Happy Anniversary to ME!!

 I married the most handsome boy I knew 33 years ago and here we are!!  I love seeing all of our wedding dresses from this era.  Long sleeves and high necklines even in summer!  

Dwight has been my rock, my encourager and there beside me loving me each and every step of the way!  It's been a crazy 33 years but ones I wouldn't want to live without.  We created three beautiful children who have blessed our days more than we know and have given us so much to be thankful for!

 

This was last year...I love my children with all of my heart and am so proud of who they are!

Here we are today!  The whole family with another little one on the way!

We are off to San Diego where we honeymooned.  It's one of our favorite places to visit!

Another wedding and....

today is our 31st Wedding Anniversary!

It's been quite a ride with lots of excitement along the way. The hubby and I have grown up together and had some fun along the way. He has always been a great provider and good father and husband. Now we are in this empty nest stage trying to find mutual interests and learning to enjoy being together just the two of us again because for the last 20 years it's been about our children and we haven't taken the time we should have to do things together more often. So we are trying to figure out how we want to live out our last years together here on this earth. We would like to have fun but also do something meaningful. So here you go...a little look back through the years! This was us 31 years ago.

My colors were pink and gray.

Then 8 years later~going to my 10 year High School Reunion.

11 years later and look a family!

Another family photo in 2001

In 2005, he's a bit of a clown and keeps me laughing!

This last year in 2008 in Chicago! I love this photo!

As you can see, we've grown up, the kids have grown up, we are grandparents and another year has gone by! We will go out tonight for a nice dinner. Last year was New York. Look back at my posts to see our fabulous time last June.

And now the wedding.....

Another new life together began last Sunday for my friend, Tricia's daughter, Kristin. Kristin was my daughter's best friend from 3 years old to 5th grade when we moved away. It was sad for them, myself and Dallas also because Kristin's mom was my best friend and Dallas' best friend was Kyle, Kristin's brother. Needless to say, it's been 19 years and we have kept in touch and try to see each other once a year(Tricia and I). It's a friendship that is so comfortable and we can just pick up like we saw each other yesterday. Tricia is a beautiful Christian mom and friend. She has been an encouragement to me always in my walk with the Lord. So...back to the wedding...last Sunday, Kristin married Zach at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. It was lovely, she was lovely and it was great to see my friend and her family all grown up.

Here's my daughter, Danielle(3rd from left) and Kristin(4th from left)

at Kristin's 5th birthday party. Weren't they cute?

The gorgeous bride and groom~her colors were black/white/yellow.
Me and Mason were dancing!
Danielle and Kristin

Beautiful young women!

Tricia and me

Another one of the girls all grown up!

Danielle and Kristin with her brothers Kyle, Keith and Kent.

What a nice time we had! Congrats Kristin and Zach! Here's looking at 30 more years together!

Happy 1st Anniversary to Me!

Today is my one year blog anniversary.  

I can't believe that it was one year ago today that I started a daily ritual of blogging(both writing one and reading so many!).  I am so fascinated by blogworld and all of the other technology that exists today.  I was introduced to the blog world by Chela at Williams Family who my daughter, Danielle introduced me to and loves photography as much or more than I do.  We were talking about our new cameras~she had just bought the new Nikon and I chose the Canon 40D.  She said she had a blog for her photography business and I was curious.  After reading her blogs and finding others by trial and error I thought why not try a blog to capture my last few months being 49 on my journey to 50!  Along the way, share my love of photography with family and friends.  Little did I know the joys I would get from doing this.

I knew so little of this blogging world and how BIG it is!  One of the first blogs I found was Christian Women Online and what a blessing that site is.  Check it out here!  I am in a changing time in my life with no children at home full-time and being grandma, my work as a realtor in such a crazy state that I was needing something and found an online bible study through Lelia at Write From the Heart which was exactly what I needed and then started meeting blog friends through comments and finding their sites.  AND then I was hooked!  

I found so many sites:

Kim @ Seasons of My Heart, Carol @ Not Who I Was, Paula @ His Ways are Not our Ways , Cindy@ Consider It All Joy are my bloggy bible study friends who are on this journey called life with struggles and faith like no other who are there to encourage one another with Jesus as the core.  I love these gals.

Judy at Just a Little Something for You encourages me and loves her family like I do.  She has the best gift ideas and simple meal ideas too!

Christie at Wash, Fold, Put Away & Repeat is a wonderful Christian mom and wife, is a wonderful Sunday School teacher and a sweet blog friend who I'd love to meet someday!  

Kat at Just a Beach Kat lives in a tropical paradise and is so active and fun.  I love her cartoons and graphics she finds for her posts.  I met her in Palm Springs this year and what nice people she and George are!  

Nina Diane from Just Enjoying Life was one of the first gals to say "Hi "from out of the blue.  We were both turning 50!  She is a grandma too and loves photography.  She stops by often just to say hi!  Love her!

Then there's Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee and Debbie at Dishing with Debbie who are very talented writers and can write the craziest posts that I could never ever think about writing.  To be honest girls, sometimes I don't understand what they are writing about and wonder why don't I get it???  That's probably because I have a numbers mind and not a creative writing mind.  So sorry girls but I still love ya!

Carrie at Buzzing's of Queen Bee, Jen at Frugal Fabulous, Denise at The "Cent"sible Sawyer, April @ Delta Kids and Kelly at Kelly's Korner are a couple of the young moms that I enjoy visiting.  They are amazing!

YaYa's Fun House, Love Being a Nonny, Judy at Just a Little Something for You and Diane at Just Enjoying Life, Dawn @ Dawnie's Life If By the Sea, Sue @ The Cotton Patch are all bloggers who I share the joys of being a grandma with.  

Some new blogs that I enjoy are:  A Cup of Joe with A View, Building a Log Cabin, White Spray Paint, Tasker Tales, Living the Life, Cathy at Mille Fleur, Tea Time with Melody and Sharing Life with Lisa.

Of course we all love Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality, Ree @ The Pioneer Woman, The Nester, Kimba @ A Soft Place to Land, The Simple Woman's Day Book and so many more!

I am also thrilled that my real friend Karen started her blog Some Days are Diamonds and my daughter's blog, They Call Me Mason so that I get to really keep up with my friend and my family in this crazy busy life that I lead and sometimes....I wonder where did my week go???  However, I really want to say that my life is better having met all of you in blog world.  I've probably missed a few of my favorite blogs because I can't keep up any more ( I am 50 now you know!) Just know that I am thankful for your friendship and your comments make my day! 

New York 30th Anniversary!

Dwight and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in New York. What a nice treat!

We took the subway to Yankee Stadium and became Yankee fans for a day. This is the final season for the Yankees to play in their original stadium. It is sad for many fans however, when you start looking around you can see it's time for a new stadium. The new stadium is right across the parking lot and it looks fabulous. We will have to make another trip to come and see that! :)

We saw the Broadway shows Mama Mia and Grease. Wow! It's so amazing to see how talented the actors are that put on these shows. Once again I was mesmerized as I watched and loved every minute of each show.

We stayed at the Westin at 43rd and 8th St. We were one block from Times Square. Our room was on the 31st floor with a view of Times Square, 42nd Street and the Empire State building. I thought is was pretty neat.

The view of 43rd St to Times Square from our room.

We love this place!!

We ate breakfast, bought water and had a few treats at the EuroPan (a 24-hr cafe) next to the Westin on 8th and 43rd St.

We love Times Square! Dwight was a trooper as I wandered the streets of New York with my camera. What fun memories we will have looking at all the pictures.

When we visited New York with our children in 2004, we found this rock and I took a picture of Dallas with his hands held high. It looked like he was holding up the buildings. I wanted to give it a try!

After lunch at Tavern on the Green in Central Park on our anniversary, we walked back through Central Park and found my favorite picture spot. This bridge can be seen in many movies shot in New York. It's so amazingly beautiful!

We had a nice time! Thanks Dwight, I love you!