Sedalia has become of my favorite places (remember I went there last year?) because of the awesome people that live there :).I arrived in Sedalia, MO seventeen days ago for James and Bethany’s wedding weekend :D. My dear dear friend Amanda and I stayed at the fairy tale like home of Mrs. Betty Green. Amanda and I were freaking out at the beauty of her land and the enchanting old timeyness of her house. We kept looking at each other behind Mrs. Betty’s back and Amanda would say “It’s like a fairytale!!” Me: “I KNOW!”

Here’s her sweet fluffy dog Bernie who followed me around as I explored her yard :).

Clematis is really popular up here :).

Soooo lovely.

This is called “The Princess Room”; we stayed in here :D.

And this is her 18 year old cat Crystal. Besides the fact that she needed a hair cut, I liked her :D. She has such intense eyes!

Here’s Amanda and I at the wedding :D.

After the wedding, Deann (Amanda’s aunt and life long friend of mine/practically family; she babysat us when we were little 🙂 ) asked if I’d take a family picture of them since they were all dressed up :). I love these people :D.

After that, I looked around and saw some friends of mine off by a building taking pictures of each other So I walked over and joined in :).

Here are two of them: Angela Rages and Angela Leiter :D.

Angela Leiter’s brother, Tony, jumped in. Haha :D. They’re so cool ;).

And then there was Regan Noe :D. She was the one taking pictures when I walked up :). So pretty, y’all!

Angela and Tony have one of the sweetest brother-sister relationships; they’re great :D.

Nice. Haha :D.

The three roommates wanted a picture together (Elizabeth Blum is the one on the right). Aren’t they GORGEOUS?! Man…I love them :D.

Check out what flew over us?! It kinda blows my mind how something shaped like that can fly.

Angela wanted a picture with her dad. Bro. Clint (one of the elders in their church) is such a sweet man :).

After the wedding, I had to run by the girls’s house to transfer my pictures from the wedding to Dan Sem’s computer (the Sems stayed there). Elizabeth used to nanny for their kids when Dan was over seas, so she has a special bond with their kids :D.

Then! Amanda and I headed over to Chris and Angela Rages’s house for a cook out!

The helpful ladies: Angela, Mrs. Kari McNew, Melissa Yakes, and Angela :D.

Some of the dudes: Stephen Gates (awesome musician man #1), Mr. Seth McNew, Scott Kapshandy (awesome musician man #2), and Chris Rages.

They have such a pretty backyard :D.

I love how Melissa (oh! She’s an awesome musician too!) can rock the blue pants :D.

Hey there, Mrs. Skinner. Hehe :D. Love you, Jamie ;).

Amanda lookin’ all dreamy :).

Cora McNew :).

The party ended up being bigger than any of us expected; it was great :D.

The lettuce we put on our burgers came from the Rages’s garden!! So cool :D.

Canadian geese! :D.

Chris and Angela were babysitting her sister’s two baby pheasants!!

Soooo cute!

And this is Alice McNew :). Yes, I know, her hair is wonderful :D.

Sisters :).

Cora was assigned to swat flies away from the burgers :).

The adorable hostess :D.

Sitting on a blanket on the grass is quite lovely :).

😀

Stephen providing music :).

My beautiful, delicious, and colorful meal :D.

My punch drink was pretty good too :).

The next day after church, we went and played volleyball in the park :). But BOY did the sand HURT! It was actually dirt like sand with little rocks in it. Our feet were very exfoliated and raw afterwards :P. But we had fun anyway :D. Let me introduce them :). Standing (left to right): Dan Hargrave, Tony, Elizabeth, Evan Jennings, and Jesse Ogalsbee. Sitting (left to right): Luke Hargrave, Regan, Angela, and Isaiah Lebron.

There I am in the brown shirt (my “Sedalia Fire Cracker Mile” shirt in fact :D. Thanks again, Abby! It’s a favorite :D).

Then we all headed back to the girls’s house for pizza and hanging out :). The guys were true gentlemen and graciously paid for the meal :).

Their neighbors let us sit on their patio furniture :).

The neighbors behind them planting tomatoes; sooo precious!

Tony surrounded by flowers. Haha :D.

Hehe :D.

Our food!

Oh! And the fun Rebekah Gates arrived shortly afterwards :D. This is her after somersaulting :D.

Here she is playing the guitar :D.

Then the spontaneous fun began. It was great!! :D.

Yeah, it was awesome :D.

Abby came over too :D.

I joined in on the fun too :D.

Abby and I won, by the way :D.

The trio :D.

It’s on. Haha :D.

Whoosh!

Then after calming down and drinking some root beer floats, we settled down in the living room :).

Then we unsettled ourselves and played “Spoons.” Haha :D.

Hey thar! Hehe :).

Then we played “Taboo” :D.

Elizabeth making the most of her time when she didn’t have to guess ;).

Rebekah, your face is priceless :D.

The next morning, Regan and Elizabeth climbed on top of sleeping Rebekah. Haha, these girls are close :).

Rebekah had to go home to Kirksville and a little later Elizabeth did the same to go visit her family there. And Angela was at work, so Regan and I hung out :D. She made us a delicious dinner! We had fun :D.

The next day, I had lunch with the incredibly sweet Angela Schultz and her mom (who I had never met before!).

I love her :D.

Then I got to spend some time with the Leiters! (mainly Mrs. Jenny :D). We made a trip to Baskin Robbins :D. My churned peach cobbler ice cream was the bomb!

Then Mrs. Jenny and I went to the Highway gardens (where I took Abby’s senior pictures!) to just talk. It was really good :).

Then we headed back to their house to get ready for dinner! :).

Angela came over too; we had a really nice time :).

The next day I went to the Hargraves’s house. While I was there, Mrs Betty came by to bring something Amanda left at her house (Amanda went home after church Sunday). I’m so glad I got to get a picture with her :D. Our time with her the weekend before was so precious :).

Back in the house, we just had a nice time talking :). Regan came by to get her hair trimmed and ended up staying :).

I like this one :D.

Luke, you’re so awesome :D.

Then I had lunch in the park with my dear sweet Evangeline Jennings! I’m so thankful for the time we had :D. I love you so much, friend!

We also ran to Dairy Queen and got blizzards :D.

Thank you, Lord for such sweet times :D.

There was one last part of my trip, but it’s an extra special one with extra special pictures (portraits of Angela and Regan!!), so I’m saving that for Thursday :D. Get excited!

With a smile,
{ Rachel Leigh }