A whole month!

I can't believe it's been an entire month since I last posted! How time flies! This month has been extraordinarily busy and I hope life will settle back down to "normal" now and I can get back to blogging more regularly.

So, what have I been up to?  In mid-June we went to my hometown, Stowe, Vermont (where my mother still lives) to celebrate her 85th birthday. My daughter, son-in-law and grandson, Carl, joined us there. We spent a lovely, cool week together and my mom enjoyed having her first great-grandchild visit. He kept us hopping though and I think she was totally exhausted by the time we left.

Main St., Stowe

Josh, Carl and Kelly - Mt. Mansfield

Picking dandelions

Presenting his handmade card to Great Grandmom

Not long after we returned, we flew to Albuquerque for a long weekend to celebrate our other grandson's first birthday. It had been about 6 weeks since we'd seen Drew and he had grown up so much. He's still not walking but is very close! Kelly, Josh and Carl also came in town for the birthday bash and it was fun to watch Drew and Carl interact with each other. They still don't play together, just side by side, and they are both learning to share - really cute.

Not exactly a cake smash!

Fascinated by gorilla at the zoo

From Albuquerque, my husband and I went to Los Algodones, Mexico, for dental implants for me. I needed some major dental work done and we researched dental tourism, which is big now considering the high cost of dental work in the US. We decided to go to Los Algodones and check it out. We planned to just return if we felt it was sketchy or shady. We were pleasantly surprised and they started work soon after the initial x-rays and consultation. I had nine extractions and four implants (to support the entire upper arch of teeth) that day, went back the next day to test the trial set of teeth and then back the following day to get the temporary set of teeth. I will have to return in about six months after the implants fuse to the bones to get the permanent set.  We were very happy with the experience and I recommend it to anyone who needs major dental work. I saved about $15,000!! 

Close to US/Mexico border near Yuma, AZ - flat, sandy and desolate

Charming "hotel" owned by dental clinic - only one in town and it was free!

You know you're out of the country when you see this!

About ten days after we returned, I went to the annual retreat of an online group I'm in. For four days, we arted, laughed, chatted, met new friends and rekindled old friendships and had a blast! Every year the retreat has a theme and we create a book that several members design. This year's theme was "Vintage Beach" and we made a fun beach book.  Everyone brought make-and-take projects for us to work on and we also worked on beach-themed "junque" books that we had made at home and then passed around to three other members to work in also. I'll post photos of those books later.

And that wasn't all - in between all those trips I also designed a few layout classes for a mini-release for The Little Blue House.

Whew! I think I need a vacation!