{Bolivar} rhymes with {Oliver}

So, as most of you know, we will be making our home in Bolivar, MO for the next 3 years. We are very excited for this move and very grateful for the opportunity to go. We have prayed for this for a long time. We decided it took 3 yrs for us to be willing to go where the Lord wanted us to go. 3 yrs ago there was no way we would have wanted to live in Bolivar. BUT, now with our kids, it is the perfect place to raise the kids. The Lord works in mysterious ways but I am very grateful that we have been led to Bolivar.

My dad and I flew into Kansas City and hung out there for the day. It was a beautiful city...and a very rich city. The streets were flooded with designer stores so we ended up just going into a toy store and Pottery Barn Kids. We spent most of our time in the toy store. We also went to this place called Oklahoma Joe's that is known for their BBQ. Oklahoma Joe's was located in a gas station...weird right?....for a popular place to eat BUT it was so GOOD. You will see in a picture that we got a full rack of ribs. They were excellent but neither one of us wanted BBQ for the rest of the trip.
We decided to head down to Bolivar that night instead of staying the night in KC. Our first night was definitely interesting. Our first contact there was in a gas station. We asked the lady how she liked living there. She went on about how much she hated it and was doing all she could to get out. "Oh Great!" I thought. Our second contact was once again in a gas station. He was a cleaner cut kid (the other lady looked like she hung around in a rough crowd, if you know what I mean) he went on and on how much he loved it and it was the best place he had ever lived. This put me at ease a bit. Later that night we awoke to tornado sirens....I woke up thinking, "Where the heck am I moving!" I woke up that morning feeling kinda sick about the move.

Things just went up from there. We had so much fun and absolutely loved Bolivar. We were able to find this house for cheaper than renting and it is brand spankin' new! We are so excited. It will have a fenced in backyard by the time we move which is the best part of it....those with kids will understand!


Our last day in town we headed to Springfield. It was kinda a dirty city compared to KC and Bolivar but we had a good time. We went to the Bass Pro shop and then headed a little outside of town to the famous Lamberts Cafe...home of the throwed rolls. Well, once we were seated, we noticed on the menu it said that they only accepted cash or check....WHAT!! WHO DOESN'T ACCEPT CARDS!! So, the waitress sent us across the street to the ATM. On the way back my dad said sarcastically, "Wouldn't that be funny if the doors were locked". HA...I guess it wasn't that funny because they WERE locked. "You have to be kidding me!" I saw some people coming out of the exit so I ran over and slid on in. I was going to eat at Lamberts and get a throwed roll! We went in and sat down. Of course, in 10 minutes, they had turned everything off and were "completely" shut down. The funniest part was the waitress who sent us across the street...when she saw us she exclaimed, "OH, you're back". "Ha...YEP". She was very shocked to see us. Anyway, the manager gave us free drinks and I asked if he would throw us some rolls...since that was what the hype was all about. So in the end, we ate for free and still had a throwed roll. He also threw in some apple butter, potatoes, macaroni, and fried okra...not bad for FREE right? Definitely better than the 50 bucks we would have spent. He turned a very bad experience into a good one. Smart manager!

Then it was on to ANDY'S FROZEN CUSTARD. This stuff was DIVINE. We have been craving it ever since. It was SO SO SO SO good! Lucky for me I do get to go back and get some!...Funny story here too. We saw some dogs in the back of a car that we wanted to go see. The owner of the dogs was feeding them ice cream. Now these were not small dogs by any means. They were big druely dogs...I believe one was a mastiff/bulldog mix and they other was a bulldog...this just adds to the story ya see...so after he gave each dog a tongue lickin', slobbery druely taste of his ice cream off of his own spoon I found myself saying..."Please don't eat off of the spoon...no...oh no, please, oh, oh, oh, oh no...." And there it went, right into his mouth. GROSS! I don't even like eating off the same silverware as my kids let alone dogs...

It was a great trip and it was fun to be able to go with my dad. I am so excited to move out there and I am already mentally decorating my house and putting things in the cupboards.

Go Wildcats! HA

They have turtles just roaming the roads. The poor little things get run over. This one is Bolivar...does not rhyme with Oliver. My dad wanted to bring him home but we weren't quite sure if we could bring him on the plane with us. We are definitely going to have some pet turtles while we are out there though!