Quilting, Company, Scrapbooking

Tucson
Feb 24
I didn't realize it has been two weeks since I posted to my blog...been too busy to post!

We had a short, but nice visit with our friends the Skidmores in Lake Havasu. Boy, it sure is windy there...glad we didn't decide to move there! It is always good to get together with these two....we have been friends for many years. Carl was the best man at our wedding and Ruby was my matron of honor. Al & Carl Skidmore

Before we left to go to Yuma and Lake Havasu I had been neck deep in scrapbooking our pictures from the last cruise. I scrapbook a little different than most people. I first do my pictures on the computer in a scrapbook, then print those and then paste those to another scrapbook. This is the first time I have done that and I am hooked! I will have to say they turned out pretty good for an amature!

Ric, Janet and Cammie arrived on the 15th and last week was some what of a whirlwind! Sunday we all piled in the car and headed for Mesa and the Mesa Swap Meet. We spent a few hours and dollars there, then headed home to attend Cortney's 17th birthday party. We had a great time at her party and enjoyed seeing some people we haven't seen in a while. Christy (Holly's sister) was there with her four children...boy have they grown in the last four years! Cute kids!Cortney is 17!


Monday we kinda' hung around home in the morning, doing a quick Costco run and us girls had lunch at El Charro, a great Mexican Restaurant here in Tucson. Then Cammie and I hopped on the ATV's (I borrowed one and we have one) and headed out in the desert. Boy was that ever fun. I would do more riding if I had someone to ride with. I love to ride my ATV.Cammie

Tuesday I had a quilting class most of the day. Dad and Ric had picked up yard pavers on MOnday so Tuesday Ric, Janet, Cammie and Bruce put in pavers in front of the deck steps. Sure does look nice. Then Tuesday night we all went to see the U of A Girls Softball team play the 08 girls Olympic team. The Olympic team beat us 16-0! But it was a fun outing.

Wednesday we had lunch with Roger and Jude Hubbell and the kids got in a quick visit with them; then Roger, Al, Ric and Pat Voss all went to play golf. Janet, Cammie and I went out to the new Robson development, Saddlebrooke Ranch and looked at the model homes. We were amazed at the decorating in these homes, I felt like I had stepped back into the 50-60's! That night we had a wonderful dinner at Pat and Patti Voss....they are so much fun.

Thursday Al had a doctor appointment in the morning; then Cammie and I went shopping in the afternoon. I have been looking for a new sewing machine and finally splurged on an ELNA Pro Quilting Queen. I have been looking at all of them for some time but really wanted this one. It does so much more and I have never had a good sewing machine. I am so hooked on quilting (Thanks Ardis!) I am sure this machine will get lots of use.

Friday I had another quilting class. When I signed up for these classes they were on different days, but had to be moved for scheduling reasons, so that is why they were both this week. I made a table runner this week and had a blast doing it. Now I have a baby quilt cut out and ready to go.

Cammie and Cortney went out shopping while I was at class and Janet worked on her greeting cards. Friday night we had Cammie's 18th birthday party (Arizona version) here. Sandersons, Spaids, Gary and Jeannette were here. Cammie blows out 18 candles!
Cammie and Cortney

Early yesterday we took the kids to the airport in Tucson...last week sure went by fast. Both cats and dogs are busy moping around wondering where Cammie, Ric and Janet are. But then, so are we!

In the middle of all this, Melanie, my oldest daughter decided to give us all a scare by being taken to the hospital with chest pains. Fortunately, she did not have a heart attack and tests are still being run to see just what was wrong. She is feeling a lot better now, thank God. Enough drama for one week! But no, not yet, Marilyn, Al's ex-wife slipped and fell and broke her hip on Friday and had surgery yesterday. Ric says she is doing just okay. ENOUGH!

So, yes, we have been busy. But we like it this way. If we weren't busy we would just be sitting getting dusty! Next week is starting out busy as well. Various doctor/dentist appointments, plus the start of the Spaid Reunion(Jo's family) on Thursday and the weekend is all Spaids. Jennifer will be flying in on Friday for the reunion. Melanie was scheduled to come as well, but couldn't get time off from work...darn. :-( Maybe next year. So our next blog will be all about Spaids I bet!

Whew,,,it's been a busy couple of weeks!

Yuma
Feb. 10

Yup..we are in Yuma right now visiting friends and Jo will attend the Red Hat convention tomorrow. From here we will go up to Lake Havasu to see long time friends Ruby and Carl Skidmore for a day or so before we race back home to Tucson.

Like I said, it has been a busy couple of weeks. First of all cousin Holly had surgery on her ankle on Jan. 16, so we have been keeping a close eye on her. She is doing really well, and getting around on crutches and now a walking cast.

Then Jeannette decided to scare us all and she came down with a whopping big case of vertigo...still have no idea what caused it, but she was in the hospital for a few days and had us all very worried. She is better now and almost back to normal (at least she was yesterday when I talked to her). I know how vertigo is as I still have occasional problems with it.

So between those two I felt I had enough worry and sadness to last a while. But, no, just last week we were notified of a good friend who passed away. Gerry Rawlings was our back door neighbor when we lived in Bellevue and he was the nicest guy. We really didn't get to be good friends with him and his wife Catherine until we moved away!! We saw more of them after we moved to Odessa and they moved to Whidbey Island than when we were neighbors. Gerry was a bicycler and hunting enthusiast and rode in the American Lung Association Big Ride one year and other rides through out the years. Catherine notified us Gerry died on his 72nd birthday, Dec. 30. We are deeply saddened by his death and will miss a good friend. He was a great guy. It's so hard to lose friends.

We understand Odessa has been buried in snow for the last few weeks...sure glad we aren't there. Washington has really had some wicked weather this year. We finally had some inclement weather...we even had a 5 minute blizzard! Actual snowflakes...both of them! That's enough for me! We did get some rain a week ago and of course our road decided it was time to wash out again! So now we have the road contractor schedule for tomorrow to build us a new road...one that we hope won't wash out so quickly!

Bruce, my nephew finally got here from Anchorage last week. He is staying with his dad (my brother) for a couple of months and we sure are glad to see him. He is such a nice guy and we really enjoy having him around and so does Dick.

Jack, Suzi, Al, Dick and I went to a Willy Nelson concert last week. He was good, but not as good as we have seen him in the past, but it was fun. We always meet for an early dinner before the show at the Agave Restaurant at the Desert Diamond Casino .. and that is a treat; the restaurant is great.

Feb. 11
I got interrupted yesterday....actually my connection to the internet was so slow that my blog timed out!

The Red Hat Convention for the Yuma area was today. My friend Lano and her group put this on every year and it is always fun and today's didn't disappoint me. Her group put a log of work in to these.

Tomorrow we head for Lake Havasu for a day to visit friends there. On Saturday son Ric, daughter-in-law Janet and grand daughter Cammie will come for a week visit...we can hardly wait. Then the Spaid re-union commences shortly after they leave, so our month will be busy.