Ooops! Forgot the All-Family Photos!

Back in June we went to a lavender field to take family photos. Sharaya brought her SLR and a tripod, we all dressed in pastels and drove about an hour to get to the fields. Unfortunately we were about 3 weeks too early for blooming lavender! But we got creative and took some pictures anyway.

And we had to take one so we'd always remember 2020!

From Our Family to Yours

This year has been hard and in spite of everything that's happened we pray you have peace. Jesus came as a baby to bring just that, peace for all mankind. We need it this year for sure!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

June 2020

Ready

 I think we're ready for Christmas! Diana and Peter arrive tomorrow night, let the games begin!

Our kitchen floor had gotten so bad. Now we're saving up enough to do the entire upstairs.

Before

The elf is probably close to 60 years old. The arms and legs have wire in them and my mom used to hang him on something different every year!

 

 

This is one of my favorites, Santa kneeling at the baby Jesus.

I pray you have peace as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Memories Bring Back Memories Bring Back You

I just got back from San Diego and that song has been going through my head the last few days. Memories by Maroon 5. 

My dad died a year ago September and my sister's been so lonely. He moved in with her many years ago and his death has hit her hard. She came up here this summer and stayed for a few weeks, and she's taken her grandkids camping but for the most part she's completely alone now.

 I flew down this week to spend a couple of days with her and to help clean out our dad's shed. She had started to a few times but just couldn't do it so between the two of us we got it done in one afternoon.

 Before

After

We found old dishes and pots and pans that he had when he used to live alone; there was camping stuff and fishing gear. We even found these:

We don't believe he ever wore them, but there they were, among all the stuff in his shed! We threw out a lot of stuff and organized the rest. We were both surprised that we got it done in one day!

The next day we drove down to the cemetery and I got to see where he was interred.

I reached up and touched his name and started to cry. I looked over at my sister and she was crying too. It's surreal to see his name there. More than a year later and it's still hard to believe he's gone. My dad drove trucks for most of his life and his CB radio handle was Flying Eagle. He's interred at a military cemetery and there are planes and helicopters constantly flying overhead and I told my sister this was the perfect place for him. (Even though we know he's not really there. He's with the Lord now, probably talking His ear off about planes and motorcycles) 😇  

I Don't Think the Queen Would Have Approved

I bought tickets for Ally and I to go to the Museum of Flight but when our governor issued more restrictions, the museum closed and I got an email saying our tickets had been canceled and we'd get a refund. 😭 

I asked Sharaya if Ally could come over anyway and we had a tea party instead! I didn't really have time to shop for finger sandwiches and fancy cookies so I used what I had on hand.

Cheerios, M&Ms, mini marshmallows, cheese sticks cut up into cubes... unconventional but so fun!!

Familiar But Foreign

For 25 years our church has served a family style Thanksgiving dinner to our community. We have about 500 volunteers and they help serve more than 1400 meals.

Well obviously we couldn't do that this year so we decided to make it a drive-through the day before Thanksgiving so people could just heat it up the next day. We spent a week cooking everything, putting it into containers and then on Wednesday, a few volunteers packed it all into bags and we put it in peoples trunks. When all was said and done, we gave away 2300 meals.

 Picking up the pies at Costco. This is one of two pallets plus about 20 additional pies.

Walking into church on Wednesday morning I felt that old familiar excitement, knowing you were a part of something so much greater than yourself. But the day sure was different!

Chuck put the turkey in our oven before he left for church, then Sharaya and Ally came over and made mashed potatoes... then we had our family Thanksgiving when we got home.

We FaceTimed with Diana, played some board games, and watched The Muppet Christmas Carol - that's a tradition at our house!

This was the only picture I took:

 Was your Thanksgiving different this year?

Last Minute But Really Needed!

We decided to drive down to Portland on Saturday. The weather was supposed to be sunny and Chuck had the day off and we were ready for a change of scenery! Sharaya and Ally (she wants it spelled with a 'y' now) 😊 decided to come with us and we had such a great time!

First stop was a viewpoint overlooking the Columbia River.

That little dome was our next stop

This is Vista House, built in 1917 and it was so pretty up there but SO windy!! We could actually lean into the wind!

The trees were all like this, branches facing one direction!

 

 Can you see the one branch wrapped around the trunk?

 Next we were off to the waterfalls ~

Sharaya and I walked up this little path to get a better view

I needed a bit of nature this weekend.

Then it was off to the next one ~

I hope you all get a much needed break this week!

Some of us need them more than others!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!