The Engaged Couple

In an attempt to get a good photo for the engagement announcement for the paper, we took scads of photos of Ben and Elsa. Here are some of my favorites, but several of these will never make it to the newspaper...

The bridal shower

Valerie gave an excellent devotional, Donna shared thoughts about Elsa, many shared memories of Ben, Jacque's beautiful home was was a wonderful setting, the food was elegant and delicious, and a terrific time was had by all!

A shower of blessings...

These are some of the sweetest blessings in my life: the friends who made a bridal shower for Elsa so special! They are (l to r): Valerie, Kelley, Jacque, Kris and Amy. They were marvelous!

Many moms...

Many moms were gathered for Elsa's shower on August 10th: in front are Grandma Hanson (Chris' Mom), Elsa and Grandma Finnegan (Dave's Mom), and behind are myself and Donna (Moms of the grrom and bride respectively).

A visit from Ben and some of the Johnsons

We enjoyed a visit from Ben, Elsa and Elsa's mom, Donna, for a few days in August. We...






Hiked at Tsankawi, had lunch with the Roods in Santa Fe, and picniced up at Camp May.

A Visit from the Salazars

This weekend we had the pleasure of a visit from our friends, the Salazars. They moved from Los Alamos 6 years ago, and now live in Jackson, TN, where Mike is a professor of Chemistry at Union University. Above, left-to-right, standing are: Joel, Lillie, Luke, Isaiah and Lizzie. Seated are Keri, Mike, Josiah and Caleb. Somehow we forgot about the 5-month-old, Amaris, asleep at the time.
On the left, Luke, Caleb and Isaiah enjoyed our collection of "Far Side" cartoons, and Lillie reads about the Berenstain Bears to Lizzie and Joel. The visit was a real blessing to us.

A walkway for the backyard

Thanks to our good friends Robert, Ethan and Josh Baer, and about 2,000 pounds of Quickcrete, we have a very good start on a walkway in our backyard. Someday this will be surrounded by things green and blooming, and we will put white lights and lanterns in the fruit trees and have an evening fete. You are all invited!