This has been the busiest winter and spring since I retired from         Alameda County.

Some good some not so good, some fun and some not so fun, and some was just amazing!!!

 

 

Sorry this post is long, but I need to make up for some lost time……Check out the pictures if your in a hurry.

I lost one of two my Mother-In-Laws, Callie, on January 4th as God took her home and away from her suffering from Parkinson’s disease.  God Blessed me with two great Mother-In-Laws which I see as the happy side of divorce.  Though her Family is extremely sad, I know Callie is happy to be with my Father-In-Law Paul who passed away in the Fall of 2004.

A week later life was heading back to normal again as my Sister-In-Law Nicki and I celebrating our birthdays together with our Family, it was a fun day!  Our birthdays are a day apart (11th and 12th).  My Family let me bake the dessert for our Birthdays…..It was my first cake with flowers down the side and first six layer cake.

We received a wonderful call one January Saturday afternoon that our Daughter Elise was engaged, and they were heading our way to celebrate!!!   We heard that a few friends were coming to our house for a her Mama’s Spaghetti Celebration Dinner……good thing her Mama and I can work quickly together!!!    

My other Mother-In-Law, Betty, decided she wanted to see the Vacaville Kiaser Hospital some more and decided to visit the ER for a day, and be admitted overnight for observation.  She is a trooper and I think she just looked it as an adventure; and she couldn’t say more nice things about how Kiaser’s staff treated her.

Sandi’s pain management doctor has been working on getting a spinal stimulator approved by her workers comp and to hopefully relieve some of her back and leg pain.  After months of waiting, it was finally it was approved!  The funny thing is that worker comp approved a surgical trail (battery and computer on the outside of the body) which went very well, but not the actual implant.  We were told that only 30% of the actual implants get approved and it would take about two months to have it approved even though the trail went so well.  Fortunately it was approved in just a few weeks so we headed home from a short trip to have the implant installed just a day later!!!  Now months later and a lot of software adjustments there is some pain relief.

We visited the Vacaville Kaiser (for all three of us), Sandi’s pain management doctor and dentist (for two of us) so many times in the last four months…..I’ve lost track!!!

My other Sister-In-Law Janice, our Niece Leanne and her boyfriend Dan surprised us with a visit from NJ/PA for a long weekend!!!   It was a fun visit!!!   I was able to go in to tour mode taking Leanne and Dan to the City for the day!!!  Not to brag, but my “City” tours are great!!!  It was a great visit….finished off with Leanne and Dan making us a wonderful dinner!!!

February, March and April were full of wedding planning, dress fittings, and more wedding planning.  It was a lot of work, but it was fun!!!   The best part was seeing that our Daughter was finally and extremely happy, and that Brad (our soon to be Son-In-Law) is truly amazing!!!  Our Sister-In-Law Nicki has told Elise and her Cousin Brittany “You want a guy that will walk through glass to get to you”……Brad has more than walked through glass for Elise.

This Easter was a little different than most as we had another visit from Janice, this time with our Brother-In-Law John.  They were able to come during her spring break at school where she works as an instructional aide.  We were able to squeeze in two day trips during their visit.  One of the day trips was to Tahoe between the spring snow storms and the other to Bodega Bay and Fort Ross.

Besides the two day trips, we had fun just hanging together and showing Janice and John our new community.

Before we knew it May 4th was upon us and what a busy week that was to be!!!  It seemed like everyday that week had an event, and every event was miles away from home.  Though it was a busy time, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

The wedding was an outside wedding, designed by our daughter who is used to putting on large events for her Ministries for the last ten years.  Brad and Elise wanted to keep the focus on God, Friends and Family so kept the wedding simple and only 200 guests.  I know Elise wanted to invite another 200…..but the number had to be kept low as she held herself to a strict budget.   I kept telling all that were helping us setup the venue the morning of the wedding…..”she isn’t a bridezilla, these pictures and sample tables are just an example”….and believe me she wasn’t even close to a bridezilla.

 

As May winds up we have been enjoying some rest and planning our next adventures.  In just a week we will be heading back to Central Oregon and the Washington Oregon Coast at the mouth of the Columbia River. 

I hope you follow us at “Rollin’ Down the Hallway”!!!