Ahh... It's over

Well, I finally did it. Many years ago, I used to give lectures at my office but just simply got out of the habit of doing it. We decided about a month ago, that we should start doing lectures again so I've been writing and rewriting my lecture and practicing and creating a new flip chart so my lecture would be up to speed with current issues and new information. Tonight, I gave my first lecture to about 15 people and it turned out really well. I'm so happy it's over and people were very interested in it so now I will be doing this lecture every other week or so and hopefully, inspiring people to refer others to our office and understanding why they are really there. What a huge relief to have that behind me. Yay! I'm feeling good..

Trip to Elko

Last week I went to visit my dear friend, Debby in Elko, Nevada. Debby's sister, Julie (another dear friend) lives here in Prescott Valley so we drove to Elko together. Normally, it's a 10 hour drive but for some reason, it took us about 13 hours to get there. It probably had something to do with getting lost in Las Vegas, and having to sit for an hour in road construction. But, we got there at 8pm and had dinner, then talked late into the night with Debby and her husband, Mike.

Julie and Debby

The whole weekend was a wonderful girl time. We laughed, we cried and we just enjoyed each other's company. We sewed, we ate, we shopped and generally just had lots of fun... mostly we talked and talked and talked. I wish I had taken more pictures but here are some of the few I took.

Joy and Alex

Debby's daughter, Joy, and her husband, Alex, came over several times and we had dinner and played cards. We played Acey Deucey and I won! I think I won $9.00!!! Woohoo! That'll buy a whole yard of fabric!


Debby and Kathy

The funniest thing that happened was that I thought I was supposed to leave on Sunday so I got all packed and hugged everyone goodbye and Julie took me to the airport. We got to the ticket counter and the clerk couldn't find me in his computer. Guess what! My plane didn't leave till Monday morning! We were so happy to have another whole day together. What a treat.. I was so blessed by my dear friends, Debby and Julie. I hope we can do that again soon.

Damian

Today, it's about Damian. He's my oldest at 29 years old. Scary to think I have a child that's almost 30. He will be 30 in December, so I better get used to the idea soon. He was born in Georgia while Alan and I were going to school. We moved to Arizona when he was 2 years old so I don't think he remembers too much about Georgia. I'm just glad he never developed a southern accent.

Wow... another cute kid, eh?

Damian is living in Phoenix and, temporarily, he is staying with my parents so he can save a little money and to help them with things Dad isn't able to do anymore. He is working in the heating and air conditioning field and really likes his job. He works for a small company and enjoys all of the responsibilities of his job and the hands-on aspect. He was always a hands-on kinda kid so this job fits him well.

Still cute at 30.

He is divorced and his 3 children live in Prescott Valley so he comes up every other weekend to be with them. He's a good daddy and loves his kids. I'm glad we get to see them so often, too.

Savannah (4) and Jocelynn (8)

Jacob (6)

Damian has lots of interests including: hiking, bike riding, volleyball, disc golf, and lately he's been working on hydrogen fuel alternative ideas. He also helps Elaine and Kevin at their shop when he has time.

So, that's my kids. They are all good, friendly, thoughtful, hard working people and I'm very proud of all of them.

Landon

Today is all about Landon. He is my middle child. He was born in Phoenix and is 27 years old now. He's the most extroverted of all my kids and everyone that knows him, likes him. He's just one of those likeable people. Always happy and has interesting things to say.


Is that one of the 3 cutest kids you've ever seen in your life?

He went to NAU and got his teaching degree. It is in English Literature and he would like to teach at the High School level. He loves to read and he's very creative so he'll make a wonderful teacher. His students are going to love him!

Landon and proud Mom and Dad at NAU Graduation ceremony.


After graduation, he and his fiance spent 6 months in France to learn to speak French. Then lived in NY for a year, and now (as of August of this year) lives in Richland, Washington. He will begin his teaching career this year and is pretty excited to be starting his 'life after college'.

Landon & Tracy

The love of his life is Tracy Meyer. They met going to NAU, but actually grew up only a few miles from each other. She is from Chino Valley. She has a degree in lighting design and that was why they went to NY for a year, so she could get her masters degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She then got a job working for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, where she is working in research for daylighting design. Landon is waiting for paperwork to go through for a teaching job. He will probably be substituting at first, but then hopefully will get a regular classroom by next semester.

The yellow house

They just bought a house in Richland and are VERY excited about it. Even though the house was beautiful when they bought it, they've done alot of renovations. While Landon has been waiting for his paperwork to go through, he has painted some rooms, redone some ceilings, worked on the yard and painted the epoxy finish in the garage. Landon and Tracy have a website and have put up pictures of their life in France, New York and now Washington. The address is: http://www.landonandtracy.com/. They also have a dog named Colmar.

Colmar and Doc looking cute

He learned how to be Dog Whispered while they were visiting this summer. So, now I have a healthy, happy and balanced grand-dog.

Elaine

I have 3 awesome kids. I want to brag and show off about each one, but I think I'll take them one at a time. I'll start with my daughter, Elaine. Just because she will be most likely to see my blog before the other two. Hi, Elaine... it's all about you today.

Elaine is 25 years old. She was born here in Prescott Valley but moved to Phoenix a few years ago to work down there and be a 'big city girl'. I grew up in Phoenix so I don't see the draw, but I guess everyone has to find out for themselves.

Look what a cutie she was.

And what a beauty she grew up to be.

She has a beautiful daughter, Shayla, who is a real sweetheart. We get to see her pretty often, especially when she has a break from school and can stay with us for a week or two at a time. We enjoy having her here and always look forward to her visits. She is 8 years old now.

Elaine lives with her boyfriend, Kevin.

Together they own a business called 'Grunion Fabrication'. They build custom cars. Kevin is very good at what he does and Elaine takes care of the business part of it. She built them an amazing website and runs the showroom. Their website is: http://grunionfabrication.com/

Here are a couple of the cars they've worked on. The purple one belongs to James Hetfield from Metallica. Kevin did the suspension on it for Rick Dore who is famous for his custom cars. The 1955 Buick belongs to Elaine and Kevin and is a work in progress.

1953 Buick Skylark

1955 Buick

They love what they do and work very hard. They go to lots of car shows to promote their business. They just moved to a new location with more exposure and are hoping their business will continue to grow.

Doc, the Dog

If you know me at all, you know that I'm not a big fan of dogs. Why anyone would want a dirty, stinky, hairy animal in the house is beyond me. But... we have a dog. About 6 months ago, Alan decided that he NEEDED a dog and he came home with a 3 month old golden retriever. I didn't take it well at first. I screamed and hollered and pitched a royal fit, then the stinky dog licked my toes and pretended he liked me. Alan explained that he wanted a companion to be with him while he worked around the house. I gave in, with stipulations. He had to stay on the tile floor when he was in the house. He had to get a bath regularly and he had to be well trained and obedient. I don't think he'd ever even been inside a house before, so he had to quickly learn to do his business outdoors.


The biggest challenge was to stop him from barking when he was in the outdoor kennel that Alan built. Yea... we fixed that. He just doesn't stay in the outdoor kennel anymore. He mostly lives indoors now, but I have to admit that he's pretty good about staying on the tile floor. His name is Doc and he's 9 months old now. He is not aggressive, but he shows minor tendancies towards being protective. He would never bite anyone because mostly he just runs away from strangers, but he does bark when he thinks it's necessary to scare away things like kids walking to the bus stop and a plastic grocery bag blowing across the yard.


He got 'fixed' a couple weeks ago and just got his lampshade off this past weekend so he's a happier dog now. He loves going on bike rides, although he doesn't quite reach the pedales yet so he has to run along side the bike. I must give many thanks to Ceasar Milan 'The Dog Whisperer'. It is one of my favorite TV shows. It is on National Geographic Channel every Friday night and I highly recommend watching Ceasar for his people training skills. Dogs don't need training. They already know how to act like dogs. People need training to learn how to treat dogs like dogs. We watch it every week. Anyway, here are some pictures of Doc.

Doc - 9 months old. Savannah asks why he always looks so sad. That's just the way he looks.

Ok, ok.. he is a cute dog (when he's not licking his butt)

Kid's Weekend

This is the weekend that we have my grandkids with us. Damian's kids are Jocelynn, Jacob and Savannah and Lain's daughter is Shayla. We get to see Damian's kids every other weekend because that's when he comes up from Phoenix to see them and they all come here. It's actually a beautiful day, even though it's cloudy and chilly. It's in the upper 60's and the kids are loving it. They go outside and play and get all cold then come in and snuggle up and watch TV for awhile, then go back outside again. Damian brought Shayla with him from Phoenix this weekend, too. Tuesday and Wednesday are Jocelynn's and Jacob's birthday so Damian baked them a wonderful chocolate cake. Saturday was just a play day, but Sunday we went to church then to Target to let the kids pick out birthday gifts and then out to lunch.

Savannah (age 4) watching TV

Jacob (age 5 , soon to be 6) building a car.

Jocelynn (age 7, soon to be 8) swinging on a rope.

Shayla (age 8) picking flowers.

It might become fall.....someday

This time of year in Prescott Valley has all the appearances of becoming fall except for one thing. We don't really get a nice colorful array of leaves on trees.... mostly because there aren't many trees to speak of... living on a prairie and all. The weather is cooling off at night and the late summer flowers are starting to bloom. The county fair is over and people seem a little more relaxed now that the heat of the summer is over.

I always feel more like starting a quilt project this time of year. My sewing room is upstairs and during the summer it gets pretty warm up there. I'm always involved in a quilt project, but it seems more productive when I'm not wanting to escape the heat. I just finished my P.I.G. Challenge quilt. Ok, I'll explain that: My quilt guild, Thumb Butte Quilters' Guild (http://www.tbqguild.com/) has a challenge every year. It is our Project In a Grocery bag Challenge. Everyone that wants to participate brings 3 unfinished projects that they have begun and shows them to the group. The group then votes on the one that they want to be finished in one year. The quilt they picked last year was a hand appliqued queen sized quilt that I'd been working on for about 10 years. I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have finished that quilt except that I had to do it for my P.I.G. It's finished now and beautiful. Here is a picture of it:


This is a picture of my 'before' quilt.


This is a picture of my 'after' quilt. Alot better.. huh?

So, that was last year. This year my P.I.G. isn't as impressive. It was a group of blocks that a friend gave me. She won the blocks at our Quilt Camp several years ago. They are a class that was offered called "The Girls". You'll see why it was called that. It's just a hodge podge group of blocks that have girls on them. I added some house blocks and some flower blocks and put it together with a sashing. It's cute, but not a wow quilt like last year. Here it is:


This year's P.I.G. before



This year's P.I.G. after


Ok.. that's the latest on what I've been working on. Next time it will be a different topic!