Just so you know....

...my mom has just turned another year older and we celebrated in fine fashion out to Joyce and Jay's with four-wheelers, a jumpy castle, animals, Easter egg hunt, lots of wonderful food and I have pictures of all of it but no time to blog so I'm posting the most important pics....the others will come later. My mom has a legacy of service and kindness and this day she is honored not only by her family but her many friends....so here we are, the people that love her most....sure was a fun day.

..and here are the people that I love the most. A rare occasion when the family is all together. We gathered around my dad's old John Deere and snapped a picture of a moment that may not happen again for a long, long, time.

I'll post more pics later...got some good ones to share. Happy Easter to everyone out there in blog land...and a special thanks to my family for their cooperation with this awesome picture. I do love you all. 

Who'd have thunk it....

....I've become a bird watcher. Found this gobbler in an upscale neighborhood where Randy was painting. I guess they pretty much strut their stuff up there and go about where they want with no fear....these folks ain't gonna shoot a turkey fer sure.....

...and his friends are just heading to the back yard for their morning swim......

...and here are some critters I saw while meandering in nature yesterday....

Ducks in a pond quack a happy song.....

Doves in my yard eating all day long.....

...and a little bunny, hiding in the bushes.

Just some stuff...

 I like to spend time here enjoying my spring planting.

A little visitor stopped by this morning.

Our spring addition to our porch; sometimes it scares the birds away.

 ...and we just got back from here. Beautiful place.

Have a wonderful day....and let whatever you do today be enough.

Sunny day...

....and a jaunt to Daffodil Hill made for a nice Sunday afternoon. It was only about 40% but we loved it and took lots of pictures and enjoyed the wonder of it. This has been in the same family for many years and they plant all different varieties....a bunch each year.

The ones on the left are Randy's favorites....a little orange middle and I liked the lacy middles, bottom right...who knew there were so many different varieties of this lovely flower....

We love stopping at little towns along our way and there are a lot of them here. We took a different way home and drove through Fiddletown....(as my dad would say...don't blink or you'll miss it)....but we didn't miss the sign out front of this little candy shop and quickly screeched to a halt and went inside to meet the proprieters and buy some candy (home-made toffee, Randy's favorite) .......

.....and a t-shirt to add to my collection.

...oh, and I can never forget 41 years ago on this day that Scott and I were married. Randy is such a good sport to help me celebrate with my yearly lobster feast....we did it up right this year and I ate the whole thing.

....and speaking of accomplishments, Laynee and Spencer ran a race (5K, 6K, 10K....I don't know what it was) but Laynee won her category....kudos to Troy for keeping her going and finishing strong.

One more item I need to add to my post.....Spencer ran into this guy at Pasta Factory and the next day at the race and had enough guts to ask for a picture with him....I taught you well, Spence. There are the days you would all scatter when the camera came out in the presence of a celebrity so I'm very proud of you. 

We are HUGE fans of T-Minus 5 (Acapellastock fame). This is Fish (Jason Salmond) from the group. I know the rest of my family has been doing some fun stuff on Spring Break but this is the info I've received so far. 

Aw...Spring...

 

On this day...

...28 years ago Lauri got a sister. I think I was happier about that than me getting a second little girl after my boys but these sisters have been so fun to watch and raise all these years and now I get to watch them both be moms. Happy Birthday today, to a wonderful mother to these four little boys.....

...and speaking of sisters....Emily is a big sister to Matty and it's her birthday today as well.

I was able to take my three oldest grand daughters out for ice cream in honor of Em's birthday while I was home last week. Cute kids....I'll get them up to visit me here one of these days.

So a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my girls today.....Traci and Emily be sure to eat some cake.

Things don't always go as planned...

...but we had a great day. We headed up to Daffodil Hill without calling ahead (my bad) and found out it doesn't open until next Friday. They were hit with some late cold weather so the flowers haven't bloomed yet but you can bet, I'll be there....but for today, we explored around Volcano, California picking up a couple of geocaches, one by a cemetery and one by an old school....

..and happened on a street and a hotel named St. George. Then we headed up to see the Indian grinding stone.....read about it here.

We got a few pictures, saw some wild turkeys,  then headed on to Sutter Creek for a little shopping and a banana split...yum.

I forgot to mention that we ate lunch out on the patio at a quaint little place in Volcano, Ca and I got this picture of a bird that I'd like to share.

Also, a while back, Josephine stitched a piece that I finally got framed and it turned out so beautiful that I had to add it to my blog.

She keeps herself busy all day with her stitchery and I've been the recipient of a couple of beautiful pieces. We've had a great day and enjoyed the sunshine. I heard a quote in a movie I watched this past week where a man has lost his wife and people are trying to push him to find people to do things with....to which he replies..."I have plenty of people to do things with but I need someone to do nothing with." I do enjoy doing nothing with Randy but we also love seeing and exploring new places together. Stay tuned....Daffodil Hill next week.

The reason I came....

....of course, was the baptism of Seth and it was a good one. So proud of my family, Drew who gave the Baptism talk, Laynee a prayer and Shana played the piano and we all showed up to support Seth; and Spencer did a mighty fine job with the baptism and confirmation. Shana and Spencer hosted the family at their home for a nice lunch....it was a nice Saturday morning activity.

I breeze into town once in a while and try to get as much in as I can with the kids. Had them all over for a little party on Friday night....just a wee "gala"....as Spencer and Shana were off to attend "Fire and Ice"...a fundraiser gala for Dixie College, so I themed our night the same with tiaras and ties for the kids. Not sure they appreciated that but it was colorful and fun.

We microwaved a few peeps, had a couple of treasure hunts, an Easter egg hunt and some painting going on but mostly just acted crazy for a couple of hours...(and I think we're all glad it wasn't a sleep-over).
I was able to get in a little basketball and snapped a few pics at baseball practice....always fun to see my boys coaching their kid's teams....

These families stay pretty busy but we were able to stop long enough for a few pictures. I was holding Molly and reminded Laynee of when I used to tend her and spend hours holding her in this very chair.

 I challenged her to sit on my lap one last time and the other little grand-daughters joined me.  It has been a fun week-end with the family. We walked around the temple grounds on Sunday and had a little photo shoot with Lauri and James and their little girls....

I love this time of year and it has been good to be home enjoying some of the things I dearly love; my family, my home, the beautiful sunshine, good health (knock on wood) and my life as a grandma.  I truly am blessed. I'll head out and to go back to my "life as a wife" which I love as well. See you soon, Randy. One last picture of Kyle introducing Molly to Sunday night craziness at my mom's.....

Love that look on her face.....this was after a few minutes of utter fright but she looks like she's enjoying the ride.