Saturday we took a road trip....

to my nieces wedding...

I found plenty to keep me entertained on the 188 mile trip...

 

 

 

Isn't this the cutest idea....

My nieces wedding was beautiful...

of course I will be sharing tons of photos....

the reception was so much fun...

 

 the beautiful bride and the handsome groom...

you could just feel the love between the two of them...

 

 the Father of the Bride...

my brother in law...

kind of  the deer in the head lights look...

it was quite the emotional day for him...

...seeing his beautiful daughter...

marry a good man....

hoping everything would turn out the way the wanted it to...

and it did....everyone had a blast...

the place was filled with love....

Hubby asked him if his wallet was still smoking...

he said it might take a while to cool down....

 

 lot's of good music...lot's of dancing...

my other niece is next to the bride wearing the black dress...

so proud of my nieces...

beautiful inside and out...

 

for Father's Day we took the Daddy's to breakfast....

had to do our annual photo out in front of the restaurant...

Hotrod decided to block his face...

My guys....love these guys...

Happy Fathers Day....

 Happy Father's Day to my Dad....

I didn't grow up with my Dad....

I met him when I was grown...

I feel very lucky to have him in my life...

he is smart...funny....talented...

an all around great Guy....

Love you Dad...

 I know I've discussed the great women in my life...

I also had some great men influence my life...

My Pawpaw....he was a pushover....

he would drive me up and down the driveway...

burning rubber....or saying let's make this T-bird FLY...

when we went to the store...I always got to pick a toy....

he always had ice cream...(usually ice milk) in the freezer...

he would ride bicycles with us....

let us build what ever we wanted in the back yard...

no matter the eye sore it was...

My Uncle Tom was another influence...

he was the cool Uncle...with cool cars...

when I was in high school...his boss had an Excalibur...

he borrowed it...took my friends and I to the high school

football game...pulled right up to the front gate...

when it was time for me to get my first car...

guess who found it for me....at 1970 Maverick...

$200.00 just my budget...

he is my biggest blog fan...and fan of my photos...

if he doesn't get them in the mail every day...

he's calling my Mom to check on me...

Happy Father's Day Uncle Tom...

I love you!!!

 

Another influence was Mr. Jones....

he was our next door neighbor....he also had a son...

who was my first real boy friend...

(that is a story of it's own)

Mr. Jones let me hang out in the garage...

while they worked on motorcycles....took me to the races with them...when I'm sure he would have rather his son

focused more on racing than on me...

he was kind...patient...treated me like a girl as well

as like one of the guys....Mr. Jones has cancer...

he is not doing well....he showed me how real men act...

how they treat ladies...Thank you Mr. Jones...

Mr. Cook....he was neighbor when I was young...

he taught me to ride a bicycle...taught me about gardening...

he was a hunter...with bird dogs...

he treated his dogs like kids...they were the best hunting dogs...

no matter what people would tell him...

you can't treat them like family and make them hunt...

he proved them all wrong...

He treated his wife like a Queen...

a great influence in my life...

Mr. Walker...he had 3 daughters...my best friends Dad...

he welcomed me into their family...

treated me just like his daughters...

He fished...hunted...watched baseball...

but always had time for all his girls...

he took us on family trips...

looked at our cars if we had problems...

listened to our endless stories...

warned us about boys...

He loved my Hubby first time he met him...

I knew then I picked a good one....

Happy Fathers Day to my Hubby...

you have always been there for our kids...

no matter the long hours you worked...

you made it to their games...performances...school events..

You showed our son how to be a Man...

you showed our daughter how a lady should be treated...

I think all the men in my life...helped influence...

the man I picked...

I see a piece of all these men in my Hubby...



 A busy week....

I finally went dress shopping...

I needed to get a dress for my nieces wedding...

I do not like to shop....

I went to Ross...the first dress I saw...

was my size....I tried it on....it fit...

thank you dress God's....

even got two pairs of sandals...

one with a wedge hill...the other flats....

 

 CRAFTY IDEAS click on the link....

Hotrod and I tried another idea I found on facebook...

I'm trying to keep his summer fun...

he is really into Science right now....

 

 It has been quite a week...

Tuesday was my daughter's boyfriends birthday....

she called him on his way to work to wish him a Happy Birthday...

he had forgot it was his Birthday....

later that day he got the call his Grandmother in California...

passed away...him, his brother and Dad...

packed up...headed to California...

My daughter has been covering for the owner of the dance studio...also taking care of the owners dog and house...plus teaching her own classes...

working for me....taking care of her boyfriends dog... and 3 cats...

covering for her friends (which is also her boy friends sister) dance classes...this weekend she will be cover for her friends classes...

so she can go to the funeral...so my daughter will miss the wedding...my son will miss the wedding because he has

to stay back and take care of our business...

I'm proud of my kids...they are responsible people...

It's good to know that other's feel comfortable...

leaving them in charge...

 

now it is back to work for me....



This is how feel this week....

running like a race horse...

but I'm not seeing the finish line....

Crafty Ideas click on the link to see what

Hotrod and I've been up to...

trying to put some summer fun in our hectic schedule....

 



 our squash is thriving...

I love squash...

 Sunday I needed to get out of the house...

being holed up all week....

so Hubby and I went to the horse track....

 

 I love seeing our Texas flag....right next to the USA flag...

 

 I love gray horses....there aren't that many that race...

so they really stand out...

Hubby likes the simulcast racing...I like the live racing...

so he goes inside to do his betting...on tracks from all over...

I spend my time watching the live horses...enjoying their beauty...

people watching...and listening...

I saw a lot of Dad's with their kiddos...

I noticed the Dad's asking the kiddos which horse to bet on...

The boys were all about the numbers....the fastest looking horse...

The girls were all about if the horse was pretty....or the colors...

or the name of the horse...

This seems to be the same in Men and Women also....

Hubby looks at the numbers....the percentages...

where I tend to look at the horse..how it moves...

it's name...the color....

and you know what...

I think the odds are about the same either way...

the whole male female thinking starts at the beginning I think...

 



 it was a beautiful weekend...

we had sunny skies...

then over night Saturday we had rain....

boy did we have rain.....

 something we sure could use....

the plants and animals are truly enjoying it...

us people too....

 strawberry almost ready to pick....

Hotrod is excited....

 my to do list is busting at the seams....

My niece is getting married this weekend...

of course I've got to find something to wear...

for the Hubby also....

if it was a jeans and boots affair we would be ready...

or a swimsuit and cutoff affair....

 

 I have a couple of photo shoots to do...

a senior shoot....was suppose to do it last week...

but that didn't work out....her party isn't till the end of June...

so that gives me a little lead way...

and I have Hotrods 3rd birthday shoot...

we have a tradition of taking his photo at a park in our

downtown area....

can't wait to see what he has in store for me this year...

Father's Day is on Sunday....

Hotrod and I have projects to get done....

I'm starting to over whelm myself...

every year I do a photo book for Hotrods birthday...

with photos from his last birthday up to before his this birthday...

kind of a year in review...

well...picking the photos is hard...

cause I take soooooo many...

then I have to try to remember which ones I've used

on other projects.... I don't want to duplicate....

speaking of this project I need to get back to it...

Oh and one of the photos I sent to my Mom's reunion...

a 5x7 photo of the Texas flag....

sold for $25 to one of my cousins....

woo hoo...all of them sold....



 It was a rough week for the Ladybug from Texas...

I finally through in the towel on Thursday....

went to the Dr......

I kept thinking I would get better....

but the coughing....aching...fever....nose issues...

just would not go away....

 

 

 usually after a day or two on cough medicine...inhaler...asprin....

I'm in good shape....I didn't get a cold all winter long...

my allergies have been pretty good...

compared to everyone else's....

I started thinking maybe I was just being a sissy...

surely I didn't really feel this bad....

must just be my imagination....

my skin hurt...just my shirt touching my skin hurt...

it was all I could do to make it through the day....

 

 my daughter was a great help with Hotrod...

and with the phone in the office...

cause it is our busy time of the year...

the more I talked on the phone...

the worse my cough got...

day to day business just won't stop...

even for a minute for this ladybug....

 

so on Thursday I told my daughter...

I can't take this any more I'm going to the Dr....

Hotrod was down for his nap....she took over the phones...

I went to the Dr.....

of course you always have to wait...

so I sat and coughed...blew...coughed ...sneezed...

my fever shot up....

answered all the questions in between said episodes...

let me listen to your lungs....

hmmmm he said....breath deep....

well that didn't happen.......more coughing...

are you a smoker? Nope never have...

the wheezing is really bad.....

he pulled out his prescription pad and went to town...

antibiotics...steroids....cough medicine with codeine...

over the counter Musinex.... myinhaler....

Bronchitis....

that night is a blurrr.....fever went up to almost 102...

drugs kicked in.....

The pharmacist told me...the steroids might make you jittery...

but the cough medicine will relax you....

well that was good to know...

Friday morning I woke up...

soaking wet...the fever had broke....

I'm still weak....still cough...but it's productive...

still feel like I've been hit by a runaway train...

I lived on Popsicles...crackers...water...lemonade....

so that's my story....

Thank you for all the well wishes...

I really enjoyed reading them all...

hopefully will be able to get all caught up soon...

Hotrod is doing great...

kids they bounce back so quick...

he didn't have Bronchitis...

 



taking a short break...

Hotrod and I have had coughs...

I've been running a fever...

will be back soon

 Class of 2013.....

we went to a ceremony yesterday....

celebrating 7 of my daughters dance girls...

we met them when my daughter was 12...

she started a dance program at the Trinity River Mission...

the first group to start was a group of first graders...

two of them have stayed with dance the entire time..

the others moved on to other activities...

after spending a few or more years dancing...

but they will always be our dance babies...

or TRM girls...

 

 we are so proud of each of them....

and expect to see great things in their futures...

 

 these two are going to be college room mates this fall...

look out TWU....

it was a nice ceremony celebrating these young women...

I do have one question...

why do they always pick speakers for graduations...

and these events...that go on FOREVER....

they always loose the crowd about half way through...

then apologize at the end for running over time....

It was be so nice to find someone...

that would just get up there and be short and sweet...

just saying...

 Hotrod is adjusting to the new house....

he spent the night with us Saturday night...

so last night was his first night there...

 

 I'm still tired from last week...

long days...short nights (or so it seemed)

 

now these are the girls I know and love...

fun...and crazy...

look out world...here they come....

this was my squash just a week ago....



these are my squash today...

I've already picked two...and have atleast a dozen more....

 



our Zinnias are starting to bloom...

Hotrod is so excited to see how they change every day...

the Easter lilies are still hanging on....

 



our sunflowers are getting taller every day...

I can't wait till they flower...



blooms on the cucumbers...

oh I love a fresh off the vine cucumber....

 

 

Hotrod is growing like a weed too...

notice the big boy underwear...

he is doing a great job...

the big move started this morning...

of course the guys had to run service calls first...

that is the way it is for us...business first...

I have the easy job...

I get to spend the day with Hotrod...

we have been busy...

he got to go to Tap class today...

he loves Tap...has had his Tap shoes on most of the day...

we are all hoping he handles the transition of the new house well...

we will see when he goes to bed in his new room...