Saturday, July 30, 2016

Fun Like a PARTY!!

We celebrated my brother in law's birthday  Friday night. It's his very last year to be in his 50's, then he can join the rest of us who are all in our 60's!


I seldom get pictures of the four of us so I took full advantage of this opportunity while we were all together. For the last few years we have made it a priority to meet up, visit, text, call, Facetime and Facebook, and yes, even PARTY together.


Here's the Birthday Boy!


The whole house was prepped and dressed to PARTY!


Lots and lots of good food.


These Italian Margaritas were delicious.


Nita had everything from peach tea to water to beer.....and on and on!


It was fun to meet people we had only heard about before.
This is Deanna who works with Nita.
She felt like she already knew us and we felt the same about her.
It was nice to put 'faces' to the stories we hear about each other.


Deeana totally felt like she knew Louis Dean and she won a friend for life when she asked him if he had brought his guitar!


Surely these were two of the coolest people at the party - my sister and Dave.
This was our first time to meet him as well as Deeana.


My brother, Lonnie (in the orange shirt) and two of his high school classmates.
First time they have seen each other in years!


Not only his friends from high school but also old friends of Mike's. Some of them worked together at Haynie's Grocery Store and recently reconnected through Facebook.
It's always nice to catch up with old friends.


My brother fully realizes what a lucky man he is.
He still refers to Michele as 'my lovely bride' and probably always will.


It was a fun evening and one we all were in need of.


Deanie was feeling some better than she has been but it will still take an entire year before she is back to her old self.


One of the entertainments was watching slide shows of old photographs.
Nita and Mike have their computer set up and linked to the TV.
I do believe every single one of us at the party showed up in one of more of these pictures including Louis Dean. He's been in the family for 11 years now.


It just makes me smile as I write this journal post tonight remembering what a good time we all had.


Mike gave everyone a tour and explained about some of his extensive collections.


You simply can't take it all in in one visit!


This is one of the most intersting homes I have ever seen.


Dinosaurs, trains, planes, so many many collections.


Fossils......books.....


cars......


Happy Birthday to Mike!!!
You guys throw a great party!!!!

Louis Dean and I spent the night in their guest room and we slept like ROCKS for nearly 11 hours!
It was nearly noon when we sat in the kitchen together over our coffee.
Nita made breakfast taquitos for us and they were soooooo good. I am going to have to make some of these! LD and I spent the better part of the afternoon doing a bit of shopping in some of our favorite Fort Worth stores - Hobby Lobby, At Home, McCart Thrift and Half Price Books.

When we got home we found fresh salads for dinner tucked into the fridge by our sweet neighbor, Stephanie. You remember her? The one Louis Dean wants to adopt? She is so special to us and has been my neighbor for nearly 30 years!


We ate and watched Suits before doing a bit of housework and picking up around here.
The guest room sheets have been changed and candles lit and the room is all ready for guests should any arrive before Mother returns for a visit next month.
'Next month' is just a few days away.


I have decided to start celebrating August instead of dreading it and wanting it over.
I am going to decorate with sunflowers and enjoy every single day.
I found books from Half Price Book Store by two of my favorite authors.....
Melody Beattie and Sarah Ban Breathnach.
The blue book on the right arrived in the mail today from my friend, Dawn, down in Florida.
That's the one I'm going to start reading just as soon as I go out and get my watering down.
In Texas, at this time of year, if you don't water a little bit nearly every day your plants will brown up, burn and die! Some years, by this point, I have already given up but THIS year we have had RAIN every single month! Nearly unheard of but we are blessed and enjoying green grass instead of the dried up brown we normally have by now. We don't  even water our grass! Just the flower beds and pots.
Ah, I hear Louis Dean going to the front without me so I better close!


19 comments:

Linda said...

Looks like it's been a good week-end for you. I just ordered 'The Readers of Broken Wheel' as an Audible book. Yes, I hear Texas is getting some rain. That's pretty unheard of for this time of year. We had 2 days of temps in the 90s & I prepared myself that might go on for the month of August but not so. Today's high was 79. The 10 day forecast looks like it's going to be high 70s or low 80s. I water my patio plants every third day when it's like this.

Penny said...

Hello Linda, it's 4.30am here, and I am not sleeping well, so catching up with some blogs. How nice to see these happy photographs of you partying with your family. What a fun time! Happy birthday to your brother, family time spent together is what keeps families close, and is so important. X

Penny said...

Hello Linda, it's 4.30am here, and I am not sleeping well, so catching up with some blogs. How nice to see these happy photographs of you partying with your family. What a fun time! Happy birthday to your brother, family time spent together is what keeps families close, and is so important. X

Penny said...

Hello Linda, it's 4.30am here, and I am not sleeping well, so catching up with some blogs. How nice to see these happy photographs of you partying with your family. What a fun time! Happy birthday to your brother, family time spent together is what keeps families close, and is so important. X

Carole said...

Lovely party, Linda. Great you have been getting some rain - we have had a shed load of it lately and I feel I am on the verge of growing webbed feet! Cheers

Ginny Hartzler said...

What a great party! Everyone looks like they are having so much fun! Good food, good friends and relations, and plenty of fun things to see and do.

Kathy said...

Looks like a fantastic party. So glad you were able to get away, celebrate with Mike and sleep 11 hours! Wonderful! Enjoy your alone time and your August. You know I love those sunflowers.

MadSnapper said...

we do the same on the watering, no grass, we call it God's Grass, if he waters it, it grows, if not it doesn't....
your whole family knows how to Party for sure, i felt like i was at the birthday party and got to meet everyone... i can feel and see the fun. Happy 59th to your brother... i wish i could be 59 again or better yet that Bob was 59, then i would be 51

Vee said...

Just inew that party was going to be a great time for everybody! Just what the doc ordered.

As dor the grass...things are getting pretty brown and crunchy up here. May be some rain in the forecast, though.

Vee said...

wow...serious case of "fat finger" this morning...

Summer said...

Looks like a whole lot of fun ♥

summerdaisy.net

Susie said...

Linda, I love seeing your pictures. I know that was a fun time. It's nice that some old friends came by too. Deanie looks nice, thankful she is getting back to herself. Wow, Mike has some great collections. Hope this coming week is peaceful and blessed. Love you, xoxo, Susie

Arlene G said...

What a fun evening. Who can resist old photos...I love them.

Pondside said...

Isn't it lovely to enjoy partying with your family. The smiles in your photos say it all.
I like your longer hair style!

Cheapchick said...

Sounds like an extremely fun night! Glad you could attend and have a good time.

Bev said...

So glad you are going to not drool over fall haha I LOVE SUMMER!!!! But you have to realize in Canada...fall means winter snow and cold is coming...but not so much here as it was in Alberta...so maybe I will start looking forward to fall ......after a few warm summers here:)

Gypsy Heart said...

What a fun celebration! It's so special to visit with old friends and reminisce while making new memories too.

xo
Pat

BeachGypsy said...

looks like a great celebration! glad you got to go! Our flowers have to get water every day too....it's brutal heat hear right now. The flower pots dry up to nothing so quick! How is your foot?

Carla said...

Isn't it crazy. It's feast or famine. We can't get it to stop raining or it's no rain in sight for days and HOT HOT HOT. The party looks like it was a success and everyone had fun.