Our Parents Wedding Day~28 September 1941

Ross Colberg and Josephine R

September 28 1941

St. Paul, Minnesota

Just this past week I found this in an old envelope as I have been going through some things from the past.  It took my breath away when I saw it.  This is a rose from the wedding bouquet of my mother.  The rose is over 72 years old.  I don't remember ever seeing it before.

I have not retouched this or altered the photo in any way.  I was astonished at the color and the green fern.  I just removed it from the envelope and placed it carefully on the back of my iPad for a dark background and snapped the shot.  I put it right back into the envelope and am now trying to decided how to preserve it and display it.  What a treasure, I am thrilled to have discovered it!

The following is an excerpt from the biographical sketch I wrote and complied for our family after my father died in 1979. I wrote the introduction and my piece and then I asked my Mom, two brothers, my husband,  and a close friend of Dad's to add something.  The compilation was a very exciting project portraying a unique perspective of my multi-faceted father from the people closest to him.  It was also excellent grief therapy for me.

The following is a portion of what my mother wrote about their meeting and marriage:

"To My Darling Children,

I was born in Pierre, South Dakota on May 17, 1919.  There was another big event that day as I have a twin brother named Joseph.  At that point in my life I had four sisters and three brothers; Letha, Lena, Harold, Margaret, William and Wilma who were also twins.  We lived on a farm about twenty miles from Ft. Pierre, South Dakota.

When I was five years old we lost our mother from an infection after giving birth to another baby girl, Ruby.  I am so sorry I never got a chance to know my mother as I know I would have loved her very much.

After I graduated from high school in Pierre in 1938 I moved to Bismarck, North Dakota in January of 1940.  I went to Bismarck to attend Beauty School.  During that six months I lived with a couple I met and who became dear friends, Rose and Fred Gerberding.

That move to Bismarck really changed my life. It was the best move I ever made because this is where I met Ross.  Yes, he definitely was the best thing that ever happened to me.  Through friends we met on a blind date.  He looked so handsome that night.  He had on dark pants, a white sports coat and tie.  We double dated with our friends and had such a wonderful time.  After that we saw each other all the time.  He was such a gentleman and always so nice.  Yes, it definitely was love at first sight!  We met on May 4, 1940 and we always had such a good time when we were together.

About Dec 1st of that year Ross was transferred to Fargo, North Dakota.  He worked for Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.  It was a sad day for us both because we knew it would mean many months of separation.  Not having a car he didn't get home very often--I really missed him.  In the spring of 1941 I moved to Ellsworth, Wisconsin to stay with my friends, Rose and Fred, that had been transferred there earlier in the year.  Ross came there to see me a few times.

I August of 1941 I decided to go to work in St Paul, Minnesota.  At about that same time I learned that Ross had been transferred there too.  We were both so happy to know we would both be there.

On September 28, 1941 we were married  in a Lutheran Church in St. Paul at 8:30 in the morning. yes it was a very strange time to be married but Rose and Fred were our attendants and being a Greyhound bus driver, Fred had a run to make in the afternoon.  The main thing was that we were married!

It was a very small and simple wedding.  Ross' mother was the only relative there, but we were just thankful to have her with us.  We were just new in St. Paul so didn't know anyone to invite.  We were both working fortunately but worked opposite hours unfortunately.  So I'd get up in the morning and fix his breakfast and get him off to work and at night he'd wait up for me until midnight and then come down to the Ice Cream Parlor and walk me home.  We always stopped at a little hamburger place and had a nickel hamburger and a ten cent piece of cherry pie.  We were so happy and loved being married.   I really enjoyed being a housewife and always have.

Oh yes, I almost forgot our honeymoon.  It was a trip---from Minneapolis to St. Paul. After the wedding we went to get our pictures taken.  Then we went to breakfast with Ross' mom, Rose and Fred, and a couple of Fred's aunts that must have come along just to increase our numbers. Neither Ross nor I knew them.

Afterwards we jumped into the car, Rose and Fred in the front seat and Ross and me in the backseat. Sandwiched right in between us was none other than "Mama!"  This was so embarrassing to us at the time because we happened to run into some friends of ours on the street corner as we stopped at a light and it was obvious we had just been married.  Why?  Because I wore my wedding dress all day long and there she sat in the middle of us.

The next event of the day was a tour of the Capitol Building.  Over the years we laughed so many times about that, especially going there in my wedding dress.  Of course everywhere we went people stared.

Finally in the afternoon we put his mother on a train to send her home.  After that we stopped in a little place to have a drink and celebrated our wedding day.  After paying for the drinks we discovered we barely had enough money left to catch the streetcar home to St Paul which was just across the river. We had also been able to see Horace Heights put on big band show so we were pretty exhausted so we were happy to come home to our little apartment that we had just rented the week prior to our wedding.  I stayed there and got things ready and Ross lived at the YMCA until the day we were married.  The night before the wedding Rose and Ross' mom stayed with me in our apartment.  Everyone was a little frazzled and cramming three women in the bed was a bit much.  Just as we were about to go to sleep I said, "This is the first time I have ever slept with a Colberg!"  This sent my future mother-in-law into fits of laughter!"  She told that story repeatedly over the next many years.

Our apartment was tiny and our first home was so much fun.  In our home our living room was also our bedroom.  We had a Murphy bed that pulled out and down from the wall   So every day and every night we had to rearrange our furniture.  When the bed was up it had a nice mirror on the back of it so it looked just like a real living room.  Those were wonderful times.

I can remember how proud I was to be his wife, and how through our marriage I'd look at him and find it hard to comprehend that he was mine, all mine!  We didn't have much in the way of material things then, we went into our marriage with a few dish towels without hems and a few cents in our pockets but we were very much in love and we had each other, so what else really mattered?"

The End of Part I

Beautiful Couple~My Parents

Married 72 years ago last week

 on September 28, 1941

I miss them and feel grateful for

 Their wonderful parenting everyday!

Our Wedding, June 15, 1968 Reprise

 A little the worse for wear and also

 a little the better for the journey!

Tomorrow, June 15th, we will have been married 45 years.   Seriously, I can hardly fathom that.  Life goes by so fast.  It has been a joy most of the time, especially in retrospect.  I think by the time you have been married for this long you are just filled with amazement and gratitude that another person has actually been able to put up with all of your stuff for so darn long!  Holy Smokes!

Another person has stayed with you through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, through all the trials and set backs and struggles...your person has stood by you and witnessed and shared your life, your progression, your best and worst moments.

They have accepted your repentance and forgiveness.  And you have done the same for them.  You have both worked hard to make it good and you have never stopped trying.  That is what a true Lovely Princess/Prince Charming really does!  He or she is a person that is  committed to the "us" more than to him/herself or to you.  He/she is a builder and filled with commitment to his or her promises.  A person of honor and trustworthiness.  I like anniversaries.  They are a time to reflect and gain perspective of the whole picture.  The nitty-gritty, day to day can just be set aside and you can bask in the light of the overall joy. 

 That is a miracle isn't it?  In my mind it has become divine, irreplaceable and sacred.  We share most of our life experiences in ways that no other human can ever know us or love us or care for us.  I am more in love with James today than I ever have been.  He really touches every part of my heart, my soul, my experiences..my life.  The best gifts we share, the Gospel and ~ our wonderful children and grandchildren!  Happy Anniversary, Babe, your deserve a crown!  I love you!

These are a few pictures I ran across yesterday and I think haven't been viewed by human eyes in a very long time. I have a feeling our kids have not ever seen them actually. They depict the first few hours of our married life together back in 1968. And I added one of my bridal shower at the end just for fun.

This is our hot ride to our reception after the wedding. 

I love this photo but could someone please photo shop the cat glasses and the goofy head dress? The ride is Jim's Grampa's 55 Chevy...an antique even then and the coolest car. I think it is Jim's brother, Gary, that was our driver!

The receiving line at our wedding reception
with my smokin' hot (baby) HUSBAND and my cute Mom and Dad. 

Our little Volvo! 
 

It had the shiniest black paint you ever did see and hubcaps full of rocks thanks to our clever brothers. We stopped here in Lafayette to remove them before going to a late dinner in a romantic, little restaurant called Petar's. The restaurant still exists in Lafayette but has moved to a new location.

This is a picture of the first dinner (spaghetti and salad) that I cooked for Jim in our first San Francisco apartment when we first got married. Lots of firsts! It shows our wedding china and flowers still left over from our wedding and our fancy chrome and Formica kitchen set that someone gave us with the vinyl tablecloth which was the latest and coolest tablecloth you could get! No ironing~just wipe it off! Cool ( not). We left the next day for our honeymoon at Lake Tahoe.

This is my bridal shower at my friend, Judy's, house. She was my maid of honor and best friend since 7th grade. Last year we attended the wedding of one of her daughters. Ah, the circle of life with good friends!

Check out my orange, wool, 2 piece dress with the fancy floral trim that I made (don't faint, K?) and the lovely hair....a hairpiece called a 'postiege' that was individually woven to match your hair exactly. It was essentially a long hair swatch like a horse's tail that you would loosely braid and set atop your head a la Barbra Streisand. Everyone saved their $25.00 for months and had one and they were quite fun and easy to 'do!'

The biggest advantage was you didn't have to sleep on those hard, uncomfortable rollers! I got my first hair dryer a few weeks after the wedding for my 21st birthday. Pure heaven even if you did have to get up at 3:00 am to shampoo and set your hair and then dry it under a big plastic cap attached to the hose of the dryer.

Yep, now that is VINTAGE, no?

But I digress...don't you love the yarn touch around the fancy braided bun? Such a fashionista, seriously! But the glasses...the cat glasses are the bane of my existence when I see any photos from this time period! And black... sheesh, no blending here!

C'est la vie! As my friend Michelle Simpson would say, "It is what it is, Bonnie!" No do-overs.

A Simple Woman's Daybook~April 26, 2013

Our lives pass swiftly by! I want to do something to remember

the everyday moments and my thoughts about them.  

That is what this daybook is all about.

Focusing on the little things that become my life.

One entry at a time.

Just for today~Friday, April 26, 2013

 

Outside my window...It is 9:00 am and still chilly but bright and sunny with a nice breeze.  In fact as I sit here gazing out the big window by my desk there is a tree "snowing" little white blossoms all over the place.  Pretty.  We are solidly in spring with summer jumping in every once in awhile over here.  Sunday was in the 90s and today will probably be in the 70s.  I am trying to figure out east coast weather right now.  Watching the temps and it is clear that it is still cold up north while the south is climbing into the high 70s and low 80s the last little while.  It should be very pleasant!  Layering is the only way to go on this trip.  In fact that is how I always dress so it shouldn't be too bad packing.

I am thankful for...family, friends, good neighbors, house sitters, gardening volunteers, etc. and neighborhood watch.  It makes leaving for awhile work out just fine.  Love all you guys!

From the learning room...affirmations all the time about how sweet life is even when there are problems all around us.  One day at a time and with the help of God we live, we grow, we learn, and we manage.  One way I cope with the craziness is I just avoid learning every sordid detail of the news.  Honestly!  You don't want to be uninformed  but I can get by very nicely without looking a gory pictures from bomb sites as an example.

I am reading...New materials online and the updated User Guide for FamilySearch/Family Tree.  A recent update to the website of major proportions again, has sent us on another tour of the monopoly board.  You know what I mean...pass go and do not collect $200.00!  In other words, just when you think you have it, you feel like there is yet another do-over.  But that is the nature of a living, vibrant discipline.  You have to keep learning and that's one of things that most appeals to me.  And what you have previously learned serves you well as a foundation for the new and improved.  

I like to think of it as the difference between the static encyclopedia and the vibrant Wikipedia.  The ability to make these changes useful and up to date is what keeps the boredom at bay.  It also almost always improves the accuracy of your work and the functionality of the website. 

I just read one hundred comments by people regarding the changes and wanting it to be all perfect...yesterday.   That somehow seems incongruous to a bunch of people that think nothing of spending years looking for one person on the old dusty microfilms.  We are all more impatience than we use to be.    We have become a society of instant gratification seekers.  We often apply that characteristic to the youth, but alas, it is all of us.  We seem to have a cultural lag here somewhere.  The resistance to change is real and painful but it is good for us.  I actually think I love it.  Sorry for the lengthy response to this one.  You are a true friend if you are still here!  
 

From the kitchen...not much going on there but we are surviving nicely.  Jim made us a great lunch today while I was out getting errands done.  What a nice thing to come home to when you are tired and hungry.
 

I am missing...Downton Abbey, and Lark Rise to Candleford.  Just some good and wholesome down time to just relax is the translation for that I think.  And another thing...time to write.  Hopefully  there will be time for that on our vacation.

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having...my thoughts have been on how being reliant on the Lord all the time is so much a part of how we do day to day living and how grateful I am for that.  It is that one constant that never changes, the one place we can go for peace and rest and unconditional love that is so strengthening.  Whether it is a great day, a hard day or something in between, knowing He is with us makes all the difference.

I am hearing...the sounds of the end of the day.  People are driving past our house on the way home from work, kids playing next door, the frogs are starting their backyard concert and there are some wild turkeys outside gobbling away.  There is classical music playing in the kitchen and I am just absorbing all that into my thoughts as I type away.  There is an excitement in the air that it is the weekend which I find kind of interesting since it is not much different than other days now that we are not out in the workforce.  Still it remains magical.

One of my guilty pleasures...taking time out to get away with Jim and just be together uninterrupted.  A rare pleasure that I am looking forward to on our vacation.  

Pet Peeves...graphic displays of other people pain and suffering as was the case after the bombing in Boston.  I refused to look at the pictures as I shared above.  What a huge invasion of people's privacy to witness them in such pain.  I wonder about the media and those that are so blood thirsty.  I do not want to become desensitized to that through the media's indiscretion and crassness.

I am going...to have a Harry Potter movie night with Jim which means I will be working/playing on my iPad while eating popcorn.  His night to choose.  I am good with that, he lets me choose most of the time.  So Pinterest here I come.  Woohoo!

I am quoting...Thomas S. Monson

"As we face the temptations of time, the confusion of choice, the embarrassment of error, the pursuit of perfection, our Heavenly Father is there to listen, to love, to inspire. Our Father, to whom we earnestly pray, is not an ethereal substance or a mysterious and incomprehensible being. Rather, He has eyes with which to view our actions, lips with which to speak to us, ears to hear our pleas, and a heart to understand our love.  ("A Quest for Eternal Life," BYU-Hawaii Jubilee Celebration, October 21, 2005)

If I could change one thing it would be...it is so hard to pick just one, but I'll say that there was more trust in the world between people.  Honesty, trust, goodwill.  Less suspicion, less being out for personal gain at all costs, etc.  I will paraphrase the words of Gordon B. Hinckley...Be kind, it would cure so much of what ails this world. 

  

An enjoyable movie/ TV show we have watched lately...The Love Letter with Jennifer Jason Leigh.  It is an old Hallmark movie directed by Dan Curtis who is one of our favorite directors. There have been other movies out with this title so if you decide to watch it be sure it is this one.  It has romance, intrigue, sweetness and a little fantasy thrown in.  I think you would love it too.

I am curious about...what tomorrow will bring.  Are you?  Life is truly an adventure.

Plans for the rest of the week...Well let's just say there may be some tangible, southern charm surrounding us in the near future.

One of my favorite things...hope.

Some things that made me so happy this week...We hosted a wedding reception here for our dear friend's son and his new wife, enjoyed a quiet lunch with two beautiful ladies when it seemed like time stood still for an hour or so, finishing the last of my 10 presentations that have been ongoing for four months during which time I changed the PowerPoint four times, and got a thoughtful note from a  treasured friend.  And my sweet friend, Carol, became a grandma again after what seemed like a long wait for labor to begin.  She is such a gem, I do love you, Carol!  It was a great week.


The most surprising thing this week...discovering we are leaving one day later than I thought we were.  I am actually a little ahead of schedule, thus I had time to do this Daybook.

Some photos I am sharing this week... 

Alex and Shauna Leal had their wedding 

reception in our backyard a week ago tonight. 



We cranked up the waterfall for the first time this year.  
It is always fun and exciting like lighting the Christmas
 tree for the first time each year.

The youngest guest, Alex's nephew, John

This is towards the end of the reception. 

 At the high point we had over 100 people here

It was so neat to be able to be a part of  this for our good friends.  We have known and loved Alex since he was born.  Many hands worked hard to get this all together for them.  It is a thing we do in our church and is so much fun!  I didn't have lots of time for picture taking but the yard was so pretty with the dozens of beautiful flower pots designed and planted by Michelle Simpson's Creations.  This is my friend that beautifies the world one flower at a time.  Here are a few of the pots all gathered together on the table while she was working on them a couple of days before.  

Our yard is pretty much a sea of green

 so the color has been so beautiful!

They had two heaters out but 

It truly was like a summer's night.

There could not have been better weather for April 19th!

Everything was in your favor, Alex and Shauna!

May it ever be so!

          Until we all return...happy day to you!

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon

Nicholas and Mara Wed

The Church

Our nephew, Nicholas, got married last weekend. It was such a happy and lovely occasion and they did a fantastic job of creating the perfect day to remember all of their lives. Nick and Mara met at work a few years ago and it has been magical ever since.

This Catholic church is just beautiful. Very European and gorgeous. The stained glass windows are magnificent and the ceiling really high. The statuary was really nice as well. It was so cold inside on the night of the rehearsal, but they did warm it up a bit for the wedding. The immensity of it just made it too difficult to warm. But what it lacked in temperature it more than made up for in beauty.

This area was just to the side of the alter area. The marble was exquisite. The soloist sounded like an angel for sure, it was very moving. She sang a lot and that made the ceremony very special. Jim and I were asked to read the Prayer of the Faithful and that was a sweet experience. We were honored to have been asked to participate. There were 53 people at the rehearsal and dinner and all of them had a part of some kind in the ceremony. This was the biggest wedding we had ever attended for sure.

Note the hanging chandelier above the alter.

A kiss for the Mr. and Mrs. while
awaiting photos after the ceremony.

A small part of the wedding party!

Steve and Emily's Family

Raul, Alesha (Our niece) and Samantha whom you cannot see in her mom's arms, Mara, Nick, Emily and my brother, Steve, with his new, high fashion, white hair..and their grandson, Sebastian.

Photos

This is just a bit of Mara's mother's side of the family. They came out in force for this great occasion! Nick married into a really nice family. We had several family members there but nothing to compare with her side.

The Angelic Grandma Gloria

This is Jim's mother with a halo! This is what our son, Chris,
did for fun while waiting for the wedding photos to be taken.
Chris is a character and his Grandmother was eating this up,
I can assure you! That big chandelier came in handy!

Uncle Steve and Chris

My brother, Steve, whom many of you prayed for all summer during his chemo, with our son, Christopher. It was so wonderful to have him home for a few days. It was a rare opportunity for him to come home with his busy life. We had a nice dinner at home the first night with some of the family that was not coming to the wedding. The reception was in this amazing winery. The happy hour was in this room that was wine barrels from floor to very high ceiling and then in the center they had these tall tables where you could set down your drinks and h'oeuvres plates while chatting. Or you could just sit and talk with people. It was really nice. They had an open bar so people could have whatever they wanted. Our whole table was drinking virgin concoctions from one of the bartenders. He did a pretty fantastic job of mixing different juices, and sparkly water or ginger ale and it was fun. All the food for the entire evening was five star.

The reception!

This shows a portion of the reception dining room. They also had great music and one of Mara's cousins sang two amazing songs for them. Nick also made a wonderful video to surprise Mara and they did all the traditional stuff, garter toss, bouquet toss, first dance, money dance, dancing with the parents, toasting by the best man and maid of honor and special words from Mara's father and Nick's mother, Emily.

My sweet cousin Bob and his wife Beth

My youngest brother Gary and his wife Marilyn

Uncle Tom, Marilyn's Dad and Gloria

They even had a professional photo booth set up for everyone at the wedding to get pictures taken of their group to take home. They were just supposed to be goofy fun photos, four in all with various accessories available to add to the gaiety. Our group was not really too with it in this department until it was over. They were just taking the photos so fast. And we were a little slow on the up take.

The Photo Booth shots

I was going to have a hot pink boa but the little girl in front of us was still trying to untangle herself from it when we went into the booth. C'est la vie. It was a fun evening. We were gone a total of ten hour from portal to portal...a long and memorable day!

The cake was beautiful as you can see
and it was very delicious as well.

They even had their names
projected over the bar in huge letters.

We hope you live happily ever after, Nick and Mara!
We love you both! Best wishes!
Your wedding was beautiful!
May your life together be even more so!

My Besties

Are you a person who has a "Bestie" in this life. A person that has had one best friend forever and always? I read a quote once that I have been trying to find but couldn't. The jist of it is if a person has a best friend in this life he is very fortunate. If he meet more than one or has a handful of best friends in his life he is extremely blessed. I feel I have been extremely blessed in my life to consider several people the best of my very best friends. I think one thing that has lent to this blessing is that we have lived in the same place for many years and we have become very close to many people in our church family.

To me a bestie is someone that I am as close to as my family, someone that I admire, respect and enjoy very much and that I trust. Without trust there is no friendship. My good good friends, inspire me and lift me up and allow me to contribute to their lives as well. I love a relationship of give and take where we are equally yoked and help each other just by being like-minded in many areas. And yet we have enough differences to be interesting to each other. I love a relationship where we are relaxed with each other and can simply be ourselves without always wondering where we stand with each other. I think high trust relationships bring that sense of security that I need and love. There are several people in my life that fit that description very well. What a huge blessing you are to me. I know you have my back and my heart and I love you for this. And I have yours!

One such friend that is very high on my list is Barbara.

Last week we took that five day trip to Utah together that I have mentioned a few times. It was pure heaven to have this time with her. Not surprisingly we talked non-stop for five days just catching up on the lost time of the past five years. One nice thing about real friendship is when you see each other it is like no time has passed. Since her husband, Bill, died in 2006 we have been like two ships passing in the night as she has been working so much, Hazie was born and all that required in the first few years, Barb's mom moved in with her, Jim retired, etc., etc. So those five days were truly pure gold.

Our purpose in this trip was to attend the wedding of our very good friends' son, Jacob. We took two days to go to Utah and shopped and played and saw a movie and ate out and just enjoyed it all. We arrived at Jen's late Friday night. We got to stop at one of my favorite places, Taipan Trading Company as we made our way to Jen's. We both bought some fun new things for our houses.

We each bought one of these great candle holders. I got this one for dinner parties because it is low enough to see over and talk with our guests. In the meantime it has landed here on the mantel. It is so hard to take photos in this dining room, so much light comes in from the big windows. But you get the idea.


This banner is something I have been wanting to show you all summer. Another of my besties, Maureen, made it for me and I love it. This picture does not begin to do it justice. It is really neat! The colors are much more lovely and of course it has been bedazzled with a fine glittered look in some areas. Love it and her! Sorry for that little diversion~back to the trip!

That night we went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory after Barb bought a new dress for the wedding. We got to visit with Jen a little before we dropped into our beds completely exhausted after a long and hot, but fun day!

The next morning we set out to find the Oquirrh Mountain Temple where Jacob and Britney were to be married. Our GPS did not fail us this time and we got there with a little time to spare. We have known Jacob since he was a young boy and this was our first time to meet Britney. What an absolutely beautiful woman she is!

Both of these photos of the bride and groom came from Jacob's Facebook page. I took some but they were not too great with too many people in the way and too far away. I think the one above may have been some they had taken for their engagement picture, the second one was taken by Laura A. Capasso a friend of the bride. I am not sure if she was their official photographer but if not she should have been! Her photos are fantastic!

This is one sweet and darling couple.
Their sealing in the temple was beautiful.
Her bouquet was bright red!

While we waited for them to come out for pictures etc., we chatted with our good friends from our ward that were there and of course with Jacob's parents, Alan and Michelle and their kids who now live in Canada, CA and Nebraska. We also saw several people that use to live here in our ward that have since moved to Utah. There was around 20 great friends there, it was like a big reunion!

I only got photos of a few of them but here they are.

Caroline, Barb, Michelle March and Michelle, mother of the groom.
Talk about Besties!
It was so warm and windy out there on the bluff.
(They don't spike their bangs really!)

But very beautiful!!

Some of us trying to find shade while
the wedding photos were being taken.
Kent, Caroline, Me, Norma, Marilyn, and Michelle.

Their reception was to be held in Wyoming, the bride's home state and so we were all invited to a lovely luncheon in their honor in Utah. It was so nice, we thought maybe we should have that be the new tradition and just skip the expensive and stress of the receptions. It was just so nice and intimate and the bride and groom spoke to all of us and she sang Jacob a beautiful song. It was great and the food was wonderful too.

Kent and Caroline sat at our table with us.

We do love these two and miss them since they left 8 years ago for Utah! Caroline is coming out for a visit in February we are already planning fun things to do!

Alan (father of the groom) and David
Two of my favorite guys in the whole world.

Good friends the Mc Queens

They moved to Utah a few years ago. Jim misses Dick, they use to bike together a lot. He is one of Jim's heroes! He is enough older than Jim to inspire him to keep going and never give up! It was so wonderful to see everyone. We had a ball! Missed having James with me though!

Afterwards we stopped at Gardner's Village for a little while.

Barbara had never been to Taipan or Gardner's Village so that was quite fun for her and it is always a treat for me too. They have lots of little shops and it was quite nice at that time of day.

The Sweet Shop!

A little baby carriage full of flowers.

Our next stop, dinner at Cracker Barrel!
Another first for Barb!
We did cram ever so much into that 5 days.

Love their porch!

Another late night for us. They left the light on for us! Jen did call her Dad and tell him we were a couple of party animals. He was not surprised!

The next morning was Julia's birthday and they were all still at the family reunion so we spent a couple of minutes in the morning with Jen and Hazie before embarking on the looong trek home. Hazie was not feeling well but she is still such a little doll in spite of all that. She is very social and loved Auntie Barbara from the minute she met her. Barb has of course met Hazie before but it has been too long ago for Hazie to remember. They played on the floor and Barb even got kisses!

By Wednesday Hazel was heading to the hospital! Just could not kick that staph infection and then complications with a medication. If ever there was an angel on earth it is Hazie!

Good-bye kisses!

We headed out for Reno about 9:30 am. Finally arrived after a lovely day of chatting, reminiscing over many memories, laughter, tears, it was the best. That night we went to see a movie and had popcorn for dinner. Saw Midnight in Paris ~ a really enjoyable movie. I want to see it again already. In the morning we got up when we woke up instead of by an alarm. Got dressed leisurely and planned to have waffles at the Comfort Inn where we stayed, but we were just a little late for that! Whoops. Pure heaven not to be rushing.

We got to our neck of the woods quickly by avoiding commute hours in Sacramento. Stopped for our last yummy lunch together in Benicia at a new place called the Capitol Cafe. Excellent choice and a nice way to wrap it up for our girls' holiday! Sad to see it end for sure, but nice to get home and back into the routine and especially to see James again!

Epilogue:


Hazie in the Hospital getting a crown from the nurses and some Play Doh. They know how to bring a smile to her little face! She just stayed 1 1/2 days so that was good. Just had to get some meds regulated and get rid of the fever.

They brought this ginormous Newfie in to see her,
he is a therapy dog. Therapy worked well!

So that is it, we are up to the minute over here on the blog except that James was out on his tractor today digging a road through the ivy for his soon to be new workshop and he turned up a hornets nest. Five stings later he is planning his counter attack. Never a dull moment...and the beat goes on! He is going to be fine, but not anticipating a restful night tonight. He had one sting last week that kept him up for two nights. And now I better get dinner ready for my very best "bestie" of all. Have a great Sunday tomorrow everyone! And a relaxing bonus day off on Monday! No laboring allowed unless you are pregnant!