Good Memories...

…with not-so-good pictures… note to self (again) use a flash taking people pictures indoors!!

This was yet another Birthday Celebration… I said I was doing it up Big this year… Jeff & I invited some dear friends to join us for a special dinner at a local restaurant.

We went to Salut in St Paul and had arranged in advance (72 hours advance notice required) to have a family style dinner special called "Le Grande Boeuf" that they say feeds 8-10, but the 7 of us didn't even get through half of it!  We did have appetizers first (chicken cordon blue bites & shrimp bruchetta), maybe that was part of the reason, but they did give us a wonderful feast.

This is a picture of the main course arriving… we had already had the appetizers & a nice salad of greens… main course was a very large bone-in roast beef, baby carrots, green beans, mashed potatoes, drippings, hollandaise… yep, very spoiled!!

This candelabra was in the middle of our table when we arrived, the tapers had just been lit when we arrived & by the time we left had all burned down… we simply loved having a nice meal that wasn't rushed so we could enjoy a time of fellowship with lovely brothers & sisters in Christ.

Here are terrible pictures of wonderful friends:

Morris Anderson & Jeff

John Wilke

Marianne Johnson

Jan Wilke & Sandy Anderson

Each of these wonderful people has served with and/or mentored us in ministry, so this is truly a precious group & dear to our hearts!  We missed having Dave Johnson (Marianne's husband) with us, he's recovering from shoulder surgery, but we made sure to send a doggy bag home for him.

Here's a closeup (oops after we'd already consumed quite a bit) of "Le Grande Boeuf"…

Hubby surprised me by arranging a Birthday cake in advance, he had picked up a Carrot Cake (my favorite) from Wuollet in St Paul and brought candles from home (without me noticing)… I didn't get a picture (I was having too much fun)… so for dessert we had Carrot Cake!

I am so glad I decided to give myself the gift of time with precious friends for my Birthday - though the pictures aren't so beautiful the memories are, thank you sweet friends, and thank you Lord for the gift of sweet friends!!

The Big Celebration...

I'm having a Big Birthday, actually I already had it (yesterday), and I've been enjoying the many blessings in my life!!  It's my Big 5-0, so I'm giving this birthday the Royal Treatment!!

First I had the blessing of time with family (see my earlier post on the multi-birthday get together with the kids).

Second I had the blessing of time with friends.  I had a lunch out with my girlfriend Patsy (not pictured - I keep forgetting when we get together because we just talk our heads off)…  Then a couple days later (Monday) I had dinner with my girlfriend Ann (below).   The weather's been so nice we were able to have dinner outside… and we chatted so long it was pitch dark by the time we left.

Ann posting to Facebook about dinner...

A nice lady at the table next to us took this picture for me.

Tuesday it was a high class version of Pizza & a Movie with my sweet hubby Jeff - Punch Pizza & Verdi's Nabucco.

Wednesday (my actual birthday) was filled with all sorts of fun activity….  First there was a visit from a garden friend… he was hanging on the screen door going out to the deck and he stuck around for quite a while, so I was able to get these nice pictures :)

I went to one of my favorite garden centers with a Birthday coupon for a free rose… smells even better than it looks!!  (Thanks Bachmann's!)

In the parking lot of the garden center I took a picture of these colorful trees… it was the most beautiful Fall day… sunny & in the 70s… Thank You Lord!!  What a Gift!!

My art class started back up after Summer hiatus & I was able to finish these two pieces...

Kitty left me a birthday present… um, yep, kinda gross… but when she chooses to puke on the floors instead of the carpet (its off-white) I consider it a gift ;)

Wednesday was finished up with a nice dinner of homemade soup at home (Yum!), and playing Scrabble with Jeff (he won both games, oh well)...

That's it so far, that's right, I'm not done celebrating yet… come back in a few more days & see what else I did to celebrate!!

I've been wished so many nice wishes & heard from so many dear ones that I'm amazed… this has been the sweetest Birthday I've ever had!!

Fun with Family...

We had a chance last weekend to get together with Jeff's brother and family… they have 4 kids at home the oldest is a teen & youngest is a baby, so they're typically BUSY and hard to find time to get together with… and then we're a bit busy ourselves… but we managed to carve out some time to get Pizza and go bowling… FUN!!

Brian, Whitney, Dylan, Kim holding Callie

Benjamin

Callie & Whitney

Callie just didn't want to smile for the camera...

Dylan & Brian

Kim… she looks SO Pretty… and that with the challenge of 4 kids!  …5 if you count Brian ;)

We've got to do this again sometime soon!!

A Joyous Reunion!!

The group that went together to Ukraine got a chance to reunite… what a wonderful time to share & enjoy fellowship!!

I Love This Wonderful Group!!

Celebrating my Sweetheart's Birthday!!

Wow!!  A lot happening in the last week that I need to get everyone caught up on… mostly surrounding hubby's birthday (last Thursday)…

Jeff's brother surprised him with tickets to a Twins game, very nice seats in the Legends Club area.

As you can see we had a great view...

Yep, that's my happy hubby!!

When we got home there was a little cake (my S'mores Cake for 2) waiting for him… but he'd eaten too much "fun stuff" at the game, so we sang "Happy Birthday" & saved the cake for another night :)

The next night (Friday)… Jeff likes his birthday present…

Yep, he put it to use on his cake...

He toasted up his marshmallows, after all it can't be s'mores without toasting the marshmallows...

We dug in… YUM!!

The day after that (Saturday)… we were off to a local park for the Arden Hills Fall Festival.  The band Jeff plays in had a concert there that evening… the band set up in a parking lot…

More pictures from that day...

Various booths...

Some food vendors...

All by the side of a pretty lake...

We ran into pastor John, he lives right in the area… his daughter is the one in the doorway of the Fire Truck.

Horse cart rides...

Little petting zoo was set up...

This sweet dog was on hand for the concert...

Merle directs the band, the band played until the fireworks started just after dark.

The next day (Sunday) we met my son Tim & daughter-in-law Marta for a multiple birthday celebration at Benihana's.  Belated birthdays for Marta & Jeff, early for me.

Never can get Jeff to keep a straight face, Marta took this picture for me… now I know why she was laughing… (sigh)...

Our cook impressed us with his knife skills...

Lots of tasty tidbits...

I tried the Mango Shrimp...

The final birthday gift for hubby was a dinner at Manny's Steakhouse in Minneapolis on Monday… lets just say this isn't a Weight Watchers friendly venue…   Jeff is showing off his Bacon Appetizer…

He also enjoyed a baked potato, a beautiful bone-in rib-eye steak, a couple beers, and some bread pudding… he's a very happy hubby!!

Now we're gearing up for my birthday next week… and its a big one!!