In October we have a nephew getting married in Chicago. He and Clara are having a small wedding with immediate family and a few close friends. Since most of Aren's family is in Iowa they decided to have a pre-wedding reception/picnic. What a great idea. Saturday, August 14th was the big day. I offered to help my sister-in-law Laurie get ready for the big day.
BUSY DAY ONE -- I arrived at Mike and Laurie's about 9 a.m. ready to get to work. We decided to start the day with me pealing potatoes and Laurie mixing up the brownies. Laurie put the eggs (5 dozen) on to boil and got busy mixing the brownies. I got started pealing 35 pounds of potatoes. I pealed and pealed and peeled. Laurie baked 3 double batches of brownies and I was still pealing potatoes. Laurie even pealed the eggs before I was done. As soon as the eggs were done Laurie stated to boil the potatoes. We had two pans on the stove at a time. While the potatoes were cooking I started in on onions. I chopped 5 pounds of onions. By the time I was done with the potatoes and onions I could hardly straiten my fingers, because it hurt so much. I had to flex them for a while, before I could start again. I'm not sure why I got all the hard and smelly jobs. :-( I guess Laurie was a good boss and great at delegating jobs. :-) While Laurie was cutting up potatoes and and eggs I started in on the cheese. I sliced and cubed 17 pounds of cheese. Ate a few chunks. We had to make sure the cheese was good. By the time I finished the cheese I had a blister in my finger and my hand was getting a little tired.As I finished the cheese Laurie started mixing the salad dressing. She didn't measure a thing just dumped in a couple of jars of mayo, squeezed in some mustard, sprinkled in some sugar, and poured in some milk and mixed it all together. Laurie you make the BEST potato salad!!!!!! Somewhere in there we did take a lunch break.
Now that the brownies were baked, the potato salad made, lunch over, the kitchen cleaned and a short break we had one more major project left -- hamburger patties. Right after we started making the burgers Mike came in and started telling us how to make the patties. Not the best of moves to make little brother. He did have a point when he said to make the center of the burgers thinner than the edges. Still, you don't start telling two females what to do after they have worked in the kitchen all morning. We sent Mike outside to work in the yard and plant some flowers. Back to the hamburgers. First we had to find something big enough to put them on, because we made 67 hamburger patties. Then we had to move things around in the fridge so we could get them in, but we made it. While Laurie was cleaning up the kitchen again I frosted the 3 pans of brownies.
We got everything done that Laurie had on her list and a few other little things. We got the serving spoons around and found trays to put the brownies on. A job well done.
Laurie you had me working like a slave :-), but I did have fun. We don't see each other very often, so it gave us lots of time to visit. Work and all it was a great day.
BUSY DAY TWO -- I was helping with the serving tables along with my sisters Linda and Jana. At least Saturday the work wasn't hard and time consuming. We were able to keep watch on the tables and still visit with family and friends we haven't seen in years. It also gave us time to visit with Aren and Clara. Best part of the day was when Aren kissed my blister. :-) Things went really well. The day was still hot and humid, but we would take breaks and go inside the house and sit in the AC for awhile. Mike and Laurie have a swimming pool, so a lot of the kids and adults cooled off in the pool. They also put a tent up so there was some shade to sit in. The had the bean bag toss game and boccie ball. It was a fun day. I also had a chance to hold a 2 week old baby. The mother was helping her other children fill their plates, so I offered to hold the baby. So tiny and cute. My sister gave me a bad time, saying that was some excuse to get out of working.
Aren and Clara it was great seeing you and congratulations again. I never did sign the card. :-) Have a great wedding day.
Jeremy and Sally great to see you. Will we do this again next July?
Cortney and Josh it was great seeing you and the kiddos. Congratulations on the new Devine on the way and good luck in all the new things going on in your lives.
Mike and Laurie it was a great day. You did a fantastic job.
Love to all of you.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
BOYS WEEK
Last week we had our grandsons Zach (14) and Eli (6) for the annual boys week. Eli came Sunday afternoon and stayed until Thursday afternoon. Zach came Monday morning and stayed until Tuesday evening. Eli told me I should leave since Grandpa always had to leave when it was girls week. I asked him if Grandpa could cook for him like I would. He didn't say anything after that.
On Monday it was hot and rainy so Vern took the boys to a movie. The boys picked "Despicable Me". They all thought it was a really good movie. In the afternoon they help Grandpa with some golf cart work. One of Eli's favorite things to do when he stays with us is helping Grandpa with golf cart work. When they came in the boys got out some of the toys and did some building and played with cars. Then came trying to decide what we were going to have for supper. The boys decided on hamburgers and hot dogs. We needed a few groceries, so Vern took the boys and went to Fareway and Grandma took a short nap. Eli likes hot dogs, but he wants them warmed up in the microwave. Well, Zach was having his on the grill, so all of a sudden Eli decided he wanted his on the grill. I told Vern to keep it on the edge so it wouldn't get any black on it. The hot dog had some black and Eli ate the whole thing. Younger cousins like to shadow the old cousins. We had a fire in the evening and the boys played with a soccer ball and threw a baseball at an air mattress leaning against a tree. You never know what will entertain them.
Tuesday Vern took the boys golfing. Eli has his own golf clubs and Zach has never been golfing. Vern decided it would be better to go to the driving range. He bought them each their own bucket of balls, but he said he had to share his with the boys. Eli would just put a ball downand hit, but Zach would do some practice swings. Zach ended up with a few blisters on his hand. I told him next time they went golfing he had to have a golf glove. The boys decided they wanted to go out for lunch and decided they wanted pizza. Vern called to see if I wanted to meet them for lunch, but I told him to make it just the boys. Zach asked it they could stop and see if his Dad (Jeff) could go with them. Jeff hadn't had lunch yet so the four of them went to Godfather's. After lunch they played for a while and then watched a movie. Eli picked "Return to Space Mountain". That boy would watch that movie 2 or 3 times a day if I would let him. He loves that movie. In the evening we watched Americas Got Talent. (we like to watch the show) Eli got into the show and would say which acts he liked and which ones he didn't.
Wednesday morning I had sewing at church, so left Vern to entertain Eli. They went for a bike ride after the rain stopped. They road around all the loops in the campground a couple of times and then road to the Oakwoods Shelter and back and then around all the loops again. When I got back I asked how the bike ride went and Vern said fine, except Eli liked riding through all the water puddles and he had to change his clothes when they got back. What else do 6 year old boys like to do, but play in the water. Everything was wet and muddy outside, so we stayed inside all afternoon. Eli got out the cars and trucks and played with them all afternoon. You had to be careful where you stepped and watched out for cars. He had them lined up on the dash and some in the air vents. We watched Americas Got Talent result show. I did pretty good, I picked 4 out of 4. I think Eli picked 3 of the 4. Not bad .
Thursday I had to go to Ames in the morning, so it was Grandpa and Eli. They spent the morning inside watching cartoons and playing with cars. Kathy was there picking up Eli when I got home, so the boys week ended.
We had so much fun with you guys and hope you had fun staying with us. We love you so much.
On Monday it was hot and rainy so Vern took the boys to a movie. The boys picked "Despicable Me". They all thought it was a really good movie. In the afternoon they help Grandpa with some golf cart work. One of Eli's favorite things to do when he stays with us is helping Grandpa with golf cart work. When they came in the boys got out some of the toys and did some building and played with cars. Then came trying to decide what we were going to have for supper. The boys decided on hamburgers and hot dogs. We needed a few groceries, so Vern took the boys and went to Fareway and Grandma took a short nap. Eli likes hot dogs, but he wants them warmed up in the microwave. Well, Zach was having his on the grill, so all of a sudden Eli decided he wanted his on the grill. I told Vern to keep it on the edge so it wouldn't get any black on it. The hot dog had some black and Eli ate the whole thing. Younger cousins like to shadow the old cousins. We had a fire in the evening and the boys played with a soccer ball and threw a baseball at an air mattress leaning against a tree. You never know what will entertain them.
Tuesday Vern took the boys golfing. Eli has his own golf clubs and Zach has never been golfing. Vern decided it would be better to go to the driving range. He bought them each their own bucket of balls, but he said he had to share his with the boys. Eli would just put a ball downand hit, but Zach would do some practice swings. Zach ended up with a few blisters on his hand. I told him next time they went golfing he had to have a golf glove. The boys decided they wanted to go out for lunch and decided they wanted pizza. Vern called to see if I wanted to meet them for lunch, but I told him to make it just the boys. Zach asked it they could stop and see if his Dad (Jeff) could go with them. Jeff hadn't had lunch yet so the four of them went to Godfather's. After lunch they played for a while and then watched a movie. Eli picked "Return to Space Mountain". That boy would watch that movie 2 or 3 times a day if I would let him. He loves that movie. In the evening we watched Americas Got Talent. (we like to watch the show) Eli got into the show and would say which acts he liked and which ones he didn't.
Wednesday morning I had sewing at church, so left Vern to entertain Eli. They went for a bike ride after the rain stopped. They road around all the loops in the campground a couple of times and then road to the Oakwoods Shelter and back and then around all the loops again. When I got back I asked how the bike ride went and Vern said fine, except Eli liked riding through all the water puddles and he had to change his clothes when they got back. What else do 6 year old boys like to do, but play in the water. Everything was wet and muddy outside, so we stayed inside all afternoon. Eli got out the cars and trucks and played with them all afternoon. You had to be careful where you stepped and watched out for cars. He had them lined up on the dash and some in the air vents. We watched Americas Got Talent result show. I did pretty good, I picked 4 out of 4. I think Eli picked 3 of the 4. Not bad .
Thursday I had to go to Ames in the morning, so it was Grandpa and Eli. They spent the morning inside watching cartoons and playing with cars. Kathy was there picking up Eli when I got home, so the boys week ended.
We had so much fun with you guys and hope you had fun staying with us. We love you so much.
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