Check out these beautiful handmade birthday cards from my dear friends.
Lucille’s was the first one I received in advance of my birthday.
Jo had a very clever little purse which opened and then the inside had a pull tab with an additional wish:
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Joy’s card was a unique circle shape with lots of texture and layers:
Christine used a fun die and paper piecing to create this card:
Lisa’s card was a beautiful teacup filled with flowers and lots of layers on a fun fold. Lisa joined with Sharon to celebrate my birthday with a real tea party! I felt like a queen.
At the tea, Sharon gave me this card and many goodies:
Lucille made me a second card:
Thank you, dear friends, for those beautiful creations!
The family is not into card making, but Amber is a wonderful cook and she, Tyler and Stacia put on a great birthday celebration up at the lake. Amber made brownies and her awesome potato salad and Tyler grilled steaks and grilled corn on the cob with fresh corn Stacia had brought. We were able to get two campsites close together at Willow Creek Reservoir, just minutes from Grandby Lake and Shadow Lake.
Paul, not to be outdone for my birthday, booked us on a hot air balloon ride in Steamboat Springs a couple weeks later. It is quite awesome to have a daughter, Stacia, and son in law, Jonathan, who own a hot air balloon business.
https://wildwestballooning.com/
It was a month of birthday celebrations.
Back to the July 4th week — Jaxson and Emmitt, our two grandsons, were camping with us for the week and we drove from the lake to Steamboat Springs for the 4th of July parade. Jonathan asked Paul to drive the jeep with the float they had made. It looked like a hot air balloon basket with lots of red, white and blue balloons attached above. Stacia and the girls were on this float blowing bubbles at the crowds.
The royal wave!
The boys got to ride with Uncle Jonathan in the ‘real’ hot air balloon basket! You can see the burners on the silver truck behind this picture. Jonathan would do a quick touch of the burners to create the sound you hear as they fly the balloon. They won first prize in the commercial float category. I wonder what they will come up with next year!
Then it was back to the lake!
It was Jaxson’s and Emmitt’s first long camping trip with us. Mom and Dad came up on the 4th and Stacia and the granddaughters came up on the 5th. Emmitt had me pull his first loose tooth. In this picture he is trying to show you the gap in his mouth. Grandma is a doctor who can pull splinters out and now a dentist who can pull a loose tooth, but my favorite role is just being grandma and cuddling these grandchildren before they are grown and gone.
Here’s a picture of Emmitt after he caught his first fish. Jaxson had three fish on his hook that were ‘almost’ a catch.
After the Buchholtz family headed home, we took Stacia and the girls and anchored beside a little island on Shadow Lake for a picnic on the boat.
And Ruger was always with us, of course!
When the Whiteheads went back home, it was time for a little R&R with my beloved:
Thank you everyone for a memorable birthday month!
SAL, Shown A Lot of love for my birthday
Karen
I cannot pick a ‘best’ birthday card so I will show the hot air balloon and link Sal in the computer to their site. The videos are awesome to watch even if you have no desire to fly!
From Jonathan:
Question: What do you call it when the hot air balloon shadow passes over you on the ground?
Answer: A balloonereclipse!
