SM...the Rock Star

While we were in Utah this last weekend, my youngest brother had his birthday. We decided to celebrate with him by playing Rock Band. The kid in the black shirt is Mom and Dad's next door neighbor who just got home from his mission this last month. He's become almost like a member of the family. As you can see in the photo above, SM didn't hold anything back while singing his part.
Here are my brother and dad playing dueling guitars...or something like that.
And you can see that I decided to join the band and let SM play the drums...one of his favorite parts of the band.
My family has never been incredibly musical, but it is amazing how this game brings out the music in my brothers and dad. We had a lot of fun together. Thanks for a great evening little Bro.!!

Tomatoes a month later

Almost a month ago I posted about my tomatoes. At that time they were only half as tall and I only had three prospective tomatoes. Today is a different story. The tomato plants are taller than me and almost all of them have tiny prospective tomatoes. And the original three are still growing. They are in the picture below this print. With the incredible heat that we've been having, the tomatoes have been growing like crazy. Though, they also have needed a lot of water to survive.
Oh, I can hardly wait for fresh, yummy tomatoes!!

Tribute to another brother

A couple of posts ago, I gave a tribute to one of my brothers. Well, I started feeling bad that I didn't say anything about my other two brothers, so today I'm doing a tribute to another brother, whom I will call Paco. (Of course, Paco isn't his real name...nor is it his nickname...but it is a name one of his friends called me when we were in our high school spanish class...but I digress).

Paco is 17 months younger than me and was always compared to me. He hated it when people put the connection together that we were brother and sister. Now that we are both adults, the relationship has changed and we actually like each other.

Paco is a great dad. He has two beautiful little girls and a little boy on the way. He has a great wife who is very loving and a great addition to the family. My brother is also amazing when it comes to the outdoors. He loves landscaping and growing things. It's a good thing he chose that for his career. At his home in UT he has a pond and waterfall in the backyard that he put there himself. He also has decorative fish swimming in the pond. How much fun is that!! I love going to his house to see the changes he's done in the yard AND in the house.

So, "Paco," I just wanted to say that I love you and your family and wished you lived closer or that I lived closer to you and yours.

Fairy

This week I picked up my paints again to continue with my fairies. The flowers are gladiolus. Growing up, my mom grew some gladiolus in with the vegetables. I really loved these beautiful flowers sticking up next to the onions. Enjoy the painting.

Destructive Weather

The tornado/hurricane weather is at its' prime. On Wednesday we had really crazy weather. I was attempting to paint when the sky went black and the rain started, and then the rain came horizontally. My poor tomatoes experienced moments when they were trying to be blown in all directions. The electricity in the apartment would go out, then back on, then out and finally out for good. I don't need electricity to paint, but I do need light, and so there went that idea. I tried to read a book but fell asleep for a short time. Finally it was time to put something together for dinner. Luckily, I have a gas stove and so I was able to pull something together. I tried taking a friend to the metro but the metro station was closed because they didn't have any electricity plus there were trees down on the metro line. After a couple hours my power came back on and I thought that was that.

Yesterday, I got a call from SM. We have a friend who lives a couple miles away and her husband is currently out of town. When her power went out, it never came back on. She has a four year old and an one year old. She ran to the store to buy dry ice and then regular ice when the stores didn't have any more dry ice, to pack her fridge and freezers. She was hoping her power would come back on because her phone line was actually hooked into their electricity. Finally after one day without power nor communications, she went out and purchased a cell phone so that she could talk to her husband. During the storm, her gutters were filled with leaves and sticks and her gutters had overflowed and started flooding her basement. She was so overwhelmed and frustrated. So, she called her husband, who then emailed SM, who then called me and I went over yesterday afternoon. I watched her kids while she took the ladder and cleaned out the gutters so that if we happened to get anymore rain, it wouldn't flood into the basement again, and then I took her and her kids to my apartment. They spent the night with us. They were so glad to have air conditioning, and electricity. I think I put on three or four movies for her kids. I'm so glad that I could help by doing something.

Anyway, her power was on this morning and so she was able to go back home and start cleaning out her fridge and freezers. I wish the best for her and hers.

And then talking with another friend, I found out that we have some other friends that after two days still don't have power and aren't anticipating power until tomorrow or Sunday. All I can say is that I feel so blessed to have electricity!! I am especially grateful for it today since the weather is supposed to hit 95 degrees with 100% humidity! I'll have to call this other friend and see if I can do anything for her.

Finished Baby Quilt

I finished this blanket a week ago. It actually is one of my favorites. I love pink and green together plus, I love the bows on it. Instead of tying the quilt, I tacked bows in some of the corners.

Tribute to my brother

Hi All...I know it's been awhile since you've heard from me. I'm still around...just haven't been blogging. My little sister called me the other day and said I needed to post SOMETHING. And so here goes...I want to talk about my middle brother....I will call him SMILEY for the sake of this blog.

I totally look up to Smiley. He lives across the country with his wife and little girl and little boy. He works full time for Boeing and goes to law school at night. He is almost half way through his program. He is a really hard worker and doesn't know how to relax if there is nothing to do...probably because he hasn't experienced time like that with his busy schedule. He is a super dad and will change stinky diapers and cook dinner. He does his church callings with 100% effort. He does his home teaching each month. He really does sound perfect, huh? Well, I haven't told you that he is a know-it-all and a bit stubborn but that's more reasons to love him. When we were younger, I'd ask him a question, and if he didn't know the answer, he'd make up one that seemed logical. I caught on to his answers and began asking him how he knew that...needless to say, I don't always believe everything he says...but at the same time, I find myself doing the same thing when someone asks me a question.

So, Smiley, I just want to say that I love you and your fabulous family. And I'll try and come visit this fall.