Stacie's Reception

Stacie and Zach's Wedding Reception was beautiful. I'm just sorry Dayna and some of the kids had the flu and couldn't fully enjoy it.

This is David and Bobby (famous for his BobbyQ Sauce), who catered the event.

The fruit and vegitable display were beautiful.

These are views of the newly constructed pergola,before and after sunset.

David helped Steve get it done in time for the reception. (I'm just glad no one was killed or maimed raising those beams, though I understand some pain killers were needed for muscles strained the process.)

Here are a few views of the lanterns for Kimi, who is using them for her reception this Saturday.

The hit of the night for the kids was the sweet table. Jars of candy were available for scooping up and into the little orange bags or your mouth. Levi enjoyed the Skittles.

Painting in Progress

I just went out and took a picture of the coop painting in progress. The cream color is primer and the "Hot Chocolate" is the final color. I think he's used about 15 gallons so far. The trim will be white.
David came in to take a call.

Guess who came to visit?

We had a nice weekend visit from Kalisi, Will, Ana B and their parents, Lenna and Brandon. Here they are helping me get the chairs ready for the barbecue we had Saturday. It all started because they have friends from Bakersfield as well as relatives. (We're the relatives.) So we decided to get them together since their friends, The Taylors, live in Fresno now. So, we invited them and some other friends and family and had a great time together.

They brought me this, which I forgot to share

while everyone was here. Is that good or bad?

Chicken Coop Walls

The aviary (chicken coop) has walls and is ready for paint. Actually, it is being NOW. Hopefully, the new occupants can move in this weekend.

Block Wall

Here's a look at our new block wall we recently had

installed along the west side of the driveway.

Easter and Levi's 1st Birthday

Levi had his first birthday April 11th, so we waited a day to celebrate since we were having lots of our family come to our house for Easter. He is such a sweetie! He can walk several steps with a little confidence now, and he says, "Tickle, tickle, tickle" so cute you can't believe it. Although he is very friendly and loves people, his favorite person is, without a doubt, his mommy.

Levi, age 1 year 1 day

The Easter bucket brigade is ready for egg hunting. You can see the hail/rain/wind storm was quick to leave. We had beautiful sunny weather for the kids.

With a little encouragement from Granny and Grandma J., all the eggs were found and the bunny bucks redeemed.

Nathan was quick to find his dozen eggs, but discovered candy and not too many bunny bucks inside. He had to negotiate for his toys.
Kacy loves pink eggs, of course.
Will's a great egg hunter.

Jessie was a little under the weather,

but she managed to have a little fun too.

After the egg hunt, Karrie and the her kids went to Grandma Mayhall's house for dinner. Yvette, Gus, Eric, Kimi, Jake, Nathalie and Sophie came to join us for dinner, along with Angela, Lee, Lucy, baby Will, Gary and Marsha. Karl, Gaye, Jimmy, David, Lindsey and Sarah joined us later in the evening.

Oscar brought some of the chicks over for the kids to see.

We were amazed how fast they ate the bugs! Boys love chicks.
Lucy joined in too.

I didn't get a picture of little Sophie and her pretty polka dot Easter dress, because she left before I got my camera out after dinner. That's the disadvantage of being hostess. Yvette has some great pics of her on the Bryant Blog, so you better go there to see how cute she is.

Easter Hail Storm

Just before Easter we got a nice hail/rain/wind storm. I had cleaned up the yard and got everything looking pretty good, knowing that rain had been forecast, but it looked nice to me up until Thursday afternoon when the wind blew this in. Saturday, I had to hurry and rake up all the leaves and blown off branches.

Coop Progress

These are the forms for the cement upon which the walls of the chicken coop will rest. David is making slow, but sure progress. The chicks are currently housed in a big cardboard box in Jocelyn and Oscar's garage. Some of them have names and a pecking order has begun. They are anxiously awaiting their new home.

Three Boys and Rakes

I had a brainstorm. I was looking at all the pits from last year under the trees in the peach orchard and I thought, "What I need is some boys with rakes! They are old enough to learn how to work and feel they accomplished something." So I went to Lowe's and bought three little rakes and the next time they came over I offered them the job. They would get 1 candy of choice per tree raked. If they completed one whole row they could choose a new DVD movie, out to lunch with Grandma to the place of their choosing, or a toy of their choice.

The RESULTS:

Nathan raked 5 trees.

Jared raked 2 trees.

Spencer said," No way!" but wanted to play with the rake.

Fresh Baked Bread

Since we learned how to bottle butter,

I decided we needed something on

which it could be sampled properly.