July & August

4th of July

We celebrated my parents 70th anniversary with the family at their place. Lindy and David and Beth and their kids all came from Colorado.

I made the cake and the girls made the watermelon cake.

The four of us went out to Salty's on their actual anniversary date.

As soon as the anniversary party was over, John flew to Spain to meet up with Rachel who just spent her second summer there obtaining her Master's in Spanish. He arrived for her graduation.

He had a layover in Philadelphia and made sure to visit Rocky.

Emily and Matthew arrived from Texas. It was fun to spend a few days with the Great-Grandkids.

I put the boys to work in my garden.

Pretty awesome these days to have Great-Great-Grandparents!

The highlight from their time here was getting to ride the tractors with Great-Great-Grandpa.

Beau's smile said it all.

Henry even got a ride.

From the little tractor, they moved on to the Kubota and Beau even drove it by himself with Grandpa walking along beside.

We all loved it!

One day, Lina was over. She and I were working in the garden. She went inside for a drink and came back out saying that water was running from the fridge. Of course, I have a new wood floor and ran inside to find out what was going on. This is what I found. Very funny, Lina!!!

As I said before, Dennis and family were supposed to be at the 70th anniversary, but had to postpone it because her Father had passed away that week. They rescheduled their trip for the first week of August. 

We all enjoyed having them here, but nobody as much as the 'cousins'. Those kids just love spending time together.

blurry big dipper with my cell phone

Lina and I had fun with the carrots.

The Boring Grade school PTA Moms from when my kids were in grade school. We meet up every few months and always have such a great time!

Josh began police academy for the Polk County Sherrif's dept. He didn't waste any time after the Marines.

Arianna turned 13 at the end of August.

April-May-June

With all the remodeling going on, there was still time for the usual spring activities.

My birthday

Fishing with Josiah

When I was a girl, my Grandpa used to take me fishing. We always stopped for a Mountain Dew and a chick o'stick on the way home. I decided Josiah needed to try that too. 

Volleyball tournament for Arianna

Spring concerts for Lina, Gabe and Daniel. (I had to miss the boys in California, but so glad we have photos)

For Mother's Day, we went to Salem and saw John and Rachel and Josh and Alexis. While there we went for a little walk at Ankeny Park. The eagles were there and a few other birds and some spring flowers.

Jessi and Lina and I went to a local peony garden with my Mom.

I could fill two blogs with photos of the gorgeous spring flowers in my own yard this year.

The garden did great with the produce this year too, starting out with the strawberries and cherries.

Josiah had his graduation from 8th grade. It is on to public high school for him next year. He will go to the same high school his Mom and Uncles went to.

And then came Father's Day.

90 years old and still getting more tools. An updated little battery-operated chain saw. He loves it for the lilac hedge.

I had a last minute trip to California to stay with Gabe and Daniel while Dennis and Abby went to Amsterdam to celebrate their anniversary. Abby's Dad was sick and so they could not stay with them as planned. It was a fun few days with the boys, but so sad that just a day after they arrived in Amsterdam, I had to make the call to them that Abby's Dad had gotten worse. They hopped a plane as soon as they could. A week later, her Father passed away. 

Lunch at Busy Bee and a walk on the Ventura Pier

Daniel doing his work-out

Gabe loves board games 

John arranged it with Dennis to get my anniversary flowers. That was a huge surprise.