Signs I am getting older

Even with the excitement of my upcoming birthday there are some signs this week that time has passed way too quickly:

1. Gabe turned a year! I can't believe the first year of his life is over and now it's on to new adventures

2. My oldest nephew, Christopher, turned 19 today... and graduated high school a few weeks ago... AND is going of to the Citadel for college! wow!

3. My other nephew, Gunnar, got his license! wow!!! I can't believe it.

4. I gave Alex permission to go to the mall with a friend today.... on the bus.... is he really old enough to go hang out at the mall. Oh dear.

My new corner

For the last few years I have taken up the dining room quilting. A few years ago we offered to store Kim's sewing table and about a year ago, she said I could have it. It is probably one of the most special things I have now in my craft area. A few months ago I figured out a solution to my lack of space to sew dilema and the idea was born. David & I spent a saturday morning cleaning out a corner, hanging shelves & deliving the treadmill to my little brother. I was ELATED to get the desk in.

This was prior to my mom giving me an old VHS cabinet. Now my containers are all hiding in the cabinet & the shelves have magazine holders and a few pretty baskets to hold "current projects". It is still a little cluttered, but now I can sit down and sew with out having to pull everything out & put it all back.



I even got a fancy lap that swings between my quilting table and my bed so I can read at night. This really is my favorite spot in the house. Quilting is so relaxing, sometimes I just sit at my desk for a few moments to enjoy looking at the projects I have going. I LOVE QUILTING!!!

Awesome Garage Sale Find

On Saturday morning we hit some garage sales, on a quest for first reader books for Josiah. We hit pay dirt at a couple of them and came away with a load of books at 10cents each! But the find of the day... perhaps the year is this:



It's a crib quilt that was machine pieced and HAND QUILTED! I couldn't believe my luck. I couldn't believe the lady was selling it... and for one dollar! that's right, one dollar. I almost started to feel guilty, but i gladly handed over my dollar and took my find home.
it is really a fabulous little quilt. I hope to find someone who can date it with the fabrics, but since there are reproductions now I fear I would be off.

Father's Day

Father's was CRAZY for us! actually the whole weekend was busy, but we survived, barely.

We went to church, then off to Alex's last game of the year. We had a good time enjoying them play in the warm sun. His team won by one run. I love watching them play!

We then were off to my parents to celebrate my dad's 62nd birthday!!! WOW! I know! My mom had a BBQ and we just hung around.




We then headed for David's softball game. It was such a wonderful day! I was glad to have spent most of it outside. I can't wait for summer!



It was so much fun. I love family days! I also just realized I didn't get a family photo!!!! Oh No! I guess next time I will have to remember!

Baby's First Shoes!!!

I went with my mom & brother to pick out Gabe's first pair of walking shoes on Saturday. It was so much fun. DJ & Ali are so incredibly lucky to have such a good baby.




I even talked DJ in to a pair of bells that go on the laces so they don't come untied. He was a little reluctant to put bells on Gabe's shoes, but on Sunday he mentioned how handy they are. Just wait til he starts walking!!!

Too funny not to share

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What would you do for Missionaries?

Every year our AWANA club has a loose change drive. Cubbies has only won once, and that was two years ago. well to help encourage the kids we bribe them to put a pie in leaders faces (the winning club gets to pie a leader in front of all the clubs).

So every year I make a small sacrifice... I have become a professional at the pies, I wear a garbage bag, shower cap- that's right, now whip cream in this beautiful mop and then Cassandra get's to dump water over my head afterwords to speed up clean up.





Jeff Lamping took the 2nd pie and our children's Pastor, Bill Montgomery took the third and the rest of the water







Good times! I can't wait til next year.

Memorial Day Weekend

the whole weekend was going to be a quiet one, but low and behold it wasn't. Saturday we spent most of the days running errands... Then we babysat Gabe for a couple of hours, he is such a good baby and I love playing with him.
How can you say no to these baby blue eyes?


On Sunday we went out to Lake Retreat camp. David's grandparents, Lanny and Loretta where up from Arizona to help out for the weekend. We got a good family shot in front of the gazebo Lanny built for his late wife Alice. It was the first time I had seen it and it was really beautiful. She would have loved sitting there next tot he lake enjoying the laughter of the kids on the water.



And of course my quest for the family photo... I saw the tire swing as an opportunity to frame my fun family...


And there were plenty of other opportunities for more family photos:



Then Alex, Lisa, Sheri, Andrew, David & Josiah took a canoe ride. here are the various photos of them having a good time. Josiah did have to work up a little bit of nerve to get out there, but once he did he was beaming.





Monday we just hung out at home and had a relaxing day.

Another Round of Catch up

I am so sorry the blog has been quiet for so long. It has been a CRAZY month. I will finish the couples retreat stuff later, but let me catch you all up on the most recent activities. My Uncle Walt passed away in Las Vegas, NV. So I made another trip to the "sin city" to support my mom & aunt through the funeral and everything else. My sister Kim came out as well and we spent the weekend doing a variety of things... let me share.
His wedding photo- 43 years ago:



I also had never seen a military funeral, and I must say I was AMAZED at how wonderful it was. I have video, but as usual I'm having issues uploading it. i will try later.

My sister and I also enjoyed lunch at the pub where Jason works. It's an Irish pub that was shipped over from Ireland.



The food was really great and over course the service was AMAZING (Thanks Jason!), nothing like making your brother wait on you hand and foot. LOL.

We also spent some time around Las Vegas doing more tourist stuff:

I got to go on the Gondola ride FINALLY! My parents came along, it was a good break from all the services and such that was going on this weekend.




We had an AMAZING Gondola driver guy, he was funny and he could really sing!

We then headed to Fremont street so Kim could see the lights and I finally found a giant slot machine. So for the fun of it, I played it.




Sorry, no giant jackpots.
On Monday we drove out to Boulder, NV to the Veterans cemetary and had the burial. It was 115 degrees that day and I felt every degree...

Monday evening I traveled from Las Vegas to Orange County, CA for a business trip that was already scheduled. It was the shortest flight I had ever been on, and the bumpiest. More on that trip soon. i will also add more photos of Vegas in the coming days.

Couples retreat

So I returned from Las Vegas at 1:30 Friday morning and konked out in my nice warm bed. David and I got up that morning and picked up Ben & Cassandra and went to meet Tod & Lorena Gates and Kim & Keith for breakfast before we headed downtown to the victoria clipper.





We boarded the boat for Victoria, BC and we played card games, dice games & catch phrase. Apparently we were a rowdy group, but we had fun!




after checking into our hotel we headed over to parliment to take the tour. Here is some interesting stuff we say.






Photos infront of parliment:









after that we met up with the Monan's for dinner.



We then returned for our first session. The Speaker was GREAT! He had a lot of insight.

All of this was just on Friday :-). I will add saturday to the blog tomorrow.