Are We In Arizona??

Scott just said to me that I need to remember these days...so in 10 or 20 years I can say, "Oh yeah, back in the summer of 2009, remember when Anne Brita was here?, we had so many days in a row of over 100 degrees. Now today is Wednesday and it was 107 degrees at 3pm, however our all time high is what you see above 109.4 !!! Wowie Kazowie!! So I took a picture of our thermometer that sits inside the house on the Baker's rack in the kitchen and you can clearly see the temperature. So this is how I am going to try to "remember" this day! Hope this helps!

A Family Celebration in Honor of our Norwegian Visitor

Anne Brita came on Wednesday, July 22 and will stay until August 7. We have gone visiting, but thought it would be great to have the family over for a barbecue on Sunday. And fortunately Elsa was feeling well enough to join us and share a meal. Scott's brother, John and his wife Robin came over also. The house was plenty wild as Dina brought two young friends of Ellie and Lily with her, now I know they are girls, but you know girls scream and slam doors and run in and out of the house and poor Scott is trying to keep the cool air inside and the hot air outside - almost an impossible task when you have two 2 year olds, two six year olds, two eight year olds, and an almost 10 year old going in and out! We did try to have them eat outside so the rest of us could have a quieter dinner!

About three days ago we introduced Jalen (now remember he was 2 on May 20) to a little battery operated motorcycle. Oh my gosh, you should see him go...he can steer better than his 8 year old sister (lol, really!! -- she rolls her eyes when I say that, but trust me, it is SO TRUE!). And he does a whole body turn, it cracks me up to see this little "man" riding around my entire house on a motorized little motorcycle. And he found it so fun to go down my driveway cause it goes fast even without putting the 'pedal to the metal'!! And then he looks ahead and sees a car parked, so he leans to the left while he turns the steering wheel, then he quickly turns it back and can make a short circle and avoid the car! I am telling you it is a sight to see...he is cracking us all up!

Now Addie got one of those little pink battery operated 'jeeps' for her birthday a few weeks ago and up until last night, she didn't really have a clue how to steer the thing. But coming to our house with lots of grass and yard, it took her NO time to get the hang of it, of course, remember she cannot let her older cousin (by two months!) beat her in anything! And as usual for Addie, she stripped down to nothing but her diaper.

The grandchildren keep us in stitches ...an example is Scott has a pair of slippers that happen to be green and gold --DUCK slippers. (We are U of O alumni and big fans!) They LOVE to put them on. In fact last week both Ellie and Lily had a sleepover with us. I had them take a shower and get into their jammies. I went downstairs and a bit later they came down wearing all of Papa's "duck" clothes, they found a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, hats and then these duck slippers. They each had one on a foot and were chanting: Go Ducks, Go Ducks, Go Ducks.....over and over again. So last night when we had our dinner, the slippers showed up downstairs and both Addie and Jalen had to put them on and walk around. They even posed for us! Such hams! It is so fun...can hardly wait to see what Tristan brings to this mix!

The Reunion Girls 2009 Gathering

June 25, 2009...the date was set months ago for our annual trek down to Gail's house to enjoy a meal prepared by Gail and then lot's of talking and talking and talking...and of course enjoying the peaceful river and the sunshine! Anne Brita was our special guest this year! And Susan joined our group and was our designated driver, we were all able to pile into her car and drive together...the first stop (and the last stop!!) was "Starbucks!"

Gail had the most beautiful place setting with fruit around a cup filled with a strawberry dipping cream. Yummmmm! And of course, she also made two kinds of lemonade and they were both delish! One was a lavender..oh so delicate and refreshing! The other had frozen plums and apples and then a 7 up added for a little zing! Fortunately we had the canopy over the picnic table to keep us in the shade as it was getting quite warm by the time we sat down to eat.

It is so nice to gather and share our stories...keeping up on the grandchildren (or lack of...in two cases!) and this time Donna has two new twin grandbabies, she was not with us as she was in Seattle to see the new little ones..a boy and a girl! Lucky Grandma! It seems we never stop talking, always a story to share and of course lot's of laughing and just plain having a grand time. Now three of our group...okay I will name names as this is all about "remembering" things...or at least writing it down here so I can always have a place to go back and read and then say: "Oh Yeah, now I remember!!" (LOL, isn't that just crazy? but sometimes I need all the help I can get!)....almost forgot what I was going to write..oh yeah the names: Lizi, Kari, and Susan are the "elders" in this small but fine group. In other words, they turn 60 (can you believe it?) this YEAR!! while the rest of us sweet-young'uns have a few more months and turn the big 60 in 2010! However we talked about getting together for a weekend next year in celebration of our 60th year! Just so I remember, we are thinking about either Black Butte or ..darn, can't remember....it is someplace in the same general direction however! I know someone will read this and then send me an email and tell me the name of the other location, then I can edit it and everyone will be happy!!

Now...so that I can look back on this and remember everyone's names, the people in the group photo are: Susan and Gail kneeling in front, from the left to the right: Anne Brita, Colette, me, Kari, Lizi and Becky! Aren't we a fine looking group??!! It is really a highlight of the summer to spend the day with all these delightful ladies whom I met in high school, but for many of the rest, they have known each other since kndergarten! You know what they say: husbands may come and go (or boy friends! tee hee) but us sistah's are always there for each other! It is comforting to know that I will always have the support and love from each of these wonderful, caring people who are in my life! Thank you girl friends!

Three Birthday Celebrations

We all know how fast our little ones grow up...well we celebrated little Addie turning 2, Lily now 6 and Ellie 8. It seems just a few short days ago that Ellie was a bundle all wrapped in her pink blanket! And now she will be going into third grade and our little Lily will be in first grade this September. Thankfully our wild little Addie is just in the...shhhhh we don't want her to hear, but I think it might be the "terrible two's"!! She keeps us in stitches laughing, in frustration cause she won't sit still in a restaurant, and plugging our ears cause she SCREAMS!! A while ago I thought Addie had a cold for quite a while cause her voice was so hoarse. Lace informed me it was because she screams so much! lol! Now that is really funny, sad and not so soothing to the ears! Tristan is 2 months old now and is such a great little baby! Caleb will be 10 in September entering the 5th grade. See what I mean??? They grow up too fast!

So we picked a day that worked for everyone and we had a barbecue and celebrated their birthdays together since they are really close any ways. Aaron's mom, Grandma Chris was here because she was on her way to Mexico and had a little time before the plane left. Uncle Marty and Teale joined us for dinner also.

We set up the "jumping castle" for the kids and the little ones just loved it! Jalen is a huge fan of 'jumping' and Addie jumps across any room, so they loved this big bouncey thing!

One last comment..notice the dresses? I bought the fabric and made the three dresses, they looked so cute dressed alike!

Fourth of July 2009

We went up to The Oregon Golf Club for a Fourth of July lunch. They put on a good spread with hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, ribs, salads, ice cream, and of course the kids favorite -- snowcones! Ellie and Lily had patriotic hearts painted on their faces, they sure look cute! Jalen finally agreed to have some stars painted on his little cheeks, too. They have a clown who blows up all sorts of fun shaped balloons for the kids and they have water pistols outside, so everyone gets drenched! It is a hot day today - already in the high 80's! What a beautiful day to celebrate our country's freedom!