Kentucky Lake 191.365

After spending a few days in Gatlinburg, TN, we drove about six hours west to Paris Landing, on Kentucky Lake. We visited my Tita Pat and Uncle Larry. These were the best two days of our trip. Uncle Larry fried up lots of catfish that he caught - yummy!! Then he cooked up some BBQ ribs - best ribs anywhere!!! Mom and Tita Pat spent every moment catching up with each other. We also lit lot of firecrackers. The kids enjoyed doing this - but not as much as the adults did!!

Days 183 - 186

Day 183.365

Another Bunco night! I love spending time with these ladies!!

Day 184.365

Do you remember eating creamcicles (50-50 bars to some people)? These are the orange popcicles with the creamy center. My favorite!!! I found an outstanding recipe to make the creamcicles, but in a loaf that is easy to share for dessert!! YUMMY!!!

Day 185.365

Poor Clifford is hot! (and so am I!!) He goes from room to room to find the coolest spot to rest. I caught him on the fireplace hearth. Poor guy can't even fit on the thing!

Day 186.365

Pretty Pink Flower in a hanging basket. Makes me smile.

Plane ride 174.365

We were invited to a BBQ at a friend's hanger. Her husband is a pilot and gave me a ride in his Cessna 150. It's a small, two-seater - cramped quarters in the cockpit. Flew over the city for about 15 minutes. The white building / complex is the Mormon Temple. This was my first time in a small plane. I was nervous and a little worried because I get air sick when I fly on commercial planes. But this was not bad at all. My stomach lurched just a little on the descent. I can't wait to go up there again!!!

Wedding 169.365

This past Saturday I attended the wedding of the daughter of a friend of mine. It was an elegant affair. The bride was stunning and the groom quite handsome. This is the wedding cake. I thought it was so cute that they had all the mini cakes for the guests to eat. The colors of the wedding were sage green, white and black.

Congratulations to Adam and Kelly!!

Card for a friend 161.365

Homemade card for a friend. Hope it makes her feel better.

Graduation 159.365

Tonight was the 8th grade graduation. Here is Danny with his friend Kristine.

American Gothic 142.365

The school Spring Festival is on Thursday. The theme is (partly) Farming. Our art teacher painted this for the 5th grade to use as a fund raiser - for $1 you can have your picture taken with a friend! My friend and I were "testing" the picture for the art teacher...

Campaign Speech 137.365

Today, Danny had to do his campaign speech. It turned out that he was running unopposed. Even so, he still had to write and present his speech. All the students running for office had to speak in front of grades 3 through 8. (On a side note, I must say that one great aspect of our school is the many public speaking opportunities the student have.) I think that all the students did a fantastic job. They are so brave to run for office and speak in front of the school!!!

Danny is happy that he will spend his 8th grade year as the Commissioner of Technology. I think that he is equally excited that his best friend, Austin, was also elected into Student Council. This kid had run each year he could, and has lost each year, except for this one! I jumped and screamed when his name was called ver the intercom! These two boys will have such a fun 8th grade year!!!

Buoye Farms 129.365

Danny's class spent the morning at Buoye Farms. They grow Christmas trees, squash, tomatos, Maui onions, other veggies, and the VERY BEST BERRIES in the world. These strawberries are huge and so sweet. They are picked daily when truly vine ripened. It would be sacraligious to put sugar on these berries!

The little mouse and the big hungry bear would love to share one of these!!

Days 120 - 126

I know that I haven't posted in a week!!! As with all of you, life gets a bit crazy. Please forgive me for this longer post. I hope you have the energy and interest to continue reading to the end. I hope you enjoy the photos.

This past week, we were preparing to go to Northern California for the State Junior High Academic Decathlon in Redwood City. (For a funny rendition of our trip, please vistit Roger's Blog.)Danny and his team have worked diligently for the past eight months, studying for this competition, in addition to their regular school work. They were one of nine schools competing. Unfortunately, they did not place in any categories. But what they did take away from the competition was the experience to compete in such a high level, the friendships they have developed, and the knowledge that they did their best. As his mom, I am so very proud of Dan - his determination and commitment.

Instead of a photo of the day, here are some photos of the city by the bay...

The weather... It rained on us the entire day we were in San Fransisco. That's okay... It gave us the gift of the beautiful flowers.

A view of the bay from one of the marinas.

Flowers enjoying a view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Fisherman's Wharf... no really, this was a section of Fisherman's Wharf.

We were able to catch up with a high school friend (Tom G.) and his fiance. We haven't seen Tom since high school!! Here we are at Stanford University, where Tom is an alum. He gave us a tour around this beautiful campus. Thanks Tom!!!

This was a highlight for Dan's trip: our motel was right next door to a Ferrari / Maserati dealership!!! On Sunday morning, a Ferrari / Maserati club assembled, so we were able to take a gander at 20+ cars.

The Golden Gate Bridge. Even in the rain, she is breathtaking.

Joke Book 119.365

The Academic Decathlon team at our school is going to the state competition soon. Our decathletes have been working hard, meeting as a group twice a week (4 hours total), and working with their subject coaches. Each class is sponsoring a decathlete or two, which means we pray for them, make them cards, and thinks like that. We sponsor three students - two class siblings and my Danny. Our class thought that because they work so hard, they need something to relieve the stress. We collected our favorite jokes and made them a joke book. Each student in our class will sign the inside of the book. We will present it to them just prior to the event.

Bridal Shower 118.365

Last year I turned 40 - when did I become my mother's age??? Then, on my way to Kelly's bridal shower, I realized something. I am now really my mom's age. I am attending a bridal shower of a daughter of a friend of mine!!! I haven't been to a bridal or baby shower of any of my friends in, well, forever!!!

Here is Kelly admiring the scrapbook her sister, Kasey, made for her.

Me, Maria, Helen, Tammy, and Hailey enjoying the nice weather, fun decor, and each other's company.

Instead of cake, we had cupcakes. Aren't these just soooo fun????!!!!

Getting it Done!! 117.365

This is Kasey. Her sister is getting married in June. The bridal shower is tomorrow.

Kasey is such a sweet young lady. She wanted to make a scrapbook (her first!) documenting the year leading up to her sister's wedding. She started it last summer (I think) but has not touched it since then - wedding plans and just life got in the way!!

My friend Helen is a Creative Memories consultant and was having a crop tonight. So, Helen and I helped Kasey finish her book, giving her tips on how to use the tools, helping her with layouts and putting the pages together. We had loads of fun and she was so appreciative to get the book together.

Helen and I will be at the shower tomorrow. We are going to be Kasey's fan club and OOhh and Ahh for her when her sister looks at each page. :) I know that Kelly is going to love it!!

Soul Sisters

At the NCEA conference that I attended this week, I was able to see many nuns wearing their habits. This is interesting to me because nowadays, many nuns do not wear habits, but "regular" clothing. Anyway, I made it my mission that during the conference I would photograph as many sisters as I could. Here are a couple of wonderful sisters that I met during these past three days. I have never seen a purple nun!! Sr. Elizabethrose is from North Dakota. With her religious order, the sisters can wear regular cloths and the veil is optional. She choses to wear her veil. Sr. Anne is an Urseline nun from Nebraska. Her traditional habit is floor length.

NCEA Conference 107.365

This week, the homeroom teachers and specialty teachers from my school attended the National Catholic Educators Association (NCEA) conference in Anaheim, CA. My colleague and friend, Kathy, not only attended the conference, but she was also a presenter. Here she is, pointing out when her session is! She talked about the importance of having a Student Success Team at each school in order to meet the needs of all students, from special needs to gifted students. Kathy has so much knowledge and enthusiasm for this topic, and I'm sure she did a fantastic job at her session. She wouldn't let any of us watch her!!

Of course, there are pleny of vendors at this convention. I had to stop at this booth for the photo op! The reason is that Danny's nickname at Academic Decathlon is Danford from Stanford. I would be so proud of Danny if he was accepted to Stanford! (However, I wouldn't be any less proud of any college that he attended.)

M and W 46/365

It's the 2nd Thursday of the month!! Yippee!! Bunco night!!

My name is spelled with an "i". What a delight it was to find another Judi in the world that spells her name JUDI... We were both named Judith after St. Jude (again, how cool is that???). But neither of us fit the name Judith - sounds a bit victorian to me. Both of us do fit the bill for Judi - perky and fun! hehehe.

Bunco night we were both laughing lots and having such a good time. I forgot my camera, but thanks Judi (W), she had her camera phone and we took this shot. How could you not have fun with us???

Friends 29/365

I love these boys. Austin, Alexi, and Danny have been friends since kindergarten. They are the only original boys left from their kindergarten class. It has been great seeing them grow up from little cutie pies to young men. This picture was taken at a school skate party.

Friends 2/365

I was thinking a lot about one of my friends today. They are especially on my mind today because Brigid and her family are traveling to New Zealand (with a 4 day stop in Fiji!!). They will be living there for about eight months. Even though we don't get to see as much of each other as we each would like, I truly enjoy the time we do spend together. So I was feeling a little meloncholy about her absence in my little world for the next few months.

I am not a person with a whole gaggle of friends, but the ones I have I cherish. All my friends are truly blessings in my life. They help me remember where I've been in my life and help me get to where I need to go. It is wonderful to have friends for the different compartments of my life. And when one fits into more than one place, that's just icing on the cake!! They may come and go and come back again as life allows, but God always makes sure the right person is around when I need her.

If I am lucky to count you as a friend, thank you for alway being there when I need you. I pray that you feel you can count on me too.