Still here... 2014 Edition

Why I'm amazed that so much time has lapsed since my last post is beyond me. The time has been zooming right on by for so long, I've given up trying to stay on top of things.

The Mountainbilly gerbil wheels have continued to spin! In a nutshell:

1. My mother released her CD, The Story of Noah's Ark, thru CD Baby! You can learn more about the CD (and Mom's remarkable story!) here.

2. Favorite Firstborn, Matthew, and Favorite Daughter-in-law, Jill, haven't been resting since getting married in November. They moved to VA, then bought a house that needed a fence for their baby, Maple. Randy - being 'retired' and all - built the fence mostly by himself, as the happy homeowners were busy working. Their yard is better than a dog park now!

3. While Randy was busy on the fence, I was busy on our nephew's wedding desserts! I wasn't sure it was safe to leave me alone in the kitchen with almost 20 new recipes (enough of each for over 200 guests!), but I survived, and despite ditching a couple of the choices, the 18 that made the final cut were purty tasty. When Randy was finished with the fence, he shifted effortlessly into wedding cake mode, making a 3-tiered Oreo cheesecake. Oink. The wedding was held in a small airplane hangar (our pilot nephew met his fiancee when she worked at the airport) almost 6 hours away, so we couldn't completely relax until the goods were delivered and the cake was cut. It was all beautiful, and as Favorite Daughter/Photographer Katie ended up taking pictures from beginning to end, there are some stunning memories.

The hangar:

A small section of the dessert table:

 The wedding cake (even more delicious than it looked!):

4. Bees, bees, and more bees! Randy has now retrieved bees from a felled tree and from the wall of a second-story shed accessible only by ladder. We're up to 11 hives now, all bustling along well and rewarding us with treasured honey! And... Randy's been teaching an introductory beekeeping class at the local community college this month. He's had a great time teaching, and I imagine the new beekeepers have had fun learning.

5. We celebrated Jeffrey's 17th birthday! Hard. To. Believe.

6. We have a new furbaby in the family! Long story, Katie and Favorite Son-in-Law, Paul, happened upon a sweet dog at the Charleston Animal Society (where one of their own furbabies came from) and asked what we thought. We apparently thought we were ready for another pooch, so they returned to the shelter with their own furbabies, Mae and Emmy, to see how they'd all get along. They acted like old pals, so that was that. We met Katie and Paul in Fort Mill, SC, to get 'Honey' on Father's Day... which was more fitting than we could have imagined :)

   

We can't wait to get Honey together with the granddogs, Emmy, Mae, and Maple:

             

Meanwhile, we're all enjoying our new baby! Well, okay... maybe not Sami.

And that's a sampling of what's been happening around here. Whew.

Until I come up for air again, happy summer!