Deborah's Marriage, Part 2

Although the weather was warm, it was windy with some sand blowing.

Everyone squinted a bit to keep the dirt out!

We missed having Grandpa Jack and Grandma Lee with us.

After months of looking for the right color of dresses, what we came up with worked quite well!

(Except for Elizabeth's jersey jacket that wasn't supposed to be along.)

Even the dresses for Emma and Marta (and Brenna, too!) turned out well. Whew!

Deborah's Marriage

The bride glowed. The groom was handsome. The location was the best.

What more can I say?

Hydrangeas

I happened in Aldi's just after a new shipment of flowering plants, and found a gem, for a mere $3.99. The varying colors caught my eye.

Since then, the colors have progressed. The pink is pinker.

The greenish bloom now has hints of powder blue.
And the third bloom is progressing from blue to pink (with a lavendar step in-between).I wish I could plant it in my garden this summer, but I'm afraid it will always be an indoor plant here, unless I give it to Catherine for some Texas-living.

I'm glad the Lord made beautiful flowers!

Wedding preparation progress

1. One dress down: Alice's. (Well, actually, the zipper and hem aren't finished yet, but will be today!) Elley's is under way. I have ones for Marta, Emma, and Brenna cut out. Those are simple and should go fast.

2. The "fake" bridal bouquet for the pictures to be taken ahead of time. There will be real flowers on the real day. A woman in our church happens to be the oldest of nine, and has planned and produced several of her siblings' weddings. I made a plea for assistance and she was really happy to help out. First, a trip to Hobby Lobby, while all the florals were on 50% off sale, and she knew exactly what was needed.

Second, we (SHE) put it together while a group of us watched a Jane Austen movie. Actually, I did help: I cut some of the stems and glued every one of the blue flowers onto their stem because they came off too easily. Those babies will not come off now!

Gulp! Time is getting short.

Back to the sewing machine!

For Deborah's bridal shower

I'm sorry I couldn't be there for your bridal shower.

Back in January, Catherine heloped me pick out the colors.

During every music lesson or while watching a family movie, the crochet hook was busy.

And finally, it was ready to be mailed.

Congratulations, Deborah, on your upcoming wedding.

We can't wait to be there!

Texas was nice... Part 4

Every place we went required at least a 30-minute freeway trip (and I'm glad Kevin was willing to drive). We were also grateful Aaron had invested in a tom-tom navigation unit. It was a great help!!

All the driving wore the baby out. But there was time for just sitting in the sun--and getting a bragging-rights tan to show those back in Iowa.
And while we attended a session at the temple... ...the babysitters had their own fun.

Our hosts invested in Rock Band 2, just to keep us all happy during our visit. And we had a great time with it. Thanks, Aaron and Catherine!

Texas was nice...

Memo to me: don't wear green on St. Patrick's Day when going to Sea World. EVERYONE was wearing green and it was sometimes difficult to find our particular family members!

Texas was nice... Part 3

Spring Break Agenda:
Visit the Alamo: check
Go on the River Walk: check
What's next? SEA WORLD!

So, watching the killer whales was nice. Take note that the area likely to get wet in the shows from splashing is clearly marked on the benches. And although we were in the splash zone for the Shamu show, fortunately, we didn't get wet. It was still early in the day and not warm enough for wet clothes!Taking a 22-month old to an all-day theme park is iffy. Especially when he throws up in the car just as we are arriving. But we found out that Alastair was great. We'd have to sit for 30 minutes or so before a show (to get a seat--there was a crowd. You'd think it was spring break or something), but we were able to keep him occupied. Once the show began, he was totally enthralled with it. There was nothin antsy about him!

He even helped me with my ever-present crocheting.

Yup, both kids can ride the "Shamu Express", a small roller-coaster for kids. The downside? We had to stand in line for about an hour for it. Actually, Catherine stood in line for half that time while I took the kids to a play area, then we switched.
The other downside? Only two people in a seat and because of her height, Brenna had to have an adult with her. That meant that Connor had to ride by himself. That wasn't fun for him.

We could have saved ourselves the hour-long wait in line!

Texas was nice... Part 2

As soon as people hear that you are going to visit San Antonio, they say, "You've got to go on the River Walk! It's so beautiful!"

So we did it. It begins about a block from the Alamo, and since we had already paid $8 to park, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity. And now we are believers. It IS beautiful!

At first, as we descended from street level, there was a series of waterfall and fountains...
Then, the actual river walk. I was strongly reminded of the canals of Annecy, France, or even the pictures I've seen of Venice. The walk went on for blocks and blocks and made a huge circle. We only did a portion of it. A wide variety of sidewalk cafes lined the walk. But it was the trees and lush greenery that made it so satisfying. There were even a few flowering trees.
Of course, Alastair's favorite things were the ducks.

The water had some left-over green dye from the St. Patrick's Day flotilla parade.

Yes, Texas is nice. At least in March before the weather gets too hot and steamy. That's why we chose to go there during spring break. Who knows when we'll be able to go again? But I think we'll try to go again next spring break!

Texas was nice...

First, we had to make the obligatory visit to the Alamo. The church, pictured behind A & E, is not where the fighting took place, but it is very identifiable. And no, it doesn't have a basement. Catherine had saved her first visit to the Alamo for when someone came to visit, and that was us. Now she's a real Texan!The weather was perfect--sunshine, 75 degrees, some new leaves on the trees to give some shade. And a perfect photo op at the well of the fort. There is something about be six years old that makes cooperating with a nice smile impossible. Or so it seems. At least you get the real Connor!

Just so you know, I'm still here...

There's no excuse for not keeping up with the posts, other than that I get tired of sitting at the computer. Here is a snapshot or two of recent things in the life of the Bailey Bunch.

1. Alice was invited to participate in the Kennedy Honors Orchestra held at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids. We left home at 7:15 a.m. and got home that evening at 8:30. LONG DAY, but the Alice had a lot of fun, and the end result was great music. She was placed as 2nd chair in the viola auditions--pretty good for a 6th grader (6-9 grades were involved)!

2. Then came the Trivia Contest on Homework Hotline. We knew we were in trouble in this second round when the other team, in their introductions, thanked a teacher who had helped them prepare. That wasn't Alice's and Lauren's experience. Our school had forgotten all about it until that very afternoon. As I drove Alice over to the location, I was trying to quick-imput some typical trivia, "who won the Super Bowl?", "who is the Sec. of State?" (And that question was actually asked). The final score wasn't pretty.3. The ward talent show. We had a great time figuring out our costumes and making our wigs. We even talked Brian Sims into wearing the wig we'd made for him. He got the most laughs because it just isn't expected that a high councilman/pediatrician will stoop to such gimmicks. Costumes were great. The music was less than perfect, but our act was still enjoyed a great deal.
Have a nice St. Patrick's Day!

I'm still waiting for "normal"...

After all the fun of Christmas and New Year's, I'm still hoping for life to get back to normal and I can catch up on my blog. But life wasn't normal THIS week!

Maybe it all started with the paper snowflakes that were crafted before Christmas and hung in the windows. Do I need to take them down to make the snow stop? The piles out at the side of the driveway are higher than I remember. They are taller than I am, which makes it rather difficult to throw the snow from the driveway. Monday of this week brought an early dismissal because of a blizzard (and only 3 inches of snow). Then Wednesday, we awoke to another 7 inches with blowing and drifting. No school.

And then the cold descended. Thursday morning, it was somewhere between -23 and minus -29, depending on whose thermometer you went by.

No school again.

This morning was supposed to be a 2-hour school delay because it is going to warm up today above zero. Whoops. It got down to -34, and school buses can't be started, so, no school again today. This set a new all-winter record for Waterloo--the coldest it has been here since records have been kept (back in the 1890's). I suppose we should feel lucky. This is probably the leftover of the -60 weather that were in Alaska. At least we didn't go that far down.

And yes, that is ice on the INSIDE of the windows. And a gallon of milk was frozen solid in the garage. I had to put it in the refrigerator to warm up.

Thanksgiving at Grandma's

Although there was a lot of cooking going on

(not everything could be done ahead of time), I still found some time to give a "choo choo" ride. It started out as just moving a child on a chair to a new spot, then we discovered how easily the chair would slide across the tile floor. It didn't take long for everyone to pile on! And Alastair helped me push.And the grandkids loved helping vacuum, but with some different ideas of which area of carpet should be vacuumed next.

Then there was playing with Emma & Marta as they took their bath.
We wondered how Emma and Marta would react to Lily, the dog. The rest of the grandkids already like her, and she likes them--at least she likes the food that inevitably gets dropped near their chairs. We didn't need to worry. Marta was happy to see the "puppy dog!" and liked to pet her. Emma liked throwing a toy for her to retrieve. And whenever I sat down, Lily was right there. Sometimes she got to share my lap. She seemed to handle all the chaos just fine.I'll tell you, Grandma loved the whole week!

To Grandmother's House We Go

Thanksgiving, 2008

The fun began at 5:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 25, when Ryan, Jamie, Emma & Marta arrived from Colorado. Since they had driven through the night, mom & dad were ready for a nap but the girls were ready to play. They helped Grandma change the sheets to prepare for other arrivals, but somehow, there kept being "lumps" under the sheets. Along with lots of giggles!

Later that morning, Deborah and Adam arrived from Provo. The party began gaining steam! A puzzle was brought out, Kevin was home from work, and the games began. Emma and Marta liked Grandpa's airplane rides. Then on Wednesday, Catherine, Aaron, Connor, Brenna, & Alastair arrived from Wisconsin. Mealtimes became big affairs!

All the leaves were put in the table, and

it was placed end-to-end with the small kitchen table.

The kitchen became REALLY small.

The feasting began.

I was glad I'd put in all the pre-Thanksgiving work on building a menu.

All the grandchildren got along very well. Maybe it was because of all the fun

going on--

like seeing if Grandpa could lift them as they held on the broom. (He could.)

There was a constant hum of conversation, giggles,

and laughter all week long.

It was all a bit of heaven!

Emergency Training

With all the natural disasters this past year, our bishop contacted emergency personnel in our county to set up some training for ward members; training in all kinds of emergencies like tornadoes, lost children, and so on.

Our Young Women (and some others) got to volunteer one night to be victims in the graduation exercise--simulating a tornado disaster.

We were placed in different rooms around the church, with sheets of paper explaining what our injury was.

Then all the lights were turned out.

I hadn't thought about it before, but a lot of disaster searching is done by flashlight--no electricity available!
The search teams came around and used their new skills in locating, then categorizing victims according to the urgency of their wounds and transporting them to a triage location.

As each room was searched and cleared of victims, a taped X was put on the door.

Elizabeth had a broken arm.

Brother Rogers had a head wound. He played his part extremely well, looking rather dazed the whole time.

Winky Boody had a broken shoulder, but didn't seem to mind being carried by Joe Fagersten and Scott Frodsham (in their green CERT uniforms).
Another YW had neck injuries.

And now we know another use for those long tables at church! (As long as you have lots of duct tape.)
But one Young Woman was able to get the message out on what was really important.


Indeed.

Send chocolate.