BEST NEWS EVER!!

Yes, it's a baby on the way... I'm going to be a Grandma!! It'll be our first grandchild. My son Matt and his wife Angelique are due to have HER Nov. 18th. We've known for a few months now but I wasn't keeping up this blog, so this is still catch up news sort of, but still the very BEST news. So I've definitely got "pink" and "girly" and baby things on my mind lately. Fun and Cute stuff out there--so many choices nowadays for new parents. I have a few projects in mind to make and get ready for a new little one so if I seem a little over the top on baby things now, you'll know why! I am totally excited for this new phase in life and am feeling blessed that they don't live too far away (in Saratoga Springs) so we'll be able to see this grandchild so easily. The last few weeks I have been able to spend some time with Angelique and it's been a good bonding time with us I think. We did some crib and stroller shopping and found a few cute outfits to start with. She's going to be a great mommy and Matt will be a super daddy. They have waited 4 years for this one to come join their family and are just thrilled that it's finally happening. And I am too--I get to be a Grandma!!

Paint and Vegas (No, we didn't literally paint the town...)

In the previous post I had said we repainted the living room, so here's a few pictures so you can envision the colors better. Don't mind the furniture too much please, and nothing is up on the walls yet, so you'll have to wait for another reveal on that. We did get our new sofa tho so it's coming along... New carpet and the Parchment color paint on the walls
Love my Red Red Wine wall! (not the old entertainment center so much tho.)

The last week of June we drove down to Las Vegas and met my sis and BIL John, as they were there for a work-related conference, for 4 days. We stayed at a great place called The Tuscany. They were having some awesome just-can't-pass-up room rates too that made it even more enjoyable. I have a brother (Dave and family) who live in Henderson so we spent three evenings with them also. We took a tour at Hoover Dam and saw the huge very (and I really mean very) high up new bridge they are building. We saw the Lion Exhibit at the MGM Grand. I just love kitties of all sizes! We went into the Bellagio and saw the current garden exhibit and also a few of the dancing water shows. I took a video of one of them but it doesn't seem to want to load on here. I'll work on it cause it was awesome to see! The last night we met for dinner at Memphis BBQ. We tried taking a family photo (3 out of 4 of us anyway)but the flash wouldn't work so it's a bit dark. Turns out it was me having it on the wrong setting, not the camera's fault--ugh!! All in all we had a nice relaxing time there. It was as hot as we expected but I enjoyed the pool at the hotel and Dave's house and finally got my tan started! Yeah, I love the sun! So here's some pics from our trip to Las Vegas:
Jill and I in Paris! (well, in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, errrr, I mean Las Vegas)
The Lion Exhibit in the MGM Grand.
One was playful and one not so much.
What big paws you have kitty!
Looking thru the glass enclosure from the walkway that goes underneath.

Such a cute ladybug!
The Secret Garden exhibit inside the Bellagio Hotel. Gorgeous stuff!
So colorful!
I loved this snail!

Here is the bridge they are building over Hoover Dam so that the new highway can bypass going over the top of the dam. It's Way UP there! When they finish the arch they can complete the road over the top and then they will take down the upper supports with the wires you can see now. Amazing!

This is my favorite sister, not to mention my only sister, Jill. HA HA!! Who's taking whose picture here really? Gotcha!

And here is the 6 of us after stuffing ourselves and having a great time visiting!Too bad I messed up the camera and it's so dark, looks like it might have been a pretty fair picture of us.

AND I am still working on the most exciting news post I promised... It shouldn't be too much longer... I'm hoping for tomorrow even...

I've been challenged...

Yes, I've been away for a long time... not really away, just away from my blog. I don't have a camera readily available to me (that's one of my sorry excuses) and I was feeling like I didn't have much to tell about anyways.. But two days ago I was chatting with an old friend, (not that she's old really--just one teeny tiny year older than me--but from way back when--you know what I mean, right?)... Anyways, we were chatting online and in catching up with her I'd say something and she'd say "I didn't know that. You should have blogged about it..." (or something very close to those words). She gave me lots of encouragement (thanks Patti!) and then challenged me to blog at least once a week for 4 weeks and see how it went. Then after I'd accepted her challenge to me I wasn't even sure I remembered my password. But my old brain didn't completely desert me today and I figured it out and so here I am doing my first blog in quite awhile..
So here are a few of the things that have happened over the last few months that I should have blogged about probably:
In April we had our 30th anniversary! We couldn't go in April but went the first weekend in May to our timeshare in Park City for a few days and enjoyed some time together alone. It rained almost the whole time we were there so it was kinda gloomy out, but one of the days we went up to the Olympic Park where they had the ski and bobsled/luge races. There is a nice little museum about the SLC Olympics there that we enjoyed too. Also in May we got a new car! We traded in our Camry for an 08 Nissan Altima. It's a little sportier (tho still a 4 door) and definitely has more engine power (which Rick LOVES and is the main reason he wanted it). I was a tough sell on it (truthfully I just about had a breakdown but we won't go into that..) cause I didn't want bigger payments (who does, right?) But he won and is like a little boy with his new shiny car still, especially when he gets to race it a little. He "smoked" an Audi one day and came home all excited; He also took it up to 140 mph for just a few minutes and I hardly noticed because it was so smooth. I did notice when he slowed back down to 75-80 and it seemed like we were just crawling tho. LOL
I had been saving and planning and plotting for quite awhile (most of the winter) to get the living room repainted and recarpeted, so probably to appease me and help keep the peace Rick finally took an active interest in this project and gave me the "OK, I'll help you with it" sign. So hooray, we painted and painted.. the walls are now a tan color (Behr "Parchment") with a focus wall being RED (Ralph Lauren "Red Red Wine"). And the new carpet is in! It's a tan color too, but oh, it's so cushy and soft and comfy to walk on. We love it! The new furniture is still waiting to happen. I have his Okay on it, just I haven't found the perfect sofa yet and I have an aversion to spending so much money all at once I guess.. Sometimes it really is a curse to be so practical and frugal!
We got the garden planted the first part of June... Kinda late but since our weather was so unusually wet and cool most of May and June too it didn't really seem to matter. We got a few vinyl grow boxes and are trying some square foot gardening this year. It's finally starting to really grow the last 2 weeks since it's warmed up into the 80's and 90's. We also picked what seemed like TONS of strawberries from our strawberry patch. We enjoyed lots of them just fresh, made lots of smoothie drinks, froze some and I made 4 batches of strawberry jam. Yummmmmmy!
I have a few pictures from some of the above happenings, just they are on my daughter's camera and won't download onto my computer so I haven't got them at my disposal yet, so hopefully I'll get them next week when she gets home from her vacation and be able to get a few on here... And then I have one more GREAT piece of news (I've saved the VERY BEST for last you see.) But I am tired and it's getting very late and so you'll have to just wait another day or two to find out. But it'll be worth it I promise!