Week of Reunions

This past week has been a week of reunions for us. On Tuesday we had our first visitors from the John Family. Anthony's sister Meredith and her husband Steven are going to be living in Boston for the summer so Steven can do an internship. They will need their car this summer so they are in the process of driving cross country and were nice enough to make a not-so-slight detour in their journey and stop and see us. We had a great time with them! We had dinner at Lamberts, a local restaurant famous for its home style cooking and "trowed rolls." After dinner Anthony got to show them where he works and goes to school. It was fun getting to see them in person. Emails and phone calls are great, but nothing beats spending time with people. To see pictures of their visit, check out Meredith and Steven's blog here. I was really sad when I came home from work Wednesday and the house was empty. We had been looking forward to their visit for awhile. We would like to formally invite ANY and ALL friends and relatives to visit us in Springfield.

Saturday I rode up to KC with my good friend Stephanie. We had a reunion with two of our other best-girlfriends from high school, Brooke and Carrie. Even though we all went to different high schools, we became great friends through girls camp, youth conferences, stake dances and activities, and weekly hang outs. This was the first time we were all together at the same time in 7 years!

Stepahine and her husband Pat live in Nixa, MO (about twenty minutes south of Springfield) with their two girls, McKenna (3 yrs) and Paige (9 months). Brooke lives in Kellar,TX, (near Dallas) with her husband Ryan and 8-month old daughter Savannah. Carrie lives in Olathe, KS, with her husband Chris and daughter Cami (6 months).

Brooke's family has moved to Utah and so Ryan has never seen the KC area where she grew up. They were in town this past weekend and so Steph and I came up for a mini-reunion. I'm not sure about the other girls, but I had so much fun. Carrie D was the hostess-with-the-mostess. She had a veggie tray, chocolate for dipping and lots of treats. She made some fabulous BBQ chicken salad for dinner and Brooke brought some tasty rolls. It was fun to catch up and see everyone's babies. Everyone but me had a baby girl last year (in July, Sept and Nov). It's fun to see my friends as moms. We took a picture as we got ready to part ways. I can't wait to get together with these girls again, but this time let's not wait 7 years!

The Girls, circa 2001

2008

Here is the recipe for the delicious BBQ Chicken Salad Carrie & Chris made us for dinner. It was so good and great for summertime I just had to share.

BBQ Chicken Salad

4-6 Boneless/Skinless chicken breasts
BBQ Sauce
Ranch Dressing
Green Salad and whatever veggies you like, i.e. tomatoes, green onions
Drained corn
Drained black beans
Tortilla chips
Shredded cheese to taste

Chop chicken into bite size pieces and cook in
frying pan, once cooked all the way through, reduce
heat and add BBQ Sauce.
You could also grill the chicken in BBQ sauce and then chop it.
Set aside to cool.

Make a green salad with whatever vegetables you
like. Top with crushed tortilla chips to add texture
and flavor. Add chicken to salad and toss with ranch
dressing and BBQ sauce or let people add their own.