Ahhhhhhhhh, family!

I've gotten several email asking to see the finished results of our family photo shoot. Since Kristina was instructed to keep shooting, there were many, many photos taken that day. I thought I'd share the rejects first and our selections another day.

Any objections?

Great! Remember, you can 'biggerize' any of these by clicking on them...but then...why would you want to?

^Michael and his lovely bride, CatherineMichael!
Vicky, Kailyn, Andy
JR, Vicky
Vicky, Jamie
JR, Vicky, Michael
Oh my!
JR, Morgan
Tony, JR, Morgan
My mom...or Jane looking for Tarzan!
Tony, my mom, Andy, Michael
Vicky, JR, Tony, my mom, Michael and behind Michael is Andy
The girls...Leslie, Kailyn, Katlyn, me, Catherine, my mother, Morgan and Vicky
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, family!

Another wedding!

It's been rather slow and easy here at the House on the Hill, until Saturday, when my nephew Brian married the lovely Katie. I wish I had tons of photos to show, but I make it a practice not to photograph during the ceremony and at the reception, and then I had a camera meltdown (all operator error...Pentax still rules!)

I did, however, manage to get a few snaps before it decided to take a break:

Our girls...Kailyn and Morgan, who wore the guys out, dancing the night away!

Vicky and Jamie were there too!
But the big news of the night...
Guess who caught the garter and boquet???
Wow!

Bet you thought I quit knitting, didn't you?

Well...just look here:
Any time you see 'dumb' socks, you should realize they are for Andy. Andy swears that these are the only sock he can wear with his work boots. He's been known to do a load of laundry if he needs hand knit socks for work the next day. Yes, he takes a lot of ribbing, but he thinks the guys have gotten used to them as long as he avoids borrowing Kailyn's pink striped ones.

This is the first time ever, I used self striping yarn and did not match the stripes. It's so disturbing to my OCD eyes, that I am not sure I can leave the photo up here, let alone have the socks around the house. Both will probably disappear rather quickly.

'Nuff said 'bout that!

We thought, just for a second, that we would have a nice, quiet day on Sunday. Not so! Not only did most of the kids show up, but we had visitors...and one surprise visitor:
My Grandson, JR! Listen? Hear a strange noise? It's probably JR growing. If the photo looks blurry, it's because he's springing upwards! Hard to believe he's 16! Time really does fly!

The sky was beautiful, even though we were being watched by our resident big bird. Not sure what it is, but once I found out it wasn't the stork looking for me, I relaxed!


Of course, we had the usual crowd on the dock...
We invited some friends of ours to come for the afternoon. They brought their daughter and her friend. I forgot how silly girls can be...they put their life jackets on upside down and floated around!

In addition to the guests, we had the regulars...

Like Andy...
And Kailyn...
And Mark...
Oh...and never let your husband play with sharp knives...we interrupted our day with a quick trip to urgent care for 4 stitches!

Later in the afternoon, we all walked down to the dock. Probably the first time I did without my camera and certainly the first time JR ever water skied, so when he jumped in the water like this:
Who would have thought he'd end up doing this:

???

Yes, that's JR skiing on his first try...ever! and there is his grandmother, with only a point and shoot camera with no zoom!

Oh, in case you're wondering if Kailyn went out on the knee board...
Duh??? She's getting pretty fancy, isn't she?

Yesterday morning, I woke up to temps in the high 50's. Just what I had been waiting for! I made a huge pot of potato soup. Certainly, the kids smelled it...and came for dinner.

After dinner, Andy, who never gets tired of playing, 'invented' his game of t-ball-golf-with a stone:And played until he finally knocked the stone off the stick:Every family has one...Andy is ours!

Oh, and since the freshly dug earth feels soooo good, Arnie, the best dog in the world, found a soft place to lay:
This morning is another gloriously cool and bright mornings...feels almost like autumn. I love the cooler weather. I got up early and have brownies baking. I'm going to take lunch down to share with Andy.

Sigh...I am blessed!

Here comes June!

After 20 years of trying to read and knit at the same time, I bought myself a new toy:


Isn't it adorable? I think it would fit in a tic-tac box and has more features than my 8 GB mp3 player! I love to listen to audio books and our local library has dozens.

I also got new glasses. Look quick, I'm glad I took a picture of them because they are now at the bottom of the Kiskiminetas River. That's not the worst part. The worst part is that they discontinued the frame. I can't get another pair like these. One day I'm going to have to resort to plain old glasses like everyone else...that will be a sad day for me!

Of course, there was something that I have been waiting for since 1992:
A Stanley Cup!!!!!!!

I don't think it's a secret that we're a hockey loving family. Always have been, probably always will...this year was a real nail biter:

Tony, Morgan, Kailyn and Andy all came over to watch the seventh game...

It was tense. To lighten the mood, Tony and Morgan took self portraits...
Andy and Kailyn entertained us by putting their rings in their noses (don't ask, I think it's something in the water, certainly not genetic!)...

It was stressful! By time it got to this:
I was in tears. I called my sister-in-law to announce that I was going to throw up.

My biggest fear was a repeat of this...


By time we got this far...
I was a nervous wreck!

We all slept like this...

And woke the next day, ready for this:


I'm not into pain and would never get a tattoo, but if I ever change my mind, this:
is what I'd have!

Don't get me wrong. I have a great hubby and I love him dearly...but he's not the only man in my life...there are many:
My guys! Thanks, Pens, for a wonderful, victorious year.
But you know, June wasn't all about hockey. It was the beginning of summer vacation!

This picture kind of describes Morgan's first week of vacation:

She was jogging and stepped in a hole. No broken bones, but really messed things up. No work for 4 weeks and now, nearly 6 weeks later, she's still a mess, but back to work.

She also decided to see if her Corgi, Chubbs, would like the river. Look at this and you tell me:
After the first ride, whenever Morgan would get on the jet ski, Chubbs would jump up on her lap!

My darling niece, Katlyn, came to the river for the first (but not last) time. Kailyn took her for her first jet ski ride...and now she's a regular!


The boys continue to play...and to learn new things...Vicky keeps tempting Stacy and Clinton...

And Chubbs still waits for another ride...

Could that be...is it possible???

It was!!!! That was June! You are finally caught up on what I did last year. Of course, I am sure I have forgotten things...and when I think of them, I will tell you...but that's pretty much it!

See???

You didn't miss much!

I'm still happy you are here!

See you soon,
Jan!