Reunioning - Costner Style

We kicked off the begininning of the summer with the Costner reunion. It was a lot of fun, we all enjoyed ourselves, thanks to Carla and all her hard work getting us organized. Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure. :)
These are all from Saturday afternoon at my parents house. I forgot my camera all the other days.

I just thought this was the funniest thing. Uncle Mike picking cherries during a downpour. He really wanted those cherries and something like a little rain wasn't going to stop him.

Family pics in Luna

The pics are in the wrong order but they are great!

My sister Alisha took them.

In the middle of the family pics middle son decided to take a potty break.

Hubby and I

Baby girl

Middle son

Oldest son

The Kiddos

Namesake

This is for my Grandpa Ray.

I used to call him Grumpa, mainly because he pretended to be grumpy. He was so fun, always teasing us and calling the girls, boys and the boys, girls.

My parents gave me the middle name of Ray after him, and I love it, I always have, the spelling and everything.

When I was younger I was trying to come up with baby names, (I had a lot of free time when I was younger) and I would make up names. I had pages of them. I tried making up names from the first letter or the last letter of each of my siblings: CMMBBA, AECTEA, or a combination of the two. I think I had come up with something that wasn't too bad, but I've since forgotten it.

One name stood out as a real contender, Raylee. It's my Grandpas' name, first and middle. Then as time went on I realized that my "twin" cousin (we are exactly the same age, give or take a few hours) has the middle name of Leigh, and of course my middle name is Ray. Rayleigh.

As time went on the name evolved more, I worked with a girl named Rae and I really liked the spelling. Raeleigh.

I had thought of a couple of middle names that sounded nice with it as well: Ann and Dawn.

I just hoped my husband would love it as much as I. Turns out he did and he liked Dawn, for the middle name (it's my youngest sisters middle name), better as well. Raeleigh Dawn.

We just needed the baby to go with the name, and she finally came. After two boys, we got our girl, and she fits her name nicely.

This is the three of us in June of this year.

We were lucky enough to make a short visit while were there. His health is failing and he may not be with us much longer. He doesn't remember much, but when my mom told him we named our baby after him he was thrilled. I love that.

I am honored to carry his name and to have passed it on to my baby.

I love you Grandpa Ray!

My variation of Grandma Lillies' salsa

10 tomatoes
1 large sweet onion
3 cans of diced tomatoes w/roasted garlic
2 cans tomato paste
3 Tbs sugar
3 Tbs white vinegar
1 bunch chopped cilantro
1 Tbs salt6 jalapenos
3 habanero peppers (for HOT salsa)
1 pair of latex gloves6-7 qt containers or jars

1. Roast or blacken all peppers either in the broiler or over an open flame. All sides need to be blistered or black. Set aside in a paper bag or a bowl covered w/ plastic wrap.

2. Dice all the tomatoes, put into a large bowl. Dice Onion (I put it in the food processor), add to tomatoes. Add the rest of the ingredients except the peppers.

3. Split into two batches, one for med and one for hot.

4. Put your gloves on. Take your peppers and a knife and peel the blackened skin off the peppers. Once you've done that cut the stem off and de-seed and de-vain the peppers. If you want even hotter salsa leave the seeds and veins in.

5. For the med salsa, take 4 of the jalapeno peppers and chop them and put them in the food processor with half of one batch and chop on low for 1 min. Add back to batch and mix. Set aside.

6. For the hot salsa,take the remaining jalapeno peppers and the habanero peppers and add to the food processor with half of the remaining tomato mixture and chop on low for 1 min. (I usually process all of the hot so I can tell the difference between the hot and the mild, also on how chunky you like your salsa) Add back to remaining batch and mix.

7. You can can the salsa or eat it fresh,and share if you like. You need several containers to store it. Keep it refrigerated if you don't plan on canning. Makes 6-7 quarts.

Great for parties

Enjoy!

BFF

This is my BFF! We've been besties since the 4th grade.

That's a long time, and not all of it's been great, but we are still good friends.

We met for lunch when we were in town a couple of weeks ago and we got to meet her fiance'. I'm so happy that she is happy, and I can't wait to see her again.

Silly Faces

My kids are so good at making silly faces.

its funny except when you want to take a nice normal picture.

but if you catch them at the right moment, it's so worth it.

I love how Raeleigh is playing peek-a-boo.

Tooth

He's too young, I say!

Zach lost his first tooth a couple weeks back, and I almost cried.

My little boy is growing up,

and his new tooth has already made its appearance.

Showing me his tooth for the camera.

My Dad

I love my dad!

He is a great man, father, and grandfather.

I hope your day was great!

My baby's birthday

Well since we've moved I haven't spent much time blogging and I have a lot of make-up blogging to do.

Firstly, Raeleigh turned one!

She is such a cutie-pie, I just love her.

She is a blessing to our family, it's so much fun to have her around.

she's got the cutest personality, she is so silly at times, she makes us all laugh.

She is defanitly a Bierman, soooooo much energy!

My poor Bubba

Kaleb fell today.

He cut open his chin.

He had to get two stitches,

And super-glued back together.

My poor Bubba had a tough day, today.

But it didn't keep him down.

Then again, not much can.