A Rose for Mom

Lori and Jim took roses up to the Mesa on Sunday. Mom's birthday is today, Larry's is tomorrow and Jay's is the 14th. Lori is always so good about making the trek to the Grand Mesa to leave a little tribute to our family up there. The Grand Mesa got 6-8 inches of snow the other day - first one of the season. I can only imagine how beautiful it is with the fresh snow!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

all profits will be donated to the Susan B Koeman fund on a monthly basis!

Speaking of Romance ...

Today is Mom and Dad's 61st Wedding anniversary. And although they will be celebrating it in the great beyond somewhere far away from my comprehension, I know they are together this day. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! I Love you.

Romance & Movies

I think I want to sit down and watch ALL of these movies again! This is my newest calendar I made for All Things Bridal. Much simpler design than I normally do. Everyone knows my motto "MORE is always better!", but this time, Less IS More!

My Newest Obsession!

See for yourself!

National Toasted Marshmallow Day

When : Always on August 30th

Origin: Unknown

During eleven out of the twelve months of the year, we enjoy a wide range of holidays. When we get to August, there is a major shortage of big holidays to celebrate. Perhaps that is why many Europeans take the month of August off for vacation.

Perhaps it as just as well that there are no big holidays to compete with National Marshmallow Toasting Day. After all, how could any holiday compare with this day!?!

Enjoy today or tonight by a campfire or bonfire, toasting a big, soft, sticky and sweet marshmallow, or two, or three, or….. Summer would not be the same without a campfire and this great campfire treat.Summer is short. Summer is good. So enjoy it while it is still here. Toast a marshmallow and forget about everything else.

Quinn

July happenings

Well, the first two weeks in July ....

I have been working day and night on accounting and Zazzling ... I got to talk to and see the Grand babies in Virginia over the web cam ... joined Dan and Cathlene and many of their friends and family to celebrate Dan's 50th Birthday at Sakura's ... got my new Samsung Instinct phone which I still cannot operate ... and finished tiling the back patio. Not an exciting report, but an exact one!

I made this myself!

Another Granddaughter Turns 2

As of Late ...

Well, Tucson was so nice and the temperature just right and I was thinking of having another BBQ and all of the sudden we sky rocket to 112 degrees! This is the time of year where the flowers start to wilt and the leaves turn kind of brown and I just am not crazy about the next 45 days. But, if 60 days is all you have to worry about these days, then I would say I am pretty well off! I have kept very busy inside the house with accounting and organizing. However, my fastest moving up the ladder of all time favorite hobbies now is working on my Zazzle products. I began one gallery and then decided to add three specialty galleries! I love creating the work and I love the comments I get and I really love it when someone buys one of my products! Not that you make any real money on one or two products, but it just feels good. Now, grab your tea and sit in the cushy chair and peruse these galleries and let me know what you think. Please post any suggestions or comments on the gallery site. Thanks for checking. Happy Virtual Window Shopping.

Scraps of Life & All Things Bridal & All Things Christmas



Enjoy!

CATS off Broadway

Our last play of the 2007-2008 season, and as always, CATS delivered. I know it is a very different play. But I sort of enjoy the whole "oddness" about it. Jeffry and Kerri and Bob found it a bit unsettling. The staring cats freaked Jeffry out. I find it interesting that you learn about all of the different cats' lives and really, the experiences parallel our own. Anyway, even if "cats" freak you out, go and see this musical if you ever have the chance. It is a must!

say hello to summer BBQ

Tonight we enjoyed the company of family and friends with a cookout and lots of contributed dishes to share. Savannah made homemade brownies and brought them over, still warm from the oven. Hayley joined the party later. Neighbors Maria & Bettina with Bettina's Grandma, and Tom & Mary Jo joined the party. Special guests, Jay & Jackie met some of our family & friends and relaxed on the patio. Stephanie & Ray & Lynn came armed with lots of desserts! Of course, what would a party be without Kerri & Jeffry and Chris and Maggie! Kids engaged in a very mini croquet game and conversation flowed from every inch of the backyard! The weather was perfect with a cool light breeze every once in a while. The sunset was gorgeous and the company was wonderful. We have to do this more often!

Get Zazzled!

I am having way too much fun turning Bob's photos into products! See for yourself.

FUN !

One of the things that I so look forward to each year, is the Broadway show ticket listings of all of the shows coming to Tucson each season. Bob and I started going to see stage shows in Grand Junction over 30 years ago, at the Mesa College Theater. We couldn't really afford tickets then, so we got signed up to attend the final dress rehearsal nights of several plays which were run exactly as the audiences would see them the next night and nights after that. After being in Tucson several years, we finally signed up for U of A presents and had 5th row seats for 6 years or so. The performances were getting not as good and the acoustics were also not so hot, so we got on the subscription list to Broadway in Tucson at the TCC Music Hall. Loved it!! Have great seats and we renew that subscription each year. Last year I also signed us up for the Arizona Theatre Company at the Temple of Music and Arts. We have 10 or so dates lined up and ready to go, beginning with CATS at the end of this month, where we double date with Jeffry & Kerri. Cannot wait.

January - April 2008 in a nutshell

Sunsets by bob gardner photography

Jackie, Jay, & Sammie say goodbye to Tucson

37th Wedding Anniversary

Miss Photographer

Tristan was treated to an airplane ticket by my clients so she could take photos at a "going away" party! After we picked her up at the airport, we made our way to Austins for dinner!

This is harder than it Looks!!

Tucson Botannical Gardens

A collage of the gardens and butterfly exhibit.

Just thought I would pass this along.

275
Days
6
Hours
28
Minutes

Until Christmas!

What a nice Easter!

Bob's photos with my Scraps

I have been having way too much fun taking some of my husband's fantastic photography and combining them with my digital scraps to make collages.

Marluce on Tippy Toes

Mateo's hand on Grandma and Grandpa's

a condo in Puerto Penasco, Mexico with radiator, door latch, door knob & ceiling decor from Victoria, BC.

Visiting Cousins & Uncle from Colorado

a visit from the cousins!

then (1958) and now (2008)

Okay, so I forgot to do this when Cathie was actually here, so we used Tara (Carolyn's daughter) as a stand in! But you get the idea.

Visiting Relatives

February 27, 2008

We celebrated Ricky's Birthday at the Olive Garden. Marluce loved all of the pasta and Mateo flirted with a table of high school girls at the table next to us - serving them pieces of the birthday cake and posing for photos with them.

February 16 2008 Photo Album Pages

Mateo helps Grandma plant the flowers in the cute yard cart that Maggie & Chris Mundle gave me for my birthday!

I'll sing you the songs of the Rainbows

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Grandma's Girl

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

A nite out for Mateo's Birthday

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

February 7, 2008 Photo Album Pages

January 30 2008 Photo Album Pages

January 27 2008

how did that happen?

How did Christmas pass so quickly?? Every year I have decorations to take down in each and every room of my house - not to mention the back yard as well as the front. The garage is full of partially filled plastic storage tubs and new labels are applied. Lights are strung everywhere so I can replace bad bulbs before packing them away.

Christmas Eve Traditions

Marluce, Itzel, Angeles, Mateo & Aracely.



Way back on the Christmas Eve of 1995, I began a tradition for our first grandchild that has continued to this day.



Each grandchild got a special package only for Christmas Eve, filled with Pj's or Robes, a movie or books or both, treats to snack on while reading or watching, cocoas and cups, etc. I figured this way the kids would have a special Christmas Eve and since they got an early present, may be more inclined to go to bed early and without a fuss. Hardly ever worked, but I still continue the tradition (yes, even for the teenager!) and it is one of my favorite things to do. So, here are the grand kids in Mexico in all of their Christmas Eve pajama splendor!

Gramma Anne has a vistor!

Look what came to visit Gramma Anne's (Bob's mother's) backyard in Whitewater, Colorado! The tree is inside her fenced yard!!

tis the Season ...

I never understood why people were so bothered with the fact that Christmas trees and Christmas decorations were put out early in stores. I have always maintained a different viewpoint ... that the holiday season is just that - a SEASON. What is so wrong with a store brightly decorated? When I walk into a store and approach the area of the season, it lifts my spirits, lightens my stride, and lessens my worries. Just watch the faces of the toddlers when mommy passes the Christmas lights - it will make your day. It is a great time to explain to your little ones (or your grand-little ones) about the birth of Christ, or the meaning behind Kwanzaa, or the history of Hanukkah. The holiday season and religion has always been tied together. When you tell your little ones to be good for Santa, remind them that Santa is not the only reason to be a good and caring person. They will remember that stuff.

I start my holiday season early. I am at the first Hallmark store ornament premiere every year to pick out just the right ornament for the loved ones attending our annual Christmas Tree Breakfast*. I normally comb stores for hours looking for the perfect card and trying to come close to the all time greatest card that my husband picked out some years ago. This year I started making my holiday cards. I may not have enough, but you have to applaud the attempt!

The village starts going up the day after Halloween - November 1st. I work on it off and on for about 10 days until it is just so. I call it my winter village so people didn't think I was crazy for putting it up so soon!

Slowly, decorations will start creeping from storage into the house until every room has been decorated. My favorite thing to do is to place a little bit of holiday cheer where people least expect it. So, if a guest needs to visit the powder room, or drop something into the laundry, they are always greeted by a touch of Christmas. So much fun to see the look on their faces when they return from the powder room and exclaim that they have never seen Christmas ornaments on a shower rod before. I love that!!

I cannot wait to decorate until December. It makes the season too short. So, like the saying goes, keep Christmas in your heart all year. I won't go that far, but 2 months out of the year, I will enjoy the blinking of lights and the sounds of carols, and the site of all of the little people in the village bustling about.

* Christmas Tree Breakfast began 10 years ago. My Mom and Dad had both passed. Grandma Tabor was 91 and not up to shopping. Grandma would send her six grandchildren money to purchase gifts for their own family from her. As I spoke to my brother, Jay, on the phone one evening, he was telling me how he had been using the money for a couple of years. He would buy tree permits, one per tree, and his grown kids and family would drive to the mountains and cut their own Christmas trees. He would buy all of the supplies for a big chili and hot chocolate dinner (just like Mom made) and buy the kids ornaments for their trees. I thought this to be a wonderful idea, but living in Tucson, the cutting down of our own trees was not an option. So, we started the Christmas Tree Shopping breakfast. We took our grown and still growing family to breakfast, giving each of them their own ornament; and afterwards, would head to Rick's Tree Lot (no relation!) and everyone would pick out their tree, courtesy of Grandma Tabor. Family has scattered a bit now, Grandma Tabor has joined Mom and Dad, so we have changed the tradition a bit but kept the memories. Now we have a family Christmas Tree breakfast with extended family, and present everyone with an ornament picked just for them. For family far away, gift cards for breakfast and ornaments are mailed ALWAYS on the day after Thanksgiving. I hope that the tradition is handed down.

the big news you have all been awaiting ...

I know that you have all been awaiting for the big news of the year...The Village is up with lights and greenery. By the end of the week, all of the shoppers will be shopping, children will be playing in the snow, and the Village will come to life from 3 pm - 11pm each day! One day I hope to purchase a glass doored cabinet that will house the entire village!!

What a great time of year.

72 days until Christmas !!!

49 days until my Christmas and Holiday cards go in the mail. Just finished card #30. Halfway done!

ta-daaaaaaaaa

I have finally finished putting Kerri and Jeffry's wedding photos in the albums (it took three!!) just a mere 4 months after their first anniversary!

petite bebe ballerina

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my brown eyed girls ...

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He wants to ride ...

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