Before She Left...

One of the things I enjoyed with Lauren while she was here was sharing my "partner's desks" with her.  (It's not actually a partner's desk... just two desks we set up facing each other.  You'll see them Friday when I join the "Where Blogger's Create" party.)

One afternoon I was busy with jewelry on my side.  When I looked up, this is what I saw.  Lauren had completely covered my lamp with Scrabble tile magnets.  Do you see the message?

She's down in L.A. right now.  Tomorrow she'll head back to Canada to rejoin her hubby.

California Girls!

I spent the day with my two lovely daughters.  It was HOT so we went to Stinson Beach... even though a great white was spotted there this week and we were only allowed in the water up to our waist.  That's about as far as I ever go into the water here.  It's too cold for me.

Jordy looked glamorous with her big sunglasses & her hair up.

Lauren strikes a glamorous pose, too.

My feet are now sunburned.

I searched for rocks and sea glass to use in jewelry.

In Which We Paint Every Room in Our House a Different Color

I don't think I got on the computer at all yesterday.  And not much today or the days before that.  One of the projects we decided to do this summer while we had help here is to paint the ceilings, hall, & Jordy's bedroom.  Of course, we decide to do all the rooms at one time.  Here Lauren shows off the lovely "before" photo.

Everything white... boring!  First, scraped paint off handrail.  It's going to be black again when we're done.

I didn't see this myself, so I'm glad Lauren took a picture of this.  Jordy's working!  This is what used to be Lauren's room, then Glenn took over it & painted it more manly colors.  This summer it's Mark & Lauren's room again.

And, AFTER...

Now every room in our house is really a different color.  The other colors didn't show up as well.  And I couldn't take a picture of the hall 'cause it's full of all the dirty clothes we couldn't wash the last four days since everything was covered in plastic!  Glenn is going to Orlando this week for a conference so we're going to work on the handrail again.

Lauren's Graduation & My Visit to Michigan

Last Friday I flew out to Michigan to see Mark & Lauren graduate.  Hard to believe this time has gone by so fast!  My dad met me there.  We did a little sightseeing while we were there.  I really noticed how much I like old stuff while we were there.  And everything in Michigan seemed so much older than here in California!  Look at their downtown theatre:

A church built in 1859:

We waited for Mark in the library.  I'd never seen a handle like this in a bathroom so I took a picture of it, too.  :-)

And this was the floor in the library:

After a walk through downtown Jackson, we drove to Ann Arbor.  I read Flea Market Style on the airplane on the way there & saw this shop advertised.  So we made a stop at Red Shoes Home Goods. They had this tiny little front door.  It reminded me of The Borrowers  book series that the girls read when they were younger.  Notice the little blue chair in the planter, too.

On the way back to Jackson we drove through Chelsea to see the home of Jiffy Mix!

Reminder:  You still have time to enter my Cottage Charm Giveaway.  I'll be drawing a name on May 29.  To enter leave a comment on my original giveaway post, here.

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Had a lot going on this week but had to say -- Happy Birthday, Lauren!!!! I Love you!!!

Happy Anniversary, Mark & Lauren!

This is the first picture we ever saw of Mark. We asked if she had a picture where he wasn't covered it mud, but it was a few days before we got it. Who would have thought just a year later they'd be married? Actually, we thought he was the one after that first phone call... we just didn't think it would be less than a year. :-)

BTW, we're still waiting on wedding photos. Sydni said probably next week.

I'm Back!

I've been a little busy the last few weeks as you can see. Hopefully I'll be able to get keep up with my blog better now that the wedding's over. Still no "official" wedding photos. The photographer said 2-3 weeks after the wedding. But I did get all the unofficial photos up on facebook.

Chef Lauren Strikes Again

Each of the girls are in charge of dinner for one night a week this summer.  I thought Lauren should learn how to roast a chicken and they were on sale this week so she roasted a chicken last night.  Didn't it turn out pretty?  
She also made fresh squash (from the farmer's market), spinach salad, and served a loaf of bread from Trader Joe's.  Then we had fudgesicles for dessert!  For her night Jordann made a delicious pizza and salad.  We ate it all before I remembered to take a picture.  But I'm sure she'll make that again 'cause it was soooooo good!

Saturday

The giant tomato plants are here again!  I forgot to take close ups of the little yellow pears.  I'll do that in the next update.

We started our day with a trip to the Clayton farmer's market.  Bought some cucumber, squash, beans, peaches, cilantro, & onions.  

Then the girls did a little more work on the invitations.  They also bought shoes for all the girls in the wedding party.  I've been looking for ideas for the pew markers.  We thought about using photos with tulle bows.  Has anyone ever seen anything like that done before?  One more photo... here's Lauren's meatloaf from last week.  Served on our new Ikea salad plates.

Making Invitations

Here ya go, Aunt Sue...  this is the big mess after our shopping trip for wedding supplies.  The colors are turning our really nice.  I like how Lauren even matches!  She found these poppies she really likes.
And a stamp to make thank you notes:

Latest Projects...

Happy Memorial Day!  Lauren's back home now & we all had a day off so the whole family (including the adopted dd) went to Ikea and Michael's then came back home to start work on wedding invitations.  Karen also came over with a sample of the bridesmaids dress for Jo to try on.  We've got a lot to do!  I recently finished some projects that I haven't shared with you yet.  Here's the first.  I call this my "TV pillow".    Last week was the season finale for all of the TV shows that we watch.  I am usually doing something else while we're watching TV.  This last year it was usually crocheting.  The last few weeks it was this pillow.

I switched our bed over to our 'summer linens' last week & thought I needed a new throw pillow.  These are still a few of Great's leftovers, plus some other 100% cotton pieces.  I'm using up a lot of scraps.  Here's another good recycled project:
Lauren had a lot of maps so I cut up some of the doubles and torn ones into 4" squares, glued them onto a canvas, & aged it a little.  I still need to paint the edges.  I tried to use pieces of maps that showed places we've actually been, or that our missionaries are living in.

Here are the covers to the 4x6 albums that I made for SE & G'ma.  I still need a baby picture for Lynne!
One more photo... Glenn got kicked out of his office/studio when Lauren came back home.  So he went to the thrift store, found a little desk, & made himself a mini-office in the corner of the living room.
Hope everyone had a great holiday.  I have my regular day off tomorrow so I think Lauren & I will do a little more wedding shopping and let her apply for some more jobs!

Lauren's Engaged!

OK, we had a busy couple of weeks and I'm just now getting these photos edited and blogged.  Mark & Lauren were here during their spring break and while they were here he proposed.  Of course, she said yes!  We all took a day trip together on Saturday.  We stopped at the Cheese Factory in Petaluma.  Got a loaf of sourdough & some brie (Jo's favorite) for lunch.

Then we drove over to Drake's Beach, close to Point Reyes for a picnic.

Glenn took a nap while everyone else explored.  I think that's Lauren & Mark (very tiny) in the background.

I think Mark must have taken this next one... I don't remember taking it.

So now we have one more foot in our family foot foto!

Good Friday

I played with Photoshop a little last night.  Seems like I've been catching up all week from Lauren & Mark's visit last week.  Then we had 2 choir practices this week and a Good Friday service tonight.  Tomorrow morning we'll get up EARLY and have Jo at the church at 5 AM.  Their youth group is leaving for a mission trip to Tijuana for the week.  So, Glenn & I are on our own for the week.  Maybe I'll get caught up.  ha!  Here's one more picture to make you laugh:
I'll work on the more serious photos after the Easter program is over & post them later.  :-)