Full, but Good Weekend Here

Blessed with great people and activities to be a part of.

We had much rain the past few days, for which we are very thankful after the terrible drought that has affected the East Coast.

We have been pleasantly surprised with the gorgeous autumn colors in the trees!

A pleasure to see the sun again and these bright Fall leaves.

Hannah came home for the weekend! What fun.

We all had friends to watch run the Marine Corps Marathon today.

Good job to Matt, Tom, and Kelli!

What a beautiful day to be outside. Many of us went down to cheer on these brave people.

We always say "who ran the marathon.....the people running or the spectators"!

We watched Courtney and Pat's kids Saturday night while they went out.

Always such fun!

We have a dear friend who is having open heart surgery this Tuesday,

so we are supporting this dear family through this time.

Please pray for Pat and Bob and family and that God will give the doctors wisdom and the family strength and comfort.

Enjoy pictures ~

Looking out our bedroom window :)

Welcome Home Hannah

Eating Chick-Fil-A at the mall

Courtney and Pat ~ toolmen

Silly Matt

Yay Tom!

JMU girls!

Cassada family :)

Goodnight everyone and have a GREAT start to your week. :)

Spectacular Trip to California

Alden and I just had the privilege of going to California ~ to Fresno and to San Diego.

Alden had a business trip and I joined him. What a GREAT time we had together.....while visiting family in Fresno and Selma and taking in the sights of the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles down to San Diego.

Oh how we love the water.............Atlantic and Pacific!

We are thankful to have been in San Diego right before the terrible fires. The night before we left (Saturday) they were talking of the Santa Ana winds coming in and the threat of fires.

Enjoy our trip through pictures. :)

My wonderful family ~ we got to help celebrate my Aunt Audrey's 90th birthday ....with my sister and brother-in-law, Dianne and Chuck, and my cousins Marsha and Jennifer.

What a treat for us ~ we love these people.

The girls .......:)

Enjoying dinner out together ~ our "first" of the trip's Mexican food!

Together.......:)

Sunmaid Raisins..............a special place for our family.

My Uncle Dub used to work here and now Cousin Marsha works here.

It was such fun spending the morning with Marsha as she showed us around the headquarters. Fruit is enjoyed by our family...due to the fact my parents grew up in this "fruit basket" area I'm sure. Thanks for giving us the love of fruit Mother and Daddy!

Marsha, it was so fun spending time with you. :)

Once leaving the Fresno/Selma area, we headed down toward LA .........

and to the beach......ahhhhhhh.

Our feet in the Pacific Ocean ~ yipee!

Sunset Beach

An oil rig

Wide sandy beach and surfers

Starting down the Pacific Highway ~ oh so lovely and peaceful

Relaxing .....as we waited for the sunset

Alden and I love sunsets........this was one of many.

If you could see us each night.......deciding where to see the sunset of the day.

Sunset at "Sunset Cliff"

Enjoying the beach at Coronado

View from our hotel room ~ spectacular by day

and by night with the harbor and city lights

Sunset from our hotel room

The Midway aircraft carrier

Wonderful Navy seaman and nurse statue....

visible on land and by sea ~ sensational!

Lunch on Coronado

We are thankful for this trip ~ mostly for the time together.

Mom to Mom ~ Enjoy

Moms ~ Enjoy. This is the best! :)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8 - 111k www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8 - 111k

Headed to San Diego

Alden and I are headed to San Diego for the week with his work. :)

We will be going to Fresno tomorrow

to visit with Dianne and Chuck (Dorian's sister and brother in law) and

to celebrate Audrey's 90th Birthday (Dorian's Aunt).

We are sure looking forward to it.

Alden and I look forward to the time spent together

and getting some good rest.

We'll have fun adventuring around San Diego,

as neither of us have been there before.

We WILL be thinking of you all

and love you.

Visited Rebekah's School

I love my Wednesdays ~ a day away from work and focused on home things.

Today I had the privilege to go eat lunch with Rebekah at her school with Courtney, Joshua and Bailey. What a treat for me.

It was fun seeing Rebekah's school, her teacher, the cafeteria, her friends ~ a wonderful memory for Grandma!

Joshua was a trooper ~ he wasn't feeling too good today. He has a cold and a cough. No fun.

Thanks for a fun time guys!

Our heat wave subsided a bit too ~ it was still around 80, but the humidity was much lower. Yesterday was a killer ~ 94! Phew....Thankful cooler days are in sight.

Fun ~ Full Weekend

What a fun weekend we had ~ content!

• Steve, Alden and I got to watch some football on tv together (unfortunately the Redskins had a by this weekend)
• Hannah breezed through the area heading to Annapolis to visit with friends and see the AF/Navy football game (Go Air Force....even if they did lose)
• Watched Andrea's soccer game on Saturday and what a great job she did. It sure brought back fun memories for us of our kids' soccer games. We then did lunch with Phill, Christy and the girls ~ what a fun time we had together.
• Watched Courtney do her FIRST triathlon and oh my did she WOW us! This girl is in shape and did an amazing job! We got to see some of her neighbor friends and some Richmond friends who also did this with her. She swam 300 yards, rode her bike 18 miles and then ran 2 miles to the finish line! Impressive! It started at 6:30 a.m., so as you will see in the first picture it is still DARK! Way to go Courtney. We loved spending time with Pat and our precious grandkids while being spectators!!!!!!

It was a gorgeous weekend weather-wise ~ beautiful days to have spent so much time outside.

Enjoy the pictures of all the events. :)

Hannah, Kate and Sarah

Andrea ~ #5 Quite the soccer player

Go Team!

The spectators! :)

Remember the "tunnel"?!!! Too fun!

What fun memories this brought back of our own kids playing soccer....

now we enjoy our grandchildren playing soccer! Ahhhhhhhhh.....

What a joy to be with Courtney in her first triathlon! This is her after her swim.....just beginning her 18 mile bike ride. Not even light out yet!!!!!! Look at that smile!

Finishing the 18 mile bike ride.....still the smile!

Beginning the last part......2 mile run. Family cheering her on!

She said she couldn't feel her legs or feet......after the bike ride.

Coming into the finish line......STILL the smile!

Finished!!!!!!!!! Enjoying it with her college friend.......and yes, THE winner of the whole triathlon! Go Cary and Courtney! We are soooooooo proud of you!

Rebekah, Joshua and Bailey enjoying some fun while Mom is running!

Sorry this is a bit late getting posted.....the blog wouldn't accept pictures for some reason.

Busy days..........but full of fun!