Yikes! Time does fly!

It doesn't seem that long since I posted but it is almost 2 months! While we have been busy there really is no excuse, I just lost track of time....oh well.

At last post Mom and Aunt Evelyn were headed off

into the wild and Hubby and I had two weeks to get ready for the trip to California for the wedding ceremony of our middle son. We were a week away from leaving and I was walking very purposefully across the living room and got my slipper tangled in the rug and fell full force on my right knee.  After some rolling on the floor and moaning, I got up and it seemed that nothing was broken - just sore.  A couple of days later it looked like this!  The doctor took x-rays and nothing is broken but I apparently broke a blood vessel or two!  Good thing I was making a mid-calf length dress for the wedding - yes?  Even now after all this time I still have sore spots, I think I used to heal faster!

The wedding was beautiful and Niel and Esperanza are a lovely couple.  We got to meet her family at the rehearsal dinner at my mothers house and the girls did their makeup and got dressed in Moms extra bedroom the morning of the ceremony.  They took pictures in one of the many mural parks in Exeter, and had the ceremony in the church her family attends.

Esperanza did a lovely job decorating the tables with old canning jars, burlap, lace, mismatched teacups with faux pearls and fresh flowers!  It was just beautiful!

They had paid for the wedding and didn't have a lot of money left over for a honeymoon trip - so we brought them home with us for nine days.  We went to the local Octoberfest celebration, complete with cheesy hats!.....

We took them to the mountains for hiking fun......
(They hiked - hubby and I went to the local mountain cafe, ate lunch and watched the scenery!  Remember the knee injury!)

We let them pitch a tent in the back yard so they could 'camp' and still have indoor plumbing.  (it was so cold - think they had several layers of blankets!)
Ahh...to be young and in love!!! 
(this did not even look inviting to us but they thought it was grand fun!)

Niel helped his dad trim the huge old apple tree that was hanging over the fence into the neighbors yard .....

Esperanza helped with trying to finish up the gardening season.  (we ate some beans and froze some, and made homemade noodles and chicken noodle soup from scratch)

And we did several short sightseeing trips to see things like the state capitol building, and of course some of our favorite restaurants!



We think they had a good time and we enjoyed getting to know our newest daughter in law.  We paid for bus fare home - and they were gone.  The house was empty and quiet and we were only a little lonely.  My mother used to say "glad to see you get here, glad to see you leave!" and now I know what she meant! 

Of course I haven't written anything about seeing Miss Lily or the second trip to California with my friend.  That will have to wait till the next post (hopefully not as long as the wait for this one!)