Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas 2011

What a beautiful time of life this is!!  I am so incredibly blessed to have had a year like no other.  I married my best friend in February, had a grandson in May, a beautiful granddaughter in October and my son graduated from college in December.  What a year!!  Here are a few pics of our momentous year.  Hope to post more soon!

Aunt Julie and Jaxon

Grandpa Steve and Jaxon

Aunt Donna and Molly

Grammy and Molly

Jaxon and his mom, Jamie

My dad... Papa

Sweet little Miss Molly

Grandpa Steve and Jaxon

Sweet Molly

Jamie and Jaxon reading a Christmas book.

Molly looks ready to play!!

Steve and Kim at the Cowboy Stadium

Kim and Jonathan in Detroit and his college graduation

Miss Molly and Uncle Jon

2011 Stockings...  Such a great family!!

Jaxon is ready for Santa Claus!!

Nite, nite little Molly!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Catching up... and counting my blessings...

Wow...  Life is sure different now that I am married.  It seems like I used to have plenty of time to blog but now, I hardly even think about it.  I will try to do better in 2012.  It's been such an incredible year.  Falling in love and getting married, being blessed with two adorable grandchildren, having my son get a cool internship with BMW in Germany for five months and then graduating from college in a few weeks.  God has been so good to our family.  It's hard to fathom how life could become any more grand.  Pictures to follow soon!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Constitution

Saw this quote this morning and thought it was worth sharing...

"We the people are the rightful masters of both the Congress and the Courts - not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution."

~Abraham Lincoln

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Fun Day... Skydiving!

Today was an awesome day... Jon, Christen, Brandon and Brad went skydiving. Papa and I went with everyone to watch and we had such a fun time. Below are some pics from the afternoon...

It's a little bittersweet, though, since Jon leaves to go back to Detroit early tomorrow morning. I'm gonna miss that boy!! I can't believe he graduates from college in December. I'm such a proud mom. :)


Anxiously awaiting for their names to be called...


Getting all psyched up!!

There they go!!!!


Here he comes!!


Christen and Jon floating down...


Papa is watching all the action...



Success is sweet!!!!





Thursday, August 11, 2011

Parental Pride...

There is something amazing about being a parent and seeing your children find success in their lives. Jon recently returned from a great experience in Germany where he worked for a fabulous company as a design intern. He's now pumped and ready to hit the books (and drawing pad) for one more semester to finish up his degree. Wish I could share some of his work from his experience, but it's all proprietary. :(

Then, today, Jen got an award at work recognizing her contributions to JCP's marketing efforts for custom decorating. Pictures below...

I'm bursting with pride (and so very happy for both of my kiddos)!!




Thursday, August 4, 2011

Blog Update...

Well, my regular blog postings have been terribly sporadic lately!  I guess being married has created a little less time for frequent updates.  But... that's a really good thing.  I'm having an absolute blast being married to Steve.  We have the best time together, just doing little everyday things.  In addition, it's been a very busy summer!!  Most recently, we had a fun shower at one of my sweet sister-in-law's house and little Molly got some adorable things.  Below is a picture of the grandmoms-to-be.  Dawn, Kim and Gail.  Don't we all look great in pink?!!  It was such a nice event.

Before that, we spent Father's Day with my dad in White Deer.  We bought him a weather station and Steve installed it for him.  He is loving it.  He can check the wind, rain and temperature right from his easy chair! 


Steve also had surgery on his shoulder this summer.  He is recuperating but is having to do stretching exercises to keep it loose.  At least he's not in as much pain as he was before.  


Below is a picture of little Miss Molly's closet BEFORE the shower.  I cannot imagine what it looks like now.  That little girl will have enough clothes to have a new outfit every day for several months!!  They are all adorable, too!!

I also attended a College Business Management Institute in Lexington, KY at the end of July for an entire week.  Even though this is a picture of a goofy hat and glasses from the one social event we had, it was a week of classes, including Accounting, Plant Operations, HR, Business Operations, etc.  It was a good week and I will get to participate in this conference for a week for each of the next two summers.  Interesting tidbit... this program has been in existence for 59 years at the University of Kentucky.  

Below is another picture from the baby shower.  Our niece and great niece were able to come and Bailey was such a great little helper during the shower.  She brought presents to Jennifer and also helped her open a few.  She's such a cutie pie!!
Below is a sweet pic of Jaxon and Julie.  I was so glad Julie, Jamie and Jaxon were able to come to the shower!!

I think this is one of our first pictures of three generations!  Kim, Jen and Molly!!

And then, we have JB...  Cute as a button and such a joy in our lives.  Here she is hiding in our shopping bags.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Our First Vacation...

A couple of weeks ago, Steve and I enjoyed our first vacation together... We had so much fun. We flew to Washington D.C. and arrived in time for Steve's great Uncle and his wife to pick us up from the airport. Cecil and Nancy were so much fun. (I can't believe that I didn't get a single picture of them, but they reminded me so much of Roger and Sandy... so light-hearted and happy.) We first stopped by their cute carriage house in DC proper and took a short walk to the Eastern Market, which is a combination indoor and outdoor market with food, crafts, etc. The combination of music, delicious smells and ambiance was so fun! (But it was so HOT and HUMID!) Nothing like a little sweat to help make a nice first impression!! Oh, well. :) Cecil mentioned that his favorite restaurant in all of DC was at the American Indian Museum. Steve and I were fascinated to see why... so we took the subway/train a few blocks and then had a delicious lunch there. I could see why he loves it. It was so interesting. They had several cooking stations with a variety of native American foods. I had a chipotle chicken fry bread meal while others had buffalo burgers, etc. Such an interesting way to begin our visit.

After lunch, we received a call from Steve's brother, Gary, who is a church organist (in addition to being an internationally-known composer and performer). He had been called to a funeral for a dignitary and was finished sooner than he expected, so Cecil and Nancy drove us to the church to meet him. We then drove to Gary and Julie's home and I had a chance to freshen up. It felt so good to get into fresh, cool clothes! Much better!! Julie was out of town, so Gary, Steve and I hung out and visited. Below are some pics from various points in our visit:


Gary (brother 3) and Steve (brother 2)


The rushing waters of the Potomac.


Steve and Gary battling it out over the stove. (It was a contest all week to see who was the "the Chef" vs. "the Cook!")


Toward the end of the week, we drove to California, MD to stay the night with Paul (brother 1) and his wife, Donna. Their yard was a sanctuary... literally. I think it was 1/3 of an acre and fully planned and beautifully designed. Lush greenery, flowers and specially appointed trees, with bird baths and bird feeders everywhere! It was gorgeous!!


Paul and Donna, on their porch, as we were leaving. Such a sweet couple and a perfect, beautiful home... (Plus, I got some delicious recipes!!)


One afternoon, Steve's dad and his girlfriend, Christine, Steve and I went to the new Air and Space Museum Annex near the airport. Oh, my! What a treat!! I got to see a Concorde, a Stealth fighter, and the Enterprise Space Shuttle. It was such a cool thing to do.


Christine and David (Steve's cute dad)


My sweetie... Steve, at the Orchards. We went to get some fresh corn, but it wasn't ready yet, so we left with only a few cherries. :(


Fun at the Irish Inn... On Monday evening, we picked Julie up from the airport and after a quick change, met everyone at the Irish Inn. It was a small restaurant that was packed with fun. Because they are frequent guests, we got "THE" prime table in the restaurant, which was right beside the musicians who jammed with Irish music all evening. We had a very traditional Irish menu (Steve had some sort of Irish sausage and I had fish and chips) YUM! It was such lively fun music and at one point, Julie (who is a professional singer) joined the group and sang a couple of Irish ballads. It was great!! And she's another great talent!!!


This is the front door to the place. Fun memories!!


This is the pic of Gary's church on Sunday morning before the services began. All of those pipes are connected to his organ, which he plays magnificently!! What a talent!!!

It was a wonderful trip, filled with relaxing moments, a little exercise with some beautiful walks through the tree-lined neighborhoods, a little bit of touring, and fun getting to know Steve's family. Just have one more brother and sister-in-law to go, but they are on the other side of the country in Washington State. So... likely a stop for an upcoming vacation.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day...

Not quite a typical Memorial Day, since Steve has to work today, but I'm enjoying a quiet pleasant day with JB and Max. I'm also going to meet "the girls" for lunch at Mi Concina, so that should be fun!

Hope everyone has a great holiday!!

Friday, May 20, 2011

How Big is a Yottabyte?

How Big is a Yottabyte?

It's BIG!!

Terabyte
Petabyte
Exabyte
Zettabyte
Yottabyte

I love learning new things!

Happy Days... Little Miss Molly

On Tuesday, I had the joy of having my first personal glimpse of Little Miss Molly. She was absolutely precious, just moving around and dancing. While these sonogram pictures are cute, you could tell from just watching her move around while the doctor was checking her out that she is going to be a joy. I can hardly believe how active and real she already is. AMAZING... God is so GOOD and I am SO BLESSED!


Sunday, May 15, 2011

Mother's Day 2011

What a very special day it was to celebrate Mother's Day with Jen, Ryan and the McCrady's this year. We had delicious pizza and yummy cupcakes, but the most special event was learning that our sweet grandchild is a "SHE!!" Her name is Molly Noelle and she's going to be such a loved little girl.

See Jen's blog for the details... (She has such a special way with words and she has more pics!!) I love my new Brighton necklace that has family, grandmother and M charms. I've worn it nearly every day and love getting to share my good news with all our family and my work friends. So excited for this precious addition to our family...!!