Category Archives: Family

Nov20

Boy or Girl??

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cakeMy daughter-in-law called me this week and told me that we’re finding out if Baby Benson is a boy or girl on Monday, December 16th!! Yahooooo – oh my word I can hardly wait!! I can remember when I was pregnant with Jason, my mom always use to say “I can’t believe my baby is having a baby!”  I’d just roll my eyes and say “whatever” . . . welllllll now I get it!!! I can’t believe one of “my” babies is having a baby!!! FYI – we’ve decided not to have the “reveal” party.  Tara and I both agreed that neither one of us would be able to keep our mouths shut until a party!!! LOL   (cake pic from pinterest)

Nov19

A Chip off the Old Block!!

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Ohhhh myyy word!!! My son sent me these pics this morning!! Ever since he and Tara bought their home, they’ve wanted white kitchen cabinets.  Replacing kitchen cabinets can be $$$ so he just wanted to paint them, which is a huge job in itself.  A few weeks ago he added crown molding to the top of the cabinets then started on the paint job last week.  I picked up Muffin Man last Friday from school and took him and a pizza over to the kids’ house.  The cabinets looked great (no knobs/pulls yet) and Jason was just beginning to paint the kitchen walls a medium blue gray.  I couldn’t believe how much bigger the kitchen looked just with the cabinets being white.  He mentioned adding knobs/drawer pulls but they hadn’t decided yet.  He also mentioned that he wanted to change their kitchen table into a farmhouse table.  Tara has always hated that old kitchen table – he repainted the legs and base white.  The old table top was framed in a pine and the inside of the table top was tile.  Jason removed the whole top and replaced it with wood that he stained to make it look like a farmhouse table!! Dang, that kid is good!!! (Maybe when he’s done with his projects – he’ll come do mine?? LOL)

Oct8

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

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The kids and I went down to Albuquerque this past weekend to see my Mom & Pete for my birthday & the Balloon Fiesta.  We haven’t been to the Fiesta in years.  Jason, Tara & Owen followed Amie & I down.  Easy drive – just straight south for 7 hours!  Amie and I took Owen with us part way down.  Had a blast – we sang at the top of our lungs (Owen likes Country music too), played “naming” games & made some “singing videos” which I will NOT be posting – LOL. When we finally got into Albuquerque I told Owen we’re just about there now and he said “Thank goodness, cause I was just about to loose all my patience”!! LOL – that kid just cracks me up! We all had a great time.  We went to “Old Town” Albuquerque did a little shopping, then off to the balloon fiesta.  Jason & Owen made me that candy container – sooooo cute!!!!! Amie got me the “immersion blender” I wanted.  So very excited to try some homemade soups soon!!  Thanks for everything Mom & Pete!!

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Oct2

Vacation . . . Yountville

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Yountville is a little town just up the valley from Napa.  My girlfriend, Denise and her husband Lee live there and I spent a couple days with them while I was in California. Ahhhhh what a peaceful little place.  Denise & I went on a bike ride and just up the street from their house are vineyards and around the corner from the vineyards is this great old wooden barn.  If you look real close in the picture with the cattle . . . in the shadows on the right side there is a brand new baby calf . . . can you see it??? with the little white face . . . so cute!  We went on walks and went acorn hunting (I just had to have some).  Brought back a bunch of acorns, surely I will think of something to do with them. My most favorite thing to do at Denise’s is hanging out by the fire pit.  Lee is the master fire pitter!!  Denise’s sister & my brother came up to visit & we just sat around the fire, listening to country music and sharing some laughs. Great time at the Fonville 5 Star KOA – LOL!!!!! Thanks everyone for sharing your time with me!!! Love you all!!

Oct1

Vacation . . . Sterling Vineyards

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My brother works for Sterling Vineyards in the Napa Valley.  It’s actually up on a mountainside in Calistoga and overlooks the valley.  So gorgeous!  Of all the years I lived in Napa I had never visited Sterling before.  Randy (my brother) set us up with “special” lanyards that got us on the tram (the only way up to the winery), the wine tasting and THEN the “special” wine tasting reserved for “club” members only.  So much F.U.N.!  The weather was perfect.  It had been raining all morning but broke as soon as we reached Calistoga.  It’s “crush” (harvest time) right now in the valley so we got to watch some of the grapes going through the process of being separated from the stems, very cool.  In the picture with the red grapes you can see a guy pouring a bucket of oak chips into the grapes.  Some of the wine is stored in oak barrels (or stainless steel).  Sterling started added oak chips in the beginning of the process to enhance the flavor of some of the red wines.  One of the white wines we tried (and I bought) is called “Malvasia Bianca”.  Oh my word it was so good!  A little sweet and so crisp! Randy said it’s their best seller and they sometimes run out of it!  You can only buy it at the winery.  We all had such a good time.  Nothing like some wine and good friends . . . the only thing we were missing was some “hot chocolate” (inside joke)!!! Thanks Randy!!!! xoxo

http://sterlingvineyards.com/

Sep4

Benson Family + ONE More!!!!!!!

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kidsSooooo besides hanging out over at Jason & Tara’s house Sunday for a bar-b-Que . . . they had a little announcement for us!!!! WE ARE EXPECTING A BABY BENSON!!!!!! Oh my word . . . I am soooo excited!!! It’s weird because I’m totally excited but it’s kinda hard to wrap my head around the idea that my son is having a baby!!???  Being the person who loves to have a reason to plan a party . . . Amie & I have volunteered to plan the “Gender Reveal Party”!!!! Baby Benson should be due around May-ish and the “Gender Reveal Party” should be sometime in December!! Oh my word my head is spinning . . . I have already started a “secret” board on Pinterest!! LOL . . . Secret so you can’t see it Tara!! LOL   Tara & Owen have been a blessed addition to our family and now God is blessing us with ONE more!!!! Yahoooooo!!!!! (wow, there is a lot of exclamation marks in this post – lol)

Jun10

Braggin’ Time . . .

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My son and his wife bought their home a little over a year ago.  They’ve been saving their money and planning the design for their backyard (which was all dirt) and the work has begun.  Jason designed the concrete patio with 3’x3′ paver inserts and the pergola. There is a railing (still to come) that will mostly surround the patio.  Amie was home this weekend so we drove out to get an update on the backyard.  The patio looks great & I love the pergola.  The pergola is made of cedar and it took him and a friend about 4 hours to put up last weekend.  If you can see that black pipe coming out of the concrete under the pergola, that’s going to be a fire pit.  One of the pics is Jason & Jett (Tara’s brother) moving dirt & mulch . . . the sod is comin’ next weekend!  And look at their little garden – soooooo cute, which reminds me that I forgot to clip some cilantro – dang!

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May29

Estes Park

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Amie & I drove up Saturday afternoon and the weather was perfect.  It was just nice to get out of our regular routines.  Had some great food and did a little shopping.  Found 2 stores that were fabulous and worth the drive alone.  One is called “Trendz”, it was full of unique home decor & gift items.  I found an adorable bracelet there and it had my name all over it (not literately).  The other store is called “Mary Janes” and it had a huge supply of “Vera Bradley” (if you like that look, I myself don’t really like the quilt look) and other great gifts and chatzkies. We drove by the Stanley Hotel, famous for it’s Ghosts who are guests there and the filming of “The Shining” with Jack Nicholson.  There was a herd of Elk taking a break on their front lawn just sitting in the shade and yes, I missed that Kodak moment.  After hanging out in town we got back to “Nicky’s” in time for the Piano Man – Ray to start.  “Nicky’s” has been up in Estes Park for almost 50 years and it is right on the Fall River.  Ray plays there every Friday & Saturday night.  It’s old school and I love it, big leather club chairs and fireplace in the winter or outdoor seating in the summer.  Many celebrities have been there – the tradition is to purchase a bottle of their Chianti and you sign it or draw on it and they hang it from the ceiling.  It’s a great atmosphere for “my” age group – Amie wasn’t that impressed – LOL.

Mar26

Muffin Man Turns 5!

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During our snow storm this weekend, we celebrated Owen’s 5th Birthday.  I can’t believe it – he’ll start kindergarten this year. Time really does fly by!! I made his birthday cookies again.  This year’s party was about the planets and his invitations came with his picture as an astronaut.  So I used a gingerbread man cookie cutter for astronaut cookies . . . oh please . . . no, I did not come up with that . . . found it on . . . . yes, Pinterest.  Jason & Tara hired a face painter who was also a balloon artist. She did a great job and the kids had a ton of fun! Oh and his face paint is NOT a pirate . . . let’s be clear (he corrected all of us) he is a Samurai Ninja Warrior! LOL