What a FUN FUN FUN day!!!

I am EXHAUSTED...sleeping on the couch and getting up every 4 hours for Kev's narcotics has worn me out. Tonight after dinner I told dh that i wanted to go up to Old Chicago and sit on the patio and have a beer or 2. We did that. And it was AWESOME.

But, earlier in the day Kev, Dan and I went to Walmart. We had fun! Here are some pics.!!!!







I wouldn't change being a mom for anything. I wouldn't change taking care of a hurting child for anything. I wouldn't change the memories of the past 3 days for anything. I am thankful for the past few days...even if it means one of my kids has been in some pain.

Hugs
Laurie

As requested...Hawaii pics

This is a picture of DH and I on our sunset sail. The pics in the previous Hawaii post has pics of the sunset from that trip.

This is a pic of me after I finished snorkeling. That was such an awesome experience. DH and I saw some sea turtles that were in the turtle cleaning station. Fish were on their backs cleaning/eating stuff from the ocean that had attached to their shells...thus "cleaning station"...the fish were cleaning the turtles!

This is our bartender buddy, Erik. We had some great conversations with him. He was such a neat guy!

This is one of the pictures from the night of our luau. The sunset that night was just the most AWE INSPIRING sunset of our trip. Such colorful beauty and truly a gift from God.

This is a picture that I took of DH and I in Kauai. We decided to do a helicopter tour of the island. Most of Kauai is not visible from the ground...even hiking. We went on a 'copter without doors. It was an AMAZING trip!!!


SO there ya have it!

DS is doing better today. We go to PT this afternoon and I'm sure that will hurt for him. But, he's ready to go! Here's a pic of his "owie" You'll have to turn your laptop since I don't know how to rotate these with my Mac computer. Have a great day everyone!

Surgery for Kevin

Today my son had ACL repair on his right knee. He is deathly AFRAID of needles so putting in the IV was a rough time for him. But we had a SUPER nurse and she did a SUPER job handling Kevin and she said his vein was SUPER as well! But I felt so badly for him. We said a few prayers together to get thru it.

He is now home recovering and so far so good. Pain killers are a great thing! :o) We will be sure to keep on top of those. Tomorrow we can unlock his brace and he can start flexing it. He will start rehab on Wednesday. I'm sure that will not be a picnic but it's necessary.

I am playing nurse and will help him get thru this. Here he is on the couch! He is already talking about getting himself back on the soccer field next fall. He will obviously have to redshirt this year. We'll get him there eventually!

Laurie

911 CELL PHONE LOCATOR

I thought this was important to pass along. Please post it on your blog as well. This incident happened only about 5 miles from our house. It took me about a minute to find this setting and it was on E911. It is now on "location on" setting.

You may remember that a young woman was recently abducted from a
Target parking lot in Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City. Her body was
discovered many miles away in Missouri. They were able to locate her
by the sequence of cell phone towers that picked up her cell phone
location. She had not attempted to dial out, but when her family was
trying to call her the towers could sense her phone. Sadly, the
authorities were not able to reach her in time. However, they were
able to locate her body which was in an area where they never would have
searched without the cell phone tower information. The cell phone "locator" can be either set on "E911" in which case you
must dial out to be located, or it can be set to be on all the time -
"location on". There is no negative consequence (like higher batteryuse) from having it on all the time. With it on all the time you can be located by emergency services through the police if you fail to respond
(sick, injured, or worse). I think this is worth passing it on.

You can find "location" either under "Settings" then "Location" or
"Tools" then "System" then "Location" and it will give you the option
of 911 or Location on.

IN ALL FAIRNESS I FELT IT NECESSARY TO POST THIS LINK...IT'S STILL WORTH CHANGING YOUR SETTINGS:
http://www.snopes.com/crime/prevent/cellping.asp

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone has a safe and happy one. We aren't doing much around here. DH and are alone for 5 days...weird but nice. We kinda got used to it in Hawaii!!!
Hugs
Laurie

Hawaii was AWESOME!!!!

Here we are on the airplane in Minneapolis having a Mai Tai in first class before the long flight to Honolulu!!!!! Do we look excited????!!! First class was the way to go! Gosh it was worth it!!!

This was a picture of us with our leis on. They smelled sooooooo good!!! We were tired...the trip was a bit over 8 hours and very uneventful!!

Our first sunset in Hawaii!!! This was taken on a sunset cruise on a sailboat. It was the first time I had ever sailed and it was AWESOME!!!!!

Another gorgeous sunset! The colors are orange, golden, and purple there...not much red at all! STUNNING!!!!!

And here is DH and myself on our 25th wedding anniversary!!! I need to take a picture of the new wedding ring he gave me. It is STUNNING and I just LOVE it!!!!!


We loved Hawaii so much that we bought another week with Marriott Timeshare (we already own 2 weeks in Palm Desert). We bought an ocean view that we can use every other year. We just LOVE Marriott timeshares and highly recommend them to anyone considering a timeshare purchase. Marriott does it RIGHT!!!

Adjusting to the time change back home is rought. I had about 2 hours sleep in 38 hours or so. It was well worth it though!! I highly recommend Hawaii to anyone!!!

ALOHA!!!

Tomorrow will be spent running around doing last minute stuff preparing for our 25th Anniversary Honeymoon to Hawaii!!! We leave on Friday and spend a week on Oahu before leaving to Kauai for 4 days! I AM PUMPED!!!!! Look for pics when I get back!
Hugs
Laurie

Signature quilt

This quilt was done by a friend of mine for her grandson's graduation. The 2 dorks in the pics are my dh and ds!

A Quilty Weekend continues

I am having sooooooooooo much fun this weekend!!! I bought a book called "One Block Wonder" and am using it to make a quilt for my son's firestation. They had a major trauma at 3AM today and my 18yo son witnessed his first dead person. He is handling it well and the firefighters he was with told him they were there to listen if he wanted to talk. I hate that DS saw this, but it had to happen sooner or later. The good news (if there is any) is that it was an ATV accident, both drunker than drunk, the passenger lived, took hours to get help for the driver who was crushed under the "Gator" (due to her being drunk). I'm sure Dan will keep that in his memory bank for a long time.

SO...I did what any quilter would do. I started to make a quilt. Here is what I have done so far. I am just LOVING this!
Laurie

Progress made

Here is what I accomplished in the past 10 days or so of off and on piecing. I was hoping the final clue would arrive in the mail today but it didn't. :o( Oh well...it'll have to wait until after we get back from Hawaii I guess.

These blocks will be separated by something...I'm just SURE of it! LOL

Prayers please

My sister called this afternoon. Her son and his wife are expecting their first baby on Halloween. They had an ultrasound yesterday and the baby's intestines are outside the abdominal cavity. When the baby is born, via
C-section, it will be put into a plastic bag up to its neck and taken to ICU. After 5-7 days it will have surgery to put the intestines back where the belong. The problem: we don't know what other issues this child might have.

My nephew's wife had trouble conceiving...so this is a very high risk pregnancy now. Please pray that all goes well and the little one is healthy. It is trying times for all of us.

MAJOR MELTDOWN

I had a major meltdown today. The kids and dh and I celebrated father's day since we will be in Hawaii on Father's Day. My meltdown was this...I have gained back about 25 of the 45 lbs that I lost 2 years ago. I wanted to be in kick ass shape for DH's and my trip to Hawaii for our 25th....needless to say, I am NOT. I am sooooooooooo fortunate to be married to a man who loves me unconditionally. TOTALLY UNCONDITIONALLY!!! Here is our plan:

1. I will work out 5+ days/week again
2. I will stop consuming alcohol every day
3. Dh and I will walk every night
4. I go back to weight watchers
5. I will weigh my food again

I CAN DO THIS...I CAN BE HAPPY...I CAN BE HEALTHY...I CAN LOOK GREAT...I CAN DO THIS...I CAN DO THIS...I CAN DO THIS...

sorry...just needed to vent...oh wait...this is my blog...i can vent if i want! LOL

Laurie

Clue #1 is FINALLY done!!

WOW...it is FINALLY done...clue #1 that is!!! I think this is going to be a fun quilt when/if I ever get it done! ;o) These blocks are 5# unfinished and I made 120 of them...6 in each fabric!!!! On to little 9P's now!!!

Life has been busy

I haven't had the time to work on a mystery quilt that I am doing by mail the way I wanted to this week. I am still working on the 2nd clue and the 3rd one arrived 2 weeks ago! YIKES...the last clue will probably arrive next week. I will get this done. I will get this done. I will get this done! LOL

On the happy side, my son who goes to college in Chicago and is now in an apt. there is home for an indefinite amount of time. He will have an MRI on his knee on Friday. If he needs surgery I don't want him to have it until after we get home from Hawaii. That is difficult for him to grasp, but he HATES needles and I just can't enjoy a trip that has been 25 years in the making knowing he is here recovering from knee surgery. He gets that...but it's hard for him...and I get that!

Tomorrow I hope to quilt a bit. I am getting there!!! Slowly but surely, I am getting there!

Here is a pic (sorry it's sideways, but you get the gist) of a quilt my sisters and myself made for the above son's new bed in his new apt in Chicago. He LOVED it!

I feel like a little kid

I know it's Memorial Day...but all I can think about is Hawaii! DH and I will be heading there in 18 days for our 25th Anniversary. Even before we were married, we talked about how we would go to Hawaii for our 25th since that is what both of our parents had done. I just cannot believe that the day is almost here!!!

I am so proud of the fact that DH and I have made it this far. We have had a ton of issues with kids...mostly our oldest, and still continue to forge ahead. Our love and perserverance has endured it all.

Marriage is hard work. To say that "we are happily married" is fine, but it should be clarified with "it has taken a ton of hard work but it's worth it". I am happy to be married to my best friend, confidant, lover, and a person who makes me laugh. There aren't a lot of people in this world who can say that. I CAN!!!!!

SO...I know this is Memorial Day and I am truly thankfully for our military, their families, and our family members who are deceased. But I am sooooooooooo very much looking forward to 10 days in Hawaii!!!

DH...I love you so very much!!!

OH HAPPY DAY!!!

My youngest son Dan wanted to get into firefighting school this summer. He was one of 30 candidates for only 15 spots. He was rejected because he didn't have any certifications (EMT, firefighting, Paramedic, etc). He was bummed but figured he'd just keep working on all of the certs. and hopefully get into the firefighting classes next year.

Well...today he got a call from the fire department and they asked if he was still interested in the school because a person dropped out!!! HE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is SOOOOOOOO excited as we all are in the family!!!!! This is just a happy day for us!!!!!

I wanted to share! We are THRILLED!!!!!! The picture above was taken at Sea World in Orlando over spring break. I just thought the logo was great! BELIEVE!!!! That's what Dan did and look what happened!!!!!

GRADUATION DAY!!!!!

Graduation day was perfect! My youngest is now a High School graduate and I am so proud to be able to say that all 4 of my kids have graduated from HS. Here are a few pics to commemorate the day!

The first is of Dan seeing his quilt for the first time. It was a hit!!!

This one is of his label. Dan's dream in life is to be a fireman. I had to have his picture in firefighting gear on his label! It's hard to read the wording but that's not the point.

Here's a picture of myself, Dan and my DH in the backyard before the festivities! I just LOVE these pics!!!

This is a picture of Dan in his cap/gown with his quilt. He said he will be sleeping underneath this tonight!!! (smiling HUGELY here!!!)

Post-graduation picture of DH, Dan, and DH's parents!!! Gotta love these pictures!!! Dan's tshirt is a gift from the inlaws! How cool is that???? I have called him "Dan the Man" since he was BORN!!!

DS's graduation tshirt quilt top

I FINALLY got the quilt top done!!! WOOHOO!!! After lunch it's assembling the backing and loading it on the longarm. Lots to do but progress is being made. I took a closeup of the sashing fabric because in the big photo it looks very blurry.
Laurie

Mother's Day...it ROCKED!!!

This is the end of Mother's Day. I had a SUPER day!!!! I worked on my youngest's tshirt quilt for his graduation! YEP...the youngest is graduating from HS next Sunday! WOW...where did the time go????? Then I was presented with a homemade brunch...eggs, rolls, sausage, bacon, mimosas, and fruit. It was great!!!! Everyone had a hand in it from DH to the youngest.

My 3rd child, Kevin is still in Chicago. He chose to stay there this summer and work. He called and we had a great chat. He's sick and as a mom, I wanted to take care of him. AHHHHH...the joys of letting your kids grow up!

My mom has been gone for almost 15 years now and I still miss her terribly. She was my best friend and a beautiful woman. I learned so much from her: compassion, desire, courage, love, honesty, and so much more.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!!!!

I also am blessed to have a wonderful Mother-in-law. She raised an awesome son who I am lucky enough to call my husband and best friend. My MIL is truly a great woman and I am proud to call her friend!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MIL!!!!!

Home Opener...

What a gorgeous day for the Royals' Home Opener!!! A high of 80 and SUNNY!!! I am letting my senior in HS play hooky (a college visit day) ;=) and we're going to the ball park!!! We are going to tailgate for a bit beforehand and just enjoy some time together! The Royals aren't the greatest ball team but I've decided if I am going to finish my life here...I might as well embrace the athletic teams here!!! The MN TWINS are still my favorite baseball team though...so when they come to town I wear the TWINS shirt! LOL

Have a great day everyone!!
Laurie