wedding, reunions, and anniversaries . . .

I said May's a wrap in my last post . . . but I forgot to take into account our day on the lake with our favorite local grands!

Before we headed out, we stopped to put gas in the boat.  We were docked behind a sweet cabin cruiser that was sweetly named!

So we celebrated Memorial Day in the water.  It was still a little cool, but all the girls wanted to swim and splash, so we did.  Purple lips and all! Seriously, once I got in, I knew I had to stay in, or I'd never take the plunge again.  FREEZING!  

We hosted the first wedding we've had at the camp in a while over the first weekend in June.  The groom's parents were friends and so we were invited to join in on the rehearsal dinner festivities, which included a pig roast!

The pig is in the box ... the coals are heaped on top.

It was SO good!!  They decorated by hanging wonderful lights around the pavilion ... and left them for us as a thank you donation!

So pretty!

My niece Cecilia traveled from Virginia with her three boys for a visit!

The boys (who were 4, 3 and 1) loved splashing in my folks' rock fountain and playing with Joc's girls!  It was a fun mini-reunion. I snuck in a pic with my daddy . . .

The following weekend, Todd and I celebrated Flag Day!  

LOL!  And our anniversary! ♥ My parents gifted us with the pretty silver tray (above) in honor of our silver anniversary. It looks so pretty amongst the red, white & blue!

Todd celebrated with flowers!  He's my favorite. 

:)

splashing into autumn . . .

Hey hey!  Just checking in before we head into the weekend.  We enjoyed a lovely, beautiful day on the lake on Monday.  The weather couldn't have been more cooperative.  We're at that time of the year where sometimes the water, at 85 degrees, is warmer than the air temp!

That means we spend LOTS of time in the water (because it's too cold to come out)!  The girls had a blast splashing and swimming. Edith even decided it was her day to jump off the boat into the water, multiple times.  She was a champ!  But we were all *in* the water already, so no photos of that!

As my Jocey said, it was the perfect way to squeeze one more day out of summer . . .

My signature "sun setting, heading home" photo.  ;)

Now my thoughts are turning to things of fall. Like pumpkins. All the pumpkins. On Sutton Place had this cute idea for a craft pumpkin on her blog today . . .

Isn't that sweet??!! Let me be clear, this is *her* picture, not mine. You can bet that I'll have one next week, though!!  She also had a link to a collection of her pumpkin recipes (Pumpkin Perfection Desserts) you can get.  Do you recall the scene in Forest Gump, where Bubba is talking about the "fruit of the sea"—shrimp—and all the things you can do with it? That is *exactly* how I feel about pumpkin.  Pumpkin scones, pumpkin custard, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin coffee cake, pumpkin doughnuts, spiced pumpkin cookies . . . you get my drift! PLUS you can decorate with them and quilt them and craft with them!  

Pumpkins > Shrimp 

Just sayin.

I did get some diamond EPP pieces whipped up . . .

I did six, satisfied the itch, and moved my attention to the Lucy blocks I got with my estate sale purchase several weeks ago. There were seven or eight POTC blocks in several stages, but this one captured my attention because it was blue.  And sparkly.  

And all the possibilities! I think my favorite is the one of the top right.  You?

Today we celebrate six fabulous years with this precious little girl . . .

Evey Jade is the birthday girl! We're doing a family party tonight and looking forward to it.  This girl is fearless and bright and bubbly and spicy.  We love her so much!

We also celebrate my folks' 60th—SIXTIETH—anniversary!!  Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

And though I'm getting ready to immerse myself in fall, I'm going to leave you with this thought:

Baahahahaaa!

:)

hitting re-set . . .

My blogging missed all of June ... and a good portion of July.  And would be about 1,000 pictures long if I tried to catch up at this point.  Sometimes you just need a reset.

Welcome to my "re-set" post . . .   Who am I kidding?  I'll try to keep the pics to a minimum.

Life is going well.  Busy, but good.  I'm sleeping better (thanks to the second shoulder surgery I had in February ... which should hit full healing in about seven weeks) which makes such an amazing difference to quality of life!

Got a hair cut this past week . . . 

Got treated to an impromptu, in-home ballet recital . . .

Taught a "Handwork Pillow" workshop for our guild's Quilt-A-Caboodle event . . .

Traveled to Marco Island for my nephew's wedding . . . 

Spent an extra long weekend with grandgirls while mommy and daddy vacayed in Hawaii . . . 

And received this super-lovely Hawaiian quilty gift as a thank you . . .

Spent a week on the lake, vacationing with my hubby, celebrating twenty-three amazing years . . . 

Plus got in Nook time, did guild things, gardened and played with turtles, and worked.

Tonight is our July guild meeting; it's all about collaborations (which has been the theme of our guild year).  I collaborated with my sweet friend Gail and we each made a patriotic version of the twisted pole runner (I blogged about it here) . . .

It turned out really great ... I can't wait to see Gail's, tonight!  I also worked on mug rug samples for our August swap (summer and UFO themed) . . .

I'll try to do better . . . mostly for my own sake!  I miss be able to look back!  LOL!  But also to keep the photos under ten! (At least it was under twenty, this time, right?!?)

:)

checking in . . .

Y'all, I was utterly dismayed (no, seriously, I was totally and utterly dismayed) when I pulled up my blog this morning and realized that I had not posted in nearly a MONTH.  How has it gone from August 26th to September 16th and I've not shared a single darn thing?  

Rather selfish of me, huh?!

I'll spare you my typical (and truthful) sob story about living life . . . family/grandchildren keeping me busy . . . ministry . . . working fulltime . . . blah blah blah.  Nothing's changed! ;)  Instead, I'll get down to business and share some photos!!

First and foremost, Everley Jade turned ONE!  The littlest of the littles is now a full year old.  

Isn't she beautiful?!  And quite the personality, too!!

Ellie and I had a 'sleepover' and we drank tea, watched movies, and colored.

Yes, we both colored.  Hey, it's how we cool Neeseys roll.

The whole crew of grands was at the beach for the Labor Day weekend . . . 

Sawyer, June, and Olivia had a blast playing in the sand!  

And the three bigger kids had fun being *buried*! While the kids were on the beach, Todd and I spent some time on the lake with friends . . .

It was a lovely weekend! And just so you know . . . that's as far as I got into the water! ;)

I finally finished up this sweet little piece and got it to my mom for her annual Autumn gift (she and my dad celebrated FIFTY-FIVE years of wedded bliss on September 10th)!!

I love this little pattern!  I had a lot of fun with it -- so I'm not sure why it took me so LONG to finish it!

And since I'm enjoying the heck out of working with wool these days, I immediately picked up another wool project . . . 

Simple, but quite a lot of fun!  If I can stay focused and get it finished in time, it would make the perfect little mat to go with my September mini!

And, if you look closely at my stand, you'll notice it's sporting a sweet new look!  I got a new wire topper for it!  Just in time for fall! Oh -- and just above the stand is a picture of my folks, the anniversary couple!

I've also been playing with some of the wildlife photos I took while in South Dakota.  Here's two of the shots I've turned into notecards . . . 

I've done several more, but have already used them! It's a fun way to enjoy my trip all over again and share it in part with others.

And finally . . . it's coming up on that time of year of all things PUMPKIN!

I kicked it off this week with my first pumpkin spice latte.  Yummy!  Fall is my favorite!

:)