Whew...

Last weekend was a particularly busy one for us.

On Friday we went to my cousins sons engagement party. I do believe it was the first one I had ever been to! I even Googled if we were supposed to bring a gift. Everywhere I looked said no; but there was a table full of gifts anyway!

Oh well, when we get the wedding announcement I'll send a gift then. We won't be attending the wedding because it's in Vancouver BC!

These huge chocolate and caramel covered apples were on every table and they were delicious! I of course did not bring my camera but I did use my phone to get this picture.

On Saturday my brothers best friend got married. The whole family was invited and we had a blast.

Here's the happy bride and groom with my brothers Tom (standing) and Don, who was the best man.

These little seed packets were at every place setting. Such a cute idea.  Mine's propped up on my first of many drinks of the night!

We're very happy for John and Donna.

Sunday was a day of rest and we needed it!

This weekend was pretty much spent catching up on all the stuff I did not do last weekend!

Notes From My Mother-In-Law

Coming up this November it will be two years since my mother in law passed away.

On the day of her funeral my sister-in-law  handed me a envelope with a couple of notes in that my MIL had written to me and to Rich many years ago and wanted us to have them after she was gone.

In one she admitted that she was upset when we got married. That kind of surprised me because she never let on in the least little bit. After having a chance to think about it, though, I could hardly blame her. We were way too young to get married at 21 and 20 years old.  Housekeeping was not my thing back then and it probably showed!

By the time we were married for 5 years we already had Chris and Shauna. We were a go-with-the-flow type of family that didn't worry too much about keeping any kind of schedule. Sometimes we went to the grocery store at 9:00 or later in the evening...taking our babies with us. She wasn't real impressed with that!

A couple of them were just little notes that she had jotted down after a holiday or some other time when we got  together and how glad she was to see how much we loved each other and how loving we were with our kids.

In spite of her earlier misgivings about us, she was always loving and gracious to me.

I'm glad she wrote these little notes for us. They are something that I treasure.

Brenda Photo Challenge-My America

It's  Brenda's Photo Challenge time! This one is about My America!


So My America is best represented to me by the state that I love so much, Michigan

Beautiful blue skies and awesome great lakes!

To die for sun rises!

And sometimes not so spectacular sunsets!

And yes, sometimes winter can be beautiful, too!

But as much as I love my beautiful little piece of America..there are  49 other states with their own beauty!

Our map of the United States...worn out from being looked at so much while dreaming of the places we plan on going to someday!

See more My America posts by clicking on the above link!

Round Robin Photo Challenge-Big Hairy Deal

This Round Robin Photo Challenge is truly a big hairy deal!

All about hair...or fur in most of mine!

In the sun

Striped 

Big hairy cat bed

Top of my head!

Check out the link above for more big hairy deals!!

Great Lakes State Fair

Due to the poor Michigan economy and especially in Detroit, our State Fair, which ran every year since who knows when was discontinued a few years ago. It's too bad but not surprising. When we went a year before they last one, it was pretty sad to see such few people there.

Anyway, some private corporations decided to start a new one and named it the Great Lake State Fair. It was held over Labor Day weekend and on Sunday Rich and I decided to go check it out. It was at a huge expo center in Novi.

One of the first booths we came across was this one:

Trying to keep the city of Detroit from selling the fairgrounds. I think they're hoping that some day the fair will be held there again.

Anyway, we enjoyed walking around and seeing the animals. As a born and raised city girl I'm always surprised at how big cows and horses are!

Those Clydesdale horses are humongous, and so beautiful!!

Even the cows are huge! 

Smiling sheep! 

Pardon the less than quality pictures. Most of them were taken with my cell phone because the batteries died in my camera shortly after we got there. That always seems to happen!


The majority of the pigs were sleeping but this guy was awake and not real happy to have everybody looking at him! 

And there's always at least one mama pig and her babies! 

There was the usual  prize winning fruits and vegetables. 

And a bunch of other things they judge like..

Knitting and crocheting.

Canned goods.

Photography.

Baked goods.

Even things made with Legos!

This quilt was the most beautiful quilt I've ever seen.  It was made up of hundreds of overlapping circles and was so intricately sewed it was amazing! It won at least 4 ribbons! I wish I could have taken a better picture of it. 

We enjoyed walking around looking at the animals and different things.

Pretty soon I'm going to have to take a trip to the zoo and show my buddy Sally that I'm not afraid of no bears!

Took the day off today because Rich is having a colonoscopy.   No sleeping in though because we have to be there at 6:00 am!

Round Robin Photo Challenge

This Round Robin Photo Challenge is The Right Angle

I'm Busy, Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

I'm actually not that busy I just like to make fun of that lady on the Angie$list commercial!

 Last year our niece Ann was diagnosed with breast cancer...at only 37 years old. Ann is Rich's sister Judy's daughter. She went through 15 weeks of chemo, radiation and surgery and today she is cancer free. Her friend had a "Ann Kicked Cancers A$$" party for her last weekend. It was in Columbus which is about a hour and 10 minute drive for us. It was nice to see her, though and to spend time with Rich's family, which we don't do often enough.

Ann and her husband Todd. 

Rich's sister Judy and her husband Tom

And his sister Jackie and her husband Tim

Then last Sunday I went to our niece Sarah's baby shower. She is married to my brother Jim's son, Mike (or Mikey as I call him...childhood names die hard!) It was a very nice shower and I got to spend lots of time holding and cuddling Dante! He's so sweet! I have no pics because I forgot my camera!

Last night we had a guy Rich works with and his wife over for dinner. We had a good time and drank lots of beer!

Tomorrow we will be once again heading out to Richmond, this time to Ann and Todd's house to see Ann's sister,  our niece Kristy and her family. They live in South Carolina and are in town for the Labor Day weekend. I'll try to remember my camera and get more pictures.

Today I declare to be a day of doing nothing!

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!