Day at Laguna Beach

On Saturday after the wedding we headed down to Laguna Beach.  Some of the group went to the Sawdust Art Festival nearby, and the rest went straight to the beach.  We wandered around the booths for a while, then headed to the beach too.  It was a very cool location and fun to see the art. 

 Just some random shots.

Seth and Nicole's wedding

It was a beautiful day in So California as we went to Seth and Nicole's wedding.  The place was very cool.....outdoor, private, with lots of atmosphere.   It was wonderful to visit with family and share in the fun and excitement. 

Look at these fun little appetizers...mashed potatoes and gravy.

Sorry Seth and Nicole....Not the best quality, but you get the idea anyway.  

The whole Redford family, except two little ones.

Seth and Nicole performed a fox-trot that was just great!  We were all a little concerned about either Seth or Nicole stepping on her wedding dress and causing a disaster, but that didn't happen and it was just magical and fun.

The band was awesome! We loved hearing so many songs we recognize performed so well, and loved hearing Nicole sing with the band a few times....which she used to do regularly.  So fun.

Elder Walton's Return

I realized that I hadn't posted about this important event yet!  Brian returned from his missionary service in the Arizona Tempe Mission on July 12th at 1:30 pm.  It was a very fun day.  We just barely made it there as he was walking out into the crowd of people.  His flight came in early...which we had learned after checking online, but as we were leaving, Dad noticed the tire was really low in the van so had to fix that, then I had to stop to a bathroom on the way (too much excitement) so we walked in scanning the people coming out of the door and I saw him so raised up my sign so he could see it!!  He was just starting to think we weren't there yet.  Whoowh.

Mike arrived in town the night before.  He was recording it all live on his video recorder, so some of the family got to see what was happening.

Getting home

One of the first things we did was Skype Lisa and Chris since it was really really late there.

After being home for about an hour, we drove an hour to meet with the Stake President for his release....the same place he was set apart two years earlier. Both were special occasions.

 Back at home, Brian got comfortable and we Skyped the rest of the family. ( Love that Skype)

 A very Happy Time!

Elder Walton

Flowers from Minter Gardens

I prepared these collages on Picasa and couldn't get them in the next post with the rest of the pictures so I had to do it separately. But aren't they gorgeous? There were sooo many!

Day with Bryce and Sandy

 Bryce and Sandy arrived Friday evening and we enjoyed visiting and get caught up on each other's lives.  The next morning we headed out past Chilliwack to the Minter Gardens.  I've always thought that would be fun to see but we we always on our way out or back from somewhere else and didn't have time to stop.  It was a beautiful day and beautiful place.  A very nice day.

Another yard update...

I guess this is all the exciting stuff we are doing these days, at least to take pictures of.....no new castles to see, so here is what we did last weekend.  The edging around the back lawn looked like this, so we weeded, cleaned up the edges and got some bark mulch.  It is called 'black bark mulch' instead of the typical reddish brown.  I like the way it looks. (the shovel is holding back the rose bush branches while we work there)

 We also got some cement pads to make a little path back to the blueberry bush.

 And this area looks way better than it has since we moved in.

The lawn is looking pretty good now.

Then after we finished that...which took most of Friday and Saturday, I made 4 rhubarb pies.  So who is going to help me eat them, since Dad isn't eating those kind of things?