Grandbabies In Hats

My daughter Sara made these darling hats for her daughter and nephew for Christmas. They are so cute that I had to feature them on this blog. Of course the models are adorable as well. 

Aurora always happy

age 6 mo

I just want to squeeze her.

Jake is a lady killer.

Just look at that chin. 

Age 15 mo.

Love  Love

A very special person has joined us.

 

Aurora Lynn McGinnis

Born July 14th 2011

7 pounds 7 ounces

Congratulations Brad and Sara McGinnis on your first child

We are so happy to have her in our lives.

California here we come!

On June 3rd Kim and I  headed off to California for a very special occasion.

Danny was baptized on June 4th, 2011

It was great to be there to witness this great event in his life.

I can certainly see him as a missionary in 11 years. 

He loves to read the scriptures and when asked how he felt about being baptized, "I liked being baptized, that was fun!"

     
Just about ready to leave but just enough time for photos.   Grandpa, Jeremy, and Danny in front the house.

Danny, Audrey and Christopher

The Turner family

We had a great time and I was able to stay a little longer than grandpa. It was fun to be able to spend more time with the grand kids!

Buddies: Grandma and Christopher.

Great time in sunny California.

Counting our blessings

I cant wait! less than one week to see my newest grandson. Jacob is #7
We will be going to Arizona to be there for Jacob's blessing.

What a blessing he is to our family.

Kim and I are also looking forward to some warmer weather for a few days.
It is only the end of October and we are tired of the rainy could weather already.


I just wanted to count some of my blessings.

Blessing #1
We have seven great grandchildren including a new grandson that is a joy to his parents.

Blessing #2
We live in a beautiful state and even though it is cold right now we wouldn't live anywhere else, but once in a while we are able to fly south for a little warm sun.

Blessing #3
We are healthy, happy and able to enjoy life.


Count your blessings name them one by one.......

Jacob

My newest Grandchild was born Sept. 21st.
He is so sweet...... so loved...... so wanted...... and so adorable.
Welcome to our family Jacob
We love you

Good Times

Meadow Lake treated all the sales agents and their spouses to a wonderful dinner on Whitefish Mountain as a thank you to their agents.
We had a great time and tasted some amazing food.

The bill was ridiculous.

Me and my honey (I hit my mouth with the weed eater earlier that day, Ouch!)

Ryan and his wifey (expecting their first)

Our good friend and Sales Manager Phillapa (Phil)

Steve and Cindy

Ron and Nancy




Mark and Pearl

Meadow Lake has treated us good over the years, but what we like most is the people.
Kim has worked there for 15 years and has hundreds of owners. Once in a while they will stop by and say hello.

I was the winner!

Finally back to blogging
I will be playing summer catch-up

I was the winner of the first ever Mossy Cup at the second annual Moss Family Reunion 2010
You might not know but it is highly coveted.

Just try to take it away from me!


To win I had to stack about 5 or 6 bolts on top each other with a stick and do it in the fastest time. Shawnel was only a half of a second behind me.

Bragging rights!

Just have to brag about my six grandchildren
See how they all have grown


Nutmeg (4), Commander C (9), Little C (1), Little A (4), Little D (6), and Boba Fett (6)

I love this one of Little C and his sister Little A. Wait until you see him smile.














Little A with her new glasses

Commander C's blue eyes

















Thumbs up for Boba Fett










Nutmeg

























Little D singing in the rain

Sun Glorious Sun!

The Sun has been shining for three days now. I can not contain myself for it is glorious. I save the word glorious for times that I feel the most Joy. Once I drove through Glacier park on the Going to the Sun Road at about 8:00 in the morning. The sun was shining and the shadows were low. It was absolutely glorious. I will never forget that summer day.

The day seemed to fall through my fingers

This whole day has been a day of little accomplished.
I should have just sat on the couch reading all day.
Everything I touched fell apart.
The banner for this blog drove me crazy.
My experimental paintings were worthless.
I spent too much time on the computer doing nothing.

However, dinner was good!
Leave it to food to turn things around.

Thought for the day ........

"Always end the day on a positive note"

An Angel in the Sky

I illustrated a book!
Its called An Angel in the Sky by Sheila Booth-Alberstadt
Yes it was a long time ago but it is now back in print with a few changes.
For those of you who want to check it out click on the link below.
http://sbabooks.com/library/

Montana Landscape

This 4"X6" oil on board is one of my favorite miniatures . The scene is typical of the landscape of rural Montana.
I used rich earthy colors as a contrast against the blue sky peeking out behind billowing white clouds.
The big Montana sky reminds me of what I see out of my window every day as I look at the farmland below my home.

If you want to see more of my Art go to http://artstringsgallery.blogspot.com

Potions

Hey, I'm headed out to boot camp on Saturday. It really doesn't start until Tuesday but I'm going early.
Watch out! I will come back with lots of new witchcraft and wizardly potions for you all to try.
A few are of them are: bio feed back ,PH balance, EER Program, and Masji. Sound like Greek?
It does to me too. Some day I will make oilizers of you all.

An explosion of berries

Well, it is Summer time at its height in Montana.
My raspberries are exploding with yummy goodness.
Unfortunately they are a few weeks late so my family were not able to experience them when they were here.
I am preserving the memory of the plump red fruit in little jars of almost seedless jam.
They (my family) will have to come visit to get some of the coveted jam.

I love to pick raspberries.
It gives me time to think, and ponder and be thankful for the bounty the Lord has given me in all aspects of my life.

The Best Ever Lemon Pie

One of my students brought the best ever (to die for) lemon pie to our last painting class. It was made from scratch with fresh lemons that she brought back from her trip to southern California. I just had to give it a try. Here are the results.

Outstanding flavor, beautiful peaks, and my always excellent crust from the Lion House recipe cook book.

The trick to the beautiful meringe? Add the sugar 2 T at a time.
I think I will keep this recipe! Ummmmmm!

Wash Day

There is something about hanging laundry from a line in the open air that is so pleasant for me. I feel so domestic. I find myself searching the house for laundry to wash and counting the minutes for the washer to finish it's cycle. The fresh smell, the stiffness of the clothes, and the feeling of a job well done. Call me crazy, but I love my retro clothes dryer.

Mothers Day.

On Mothers day we naturally think of our mothers. Mine has been gone for 4 years now. My mother in law has been gone for 22. I really miss my mother especially on Mothers Day. I have very fond memories of both my moms and also all the women that have adopted me as thier daughter through the years.

Today has been a great day. Thanks to all who participated or will participate in my memory present. I love it. Thank you Sara for putting it together and coming up with the idea.
I love all of you
Mom and Grandma

Coming up--news of the first Moss Family Reunion !

China Life

This is part of the kitchen of a home in China. We were able to go into one of the local homes and to see what it is like. They fed about 15 of us dinner. This family happened to be well off because they owned their home and their own court yard. Mrs. Wong was a very beautiful woman. She had retired from working in a tea house to take care of her mother. Taking care of all the generations is very important to them. Many times we would see grandparents with the young children while the parents were working.

The beginning of the dinner they fed us. Everyone drinks Coke or Beer over there. We had to ask for water. We didn't eat much that night especially after we saw the snake wine on the counter with a real snake in it.
Almost everyone owns washing machines but not dryers. This is an example of a apartment building with the wash hanging out side. Even the nicest apartment buildings would have laundry hanging out.
More Laundry in Shanghai

This is what the public toilets look like. Most of the time this is what they have in their homes. Some of the older communities have only a public toilet.. The first time was an interesting experience. Tip for travel in China: Bring your own toilet paper and make sure you have it with you at all times.
It sure is good to be home.

This is Kim, Simon our guide, Me and Pat our friend. Simon was once a High School teacher. He taught English. Every morning on the bus he would teach us a couple of new Chinese words or phrases.

Kim trying to haggle a price for some coins. He drew quite a crowd. We found out that the coins were knock offs. The owner of the booth wouldn't give him his money back. We had to settle for a bracelet. I love it. Word to the not so wise. Don't give them money and expect change back you might get counterfeit. Make sure what you're are buying is real. If it sounds like a good deal it probably isn't.

This is the grand canal. The Chinese started construction in 480 B.C. It was finally finished in 610 A.D. They call it the Venus of the East because Marco Polo thought it reminded him of his home in Italy. Most people in China hang their clothing out t0 dry. Very few of them have dryers. Our guide said that that was their national flag. The canal was originally lined with tile and built with slave labor.

Another view of the Grand Canal. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

My thoughts on China

Tiger Hill Garden View

Well it took a few days to get over the Jet lag.
We are glad to be home.
We did have a great time though.
Our days were packed with things to do every minute.
So tired every night that we just fell into bed.

I thought China was a country of extremes.
Very rich and very poor.
Very beautiful and very polluted.
Very old and very New.
Some arrogant but mostly very friendly.

It was a photographers and artists paradise.
Great business opportunities and free enterprise very much alive.
I never saw so many bikes and scooters in my life.
People everywhere.
I wish you all could have been there to share it with us.

I will be posting some of my favorite photos over the next few days. I hope you will enjoy them.