Julianne's Sweet Sixteen

For Julianne's Sweet - and she is sweet - Sixteenth, we asked a few of Julie's friends to pile into the car for an overnighter in Santa Cruz.  (Julie is wearing the orange shorts) We all had tons of fun on the boardwalk Tuesday night, well, except for the last ride when Julie, Sarah, and Ivy got REALLY motion sick.  Smart Megan knew better and opted not to eat until the day was over.  I was even smarter; I only did the Ferris wheel and the sky ride.  Actually, I wasn't smart enough to remember sun screen Wednesday, when we went back to the beach.    

This is the new friend I picked up when I had to get change for the parking lot.  

I promised to show you the project I worked on while John and Julianne were at camp.  I made a couple of curtain toppers to add a little color to the kitchen/dining room.  It was super easy to do, too.  My daughter, Kristin, made the plaque above in Relief Society for me a little while ago.  

John and Julianne Big Camp Adventure

Julianne, our soon-to-be-16 year old, and John went to girls' camp in the Sierras this past week, while Mike and I were home chilling under the AC and nominally working.  Jules took some fantastic pics of Zion's Camp ...  The above...Well, John's gonna kill me for this!!!!!  He spent the entire week as one of the two or three camp dads.  Basically, he was a gofer for 150 females, and happy to do so.  I'm not sure what the back story is behind this shot, but it looks like he's either seen or been mistaken for a bear.  If this is my last blog, you'll know why.  Sorry, honey.  You know I really love you; it was just tooooo good to pass up.    Jules had fun with all her friends, including Ivy Benson, and Melanie Walker.   

Soon to come, my project while they were gone - I need to get some more batteries for the camera.

Love, Mom/Candy/ex-wife of John

First Time Ever

Hi Everyone:  This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands - you guessed it, John aka Dad is out of town... again - and I start looking through old photos (of myself) on the computer for my profile.  Michael took some fine pictures of me, but we'll have to get Photoshop before I'll put them online as they are very, well, real-looking (accurate).  The picture, which as you see, I have selected has me tastefully in the background, somewhat hidden behind my two wonderful son-in-laws (with the added bonus of  devil horns appearing over Darin(not to insinuate in anyway that he is a devil (he has teased me mercilously for 8 years now (you may draw your own conclusions))).  By the way, the first photo is supposed to go on my profile as I believe the current profile photo, while being very cute, is somewhat misleading.  I'm pretty sure they hadn't invented computers when that picture was taken of me. (Right...... that's the misleading part:-)  

After the big Cold Play concert last night, Andy, Brian and Hannah spent the night here.  While poor Brian had to go to work, Andrea stayed on to help me set up this blog.   We stayed in our PJs until 2 this afternoon, and munched on pancakes and IKEA  jam, the only edible things in the house if you don't count Heike, the dog. Ha, another day goes by and I don't have to go to the grocery store... Good thing Michael works at Sonic!  After a quick swim (bath) in the pool, Kristin and I drove Andy and Hannah home, after which we stopped by IKEA to replenish the jam supply.  Would you count IKEA as a grocery store?    

Candy/Mom/Grandma