Home Sweet Home!
After driving almost ALL of the 5000 miles on our trip, it does feel mighty good to be home again!  We thoroughly enjoyed the Sorge reunion & 100th anniversary of Gurley, the small town near the Sorge farm where Larry grew up, and also celebrating their high school - was very well planned and fun!  Larry saw people he hadn't seen for many years and they had such good food - a 30 minutes church service on Sunday put on by the Christian motorcycle club - amazing!! Following a sausage gravy & biscuit plus fruit cup brunch - lots of hard work went into it!  Everyone really enjoyed it!
Then on to visit Larry's roommate in business school in Lincoln, Mel Abels, who was also in our wedding and we hadn't seen him in 57 years! They wouldn't have known each other but had a great lunch with them and nice visit in Kearney. Then on to Seward to visit my brother Bud & wife Elaine - we helped him celebrate his 88th birthday - my brother Don & wife Gladys, and their four girls all came - + a son in law, and my sister's two = Terry and Sandy plus her husband Mick. Bud  & Elaine's daughter & son in law who did an excellent job of barbecuing brats and hamburgers, and granddaughter Julie & husband John and their daughter Sadie Elizabeth, who is Bud & Elaine's first great grandchild.  What fun she is!  She loves to dance so whenever she hears music she starts her little jig routine - so funny and she laughs too!
She's ready to walk but always hold on to something with one hand! She'll take off one of these days!  Then the next day a Vrana Cousins reunion on my Dad's side - always fun to get together - and many thanks to Cousin Pat Grimes who pulls it altogether plus puts out a Cousins newsletter monthly!   Then on to Wisconsin to spend a few days with Mark & Dena - Larry helped Mark with brakes on his pick up truck. I enjoyed some crocheting and reading - helping Dena a little bit - she is such a gourmet cook!  What fabulous meals she put together - always made a big amount so they could freeze the leftovers for their next truck trip. Then on to Montana - took #90 so was different scenery - not much traffic and some pretty scenery.  Very hot in Billings - 101 and on to Craig where Thomas had thought he would work in the fly shop - but a very desolate place - only a restaurant and 3 fly fishing places - no grocery store or gas station and the Missouri river right across the road - so many people putting in rafts and kayaks - many not putting on their life jackets - pulling them behind them in another raft - no one policing the place - so very glad Thomas and Jim didn't stay there. Housing as promised and was not to be had - we didn't see any places to live and I know they advertise lodges at a very expensive rate for their foreign fly fishermen. It's 40 miles from any gas station or grocery store - wouldn't be nice in the winter and very boring in the summer. Came on home and always amazed at the beauty coming over Donner Pass into California - we don't appreciate it like we should.
The weather here had been extremely hot while we were gone and it cooled down twenty degrees the day we came home - amazing!  Since I did most of the driving, I slept until 8:30 the next morning. I'm having trouble with my right ear being plugged up - the different elevations - I've tried ear drops, peroxide, white vinegar and will call the ENT Dr. in the morning to see if I can get in.  It's wonderful to see family and friends - not sure about driving 5000 miles again - may decide to fly next time and rent a car - would certainly make a difference time-wise! Benji was a great little traveler - he learned to jump in the back seat into his bed when it got hot with the sun hitting him in the front seat! He was so glad to see Gary and vice versa - they really love each other!  Back in the swing of things - Larry's back working on the Habitat House - I shared a picture of the one in Seward with our Habitat board last night - and I worked at the hospital this afternoon - doing water aerobics again three days a week for an hour, and meeting with my high school student volunteers at the hospital next Tuesday - meeting with a group from church to begin a Family Night starting in Sept once a week for the whole family - will take lots of planning and organization but we're excited about doing it.  My brothers and I on Bud's birthday 625th.

Our 57th anniversary celebration after worship Sunday, June 9, 2013

We hosted the fellowship hour this morning after worship by serving white cake and carrot cake with punch - made of frozen lemonade, frozen pineapple juice and 7 up. Everyone loved the carrot cake - said it was the best ever~  Thanks to Costco! We have only one service in the summer at 9 a.m. so had a good turnout and very little cake left.

Family Celebration for Philip's 19th birthday

Family Celebration for Philip's 19th birthday
Sunday, June 9, 2013

What fun we had!  Delicious beef tri tip smoked by Gary, grilled chicken breasts barbecued by Larry, I baked small Yukon gold potatoes, delicious sweet corn from Modesto, and to top it off, Tuxedo Chocolate mousse cake from Costco - it was great!
So much fun that we planned a swim party at Gary's next Saturday to celebrate Father's Day! We're in front of Philip's new car but you can't see it for all the people!

Beautiful pot of colorful flowers from Julie, Jim and family for Mother's Day. Look great on our patio!  They made the day complete!

Mother's Day 2013

We celebrated Mother's Day last evening up at Julie  & Jim's house in Modesto. What a feast!  Philip came home for Mother's Day and cooked up some wonderful beans - close to Calico Beans (Elaine's recipe) but a little different - very good!  Along with fresh corn on the cob, scalloped potatoes, grilled chicken, fresh grilled green beans with fresh garlic, broccoli, mac & cheese, and grilled New York Steaks that I brought to celebrate Thomas' new job in Craig, Montana for the Headhunters Fly Shop  We also had the famous chocolate Yum Yum dessert & I baked a Scandanavian Almond cake in a special pan a lady from church gave me. Thomas and Jim will leave Wednesday to go up and he'll fly home for Graduation to walk with his classmates for his Master's at Stanislaus University in Turlock. He is in seventh heaven since he is such an avid fly fisherman, professional photographer and has his degree in business administration. They were very interested in all of his many talents! We plan to stop and see him on our way home this summer when we take the north route home.
Then after attending three church services - our choir sang for the two, then my HMong Sunday School kids sang for their service - Sunday school and checking on high school students at the hospital I came home to a surprise - Gary had my favorite glazed donuts waiting for me on the table from my favorite donut shop!  We did see Mark &Dena for about a half hour the other day on their way through and they gave me a padded book cover & glasses holder to match the purse from Vera Bradley they gave me for my birthday!  So what a great day!  It was the hottest day so far as it hit 99 according to our thermometer, Fresno had 102 - too hot too soon!! So ran our AC yesterday afternoon and again this afternoon.  Hopefully will be able to shut it off and open windows once the sun goes down.  Gary enjoyed a couple dips in his pool for the first time today - his version of air conditioning!

A good report for Gary, his PSA count was.7 so that is very good news!  He still isn't feeling as good as he had hoped - has a few good days, then a few foggy days so will check with the Dr. again Thursday to make sure his medications are what they should be.  We keep hoping that the good days will overtake the foggy days so he can concentrate on getting back to work.  Only God knows his future so have put it in His hands!
It doesn't seem possible that school is nearly over for the year, we only have four weeks including this week of our Exploration Bible Club at lunch time with the middle schoolers.  I'm going to be asking some volunteers to join me to see if they would be interested in helping next year.  I believe once they see what a difference they can make in the lives of these kids - they'll be hooked to do it - just like I am!
Cool weather has come in for a couple days - a sprinkle of rain just enough to mess up my car during the night, but still have clouds even though the sun did peek through for a couple hours this afternoon.  The forecast calls for warmer temps by the end of the week.
Larry is so excited now we have four green tomatoes coming on so have high hopes of some homegrown fresh tomatoes this summer! The cucumbers are growing, also the green pepper, so anxious to see how they do.

A beautiful spring evening in our backyard - Spring has sprung!
Roses blooming, lilacs on their last, peonies opening up those many buds, diancahtus (Pinks) blooming their hearts out - very pleasant.  My favorite rose is the tree rose - Brandy - beautiful buds, long stems, apricot color - opens up into a huge blossom. Sterling silver is very pretty this year, more blossoms than usual, and of course, the Peace is always a favorite. The red, yellow, pink and white are pretty too - love those roses! Planted a couple more peonies, a Meyer lemon tree, three small calla lilies of different colors, and went to the college garden sale yesterday and picked up two cucumbers, one green pepper, a couple zinnias and something that looks like silvery leaves - can't remember the name of it. I don't think it what I thought it was but I like the variety of color.
Happy Spring to everyone!

My first day of wearing shorts & a tank top - sandals and I'm sure was close to 80 degrees!