CONGRATULATIONS KEN & KATHLEEN

Flying back to New England in January wasn't something we had planned but my baby brother set the date for January 14, just one day after our 28th wedding anniversary and we found ourselves flying back for two nights. 

My brother Ken and his bride Kathleen had a cold yet blue sunny sky day for this special occasion.  The venue was decorated with white lights and white flowers.  They said their wedding vows in front of forty guests and there was not a dry eye.  Kathleen chose the reading from 1 Corinthians, which I read, her best friend Kim read a story and they had a Irish reading.   They had a warming of the rings ceremony which I've never seen before but it is a lovely tradition of passing the rings around and each of the guests lay their hands on the rings and silently say a blessing.

The wedding was elegant as was the beautiful gown Kathleen wore.  The food was five star with hot appetizers and the guests chose between filet mignon, swordfish, vegetable medley or chicken.  Ken's three grown children each gave a toast and again brought tears to everyone's eyes.

My son, Daniel, Karen and granddaughter, Kiev drove down through a snow storm from Quebec to join us and we shared a hotel room just minutes from the wedding restaurant.  I loved spending time with Kiev because at a little over two years old, she is full of energy and hugs. 

Beautiful Family

Kathleen was glowing - Such happy smiles

Beautiful granddaughter

 The flight back from Hartford to Yuma was longer than we anticipated due to delays.  We got back after midnight and our king size bed never felt better.

Thanks for stopping in to say hi and God Bles

LOTS OF PHOTOS TO POST

We're back in Daniel, our son's driveway, to celebrate our granddaughter's first birthday.  This month we're what you call driveway guests which is probably the best kind of guest to have.  Why? Because we're visiting but we're not underfoot because we brought our home with us.

Here we are tucked in nicely at
my brother's house in Connecticut

Just fit in my Aunt Donna's driveway
in Massachusetts

Beautiful view of the St. Lawrence River
at my son's house in Quebec

This is the driveway we stayed for 3-nights
 in Rhode Island - one street over
from my brother's beach house - Stanton
was a generous host

Denis & I have been taking lots of pictures and I haven't been very good about posting them, so this post is to catch up. Here are a few of my favorites.

This fox was in the field behind
Daniel's house.  The neighbors have
chickens and the fox was doing what
nature intended

I love this photo of my granddaughter
and I playing outside

This is another favorite.  My son looks
very handsome and my granddaughter
is  pretty with her flower headband

This is a nice shot of me with
my beautiful step-daughter

We took random pictures at my niece Jaclyn's graduation party that I didn't post last time.  So here are a few of my favorites.

My Aunt Donna with me and two
of her daughter's Dawn and Dale - we missed
Nicole and her family

Love this pic of me with my niece's
Jaclyn and Amanda - missed my
nephew Ryan

Everyone is having a good time

Love this pic of Hannah and Gabriel

Got my Aunt Donna to put her feet
in the wet sand - not her favorite
thing to do but she was a good sport

Well, that just about catches you up with the latest Letendre news.  Thanks for stopping in to say hi.

NEW ENGLAND FRIENDS AND FAMILY

This summer, we're spending time in the New England and Quebec areas taking care of business and visiting friends and family. Looking back on old photos, I discovered that I have many pics of a family member alone or in a group but very few of myself and that member of the family.  I was determined to rectify that and I like the results.  I asked my brother why he thought mom and dad didn't take more pictures of the two of us together and he said it was because we didn't "like" each other and there was five years between us. Well, now we do "like" each other and from now on we'll be getting lots of photos together.

We spent a few weeks at my aunt Donna's helping spruce up the house.  Denis' painting skills were put to good use.  He repaired and painted the garage interior, we installed new commercial carpeting and painted the basement and trimmed shrubs.  Poor Denis had to make six trips to the dump but the results are fabulous and Dale was a huge help.  Everything is clean and tidy and my aunt is happy.

These photos are of my aunt Donna and her three grown children.

Aunt Donna - it was wonderful spending time with her and getting to know her better now that I'm an adult and not her teenage babysitter

Dean - bus picks him up and brings him home every day for his state-assisted job at Westover Air Force Base

Dale lives at home - she loves working outside gardening and helping her mom

Dawn - married with five children

The next set of pictures are of Dawn and her family.

Nicholas

Gabriel

Dawn's husband Bill

Aaron

Justine

Dawn and Bill's daughter, Nichol, is married and her baby was born while we were visiting.  This photo was taken just days after baby Mason was born.  Now Dominick and Nichol have a beautiful family of three.

Hubby was working

We spent the Memorial Day weekend with my brother and Kathleen at their beach house in Rhode Island.  The weather was cool but the sun was warm and we had a great time visiting.  Can't beat family, wine, great food, sunny weather and the beach.

This is my baby brother, Ken

My sister-in-law, Kathleen, holding Mickey - My brother wasn't  thrilled about it but he "inherited" Mikey after mom and dad passed - Mikey is 14 years old and is in better shape now than when he lived with my parents

Three of these rainbow clouds showed up at the beach - never seen one before, have you?

Lastly, we are impatiently waiting for our grand daughter to arrive.  Her due date is tomorrow and she is more than ready for the birth of their first child, our first grand child.

Son, Daniel, daughter-in-law, Karen and daughter Christi in the baby's newly decorated room

That's all the news to date and I'm glad you stopped in to say HI.

FLYING FROM PHOENIX TO CONNECTICUT FOR THANKSGIVING

We had a morning flight on the Monday before Thanksgiving out of Phoenix to Hartford which went very smooth.  Well, except for some turbulence that caused the lady in the seat behind us to go hysterical.

Here's out plane out of Sky Harbor

View from our window coming into Hartford

Rented a car in Hartford, drove about half hour to my brother's house and visited with Ken and Kathleen for a while before hitting the sack. We helped with the Thanksgiving preparations and had a wonderful day with family and friends.

This is just one of the two turkeys Ken was in charge of

We haven't had Thanksgiving with my mom-in-law for many years and it was extra special to get her together with son Daniel, daughter Christi and my sister and brother in-law Eddie and Lorraine

Kathleen and Jaclyn finding the perfect recipe

The rest of the week was spent visiting friends and family.

Denis with daughter Christi and son Daniel in Ken's hot tub - Christi drove down from Montreal and Daniel from Quebec

Didn't expect snow on Thanksgiving but here it is and it was very pretty

Daniel announced that he and his girlfriend, Karen, are 3-months pregnant.  This was a BIG surprise for everyone but a very happy one.  I was wondering when I'd be a grandmother, not that I was in a rush but I'm so excited about it now that's its happened.

He presented us with a framed photo to break the news

Another big day was Denis' mom's 88th birthday and getting the four siblings together to celebrate.

Doesn't she look wonderful?

Denis and his mom - priceless

She loves oysters and managed to eat a dozen

Another stop was the VA cemetery to see my dad and mom's engraved stone and to see Denis' dad's stone.

The Beaudry plaque wasn't engraved last time I visited

Denis' dad's stone wasn't engraved last time we were here

It's been a wonderful visit and I appreciate the hospitality my brother and Kathleen extended to us. We even got to sleep on a brand new mattress, sheets, comforter and pillows ... boy, did they spoil us. We're flying back to Arizona on Wednesday and look forward to the warm temperatures, sunshine and palm trees.

Thanks for stopping in.  I'm learning that I have many "secret" blog readers and I hope you enjoy following along.  I'd still love to hear from my secret admirers anytime.