Our Next Door Neighbors are in Santiago Chili

Our next door neighbors Kim and Tapio are in Santiago Chili. They were on a 70 day cruise which would go around South America when Tapio was hospitalized on the ship in intensive care. They moved him to a hospital in the Falkland Islands and then to Santiago Chili. Kim was staying in a hotel near the hospital. Because of problems in the lines of communication we have not heard from her yet. We are just waiting and praying that they are OK. The boathouse in the photo below of the sunset belongs to them.

I ran to get my camera the other night as the sun set and no longer than it took me more than half of the pink in the sky was gone. I still took the photo because there was still some pink and I really loved the formation of the clouds.

Eagle Mountain Lake Sunset

Today is Peyton's birthday. She is 14. Last night I attended the first game of her basketball tournament. Her team won over the other team by about 20 points. They played really well. A very good student, Peyton is also very athletic and plays soccer and volleyball in addition to basketball. Peyton along with all of our Grandchildren bring us so much joy. Happy Birthday Peyton!

Peyton Playing Basketball

Peyton

We had a party for Tamara and Bill. Tamara is the daughter of our good friends who moved to Australia. Tamara stayed with us for a year when she was a senior. So we have a special attachment to her. Tamara and Bill got married in Illinois December 23rd when they visited Bill's parents. Since Tamara and Bill's parents do not live here we thought we would gather their friends and celebrate. That perfect date was February 13th and we had a Valentine's theme.

Our gift to Tamara and Bill was the cake. My friend Helen makes cakes occasionally and I asked her to make one for us. I bought the ingredients and gave her a gift card to a store that every artist wants. Hobby Lobby. Little did I realize that so much goes into making a wedding cake but we had fun planning and getting things for it. Helen's electricity went out twice forcing her to bake part of the cake at her daughter's house. Thank you Christy! The cake had a filling with Bavarian Cream. It tasted awesome! Thanks again Helen.

The Wedding Cake

Tamara, Liam and Bill

Tamara and Bill cutting the cake

Tamara and Bill

Bill looks either determined or just loving this.

Tamara and Bill (cake)

I was busy being hostess and didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked. John was shooting constantly. Maybe we can get some additional photos from him to add to the blog. Keep clicking older posts to see more.

John, Casey's Dad

Hey, Liam wants in on the act!

Brooke and Peyton

Bill and Liam

Tamara and Bob

Tam and Joy

Casey, Angie and Brent

This is where I almost posted a picture of Casey, Angie and Brent. If I would have, anyone of them might have killed me.

Helen, Rick, and Jack

Chris

Donna and Howard

Rob and Joy

Tamara's friend Mchelle, her new baby and her husband to the left.

Tamara's friend Kim and her Daughter

Dinner

The menu was:

Brisket, beans, and salad provided by Bob and I.

Lasagna provided by Casey.

Chicken Cord on Bleu provided by Diana.

Spinach Keish appetizer provided by Donna.

Veggie Tray provided by Joy

It was awesome!

Bill and Tamara with guests

Tamara, Liam, and Bill

Best Wishes!

Boy what a day! And it's Angie's birthday!

It has snowed several inches since my last post but I want to add that today is Angie's birthday. She is 32. As I was scrolling through my photos I noticed that every picture I have of Angie is great! She is very photogenic. Angie is married to Brent. I chose this picture just to remind us of the warm vacation we had in July at Ft. Walton Beach. We hope your day is wonderful and we love you very much Angie.

Snow and more snow! Dallas/Ft. Worth

So, we have snow! In the twenty years we have lived here I have never seen anything like this. What a winter! There was an earthquake in the Chicago area yesterday. What is going on? The predictions for here are four to six inches. It has been snowing full force since early this morning and still going.

We lost connections with our TV satellite and I have lost ability to email but I can still blog.

Bob is working from home. One of Bob's co-workers called from Chicago and couldn't understand why people were not in the office with just a few inches of snow. Bob proceeded to tell him that even with the invention of the snow plow we don't have them here. (if so, not many) Our Texas snow removal plan is called the sun. The emergency Texas snow removal plan is that everyone goes outside and shouts "come on sun!"

Most recent photo taken from my living room.

View from our bedroom balcony earlier this morning when it first started snowing.

View from our front balcany.

View from one of our bedroom balconies.

Photo taken earlier this morning.

I have a wonderful husband. He's cute, has a sense of humour, he is kind, intelligent, thoughtful and words can not describe my love for him. We have a lot of fun together and enjoy each other's company. I am not saying all of this just because he brought me two dozen beautiful red roses last night for no reason at all.

All five of our Grandchildren are very athletic and involved in a various sports. We often get to attend the events here in Texas and I often feature them on my blog. We are sorry to say we don't get to attend Jake's events because he lives in the Chicago area. Today Jane emailed me and told me that Jake scored 3 goals at his soccer game on Monday. Jake now has a total of 8 goals in 4 games. Jane said he is very fast and coordinated. Nice average! Way to go Jake!

Jake