Wedding in Colorado!!

So once again I had good intentions to blog more this year & once again it did not happen. 😊. Someday....   

I went to my niece's wedding in Divide, Colorado in August, which provided a huge amount of photo opportunities.  It was my first time in the mountains of Colorado and I loved the beauty of it.  I did not love the vertigo that hit me while I was there because of the altitude.  I don't think I've ever been in that high of an altitude.  So that hindered being able to do a few things.  I didn't want to fall off a mountain because I was so dizzy. 😜. I hope to go back someday minus the vertigo.   

Here's a few pics of our time there.  It was a gorgeous simple wedding with a beautiful back drop.   Hope life is good for everyone!!  

Looking with fresh eyes......

It's that time of year again when everything is fresh and new.  After living on this planet for 50 plus years (:-)), I sometimes tend not to look at everyday things with the eyes of a child.  Savannah and I seen our first lightning bug last night.   I'm not sure if lightning bugs or fireflies as some people call them are in all parts of the country but to a two year old they are magical and watching her get so excited when she seen one was pure joy!  It's no secret this is my favorite time of year and I love seeing the night sky light up with these tiny little bugs and to see it through the eyes of a child is just plain fun!!!  I hope we never lose our sense of wonder at the beauty that God has put in this world but if you do, just hang around a two year old for a little while and you will see bugs, rocks, plants etc... with fresh eyes!! 

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Today is my Dad's 89th birthday(and Valentine's Day) and I just can't let a milestone like that go without celebrating it!  Tonight all his kids, grandkids and great grand kids will get together and celebrate with him.  He moves a little slower now and lives in a assisted living place but to me he'll always be my big strong Daddy who would do anything for his family.  He was a very young Marine in WW2 who seen so many terrible things in the South Pacific fighting.  He never talked about that time while I was growing up, I knew he was in the war but I never knew about the details.  He only started talking about them in his later years.  It makes you realize the sacrifices our men and women in the armed forces make.  The other day he pulled a old photo out of his wallet with six young men in the photo, one was my Dad.  He said they were his best buddies in high school but three of them never made it back from the war. He is the last of the group.  He lost the love of his life in 2001 and he lost his only son five years after Mom died.  He still chokes up about the loss of a child.  He tells me it's not suppose to be that way.  He has good days now and some bad days.  But I am so grateful to still have him here with us and he still knows who we all are, so that it a huge blessing.  Somedays he remembers the past like it just happened and I'm talking like 1940's  past..he can tell you details.  And somedays he's very confused but either way we will all get together tonight and celebrate a man who loves his family and who showed me by example what family is and what integrity is.  I'm a blessed girl because my heavenly Father gave me the best earthly father a girl could have.  Love you Dad and though you'll probably never see this post I hope you know how much you are loved.

Hawaii ~~ September 2013!!

 I'm back from Hawaii!!  It might have been one of the best trips I've ever been on!! We left Cincinnati for a flight on August 28th and on the first lag of our flights, a man seated next to us had heart issues. He tried to get up out of his seat but started to fall. My daughter, Christina who is an emergency room nurse seen him start to go down and ran to help him.  I was so proud of her!!  She stayed with him until we made an emergency medical landing in Denver(we were suppose to go to Salt Lake). Anyway, by the grace of God we made our connecting flight and made it to Hawaii, tired but ready for a fun trip.
We spent three days on Oahu seeing the sights.  I have to tell you Waikiki is a little too busy for me but I loved the North Shore of Oahu.  We boarded Norwegian's ship, the Pride of America and made it our home for the next seven days and boy was it a wonderful home to come back too everyday after exploring the islands.  People keep asking me which one of the islands we visited were my favorite one and I just can't pick one.  Each island is so unique in it's own way. On Maui we snorkeled at Molokini..one of the highlights of our trip.  By the way there were ten of us in our group!!  We also went to eat at Mama's Fish House on Maui which is a not to be missed place to go if you ever go there. On the Big Island the main attraction is Hawaii National Volcano's park..it is awesome!!! And I can't even began to describe the awesome beauty of Kauai and the Napoli coastline.  We  took a small plane ride over the island of Kauai and it might have been one of the most fun things we have ever done. Pearl Harbor is also a place not to miss while you are on Oahu.  One of the pics below is of me, my daughter Christina and sister Judy with Alfred, one of the survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack!! He loved Christina!!  Here are some of my photos from the trip!!  Most were taken with my iphone except the underwater ones!! The sheer beauty of Hawaii makes it so much fun to take photos!!  Anyway, hope you all enjoy the photos...Aloha!!

Funny Girl

Maddie calls me up at 8am this morning and said "Gommy, can I tell you something" and I say "sure Maddie you can tell me anything"(we do this routine many, many times...LOL....and I hope she always feels like she can tell me anything).  So than she tells me that a big ice storm is heading our way. OH NO....NOT AN ICE STORM!!!!......... I looked it up and it looks like it might hit Cincy on Tuesday night. I'm hoping they are wrong and it'll be too warm(hey I can hope, right??).  Here's a few pics of Maddie being silly and filling up my bird house to put back outside. She took this job very seriously and is very concern for the birds being out in the snow with no food.  Hope you all are having a great weekend. I went out to eat at one of my favorite places last night and I'm also going to the Cincinnati Art Museum this weekend to see the two centuries of wedding gowns exhibit.  How did I grow up in this wonderful city and have not taken advantage of our great art museum before?  And I noticed the Brenda Photo Challenge is up today so go here to see who's showing some great photos on their blog today!! Maybe one of these days I'll get my act together and show my photos again!! Happy Saturday!! I'm off to church tonight with my silly Maddie girl....hahaha...

Hanging out with the "kids"

Did I ever tell you that I'm a lucky girl? My kids seem to like hanging out with their old Mom on a Friday night! And it wasn't because I was buying.....LOL Hope everyone is having a great week! It is cold here in Ohio again. I need me some sun and I need it soon!

Birthdays, Babies and Bees...........

Hi Everybody!! Where have I been? Well celebrating Maddie's 3rd birthday of course...........LOL I've been a bad blogging friend and have been spending more time over on Facebook because it's fast and easy so I am sorry for the ignoring my blog these days.

Maddie's party was a lady bug theme party and she loved every minute of it. She came over Gommy's house afterwards and told me "my birthday party is oder(over) Gommy" and she also said "thanks for coming to my birthday party Gommy" What a sweetheart she is...............

Here's a photo of my daughter Melissa and the birthday girl and my Dad and I at the party.

The party was held at a local park around here and Cameron came. I just love his little hat.

And I LOVE this photo of Sydney eating ice cream. Haha.........Does it look like she is enjoying herself?

And this bee photo has nothing to do with the big birthday party. I just took it the other day and liked the photo, colors and rain on the flowers. Hope everyone is doing well and I hope to be a better blogging friend soon. Take care.............

Weekend Party!!

This weekend my brother in law Jim had a party at his house. Not everyone could make it but those who could had alot of fun. That's me in the middle holding the glass of wine.......:-)

Here's my niece Stephanie and my daughter Christina.

Here they are with Grams(my mother in law).

We took Maddie for a spin in the golf cart.

Sydney and Christina took a ride. Maddie would have rode this thing all day and night if she could........LOL

Pretty girls!!

Time to take your purse and head home..............

Happy Birthday Melissa!

It's our daughter Melissa's(also known as Maddie and Sydney's Mom) birthday today. Everyone go over to Buttons and Sas and wish her a Happy Day! Happy Birthday Melissa! We love you! I am going with her while she has the girls photos taken(hopefully both girls will cooperate) and we are going to lunch at the Olive Garden afterwards. Lunch at the Olive Garden is always fun! :-) Have a great day everyone!

Happy Birthday Jim!

Jim and his sister Melissa. Loved that little sailor outfit!

Jim, my sweetie and little Cameron.
Happy Birthday to our sweet son Jim today! Hope you have the best day and can't wait to celebrate with you and Cameron on Thursday! Happy Birthday Jim!