Summer's birthday

Here's Summer blowing out her candles while sharing the moment with her cousin Dillon.
Nice icecream cake! Yummo
Let's hit the trail with Mike the horse doing all the work!
This is the perfect operating room nurse! Looks just like YaYa(in her dreams anyway!)

I can't believe our little Summer is really 10. Double digits! Here are some pix from Sunday at Kay and Jerry's (Summer's other grandparents home). We had a great time. The weather was wonderful and a carriage ride was fun up the country roads.

Father/son campout

A beautiful Friday night for the annual Aaronic Priesthood campout. Young and Younger Jack took Anthony and had a great time. It was Anthony's first fishing experience and he was happy to catch a whopper! The air was a bit cool ( for Jack to admit this, it must have been freezing) at night but no one froze and a great dinner and outdoor breakfast was had by all.


Beautifu campsight guys! Please don't tell me my grandson was on that teeny boat in the middle of the lake.

new camera!

My sweet boys gave me a new camera for Mother's Day. Thanks guys, I really like it. I'm just playing around with it and I'm going to try video soon. I really don't have alot of fun stuff so I put some pics from work and one of Jack (my willing photo subject) When we visit Craig and Amy in 2 weeks, I'm sure I'll have more. Maybe by then I'll be a whiz with this camera. Thanks again!I guess I should explain the pics....Jack in his fav rocker in the kitchen, Donna Starkey by her fav piece of eye equipment, my fav new work klogs in raspberry swirl, and me and Doctor Gupta. No he's not my fav Doc but he was willing to pose!

Just some pics to enjoy

If you've been reading the blog you know that Phil was married in April. This is Alexis, his stepdaughter.. She will be two tomorrow and she's adorable. We are very blessed to have her in the family. She is very smart and almost potty trained! She's enjoying her new room in their new apartment above Jack's office. Phil has worked really hard to fix it up and it's looking super. We love that place. We lived up there for 4 years before we bought our first house. Many good memories. We wish him as much fun as we had!

I probably should quit posting flower pics, but I can't believe how beautiful this spring has been. The lilacs are awesome this year, as well as the dogwood trees and my snowball bush is about to burst open with the wonderful white puffs! Soon I will plant my annuals and my veggie garden. Hopefully they will do as well this summer!

Here's our little Summer, she needs the glasses because she just radiates sunshine. It's hard to find her without a smile!

Here's my fav pic of the wedding day. My sister trying to keep up with Mom...you remember, the Mom who just suffered a broken nose, shoulder, and pelvis and was recently released from the hospital??? Zoooommmm!

Here is another pic of the bride and groom and her girls...very cute

Some people were interested in the wedding cake. It was very good tasting, but it did have a bit of a "lean" to it. It had a raspberry chocolate layer, a carrot cake layer, a yellow cake layer. Well, those are the ones I tasted anyway!

Chicago wedding happenings!

The wedding of Laura and Bill went off beautifully. Midge did a great job. She made all the food, decorations, church decorations, rehersal dinner table decorations(I made food for the rehersal.) flower girl dresses, all the flowers for everyone...If she had a pilots license she would probably have flown everyone there too! Grandma came home Thursday..she went from sick Grandma in hospital bed to hottie Grandma at wedding! She's loving being home and is recovering great. She got up and made breakfast Sunday morning for everyone! So here are a few pics of the day. I'm not the best photographer. Congrats Bill and Laura! The first pic of the long table is the rehersal dinner at Grandmas, the other is from the reception. The bridesmaids waving are Katie and Amy and there is the Gord in his second tux of the wedding season. All the brothers made it except Phil and of course Dad and the guys. All the women in the one pic are Midge, Mom , Me and my sister-in-laws.

Roses are Red, Violets are everywhere!

Spring is bursting out all over! We've had some nice warm weather that has all the trees in bloom and even tho my back yard doesn't have the lushest grass, the violets look great from a distance. It looks like we have a small purple pond! Unfortunetly, the picture doesn't do it justice. After a hard day's work in the yard at the Pines, nothing is better than a good old fashion hotdog cooked over the firepit! Nice fire Jack!

Gord:The Best Man

• No he's not the best man for Phil today. Today he was best man for his friends, James and Mandy.
  The Bride and Groom looked very nice and the ceremony was pretty in front of the fireplace at the Country Club. A luncheon was after the ceremony and we had a nice time.
  Good luck to James and Mandy! Some quick updates on Grandma...She's doing great and hopes to be home before Billy's wedding. I think there's a meeting on Thursday to talk about that and we're hoping maybe she'll be released sooner. She got in trouble for walking to the bathroom by herself. Once she becomes mobile, there's no stopping her. She's been lifting weights, excercising her legs even laying down, so we know she's going to blow that pop stand sooner than later! Mark your calendar for June 21st. That will be the party day for Phil and Amanda! More on that later.
  
  

finally spring???

Ok, I grill out all winter, as you can see by my not so clean grill, but there's something about grilling without a winter coat, hat,gloves,and a snow shovel to get to the grill that makes the first really warm day so fun! The very first of my flowers is blooming, and sitting out on the deck to eat is always enjoyable, especially now before the mosquitos hit! Hope your day is great and sunny and warm. Come for dinner anytime!

Some wedding pics

Here's a few pics from friday. Sorry they're a little dark. I think I need a new camera!

What a week!

First of this week was no fun. My Dear sweet, very active, very over achiever Mom fell down her stairs and broke her shoulder, nose, and pelvis. She had surgery on Wed. morning and they did a total shoulder replacement. The pelvis will just have to heal on its own, which will take some time to do. She will have some trouble walking because pelvic fractures are very painful and she can't use a walker because she only has use of one arm. So keep her in your prayers that she will be on the mend and home soon. I drove out to Chicago Tues. and my poor sister is having a wedding shower for her Son on Sunday that Mom was suppose to help with. Then my sister's dog died on Wed. and then she got the flu Wed. night. So this is just the pits! She needs prayers too. I made it home in time for Phil's wedding. On Friday he married Amanda Ashley(now Amanda Starkey) in a small ceremony at the courthouse. It went well and then we all went out to dinner with Amanda's family and had a really nice time. We will be having a reception for them in June when the weather is nice and we can have it in the backyard of Whispering Pines. More news on that later. I was going to take a picture of Mom at the hospital but I would kill anyone who took a picture of me looking so pathetic and bruised. So I'll put a nice pic of her when she was here in March. Love ya Mom! Congrats Phil and Amanda!

Easter fun!

Easter fun starts with some food of course: Ham, some Greek food, and the Lamb cake that's been part of my holiday since childhood. The most fun part is family: Anthony, Driana, Summer, Cameron and we are adding Amanda and her little one Alexis, Phil's new family to be. In April! The egg hunt is on with Anthony and his Dad scouring out the hidden treasures. Day is not complete without PawPaw rocking a baby! Happy Easter!