Spring has Sprung

The calendar thinks Spring has arrived so I'm going to go with it! But this was the view from my front window this morning and more snow is coming Wednesday. The winter in NY this year was long, cold and very snowy but with all that was happening in my life it flew by very quickly! I was just getting settled in (snowed in might be more appropriate) when a plea for help was heard from "across the pond". Kelli had announced at Christmas that she was pregnant with her 3rd and that this time she wasn't going to be sick. That lasted for about 3 days. By mid January she and Jared had made the decision to move back to the USA and she was desperately ill. I flew to Budapest on January 20th in my usual drama laden fashion that included a cancelled flight, a race through the Paris airport, tossing my cookies on the plane and the companionship from NY to Budapest of a woman my age from Jackson, WY named Ann Kelley (that is my maiden and the way it is spelled). I spent 2 and a half weeks in Budapest caring for Kelli (not photographable), looking after Jared, Lila and Scarlett, and helping sort, pack and sell all of their worldly possessions. Meanwhile it was cold and wintry there and my only car was a stroller. It was fun though to spend so much time with my girls. When I returned to the US I came with 20 month old Lila in tow. She was such a good little traveler and I really enjoyed bringing her home and caring for her here. The next weekend she flew with me and Papa to North Carolina to spend a long weekend with Jason, Kimberly and family. We drove out to Asheville NC where we toured the gorgeous Vanderbuilt mansion and then up to the Smokey Mountains where we rented a cabin for a couple of nights. Lila threw up in the car, Maddie had an asthma attack, the minivan couldn't negotiate the hill to the cabin, and it was too cold and windy to ski BUT we had a wonderful time together.
Two days after returning from North Carolina, Kelli, Jared and Scarlett arrived in NY. Jared began his drive West while the girls hung out here. Their scheduled reunion in the West was delayed when Kelli and Lila became very ill the day they were to leave so they spent another 5 days with us.
We enjoyed some lunches out and did some shoe shopping. They are now contentedly settled in San Luis Obispo and Kelli is finally feeling better. I celebrated my 60th birthday the day they left and 2 weeks later Randy and I flew to Southern California to attend Gavin's baptism.
It was a memorable weekend with family and friends.

Randy and Ron threw a 60th birthday bash for Rhonda and me inviting many of our Southern California friends and all of our kids and spouses.
Jason and Kim were the only ones unable to come and they walked in the back door of Todd's home the afternoon of the party. Such a surprise! We stayed with Todd's family and got to see Ryan and Leanne's beautiful new beach home.