Boston & Nashville & Baby, oh my!

May was a busy month!!!!!
I flew to Boston, then Nashville, then back to Boston,
then home to Phoenix, then back to Boston!!! What?!?!

I was so happy I could see Beka and all the Seniors perform in their
Senior Showcase on May 4th!
What a talented bunch of kids!

Beka with her partner, Tyler!

On May 5th Beka traveled to NYC with her class to perform their
Showcase at the Alvin Alley Theater on the 6th.
 She returned to Boston on May 9th!

I flew to Nashville on May 5th,
where Annette and Lisa picked me up at the airport!
We had a great sister time!
Heard great music in the Honky Tonks in Nashville!
Here's just one little clip! Amazing musicians!! So much fun!

Annette took us to "Million Dollar Quartet" at the TPAC -
such a fun and fitting for Nashville show! 

 But our time together wasn't all about fun ...
we really were there to help get ready for
Annette's 60th birthday party!!

 We spent a couple days helping Annette with her landscaping!

We cleared land, planted plants, decorated, etc and put on a
great 60th birthday party -

 complete with dressing the part! It was a great time with
75 of Annette's friends coming!!!

We got to go with Annette to her artclass at The Sanctuary.
There we met Patsy Clairmont, Joanne Miller and Dorsey McHugh
and other great ladies who are involved in this inspiring class!

We went to lunch with these great ladies!!
I found out they knew Nancy Demmitt, my friend in Phoenix!
Dorsey and Joanne's book was about to be released “Be Your Finest Art”.
They told me they quote Nancy in their book ... Small World!!!
I was blessed to spend 10 days with my dear sisters
and met many great, inspiring and fun people!

On the 14th I flew back to Boston, where Tim was planning to meet me.
We had a lovely hotel for 6 nights so we could be there for
 Beka’s graduation on the 17th!
It turns out Beka had to leave on the 15th to go back to NY
 to meet with a final agent.
We met her at the bus station for coffee and hugs before she left!
We enjoyed a couple days alone touring around the sights of Boston.

At the Bell-in-Hand enjoying an amazing beer!
America's oldest tavern, est. 1795!

   Beka’s bus was late on the 16th, but we met her at the station –
took the T back to her apartment where she freshened up
while we got a table for a mexican dinner at The Cactus Club, close by.
Time to Celebrate!!

  The next day was graduation day!
We met Beka and she showed us around –
her apartment, school buildings, theaters, classrooms.
We watched as the seniors had their pictures taken on the front steps!
 We went out to an early dinner at Thai Basil on Mass ave!
 Then back to the apartment to freshen up, iron graduation gowns,
and take a taxi to The Back Bay Events Center where we
watched a beautiful graduation ceremony and had a lovely reception!

Travel Pics!

 

Tim and I flew home on the 20th as planned...
hoping to make the birth of our 6th grandbaby!
As we were traveling Amos Pax Nelson was born!!!!

Now for time at home to get things done
and spend time with the new grandbaby and help with the Nelson boys!!!
You would think that things would settle down now to just being grandparents
... but oh my!   Big happenings!!!
 If want to read about too many exciting details ... click!
It would be overload to post here!!!

Happy New Year!

To our family and friends ...

Hope you all had a Blessed Christmas!
 Wishing you a great 2014!

Finally had the whole gang together on Christmas Day
to get our group shot!

So blessed with our 4 adult kids!!!

This year has been full of changes
but we're thankful and looking
forward to the coming year!!!

If you want to know more about our crazy year -
read on to my next entry :)

Thank you for all the Christmas wishes sent our way!
Much love to each of you from all of us!!

2013 - What a year!!!

Wow...so much has happened this year!

It hasn't been an easy one,  
but it's good to remember all the great things -
as we're dealing with the difficult ones!
We are blessed!

Just a few of the highlights:

 

March 2013!!
5 Grandbabies ... 4, 3, 2, 1, 0  :)
 #6 is due in May!
(Thanks Deb and Jonah)

 Great Gramma Guyer came to visit April 4-10th!!!
So much fun to be with Mom and her 5 great grands!

Special Times - 4 Generations on a Couch!

Pics!

With Beka in Boston, April 15, 2013 was a tough day.

She lives 1/2 mile up Boylston St. from where there bombings were.

Thankfully she was safe in her apartment!!

The following hours and days were filled with texts and calls! 

The night of the lockdown, Beka created this video 

using photos she'd taken of Boston

and a recording her Cab'ret group made the day after the bombings.

This was how she dealt with those difficult days ... 

Beautiful photos! Beautiful singing!

I worked for Hallmark until the end of April 

until a cut in hours made it not worth continuing :)

The beginning of May we made a trip to LA 

to move James back to AZ! 

Tim was given a layoff notice on May 9th after almost 25 years at Boeing

 ... His last day would be July 19th!!! 

Oh boy!!! We'd never had to deal with this before!

Job hunting began!

Mary Pat, my high school buddy, came to visit in June.

We went up to lovely Sedona and enjoyed a great trip to the 

Grand Canyon ... felt like high schoolers!

Beka was home from May 13th - June 18th.

Great times together pics!

She returned to Boston so she could get to 

New Hampshire for a 6 week job performing

at Interlakes Summer Theater as 

Cosette in "Les Miserables" and Philia in
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"!

I met Annette in Boston July 26th, drove to Meredith, NH

and spent 4 great days together exploring the countryside and 

seeing both of  Beka's shows!

Then we spent a couple days seeing the sights in Boston!  

Great memories! 

 

We flew together to Ohio, where Lisa joined us in celebrating our dear 

mother's 82nd Birthday on Aug 3rd at the Pioneer Mill in Tiffin, Ohio!!

Annette and I went to the Lakota High School Reunion...

So fun to re-connected with dear friends,

Chris and Anna,  that I hadn't seen in 40+ yrs!

None of us had changed a bit! ;)

I got to go to my  first Fremont St. Joe's High School Reunion!!
40 years!!!  Such a great time with old friends!!
None of US had changed a bit, either!!!

 Carrie and the boys drove over from Maryland.
We enjoyed hanging out together!
... even took the ferry over to Put-in-Bay!

While at mom's I scanned old family photos from 1954-1970
and uploaded them to an Album on-line for all to see!!!
There are hundreds more to do...but that's another Ohio trip!

Then  back to Boston to help Beka  get ready for her Senior year!  

We shopped, stocked up, cleaned and organized her apartment!  

We rewarded ourselves with a day trip to NYC! 

We took an early morning MegaBus and got to NYC by 11am!  

We spent the day running around and seeing the sights before

catching a 1 am bus back to Boston. I had never been there

so it was such a treat!  So with basically no

sleep I flew home the next day! Quite a trip!

 I was home for 11 days before Tim and I left for

Ferndale, CA on August 29th!

My brother Tom has a place he's working on...

and offered us a job helping and we were both free to GO!!

What a great time of work and fun!

 The crew hard at work!

  Before!             -  Tom's place -                  After!

Check out these Pics of all we did! 

 We ended up staying for 8 weeks...
Just a great time of working, meeting people
and seeing the sights together!

We enjoyed the 18 hour drive to get there and back,

stopping at some special spots along the way!!!

We were able to see Tim's sister, Melanie,

and daughter Kristin's family in Modesto, CA!

Wonderful to re-connect!

We were married in San Leandro, CA on Sept 16, 1978,

and it's been a dream of mine to be on the CA coast 

for our 35th Anniversary!

Not quite how I'd planned but

we were actually there!!!

On our trip home we took a trip down memory lane -
visiting many of our favorite spots and old homes!

 

So blessed to spend a night with our dear friends,

Steve and Gayle (an early morning shot)!!!

Pics of our CA adventures here!

We got home on Oct 25th!

Deb and Jonah needed a place to live after they sold their home
before they could get into their new one, so
they were able to stay in our house while we were gone.
Such amazing timing!!!  We overlapped just a week

 and moved them to their new home Nov 3rd.
Fun Fall Pics!

 I HAD to go back to Boston Nov 21-28
to see Beka perform again
and Mom joined me for 4 of those days!!!

She was such a trooper...
taking the subway in the cold to see
  Beka's cabaret show at the Hebrew Senior Life Center

 and as Clara in "The Light in the Piazza" !
A very special trip!

I also got to re-connect with my friends, Mary Lynn and Gail,

who each joined me for shows!! 

Beka graduates in May, 

so not many more Boston opportunities!

I got home in time to prepare for Christmas and

Beka being home Dec 20th - Jan 1st!

Great having everyone together for the holidays!! 

We're very thankful that Tim started a technician job on Dec. 16th!!!
 We aren't ready for retirement, so I will be looking for work as well!

Excited to see what's ahead ...
Just hope it's not AS crazy!
Trusting God with the future :)

2013 is Here!

This is our late Christmas Greeting!!!

I didn't get Christmas cards out or updates here -

we weren't even all together to get a picture till Dec 27th!

Here's our annual family shot!!!

We added two little boys to the gang this year!

Deborah and Jonah's, Everett Tait, was born January 18;

Rachel and Clay's, Caden Jude, was born August 12!

What a difference a year can make!

Gammie and Paw Paw love these 5 grandbabies ...

and OUR 4 beautiful "babies"...
So great to have them all together!!!
Pics! 

It's been a busy and full Fall! 
We've enjoyed great times with the girls and their families -
just can't get enough of these sweet little ones!

We spent a weekend in Sedona ...

Celebrating our 34th Anniversary!  So Thankful!

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration, 
with everyone together except for Beka ...
We missed her here but so glad James could be!

In early December, Sandy traveled
with her best friend and sister to Boston.
We went to see Beka's perform in a main stage play and
see her cabaret group's Christmas show at
an alzheimer's home  ... some links here :)  
We had a great time together - exploring and
 running around a really fun and beautiful city!

Tim keeps busy working for Boeing...
Sandy keeps too busy working for Hallmark...
We're enjoying our empty nest and learning to
flex with life's changes!
So thankful for God's goodness!