Hi Everyone!

[JJJ]

The Castle looks gorgeous, I'm so jealous of them but happy at the same time

I can't wait to see the pics.

[gja1000]

Oh My! That castle is absolutely GORGEOUS! I wanna stay there!!!

Gary and I went to Colorado for our honeymoon too, 28 years ago. We visited Colorado Springs and Gunnison and several other places too. We had such a good time and still talk about the fun we had!

[judy]

How wonderful that the wedding went so beautifully Diana! Their honeymoon sounds great too!

I wish them all the happiness, health and joy in their marriage!

Now, you can take a very deep breath!

[judy]

Saturday was my youngest, Kassidy's 8th birthday! I just love that age! She is just precious. Her other Grandma came up and so did my ex, PopPop Joel. She got some presents, but her party is next weekend for her friends.

I got her some horse statues, a horseback riding helmet, and 8 horseback riding lessons. She LOVES horses! She wants to be a vet when she grows up. I also bought her pink cowgirl boots and a pink cowgirl hat online. Do ya think she is spoiled? I love spoiling all of my grandchildren.

Saturday night, Mackenzie sang again! This was a 50's night put on by the Roxbury Arts Guild. She did "Stupid Cupid" and "Where the Boys Are" again, and was amazing! The woman who ran the event wants her in their comedy improv class (I think Jessie has to pay for it), and another producer wants her in one of his productions. She got so many compliments!

Being a small town area, people are excited about Mackenzie. She is extremely talented, and is quickly becoming known. I love the small town ways. We have a young woman, Rachel, who is also very talented (dancing and acting), and
pretty much everybody from the surrounding towns knows her, and we are all excited about her work. She is going off to college soon, and we are all so proud of her! Rachel cried when Mackenzie sang because she was so good!

[gja1000]

Judy! My 3 year old granddaughter LOVES horses too. We have to get her something horse related for every event!!! Just this weekend I found a LARGE hardback book that has a full page color pic of a horse(s) on every page. There must be 50-60 pages in the book. It was on sale for $10 (had been $50). I should have kept it for a special occasion, but just couldn't resist giving it to her. She must have turned those pages a hundred times in the couple of hours I was there. With every page she would exclaim, "Oh how pretty, Mimi" or something of that nature. Oh and she has a pick cowboy hat, but no boots.

It is so cool that MacKenzie is so talented and has the stage presence to use it. I've known people with amazing talent, but they could not get up in front of an audience. Aren't you lucky to be there to see it. Moving to upstate NY was the absolute right move for you, wasn't it!

[judy]

It really was Gayle. I love the small town life.

When I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher in a small town. I fantasized that my students would come knocking on my door if they needed homework help, and that I would watch them all grow up.

[DianaB]

Sorry that I haven't been on much. I've been recouping since the wedding. It was suprising how tired I was when it was over!! I'm still trying to get my house back in order but it's not too bad!

It looks so lonely in Jaci's room with just the bed in there. She took the dressers and other stuff but they won't have room for the bed until they move into a different house. I think that I'm going to have Glen move it to the basement so I can paint the room and get it ready for my office/scrapbook room some time in the future.

Jaci and Nate should be home either tonight or tomorrow. I'm excited for them to get home. I have a cute little kitten that I brought home that I'm hoping they'll want. Nate loves cats so we'll see what he says.

[Janet]

Has the young married couple made it home yet Diana? I hope they had a wonderful time with lots of fun memories.

The sun is starting to shine here althought the humidity is so high it looks a little foggy. Not sure if I'll venture out or not...lol...all I do is sweat out there...but then again...I do in here too.

Ricky has been working quite a bit and I miss him. If he's not at school...it seems he's at work. Today he had to be there at 9 AM and won't get off until 7 pm. I probably will venture out long enough to take him to lunch or supper or what ever he gets...lol. He's been getting between 30 and 35 hours a week. Although there are times when he wishes he was goofing around with this lawm mower thing he has, when he gets that paycheck he's thrilled.

I'll have to take a picture of what he's doing to the lawnmower he has...so funny, but typical boy/man.

I need to get some pictures taken of the puppies. They are so darn cute and so funny. They just turned 4 weeks old yesterday. Won't be long and they'll be going to new homes, the time goes so fast. Need to start getting them advertised and on my website. Seems like I just don't have the ambition to do much of anything, but I'll get it all done sooner or later.

[DianaB]

Sorry, Janet, I didn't mean to not answer you. Jaci and Nate made it home after about 6 days of honeymooning. They've been on the run it seems like ever since they've been home with helping his parents get some things done and farming.

Jaci cooked supper last week and finally had us over to see their home. It's really nice.....small but nice. It made Glen and I remember what it was like for us when we got married!!

I've been busy trying to catch up on things. My poor yard has really suffered. Besides mowing I'm trying to get some things planted that really should have been planted much earlier because now it's sooo hot.

Reuger......finally got his haircut!! He looks so different because now nis fur is about 1/2 inch long!!! It's got to be so much cooler though and he definitely feels so much softer. Jazzi even got groomed a little but I like her long fur so I didn't shave her down. It's funny because they both have different fur. Reuger's is cottony and tangles so easily plus he has sooo much of it. Jazzi's is much thinner and softer feeling. It combs out pretty easily too.

[DianaB]

We had a nice weekend.....well, Sunday was anyway. Glen's farming is in full swing so he's hardly home right now. It's been pretty quiet around here mostly. Daya came and spent Friday morning with me and that was nice. She didn't want to go to another town with her parents to do some things so she came to my house. She's a really nice girl to have around.

Saturday I went to a garage sale. I only bought a couple of things but one was a really nice antique cake stand!! I only paid $3 for it!! I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or sell it at the flea market!! (Oh, I picked up my check from last month and made less than $3 but this month looks a little more promising!!)

Kera came over and cleaned so I spent the rest of the day trying to get my cleaning caught up. Glen gave me some stuff to put in the pond to make it more blue instead of greenish dirt colored water.......and some other stuff that cleans up the muck on the bottom of the pond. We put them both in last year and it really made a difference. I was suppose to walk around the pond and pour it in but it's hard to get completely around the pond so I only poured along one edge. When I went to rinse out the containers the pond was really warm so I decided to go for a swim......and stir the blue dye around!!!..........I was kinda' worried about coming out blue but it didn't happen.......Glen was surprised because he got some on his hands and it didn't wash off for days!!!! I could just hear all of the questions if I had gotten blue at church the next day!!!! It would have been interesting!!!

On Sunday we were invited to eat fish at a friend's house. Come to find out they had a lot of people invited......because their freezer door didn't get shut well and the fish had defrosted.........so they had a party!! It was good!!

Then we stopped by Dae Lynn's and got Dean so that they could go swimming with Damon's family. It's always a joy to have Dean. He's so good!!! I also had him this morning while Dae Lynn cleaned the church......Daya came to help too!! She's such a sweetie!!!!

I almost forgot.....Dae Lynn and Damon had both of the kids dedicated at church yesterday and Karlie sang a song. I'll get it copied on youtube and get it on here soon. She was sooo cute!!!

[gja1000]

Boy! This Alaska to Texas jet lag is about to get to me. It is 3 hours earlier in Alaska than Texas - so I want to sleep till 10:00AM and go to bed at 2:00AM. Of course, I have to force myself to get up at 6:00 or 7:00 and I feel AWFUL till about the middle of the afternoon.

BUT, today I feel more normal, so I'm hopeful that after a week, I am finally coming out of the funk.

We have an all day retreat at school tomorrow. This means the administrators are going to get together and map out a strategy for the next few years of a very lean budget. We are looking at some cuts in the budget, so we may have to reduce the number of students we admit or the number of programs we offer. It will be interesting, I'm sure.

I need to get my Alaska pictures loaded onto the computer and I will - soon!

[Janet]

It's been beautiful here the last few days...temps in the 70's. I've had the doors and windows open. Tomorrow we are suppose to head back up into the 90's and it will be that way for quite awhile. I just hope the humidity isn't too high.

I've really been enjoying Brenna...she sure is a Momma's girl..lol. Puppies are doing great..can't believe they are soon to be 7 weeks old already. I can sure tell a difference between having a female litter or a male litter...lol. These little guys are onry through and through...lol

Mom did great on her first night back on home dialysis. The machine didn't buzz at all and she slept all night except to go potty once. She is so glad she doesn't have to the the hemo anymore. Now she just has to be very diligent in not getting another infection.

Ricky only has two months left of school. He really likes it and is learning so much. Usually comes home looking like a grease monkey, but as long as he's happy...it's okay.

Not much else happening really...I need to get out of this house more.

[judy]

I'm so glad you are enjoying Brenna so much! She is such a little doll. I know what you mean about getting out more. I have been busy, but if it's too hot, I won't go out to just get out. I hate being in town in the heat! If I didn't have the pool, I would just stay in when it's 90 degrees!

My summer friends are here. They haven't been as friendly as usual, but I'll work it out. They were busy getting settled and their hubbys were here.

Jessie got involved in the theater program in her area. She met the theater people when Mackenzie auditioned for a singing thing, and she decided to join up too. She is directing "Annie" to open on 9/11. I'm really happy for her! She needs her own life, and the kids are getting older. Guess who is going to be Annie? Mackenzie, of course! The woman who runs the theater program wants her as Annie, but she does have to audition with eot my plants veryone else. I think Kassidy might be one of the orphans, although she is stage shy.

I finally got my plants and deck done. I waited because we had some very cold nights until about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I washed the deck and the furniture down with vinegar and water, set up the plants, and it looks so nice! I also found someone new to clean the house, so everything feels clean and shiny, and I am a happy woman! Now, if I could just convince Max that lifting his leg to pee on my pansies out front is not okay, they might live!

[DianaB]

Like you, Janet, our weather has been a little bit cooler.....not enough that I've opened the windows though.......but enough that you're not hit in the face with heat every time you open the door. We are suppose to warm back up soon. We really could use some rain....the corn could really use it right now.

I'm sure that Brenna is a sweetie. I don't picture you with anything less than adorable anyway!!! I can't wait to meet her. I should warn you that Reuger is NOT the most friendly to new dogs. He will mellow out after a while though.

I'm glad to hear that your Mom is doing so much better. I know that it's a big relief to you as well.


Judy....I'm not surprised that Mackenzie will be cast as Annie.....she has quite the voice and will do just wonderful in the play!!! And how exciting that Jessie will be directing it!!! Like you said "She needs her own life"!! I'm sure that you're excited about your family being involved in this and if they're like my family you'll get drawn into helping one way or another!!! Fun....fun!!!

If you ever figure out how to get Max to quit peeing on the pansies let me know how you did it......Reuger thinks that he has to pee on the car tires....in the garage. I'd love to find a way to make him quit!!!

So have you found a way to come yet? I'd love to have you!!!!

[judy]

I just found this Diana. If I ever figure out a way to stop Max from peeing on the pansies, I'll become a wealthy woman! By the way, there is only one pansy left!
I have to go searching for remnants of them, weed, water, and see if they are savable!

I have not found a way to come, but I wish I could afford it! Driving is out...it's just too far, even if I drive to Janet's and then continue with her.

Ah, well.....