we are on our way.....

Well I long awaited event has come and gone, and I am free to talk about it now. My parents had their 50th wedding anniversary this past weekend. All of us kids have be talking about this awesome occasion for quite a while. earlier in the year, my brother - Dean and his wife Kris - came up with the idea of going to vegas. they were married there 50 years ago. so in the next few days I will be posting about our trip. here we are packing the car. Dad drove. so mom and I watch the movie Avatar while the guys sat up front. First stop was taking the boys - Buffy and Bogie - to Bark Avenue. they stayed there and had their little vacation while we had ours. I completely forgot to take their pics! what kind of sister am I? lol.....

as soon as the boys were snug in their room, we were off. our first stop was in Kingman. Lee was doing the inventory at the Kingdom store. Lee is my mom and dad's first grandson. they have a special bond. it felt great to stretch our legs and make a pit stop.

I was excited to see how the bridge look going over the dam. the last time we were in Vegas, it wasn't all the way across. it looks pretty awesome.

here is another.....

i like this perspective on the bridge. it shows how large it really is....

this is so sad to see how low the water is at Lake Mead. I think Bruce said it is the lowest it has ever been. kind of scary.

Next stop - Vegas!!!

Lorene

On my way home......

everytrip has an ending. sigh..... I was very sad to leave. it was so beautiful up there. anyway, before I left I took my Aunt Joan up to Lakeside to see my brother Dean and his wife Kris. they have a beautiful home. BTW, if you ever need construction or plumbing - he is your man! they have a general construction/plumbing business up there. we had a great visit, then I took Aunt Joan back to mom and Dads, and then I came home. I did stay an extra day. I was a little tired. well, a lot tired! LOL!

love ya Dean and Kris!!!

Lorene

Girls Night Out

This is kind of a goofy picture, but we were being goofy! that's me, my mom, my Aunt Gloria and my Aunt Joan. let me tell you a story........ It seems my family really like going to the casino. me? if and when I go I can do nothing but loose. so sad. once in awhile, and I really mean once in awhile, I win. winning is fun. but I don't do it enough to want to go very often.

that being said, Mom wanted a girls night out! Fun! so Aunt Gloria and Mom got 2 rooms that were connected. BTW, we are talking about Hondah up in the White Mountains. this is the Apache nation. The rooms were very nice. we were to leave at 4:30 to go. we left at 3. we were going to have dinner first, we gambled. they gave us each a coupon book. in there was a coupon for a free slice of pizza. cool. so that was dinner. which ended up being an adventure. we mostly stayed together. we laughed, we won, we lost, we stayed up till 6AM! oh my gosh! all these ladies are in their mid 70's to 79. These women know how to party!

The next day, we were to go to the brunch that they serve. it opens at 9AM. sooooooo, my bubbly, morning person Aunt Gloria woke us up at 8AM! yikes. we all had sand in our eyes. but we had a great breakfast with my dad and Harriet joining us.

I should have taken more pics, but I forgot! I was lucky to have gotten my shoes on the right feet.

Thanks mom for the great idea! we all had a ball.....

Another Great Meal!

My Aunt Gloria and Harriet hosted a BBQ while I was in Pinetop. I thought I had taken pictures of their home. I really think I did. but due to being tired I think I must have lost them. really....
anyway, they used my parents George Foreman electric grill. I didn't get a pic of that either. This one looks like a regular grill. but you plug it in. pretty cool and it did a great job. now, I have heard this before. use a fabric softener sheet to keep the mosquito's away. This is my Dad. and no, it's not that finger! he didn't get bit, but he usually doesn't. me? well, I had a pocket on the front of my shirt. so I stuck it there. so my face didn't get bit at all. but, I received bits on my hands, my ankles and my legs. about 12 all together..... sigh...... they itch like the dickens.....

I really wish I had pictures of my Aunt's home. her landscaping is unbelievable. their home looks like a little log cabin. they live in the same place my parents do - Vacation Village. also behind their home is a creek. so they have terraced the back of the lot. they have planted all kind of beautiful trees and plants. and they also have a fire pit. we had a great time. of course there was lots of laughter. I love being around these great women and my dad too! we just enjoy laughing and talking.....

here's the crew. Aunt Gloria invited a friend - Jackie. she was taking the picture. Thanks Jackie! Oh and they served peach ice cream, well really peach frozen yogurt. it was the creamiest frozen yogurt I have ever had. I think it was breyers. YUMMO!!!

Thank you Aunt Gloria and Harriet. it was a great night and great food!

love ya

Lorene

I love being a girl!

today was a wonderful day - I got a pedicure and manicure. ahhhhhhhhhh, so very nice. having that done, makes me feel pampered and beautiful! happy, happy...... I would love to do that once a week - at least. LOL! My friend Vicki and I didn't get to get together this summer. that makes me sad. we always get so much done when we have our retreats. so this year we decided that we would pick a day and pick 2 projects and sew. the thing is, we have about 6 projects to do. the first 2 projects we picked was a red and black quilt. Abundance is the pattern. Vicki provided the 10" red squares. I provided the black, red ric rak, and border. the other is a Patrick lose haunted house/birthday table runner. Now the deal is, we have to finish these 2 projects as in finish the top, quilt and bind it. well, I have the abundance top done. I LOVE IT!!!!

Here is a close up of the flower and ric rak. isn't just darn cute?

and here is the top! Yeah!!! Vicki, isn't it wonderful? just the way I envisioned it! now, what color of thread do I use? how shall I quilt it? what should I get for a backing? I want it finished yesterday. I really, really love this quilt.

thank you Vicki for going with my zany ideas!

hugs......

Lorene

Vaulting

Hi everyone! Julia - my granddaughter in CA. has fallen in love with vaulting. I am not really sure what it is, but it reminds me of the circus and the girls with tutu's riding and standing on top of a horse. I would imagine you have to have excellant balance. which apparently our Julia has! This horse is very big. I mean really big! and BLIND! Julia says he is the most gentle horse she has ever seen. Julia explained that the horse is attached to a pole with a rope. that makes it so the horse goes in circles. Julia said the other day she was standing on the horse and made it around 21 times! WOW way to go sweetie! Here is Julia and Isabell, little Bell has fallen in love with the horse too. Lowell is riding too, but I don't have any pics of him. sorry sweetie!

Here is Julia again. you can see how big the horse really is!

here she is on her way to standing.

here she is riding backwards. you can see the rope to the horse. Mercy Julia, you are one brave girl! You are doing a great job!!!

love ya sweetie....

Grandma H

My Aunt Joan has come to visit. She came from all the way from the other side of the USA! Maine! She is such fun to be around - like my other Aunt and my Mom.
they all have a great sense of humor. Well, I felt that she deserved a quilt because she is here. She was so excited and happy to receive it. I gave it to her as we were loading up the car to go up to Pinetop. That's were my parents and my Aunt Gloria are right now. they are smart and go up there to get away from the heat down here. So I was the lucky one to take her up. I got to stay for a few days too. more on that later. We are so happy you came Aunt Joan! hope you enjoy your stay.....

enjoy,

Lorene

The White Mountains are Beautiful!

****I have somehow have mixed up the different blogs about my trip. they are definetly not in order. sorry about that!

*****update on construction - we now have 3 of the 4 board members have answered. 2 yes and 1 no...... hopefully soon.......

Pinetop is beautiful. I love it. It feeds my soul...... We got lots of rain while there. it was so very cool. such a nice change from the heat of the valley. it smells so wonderful up there. and I had forgotten that the water comes out of the tap COLD!!!!! here's my mom and aunt Joan on the porch. it's is just a cute cottage feel. so comfy and cozy!

Aunt Joan had fun paying with the hummingbirds.

Mom fixed a great meal of spagetti. Yum! we got to eat outside in the cool air.

Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting. I loved coming up and staying for a few days. it just wasn't long enough!

love you both

Lorene

where's george?

Hi everyone! I have heard and seen a couple of bills that had the stamp where's George on it, but I have never had one in my hot little hands. Well, now I do, or rather did, cause it's already gone! LOL! it was kind of fun to see where it started - Las Cruses, NM. it didn't get registered again till Bruce got it at Lone Butt Casino. He plays poker once in a while and shares his winnings! so that is how I got it. now, it's up in Pinetop, so instead of moving further away, it's moving closer to to where it started! how funny is that? anyway the link is http://wheresgeorge.com its kind of fun to see how far and how long money travels. this one traveled 294 in less than a month. have fun....

Lorene

Cars are fun!

Well our construction still hasn't started. we are still waiting for the home owners. so that means my sewing room is a sauna. sigh.... anyway, we are hoping to hear this week. anyway, I go into my sewing room real early in the morning to try out my HQ16. I have been doing just about a row a day before I get pretty miserable. I have had this panel of a car map for awhile. I finally found a panto that I wanted to use on it - Cars by Dave Hudson. I bought it at Patterman . it really was quite easy. much easier than I thought. I only made 2 mistakes. I went over the same area twice. at least I was consistent. here is the panto here is a close up of the good part! look at those stitches! aren't they perfect? I am so happy! I can't wait to load my next quilt.

Here is the whole quilt. I didn't even take time to trim it up for the picture, I was soooo excited. I wish I would have bought more panels. but Grandma is keeping this one for the boys to play with, when they come over. I might try to find more. it was fun to quilt. Thank you Caroline!!! another UFO finished! and I think the boys will like playing with it.

enjoy,

Lorene

it's Thornberries time.......

I love Thornberries. we sit around and talk, and sew, solve all the problems of the world. it's just a great relaxing, wonderful group of women. One of our members is moving to CA. she is still close enough to come back to see us and participate AND she is close enough that we can visit her. We love you Terry P.



we had quite a few of us this time. that was very nice. a couple were missing - please know we missed you all!! we had some show and tell, which is always wonderful. This is a cupcake quilt that I made for a decoration for a birthday party at rippers. so now it's finally finished! yeah
!!! this was a free pattern I found online. the pattern called for 5" squares. I halved it and made it 2.5 squares. it stilled turned out about 56" square. so you can imagine how big it would of turned out using the bigger squares. I am happy with the size......

This is Judy's maple leaf quilt. it was a swap within our group, which i didn't participate in - sigh.... i blew it this time. all the quilts have turned out soooo pretty. oh well.....

This is another UFO of mine. it's another one I did with Vicki. I love batik quilts. Vicki and I always seem to do one every year. this year is no different. can't wait to finish it. anyway, Bruce really loves this quilt, and wants it to stick around. so I guess we are keeping this one. it did turn out nice.....

Anyway, thanks ladies for a very enjoyable day!

enjoy....

Lorene

Happy Birthday Lee!

Our oldest son had a birthday recently. we said we would take him out to dinner. guess where he wanted to go? Matta's! what did he order? chili rellanos! the original matta's closed down. it had been a fixture in Mesa FOREVER! well, they opened a new one - matta's too! the food was good, not my favorite, but still good. Lee is such a good dad. he loves his Zoe! she brings a lot of joy into his life. She is so funny. Lee's card had a hole in it and Zoe thought it was so funny. She wanted her picture taken. so there you are. You are a cutie Zoe.....

Here's my baby! Happy Birthday sweetie! we are proud of you and appreciate all you do! you always come to my rescue!

love ya

Mom and Dad

a few days with lexi!

Jenn was having a few days with some babysitting Lexi, so Grandma came to the rescue. lexi came to spend the night and spend a day or two with us. WE HAD FUN!!!!!!! Lexi loves to color. so she colored her mask and we both added some sparkle. sparkle is good!
Lexi wanted a really cool lunch bag. so I found a pattern here . You can make this has lots of really cute patterns to download. have fun looking!

My Mother had to go and get her "dress" altered. So Mom, Lexi and I went to lunch at Red lobster. Lexi loves it there because she can COLOR! She ordered her lunch all by herself. no one helped her. She felt so grown up! good job lex!

While at the bridal shop, there was a bride getting her dress altered. She is getting married in December. she was so cute. I thought it was a great picture of Mom being married 50 years and a new bride getting ready for her adventure.

While Mom was changing. Lexi and I found some pretty hats. Isn't she a cutie!

we thought it would be a great idea to make cupcakes for her family. here is super cupcake froster - Lexi!

Here they are in all their glory! Lexi said they were very good!

We had a great time! Thank you lexi and thank you Jenn for sharing!!!

love you sweetie!

Grandma H