ALASKA

Jessica experiences God's Beauty!

Our daughter, Jessica, recently had the wonderful experience of visiting her roommate in Alaska. Her roommate is also a NICU nurse and is on a three month work duty in Alaska so Jessie and her friend, Jen - also a NICU nurse - went to visit. The pictures Jessica sent back are absolutely breathtaking! Here are a few photos to enjoy.

Jessica told me she built a snowman. When I saw the first picture of it, I thought...wow...a big snowman. Then I saw another photo where she had fallen in the snow and I realized that Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses usually care for tiny babies so what else would we expect except for a premature snowman! I've been trying to post the snowman pictures but haven't been able to as this BLOG seems to be having problems. I'll try to add it later on.

CENTRALIA PENNSYLVANIA - AN INDUSTRY CREATED "GHOST TOWN"

The link below will take you to a video on the story of Centralia, Pa. This is near the town I was born in. I have traveled the road through Centralia many times and last time I was home visited it again and could not believe how it has changed.

http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/Garrett_Rhodes/Centralia-GR-m.WMV

The Day the Dream Came True!!!!
May 6, 2006 -11 a.m. - Sacred Heart Church - Homestead, Florida:

On this day, our youngest daughter, Deborah Ruth Meneses became the wife of Eddy Ruiz. The day started early with hair, make-up, etc. All the bridesmaids and mother and grandmother of the bride were at our home. We did all the preliminary things including taking pictures. Then we waited for the limo....and waited...and waited. NO LIMO!

We finally decided to put all of us in cars and race to the church. Nikki Mowry was driving the lead car with me, the bride's mom in the front, and the bride in the back flanked by Chelsi and Dee Dee. Our daughter Jessie drove the next car with bridesmaids, grandmother and flower girl and the hairdresser, Deb, brought up the rear with more of the wedding party. We had it made....or so we thought! Did we ever expect to be caught in a bicycle race of over 200 racers? What does mother do??? She gets out of the car and hikes up her gown and runs to the cop blocking the intersection to tell him that we just have to get through as we are late for a wedding! We passed several intersections like that and passed many bikers with me yelling out the window to get out of the way...we're late for a wedding! (not like I wanted to pawn my daughter off on Eddy.) Arriving at the church, all went smoothly and they were married.

After more time spent taking pictures, we head to the hall. Just as the bridal party was going to be announced, the power went off! At first it was because Florida Power and Light was switching a major line and it would take 5 minutes. Then, because there was no power, there was a bad accident. Luckily the maid of honors dad worked for FPL and he called someone out. An hour and 1/2 later, we had power! In the meantime, we ate out meal to candlelight and the d.j. hooked up to a generator. When the power came back, the line man from FPL came to make sure everything was ok. They announced him like he was a member of the wedding party and the bride and groom had their pictures taken with him. What memories!

Debi said she would not have changed it for a minute and it was wonderful. I'm thankful that all of Elias' family could attend as well as all of my family from Pennsylvania. The Redland Hotel, once again, did a wonderful job of hosting my family at their bed and breakfast!

You can follow the link and see more of the pictures by selecting the date - 5/6/06 and Deborah's wedding.

THIS IS THE LINK. http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventthumbs?event=08KV002F&start=256&ts=1150231988
IF YOU CAN'T GET IT FROM HERE, JUST GO TO http://www.photoreflect.com/ AND SELECT THE DATE 5/6/06 AND LOOK FOR DEBORAHS WEDDING.

HERE ARE A FEW PICTURES OF THE WEDDING...Deborah's Uncles (my crazy brothers...known as "HOLLY'S BOYS ,my dad's nickname)performed for the bride and groom as a surprise! Boy...if you knew my brothers...you'd know it truly was a memorable occasion!

Up the Wooden Hill!

When I was a little girl and it was bedtime, my parents always said..."Get up the wooden hill!" Up North, that meant go up the stairsteps to bed. In March, with my mother down for the wedding shower, we took a girl trip and went to Tampa to visit my daughter Jessie. Here is Nana and Jessie ready to go "up the wooden hill!"

We also went to visit my cousin "Ellie" and her husband chuck. I caught a fish and Mom panicked just holding the pole.

A few days were spent in Cocoa Beach at my boss' condo on the beach. Mom enjoyed it.

Wedding Shower!
I have been slow in my postings and everyone wants to know about Debi and her marriage. Her wedding shower was held at the Redland Hotel in Homestead on March 12th. The staff there was wonderful and just allowed our crew to take over! An extra thank you to the Pierson women and my friend Barbara Helms, without whom I would not have been able to survive.

As you can see, the theme was sunflowers, complete with sunflower lollipops made by our little group of friends. They were placed in a hand painted pot that was done by Barbara.

Debi received so many nice gifts that my new pickup was loaded! It was truly a wonderful afternoon with Eddy's family and ours uniting!