they tie the knot (matador horns?)

On Wedding Eve in Cabo the Great Aunt Julie (which she loves to be known as) hosted a wonderful dinner at Mi Casa eatery. So much fun with Mariachi band, and the waiters really played it up by giving Amy a spanish conquistador hat and then made bull horns for John out of his napkin. Here are some of my fav pics of that night. Thanks Jules and Muriel ... so much good food and fun memories!

To the Dump

Look at my poor little car! This thing weighed a ton! Literally!!! It took 2 men to lift the 1 1/2 foot pieces of branch (so demeaning to just call it a branch). Zach called it family bonding. We love you Zach. Thanks for coming to our rescue. Even though we didn't let you use the chainsaw without health insurance!!!!

The BIG TREE

Grandpa has a tree. A BIG TREE!!! And let's just say the there have been few wind storms in the area lately. So when I walked around the back of his house .... I kept saying .... "This is a job for professionals!!!!! This is a job for professionals!!!!!" Why does no one ever listen to me????? Well here are the pros ... Scott, Zach and Kim to the rescue.

I had 911 on speed dial the whole time. Luckily I had to go get lunch at the very last couple of cuts or the 911 would have had to be for me. The diameter of the tree at its base is 27 plus feet.

This is the tree that has shaded all the family gatherings, the volleyball games, the river floaters, etc. In fact Kim said that growing up he never even thought summer was hot, because between this trees shade and the river that runs behind their house it was a kid's paradise. Unfortunately it had to have a major trim.

Next time we need to call the PROFESSIONALS. (I think it is testosterone or something that makes guys want to cut things up???? Don't get it! At all!!!

A Red Hot Time

We're winding down with the time we have with Elena and taking every moment to get pictures of her so we can remember how sweet she is. Last night we visited the local fire station as a puppy club ... at the end of the visit we had a photo shoot! I love this picture on the front of the fire truck!

Mean Mother Nature

Mother Nature played a mean April Fools trick last night, and here it is!

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Goodbye Boots, Hello???

Well I threw the snow boots, snowmobile suit, snow pants, etc. to the basement today! YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!!!!! I'm just a little sick of winter and sooooo ready to be warm!

Do I think it is done snowing??? Of course not, it is only March. But I'm sure hoping it doesn't stick if it does!

Goodbye Boots! Hello ????

Went to my favorite store today! Not one that most of the girly girls like...but one that really speaks to me. I remember going here occasionally as a child with one of my parents, and it is diffinately a time warp thing for me. The store itself has evolved a bit and no longer sells chicken feed, but if I only had a picture of the antique drawers that are faced with beautiful and colorful vegetables pictures. LOVE IT THERE! I especially love it when I get someone fun to wait on me. My favorite is the guy who is probably in his fifties, with slicked back hair who tells a story about each vegetable and what his indian grandmother would do with it! Now he is a wealth of knowledge!

Well I didn't get "Slick" today, but I got a woman who was very friendly and was passing out hugs to the other workers. I could tell she loved her job ... such a nice feeling.

So the picture is of some of the onion plants they sell there. Better watch out they go fast. I got a little back ground on these plants from one of my favorites in the area. Fred grows the biggest onions ever! When fall arrives he ties the tops of a couple of them together and hangs them from the trees in his back yard to dry out. Then he stores them where his wife doesn't smell them. In the spring of the next year he takes a few down to Anderson's so they can put them with the onion plants....and when people see the size of them the bundles of plants seem to walk out of the store on their own (at least that is the way he tells the story).

Fred's daughter Barbie is also wonderful. It is so fun to go to her yard ... she has taken gardening to the extreme. She has a plant in her house that she has had since she was about 12. Because she is about 50 you can tell that this is one girl with a green thumb.

Well Barbie told me to buy the onion plants then fill a tub about 4 inches with potting soil and place the onion plants in the soil standing up about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in depth. This gets the onions starting to grow roots and when the soil in the garden finally warms up you can transplant them directly out there. I did this last summer and I must say that I had pretty wonderful success, to the tune of we are still using onions from the garden and they will probably last us through June or so.

So to all you gardeners, take a hike to Anderson's Seed and Garden store. It will remind you of times past with great people. But don't wait until May 20th when everyone else in the valley will be there trying to get what they want. It is really a store with a following ... and I'm proud to say I'm one of them!