Edward and Sue Evers of Osage Beach are about to pack their bags, thanks to winning a $3,003 Missouri Lottery prize. The couple, who had been thinking about taking a trip to celebrate 46 years of marriage, is planning to use the windfall to take a long-awaited vacation at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“I thought it was a $3 winner,” Sue began, explaining that she asked a clerk at Murphy Express, 4294 Highway 54 in Osage Beach, to scan several of her Scratchers tickets.

“The clerk said, ‘This one won’t scan. It says you have to fill out a claim form.’”

After the clerk explained that she probably “won something big” on her “5 Times Bingo” Scratchers game, Sue said she “was just flabbergasted.”

“We were having Christmas with our daughter and her family that evening, so it was a really neat day,” Sue added about the late-December win.

Sue, a retired school district employee, noted that her daughter said she and her husband, a retired police officer, “really deserved it.”

Over laughter, Sue also recalled her 10-year-old grandson looking at her and asking, “What are you giving us, grandma?”

It’s been a profitable 2012 so far for the Evers.

“I just told my daughter that in January, every day that we’ve bought Scratchers, we’ve won something,” Sue revealed.

As for advice for fellow Lottery players, Sue credits the couples’ “newfound wealth” to luck.

“We’re just very happy and still in awe,” she concluded.