Off To L.A. for the Weekend!

Soooo, doesn't that sound chic!! I was given the opportunity by my dear girlfriend from Kansas. She is going thru the process to be a surrogate mom, and she has a meeting in L.A. and has invited me to tag along, free of charge!! I fly out Friday night, and return Monday mid morning. We will only be there for 2 full days, but I am so excited to hang out with her, to fly on a plane, and stay in a hotel!! Not to sure that we will get a chance to see any sites, but I am still excited!! I have never been to California before, so this will be a first for me! My dear husband said that he would take care of the wildflowers for the weekend......what a guy : ) In the event that we do get to see some sites.....any recomendations??

In the meantime, I have been working on some projects but they are not completed yet, so here is just a peek......

Grapes, Sunshine and Family Tradition

As long as I can remember, we have always eaten homemade jelly. Never did the Welches brand get the chance to grace the shelves in our frigaders. (Well, it did when we ran out of the good stuff) You see, my Grandma Reen always made us homemade jelly made from fresh juice that she cooked herself. As we got older, we too were taught how to make grape jelly. In order to make that jelly you had to make the juice, and that is just what we did yesterday. We picked up 90 lbs of grapes, plucked them from the vine and cooked them down to juice. Sounds easy right.....let me assure you that it is not a one woman job! My mom, cousin Bobbi, myself, my dad and of course with a little help from the WildFlowers, we got the job done in about 7 hours!!

Bobbi and I were the pickers, mom was the cooker and juicer and dad and the wildflowers did what they could.

You have to pick them.....

Cover with water and cook them down......

Push them thru a strainer....

And viola......you have 12 gallons of freshly made grape juice!!

We had a fun time just being together and carrying on a tradition that has been part of our family for a long time. My grandma would have had such a fun time if she could have been there. She always loved it when we all got together for any reason at all. She would have loved to see the wildflowers playing around us as we worked......she is soo very missed.

This is the only picture I have of picking grapes with her and it is very blurry . Madison was just a baby.

Needing a Good Laugh????

Madison to Parker: "Perk, see my mermaid panties....(with a closer look by "Perk") he replies " ooohhh pitty". He really is soo sweet!

Found this video on You Tube and it gave me a good laugh!

Pray for this family.

(This post borrowed from Homemade By Jill)
I don't know the Nielsons, but have been brought to tears reading about their family's tragic accident and road to recovery. Design Mom declared today Nie Nie day, and asked the blogging community to spread the word.
Last week Christian and Stephanie Nielson were in a very serious plane crash. They are a young couple with four children under the age of six. They are in critical condition. Stephanie has third degree burns covering 80% of her body and Christian has third degree burns over 30% of his body. The recovery will be very long and very expensive.
If you are able, please consider contributing to this fund that will go directly to the family: Nie Recovery.
Today, several websites are auctioning off items for their benefit. Go here to see the comprehensive list: Design Mom.
Updates about Stephanie and Christian here on her sister's blog.

Fall is in the air

The trees across the street have started to get some yellow leaves. I have always loved fall. I love the feel of the air, I love the changing of the leaves, I love the pumpkins and scarecrows that decorated my house. But, I had a thought this week. I won't have another summer when the wildflowers are at the age they are now. Next summer they might be riding big kid bikes rather than their cute Radio Flyer trikes. Riding up and down in front of our house might not be as fun as it was this summer. They will both be potty trained, which isn't a bad thing, just a little sad. They will be another year older. I am just trying to enjoy these last few weeks of summer with my 2 and 3 year old. Today, along with auntie Christel, we took them for a walk thru Garden of the Gods and to the park for lunch. It doesn't matter how many times you visit the Garden, it never fails to amaze you. There are a few other random pics from this week also....enjoy!














Matthew and Parker watching the Republican Convention...

Madison helping Uncle Scott in his yard....

My mom and dad the morning they left for vacation....

Our front grass coming in strong...

Surprise Indeed

Matthew's Surprise 40th Party was a success!! His cousins and uncle, who were all in on my plan, took him golfing at 1:00 on Friday afternoon. At 1:01, my sister and I began setting up my back yard. It took us about 5 hours to get everything set. The theme was Luau so we decorated the tables with paper pineapples and palm frans. Tiki torches were throughout the yard with island music playing in the background. The guests were greeted with leis and fruit punch complete with umbrella straws. The menu consisted of one of Matthew's favorite things, sloppy joes, pasta salad, 7 layer dip, fruit and dip, sugar cookies my mom made in the shape of pineapples and palm trees, chips and salsa. 55 friends and family came including Matthews brother Andy and his family from Oklahoma City, my cousin Shawndra from Nebraska and cousin Chad and his family from Cheyenne. Thru out the afternoon, small drops of rain came and went. Unknown to me, there was a huge rain and hail storm on the south part of town. My aunt and cousins prayed on the way to the party for the rain to hold off around our house. Around 6:45 we got the call that the golfing crew were on the way home, so we got into position and waited with excitement!! When Matthew walked thru the gate, he didn't know what to think. The first thing he seen was a small table set up directly past the gate with all of the presents. Confusion came over his face and at this point he looked up and seen 55 people on his deck and we all screamed "Happy Birthday!!" It was classic!! He had had no idea!! Our surprise was kept secret for a month and a half!! He could hardly believe it!! It was so fun! One of the highlights was the Hawaiian girl, Stephanie, who performed some Hawaiian dances. She also got everyone into the spirit by teaching the Hula to our guests. It was really fun. Matthew's dad made a touching toast about Matthew. Big Matt found out about Matthews birth from a picture that he received while he was in Vietnam. He was a couple of months old when he seen him for the first time. He went on to say how proud he his of Matthew that he is a wonderful father, husband, citizen and and da?n good furniture repair man! Cake and ice cream was served to everyone and the dance music was turned on. About an hour later, around 9:30, the clouds broke loose and we received the biggest rain and hail storm! The party moved inside and Matthew opened his presents. Alot of them consisted of Ben gay, tums, a walking cane, and false teeth. He did also get money and several rounds of golf. The back yard was completely trashed by the storm, but all the prayers worked because we were able to have a fun party before the rain came. Matthew was so pleased and has told me several times how thankful he was for the fun party. Enjoy the pics...........

Matthew trying to figure out whos presents are on this table......

Looking up and seeing 55 people screaming Happy Birthday at him....

Calling me a dirty rat for pulling this over on him.....

Stephanie performing Hawaiian dances....

Teaching the gang....

Scott and Kara.....

The Gumpers, Matt and Steph

Matt and Kyle, Jon and Jodi..

Robin, Mark, Kirsten and Christel

Amy and Dane...

Madison, Carly and Neely in their matching dresses...

Preston and Amy...

Madelyn, Madison, Elizabeth and Ana...

Aunt Judy and Uncle Tom....

Lauren, Olivia and Elizabeth

Papo Larry and Grammy Patty....

Me and Bobbi...