scenes from the iowan weekend

"live a good life.
and in the end, it's not the years in the life that count,
it's the life in the years."

mom, grandma, and i at the jordan creek park. so many blessings in this weekend - but the best came when we hung out, talked, laughed (and yes, this fam provides ample fodder for doing so), and simply spent time with one another. i loved it.

i have had some ponderings running through my head about the weekend, but those will come a bit later. promise.

a few moments in time from the weekend...

my aunt darcy with my cousin's one-month-old son, jonas.


preface: both my mom and my grandma are neat freaks. clean freaks. windex should put them on the payroll. with that, they both have their quirks that put them at opposite ends of the spectrum. grandma only makes beds with hospital corners and mom loves comforters because you can hide the wrinkles underneath the duvet (i am in that camp with her).

grandma had just entrusted mom with the task of drying the dishes. mom dried them with the hand towel, the used hand towel. the dirty hand towel. and she put them away. so that you didn't know where they went.

and grandma doesn't quite know what to do. i think she was almost ready to pull every dish out and wash it.

until they started laughing so hard that they couldn't stand up straight.


mom, grandma and darcy...

when asked, "shelley, are you more excited to see me or to have biscuits?"

my answer was, "grandma, i've seen you now. now it's time for biscuits!"

these biscuits are just for her. :) courtesy of cracker barrel.

one of my favorite outtakes of the family.

new-being-an-older-brother milo with his big brother quinn...quinn was not in the camera mood (yet). :)

you may recognize quinn from here. and here. and here.

six inches of snow fell saturday night. i was in heaven. especially when the snow plows rolled through before 8 a.m. mass on sunday! how do ya like them apples?

by the time we got home, nearly every sidewalk was shoveled as well...iowa does snow like no other. to think it took nearly five days for the main street by my house to get plowed after our snowfall. i was jealous. really really jealous.

i loved the snow there. soft, flakey and not icy.

one of my very favorite images...mom holding onto grandpa's hands.