Ryan and Stacey's Wedding

I had a hard time narrowing down pictures for this trip. There are a bunch of them. And it's going to take me forever to download them all, but the memory will be worth it. We flew in on a Wed. to PA. On Thursday night Brenda and Jeff had a family BBQ for all of us to get together. It was really fun and Brenda was excited to make her homemade ice cream. YUM! Well, it churned and churned and churned. Eventually she realized she never put the milk in! It was like butter ice cream, but I thought it was tasty. :) As you can imagine she was given a hard time the rest of the week and will probably never hear the end of it!



Friday we all met up at Red Robin in Hersey PA. We had a great lunch with Steve's family and got to meet Ryan's sister, Mom and niece. Then we all headed over to the Hersey Hotel to see where the wedding would take place. It was beautiful. They were to be married in the formal gardens under a big white gazebo. It rained this day and was in the 60's, we were all really hoping for nice weather for the wedding the next day. The hotel had a beautiful restaurant where we were going to have dinner after the wedding. I didn't get any really good pictures of the restaurant, but the painting in it was beautiful. After seeing the hotel we headed to Chocolate World. They have a fun little ride that gives you the history of Hersey and of course the kids were excited to get chocolate at the end. Kelly had her eye on this massive chocolate bar. The thing was bigger than she could carry. I had her settle for the second biggest chocolate bar in the place. The picture is a few down.

All of us cramming into the elevator at the Hotel. We are a rowdy bunch.

Friday night Brenda and I had planned a surprise dinner for Stacey and some of her friends and family. I'm not so sure she was surprised, but we had a really good time anyway.


On Saturday morning, Stac, Jordan, Kelly, Brenda and I all headed to the salon. We had hair done, and nails done. Kelly got her hair cut short. She had been begging me for months to have her hair cut short, so I allowed it. Then the girls headed to the hotel to get ready. It was a nice day. Not rushed, and the weather was perfect! 80 degrees and sunny. Couldn't have asked for a better day. The wedding was simple but elegant. Ryan and Stacey were so happy and we were all so happy for them.

Brenda doing Kelly's makeup

Stacey and her daughter Jordan

Stacey and her brothers

Steve's Mom (Carol) and Kelly

Chris and Carol

Steve's Dad Lyn and his girlfriend

Keith and and Trey

Saturday night Steve and I took Jordan, Trey, Keith and Kelly back to Stacey and Ryan's house. Stacey and Ryan spent their wedding night at the hotel. I got up in the morning and had to take a quick run to Target, so Jordan went with me. When we got back, Steve had Ryan's car in the driveway and had washed it. He and Keith were taking it out for a spin. Steve tells me it is the fastest production car on the market. And he LOVED driving it. Thanks Ryan for allowing him that little treat. It was probably one of he and Keith's favorite moments of the trip. :)


Ryan has a niece named Reiley. Kelly and Reiley were instant friends, and were calling each other cousins instantly. She is a super sweet girl and it was fun for Kelly to have a friend to play with.

Sunday we spent at Stacey and Ryan's house. Trey had some friends over and a wiffle ball game kids against adults began. The adults won both games with the boys giving up on the last game. Sunday night Ryan, Stacey, Steve and I stayed up until 4 in the morning playing pinochle! Girls won of course! :)






On Monday Ryan, Stacey and Trey took us to the Philadelphia airport to head home. Before getting on the plane we headed to Geno's for cheese steaks. We'd eaten there once before, and I don't know if it's just because my taste has changed ever since my diet or if it just wasn't that good, but I didn't really care for it. Last time we all loved it. This time not as much. But the experience in itself is fun.




We had a great trip, filled with lots of wonderful memories. Thank you Ryan and Stacey for flying us out for this special occasion. We are so happy you two decided to marry and we now have Ryan as a brother-in-law. We know you will have many happy years together!

Rainbows

We had some gorgeous rainbows with all the thunderstorms we've been having. Thought I'd share a couple pictures.

Genesis 9:12-17 12. And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13.I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14.Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15.I will remember my covenant between Me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16.Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." 17.So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

Ezekiel 1:28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.

Love my yard!

One thing Steve and I decided when we built this house was that our yard was going to be as simple as possible. All the flower beds have stone so it never has to be replaced. Re mulching every year drove us crazy. The shrubs and flowers are all small and easy to maintain. Sometimes I see these beautiful garden yards and think how lovely it would be to have a yard like that, but then I think of all the work that goes into it, "No thanks!" I love that we spend our summers playing with the kids rather than spending time in the yard working. And of course, because Kelly is such a little flower lover, every year we buy flowers for her to plant in all her little pots, so she has those to care for during the summer months. I wanted to take pictures of some of her flowers this year. She picked some great ones. Some of them aren't in full bloom, so I'll have to add some pictures later in the summer. She's so proud of them.

Front Yard

Back yard looking N.E.

Back yard looking North

Back yard looking South

S.W. corner of our yard where we store the kids fort! :)

Some of Kelly's flowers

Kelly's Kite

I love the look of joy on Kelly's face as she's flying her kite.

Mother's Day

Me and my kids!

Kelly and I (She loves cake!)

Dad and Steve (Shouldn't this be me and Mom?)

I have been so behind on blogging lately, I'm trying to get caught up. Next week we go to PA for Steve's sisters wedding, and I know I'll have lots of fun pictures and stories from that, so I had better share my Mothers Day.
The kids were so sweet and we had a wonderful day! First we went to church. My parents joined us and Mom made us all a wonderful picnic lunch. (Thanks Mom.) We went to the park and spent the afternoon, relaxing in the sun and playing baseball. Keith says he really likes to watch Grandma run. :) Sorry Mom! Maybe that's why my back went out. I haven't hit a baseball in YEARS! I did hit it though. Steve was very impressed I could make contact. Probably surprised. I realized I didn't get a single picture of my Mom and I on Mother's Day. How bad is that. But I got a picture of Steve and Dad. (What did I think it was Father's Day?) I'm hoping she got one on her camera. I hope all you Mother's out there felt as loved as I did on Mother's Day. Thanks Keith and Kelly for making me the most blessed Mom out there. Love you guys!

Parade

This took me awhile to get on the blog, but Kelly got to be in the Parade here in town with her cheerleading squad. They had so much fun. The weather was perfect! And they are all to cute! Last night they had the end of the year BBQ and performance. I couldn't attend because of my back, but Steve took some video so I could see what it was like. She has had so much fun cheering this year. It has helped her coordination, and confidence. (Not that she needed much help with the confidence) :) Now we'll wait and see what she wants to do next year. :)

ACA Cheerleading

Warming up

Kelly and Kalie

Me and my sweet girl