Father's Day Fun

 We had a great Father's Day supper with family.  I cooked spaghetti, which is Carl's favorite meal.  As usual we gathered for pictures.  Robert delayed his trip back to UCA so that he could join us and I could get these pictures.

 three generations

 My boys!

 Atticus with Gpapa and Bubbles

 If this picture had sound you would hear lots of boy noises being made by these two boys.  I love how securely Gpapa is holding Atticus as they compare noises.  A motorcycle had just passed by and Atticus loved that sound.

 Uncle Rico!

 I do not have a picture of how high Uncle Rico was throwing Atticus up in the air and I am glad.  Atticus loved it!

Atticus and Aunt Fairest were playing and paused for this quick picture.

It was a great day!  I am thankful that we have family close by so that we can celebrate often those that mean so much.

VBS 2013

 I love VBS and I have loved it since I was a little girl and went with my friend, Janet Nickols.  She went to VBS at the First Baptist church near our house.  I don't remember much except that we made stuff with dry macaroni and it was fun.

This year I was in charge of the worker snacks- I prefer that to saying Adult Snacks which sounds like I am fixing drinks that are shaken not stirred!

We are blest with lots of wonderful cooks and very generous folks in our church that shared much with us.  We had everything from dates and blue cheese rolled in bacon to Pimento Cheese from a local Deli.  We They ate well all week.

I made one dish that we jokingly call Crack.  It is that addicting!  Easy Peasy.  8 oz cream cheese, can of rotel, pound of sausage.  Brown sausage and drain it, place it in an oven proof pan. Add cream cheese and rotel. heat thru so that the cheese is melted and mix everything well.  Serve with Frito Lay's scoups.  This is easy to double or triple.  It goes fast.

This wonderful picture is of the best church secretary in the world, Peggy and her darling granddaughter, Jasmine.

 Here are two of Kaitlin's favorite folks, Grace and Alaina.  Can you tell they are sisters?

Here are some more of our favorite sisters!  So precious!

 These two pregnant ladies worked hard in the nursery this week.  Kaelyn, on the right, had her baby early Friday morning!

 We were blest with lots of visitors!

 I love the look on Anna's face.  She is the girl in the middle.

 These two sweethearts are proud AUBURN fans.  We are a small but supportive group!

 This doll is the daughter of two good friends, Ben and Janaye.

 The ladies in charge of crafts!

 This is the opening ceremonies.

These two fine fellows are both named Atticus.  How fun is that!


We were blest with a great group this year of students and teachers.  We had 106 students on Monday with 26 that just walked up because of our sign.  Anne and Heather took the 5/6 graders off sight and they had at least 15 and many days even more.  Let us continue to pray for the Word of God that will not return void and the lives that were touched this week.

Vidalia Onion Dip or how to act a fool

I've written this before but didn't have the recipe so if you have heard this story just skip down to the recipe.

... I was at a clothes party, like a Tupperware party but for clothes.  If you know me at all you know that I am not a clothes horse and if we could all be assigned uniforms, as long as it were comfy, I'd be happy.  I was at this party because a good friend invited me and there I was.

...they had refreshments
...it was this wonderful onion casserole plus a few other things.
...I got a HUGE spoonful and then had to hunt for a spoon to eat it with ( should have been a clue)
...I sat down to visit with many strangers to wait my turn to try on clothes (yipee)
...I was horrified to realize that every other person had the same casserole but they were eating it as a dip!!! there were chips right by it, no wonder I had trouble finding a spoon.  I wanted to run and hide.  I tried to causally get up and walk quietly over to the chips and get a few for the few bites I had left on my plate.
...I left soon after that
...I didn't buy any clothes
...I now always label the dips I serve, just in case

Here's the yummy recipe- good enough to eat by the spoonful!!!

Vidalia Onion Dip

2 large Vidalia onions chopped
1 c grated cheese
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c mayo

preheat oven to 350
mix everything together in a bowl.  Pour into a baking dish.  Bake until the cheese has melted, about 20 minutes.  Serves 10, unless you have a nut that eats it with a spoon

Pens, Pens, Pens

I got a new desk for my birthday/Mother's day. My new desk has drawers!! My old desk was a table that I sat at to write, pay bills, scrapbook, and use my computer. Because it had no drawers the only place to put anything was on top. Sometimes I had a very small window to view the world from because of the piles were so tall.

Now I am going through all the piles and throwing lots away and filing the stuff I want to keep.  In this process I made a personal discovery.  I am a pen hoarder.  I mean I knew I loved pens and I will have to say that I do use most of these very often but even I was amazed at the extent of my pen collection.  I love fine and medium point. I love different colors because when I write a list of any kind, I always write with several colors.  I love ball point, sharpies, and flairs.

You will happy to know that I did go through the pile below and there were 5 pens I didn't want.  Progress, slow and steady!

Last Post on Dan and Becca

 On Tuesday of our trip we started with breakfast in Yountville at a wonderful bakery.  The pastry you see to the right was divine.  My mouth is watering just writing this.

 This was our Tuesday group.  Carl's boss set up an itinerary for activities for the day.  We shopped, ate, visited, ate some more and laughed.

 We met at 1 for a wine tasting at Silver Oak Winery.  I am not a wine drinker but I really enjoyed the tour.  Our guide was very knowledgable and answered all the questions our group had.













The Winery we visited stores its wine in Missouri white oak barrels.  The cooper who makes the barrels for the Silver Oak winery has an affiliation with SPP.

 On Wednesday several of us visited the spa at our motel.  It is a hard job but someone has to do it!  Here I am in the waiting room as I read and drink my water.  I had hand and foot reflexology done and then got my hair washed and curled.  It was two hours of painfreeness and that is magic.

 Here is the room where the reflexology was done.

 We had supper with the whole group that Carl was meeting with on Wednesday night out on the veranda.  I even met a man who works in NY but is from TN and knew someone who went to Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, AL.  I WENT TO WOODLAWN HIGH SCHOOL IN BIRMINGHAM, AL.  It is truly a small world.

 Rainier cherries.  We bought them at a fruit market in San Francisco.  They were wonderful.

 This is the meetings Carl was attending

 

Our tickets

 We ate here twice and mmmmmm.

 Carl and I getting ready to get on the cable car.

 The America's cup will be in San Francisco

 This is one end of the cable car line.  This man has a hook that he is pulling the car around to get it headed in the other direction.

 Coit Tower on the top of Telegraph Hill.

 When we were at Pier 39 the first time, we saw a cruise ship and I fondly remembered the cruise that my brother, Charles and his wife, Frances took Kaitlin and I on 10 years ago.  Kaitlin has decided that in 2 years, she and Carl need to celebrate a birthday year and as a part of it, we need to do another cruise.  We are thinking about a Disney Cruise.  Kaitlin, Aunt Elaine and I are reading all we can and watching every show we can on Disney Cruises.  The second time we were in San Francisco the cruise ship that was docked there WAS A DISNEY CRUISE SHIP. I wanted to get a picture of it for Kaitlin and Aunt Elaine.  Carl and I were up by Coit Tower when the ship pulled away.  Instead of the usual deep horn blows that most ships give off when they depart, the Disney ship sounded the first six notes of 'When you wish upon a star'!!!  I was a puddle!  Carl not so much!!!

 Here is where the Giants play!

 Carl and I had an uneventful trip home.  We didn't feel the earthquake at all.  I am so thankful! Now I plan to read up on my California history and learn about the wine making.

Here is a sign that I hadn't seen before!