Look who's ready for vacation

Well, Miss Evvy has been home for 6 weeks and is ready to take a trip to meet the rest of her family. Every 3 years our family has an official family reunion where my parents, all of the siblings & their spouces, nieces and nephews get together for a week of fun. We are all spread out so much that it is hard to get everyone together at the same time. So we will be gathering from Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri and Nebraska and meeting in Arkansas. It was a neutral place to go and we found a really pretty place 3 years ago that we decided we would use that as our place to have reunions. This year is a big turning point in the lives of many people in our family. I have 2 nephews graduating from High School (Avram tonight and Adam tomorrow night). Evelyn joined the family and Rob & Aimee are expecting a baby girl in October. Next year Andrew will graduate from high school and Abby will start high school. I can't believe how our family is growing up.

Last weekend when Grandma & Grandpa were visiting, Evvy wanted to model some of her new vacation wear and I took a couple of pictures. The one with her funny face is probably my favorite. That is her signature face. She does her lips like that all the time. I call them her kissy lips and kiss her everytime she does it. I have discovered that if I blow in her face, I am almost always assured to get her kissy face.

We are hoping that both Evvy and I will be over our colds by Monday so that we can enjoy the pool, lake and our family.

BFF (part 2)

OK. I looked to see if I had any pictures of Peggy and I from junior high/high school on the computer and don't have them scanned. Peggy said it was ok if I didn't post them :)

When I started out to write the original post, I just wanted to share pictures of my dear girl and her friend Erica. But then I got a bit nostalgic thinking about where our girls' friendship really started. It was back when their mom's were just young girls and now a 1/4 of a century later our girls are on their way to becoming best friends. I hope that they can develop the same long-lasting friendship that their mom's have.

The other night when Evvy and I were at Peggy's house for our weekly quilt night, I asked Erica, "who is your best friend?" She answered appropriately, "baby Evvy!" and then leaned over and gave her a big kiss. Erica is really learning a lot about sharing and watching out for her little friend. I think there has been a little jealousy because Evvy gets so much attention. We just keep pointing out all the things that Erica can do that baby Evvy can't do (like eat a chocolate brownie!).

Anyway, here are some pictures of the next generation of BFF.

Best Friends Forever (BFF) part 1

Peggy and I first met in 7th grade but I thought she was a braniac nerd. Well then in 8th grade we both were braniac nerds :) and became best of friends. That was back in 1979 if I am doing the math right. That is many many years. I moved after high school because my dad took a job in Washington DC. Peggy and I remained friends and I was even able to go back that year for a visit over the Christmas holidays. We both went to separate universities/colleges but still kept in touch. During my college years I went to Guatemala to serve a mission for the LDS Church. I didn't hear from Peggy much but I have a fond memory of receiving a manilla envelope stuffed with a years worth of letters and pictures that Peggy had written. She wrote the letters just never got around to mailing them. I remember that day being so happy that my good friend hadn't forgotten about me. I returned from Guatemala and went back to finish up college. I remember receiving a wedding invitation from Peggy at the end of the school year. I still kick myself that I didn't go to her wedding. I was young and without resources though and my family lived in Alabama at the time I think and we were getting ready to go on a trip back to Guatemala and in the process of moving to Buffalo, NY. Anyway, we kept in sporadic contact over the years.

After I finished my graduate studies, I was driving from Utah to Buffalo New York moving myself. I was driving through Kansas City where Peggy had moved to after getting married. I had her work phone# and decided I would really regret it if I didn't call her. So I stopped and called and she gave me directions on how to get to her work (Yellow Freight general offices). I was dressed in sweats and probably looked pretty travel weary but we went out and had a lunch together and had a great time catching up. I remember thinking, wow, she works at a really nice office building and a good company. I remember looking through the atrium like area and there was an actual tractor trailer parked in their building (it is an antique of one of the original Yellow Freight trucks). I remember driving the rest of the way to Buffalo and seeing tons of Yellow Freight trucks on the road.

Fast forward a few years. I got tired of the cold and snow of Buffalo and my parents had retired to Texas so I didn't have familiy there anymore. My brother and his family had also moved to Austin, TX. So I decided I was ready for a change in scenery and packed up and moved to Austin. Well after being there a few months, Yellow Freight opened up an Inside Sales Center in Austin and I took a job working there having remembered that Peggy worked for them and it was a good company to work for. I was so excited to tell Peggy that we now worked for the same company. Now remember, this was a long time ago before the days of the internet and email. But our company had intramail so that we could email people within the company. This is how Peggy and I reconnected after all the years. The year I took the job with Yellow was our 10 year high school reunion. Peggy invited me to join her and her husband and baby son and go to the reunion together. So I flew from Austin to Kansas City and Peggy picked me up at the airport and I stayed at her house (the same one she now lives in). We drove to Des Moines and stayed with her mom & dad and went to the reunion together. I have such fond memories. This was the first time I met her oldest son Cameron. He was just a little guy back then. Fast forward another year or so. I was still working for Yellow Freight and was sent to Kansas City for 2 weeks for some training. I was able to see my good friend again as we were both working in the same building for 2 weeks. I also went up to her house and we went shopping at the mall one evening.

Fast forward another couple of years. Peggy got laid off from Yellow Freight :( I then got transferred to Kansas City to work at the General Offices. Had she not been laid off we would have been working in the same building again. However, we reconnected and really picked up where we left off I guess. We both discovered that we had a love of quilting although we were both amateurs back then. I had started taking some classes before I left to make a quilt (just finished it this year--well at least the piecing--and I have now lived here 10 years). We started to get together regularly to quilt together. Four years after moving to Kansas City, I bought a house in the same suburb as Peggy. We now live 10 minutes apart and see or talk to each other almost every day. Her kids are like my own niece and nephews. Her youngest is a sweet, precocious almost 3 year old named Erica. I am so blessed to have such a good friend in Peggy and her family. They are a part of my family and a wonderful support to me. I hope that I am as much as a support and friend to her as she has been to me over these past 24 years (oh that hurts to write). I don't feel that old :)

Stay tuned for part 2 of BFF.
Susan (I will have to see if I can find a picture on my other computer to post a then and now picture.)

Build-a-Bear for Orphans

(Lots of new pictures on my picture link.)

Saturday, Build-a-Bear stores all over the country hosted an event to let customers build bears for free that Build-a-Bear is donating to adoption agencies who will be distributing them to orphanages around the world. My agency is getting about 400 of the bears and will be donating them to various orphanages in Russia. I went Saturday morning with my mom and Evelyn and we stuffed two bears to donate. Evvy really liked the bears and was a little sad to put them in the donation box. Felt good to do something for such a good cause.

Here are some pictures we took.

Evvy holding a bear before it was stuffed

Grandma stuffing a bear

Evvy stuffing a bear

Mommy & Evvy with stuffed bears

Evvy liked the tags!

Hot Tamales!

Yesterday, I had a welcome home party for baby Evvy. I had decided long ago that I wanted to serve "Guatemalan" food for her party. As the time grew closer I started to feel somewhat overwhelmed in thinking about making the food and getting everything ready. But alas, I work very well under pressure with a deadline and I have WONDERFUL supportive friends.

The first thing to be done was to make the tamales. Guatemalan tamales are different than Mexican tamales. They are larger and have more "masa" which is the cornmeal dough. My dear friend Peggy came over and we made a day of making tamales. I couldn't have done it without her help and moral support.

Steps to make the tamales:
1) Made sauce (boiled tomatoes; heated various peppers, cinnamon and spices to release their aroma; ground up spices; add to tomatoes; add chicken to sauce to absorb flavors)

2) Made masa by adding water, butter and sugar to masa harina flour and cooking for about 30 minutes while stirring. This step took a LOT of muscle from both of us as the masa gets very thick and we didn't want to burn it.
3) Assemble the tamales
4) Take a square of aluminum foil

• Add a blob of masa to the middle

• Form a rectangle of the masa approximately 1" thick
Add a spoonful of sauce making an indentation in the middle of the tamale
Add a piece of chicken & decorate with green olives, raisins and pimentos
Fold the foil over in the middle Roll the ends

I froze the tamales until the day of the party and then I let them thaw and put them in a deep pot with about 6" of water. You then cover the pot and let them steam for 1 1/2-2 hours. You can leave them in the pot to keep them hot and put them on a platter for people to serve themselves. To eat, cut the rolled ends of the foil off and unfold the middle to make a small serving plate. We discovered that we probably should have added more sauce to the tamale but no problem, we had TONS of extra sauce so I put a dish next to the tamales so people could spoon more over them.

Everyone said they were yummy. I personally thought they weren't quite right but I guess I was the only one that had tasted the real thing in Guatemala.

Here are some pictures of the process and finished product.

Susan

Mother's Day weekend pictures

Here are some pictures from this weekend when Uncle Allan, Aunt Anna and cousins Abby and Ally came to visit baby Evvy. Yes, it was difficult to keep the names straight even for me. I kept calling Evvy, Ally and Abby and the same with the girls. We had a great time. Evvy really liked having her cousins visit. The cats were glad to have them leave ;( There are more pictures from the last week on the link in the sidebar.

Baby Evvy meets her TX uncle, aunt and 2 cousins (boys couldn't come).

(above: Abby, me, Uncle Allan, Evvy & Ally)

Aunt Anna, Abby, Uncle Allan, Evvy, Ally

Happy Mother's Day

What a dream come true. Mother's Day used to be a pretty depressing day for me thinking that I had always wanted to be a mother but probably never would be.

This year my sweet angel gave me two (well really more) wonderful mother's day presents. First, she slept all night and second she took a 2 hour afternoon nap which meant that I got about 1 1/2 hour afternoon nap. HEAVEN!

I never could have imagined the joy that a daughter could bring into my life. It is all about the simple things. She is sitting on the floor being super vocal (mamamamamama and other sweet sounds). I am watching Pride & Prejudice and she will stop and watch it at some points so I know we are true soul mates. She really likes Mr Darcy :)

I had a totally wonderful weekend. Yesterday afternoon my brother Allan and his wife and two girls (the two boys were home working) drove up from Austin to visit. It was a terribly long drive and they weren't here even 24 hours but it was a wonderful visit and so glad that they were willing to sacrifice to come meet Evelyn. She was a perfect angel and very smiley and giggly and I mention again, slept all night! We went out with our mutual friends Lee and Michelle last night and just had a nice time visiting and eating good food and listening to good music. Evvy LOVES music. I knew this but when the guy was singing (and we weren't even in the main room where he was at) she would move her body and clap and just get so excited. Makes me wonder if she was a Party Girl in Guatemala :) She just really enjoys being out around people doing things.

Evvy is cutting her two top teeth. One has cut through and the other is really close.
tS
Evvy wants to type: f/...
?'
?',mhnmk nj hj vbnm,k

OK. baby wants mommy to come play. I will post pictures later.

Susan

Pictures of my two babies

Here are a few pictures taken over the past week. You can see how happy Evvy is. She really wants to be friends with Bella (black cat) but Bella isn't so sure yet. Bella has been checking out the crib, changing table and rocking chair though. In fact today, I had a drawer in the dresser open and Bella climbed in and snuggled down in some blankets. Evvy saw her and went over to check her out. Bella felt a little cornered so she just laid there and pretended she was invisible. Evvy sure does love her cats. She is going to win them over yet.

Modeling my cute outfit from Aunt Nancy. Isn't it cute?
I really want to crawl....
I love the balloon ribbons from my welcome home!
Is this crib up to cat standards.
I hope I don't get my head stuck!

If Bella is going to be in my crib, then I am going to play with her fun toys!