Budding Painters get their First Break

I was given a novel gift for Mother's day by Kara and Erika-- an art lesson for 2. Dave and I signed up and attended in Rockville. It's a fun place of town now with people sitting outside eating in the evening. We had a two and a half hour class with some instruction in acrylic, and a picture of two coordinating pieces of art that we could use as reference for ours.

 

Here are the proud artists displaying our work at home. I love bird motifs, (you can see the ceramic plate I painted once with the girls.)  We coordinated our colors together so they would blend nicely--just like we do. Thanks, Kara and Erika! It was so much fun!

A Day at the Beach- Northern California Style

 While visiting California in May, I was able to see my brother Vic in Sebastopol, north of San Fransisco.

 He only lives about a half hour from the beach.  We took a  scenic drive to it which was breathtaking.  It was such beautiful country--a very peaceful and uninhabited stretch of California.

 We stopped for a scone at an amazing bakery aptly called the Wildflour.  They bake with the most wonderful, fresh ingredients.  We tried an apple, cheddar scone, which was great, but our second scone was heavenly--pear, rosemary, and Kalamata olives--so moist and memorable!

 We enjoyed strolling their garden and sitting for our snack.

 I loved all the wildflowers on our drive, also!

 Even the cows relax each day and enjoy the beautiful breezes and views of the ocean.

 Someone had built a little lean-to for cover.  We had a nice picnic lunch near this spot.

Unfortunately the seals weren't out in the cove that day, but it was a wonderful combinations of views and making a new memory with my brother.

Santa Rosa. A trip to see my brothers

Three of my brothers live in or near Santa Rosa, California.  My brother Robert went to the hospital On Easter.  As it was very serious I made a trip from May 13-28  to see him and my other brothers. My mom also came from Southern California.  I was glad that I was able to go out and be with my family.

Easter, Beautiful Spring Weather, and a new Camera for Andrea

 Andrea bought a new camera with money she has earned working at a medical clinic.

She is intent on learning to use it, and putting it to work.

 On  Easter morning we were ready for church.  David, our bishop, was already there.

 It seemed like a good time to take in some lovely spring weather

 and get some pictures outside

 borrowing the view of our neighbor's plant

 which is next to ours in our back yard.

Julia, you can't escape Andrea now when she has the camera in her hand!

Julia's GRADUATION from BYU-Idaho

At Julia's Interior Design department celebration

Julia was able to have much of her family at her graduation from BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho.

  Dave and I flew in to Salt Lake on Wednesday, April 9th.  (Unfortunately Andrea was not able to take off school as she was playing in the orchestra for her school play. ) We drove down to Provo and had dinner with Daniel and Meg that evening.  They were just preparing for finals and weren't able to make it for the graduation.  My Mom had flown in the day before from San Diego and drove down with us to Provo.  The next morning we made the 5 hour drive to Rexburg.

That night, Thursday, was Julia's department celebration.  

We were able to see the boards and model of her last group project, a hospital.  It was very impressive!

Julia was honored with this award.

Friday morning we were able to attend the relatively new Rexburg temple with three of our children and their spouses, while my Mom and Julia watched the three children.

That morning Julia also finished packing up and moving from her nice apartment.

This is the I-Center where she graduated.  A new and huge building.

We got some shots of the new graduate afterwards.

Proud parents

 Julia is the 4th BYU-Idaho graduate in our family!

That night she received her diploma in her college.  

Interior Design is in the College of Physical Science and Engineering.

Surrounded by her family.  (Luke and Jacob and Blake left a bit earlier.)

On Saturday we took a nice hike along the Snake River.  Then we met up with my Uncle Monte, who is about 88, and his wife Violet, who live nearby in Idaho Falls, and have known our children while they have been to school there.

We had a little celebration for Tyler, who turned 26 on Monday, two days later.  Julia had also celebrated with that cake the night before.  :)

Audrey Louise was one month old that day.  Kara did a nice photo shoot with her.  Darling baby!

It was a great get together of 4 generations.

Audrey Louise Meiners is Born

Audrey Louise, our first granddaughter, was born March 12, 2014 to James and Tammy in Everett, WA.

Her middle name was in honor of Tammy, her mother, and me--we all have the middle name Louise, too!  They came to see us in December 2014.  (Here she is when we saw her in the future at about 9 months.

New Roof

 After 20 years, it seems like the time to get a new roof.

 The way they lifted all the shingles to the roof was awesome, but scary,

 And pretty loud inside.

The man was tied onto the end of the crane, but I'm glad he was sure footed and no incidents occurred.

You can't really get a sense of how big these birds are, but they really like the old roof. I wonder how they will take to the new one?

Babysitting the grandsons

Jacob and Blake were in Dallas with their parents for their Uncle Daniel's wedding.  They stayed in our hotel room with us the night before the wedding while their parents were at parties for Daniel and Meg.  We had a great time with our two superheroes.

January 3rd in Dallas

The day after Daniel's wedding, we spend some time as a family.  First, we had a surprise shower in our hotel room  for James' wife, Tammy, who is expecting a girl in March.  I couldn't resist this little jeans outfit, since baby Audrey will have my genes(jeans).

Kara planned the food and games.  Here my mom and I are head to head in a diaper changing contest.  (It is a little harder blind-folded--good thing we don't use safety pins any more!)

It was a lot of fun to get together and celebrate.

Later we met over at Meg's parents house to see Daniel and Meg open some of their gifts.  Here are 3 generations of women in our family--my mom, me, our four daughters and two daughter-in-laws.

Daniel and Meg had fun opening their gifts.

While Daniel and Meg had errands, the rest of us went to tour Dallas.  Here's a great picture of us at Kennedy's memorial.  Thanks to Craig for taking the picture. And thank you, Luke, (next to me in the sweatshirt) who kindly let his unprepared mother-in-law borrow his coat!