The most colorful flowers!

Someone brought me flowers. They are cheerful and bright and amazingly colorful. Thank you my visiting teacher! What a thoughtful and loving thing to do!

Addie Kay

I wanted to highlight Addie Kay before the new baby arrives in three weeks. Once her baby sister is here, we most likely will post many pictures of the new baby, but for now our one and only granddaughter deserves the spotlight by herself.

Addie Kay we love you. You have brought so much joy into our lives! We want the very best for you.
We adore you!

Fireman's Memorial 5K run

Last Saturday, my friend Johna and I ran a 5K together. We've exercised together at the YMCA for years. We've done a 5K and a triathlon together. We've been training, and I felt prepared for it, which felt good. It feels wonderful to set a goal and accomplish it!

Our son-in-law Marc also ran the 5K, and Kimberly, a friend of Marc and Laura Lee's - who just had a baby 6 weeks ago - decided to run it on a whim. She borrowed some of my shoes and was off! I could never have done that, even in my young days! Kimberly is in the white shirt behind me, and Johna is in the blue shorts beside me.

The rain poured at one point, but it was fun to run in the rain. The temperature was nice and COOL, which both Johna and I were extremely grateful for.

I'm off to Zumba class now which Johna teaches. I love exercising and am grateful God has answered my prayers and allowed me to keep going, even with some knee issues.

Hanging out at Marc and Laura Lee's home

We love to visit Marc and Laura Lee, and we love to have them visit us. Here's some fun pictures of our stay there.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - where I lived and went to church, 1972-1974

In brainstorming all the things we could do, I suggested we go to the Pittsburgh area to see my old home. We looked it up and it was only three hours from Columbus.

We headed out and got caught in a very bad hailstorm in West Virginia while Tanner was driving. Other than that, everything went smoothly. It brought back many great memories for me, and I'm glad we took pictures. We could not find my old middle school, or dance studio. We did find my home, and church and the high school I would have attended.

I have had a lot of insights lately, because of this visit. I've realized that the memories we have need to be recorded, documented, written down, and SHARED!!! The blog really provides a wonderful way to record the memories, as they are happening. I realized our memories can be lost in one generation (For example, I rarely talk about my Pittsburgh years, but there is so much to tell, and so much I learned while there).

Anyway, it was something I'm grateful we could do together!

The Columbus Zoo

Another mini trip we took was to the Columbus, Ohio Zoo. William had to stay home and help with business issues. We had fun! It's been a very long time since I've been to a zoo. I was quite impressed with the zoo in Columbus!

Cook out in Hocking Hills

It's amazing how fun a cook out can be! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and Marc does a great job grilling the meat! I'm so grateful for the stellar example Marc is for Tanner. Thank you Marc!

Hocking Hills, Ohio

A week ago, William and I, along with Laura Lee, Addie and Tanner were all supposed to fly to Idaho Falls to celebrate William's parents 80th birthday party. We were so looking forward to it. However, it wasn't meant to be. The plane had mechanical problems at the beginning of the journey here and the pilot had to turn around. Troubleshooting and repairs couldn't even begin until Monday and so we were resigned to stay in Ohio. It was very disappointing for us.

We were all packed and ready to go. We were looking forward to a wonderful reunion with all of William's siblings, nieces and nephews, our parents, and Ryan and Sarah, and Jeffrey and Jenn. We had our church callings all taken care of, as well as our other jobs. I told William we needed to get away. We headed off to Columbus to spend time with Marc and Laura Lee and Addie. They are only an hour and a half away. We decided to take "day trips" with them, since Addie is only two years old and Laura Lee is eight plus months pregnant.

The first place we headed was Hocking Hills, Ohio. William has been there with boy scouts, but the rest of us have not been there before. It was gorgeous. We hiked through some beautiful cave areas. I loved it. We ended up having a cook out. The weather was unusually cool and comfortable.

Garden Salad

Yesterday we enjoyed a GARDEN harvest throughout most of the day!

It started with a salad for lunch in which EVERYTHING came from our garden, except the sirloin steak. It was yummy! (the picture above was lunch).

For dinner we invited the missionaries from our church over. I served Rosemary, Thyme (with fresh lemon) chicken with those two fresh herbs from our garden, and our first harvest of green beans, along with potatoes and fresh cherries and ice cream for dessert.

I have made zucchini lasagna, and William asked me to make it again. On the not so bright side, our jalapeno pepper plants and some of our green pepper plants stems are turning a little black. I didn't know why, but an expert gardener said they were getting too much sun, and it was like a sunburn to them. I told him, I thought they liked the heat. He said they like the heat, but not the sun.

I've used basil quite a bit (it's my favorite herb) and also parsley. The radishes turned hot once the heat came, and the spinach also didn't like the heat. It's a trial and error learning curve, but we are enjoying our new hobby, quite literally.

Cute, cute Addie

4th of July 2009

We had a great 4th of July weekend. We drove to Columbus to spend a few days with Marc, Laura Lee, and Addie. We arrived on Saturday morning, just in time for the parade. Addie was scared of the loud fire trucks, but she was happy with the hand outs she received and clutched to her American flag and Tootsie pops the whole parade.

We then went shopping, and relaxed at their home. Marc made a DELICIOUS salad served with grilled sirloin steak on top. YUM! Later on we went to a Metro Park and secured a pavilion all to ourselves. We played Bochee Ball and lit some fireworks. Then Marc and Laura Lee grilled THE BEST stuffed cheese Turkey Burgers. Some of their friends came by and brought dessert and we enjoyed being with them.

Back home Marc and Tanner lit fireworks while we watched about three set of fireworks in the background. It was a fun show. They used Addie's sand bucket and it melted like a lit wax candle.

We stayed overnight and attended their church together. It's the first time I've been to their church. It was FULL of medical/dental students all with one, two or three children. I was very impressed with the young adults there (especially the dad's who lovingly took care of their children). We had a wonderful salmon dinner together before we left for home. I am so grateful that Marc, Laura Lee and Addie live in Columbus, so we can make create such special memories together.

Evian Roller Babies US video

Maybe it's the dance teacher in me, but I LOVE THIS VIDEO! It's just so creative and fun!

More Wedding photos

The Temple wedding photo's finally arrived and I wanted to share them with everyone - especially those of you who couldn't make it.
Also below are a few of the Ohio wedding reception photo's.
I want to thank everyone for their support and love. What a special time for our family!