The parents had a fun time gathering at Rachels house for pictures.
Don't they look nice?
They had dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.
Richard drove with him over to where the dance was being held this afternoon so he would know how to get there....OMSI over in Portland.
But being directionally challenged as he is (even with directions) they got lost and only arrived at the dance moments ago. It's an adventure they will always remember!!! (I couldn't wait to blog the pictures)
I'm slow at the game of tag.....my life is just hectic these days.......but here goes:)
We celebrated Mom's birthday over at Ron's new house. It was a beautiful day. We had a bbq on the back deck. Here's Mom with little Ronnie and Dana (Tami's daughter). Tami made a yummy angel food cake with a delicious homemade frosting. Mom looked beautiful in the new outfit Debi sent her.
The kids had a great time running around playing outside. I was pretty lame about taking pictures, so this is all you get. Here Bob and Ron enjoy posing for me:) When it got too cold outside we came in....below are Mom and Bob with Richard. Ron's house is beautiful...I wish I had taken one of the outside from the street. Next time:)
wow!! I CANNOT believe a year has passed since the BIG day!! Tonight as I was getting Mom out of my van as we returned home from her birthday party at Ron's house it was like a deja vu moment. It was exactly one year ago tonight that I was getting her out of my van (same time too) after Jenny and Logans wedding dinner the night before the wedding.
Thought you might like to see the cute treats I made for a recent church meeting. I had never made them before and was a bit timid about doing it. Turned out to be very easy.
You can buy the rolled refrigerated cookies from the store or use your own recipe. Roll out some dough....I used a large cup to cut them out. Bake, cool and frost with cream cheese frosting. (1 pkg. cream cheese at room temp., 1/2 c powdered sugar and 1 t vanilla)...choose whatever fruit you want. Ideas for fruit: strawberries, kiwi, mandarin oranges, canned pineapple bits, grapes. You can even be more creative than I was, but have fun!!! I had so much making them I plan on making more for the teachers at school next week.
This wouldn't post on the last blog, so scroll down for more on this. I got the idea for this when a mom in the band boosters made a sign that said "Jon Egan for President 2040"....she gave it to the band director and he apparently put it up in the band room. Jon never saw it....neither did I. So, I made my own to help celebrate his birthday:)
Jon has been very involved in politics this year, and he is finally old enough to vote.....it all started a few weeks ago when we found a birthday card with Hillary Clintons picture on it with a sentiment about how there were worse things than turning another year older. It all ballooned from there. 
Jon is.... should I say.... NOT a Hillary fan and gets upset just listening to her (his youthfulness comes out). A coworker of mine thought it would be funny if we decorated his room as if he were her #1 supporter. (Sorry to offend any Hillary fans out there but...fun is fun).
While Jon was at work, we decided to do it up big. Josh made this huge poster saying "Clinton Headquarters"....I decorated everything in red and blue streamers.
Richard got in on the fun by printing off Clinton for President signs. If you enlarge this one it even has a picture that he found with Hillary's body and Bills face imposed on it....a "Billary" picture it was called....
This was about all the fun he had with us for his birthday. He got home from work at 11:30 PM (too late, but luckily he only has 27 more days of school) and found this. The next day (his actual birthday) he was in Ellensburg WA for the State Solo and Ensemble competition. He was in a Brass ensemble....they came in 2nd) He was gone for 2 days and then it was back to work. We didn't have a party or anything.... took him out to dinner Saturday night. And because of the lateness of the hour we didn't get a single birthday picture of him:( 
We have Flat Stanley visiting us from Utah...our grandson Terran sent him to visit us. We have been showing him a grand time....so we take him places with us. (More about Stanley later...he's going home tomorrow.) Tuesday we went to Ft. Vancouver....which was the headquarters for the Hudsons Bay Company (British) beginning in the 1830's, which embraced present day British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Eventually it became American soil and by 1860 the Hudsons By company moved out of the Fort. By 1866 fire and decay had destroyed all the structures. Starting in 1947 archeologists have excavated the site of the original fort, recovering almost 2 million artifacts. The fort has been being reconstructed in it's original spot since 1966 and is a work in progress. It is a very popular site to visit in the Northwest. This is the actual fort, but the park is very large and on the 4th of July tens of thousands of people come down here to watch the largest fireworks west of the Mississippi.
As you can see, Stanley got in all the pictures. Joshua brought his friend Austin along with us. They had a great time. These are some cannons....you can see some of the fort in the background. During different holidays there are events here. At Christmas they have a candlelight tour and volunteers are dressed up in period costumes giving tours. There is a working blacksmith shop, a bakehouse, a trading post, a fur warehouse, a hospital, a carpenter shop, a jail and the home of Dr. John McLoughlin who was the head of the Company. 
The 1845 Bastion was built to protect the fort...the top floor (3 stories high) held 8 cannons. The fort was never attacked, and the cannons were mainly used to return the salutes of passing ships on the Columbia river....which parallels the fort.
And finally....this is the oldest apple tree in the northwest. It is very old and the leaves have not come on yet. There is a great walkway that goes from just next to the tree (close to the waterfront of the Columbia River), across the freeway and over to the fort. We had a very fun afternoon!!
Mt. Hood is about a 90 minute drive from Vancouver. This first picture is taken from Timberline lodge elevation 6000 ft. The top of Mt. Hood is 11,245ft. Vancouver is near sea level and we can see the mountain in it's majesty from home. But here, we just see the summit. It is BEAUTIFUL!!
Most all of the ski lifts are only open on weekends now, but we found this spot at Government camp where they rented tubes. Josh and I had a blast! It was very warm....I had dressed in every layer imaginable, but shed layers as the day wore on. I didn't even need a hat or gloves, it was so warm.
After spending a few hours there, we found out there was a place we could take our sled. Sleds were prohibited at the tubing place....this is at a place called Snow Bunny. There were some great hills and we spent several hours sledding, wiping out, and enjoying the warm sun.
Richard finally decided that bad back or not, he wanted in on the fun. He was an excellent sled driver. He made it down 3 times as smooth as ice. After we got to the car we ate the Subway sandwiches we bought and had in our cooler.....The drive home was breathtaking. It was a grand day!!!
It was true....it was a good friend to the boys. Jon and his friend Jared spent many hours climbing it and as the tree grew bigger, so did Josh. He loved the tree and he and his friends would dream of building rooms in the tree for a fort. One summer a few years ago, I consented, and build they did!!
Hours upon hours were spent, dragging wood from the neighbors houses. Hammering would begin early in the morning and go into the night. The front of our house looked like a wreck from all the hammers and nails and wood pieces strewn about our front yard out, but the kids loved the tree. (Forgive me if I might sound a little like Shel Silverstein)
As the boys grew older, they forgot about the tree and moved on to more exciting things.....but the tree stood giving shade to our home and as it got older it continued to bend. The tree was decorated on numerous occasions by neighborhood rascals, each time it got harder and harder to get the decorations out. It covered the house and one had to look very closely to see a house was even there.
Then one day, while the mother was gone, the tree came down. The mother had thought of the idea, but was unprepared for the sight as she drove in. Tears welled up in her eyes as she remembered all the memories the tree provided, but thankful that the tree had a good life....grateful that the tree was loved.
Goodbye tree. Thank you for all the love you showed my family....thank you for the beauty that you provided for our home.....thank you for the warmth that you will bring to another family on a cold winter morning in the not too distant future.
Josh cleaning a headstone.
Jon showing the younger boys what to do.
A Before picture
I even got in on the fun!!
On Saturday Feb. 9th we celebrated Dad's birthday. This is a very fun picture with the goodies Debi sent........We all had alot of fun playing with the toys!!
Notice the big smile on his face here with Aunt Sue and Aunt Adele. (Since HE is only 38 and they are much older)
Here he is with his most awesome children........though the OLDEST was not here. She's older than he is anyway, so it was for the best that she wasn't there to show him up:)...but we missed her!!
It's amazing that I am so energetic to post 2 blogs in one day!
OKAY.........this tells it all. My life is out of control. This looks somewhat orderly, but in my purse it is a nightmare!!! Piled in back by my purse, are coupons and reciepts and deposit slips. These are what keep my purse a mess. Then, there are the usual club cards, insurance cards, etc....they are tucked into a special place so I can always find them, but never can. This was a good day....I had a few dollars stuffed into a side pocket. The little coin/zippered thingy (as Jenny would call it) usually has coins in it....but at the moment we are saving every coin we get for our church history tour this summer. A baggie with a candy cane in case I need a quick breath freshner...cell phone...movie tickets from when Jenny was home a few weeks ago. There are hand cleaners, a bus schedule for the kids from work, a partially spent gift card from Debi and Mike (thanks guys) and oh yes....does it look like I have enough writing utensils?? The negatives are from Jennys wedding/bridal shower that I need to get copied for her..... theres a red yarn necklace with scrabble tiles on it that I wore at the scrabble tourney in December. AND....I CANNOT live without AT LEAST 2 lipsticks in my purse at all times. Also very important is my basic grocery list and 2 pages of my ongoing foodstorage list I keep with me at all times too (this is very important to my salvation) as well as my Temple Reccommend which is tucked in under the lists. That about does it. Judge for yourself........hopefully you won't be too hard on me. Hee Hee!!
We will stop in Fayette where the church was organized and then on to Palmyra where we will go to The Sacred Grove and attend the Hill Cummorah Pageant. (I meant to blog the picture of the Sacred Grove here, but just realized this is Joseph getting the gold plates from the Angel Moroni.) OOPS!!
Day 6 will take us to Niagara Falls and on to Kirtland, Ohio.
Day 8 we will drive 10 hours to Nauvoo Ill. where we will spend 3 days seeing so many special sites and driving to Carthage. We will attend the Nauvoo Pageant. Day 11 takes us 6 hours to Council Bluffs Iowa where we will spend the night after going to Winter Quarters Nebraska.
Our final trek will be to Far West, Gallatin, and Independence MO. where we will see Libery Jail and The Community of Christ Visitors Center and the Independence Visitors Center where my brother and Sister in law served their mission. We should have some time to go to Jamesport MO an Amish community near there. In all we will be gone for 15 days, flying across the country then driving 1900 miles, flying home from Kansas City MO. It will be a wonderful preparation for the boys to serve their missions, especially Jon who will be going next year.
