Happpy Ground Hog's Day from Mary Jo

Dear Family,

I was beginning to think you had all abandoned the blog and were communicating some other way that I didn't know about!! Needless to say, I was pleased to see the new posts. All of the pictures were great, too. Unfortunately, I have nothing impressive or interesting to show, so I will try to "paint a picture with words".

I have loved everyone's posts...the wedding pictures, Nikki's account of the marathon. (That is something I will ONLY experience vicariously, so thank you for the description of the prep, the wardrobe, and the event. I was very impressed, and congratulate you.) Congratulations to Kelly and Paul on the addition of Lily to your family. She looks like a lovely little lady. And to the Meyer's I send sympathy regarding the (impending) loss of your pet. I THINK I remember when Shadow was just a tiny puppy and Alex brought him to one of the family picnics. I believe that was the year a number of the Bull grandsons had a variety of casts, braces, etc. , as documented in the family picnic album. One of the pictures was of Alex (with cast) napping in a lounge with little Shadow on his lap. Pets are important parts of family life, but it is so hard when their lives end. We enjoy our three cats immensely, and were grieved when one of them disappeared for over a week this summer. However, there was a happy ending as Ike came home, no worse for the wear, and offered no explanation as to where he had been! We are down to just one lonely hen now. We had two, but a neighborhood dog killed one when we were at church one Sunday, as evidenced by the feathers and skin remnants we found. So far, Speckles (the remaining hen) doesn't seem to be developing any psychological problems, so we will probably just let her be an "only hen". She does still lay regularly.

We are all fine. I'm still working at building up my leg muscles, but I'm convinced my BONES are in great shape. I fell part way down the basement steps and stumbled over a cat within the last month, and nothing broke or loosened! I can walk and stand with NO pain, but still have a little limp, strictly from weakened muscles, which are supposed to be "improvable". No marathon runs for me, but lots of flexibility and strengthening exercises.

Hope you're all well, and that some more of you will be inspired to check in.

Marianne's Birthday party

This is Nancy again, to add pictures of mom's 80th birthday dinner at Mahoney State Park. I know she was pleased with the gathering--thanks to all of you who were able to attend. These kinds of events are such fun...when can we do it again?

Greetings, family...
I'm having trouble getting pictures put in the right order tonight, so bear with me, please. Here are Beth's before and after pictures for her Locks of Love venture. She was nervous before the haircut, but is happy now that she did it. Allison and Cassie did the same; I think we can be proud of our young women's generosity. I wanted to include Shadow in the picture because he still looks healthy here. He has lymphoma and as I write this tonight, he's failing fast. We've had him for 12 years and our next door neighbor is taking this as hard or harder than we are. She loves him so; I told her today that it's like he had two families and she said thanks through her tears.

Here are some pictures from Paul and Kelly's wedding. It was such a lovely and happy event that I thought you'd want to see some pictures. Having a variety of tortes was a wonderful idea; not only were they delicious, they made a beautiful table.











This was Tucker's family debut and he was admired by one and all












The Special Ed teacher in me was thrilled to see such good eye contact from Tucker.












The lovely Stamp women.
















Happy parents of the bride.













And great aunt and uncle and grandparents.....