Rehearsal for the big day!

The day before the wedding we loaded up what seemed like the entire house and headed the three hours to a beautiful part of Arkansas, almost as beautiful as the part we live in!

I must say the Days Inn in Mountain Home is most accommodating.  They were fantastic and let us do whatever we needed to to get ready! We were mixing up pasta salad in the lobby - wish I would have remembered the camera for that. (Picture is really small because I didn't take it)


We headed out to Lydia's Weddings for the rehearsal.

Everyone is trying to figure out where to go - Nick thinks the sun is too bright!

This is Michael escorting me to my seat.  Every picture someone took of me, I am in some awkward stage of moving.

Tyler being the ever dutiful cousin, holding Kaylyn's bag, yet maintaining his macho image (Captain Morgan pose).

My Dad and Granny look quite nice in their matching white. The great place about Lydia's Weddings, lots of places to sit!

Jim was being his usual self so I had to step in and make sure we got through this rehearsal in a timely manner.  Notice Tyler (filled in as groomsman during rehearsal).

Michael saying, "Whoa, slow down Abby!"
Brother of the groom and sister of the bride.  Abby got there a little late so Michael is explaining how things go. Her first time in a wedding and she was not quite versed in how things went, but she caught on fairly quickly and didn't trip once!


The rest of the night was a blur.  We drove an hour back west for the rehearsal dinner and then back an hour east to the hotel.  A little time by the pool with family and then to bed.  I am surprised I slept that night, but I did (only about 3 hours).

Family

It has been forever since I posted. Things have been a bit busy around our house. Our youngest daughter was married on July 9th and the two weeks prior to and the week after are just a blur.  Over the next week I will be posting different aspects about the event.

The first is Family.  Family can be that in which you are born into and that in which happens as a group bonds as family, that would be my church family.  Both were instrumental in making the wedding fantastic!

My sister, brother, sister-in-law and nephews went above and beyond in helping with the wedding.  They helped prep all the food, cook most of it and serve and clean-up all of it for the buffet dinner at the wedding.  I will be ever indebted to them all...still makes me tear up when I think about all they did.

My nephew, he was also one of the ring bears and runs the household most of the time!

The twin cousins - often mistaken for brother and sister. Tyler doesn't quite have the olive complexion Kaylyn (the bride) has, but they have the same noses and smile.

My brother, the chef, and all his minions.  Actually his wife, Jill, might be telling him how to cut the veggies.

It was a busy kitchen.  My sister, wearing the Razorback shirt, was sporting a new haircut. Jim is instructing the boys on something, though I am not sure it had to do with cutting veggies.

This all took place Thursday before the wedding.  We had another prep party at about 10pm that night and again early Friday morning.  We then packed up the house, so it seemed, and headed 3 hours away to the wedding venue.  A destination wedding in Arkansas!

To follow will be rehearsal and wedding day prep.

Mission Trip and Wedding

I am headed out this morning for a 5 day mission trip with the youth from our church.  We will be working with boys and girls at a children's home in a large city in our state, also doing handy-man work there.  Please pray for an awesome experience for the children and our youth.  May God work on all our hearts as we minister to the children and they to us.  I am praying for wisdom to shepherd our youth in their walk with Christ.  What a great opportunity for me to be a part of this.

It is just 19 days before Kaylyn and Jeffrey's wedding.  There are days when I feel like we have it all together and then nights when I lay awake thinking about what we don't have done.  I know it will be a beautiful day, praying for good weather as it is outside, and God will bless this marriage.  Hopefully a week focused on something else will help me sleep better!!

I will post pictures of the trip when I return this weekend. Also another shower for Kaylyn and Jeffrey on Sunday - will put up some pictures from that too.

Camping, Shower and Baptism

I guess maybe I should have named this post Water!!  All the things I am going to talk about relate to water!

Camping:

Jim and I spent a few days in Branson, camping.  We went to White Water and had a blast.  I even went down the Free fall drop slide.  This was only by mistake.  We were going to go down the mat racing slide, but realized too late that we needed a mat, sooo.....  I said lets go and we walked up two more flights of stairs and I went straight down the free fall.  I didn't even scream, just kept my eyes closed tight until I stopped.  It wasn't too bad, but I don't think I will do it again.

We had a great time and relaxing too, though it goes by fast.

Saturday I went to a Bridal Shower for Kaylyn and Jeffrey in Harrison that Lisa, Jeffrey's mom, hosted.  It was great to meet some wonderful Harrison folks.  Here is Jeffrey and Kaylyn working on opening the gifts.  Loved the gifts they got, I think Jim and I need to have a 30th anniversary shower to get new glasses, towels, etc!

The kids and moms.  One of the few pictures you will see of me, I am usually behind the camera and hate to have my picture taken.

The last thing to do with water is Baptism, the shower didn't really have water but shower - water you get it!  Today we celebrated a baptism of a young lady in our church. It was at a friend of ours Mill Pond, old grain mill on the river.  What a blessing to celebrate this special day with her.

Before

During

 Coming up out of the Water - Baptized

All those there to share the moment with her! FUMC Youth!

What a joy to be present at this!  God is good all the time!

Memorial Day

I don't like to post without pictures, but I just had to put something here about our school district's Memorial Day celebration.  Because of all the snow and missed days in January and February, we went to school on Memorial Day this year.  It was that or go to school on Monday of next week and no one wanted to do that.  So... in order to celebrate Memorial Day and use it as a moment to teach the students about what it means, our school district had a District wide assembly on the football field.  We had the stands decorated in red, white and blue as well as the students.  Kiwanis handed out flags to everyone attending.

The celebration started off with a moment of silence and then all who had served or were serving in the armed forces were asked to stand, then those who had a relative who was or had served were asked to stand.  This was the amazing part - over 80% of the people there that day were standing.  I hadn't realized how the day impacted so many lives just in our small community.  Next was the Pledge of Allegiance. Our superintendent then explained to all why we celebrated Memorial Day, its not just a day to go to the lake.  We had our mayor, county judge, and state representative speak also.  Our High School Band played the Star Spangled Banner and other patriotic songs.

Another amazing moment was when the crowd gave a standing ovation two brothers who graduated from our school and are attending the Air Force Academy in Colorado Spring. They were there to speak to the crowd also.  What a proud moment for our school and me, I was youth leader for those boys when they were younger.  Brought a tear to many an eye as the crowd cheered for them.

The celebration was such a success, that we are looking at making it an annual event (though we don't plan on going to school on that day every year).  I am so thankful God put me where He did, in a community that praises Him and celebrates our country!

PS - I didn't take pictures because Dude Look Like a Lady and I were running the sound and had had a busy time getting it going that morning!

Empty Nest??

It is been over a week since I have been able to sit down at the computer.  I have been knitting like crazy and we have been gone from home every weekend.

This past weekend our soon to be son-in-law graduated from college!  We are very proud of him, especially since he started a new job on Wednesday!

The proud parents and in-laws!

I finished my first KAL and mystery project.  It is a beautiful shawl.  I don't have a picture yet of the finished project. Just finished blocking it and did wear it to church this morning.  I love the pattern and can't wait to make another.

When we were down in Russellville for graduation, my daughters and I went to a wonderful yarn shop.  Knit 2 Together! Stephanie is wonderful and it felt like being at home.  I got some Flounce yarn to make a scarf for Kaylyn and myself, some Classic Elite Lush for some neck scarves I am giving as retirement gifts and some yarn for a tobogan hat for Abby.  I can't wait to go back again in a few months.  I will post pictures in a bit when youngest daughter, Kaylyn is willing to model for me!

She found time to model.  This is her Flouncy scarf, this was so fun and fast to knit. Love it! Going to start mine soon.

 This is the Posh Neck Scarf  pattern.  I made three of these for retirement gifts.  Another quick gift idea.

As empty nesting goes, come July we will no longer have any kids coming home over breaks or during the summer.  Sooooo.... I decided it was time for another addition to the family, a four legged addition.  I put the bug in Jim's ear that it was time for a dog again in the house, it has been almost 6 years without one.  I had found several online at the shelter, but made him go because I would try to come home with all of them - I just couldn't pick one and not the others...so after a few visits he brought one home.

We decided to name him Joey because he looks like a baby kangaroo and actually jumps across the back yard when he is chasing something.  He is about a year old and is house trained.  Still likes to chew things, especially my yarn balls.  We have had to rewind a few skeins already.  Jim did a good job, he and the dog are both keepers!

What is that bright thing in the sky?

The sun if finally shining after being missing for almost a week and a half. I had to take a picture of the woods with the sun shining through!

With all the rain, I have been able to knit quite a bit.  All Sunday afternoon I sat and knitted while Jim read.  We are boring like that sometimes, guess we need to enjoy it before grandkids come along...

This is the mystery KAL I have been working on.  I get a part of the pattern once a week and I have no idea what it will look like finished, but I am loving it so far.

With everything happening in the world right now, destruction, death and devastation; this thought came to me:

• We have two choices today: 1. Dwell on what what others have done to us and we can't change. Or 2. Dwell on Christ who strengthens us! I am going with number 2.
• God created us all to live as one body in Christ - even the birds!

'nuf said!

Round here rain makes flooding

I wanted to share the pictures we took of the flooding that happened over the past few days.  It started raining Friday night and didn't stop until Monday evening.  During that time we had over 13 inches of rain.  Some areas close by had almost 20 inches.

Needless to say we got to see God's power in rushing water up close and personal!

That is a log that was washed across a pasture by a small creek that flooded.

Mailbox stopped it from reaching the road.

Small gravel slide

There is a road here somewhere, notice the road sign way down there.

It was dry when they parked it!

It is almost ready to launch, oops no motor!

That is not a lake behind Mr. Fix-it, it is pasture land.

Walked through this to get to bridge, not smart. Rose about 6 inches in the 2 minutes we were on bridge.

White caps in the pasture.

It was an adventure for all of the bus drivers to get kids home, but they made it with only a few not being able to be delivered!

We had torrential rains and central part of the state where Abby is had tornadoes.  She called from her closet at 8:00 pm Monday night to tell me about the weather.  She was getting a hand held radio last night because the sirens were going off yet again.

This has been a year for extremes so far. Record snow and cold temperatures in February and now record rainfall.  Let hope we avoid the record heat this summer.

Even though it rained on Easter, it was a wonderful day of worship and family.  God was rocking in Church that morning!! Wish I had pictures.  Here is one of all of us dressed up for church, oldest daughter has a dress on (may be why we have had record rainfall and flooding).

Have a blessed day and though the sun may not shine here today, I know it is shining somewhere!

Atmospheric Pressure

I could tell something was up yesterday when Jim sent me a text at 6:05am, just after he had dropped me off at my office, to say his computer wouldn't turn on.  So I called and asked this yes or no question, "Is the cpu's blue light on?" His response, "Well my monitor light is orange, my speaker light is green.." At that point I say, "I don't need to know about those lights, is your cpu light blue?" Finally I get a yes/no response - NO. 

This is how we are, I am a "bullet point person"-just give me the facts. He is all about the details.  Makes for interesting conversations sometimes.
I did say my husband could fix almost anything - not computers, but that is ok, that is one thing I can fix.

So this was the start of my day(sometimes it is not good for a wife to be the tech person for husband at place of employment)!  We then had 4 other machines that had power supplies go out, a monitor that died, nasty viruses on two machines, a piece of paper in a cd drive, a printer that decided it was playing possum, Jarod's phone reset itself and he lost all his info, projector bulb popped - though in replacing this we fixed a smartboard.

You could just tell something was in the air.  The weather forecast was for severe storms and the skies were dark as we headed home. All we got at our house were big rain drops and just a few of those - but as I sat outside doing DBS lesson I could hear thunder towards the south.  Found out later via Facebook that Farmington was hit with golfball to tennis ball size hail.

This is a picture my friend Lynn took - that would hurt!

My evening got better with great discussion at BSF, it is so wonderful when God puts a group together.
Though, when I got home from BSF, Jim said he had been on the phone with Abby - no electricity, rain so hard she couldn't see the house next door and the tornado sirens where going off. Dad to the rescue, told her to get in the hall and wait it out! That was all she needed!

So as you can see, atmospheric pressure effects more than just the weather!

What day is it?

It has been a hectic several days. My co-worker (Jarod or he is also known as Dude Looks Like a Lady because that is my ringtone for him and he no where comes close to looking like a lady!) and I spent 4 days last week learning about Window 2008 server, my brain was so fogged by Friday afternoon, I didn't even know how to get back to the office, which was right across the street!  Are we sure we want to go to a Windows environment from Novell!

We left out Friday afternoon in the RV to go to Lake Dardenelle State Park and visit our youngest.  Her sorority was having a Think Pink Luncheon on Saturday.

The wind was blowing so strongly that I wasn't sure we would arrive. Jim's hands wouldn't unclinch for over an hour.  Needless to say all we hooked up was water and electricity at the site.

Bell, our daughter's cat that came to live with us 5 years ago, she is now our cat.  Love to cuddle, but on her terms, when she is done, she will let you know.  Lisa calls her psycho kitty - it fits.

It was a packed weekend with luncheon, shopping, attempting to print labels for wedding invitations, licking envelopes and the boys playing golf.  I will be posting some pictures, just got a new camera and am learning how to use it.

Jeffrey is showing Kaylyn what a great provider he will be!

Springtime and Remodels

We have been very busy the past few days.  I haven't had much time to knit or write a note. I am about half way finished with both the cowl and the shrug.  Hopefully I will get some knitting time this weekend, we are going camping and visiting our youngest daughter.

Last Thursday we got to go to opening night of the Naturals (minor league team for the Royals).  Jim and I went with a great friend of mine and her daughter and had a wonderful time. No better way to spend an evening than watching baseball and visiting with one of my best friends.

 I love Springtime and baseball and this had been a great year for it, we were able to go to opening day of the Razorbacks, opening weekend of the Royals and now the Naturals. I see a few more games in our future this summer!




We spent the weekend at our oldest daughter's, Abby, house in central Arkansas.  It was bathroom repair and remodel weekend.  She had the bathroom mostly dismantled when we got there Friday evening, but I do have pictures of during and after.  My husband had to replace a small section of subfloor because when he was removing part of old flooring, the subfloor gave way and we could see the crawl space of the house. It is a wonder Abby didn't end up in the crawl space before now.  It was a little more involved than we had planned, but my husband, Mr. Fix-anything, was able to put in supports, a new subfloor and have it ready for me to tile by 11:30 pm Friday night.  We finished the tile at about 1:00 am Saturday morning - I had to climb out the bathroom window to get out of the bathroom.  Abby has video and Kaylyn is threatening to put it on Facebook. 

Did I mention this was the only bathroom she has....(thank goodness for store bathrooms).
We were able to grout about 1pm on Saturday and had it all put back together by noon on Sunday.  Our future son-in-law was eager to help his future sister-in-law, so he learned how to lay and grout tile.  Quite a weekend, my husband also fixed our daughter's mower, made a few screens for her windows, and fixed our younger daughter's car battery. I also ran the weed-eater and sprayed foundation for bugs in between tiling and baking.

Besides tiling, I baked cinnamon scones for breakfast Sunday morning and then a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the girls to split.  I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the scones, they were a big hit.  I will post the recipe below. For dinner Saturday night, I made an orzo pasta salad, Abby made zucchini boats and the son-in-law cooked the steaks. I will try to get her to send the zucchini boats recipe, delicious!

Well after we got home at about 8:15 last night,  I realized I am not as young as I used to be and it takes more than a couple of hours to recuperate after a weekend like this.

I hope to have the energy and time to write this week.  I just praise God for the talents he has given my husband and that we have the opportunities to help our children~~


Cinnamon Scones
Scones dough:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 c. fat-free half and half (I used skim milk)

Cinnamon filling:
2 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/3 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl combine all ingredients for cinnamon filling. Mix until evenly blended and set aside.

Scone dough: In medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles crumbles the size of small peas.  Stir in half and half until just moistened.

On a lightly floured surface, gently knead dough 5-10 times.  Pat dough into a 1/2 thick square.  Evenly sprinkle half of the dough with the cinnamon filling (reserving 1Tbsp for top of scones). Fold un-sprinkled half over the sprinkled half to cinnamon filling is in the middle.  Cut into 8 evenly sized wedges, place on baking sheet, approximately 3 inches apart. Brush tops with some half and half and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture.  Bake until golden brown, about 13-16 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

My husband and doctors

Well, Tuesday I was escorted to the doctor by my husband, like a reluctant teenager. I first have to say that I haven't been to a primary care physician in over 11 years, I just don't get sick enough to go to the doctor.

Monday afternoon I noticed my lymph nodes on the right side of my neck were sore, that prompted me to head to the mirror to check out the tonsils, of course, I had pus pockets on the right one.  I didn't do much Monday evening, but had no fever.  My wonderful friend, Lisa, picked up pizza for us for supper so I didn't even have to cook. When I woke up Tuesday, throat was worse, completely covered with white spots.  I wasn't running a fever, but my body didn't know that, aching everywhere.  I rode to work with my husband and started the day, throat and body feeling worse.  Finally I decided I might go to the walk-in clinic (very good and sweet people there).  I asked my husband to bring me the car, thinking I would drop him off at his office and come back to my office and contemplate some more about going to the doctor.

My husband picks me up and proceeds to go directly to the clinic stating, "This is the only way I know you will go!"  It isn't that I don't like going to doctors, I just think I have to be dying before it is really necessary.  Good thing I went, I have strep and am on antibiotics.  Jim as thrown away all our toothbrushes and styrofoam Sonic cups that I like to drink out of.  Hopefully I will be well soon, didn't even feel like knitting much Tuesday.

Rainy Monday Morning

What a beautiful weekend in the central US. We spent Friday and Saturday in Kansas City.   We toured the Federal Reserve Bank (saw oodles of money being counted) and shopped at Country Club Plaza Friday. Jim and I had coffee at Starbucks while the rest of the group went to the movies.

We went to a KC Royals baseball game on Saturday and the weather was perfect, not to hot, gentle breeze.  We went with the Arvest Junior Bank Board member from school, good group of kids!  Best part was the company and the bratwurst with grilled onions and peppers, I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

We returned home Saturday evening so we were able to go to church on Sunday.  Then out in the yard to uncover and admire the signs of spring (cleaning a foot of leaves out of the flower beds).  My Irises are starting to bloom, they should be open in the next few days. The creeping phlox is in full bloom and adds color to the front of the house. On a sad note, I think the extreme and extended cold we had this winter killed my Rosemary bush.  It has been in the ground for about 13 years, in the past we always spoiled it in the winter by covering it when it got too cold, but this year we forgot.  There is one small shoot that is still green, but there is little hope.  I have already purchased another one to plant in its place when I work up the courage to pull the old one out.

After being 80+ degrees yesterday, it is only 46 degrees today and raining. I wish I was home curled up under a blanket knitting.  I had to settle for a little knitting at lunch today. I wanted to show you what I am working on now.  One is called the Honey Cowl. This is what I take with me in the car and to work on at lunch. With this one, I cast on 150 stitches, so it isn't as long as the picture shown with the pattern.  I am using NaturallyCaron.com Spa yarn.  I love how the yarn feels.  I made one in a purple already.  A lightweight spring cowl.

I am also working on the Aynia Shrug.  Basic stockinette stitch with a small lace border.  I am using Quince & Co. Chickadee yarn in Egret.  I hope to finish it in the next few weeks, though we will be busy this weekend remodeling our oldest daughter's, Abby, bathroom.  I hope to post before and after pictures of that project too.  It should be interesting, there will be 4 of us in house and no working toilet for 2 days!