Happy 80th Birthday Barbara!

Friday, October 21, 2011...my beautiul and wonderful mother-in-law turned 80!  Dave and I both took the day off, and we let Joel play hooky from school and we drove up to Folsom to help her celebrate!  I had seen this balloon wreath on a blog, and since Barbara and Terry ran a balloon business for so many years, I thought it would be fun to make her one!  She really liked it.

 Barbara's sister Ramona was there...she is 93 and spunky as ever!  I had an enjoyable time visiting with her.  She lives in an assisted living home close by Barbara so they see each other several times each week. 

 All of the family that live close by were there to help with the meal and to help celebrate too!  We had a fun time catching up with Dave's brothers John and Mark and their families that could be there.

 Terry bought a lovely cake...white cake with lemon filling and whipped cream topping...I hear Barbara got to pick it out.   :)

 All the great-grand children were excited to sing "Happy Birthday" and get a piece of cake!  This is Judy with some of her cute grandkids...

 Ramona sang with gusto and Barbara seemed to enjoy the attention...mostly she just enjoyed having so much family around!

 More on-lookers...John, April and some of their cute grandkids...Joel is the cameraman in the back...

 Aaron was out of town, but Stephanie and the kids came, it was fun to see all those cuties!

 Dave's sister Gail flew in from Arizona, it was fun catching up with her too.  

 Dave's brother Mark, me, Dave and Terry enjoying our yummy meal!

 It was a lovely evening to sit on the "veranda" and have a nice meal...

We are all so grateful to have Barbara in our lives.  She is a jewel!  Those mean "mother-in-law" stories and jokes have never applied to me because we have always had a wonderful relationship and I love and admire her as much as my own mother!  We all wrote little letters or fun memories we had of her and John and April had them bound into a little book for her.  She loves it!  And for those that didn't get theirs turned in on time, it's not too late, get them written!  Happy Birthday Barbara!

The next morning we went to my favorite store...DI!  More about that coming...

6 years ago...

I cannot believe it has been 6 years..but it has.  My dad was taken back to heaven for a joyful reunion with family and friends.  We sure miss him.  I miss his laugh and his big tight hugs with his one good arm...and whenever I am driving down the street and see a Nissan Murano, I think of the new one he had just purchased and was so excited about!  I was told by a client of his how his eyes just lit up when he was showing off his new car to the client and how happy he was with it.  He could get in and out of it without a lot of trouble or pain and was enjoying everything about it.  I am sad we had to let the dealership repossess it, but none of us could afford the payments and Mom had stopped driving by then.  Love and miss you Dad.  I know you are busy up there, but thanks for letting us feel your presence now and then, and also for the wonderful life that you led...it gives me a goal, to try and enjoy life the way you did.  Whenever I have Il Divo playing in my car and they sing "Amazing Grace" and add the bagpipes it, it makes me cry every time.  Loved that we could have bagpipes at your funeral like you always wanted.  I am proud to be an "Army Brat" and am enjoying working on the Army Album I always wanted to make.  Just wish you were here to tell me the stories that go with all the pictures!  The caption on the above picture from Vietnam says "Don't pick the flowers."  Love you Dad!

on another note, it is also my Mother-in-law's birthday today...we are going up to Folsom to celebrate.  I will blog about that soon...and another trip to DI.  YAY!

Dave's new toy...old pain

Dave has always been the more "health concious" person in our family...which is probably why he hasn't gone up much in size in our 29 years of marriage and I have!  He has good eating habits and when he learned of this new one from Grandma Honey and her husband Dennis, he wanted to try it.  It's the Green Smoothies.  He watched Dennis' video of how he makes his, and decided to start making some.  He used our old Osterizer blender for as long as he could, but it just can't handle all that stuff that goes in it!  So he finally had to get the one he'd been researching and reading about. (He does this for quite awhile before he makes a big purchase).  As of Saturday, this is the new member of our family!  Dave was kind enough to purchase it in RED so it matches the kitchen. 

The Blendtec.  It came with a lifestyles recipe book.  I think he is planning on using it for more than just his smoothies! (Which he needs to, to make it pay for itself!)  He has already made two of his green smoothies and a batch of chocolate ice cream for me (hoping I will be sold on it...ha ha).  He has gone to demonstrations at Costco for two different brands of blenders and this is the one he wanted.  As he has been researching it, we have learned of more and more people who do green smoothies.  I guess there is a "Green Smoothie Girl" website with lots of info about it all...but I soooo don't do greens..so Dave continues to be more healthy than I am.  But for the record, I am the one that gets to help him put on his socks every day because of his herniated disk.  Yes, that has flared up again after an almost 2-year absence.  He is in pain quite a bit and has started going to physical therapy again. I guess he deserves to have his green smoothies and his new toy...it will help make up for the things he CAN'T do.  And if he makes me some ice cream every now and then, I will keep helping with his socks. 

A little catch up...

A few things have gone on lately and I need to catch up this blog!  In September I had a vinly party.  A lot of people came and we had a fun night!  Debbie Miles was the vinyl cutter and I just LOVE the words above my family pictures in the entry way.  "Family...a journey to forever...It turned out great!  It was fun to see what the other ladies ordered and the different sayings they picked.  I have a lot of creative friends!  Thanks Miles of Vinyl for helping me "cute up" my house!  And thank you all my friends (old and new!) who helped make it such a successful evening...

 One day I came home from work and there was a package waiting for me.  It was addressed to Grandpa and Grandma and it was an anniversary present!  How did those Georgia kids know I needed a new one of these!?  And a cute red one to match my kitchen too!

 We immediately made waffles for dinner!

 Cute little heart shaped ones!  Thank you!  Thank you!

 My visiting teaching companion (D'Von G.) has chickens and she brought me some of her fresh eggs.  I do miss our chickens from when we lived out in the country!  She has different varieties so the eggs are all different too...I love the little green ones.  They are from a chicekn call an Easter Egger.  :)

 And last but not least, I have been super busy the past month preparing for our Relief Society's "Super Saturday!"  It was a lot of work and I had a lot of wonderful helpers so the day turned out very fun! Ashley came and we worked on some etched "Cookies for Santa" glass plates.  (Inspired by Amanda last Christmas!).  It was fun having Ashley there with me for awhile...she had to leave early but everyone had a great time and all the hard work paid off!  Thank you everyone who helped in any way, no matter how small it might have seemed, it was all a HUGE help to me! 

Ashley is selling Gold Canyon Candles again and has a bunch of parties lined up...so she is keeping busy and earning some money too!  She is still enjoying her job at the hospital and she looks so cute in her scrubs....gonna have to get a picture of that some day!  She is a unit clerk in the outpatient surgery dept.  Thanks for the girl time with me Ashley!  Love you!

October 1st!

I cannot believe it is October 1st!  Fall is on it's way!  This is my favorite time of year...cool, crisp weather (hopefully soon!), leaves changing colors, hot chocolate season, and of course all the upcoming holidays.  I am very excited for this General Conference weekend.  I love the spiritual boost I get from the talks and music...it is a wonderful weekend!  And then the next weekend is our Super Saturday at church.  I am excited to help all the sisters get started on some fall/Christmas crafts and projects. So many signed up to participate and that made me feel good.  This will be a very busy week preparing for that, but it is all fun stuff and I am happy to be doing it!  Watch our RS blog to see the projects we are doing and for a follow up after next weekend.  RS Blog click here Happy Fall everyone!