I’m back in town after a great trip to Kansas! Little Gaven is doing fine now. His jaundice is under control and he is starting to gain weight. At 4 weeks he was up to 6 pounds 5 ounces. He’s still a little peanut but thriving and doing well now. My sister and her family are settling in quite well and getting into a routine. Lindsay even got 5 ½ hours sleep one night while I was there! Big sister Capri gives kisses to her little brother and is taking good care of her baby dolls. Proud Daddy, Paul, has a little buddy to watch sports with now. My sister amazingly showed me all over town with her little ones in tow. It was a wonderful visit and I’m so thankful that I got to visit them! We are looking forward to a great visit next month when they come up and we’ll also be throwing them a shower! Following is a recap of my trip to Kansas.
I did not take my camera so most of the pictures included are from the web. Before heading to the town of Yoder as planned, we had to stop for some delicious BBQ at Danny Boy’s in Hutchinson, Kansas. My husband would love it there! There were probably no less than 20 different barbeque sauces that you could choose from. Next, we got a short visit into the town of Yoder. They were having an auction in town so we saw several of the horse drawn buggies and tractors primarily being driven by the hard working Amish women. The one Amish man that we saw, we gave the name of “Jedediah”. It just seemed to fit him with his white beard flowing in the breeze and his straw hat.It was fun to experience the simplicity of this small town and I was able to pick up two jars of Yoder Candles at the Kansas Station Gift Shop! One is called Countryberry Flapjacks and the other is Cinnamon Apple. Yum! They also had a great little restaurant in town where we each picked a different slice of yummy pie. On our return trip home, we had a hail storm where the hail was so big that it was a concern for denting the vehicle as well as some lightning. I just love a good lightning storm! I always tell my girls that God’s rearranging furniture in heaven preparing it for us.
Lindsay’s mother-in-law watched Capri one day so my mom, sister & I as well as the little man could get in a shopping trip to Wichita. We were able to go to Hobby Lobby (http://www.hobbylobby.com/). Wow! I sure wish we had one of these around us. It was about two times the size of Joann’s and had so much more to offer. Then we hit a store called Accessory City (http://www.accessorycityonline.com/). The whole store is filled with earrings, necklaces, purses, shoes, wallets, etc. all very reasonable priced. I did not purchase anything but my sister got the most adorable pair of shoes for $10!
Next on the list was a Starbucks and then off for some truffles at Cocoa Dolce Artisan Chocolates. If you want to see some yummy treats, check out their website at http://www.cocoadolce.com/. 
The truffles were almost too pretty to eat. They were absolutely delicious but pricey. My favorite was the Crème Brule truffle and it shows up as one of the featured ones on their website. I was able to find a recipe of theirs if any of you want to give it a try and save yourselves the trip to Kansas and the expense…http://www.chocolateatlas.com/Chocolate_Recipes/S051_Classic_Bittersweet_Truffles.htm.
We were also able to hit downtown Newton and do a little bit of shopping with the kiddo’s on another day. We walked through an Antique store, a bookstore for a Dora the Explorer book for Capri and a great Kitchen Store. My favorite store was in an old brick building called High Street Company (http://www.highstreetco.com/) which was similar to the stores in Sumner. It is actually a sister store to the kitchen store but it was my favorite! Then it was off to Sonics (http://www.sonicdrivein.com/home.jsp#/home) for something cold to drink and if you go between 2 and 4 p.m., the drinks are half price! Our Sonics just opened but I hear it’s had quite the line-up so you may want to give it a week or two before trying to go.
On my last night, we headed into Wichita again and had Mexican at Abuelos (http://www.abuelos.com/) which is located at “The Waterfront” (http://www.thewaterfrontwichita.com/shopping-dining.php) and was very pretty. After dinner we drove around looking at all the ritzy homes nearby. With the tornadoes that come through Kansas, most of the homes are made of different bricks or stones. They were beautiful! Then, we had to end the night with another coffee. A girls got to do what a girls got to do!
My family was missing me and ready for my return. So, I put on my ruby red slippers and headed home. Thank you for hosting me guys and a big thank you to all of you prayer warriors. The power of prayer is amazing!
