August fun

Amy, JT and I went to AZ to see Roz, who is Amy's best friend. We spent a week in sunny Tucson. The weather was a delightful 110 everyday. Nothing like leaving hot OK to spend a vacation in sunny AZ. I spent lots of time staying out of the great outdoors. Amy and I went to the mall, we went out to eat lunch, Kim and I went to the ice cream shop and had our toes "done".....you get the picture. Amy, JT and I did go to the Sarario forest. I always thought that a forest meant trees. Don't kid yourself. Cactus... (I can't see the forrest for the cactus) We also visited old town Tucson, where John Wayne filmed many of his movies. Hot and dry.

This cactus grows to be over 100 years old. In fact it doesn't get its "arms" until it 100...man am I glad I didn't have to wait that long.

Now I am sorry that the picture is sideways, you'll just have to turn your neck a little to see Amy and JT. (I am still learning. :) We also drove into the mountains on Friday and visited an old copper mine community. It was a balmy 89 there. of course no one had an air conditioner in the mountains so we had a difficult time finding a cool place with the babies while the girls toured the mine. By this time, the battery on my camera was dead so there are no pictures of this pretty community with grass.

On Saturday when we got back from AZ, Amy, Amanda, Ralph and I attended a Girl Scout function in Norman. I received a "Woman of Distinction" Award, along with Jane Ann Jayroe, former Miss America, Sandy Garrett, State Superintendent of Schools, Jeri Askins, Lt. Governor, Trish Weeden, long time State Senator and an author from Duncan, OK. WOW was all I could say. I was so humbled to be in the company of so many wonderful women. It started raining on Sat. evening, remanents of a huricane that fizzled until it got over Kingfisher. Our average rainfall for a year is about 25 inches. We have had over 55 inches already and we haven't even made our Oct. rainy season yet. Flooding has been so bad this year. It's hard to think of OK flooding but it does. Our yard really looks good too.

The last picture is of Allen. Allen and Ralph finally got to take Allen's High School Sr. trip with Ralph. They went to South Carolina, Myrtle Beach and played lots of golf. 7 courses in 5 days. They stayed in a resort right on the ocean with their window overlooking the beach. I stayed home. I don't know much about golf but Ralph said they were real lucky. They found as many balls as they lost.

So maybe next time I can get the text with the pictures. :)

Sleep tight ya'll. God Bless M

Pictures: Molly and Sam at the Fireworks stand

JT at home in Tulsa resting for the afternoon

Ralph and all the boys: lrft to right: Parker, Nathan, Ralph, Sam on the lap, Turner in the back and JT in the car seat.

Sam, Margie and JT in the kitchen. (Sam let me hold him for just a minute!)

A New Day

Good morning friends and family. I am going to try to use this for information about our family. We will see how it works.

Ralph and Allen are gone to Myrtle beach this week for Allen's high school graduation trip. Allen will be a second year Sr. at OSU this fall so I think it is time for his HS gift. They are playing golf. I wish I were there too (not to play golf but just to sit by the ocean water and veg.)However, I have enjoyed the time by myself this week, catching up with some reading and the quiet.

The summer has been a hard summer for us, in a number of ways. Ralph had a small stroke on Memorial day, David was gone to Africa (our Sr. Pastor) for 5 weeks which left me in charge- of course having the organist and the choir director quit just before he left didn't help things. But God is faithful and we got through the month of June without too much termoil. Ralph is still working on getting better. Dr. appointments all summer have not consumed us but have kept us busy.

Molly and Andy are going to have another baby in March. We are so very excited to welcome another Grandchild into our family. Sam their one year old, tried hard to learn to walk while he was at our house for Fireworks. He is delightful, cheerful and good natured. Amy and Jimmy's little 4 month old JT, is growing and becoming a very personable little boy. See pict.s

Hopefully I can keep up and keep everyone informed. My learning curve is a bit steeper than most..:) Fireworks kept us busy- there were some hiccups with that too.