It's the Red, White & Blue Day

 Since tomorow is August 1st, maybe it's time to get the July blogs done!  I can't believe how BUSY July was!  WOW !  But I'm excited that August is looking to be a LOT less busy, so maybe camping will be on the list!

4th of July - one of my favorite holidays to decorate!!  The Keppys had let us know in advance that they were coming down for a couple of nights so we were prepared!

I had dinner waiting for them when they walked in the door and we enjoyed the evening watching Top Gun!  All of us wanted to see the new one "Maverick" so decided we needed to refresh our memories on the original movie!

Sunday morning was CINNAMON ROLLS with our coffee on the deck - YUM!!   I believe I could eat Jessi's creation every morning with my coffee!  But I'm sure my waistline wouldn't appreciate that!

We had a relaxing day - played lots of games and cards!  I was supposed to take Kylan to LVR that day as Jaime was working and Brad was out of town, but Gary said he would drive him over!  That was so nice of him to offer so there was EXTRA time to play cards!

Gwyn was super tired during the time she was there - not sure if she was fighting a bug or something but she ended up taking a 3 hour nap!  WOW!

Dinner that night was steak with all the trimmings - yum!  Rayna came over and joined us a little later!

There was rain in the forecast and sure enough it came - but the sun was out so we all raced outside to see if there was a rainbow - indeed there was!

And then it was the 4th!  This little girl was all decked out!

After breakfast, Jessi and I headed over to the Wild Horse Cafe for coffee!  It was delicious as usual and we loved the patriotic napkins!

We sat outside for quite a while in the sun and then moved inside for a while - talk, talk, talk - we had a lot to catch up on apparently! Check out my earrings that Jessi brought for me to wear that day!

Gary and Evan had left that morning to go hike Pikes Peak - and they made it!  They had a great hike and said the new gift shop at the top was wonderful and Evan stated the donuts were excellent!  Glad they got to do this and enjoyed the hike!

I love the way they all dress up for the 4th!

Kenzie helped me do chocolate covered strawberries - oh my, they were good!

Jaime and Brad joined us for ribs that night that Glenn had smoked that day - they tasted great and the weather cooperated enough that people could sit outside to eat!  And we had my yummy chocolate cake for dessert!

The Keppys left about 7 that night and fortunately didn't hit bad traffic - they even saw fireworks on the way home which was a bonus!    A great weekend it was!

June Photo Dump

 Gosh - it's already mid-July and I'm just doing the photo dump!!  OH well - it IS summer!

New chairs for the back deck - finally!!  I love them!

I can't remember if this was a belated birthday or Father's Day from the girls!  Anyway, it's cute and that's the year he was born!!

My plant in the window went crazy!!  I guess it's time to repot it!

The full moon in June - very pretty!

I ordered myself an early birthday present - a firepit for the front!  I really am enjoying it and use it a couple times a week!

Carl, Geri, and grandson Dylan stopped in for dinner and the night!

Our new sign at the bottom of the driveway - Glenn built the stand!

And that's a wrap for June - and now it's onto the BUSY month!  HA!

Mountain Camping

 Even though we had a camping trip on the calendar, we did leave a day later since Glenn's sister and family were stopping to spend the night with us on their way home from a family reunion!

We decided to just go somewhere close since it would only be for 2 nights - so Buffalo Peaks it was!  I knew the wild flowers would be out there and it's only a 45 minute drive!

When we were pulling in, we knew exactly where we wanted to be and we could see there were a couple of port a potties down that way and all these white rocks situated on a driveway.  When we got down there, I read the sign on the gate to get in - there were 14 camping spots with firepits and this year we could camp for free but next year they would be charging!!  REALLY?  I have no problem with paying but now one of our favorite spots would be in an actual campground!  Progress - hmmmmmm.

There was only 1 other camper there at the time but we knew it would fill up soon since we were heading towards the 4th of July weekend!  We found a nice spot and got set up and soon were on the razor blazing the trails!

Yes, Bob - the cabin is still there!  Same shape as always!

The columbines were elusive as usual but I found a patch - they're so beautiful!

I always love this view of the mountains by Buena Vista!

We had a nice afternoon driving around and got back before the rain started!  Nap time is always nice for Glenn when it's raining outside and I enjoyed reading!  We had a campfire that night and a couple more people pulled in!

It's funny how we're such early risers at home but when we're camping we tend to sleep in - a LOT!  I packed a lunch and we headed out!  Came upon this beautiful flower that we had never seen before!

We were disappointed that one major trail that we take was all shut down for restoration - I have a feeling that the last 2 summers have been hard on the trails and grasses from all the campers - I certainly understand why they've shut it down but it's disappointing since we always like to take that trail to go back to the old bus!

There's still a little bit of snow on the mountains but not much!

We headed back to the camper when it started to rain - and then it rained and rained and rained!  No campfire that evening!  When there was a break in the weather, we decided to go up to the highway to check our phones as there's no service where we were camped!  OH MY GOSH - the road was horrible!  We met one large 5th wheel that was going way too fast and his tire slid off but he corrected and got it back on the road - there were 2 sets of campers just waiting at the top where you turn off the highway, I'm sure just waiting till the road settled a little bit!  

On our way back, we saw tracks where someone had went off the road but it was pretty flat there so he must have gotten back on the road just fine!  Take a look at the razor - it and US were quite muddy!

We woke up to sunshine but there was no way we could leave until the sun came out and firmed up the road a little bit - several campers came in that morning and I'm sure they were glad to have our spot once we left!  A nice but short camping trip!

The Wedding Dress

Although we left for home on Monday morning, the girls and their families were staying another day at their dad's place - and Nadine had invited Kenzie and Aleah up to try on the "dress".  Nadine is our collector of antiques and anything relating to our history and she has preserved the wedding dress of my great-grandma which would be the grandkids', great-great-grandmother.

Nadine loves to have any girls in the family, come to her house when they are 12 or 13 and try on the dress so she can take pictures for her album.  It's kind of a rite of passage!  I remember when Patty, Teri and I all went up there and tried the dresses on too!  Teri and her family had stopped in on Friday and Loren tried on the dress!

I was SO pleased to know that all 3 girls brought their families (minus the young boys and Gwyn) to Don and Nadine's and took plenty of pictures!  Nadine's place is a treasure!  And SO MUCH to look at!

Robby and Brad outside of an out building - I LOVE seeing all of those signs!

And first up was Kenzie trying on the dress - both girls were a little too busty to button the front!

Next up was Aleah - they both looked precious in the dress!

Gary and Don outside the"she shed" - Don's last project!

The inside of course has lots of antiques and memorable items, and Nadine has a story for each!

 So glad the families got to see their place AND have the girls try on this precious wedding dress!

Reunion Day - Part 2

 We had a delicious catered lunch brought in from a nearby town and it was excellent!  Plenty of leftovers of course!  Jim had brought in the movable picnic tables to put on his outside cement and between those and the garage, there was plenty of room to eat and visit!

We decided we better hit the garage sales before they all shut down - well, we missed most of them but the one by Patty's was still open and Gwyn fell in love with this puppy!!  What a cutie!

The guys spent a LOT of time in Jim's "Pouty House" which is air conditioned and I'm sure MANY games of pool were played!

Teri and I provided the snacks for the afternoon - by this time ALL the grand kids were hungry again - aren't they always?  I believe it was one of my girls that commented that the 3 sisters all had purple on - figures!  We think alike!

We were a little concerned that all of the grandkids weren't really mingling with those they didn't know so we decided to set up a bags (or as some of us call it - corn hole) tournament.  Jessi entered all of the names on her phone and it mixed them up into pairs - after a few tries of mixing, we felt the pairs were pretty fair so we had all the kids come up and told them who their partner was and the games began!

We ALL had fun watching them - Leonard did the brackets and each set played the games and moved up in their standings as the afternoon went on!

Jim has a golf cart so many of us used it that day!  Robby and Jill were all smiles as they took it for a spin!

And finally the winner was announced - Matias and Evan!!  Aleah and Jensen came in 2nd place!

We were thrilled to have Don and Nadine, along with cousin Brent and Eugenie and their 2 boys join us late afternoon - they are our only living aunt and uncle so it was really special to have them come and meet a lot of the grandkids that they had never met!

Dinner again was catered and it was wonderful!  We girls sure appreciated the fact that we didn't have to cook on this day - clean up was pretty easy and everyone loved the food!

One thing that was on our agenda was to recreate a picture of OUR kids that I believe was taken in 1995 at Patty and Leonard's old house - and it was easy to do since Josh owns the house now!  We had the kids sit in the same spot as before!!

Isn't it amazing how they've changed!  A fun picture to retake!!

All in all, it was an AWESOME day - so much visiting - pictures to look at - games to play - great food and drinks - just a wonderful day!!  And we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset that night!

Tired but happy, we headed back to our house for the night and I packed up as we left the following morning to head back home.  ONE AMAZING REUNION!

Reunion Day - Part 1

The day started out fantastic - beautiful weather - bright sunshine!  We all gathered at Patty's place and Patty explained the events of the day and the times of our meals!  Teri's daughter Amanda is a wonderful photographer with a really nice camera so we had asked her in advance if she would take the group pictures!  After she arrived and checked out the lighting, she said the best place would be next door at Josh's house (where Patty and Leonard used to live).  There's a great deck in the back and it made for wonderful pictures!

First up was the entire group - all 48 of us with only two missing - Amy, who was in the hospital getting chemo and Cheri's daughter Kyra who lives in CA.  What a great looking bunch!

Grandkids of the 4 siblings (plus Lane who was not being cooperative at that time of the morning).

Kids of the 4 siblings (minus Amy)

And the 4 siblings

Amanda also took family pictures

And this picture is of all of the grandkids that were born in the same year, 2007!  2 are ours, 3 are Patty's and 1 is Teri's!  THAT was a busy year!

After the pictures, the majority of us headed out to the South Church - we all wanted to share with our grandkids where we used to go to church in the summer when we were growing up, see and play the pump organ inside the church and see the graves of our relatives!

What a gorgeous picture of this church that holds so many memories!

The kids were amazed at the cool balcony and the stained glass windows.

I played the pump organ and a couple of the kids tried it too!  Gwyn thought her legs needed to be longer - I agree!

What a great picture taken from the balcony (I borrowed some of these pics!)

 After the South Church, we headed over to the farm to show the kids where we used to live and some of the farm ground!  We made it back to Soldier just in time for our catered lunch!  To be cont'd...