Some pictures y'all have missed...

Hello everyone!

Here I am again!  I've been gone SO long that I have TONS of things I want to share with you all!  My goodness, just yesterday I posted TWICE!!!

Today I'm going to post some pictures of our grand babies!!!  I missed out posting about our grandbabies there when I was absent from the blog.  So, here are just a few snippets of photo's that I would have posted had I not been a cranky computer owner!  (My main problem was a computer that didn't want to do what I wanted it to do AND having far too many things to get done in a day.)  

Mar. 2011

This was his "cheese" face.
2011

This is him in Aug. 2012

And here is little Aliza Grace Minori.

Born in Nov. 2011

I can't remember if I had blogged about the quilt.  I actually made that baby quilt and finished quilting it while I was in Seattle waiting for her to be born!  Nothing like sewing 'till the last minute!

And this is her in July 2012

         This is her walking, she is 9 months.

This is them in Jul. 2012

And there it is.  A very small snippet of what I would have posted had I not had a little tiff with my computer.  I would post pictures of them EVERYDAY if I thought I could get away with it (and if Dilly-girl would send me pictures everyday)!   But, I won't do that to you all.

Now all is good and I'm back to playing friendly with my computer so you can expect to find me blogging away every week!  You lucky people!  ;-)

Have a fabulous day!

Knitting!

Hello everyone!

Just a short little post about this!

I actually knitted this sweater in three weeks!  To me that is paramount to performing a miracle!   It's a pattern I had gotten when she was first born back in Federal Way, WA.  Unfortunately, the shop I purchased it from has since closed down.   And that is SO sad because those ladies were SO friendly and helpful and didn't ever make a novice like myself, feel bad about my lack of experience!  I knitted it with Mochi Plus by Crystal Palace Yarns in # 684 color way.  This was THE easiest pattern to follow and I LOVE the yarn!  So easy to work with!!!  Little Aliza wears it beautifully!  And the shirt is a K-State shirt that Baby Girl got her!  Now she's all set.

Oh, and Jess...  See, we only got one dressed too!  ;-)

Have a great day everyone!  

Busy, busy!

Hello everyone!  So, I feel like I had this whole, long, playfully relaxing vacation and then came home and it was go, go, GO!  There were Dr.'s appointments, check-ups, then the catching up of all the household things that didn't get done, (not because my honey did nothing, but because it's just one of those things where I like things done... okay, "my way").   Anyhow......  I've got the house sorta kinda caught up and then there is the yard.  I came back to a yard that looked pretty rough.  This drought is really messing with my grass and plants!  Not to mention all the poor farmers and cattle people around here!!!  Our water bill last month was KILLER!  And I've been dumping more water on the yard since I've been home.  We planted two trees last year and they are still a bit tender and need that extra bit of attention with the H2O.

On Saturday my neighbor and I got together to do some canning.  I had done some canning a few years ago but nothing since.  And my neighbor had never done any canning so she came over to see how it's done.  NOT, that I'm any kind of expert, or anything.  But I have done a bit more than she has.  So, we canned 8 jars of Adobo, 12 jars of Pickled Jalapeno, 9 sliced and 3 whole.  That took nearly the whole day.

  

Today I made pickled banana peppers. 

And once we get more red jalapeños, I'll make more Adobo!  My pantry looks so cool with all the jars I'm getting stacked up!  We have gotten LOTS of cherry tomatoes, but I've been freezing those.  I'm nervous about canning those.  The instructions on all the canned tomato recipes all talk about the hazards of canning tomatoes!  It freaks me out!!!  And I planted some shelling beans, black and pinto but I don't think I'll get enough to really do much with them.  I had a LOT of trouble getting any of my beans to grow.  We only had three green bean plants come up out of 16 planted.  And same with my peas (12 planted 0 came up) and I only had one Sugar Snap pea plant come up out of 12 planted!  Three black bean plants came up and two pinto plants.  Sad, so sad.  I had visions of little burlap bags full of black and pinto beans.  Oh well, maybe next year.

This past Monday, my honey and I went for a little ride out to Winterset, Iowa.  We took our cameras and Ricky,  to check out Madison County's covered bridges.  It was a beautiful day for taking photo's  and we had a lovely time.  It's been a while since we had gone out just the two of us and made a day of it.  It was really nice!  I believe we'll be doing more of that in the future for sure!

And here is little Ricky along for the ride.  He's really a very good traveller!  

So, that was our weekend.  Sort of.  There are always things  that need doing, as you all know,  but sometimes you just need to get up and do something fun!    Now, let me see what else I can 'can' this week!  ;-)

Have a wonderful week!

Can you believe it?....

Hello everyone!  It has been SO long!!!  So much has changed since my last post.  So, this will be a short post just to say, hi!  And to fill in the gap (highlights only) from my last post to this one!  And honestly, I will TRY to keep it short.  Those of you who know me, I tend to get a bit long winded when I'm trying to explain things!  ;-)

Here goes.....

I went to Seattle to visit with my son and daughter-in-law (aka dilly-girl) when she was pretty near to giving birth to their second child.  I spent a month with them and was with her when their daughter, Aliza Grace Minori, was born!!!  What a beautiful day that was!

I spent  nearly three weeks with that little girl and her brother.  Had the bestest time EVER!  And Granddaddy was able to visit for a week too!

Then the holidays arrived and with that, news that our son would be transferred to Alaska and then immediately be off to Afghanistan.  Plans were made for dilly-girl and kids to come stay with us and then the military put the kabbosh on that!  Rules and regulations.... Long story short, (see, I am capable of telling a short story...)  Dilly-girl and kids moved to Alaska in January of 2012 and our First Born stayed in rear detachment instead of going to Afghanistan!  YAY!  As much as we would have LOVED having the grandbabies and Dilly-girl living with us, we much preferred that they be able to be a family together!

Thennnnn, Dilly-girl had the opportunity to come back to the lower 48 funded by her wonderful Big sister,  Heather!  Dilly-girl and the kids went to where her sister lives and they were able to go visiting with family.  And we were included in that visit.  A surprise birthday visit for my Honey!  Heather baked a cake just for my Honey's birthday and Dilly-girl and the kids drove it to K.C. (the half-way point for them and us).  Baby Girl and Darling Drew were able to go to K.C. as well and they helped to facilitate the "lie" to get my Honey to go to K.C. without suspicion!

Big Sister

Happiest of Granddaddies!

I wish y'all could have seen the look on his face when he first realized that it was Dilly-girl and the kids at the hotel!  Priceless I tell you!

Baby-Girl finally met her Goddaughter

As did Darling Drew.   

We had a wonderful weekend with them and Baby-Girl and her hubby and our wonderful In-Law family John, Paula and Krista!  Truly a fabulous weekend!

And then, at the end of July I went to Anchorage to visit  with Our First Born and his family for 31 days!!!!  I took my Ricky along as well (he's such a seasoned traveller now).  I played and played with the kids and saw a bear out roaming around the housing area! I knitted a sweater for little Aliza and shopped and went sightseeing.  Oh and I saw a Moose too!  I ate Caraboo burgers and Reindeer Sausage and Moose Sausage and Fresh Wild caught Salmon!  Yummy, yummy, yummy!

All in all had the best time ever!  Of course there were tons of things that went on in between what I've described and today.  But, I did promise to keep it short, so......  ;-)

I will be back to blogging again on a more regular basis.  I've got loads of things I want to share with you all and lot's of new projects to make and do!  I have a special knitting project that I would like to get started on  as a remmemberance of my time spent in Alaska!  And lot's & lot's of other fun things!

So, stay tuned and I hope you enjoy a wonderful day!  ;-)