Beginning of Summer, 2012

Once again I am giving this way too much thought and just need to stop thinking and blog.  I am going to try to put pictures in some kind of order but cannot guarantee this program will do it so this could be all over. 

 Fathers Day at Bryan's house.  Pudge with the 4 grandchildren--Travis, Anna, Abby and Jamie.

 Bryan with his beloved dog, Casey.  She is a very crabby, needy dog but she loves Bryan and he loves her (most of the time,)  She does not like me.  She will tolerate me when there is no one else around.  Casey is getting old (14) and has had some serious issues.  Not sure how much longer she will be around.

 Kitchen in Mom's basement is done.  The only thing that is not here is the microwave.  We have since gotten one and installed it over the stove.  I really like this kitchen. We bit the bullet and got granite counters and I am not sorry one bit. The cupboard to the left was Mom's.  I am going to use it for a pantry.  Fits perfect in the niche.  Looks very different from the before kitchen.  The basement apartment is 97% done.  We will be moving in there once house is sold.  There is very little furniture because we want to move our stuff down there.  I do need to take some pictures of the rest of it.  I think I have some during the "fix up."  Maybe someday I will get those posted.

 In June I spent 9 days at Kari and Charlie's watching the kids.  K & C went to the Olympic track trials.  Jamie and Travis building a sand castle.   

 Jamie making a Welcome Home sign for her parents.

 We also went to the Minnesota Zoo.  Bears were really active.  The whole time I was there the weather was hot and their air conditioning was not working properly.  Made for an interesting time there.  Especially at night with the bedrooms being upstairs.  But we managed.

 End of June--Suzette Heinz came from Illinois to visit.  She was a dear friend of my mom's and one of the things she wanted to do was go to the cemetery.  We picked up Gemma and bought some wine.  We are here at the grave toasting mom with a glass of wine while Gemma sang one of Mom's favorite tunes "A Jug 'A Punch."  It was memorable.  Mom would have loved it.

 Beginning of June--Anna's dance recital.  Here I am with my two beautiful granddaughters--Anna and Abby.  These two look so much alike that I have to do a double take to try to determine who is who.  Usually Anna's wears her hair just like Abby's.   Both of these girls make me so proud and happy.  Anybody who is a grandma knows what a thrill it is.  Just in case anybody is wondering Anna is 14 and Abby is 16.  Not sure how that happened.  Seems like day before yesterday they were playing with my American Girl dolls and having tea parties with me.

 Bryan, Jane, Anna, and Abby

 One of our civic duties for the summer.  Neighbor kids and I painted fire hydrants around Willernie.  Leekie, Amber, MyMy, Zoey and Aaron.

 KOA (Keep Old Active) club met at Judy's farm.  We had sand pail lunches that Judy put together.  It is always so much fun with these people.

And Mom's stone is finally in place.  We picked it out shortly after we returned from AZ.  I wanted to do it before we left but that did not happen. Kind of struggled picking it out.  At first I thought I wanted it to match Dad's.  But then it looked so masculine.  So we decided on this realizing that it didn't matter if it didn't match.  And besides anyone that knew my parents knew that they were two very different people.  So it was fitting in my eyes.  And I do like the humming birds because she so enjoyed them in AZ.