Rejoice in the Lord always. Philippians 4:4a
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"The Lord be with you! The Lord bless you! ..." ~ Ruth 2:4 NIV
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." ~ A. A. Milne
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma." Gracie Allen
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” –e.e. cummings

Don't let the noise of the world keep you from hearing the voice of the Lord.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Today's Flowers # 154

It's been a while since I've joined with everyone and their gorgeous flowers around the world.
The petunias are happy in the heat, but the phlox would like it just a bit cooler than 95-100 for the past twelve days.
More pots of petunias that looked nice for last weekend's wedding picnic.
There are pots everywhere. The red impatience pots like the early morning sun on this side of the house.
Check out lots more at
Today's Flowers!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Party in the Country

After the reception at church we had a picnic supper at home. Nothing fancy (i.e. rented=$$) as the whole wedding was very thrifty.
Dancin' on the driveway slab
Nephews, aka, the ushers: Ryan and Zach
Allison wheeling Ali around for a spin.
Twirling
Watching and chatting.
Never did see these two guys up. Wally would have been right there beside Maxx and Ianne as he did not like to dance!
Time out!
Even mom (me) danced. That was the longest song I've ever heard. Sarah and Floyd are most likely laughing at me complaining about dancing forever.
We've been moving Sarah, Alex, Maxx, and Ali into the remodeled house this week, so we are looking forward to resting up before we move more boxes from here to Denver. She is her mother's daughter, after all!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

More Wedding

My patience for loading lots of pictures is nil...I did get the dishwasher unloaded, filled, laundry sorted and started, trash bagged, and other daily chores finished. Faster internet is coming when it's cooler so the guys can work on the roof and attic(?) without melting up there.

Guests were "finger printed" and leaves were added to the wedding tree. Sarah loves owls and found this unique guest book on line!
Jade grabbed bunches of petals and threw them down the aisle. It cracked me up. Olivia is looking at the "mess" behind them, but she came all the way down to the front with Jade!
My brother, Sarah's godfather, walked her down to meet Alex.
I made the ring pillow with two of Wally's shirts and Sarah picked one of his bow ties to put around it.
Three beautiful "maids".
The aunts reading a piece from Madeleine L'Engle's The Irrational Season. You may click on the title and read it.
The maid of honor and best man
Already in high heels!
Sarah Josephine and Aura, Alex's sister-in-law. We missed having his parents, but they weren't able to come from the Philippines for the wedding.
Sarah and Alex exited to Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi. Their cake topper had magnets so they'd be kissing, but they were not matched correctly and wouldn't link together! Yummy cupcakes frosted and decorated by Solana, Joyce, and Aunt JoAnn. They did it at church before the wedding because it was too hot at home! Solana filled them Friday afternoon with rapsberry whipped cream. Oh. my. goodness! Divine!

My brother, me, Sarah, and Alex. I can't believe how short I am! (And can't stand the poor grammar of 'me' not coming at the end of the sentence. Much easier for ID, though).
Alex and the "maids"
Cousins!! (Olivia's mom)
My sweethearts!
Sarah and Sarah
Ali and Sarah
Julie and Sarah
I've just about caught up and recovered from a day of fever and flu-like body aches. On to the rest of the summer. Teachers go back AUGUST 10! Oh, MY!!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Celebration

My baby's beautiful!
We had lots of tears in the weeks before this day because we were missing her daddy. She carried him with her on her bouquet. I didn't know it until I saw the pictures, then cried once more.
The cousin's daughters were flower girls and this is probably the only moment they had their headbands and shoes on at the same time!
With thanks to Aunt JoAnn for making the tutus and Aunt Ginny for getting the matching shoes and leotards, our wee ones were too cute!
Sarah brought home flowers from Safeway in Denver and the "maids" made the bouquets. The one with the crystals in the middle of each rose was Sarah's and she included one red rose in memory of Wally.
Alex and Sarah had a small cake for cutting and the guests were served cupcakes that she baked. A former student and friend of mine filled them with the yummiest raspberry cream filling, frosted and decorated them with lavender sugar sprinkles.
Here are the guys and my dollie.
More later of the girls and family.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Wedding

We had a beautiful day for the wedding. The bride was radiant, the girls beautiful and the men wore barongs from the Philippines and looked so handsome!
I was so tired on Sunday that I got up REALLY late, AND took an afternoon nap. More later.♥♫

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Colorado Monsoon

Colorado has a summer weather phenomenon that brings rain in July and August.
We've had rain for about eight days now and yesterday I went outside and heard a motor. I thought it was from a four wheeler, but none was in sight. It was a pump to drain the neighbor's pond (aka field)! I've never seen this field flood in more than 14 years!
It did make for a damp morning with these tiny drops on my Black Hills pine, my favorite evergreen with short, short needles.
The third group of lilies is now blooming and luckily were protected from the winds that came with the storm.
They also had rain drops.
Special note for Sarah: I did sew all day...but am taking a wee break. My problem is that I sew like I did when I was in 4-H and earned champion ribbons. I need to just "let it go" and GET IT DONE.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

What dress?

With special thanks to my friend, Joyce, we created two arrangements for the candelabras at church next Saturday. These were from silk flowers that were free, as I already had them.
For some reason I picked up two of the same small birdhouses last week when I went to Denver to fit Sarah's dress.
They are perfect accents that we decided to leave unfinished. Joyce is so creative and we had a nice visit while we played.

Oh, and the dress? I'm working on it. I promise!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Today's Flowers

I've been busy with wedding tasks while the garden does its own thing...grow and bloom.
The white and pink lilies are gone, now the dark pink ones are showing off.

At the other end of the garden the red ones are also opening. Much darker than the picture below.
And my happy flower, the daisies are looking pretty!
This would be the one summer that I wish every thing would bloom at once on July 23, Sarah and Alex's wedding day. But I've worked hard to have blossoms from March to October, so that won't happen this year or any other. Family and friends will be helping me out in the next two weeks to complete all the details.
I'm linking to Today's Flowers #151!