Well just look at the close up of the YUMMY

cheesecakes that came with the special...

Ok again I didn't cook but I sure did eat well...

Have fun reading the great blogs of Foodie Friday!

Until Later

Great Day and some FUN News...

Here is today's reminder to get a check-up and help find a cure by supporting the companies that are donating money to the cause... spread the word

What a great day I had yesterday... We started out at the Fall Festival in Van Buren... there were a tons of vendors there with all their wares out for us to oooh & ahhh over. The most wonderful thing was I met Kristen of Kristen's Creations, her mom and her son Chase.. He was just so cute and polite... a perfect little gentleman and Kristen's a beautiful young woman that just brightens up the world with her smile... I was so excited meeting one of my bloggin buddies... Go visit her blog it is lovely... Here we are together at the festival... Double click on the festival picture to get a better view of the vendor tents....

There was a lot of Craft vendors, entertainers and food vendors not to mention all the cute little stores up & down the street... My favorite being this great candle shop called Spencer's Candles... Hundreds of great scents and they made them right in the basement of the store... The scent that I chose was Autumn Leaves... Isn't it pretty

A nice petting zoo for the children with lots of animals but my 2 favorite was the miniature horse and the 2 kissing goats... Ok it look like they wanted to kiss... Maybe they were just necking or something...

That is Jennifer & Alyssah petting the little horse (OK not little everywhere) LOL

and my 2 little goats being cozy

There were people walking around that dressed for the occasion.. This woman was the cutest little lady and then there was a frontier man... You know I love those outdoor rugged types..

I saw a couple of booths that were selling the clothes from the late 1800's and then there was this booth selling the neatest metal rods (look at picture on left) that you could put things on and make really beautiful decorations... I was crazy about them. You just drilled a hole in the bottom(on the side) of whatever you wanted to put on it and slipped them on the rod...

Just look at some of the nifty things you could do... I loved the clay pots for herbs...

This is the courthouse in Van Buren built before the civil war and Alyssah (my granddaughter) sitting at the fountain with the statue of Hebe the greek goddess of youth and happiness....

In this small building Albert Pike noted lawyer, poet and mason taught school in 1832. Here is my Daughter Jennifer, her husband Eric and the girls Hannah & Alyssah..

I am sad to say I didn't make it to Paint the Park Pink... It upset me but we had to move on so we went to dinner at Olive Garden... YUMO!!!! That did ease the pain of it somewhat...

Listen to the band that was playing when we were leaving... They were really good and I was sorry I didn't record more...

Until Later