The Baxter Family Series takes place in Bloomington, IN so we left for Bloomington around 2:00 hoping to make it to this building, the auditorium on Indiana Universities campus, by 7:00. This is where Karen was speaking. After a few potty breaks and a Subway stop we actually made it into Bloomington around 6:30, but finding this place was a bit of a problem for us. We have a history of getting lost in St. Clair Square, a place we have been to probably a thousand times, so finding a place we have never been to was pretty near impossible. As soon as we got onto Indiana's campus we asked somebody for directions. We followed his directions to a T and then asked somebody else for directions. He sent us in a totally different direction. Finally, my mom spotted signs that said "Baxter Family Reunion" so she told me to park and that we could walk the rest of the way. We parked with about 2 minutes to spare, however, we didn't realize that we had parked over a mile away from the building. We laughed the entire time we were walking so it felt like we burned a lot of calories. Or maybe it is just wishful thinking. We finally got seated, after another important potty break, around 7:10. When I walked in Karen Kingsbury was up on stage talking.
This is the famous Karen Kingsbury. I took many many pictures during the evening but this is the only one that turned out. We sat 17 rows back and had a great view of the entire show. Karen is a wonderful speaker and she had me in tears and bursting in laughter many times through out the evening. We even were able to meet many of the characters from her book and see some performances from a Christian Kids Theater. She talked a lot about her books but she also gave a motivational speech telling us to 'Love much, Laugh often, and Live in Christ.' I think that is great advice and I will probably make that my motto for this year. It was a memorable evening but once the presentation ended it was full out madness. Karen was setting up in the front for autographs and she had booths full of books for sale. You would've thought she was giving away a million dollars. The women at this event were ruthless. They would knock over anybody who got in their way including my mom and grandma. I was looking forward to meeting Karen but there was no way I was going to make my mom and grandma fight with that crowd for what looked like would be hours. After we got our free copy of her latest book we headed off toward our hotel for the evening. The next day there were many things planned for the Baxter Family Reunion but we skipped them all and instead shopped around Bloomington and just hung out and I am so glad that we did.
Here is my beautiful mother. She is just as beautiful on the inside as she in on the outside. This is a picture I took of her sitting in our hotel room the next morning before we left to go shopping. What you can't tell is that she didn't sleep at all the night before. I slept in the same bed with her and I didn't sleep that well either but neither of us knew the other one was awake so we both just laid there all night.
This is my beautiful grandma who looks just like my mom. The funny thing was, she didn't sleep the whole night either, despite the fact she took some sleeping drugs. 
This picture was taken near the square at Bloomington. You will always see these two women walking arm and arm. They are best friends just like my mom and I are best friends. Plus, my mom doesn't want my grandma to fall.
This is the large beautiful building in the center of the square. My guess is that it's the court house, but I could be wrong. We went to many different stores and saw some really neat things. We talked to a lot of different people and ate at a neat downtown restaurant. Then we went to the mall. The problem with the mall for us is not that there is so many clothes to buy but that there is a pet store.
This is Maggie Mae - well - it would've become Maggie Mae if my dad would've let my mom buy her. I called Mr. G first and asked if we could have her and I got a quick "no." Then my mom called my dad. She started off the conversation by telling my dad how much she loves him and that she missed him so much. She also got a quick "no." My grandma just sat back the whole time and laughed at us. We are crazy people.
But wouldn't you fall in love with that puppy face too. Well, the trip was great and the company was even better. I enjoyed Karen Kingsbury but I enjoyed spending time with these two wonderful woman even more. I hope to someday grow up to be just like them.
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