Things I Love~

right this minute.

A little Magoo in Sunday duds. It’s almost as good as a guy in a kilt.

No, really.

A teeny, tiny bird cage on a chain with the door wide open–of course. Just the way all bird cages should be.

Getting all those sixty-five billion invitations organized and ready to ship out. Jillian and her orderly spreadsheets keep us all on track.

Parsley gone wild in the grow box from last year. I trimmed it back but it came bolting forward again with a vengeance. Which is fine by me.

The pretty little garden, such as it is, from the back door. So, so sweet.

Oh, look. It’s that handsome boy again.

How’d that picture get in here?

:}

What about you? What are you loving these days? Tell me in the comments and I’ll add them to our “Things to be grateful for” rotator list at the bottom right hand corner.
OK?

Memorial Day

Our Memorial Day~

was what it has been…

since we moved to Utah 34 years ago.

In California, where I grew up, I honestly had no idea that the day existed because we were first generation Californians–

and we had no family there to honor.

But once my Mama brought us all back “home” where all her family lived…

she showed us the way that she had grown up celebrating this very special day.

My mama would get up early and cut her beloved iris and peonies and put them in buckets of water so they’d open just right.

Once we got to the cemetery she’d arrange the flowers in huge baskets and put them on her mama and daddy’s graves.

I think it made them smile.

She always had a small arrangement for her baby brother too.

My children grew up loving Memorial Day– as a day full of baskets and green grass and kisses and cousins and flags and wet feet and laughing. But it was mostly a beautiful bright summer day with Grandma and Grandpa and lots and lots of flowers. Now, all these years later–it still is.

And I think it makes them smile.

Mother’s Day Getaway~ 4

Day 2

The perfect Mother’s Day Getaway weekend began…

with lots of worker bees in the kitchen making a lovely breakfast.

A little lady-bug even showed up to help…

and of course, eat.

Such

a

lovely

day.

What a blessing…

to just be together…

to relax…

and play…

and wait–

for the best part of allllll!!

Our SKYPE call with my Siberia boy. To see that sweet boy and to hear that incredible laugh again…

And to have Daney there as well was a huge plus. Ahhh…it was all soooo good for this mama heart.

In fact, I just may survive until the next call…at Christmas.

**sigh**

 

Mother’s Day Getaway~ 3

Day 1 ~Afternoon~

After the glorious breakfast at Kneader’s and our fabulous total foot make-over, we packed up and hit the road for Park City.

The guys booked a weekend stay at a condo in the former Olympic Village

Ooooh–it was a pretty little place with positively everything that we needed for a perfect time.

I’ve always dreamed of going on a vacation or cruise where we has some kind of group room or suite where we could all be together and still have our own space when we needed to. Well this, my friends, was exactly such a place.

The kitchen was enormous and stocked with dishes, silverware and every small and large appliance that you could think of…

and a huge dining room table that seated nearly every one of us at the same time.

This was my room with an incredibly high bed. No kidding, it was so tall and puffy that I had to stand back and jump up on to it. But oh, my goodness—it was soft! I felt like that princess with all the piled up mattresses…and the pea. Except no pea.

I did, however have to bring my own Cheetoes.

It’s fine.

I’m used to it.

Dane is in Texas working so Kortney brought her sweet friend Emily along–who we positively love.

They shared the bunk bed room.

April and Jacob and the kids had the master suite. The kids slept on a mattress in the walk in closet. Lyndi and Nate stayed in a second master suite in the basement. I didn’t get a picture of it or Jillian’s room for some odd reason.

The deck came with a barbeque and a lovely little jacuzzi…

that was a huge hit!

It was an easy place to just make ourselves at home.

That is, before hitting the outlet stores for some major shopping and…

well, I’ll save the rest for tomorrow.

:}