What a full, blessed weekend! We have had celebrations since Friday, with Meghan's 16th birthday...and we have a few more this week to go! First, Saturday, we had Tommy and Kelli's bridal shower! 
Here are Tommy and his beautiful bride-to-be, Kelli!
Kelli,with the chenille afghan that I made for them.
Beautiful cake!
Sara and my beautiful niece, Tina.
Here are Tommy and his beautiful bride-to-be, Kelli!Kelli,with the chenille afghan that I made for them.
Beautiful cake!
One of their engagement pictures. ( sorry...took a photo of a photo...but loved the pose!)
Love this one! It was a great shower, and we're all looking forward to their wedding day over Labor day weekend.
Then...it was Meghan's birthday party with all our family and a few special friends, who are like family! Because Meghan was born on my Dad's birthday, we always celebrate together with both of them.
Love this one! It was a great shower, and we're all looking forward to their wedding day over Labor day weekend.Then...it was Meghan's birthday party with all our family and a few special friends, who are like family! Because Meghan was born on my Dad's birthday, we always celebrate together with both of them.Meghan and Gabrielle....one of the best birthday surprises that Meghan has ever had!
Sara and my beautiful niece, Tina.Some of the people helping us celebrate were.....
Cousin, Jill
Jill's son, Michael with Ronnie
And, Jill and Mike's daughter, Mia with Anna
Ron and our dear friend, and former neighbor, Jamie!
My beautiful Mom, flanked on either side by two of her big sisters...Aunt Pat on the left and Aunt Marilyn on the right...all they were missing were Aunt Joan! Missed you, Aunt Joan!
My sister, Lori, her husband Todd and everyone's favorite baby....Ty!
Meghan and Elissa...these two have been friends since birth...she is Jamie's daughter, and we have oh, so many pictures of these two from babies on up! Aren't they beautiful young ladies?!
Meghan recieved many, many special gifts for her hopechest, from items that belonged to her great-grandmother, to these special needlework works of art made by our friend, Debbie.
One of the special gifts that she received was a new "winter" Vera Bradley purse and a matching wallet...was she surprised!
Meghan and my mother, her Grammy!
Meghan and Ron's mom...her RoRo! (both grandmothers are where she gets her blue eyes...as Ron and I both have brown eyes)
Meghan and her "M.E." and "Zedoh"...my Dad and step mom.
Fun cousins picture! (Ronnie looks up to and loves Timmy so much!)
Love this pyramid! The girls had a lot of fun!
My youngest sister, Pam and cousin Kim.
Ron and my cousin, John....HUGE Penguin's fans!!!!
Jolyn and Debbie....special, old family friends!
The five of us, myself, my two sisters, and Jolyn and Debbie....friends since the 70's...we have so much fun together! It was so nice to be together! 
Alaina and I
A beautiful group of young ladies at the graduation party.
My dear friend, Dayna...I was so happy and surprised to see her here today!!! She and her family will be leaving for Mozambigue, Africa in only 4 days....they will be there for at least 2 years with the ministry "Samaritan's Purse". It was so nice to visit with her and her family today! I will really miss you, Dayna!
The Whitlock family! God bless you all on your journey and your adventures in Mozambique!!!! We'll miss you and will be praying for you!
Cousin, JillJill's son, Michael with RonnieAnd, Jill and Mike's daughter, Mia with Anna
Ron and our dear friend, and former neighbor, Jamie!
My beautiful Mom, flanked on either side by two of her big sisters...Aunt Pat on the left and Aunt Marilyn on the right...all they were missing were Aunt Joan! Missed you, Aunt Joan!
My sister, Lori, her husband Todd and everyone's favorite baby....Ty!Meghan and Elissa...these two have been friends since birth...she is Jamie's daughter, and we have oh, so many pictures of these two from babies on up! Aren't they beautiful young ladies?!Meghan recieved many, many special gifts for her hopechest, from items that belonged to her great-grandmother, to these special needlework works of art made by our friend, Debbie.One of the special gifts that she received was a new "winter" Vera Bradley purse and a matching wallet...was she surprised!
Meghan and my mother, her Grammy!Meghan and Ron's mom...her RoRo! (both grandmothers are where she gets her blue eyes...as Ron and I both have brown eyes)
Meghan and her "M.E." and "Zedoh"...my Dad and step mom.
Fun cousins picture! (Ronnie looks up to and loves Timmy so much!)Love this pyramid! The girls had a lot of fun!My youngest sister, Pam and cousin Kim.Ron and my cousin, John....HUGE Penguin's fans!!!!Jolyn and Debbie....special, old family friends!The five of us, myself, my two sisters, and Jolyn and Debbie....friends since the 70's...we have so much fun together! It was so nice to be together!~We all had a wonderful time Saturday night!~
Now....on to our last celebration of the weekend! After church today..which was great, and focused on the mission trip that members of our church recently took to Zambia...we headed over to our friends, the Webber family for Alaina's graduation party.
Meghan and Alaina have been friends since Alaina was 6 1/2 and Meghan was only 5 years old. We all met at the playground, they girls went to Jubilee Christian school for Meghan's kindergarten year, then we started homeschooling together the same year. Our families have been thru so much in the past 11 years...even adding sons on the same day, born at the same hospital! Here are our two girls....grown up!
Meghan and Alaina have been friends since Alaina was 6 1/2 and Meghan was only 5 years old. We all met at the playground, they girls went to Jubilee Christian school for Meghan's kindergarten year, then we started homeschooling together the same year. Our families have been thru so much in the past 11 years...even adding sons on the same day, born at the same hospital! Here are our two girls....grown up!Meghan....baby-stealing! Little Camren....only 4 months old!
Alaina and IA beautiful group of young ladies at the graduation party.My dear friend, Dayna...I was so happy and surprised to see her here today!!! She and her family will be leaving for Mozambigue, Africa in only 4 days....they will be there for at least 2 years with the ministry "Samaritan's Purse". It was so nice to visit with her and her family today! I will really miss you, Dayna!The Whitlock family! God bless you all on your journey and your adventures in Mozambique!!!! We'll miss you and will be praying for you!~So ends this very LONG post....hey, it was a very LONG weekend!!!! Tomorrow, the girls are working 12 -5pm, and we're all getting preparations ready for a special garden tea party luncheon with Meghan's closest friends on Tuesday.... I'm off to bed.....God bless you all! ~Sue~
Now this morning...the morning of her 16th birthday....time has flown way too fast! Just as precious to us, but how grown up she is...and all she, too, wants is to be a wife and mother someday....
The "Blueberries"! That is what Meghan and Ronnie call themselves...as Sara & Anna are the "Brownies"!
The long awaited "Hopechest"! Meghan has waited so long for this! This Lane cedar chest belonged to a friend of mine from church, and it was her mother's hopechest. It is a 1930's Lane. It was 70's burnt orange when we got it, and my mother, step-dad and I tried stripping it...but the orange had sunk into the wood...so we primed it, and painted it ivory....perfect! A friend of my mom's stencilled the ferns on it, and trimmed it with 14 karat gold paint as the finishing touch.
Meghan's first reaction! Tears!
Tears, excitement and laughter...this has been a secret for many, many months!
Along with the hopechest, we of course, put some things into it! Meghan has been collecting things for her hopechest for a few years now, and storing them in mine. It is almost half filled already and I have a feeling that, like me before her, she'll fill it, empty it, and fill it again and again before she finally gets married and moves it into her new home.
Natalie and I
Sara's personal sense of style is eclectic...sort of like her! She likes what she likes and it all represents her. Check out her bubble yum t-shirt! I remember when this gum first came out!
I had been looking for just these 'anti-maccassars' for the tops of our recliners, because this is where the cats like to rest. At $2 each, they were a steal!
And....these very little glasses will be perfect as "kombucha" glasses or "green lemonade" glasses....just the right size for a small serving. (for those in my family that don't like huge glasses of either one of these drinks....or for our friend Sarah Calvetti, who doesn't relish them, either!)
Unfortunately, I have been dropping glasses lately and breaking them. My wonderful step-mother is the queen of yard saleing....she found these glasses for me...and made sure they are NOT glass! She also snagged this big enamaled roaster for me as well.
After our thrifting, we drove around Pleasant Hills taking pictures of all the places that Gabrielle's mother and grandparents used to live and do things. Here is Gabrielle popping up thru the sun roof to get a picture...we laughed so hard! She was like a jack-in-the-box, popping up to take pictures....and it was pouring down rain, too!
One of the places we stopped...the Arboretum....where Gabrielle's mom used to sled ride when she was little!
Sara, my family photographer, thought this was pretty cool.
When we were all done, Gabrielle insisted on treating Meghan, Sara and I to Rita's for italian ice. Sara, again, being Sara....bought her own 'blendini'...what a nice, sweet way to refresh ourselves after our day of thrifting, photos and fun!
