July was a wonderful month with special times with friends and family.
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| My dear friend, Jane, hosted a lovely ice cream social in her beautiful, shady yard. |
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| Rusty and I ( and sometimes Gretchen) frequent Blue Bloods on Monday evenings for live jazz. |
My cousin's son (on the Wilczynski side) was married at the end of the month. It was an outdoor wedding in the countryside -- natural, beautiful, and perfect.
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| Emily, Michael and daughter Annabelle |
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| At center are Terri (Wilczynski) Huston and husband, Jim Huston with their extended family. |
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| And naturally there was a lot of biking this month. 50-miler at the Cornhusker State Games. |
It was a notable year with Rusty turning 70.
We had a fabulous birthday party for Rusty with 55 guests. The Mill on Innovation Campus was the perfect venue with yummy snacks. Rusty says we're all getting a little crispier each day.
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| Irving Friends |
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| Lindsay and family |
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| music friends |
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| more music friends |
WARNING: If you are not a close relative of mine, you may find the following pics rather boring. Those of us who are Pearl's offspring had a wheee of a good time!
Beginning our trip to Idaho at 2 a.m. and arriving about 3 p.m. had some long moments.
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| Pierce catching a few zzzz's at the airport |
Dar and Tom were fabulous hosts and found space for all 18 of us to reside with them for 5 days.
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| Left to right, top row: Adrienne, Ruby. Second row from top: Tom, Tracy, Nate, Olivia, Pierce, Felicia, Reece, Kelly, Ryan, Lily. Third row from top: Dar, Pearl, Di, Quinn. Bottom row: Zach, Emmy. |
The space was filled with love and caring. All 8 kids (ages 3-10) got along very well. The electronics were put away so the kids engaged in many "play" activities. They picked plums off the tree, danced in the yard, played cards, went swimming, read books, etc.
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| Dance time. |
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| card games |
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| Emmy has no fear of water--or much else. |
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| Reece & Pierce |
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| Kelly & Quinn |
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| Ryan took the older boys back to the secret place. |
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| Dar and Zach |
Dierke's Lake has some good-sized cliffs at one end. Nearly all the kids made multiple jumps off the cliffs. Pierce couldn't get enough of it.
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| Olivia & the kids after cliff jumping |
Twin Falls is known for the beautiful Shoshone Falls. The impound on the Snake River provides the swimming area known as Dierke's.
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| In the springtime the falls are almost twice as wide as in this picture. |
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| Reece on the tree swing |
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| Quinn eating s'mores. |
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| Nate playing with the dog |
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| Meal time at the kids table |
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| O with the kids |
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| Emmy thought Pierce was very special and enjoyed his company. |
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| Ruby and Quinn |
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| Ruby with Great Grandma Pearl |
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| Ruby reads a night time story to Zach, Emmy and Adrienne. |
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| Ruby's turn on the swing |
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| Zach (3 1/2) usually had a face that looked like this. |
The adults were busy during these five days too.
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| Ryan and Kelly |
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| Dar and I made sour cherry pies. |
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| Lunch with Pearl, Di and Dar on the canyon rim. |
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| Making plum-rhubarb preserves from fruit in the Wagner yard. |
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| Tom feeding the geese |
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| Young ladies (cousins) night out. |
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| Tracy and Lily chat with Grandma Pearl. |
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| Tom gives driving lessons. |
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| Lunch at The Yellow Brick Road with Pearl, Di, Olivia and Felicia. |
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| Tom made appetizers--stuffed mushrooms and jalapenos. |
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| Yummy appetizers! |
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| Lots of good eating! |
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| Dar and I went on a couple of bike rides. Here we are at the Cliff bar factory. |
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| Ruby and I had a special morning together. She was fascinated by Marilyn Monroe's picture. |
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| We went to the Perreine Bridge and watched the base jumpers. It takes about 29 seconds to parachute down and hours to climb back out. |
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| Painting nails was another favorite activity. |
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| Grandma Pearl painted Ruby's and Adrienne's nails. |
One evening the kids put on a puppet show. We were all given paper money to pay for our entrance to the show.
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| The puppets in action |
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| Front row seats |
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| Back row seats |
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| Reece, the bouncer. |
None of us wanted to go home after such a fabulous week. Three adults and 3 good-sized kids and 8 pieces of luggage squeezed into a Mitsubishi Outlander for the ride back to Salt Lake City.
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| (not in the picture) Reece is squeezed into the third row with the luggage. Pierce's and Ruby's feet are on more luggage. |
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| Felicia kept the tunes rockin' while Olivia did a great job of driving this over-loaded vehicle. |
When we arrived in Salt Lake City, Felicia learned that her flight to Philly had been cancelled. The kids were thrilled that they had to fly with us to KC and spend the night.
And my favorite picture of all--my family!
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| Top to bottom: Ruby, Olivia, Di, Felicia, Pierce, Pearl, Reece |
