Happy Birthday, Katie!

Today is Katie, our daughter-in-law's birthday! We are so happy that she is in our family! She is a great wife to Matthew and a wonderful mother to Carter and Keegan. They are very blessed to have Katie as their mother. We appreciate her kindness and love towards us and others in the family. She is very giving and would do anything for others. She is also a very good cook (I love the cinnamon rolls and the fun dishes that she makes whenever we visit).

We love you, Katie, and hope you have a great day.

Happy Birthday!

P.S. Thank you for the Halloween goodies. So yummy!

Meeting Little Kael!

We are so excited for the arrival of our #10 grandchild....Jason and Lacey had a little boy on October 2nd...Kael Reed was 7 lbs. and 13 ounces! He is such a beautiful baby! It is such a wonderful experience to hold these little ones in your arms...to know that they just came from their Heavenly Father and are such choice spirits. The awe of seeing my son or daughter having a new little one of their own never stops amazing me.

Congratulations to Jason and Lacey and their family!

White Coat and Birthdays!

I finally am catching up on posting....The end of September is already here. September brought a fun trip to West Virginia to Eric's White Coat Ceremony. It was fun not to have to be tired from traveling and driving and to just enjoy! The ceremony was very nice and it was great that Joy's brother-in-law, Mike, was able to come and present Eric his white coat. It is hard to imagine my baby being in the next segment of his life. Wow! We also enjoyed going and seeing the Greenbrier (a hotel/resort built in the 1790's). It was easy to feel the ambiance of the place. We were treated with some special dinners made by Joy and a morning to a museum. Thanks Eric and Joy for the wonderful time.

We also had fun in September going out to eat for our grandkids, Maddie and Kaiden. It was fun to see their faces as they opened gifts and to celebrate with them. Thanks for inviting us!

Waiting for ceremony to begin!

Seats for the med students!

Eric's brother-in-law, Mike, putting on Eric's white coat!



Afterwards in the quad area. We were able to go see inside the buildings and to visit the anatomy lab with Eric and.....that was....very interesting! Actually it was pretty amazing!





Aren't these two pictures below so alike? I think they are pretty cute!

The Visit to the Greenbrier....What a great place! It's hard to believe it was built in the 1790's.



The pictures below don't really do it justice...It was awesome! It had shops below to browse in and then we found out later that they also have an area out back with working crafters that you can watch!

Olivia and seeing the horses!




What a Cutie!!!









We had fun going out to eat with Jason, Lacey and family for Maddie's Birthday and then for Kaiden's birthday. It was fun to see their excited expressions as they opened their gifts from us and to wish them Happy Birthday! They are both such cute grandkids!





Maddie opening up her gifts!

Kaiden opening up his gifts!



Kaitlyn

Grandpa and Kenzie!

The Deck and West Virginia (July)

Wow, I am so slow getting everything posted but here are a few pics from the end of July. Eric put in a lot of sweat in tearing down the our deck and putting up the supporting structure before he headed to med school. When I say he put in alot of sweat, it was about 96 degrees outside and humid and he stayed out there all day two days straight so he could get it done before heading to West Virginia. We are so thankful for his labor...it saved alot of work and struggles for his good ole dad. Doesn't it look great so far!

These pictures below were taken when we help Eric and Joy drive out to West Virginia. It is such beautiful country and tons and tons of trees. We had a great but quick trip the last of July. We ended up going again the weekend of Sept 11, for Eric's White Coat Ceremony. I will try to get those pictures posted in a few days.

Follow that rental!

A big surprise...we found that Rick's brother was a famous painter in this part of the world. :)

Happy Birthday to Cooper and Kaiden!

Happy Birthday this week to our cute grandsons, Kaiden and Cooper!

Cooper is so cute! He is full of endless energy (I wish I had some of it), he is hilarious and makes you laugh (brings sunshine to life), and is such a sweet, little guy! I just love it when he talks on the phone to me, although most of the time he is nodding with me talking but he does say, "I love you, grandma" and I just love hearing it!

We love you, Cooper! Happy 3rd Birthday!

Kaiden is growing up so fast! He reminds me alot of his father at that age! He is very smart and full of life and is all boy in a house full of sisters. He has a twinkle in his eye and the cutest grin. He always makes sure to give Grandpa and Grandma hugs when he sees us and we so love that. Right now it is Grandpa that has his attention and it makes Grandpa's day!

We love you, Kaiden! Happy 5th Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Maddie!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our little granddaughter, Maddie. I always smile when I think of Maddie! She is such an adorable and smart little girl. Last time we were visiting, she was singing songs for us that she was making up. It was so cute, she kept singing and singing. What a wonderful little granddaughter...such a delightful sweetheart!

We Love You, Maddie, and wish you a Happy Birthday!

Oregon Trip

I'm finally getting around to posting our Oregon Trip pics. I still have to post the deck pictures and the West Virginia pictures. Rick and I enjoyed our Oregon trip with my brothers, Gary and Ken, sister-in-law-Kathy, and sisters, Faye, Sharon and Margie. It was gorgeous everywhere we went. I loved the Columbia River Gorge along the north boundary of Oregon and the coast with the pinetrees and Rocky shores. If I had known how beautiful it was in Oregon, I'm afraid we would have made a few trips up there when we lived in California. We loved every minute of it and especially the time with family.

Eastern Oregon

Multnomah Falls

Margie and I went on a hike to go on this bridge. (Surprised some people....I have a fear of crossing bridges in a car so to walk across one was somewhat scary but I did it! Hooray!!!)

Columbia River Gorge view from the Vista House at Crown Point. This is located on the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway. Beautiful!

The Vista House at Crown Point....build back in the early 1900's as a refreshment stop for
travelers on the highway. A freeway replaced the old highway in the 1950's and until 2005 the old highway lay in ruins. Then they repaired it and made it a historical highway. All of these wonderful views were not being seen before 2005.

The Women's Forum - a stop to get a view of the Vista House and the gorge from further down the road.

Portland International Rose Test Garden

Below is the Japanese Tea Gardens in Portland.

Our vacation home rental in Lincoln City, Oregon (all four floors with an elevator). It was super fun and big.

The great room on the top floor with windows looking out at the Ocean.

The ocean by our vacation home rental.

Cape Foulweather

Below is a picture of all of us at Mo"s in Newport. They are well known for their Clam Chowder.

Newport bay area

Seals...The one below was poising for us! They were sure a noisy bunch. We found out that they are all just males. The females stay in California while the guys migrate up north to Oregon during the summer.

Heceta Head Lighthouse

View from Cape Perpetua were we did little hiking up to a lookout point.

The view of Depoe Bay where we ate (above) Rick's Birthday dinner at Tidal Raves Restaurant.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse at Yaquina Head Natural Area. Ken, Margie, Rick and I climbed up to the top. It was a super view of the beach in all directions.

Below is the Shortest Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast - Cape Meares Lighthouse.

The Octopus Tree at Cape Meares

Cape Kiwanda (nicknamed the "Tea Cup")

The Guys!


and the gals!