Karen, thanks for sharing this wonderful blog. Amazing tables and home! What a beautiful kitchen to display in. I've seen so many fab tables here that I can't imagine where she stores all of this. Punk

Good Morning! Hmmmm, what did I do for Emily? We had a birthstone ring made for her and hid it in an egg. I bought her a multi-strand bead bracelet from World Market and a pair of earrings and did the same. We also stuffed a few eggs with money, which you all suggested, as well. Teens ALWAYS appreciate cash ;^D Thanks again for your great suggestions. The eggs and small pieces of jewelry were very easy to bring along in my carry-on bag. We hid them on our private patio there, so we didn't have to worry about someone else finding them :~0 She LOVED it . . . and her gifts! Anyhoo, here's a pic that I took out there: As for our time with our son, that was a bit sad for us. He'd put in for a weekend pass, and being at the top of his class, was assured he'd get it. But, his commanding officer went away for the holiday and left a new asst. in charge, who turned out to be a real you-know-what. For no reason, he decided the entire company had to stay on post, despite all the families, like us, who'd flown or driven in to see their soldiers for Easter. He did grudgingly allow DS a day pass to the small town next to the post on Saturday so that we could take him out to lunch and dinner there. So, instead of DS spending a relaxing weekend with us at the resort, we had to drive down to the post ~ 90 minutes each way~ every day but Friday to see him there. As a result, we didn't get to use the pools as much as we'd hoped or explore Tucson. Instead, I'm now (unfortunately) VERY familiar with it's highways! To counteract all that driving and get some exercise, we got up early every morning and walked the grounds, worked out in the exercise rooms or played tennis or golf (DH). But, the good news is that we did get to spend some time with DS most every day, albeit on post. On the bright side, La Paloma had a wonderful Easter Morning brunch that we went to and then we had them make us up a yummy gourmet picnic lunch to take down for a picnic with DS and his good buddy after.

What an amazing way to tour our wonderful country. I'm training for an 11 mile bike ride for a triathlon, and cannot even fathom the distance you have done. Eighty miles in one day??!!! I am in awe, and high fiveing you from NJ- stay strong and safe the rest of your trip! -Polly

@texanjana -- I don't have a pic, handy, but I'll tell you this, it took two batches of frosting to get the technique and to find the right consistency of frosting. I'll be honest, one early attempt using pink frosting lining the inside of the bag, stripes of red color gel, and a white interior (like the videos instruct) just ended up looking like a sea anemone, rather than flower! Great for a monster from the deep theme, not so much for spring flowers. Playing with the various tips was fun.