A Family Visit

Stan's parents have come and gone, and it was a great visit! We got a lot of talking, and eating and laughing and watching movies and everything else packed into less than a week. We took them to Gunther Toody's Diner where AJ works and Grandma Mullis was greeted and fussed over by every single waitress there. His co-workers all love AJ and were anxious to meet his other grandmother since they'd met Grandma and Papa Hillyard at Christmas time. This is a photo of Joann and Jim as we were having breakfast there on a cold, rainy morning. They were surprised the next day to see a new batch of snow on the top of Pike's Peak! It is a lot different from San Luis Obispo, California, let me tell you.

We tried to take them to Manitou Springs, but we opted to drive up there on Saturday and it was PACKED! Turns out it was the weekend of the wine festival and it was shoulder to shoulder crowds of people and the streets were so packed with cars that we saw people leaving their cars in the middle of the street (between the two lanes of traffic) to rush into the stores they needed to get to. It was crazy. Here's a photo of Stan and his dad Jim when we went to Jose Muldoon's in downtown Colorado Springs.

Sunday we had a big family BBQ. Jim's brother Bob has a daughter, Dorothy, who lives here in the Springs about five minutes from us. She and her husband John have five children, and one two-year-old grandson. Dody and John joined us along with their two youngest, Killian (who is the same age as Kevin...in fact they're just a day apart in age!) and Dionna who will be a freshman this fall. They also brought their grandson Mason who, at 2, is a ball of fire! He gave us a lot to talk about and had us all dashing about after him from time to time. All in all it was a terrific day with lots of catching up, lots of laughing, and LOTS of good eatin' due to Stan's fantastic barbeque. At one time we had all the men in the kitchen working: Stan getting the meat ready, John shucking corn, and Jim supervising the fire. Dody, Joann and I had cold drinks and sat with our feet up talking in the living room. Now that's living!

When they finally left we were sorry to see them go, but happy we'd had a chance to see them. This final picture is one AJ took of Stan and I with his folks as they got ready to leave. Hopefully it won't be so long until our next visit!

Summer's Here!!

I know, I haven't been terrible consistent about blogging, but I've been busy! I've started a new novel and it takes up most of my free time. The boys are out of school now and Kevin proudly tells us that he is now officially an upperclassman. This fall he will begin his junior year. This summer AJ will start filling out his mission papers. He turns 19 in October and is chomping at the bit to get on his mission. It will be a busy summer.



Kevin was honored at the end of his school year by the fine arts department which gave him a special award as best 2D artist! Here are a couple of his pieces which he gave me. One is a pen and ink drawing of a mountain scene, and the other is a watercolor of a flower. I think is is tremendously talented and I am very proud of him!



Stan's parents arrive Wednesday and we are looking forward to a nice visit. I'll try to get pictures. Have fun!