On a brighter note

Over the last month, we got to spend some time with two of our four granddaughters. Skippy has some good kisses and great ham hocks to squeeze.
The mothers on Mother's Day. It was so fun to be with new mother Claire and enjoy the day together.
Skippy was intent on playing in color land with lots of fun things.
Enjoying her first of many baseball games.
Sunday walk with Gramps and Gramma, Mommy and Daddy. Lovely day!
Spending some one on one time with baby Ada.
While the girls were here for women's conference, we ended up eating a dinner with just the six of us. That hasn't happened in many years, and it was nice to be together again. Everyone sat in his or her assigned seat of course for dinner. What can I say? I love our children. And their dad isn't bad either!
Courtney had a sleep over with us while Dave was out interviewing for MBA school and we enjoyed watching a movie and having some girl time with Jordan and Claire.
R's dad Richard bought Claire and R a piano for Christmas. He and Rick enjoy playing duets together and it is always a pleasure to spend some time with him.
Grampy Rickeeee loves his little grand girls!

Disaster strikes

I'M SO SICK AND TIRED OF SNOW!!!!
It's May 24 and it's snowing like it's January 1.
It's ruined my garden.
It's ruined my trees and the worst of all,
it ruined my new patio set and
broke the glass table top!!
And to top it all off, I dropped my cell phone in dirty dish water last night.
Yeah, not a good thing. I'm having a real streak of expensive bad luck.
I want to go back to bed.

Yard WORK

We have some fun guests help us initiate our new patio set. It's always a pleasure to have Syd and Adam around. They even helped put the patio furniture together so we could eat on it.








We've been working like slaves in our yard. After we got the new paint job, we wanted to move ahead and get the yard in shape. Every spring we spend several weekends getting the flower beds cleaned out and planted, cleaning out the garage and the setting up the yard for summer fun. This year was no exception, but this time we added new top soil to all the flower beds. LOTS of new top soil. Many wheel-barrel loads were dumped on the flower beds, with lots of new planting and weeding. I'm really glad our yard isn't any bigger than it is, because it takes us plenty of time to get it ship shape. The nice thing about it is that once it's cleaned up, we only have to weed and feed a couple of times during the summer. Here's a look at the progress. Jordan's lilac bush was loaded with lilacs this year. It must have something to do with all the rain we've had. I love spring flowers and a well groomed yard. It's a lot of work, but well worth it. I really enjoy being outside and working in the yard. It must have something to do with my farm girl roots.

A happy day

My childhood friend Carla was married on Saturday. She asked me to be her escort at the Oquirrh Mountain LDS temple. I was honored. Since she doesn't have any sisters and her mother has passed away, she asked me to sit by her and be her escort that day. She has finally found a good man to marry. Bret seems like a keeper. I'm so happy for them both and wish them the best! She still makes a beautiful bride. Rick and I enjoyed attending the wedding and visiting with her brother Kurt and his wife Pam (who I haven't seen for years) and her two sons Greg and Willy and her daughter Tracy. Bret and Carla are starting a new chapter of their lives, leaving both of their former homes and starting fresh in a new place. I'm so happy for them!

Dave and Courtney are AZ bound

So the BIG news over the weekend is that Dave decided to accept the sweet offer from ASU and attend there to get his MBA. We're so proud of him! He got a great offer from Iowa as well and went there to interview, but decided that ASU is the place for him to study for the next two years. He'll start classes in mid August and he and Courtney will move down probably in early August. Yikes, Tempe in August - not fun- but somehow I think they'll survive. With a bunch of family already in the area, including Courtney's sister and her family, I think they will have a great experience. Thank goodness for Southwest flights and Ding fares. We're proud of you son. Now on to the next adventure!