What do you do when it’s 104 degrees outside? Come to Camp Barbie where it’s “cool”. Today’s camp brought repeat campers Emileigh and Madyson. I think they decorated 60 cookies. They only ate one each but they wanted to take home the extra icing cups! That was a first for me. I’m so glad they were able to come today. I love to say a balanced diet is a Barbie cookie in each hand!

I hate playing favorites, but here I go: these are two of my favorite campers! I’ve known Kaylee and Isabel since first grade. Having them in my home talking about the Lord was just a great way to spend an afternoon. Thank you girls for being my friend.

I want to remember this day, this exact hour when we sat on the driveway and did nothing. You laughed, you ran, you picked up little rocks and you chattered. Nothing we could understand but you knew exactly what you were saying. God is teaching me to live one day at a time and living it to the fullest. This was one of those days. Thank you Michelle for helping me remember in years to come the joy of being a grandmother.

Grandchildren fill a place in your heart you never knew was empty.

Great men get promoted to Grand Fathers.

Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age.

Wow God really outdid Himself when he gave us our two daughter in laws. They are sweet wives and even sweeter daughter in law’s. It was so much fun not to have to share them with the guys. Megan and Michelle have become such good friends and I am so thankful.

For all you Aggies who attended FOW, this is one “fish” that will make his Clayton Aggie heritage proud. Tyler actually put Tracy’s “pot” on himself and we added the trumpet and away he went! Unk will have to turn the pasture into a miniature Kyle Field for all the Clayton Aggie bandsmen!

Saturday morning we took a field trip to the downtown Children’s museum on Main Street. What a hidden treasure. Tyler enjoyed sliding down big slides, digging for dinosaur bones, playing kitchen, and every boy’s ultimate adventure: petting a snake! He was very brave to do this and Gramsie was using her telephoto lens and staying far far away! Check out what big eyes Tyler has!

Naturally when one attends camp for the first time, there is a certain level of anxiety. Tyler and Gramsie quickly found the cure for their anxiety attacks: Bah-Bah’s. Yep, that is the new age term for pacifiers. Tyler’s Mom graciously went to Wal-Mart and bought Gramsie two pink bah-bah’s. However, in this picture Tyler is sucking Gramsie’s and she is sucking his. Oh well. We both felt better.

Unk & I have just finished what we hope is our first “annual” Camp Gramsie and Unk. We’ve enjoyed having Tyler & his Mom Michelle and Auntie Megan for a few days without the Daddy and son around. Tyler is 19 months old and is a busy little boy. He is also very friendly to strangers, always shouting Hi when he sees them. The next time we see him will be when his little brother arrives in September.

We did something last night that we’ve talked about for years. We had Chef Jeff Walton over to prepare us a scrumptious delectable gourmet meal to celebrate Lee’s 30^th year in Denison. It came as a complete surprise to Lee. He thought the Walton’s were bringing hot dog fixings and we would watch the All-Star game and eat off paper plates. He couldn’t figure out what was happening when the Walton’s came in with Chef Jeff, smartly dressed in his Chef Wear and carrying a tackle box of culinary equipment. Pulling a surprise over on Lee is not an easy fete in itself; then to “wow” him in this manner was just the icing on the cake.

The menus consisted of seared bay scallops on a bed of avocado relish. I could have stopped with this. The scallops were so sweet and tender, cooked to perfection IN MY KITCHEN!!!

The salad to follow consisted of a bouquet of salad greens wrapped with a thinly sliced cucumber drizzled with a zesty Greek dressing and embellished with grape tomatoes and feta cheese. I regret the fact that I did not get a picture of it.

The main course was a pan seared Bison strip loin (Bison as in Buffalo…you know, give me a home, where the buffalo roams? ) Yep, we had Buffalo with an Asian plum demi glaze. That glaze was to die for! The bison was accompanied by steamed broccoflower (a combination of broccoli and cauliflower) and then broccolini on a bed of Quinoa and forest mushrooms. I had never heard of any of these but they were certainly tasty and made for a beautiful plate. Again, I ate before I snapped pictures.

This is what broccoflower looks like!

Chef Jeff at work. He was quiet, quick and extremely neat. It was odd having someone else in your kitchen cooking and serving you! Lee and I could certainly get used to this type of service.

We ended the evening with fresh papaya/banana smoothies! Light and healthy. All in all it was a great way for Lee to be honored for 30 years of hard work. And to celebrate with friends again was the icing on the cake. We decided we were definitely not going to wait another 30 years to have Chef Jeff tickle our food palates! We are already looking for a reason to ask him back.

Thanks Chef Jeff for your memorable services! And thank you Lee for your 30 years of dedication to your profession and for providing for your family. We are blessed.