August in September

August arrived in September this year. 

Our first grandchild born to our oldest son, Tim and his wife, Lisa.

Lisa on September 1st waiting for August! 

August Samuel arrived on Saturday, September 19th (11 days early!) weighing 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 20 3/4" long. 

This is one of my favorite pictures. 

Look at him look at his mom! 

Just chillin' in his crib!

Such sweetness!

Another favorite picture -- sucking his thumb!

All that hair!

Mom and Baby... :)

His sweet footprints

In 5 days we will be heading to Arizona to see sweet August and his mom and dad. We can hardly wait to hold that sweet baby and snuggle him close.  In the meantime we have had to just stare at the pictures from his photo shoot when we was one week old...

Oh, that sweet smile!

What I did on my summer vacation

Yes, the blog is on a time delay. :( I am ever so slowly getting in the swing of things with summer over, school in session (since August 12th), and Abigail long gone to Idaho for almost 4 weeks now. In that 4 weeks we have been trying to adjust to being parents of an only child at home and she has been trying to adjust to *being* an only child! Enough said. 

So, what I did on my summer vacation.....   

Okay, so it wasn't really a "vacation" but in early August I took a quick trip to San Diego. I went to accompany Jordan during his stem cell donation. He had signed up a year or two ago and he came up as a match for someone. I left on a Sunday and by Tuesday evening I was back home ready to begin school year again the next morning. 

It is amazing that this young man is so willing to do such a selfless thing to help someone else, someone that he doesn't even know. His stems cells will be going to a woman who has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. 

This is the machine that pulls the blood out of one arm, sends it through tubing and into the machine. It then spins the blood, separates the stem cells and then the blood, minus the stem cells, goes through a "warmer" and is put back in though Jordan's other arm. 

He had to lay still with both arms hyper-extended for about 6 hours and by the end he was very uncomfortable as his arms cramped and his veins spasmed.    

A bag full of stem cells that look suspiciously like tomato soup!

Now we know, he just did it for the t-shirt! ;) 

He earned the shirt that pronounces him a hero, indeed! 

The next morning we each headed home -- me to Kentucky and him to Idaho. No time to sight see but the truth is that I saw something better than the sights of La Jolla  -- our son who did something for someone else that he didn't have to do simply because he could. And I couldn't be more proud to be his mom.

Dear Abigail

It is a special day today. It is the day that you, my beautiful daughter, turn 18. I never thought the time would pass so quickly from the day we brought you home to the day you will soon be leaving for college. My heart is happy, sad and excited all at the same time. I love you beyond words and I am so blessed to be your mother. 

You got into my markers and ate them. Who wouldn't stop to get a picture of that face before taking the markers away and cleaned you up? :)

One of our favorite pictures of you with your arm stuck in the tube 

that was the leg to the Lego table -- the look on your face is priceless!

I love this picture of you...we went apple picking on a hot summer day. You loved eating all the apples you could get!

 Ahh, your first time going to 4-H camp!

  You with "baby Ella"... I love that this captures you laughing.

 And of course there is your wonderful artwork that makes us all smile.... 

 

  

HUH?  BWHAHAHAHA! Our favorite!

The years have flown by and before our eyes you grew up....

You are beautiful, caring, compassionate and funny....

  But most of all you are loved.

 

Happy 18th Birthday, sweet Abigail! 

We love you so very much!

Summer of Long Time Friends

What a fabulous summer it has been! We have had visits from many long time friends and it has filled our minds with the sweetest memories of wonderful, lasting friendships!

We began with Joan and David Peffley in June...

Then in July Tim and Miriama Patrick came to visit.
As near as we can figure it's been 28 or 29 years since we have seen them! They were visiting Kirtland, Ohio and then continued driving another 6 1/2 hours or so to see us. I knew Tim before either if us was married and Tim even came to Washington D.C. for our wedding! We were thrilled to see them and catch up on the passage of so many years! We even got to see a few things around the area when the weather permitted! (What a rainy summer we have had in Kentucky!)

 Tim and Miriama at Waveland

High Bridge

Miriama at the castle in Versailles

 Tim is a wonderful guitar and piano player! I remember him impressing everyone with his skills back in the day and he got to do it again on this visit! 

 An early morning selfie (about 6:30 am!)  

The weekend after Tim and Miriama visited we got a call from Cathy and Keith Wilson. They had been in Nauvoo for a wedding and were traveling back home to North Carolina and we were able to put them up for the night. I have known Cathy since I was 16! The last time we saw each other was 5 or 6 years ago but the last time I saw her husband, Keith and her daughter, Ashlee was about 15 years ago! Even though the visit was short it was awesome sitting up till 3:30 in the morning catching up!  They had to leave early the next morning but we were so glad they made us one of their stops on the way home!

Cathy and I

Cathy slouching down to *my* height! :)

Keith, Cathy and Ashlee (their son Michael is on a mission in Brazil and due home in about 6 weeks!) 

What a fabulous summer of seeing long time friends! The years pass but time does not dim the love and friendship! We love you all!