Holiday Weekend

We headed to the mountains Friday for the long weekend. The weather on the drive was cool and rainy with mist rising from the valleys

When we got to the cabin the Iris were blooming!

There are wild Iris all over the neighborhood.

Kendall having a conversation with "Bob"

Bob doesn't seem to have much fear of us anymore. After realizing we weren't seeing double or triple, we realized that "Bob" was bringing his friends along for a taste of the sunflower seeds.

We did some gardening and landscaping. Here Kendall is working on the Lilac bushes.

We hope for some blooms next year. We both grew up with them on our farms.

We'll give Red Raspberries, Blackberries and Blueberries a shot. Hopefully their cage will protect from the wildlife.

Rosemary and chives in the garden

Basil and tomatoes too

Seeds were planted that will produce peas, carrots and lettuce. We also added potatoes - and for our critters - sunflowers and corn.

Scenes from NC

Breakfast at Elmo's - great blueberry pancakes!



We took time to get our nails done. Here is Barb chilling waiting for her pedicure.

Shopping!

Texas Sheet Cake

The bathroom at the hotel was interesting. There was a walk-in shower (with no door to close) then the tub in the shower area with mirrored doors that opened into the bedroom.

On another note, the restaurant knew how to do chocolate in all kinds of great ways!

Proximity

I'm in North Carolina for my 'second' job, staying at a really different place, The Proximity Hotel. Check it out! It is about an hour from my friend Barb who I haven't seen for years. I came early to spend the weekend with her and her husband. Soo good to catch up -- the years just dissolved away and it was like we were right back in those WV days. I'll have a few pictures to post after I get back home.

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Nurse's Week

Happy Mother's Day to our Mothers! You each would have received a carnation if you would have been here in church with us this morning. Know we were thinking of you!

Cinnabon gives out free Classic Cinnabons to Nurses during Nurse's Week just by showing your health care ID badge. Since I was in the mall this afternoon I stopped by for mine. Because one is a gazillion calories, I brought it home and shared it with my supportive husband.

Whoopie Pies

I've had a hankering for some good Whoopie Pies and finally gave in. I must confess I don't like the recipes with egg whites in the filling, but I found this recipe that uses that wonderful Marshmallow Fluff.

Promise of Nursing

Today I attended a luncheon for Nursing scholarships sponsored by the Arizona Nurses Association Foundation. It's always a lovey event and a screening of the latest Johnson & Johnson campaign for nursing.

All attendees received a flower to wear

Bye, bye bunny

Tonight it was time to put the Easter Bunny away until next Spring.

Love

I picked up this print when I was in Indy. Since it was way to big to take on the airplane, Jenell was kind enough to take it to IL and then tote it out in Big Red when they drove out to Arizona this visit. It made the final leg of the trip last weekend when they joined us for Saturday night/Sunday for Easter. Thanks guys! Kendall hung it in our bedroom this afternoon

Easter Eggs

Such an exciting event to find our Easter Eggs had arrived in the mail today! Thanks Mom!!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter! We were fortunate to have our friends Doug & Jenell spend the night last night and then the day with us today. We attended the early service and then had a lovely brunch at a restaurant. We were able to spend a relaxing afternoon watching The Masters before they headed back to Tucson. Flowers for their room
A light breakfast before church

A cute bunny we made in our card club yesterday

Inspiration

This book was my inspiration for last weekend when I made 3 aprons to be given away as prizes in anticipation of hosting Bunko this summer. It has stories about what aprons symbolize as well as heartwarming stories, photos and patterns.

Lemon Pound Cake

I made a lemon pound cake for our cabin neighbors since they have been so good keeping an eye on the cabin for us. They had to remove 3 trees that fell on their lane during the big snow in February. I divided the batter into 3 pans and kept the smallest one for us. Here is a shot of our dessert Friday night with fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate. What is dessert without at least a little chocolate!?

Three Blind Mice

One of the ways Gracie shows her affection for her Humans is to slay mice and arrange them for us. Here are 3 all in one bunch. She was feeling a lot of love!

The Event

Here is the family picture with everyone except Josh - we missed you Buddy! You can hardly see the panic of 'guests will be here in 10 minutes and we're not ready!!'
Three of the 100 candles on the tables

A replica of the original wedding cake. The big difference is gold leaves instead of silver in honor of 50 years.

*Photos courtesy of Julia

The Week in Prep

It was a fun week of prepping for our parent's 50th anniversary celebration. Here are some random shots of the preparations.
Me in the kitchen at the church where we held the event.

The brothers setting up tables. Note the shades over the florescent lights for ambiance.

Rachel and me in our matching Cardinals t-shirts

The sign Emma and Rachel made for us welcoming us home. They miss us!

Lois holding Noah up to touch the Mouse

An evening supper at the cabin the sisters rented for the week. Uncle Monroe and Cousin Naomi were able to join us.

Some of the 400+ cookies. We did a lot of cows and airplanes in honor of what we grew up with -- cows on the dairy farm and Dad flying his 4 seater.

Our cousin Glen's cabin where Lois, Julie and I stayed.

http://www.whisperingpinescabin.net/index.htm

50th Anniversary

Tomorrow morning I wing my way home to celebrate with family the 50 years of this couple's marriage. We hope all their friends and family will join us for the open house!

Grandmother Memories

Daffodils always remind me of Maple Shade in the Spring. I also remember Mom having daffodils in this vase that was Grandma Maust's when we were growing up. I just couldn't resist picking them up this morning!

Am I A Good Boss?

Sometimes I wonder with tough decisions that may need to be made. And then there are days like this...

Annual Migration

Thursday marked the beginning of the migration season of Kendall's maternal family visit. His Mom and her siblings have been coming to Arizona for 10+ years the same week every year. Today were also blessed to have his cousin Marilyn and husband Jay join us for lunch and a relaxing afternoon.Marilyn, Lola Faye, Kendall's Mom and Grace.

Lola Faye is engaged to be married next month, so we've also had Bob join us this year with his motor home. We're happy they will be splitting their time between Iowa and Arizona.

Kendall's Mom, Marilyn & Carol (Uncle Ray's wife)

A few desserts have popped up this weekend. This is a lemon angel food cake using some of our lemons from the back yard.

Church Ladies

It was past due to have a meeting of The Church Ladies! They joined me in Indy for dinner Friday night and then an overnight slumber party. We had a suite that slept all of us - well almost all of us. Connie had the couch in the living room that let in a little too much noise from the kids staying there who were in a music competition. The rest of us had a restful night. The next day brought breakfast, shopping, a late lunch and a drop off at the airport. It was a great week away, but I'm happy to be home with my hubby!! My ravioli Friday night - Yummm!!

Lunch Saturday before heading to the airport.

Marge, Jenell, me, Sue & Connie