Curtis Park Home Tour

Today I went on the Curtis Park Home Tour with family on the Wells side.  My grandparents bought this home in 1920 and lived here until their deaths in 1968 and 1969.  This is the home that our family visited every Sunday for as long as I can remember.  All my aunts, uncles and cousins were there all together every Sunday afternoon.  We spent all holidays there as well.  The house was just completely redone and not at all the same home that I loved and remembered so well.  It is very modernized now and beautiful but I wish they would have kept some of the old charm.  There were before pictures posted and my heart broke a little seeing them and looking at how everything has changed.  I am glad that I went and enjoyed seeing my brother and sister-in-law and my cousins.  We went to Gunthers Ice Cream after the tour for old times sake.  It was a fun day!!  (I know Grandmother and Dad would not approve of all the changes!)  There was a write up in the Sacramento Bee today all about the home and the tour.

My grandparents in the late 50's in their patio.  There is now a pool, fountain and outdoor seating area.

This is the home in 50's the way I remember it



Top left - My brother Russ and me
Top right my brother and Gail, my cousin Butch's wife
Bottom Left - Russ, Gail and Butch
Bottom right- the four cousins, Marcia, Russ, Amy and Butch
(There were a total of 11 cousins - 5 are now deceased)

The front of the house as it is today.  Quite a change.  It was neat having the old 20 cars parked outside

More views of the front of the house.
Bottom right - this was in the entrance of the house telling a little about my grandparents

The whole gang!

Every Sunday Dad (our grandfather) would give us a dime and during the summer months the cousins would walk the four blocks to Gunthers and get a ice cream cone (I don't remember this too well since I was the youngest cousin and was not old enough to go with the other cousins but I have heard the stories.)

April

The first weekend in April we always enjoy General Conference from Salt Lake City.
It is a great time to reflect and recommit.  Megan brought the boys over for the Sunday
afternoon session.  The boys made their mosaic reptile creations while Megan and I enjoyed
conference. 

My eyes have finally stablized and I was able to get new glasses.  Yay, I can see much better now and I love my new specs!

My cell phone died this month and I became the proud owner of a new IPhone 5.  I finally succommed to peer pressure!  I have to admit I love it and it takes amazing pictures!  So user friendly and easy  to manuever.  Much easier than the Android GS5

We had a fun time at the Monster Minature Golf Course.  First we had dinner at a family favorite, The Old Spaghetti Factory  Lincoln and Coleman had a great time while Jack enjoyed himself at Disneyland..

I am loving this new series I discovered on PBS.  It takes place during the 50's and it is excellent. 
Helps me get over my withdrawals from Downton Abbey.

Now that I have my IPhone I can do facetime with this little guy.  He doesn't talk much but it is fun to see his cute little face and chat with his Mom and Dad.

This is one of my Fridays with Coleman.  He is obsessed with making the mosaics.  I think this is his 5th one and they are all rainbow colors.  I wanted to take a cute picture of him sitting in the rocking chair but he insisted on making a scary face (his idea of being scary is showing the inside of his eye!)  The rocking chair was given to Erin on her first birthday by my parents and all four of my kids used it and now my grandkids are enjoying it!

The World is Still a Beautiful Place....

Time MARCHS on

March was a blur. It went by so quickly! Here are a few things that went on during the month that I got pictures of...

Walk in the wetlands to get a smoothie.  Beautiful spring evening!

Friday afternoons are spent with this little guy.  We go shopping or to the park or to lunch. 

Saturday afternoons are spent at this beautiful park watching Jack play flag football.

The boys made Cheeto Carrots.  Lincoln is a great poser!

Made cupcakes and put them in egg cartons for the boys

Jackson sorting out the eggs from the little egg hunt we had at my house.

Yummy Stuff

I found two incredibly easy and delicious recipes this month! I love baking and trying new recipes and sharing my treats with my friends and family. These two recipes were a hit and I will definitely be whipping them up again very soon.

I

Easy lemon cookies made with a lemon cake mix, cool whip & 1 egg.

 

Beat the egg, add cake mix and 2 cups cool whip.  Mix altogether.  Batter will be sticky.  Roll into balls in powdered sugar.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  If you like lemon you will love these! 

 

Berry Cobbler

I love berries and this is a very simple cobbler that is a snap to make and so delicious. 

In a 8 x 8 pan add 4 cups frozen mixed berries (I used the Costco brand) 
In a bowl, mix 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar with 6 Tablespoons Butter.  Pour over top of berries.  Do not mix into berries.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until golden brown.  (I like my topping to be crunchy so I cooked an extra 5 min)

I love to READ!

Who knew that I loved to read?  I didn't.  (I'm pretty sure the Kindle Fire Erin gave me for Christmas has helped)  I have never read that much - maybe in a good year I would read one book that took me several months to complete.  You see, I have a very short attention span and I can't just sit and read for longer than about 15 minutes!  Since I have not been working and I have more time on my hands and very little stress, I am finding that I can relax now and sit down and actually enjoy a good book.  I am on my 4th book since January!  I find myself not wanting to finish each book because I am enjoying it so much.  The four books that I have read have been very different but I have enjoyed all of them equally.

I have read several of Nicolaus Sparks books but this is one of my favorites.
Full of suspense and a great love story.  (The movie did not do it justice)

I have followed this blog for a couple of years now so I decided to read her story.
Very inspirational about a young couple with 4 children who are in a plane crash and
the wife is burned over 80% of her body.  It is so sad but so inspiring and hopeful.

This book takes place during the depression and it's about a
young librarian who delivers books in rural Kentucky.  Lots of
  drama and suspense in this one.  I had a hard time putting it down!

This book takes place during WWII and is about 4 women who
work in a ship factory while their boyfriends/husbands are off to war.
I'm not quite finished but I love this book.  A great look at the 1940's
during the war and a great love story.

 
I think I am going to read some of the classics next... next up is Grapes of Wrath then Great Gatsby.  Being able to get books instantly on my Kindle is amazing!!

Fun with my Grandsons!!

Jackson's first Pinewood Derby.  There was a lot of excitement leading up to the race.  Jack won for his age group but came in 4th overall thus the sad face.  I guess he wanted to win it all.  Lincoln entered as well but his races didn't count since he was not a scout yet.  He also has a sad face because his car came in last place.  These boys have a lot to learn - I guess it's not a bad thing to be competitive.  We'll get em next year boys now that you have some experience!!

Every Friday I pick Coleman up while Megan works in Jack's classroom.  We do lots of fun things together and I love spending time with him.  This particular Friday Jack and Lincoln got out of school early for Parent/Teacher conferences so I took all 3 boys to lunch and then to 'Castle Park' in Lexington Hills. It was 75 degrees on this day and the park was swarming with kids.  The boys had a ball and I enjoyed soaking up some sun and watching them run wild!