Wedding Fun!

Ok... so I had hoped it would be easier to choose some of my favorite photos from the wedding and do a 'quick post'. HA! Gone are the days when you had 80 'proofs' to choose from and decisions were fairly easy. Here, in the age of digital, you are given 1600 digital pictures to 'choose' from. Impossible. I've chosen just a few to share for now. We are crazy busy getting A and C packed up for their move to Colorado. Steve and I are also heading off on an adventure, so time is limited. But I wanted to share a few more...

Guys room. Things look different with a bunch of guys getting ready and waiting for the appointed hour. Rock Band. Go figure.









Girls room. Focus is TOTALLY on the bride. Totally. As it should be.











Down to the very detail of each hair.











New family photo with our parents. Such a happy day. Surrounded by so many dear family and friends. We are so blessed!










First to come in were R & M (and my grandbaby!!!)



















Followed by K and A's roomie.

















The ceremony was so meaningful and so beautiful..











It is so easy to see how much they love each other.
This is one of my favorite pictures.....












They made their way through a tunnel of bubbles and out into A's grandpa's convertible for a ride to the reception










Where they made their grand entrance! The whole wedding party was decked out in sunglasses and really grooving to the music!















After a delicious dinner and some wonderful toasts, the dancing begun!!! What a celebration! I think the dance floor was packed all night.










Again, surrounded by friends and family, what better way to celebrate the beginning of a new marriage!
















Blessings to you dear A & C!!!!!! So blessed to have a new daughter in law.
















Well.. that is just a taste. I keep seeing more and more pictures that I would love to be able to share with you. If you are ever in the neighborhood and have some time, stop by!!!


My next post will be in a few weeks and filled with our next incredible adventure.

Stay tuned.

Until Next Time....

Quick Wedding Recap....

What a wonderful weekend we had! I am still flying high on all the wonderful memories! I don't have a lot of pictures to share with you, but thought I would share the few I have, and do a more detailed post later when the professional pictures come back!!!

I'll start with the baking! We spent Thursday dipping the 250 cakeballs that K made and then Thursday night we invited some friends and family over for 'box night' where we put together 250 favor boxes; placed a cakeball inside and then tied it all with a purple ribbon. There was one of each of these at each place setting.







The cupcakes that we made on Monday were frozen and taken out of the freezer Saturday morning. After approximately 2 hours of thawing on cooling racks, we placed them on the cupcake stand. My mom and dad showed up and were put to work!!








The oreos were added just before we placed them on the stand.. but we have found that the buttercream freezes well, and sure saved time not having to frost all of these on Saturday!! The DJ who was working at the reception said it was the best buttercream he has had.... and I imagine he eats a lot of buttercream. I think he was pretty happy with the dozen cupcakes he ended up taking home after the reception! (We had a GREAT DJ who made for a GREAT time of celebrating!!!) I admit to having blisters on my feet from all of the dancing!!









Steve and K were thinking they looked pretty cool!!!












CB (Now CR) was a radiant bride!!!! She just looked absolutely stunning!!! Here she is surrounded by all of her sisters now!











A was quite a dashing groom - if I can say that as mother of the groom!!! Seemed quite content catching kisses from the bridesmaids!











Steve and I - Parent's of the Groom.



















The reception was a blast!! So fun to be surrounded by friends and family. My friends who I have known since I was young (like 4 years old) were there with their families.








One of my favorite dances was the 'sibling' dance where anyone with siblings were invited out on the dance floor. I was out there with my 4 brothers, who all made the trip down from Minnesota. Later on, we were all back on the dance floor with my parents looking very cool. This is the family I grew up in. Yes, I was the only girl. You can feel sorry for me..... :-)






Well, that is a brief recap. I'll do a more detailed post when I have more pictures..... Let's just say it tied R & M's wedding day as on of the happiest days of our life!!!


Until Next Time....

Final Countdown....

One thing I have found true in life is that time just keeps marching forward... even during times when one needs it to slow down just a little!!! We are in the final days before the wedding and are busy with all of the preparations. So far things have been going well. We are all still smiling and enjoying the process. Excited that the forecast is for sunny skies and 82 degrees. Now to just keep pressing on and making every moment count.

But the wedding isn't the only thing that has been going on! Both A and CB graduated from college! Here we are at A's celebration!











CB's family joined us as well! This is A's soon to be second family. How blessed he is with such wonderful in-laws!!











CB's graduation was the next day! Congratulations to both of you!!!!












During it all I kept knitting away on my Multnomah shawl. I had a bit of a set back and had to rip out several rows, but got all the stitches safely back on the needles and pressed on. And actually finished a week ahead of the wedding. The only bummer is that when I tried it on with my dress, it didn't go at all with the style of the dress!!! Oh well. I will figure out how to wear it to the rehearsal!!!





In the midst of graduation and wedding, we are also trying to stay on top of our plans for our trip to Africa which is coming up quickly. We've been applying for visa's; meeting with the team and getting our shots. 4 of them in one day for me!!! Fortunately they had fun bandaids which always helps!!!













K is home now and we are getting ALL the baking done for the wedding. Cakeballs are done and in the freezer. Cookie dough is made and ready to bake. Cupcakes are now all done and ready for the reception. Phew.






My job was making the buttercream (7 batches!!) and frosting the over 290 cupcakes that K made. Probably the most one decorator bag has been used in this house!!!















We did crown the bride 'sprinkle girl' and she was quite good at adding the finishing touches to the cupcakes!!! (With A's encouragement and support!!)















But the mastermind and chief chef of the day was K!!












So today she is taking a little break and soaking in the sun with Sophie enjoying it with her. Tomorrow is another big day in the kitchen dipping all the cakeballs and baking and dipping cookies. Yum.




Until Next Time...

New News.......

Made this tray of cookies and cupcakes to take up to M's school yesterday. The colors of the drizzle were chosen very strategically to help announce the big news.......









R&M are expecting!!! I am going to be a GRANDMA!!!! How amazing is that??? Here is how it was announced yesterday... with fun letters being revealed during a class photo when M said "Everyone say - 'Mrs. R is having a baby!'".... So they got fun expressions from all of the class reacting. (Which of course I can't post online...) I think she is puffing baby out a bit in this picture for effect.... but she is definitely starting to show. They couldn't have kept it a secret much longer!!! Need to start thinking about all the baby knitting I will want to do!!!!


Got lots of knitting inspiration this past weekend at Sheri's annual Spring Fling in St. Louis. This is always such a highlight of the year for me. Great knitting; great classes; great food and always amazing friends.. both from years past and brand new!!!








I didn't take many photos and always kick myself for this. (As soon as I figure out how to download from Flickr in usable format I will post more..) I spend most of my time playing Loopy Elf. I even graduated to an official Loopy Elf which is shown by this official Loopy Elf coffee mug that Sheri ordered for me. (ALL of the elves have them). I got to take mine home, but will certainly be bringing it will me whenever I go to St.. Louis to play elf!!





This is the first year that I actually snuck in to one of the classes that were being taught. This is Jared Flood (who is very well known in the knitting world...) and he was teaching how to knit a sweater without a pattern. I totally left that class with the confidence that I could cast on and knit my first sweater. And I plan to as soon as I cross many of the other 'need to knit' items off my list. (Which now includes MANY baby items!!!) He is a great teacher and it was a GREAT class. I just wish I could have taken classes from all of the teachers (Wendy Johnson, The Sanguine Gryphon, and Anne Hanson) that were there. Maybe next year.....







I did watch as Gryphon taught Sheri how to knit backwards. Very interesting concept and I need to see if I can remember how she was doing that.....











K came down for part of the weekend and made Cake Balls for Saturday night. Over 300 of the tasty treats and there were very few left over!!! Yum.










I came home and immediately cast on my first shawl. It is in Dream in Color Starry in the Plum Paisley colorway. My hope is to have it ready to wear to A and CB's wedding in a few weeks. I obviously have some knitting to do......









We are getting very very excited around here. Wedding.. baby.... Life is good.









Until Next time...

Less Than 6 Weeks....

Until the big day! May 22nd we will be celebrating the marriage of our son A to CB. We are so excited to be adding another beautiful daughter in law to our family. We consider ourselves extremely blessed!!!!








On Sunday we drove up to Minneapolis for a bridal shower for Carol, put on by my wonderful sister-in-laws. (And Sue!) Thanks for such a wonderful day!! This picture shows 3 of the 4.... Sure missed you Robin! Thanks to everyone who planned it and who came for showering CB with your love and wonderful gifts!!












It was the first shower that CB has had and it was fun to see the themes of their future home coming through in the colors and items that they have chosen.










In preparation for the wedding, we have been running different experiments. One is trying to find 'the perfect' size cakeball. Yes, these are 4 different sizes! Fortunately for us, Steve volunteered to eat the samples. Just don't know what we would have done without him!!!! Today's experiment involves eating cupcakes. I'm doing the work for this one on my own!!!!




We had a fun Easter weekend with a visit from my parents. All of the kids were around and the house was full of laughter. That always makes me happy. (And it REALLY makes Sophie happy!!) Made Strawberry Cream Cheese French toast for breakfast. Always a hit!






For our main meal on Easter, I decided to cook Prime Rib. I have done it a few other times, but I think this was the best one yet. If you are interested in cooking a prime rib, here is what I did.

You need a good deep pan with a wire rack so air circulates around the meat. I sliced two onions and put them on the bottom of the pan. (Next time I will double the number of onions!) Place the meat fat side up on the rack. I rubbed chili flavored olive oil over the entire thing and then covered it with course sea salt and cracked black pepper. (Next time I would not rub the two ends with salt and pepper.. just the oil. It made those cuts of meat too salty to eat!!) The next step is CRITICAL!!! Insert a GOOD meat thermometer into the center of the meat. (I have a digital one I purchased at a kitchen store that I love!!) Preheat oven to 500 degrees and put meat in for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 225 degrees and cook until the thermometer reads 135 degrees. Remove from oven and cover with foil for 15-20 minutes. Slice and ENJOY!!! We used the onions in the juices as our 'aus jus'. Yum!! As far as time.. We had an 8 pound prime rib. We started it at 10:30 am and we ate at 2:15 or so. Well worth the wait!!!!


Sophie was outside smelling the meat cooking and begged to come in. We let her and even gave her a little taste. Fortunately she is still willing to eat her dry dog food after tasting such yumminess!!!







Until Next Time....

I'm Still Here.....

Well, rumor on the street is that some people are getting a little tired of looking at the big bowl of gummy bears from my last post and are ready for me to update. Honestly, it feels like just yesterday when I did that one.... (although the gummy bears are long gone......)

Things are getting pretty exciting around our house as we have less than 2 months until A and CB's wedding!!!! Lots to do and think about. We are all trying hard to not stress out! We want to keep the planning fun. So far, so good I think!!!

Speaking of weddings, we had the privilege of flying to San Diego this past weekend to share in the wedding of our dear friend's son. It was an outdoor wedding in the most beautiful setting. And the day was perfect in every respect. Steve had the honor of being a groomsman!








It was fun to be able to be there celebrating with our friends. Here are the parents and sister of the groom. I have to say, marriage is such an exciting way to add another beautiful daughter to the family and I know they are thrilled with their new daughter-in-love!














The groom is in the navy, and one of the traditions at a naval wedding is the arch of swords. After the couple is wed, they must pass through the swords. At each sword barrier, they are told 'KISS TO PASS' and they must kiss before the swords are lifted and they can pass through. At the last sword stop, the bride is gently swatted on the bottom with the sword as she passes as the officer says 'WELCOME TO THE NAVY'..... very cute.




Steve also got to pass under the arch of swords with not one, but TWO bridesmaids hanging one on each arm. I think it was his favorite part of the service!!!! (Although I think he was really hoping he would get to carry a sword....)









Congratulations to M & J!! Thanks for letting us be part of your special day.

















We had a little time for sightseeing while we were there. Went to La Jolla and enjoyed walking along the beach. Even got to see a Harbor Seal 'nursery'.... Lots of baby seals.










Spent some time on Coronado Island as well. Great view of San Diego from there.


















Found a favorite new coffee shop. Made a couple of visits.... (And may or may not have brought some home with me!!)
















I actually also added a 'Peets Coffee and Tea' mug to my collection. And, of course, a Starbucks City mug. (although I never actually drank coffee at Starbucks on this trip....). I LOVE collecting mugs when we travel. They are fun to display and make a great, inexpensive souvenir.








One of our adventures came in the form of new technology... The car we rented was electric and we were pretty clueless on even how to START the thing!!! (Especially when we first picked it up at midnight!) The guys especially seemed to enjoy gathering around and reading the manual and seeing what all it could do. Weird. I was glad to get home to our car that you actually used a key to start...





Sophie was glad to see us when we got home, but had a great time with the kids over the weekend. She has a new bed that she absolutely LOVES. She especially loves to be able to lay on it and have the window cracked so she can breathe in the fresh air and keep track of what is going on outside. I admit that she is hopelessly spoiled....







And now that the snow is gone and Spring is in the air, she and Steve have started running again. And they both lived happily ever after.....















Until Next Time.....