HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!

Life has been in a whirl since Grandpa Cameron passed away and I nearly missed blogging my favorite girl's birthday SO..... I grabbed a few random pictures to share a few memories. Time is speeding by....She turned one so long ago....
then before I knew it she was cleaning the bathroom...she had such a way with doing her chores. I remember taking this picture of her singing with her rubber gloves on like it was yesterday:)
....and spending months learning to dance latin style for the dance festival. Now she is married in her own brand new home (lucky girl) and a baby on the way. Like I said....time is speeding by:)
HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY JENNY!!!

Homecoming

I wish I had taken my camera out for our arrival home today. As we walked past the security gates into the main terminal at the airport we were greeted by friends and family , television cameras and more. I got teary eyed as we heard the cheers for our kids. Josh was pulled over right away and interviewed by a local radio station KEX 1190, so he missed the television cameras. After the months of preparation, the trip has come to an end. Before I tell about "Inauguration Day" here are some pictures of our time in DC. This is as close as we could get to the Lincoln Memorial. It's hard to believe, but there were tons of people in front of us...so many we could easily have been lost in the crowd and separated.
This is how the mall looked on Sunday morning...not many people. Just 4 hours later it was nearly PACKED with people....250,000 people from this end to the front of the Lincoln memorial on the other end. You can see the huge television screens. Obama's motorcade going to the Arlington National Cemetery...we got out of our busses and took pictures. Notice the officers are standing at attention.
The Washington monument also before the concert started and people came in droves. The Lincoln Memorial is where the concert was, and it is on the other side of the monument.
As we waited on Monday morning in the very frigid outdoors to get into the National Archives, Josh and some others passed the time by playing a game .
Some of our chaperones, braving the cold waiting to enter The Archives.
This does NOT do justice to how many porta potties there were. They say there were 5,000, but it looked more like a million. They were EVERYWHERE!!!!

Day 3 and the Declaration of Independence

Another wonderful day!!
As I write it is nearly 10PM and the kids are out in the hotel parking lot practicing, so I have to hurry before they get done.

It was very cold as we waited in line to get into The National Archives, but well worth it:) We saw The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence and The Bill of Rights to name a few. The Constitution was worn and fading. I so thought of Jon and wished he was here, because all of those things mean so much to him.

We spent a few hours walking to the memorials......The Lincoln Memorial was closed to walking up to because of concert yesterday, but we did get pictures. We saw the Vietnam Memorial, The world War 2 Memorial (which was absolutely beautiful and moving). As we walked the memorials, loudspeakers were re playing the concert from yesterday, and Denzel Washington gave a very moving speech, and my friend Michelle and I were crying as we felt the patriotism of our country. We didn't make it to the Jefferson Memorial because of our time restrictions, and we were sad at that, BUT we decided NOT to complain about it since after all, we are here to march for The President of the United States.

This evening we went to a Midevil Dinner....a BLAST!!! The kids really got into it.

I forgot to mention as we drove in on Tuesday night the first thing we saw was The Washingtonb Temple. It was so beautiful!!!!

Gotta go, the kids are done. Josh is on an end....his horn is silver with a big bell.

Love you all......

Day 2

I'm unable to post pictures from this computer....BUMMER!!!
Our Day in Review:
Cool Things about today:

1. Arlington National Cemetery - we saw the Kennedy Gravesites

2. Smithsonian Mall was INCREDIBLE!! We were all able to wander at our own leisure.
I think my group went into 4 museums....we got to see Dorothy's red slippers, gowns of the past first ladies, planes and spaceships, The Hope Diamond....to name a few.

3. There was a HUGE concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial...there were 1/2 a million people...There a huge screens set up all over the Mall as it's called where you could watch it. It was HARD not to get caught up into the whole thing.

4. We saw Obama's motorcade as it went by to Arlington National Cemetery. Our busses were stopped and like 30 police cars, motorcycles, and secret service cars were in between his limo. We were able to get out of our busses and stand along the sidewalk and take pictures.

Which brings me to the UnCool thing about today:

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the changing of the Guard was closed because Obama was going there.

Great Day....Very exciting......Awesome experience!!!

We've Arrived!!

Well, it was a VERY long day. We flew from Portland to SanFrancisco where we had a long layover. Everywhere we went people were congratulating us and wishing us luck in the parade. Josh had a pretty hard time of it with his anxiety, but we got through it. On the second leg of our flight, we met an angel lady named Helen, who visited with Josh and she got the airlines to take Josh up in the cockpit and meet the captain before the flight. There was a delay while they took fuel off the plane, apparently it was too full.
We arrived in DC just before 10:00. We are now in our hotel, where they fed us pizza and got everyone settled.
Tomorrow is a busy day!!

We're Off.......

Stay Tuned.....
I'll try to blog while in Washington DC:) If not, see you when we get back:)
Okay, so I need to change the date...and I'm posting 5 hours before we actually leave, but you get the drift!!

Parade and Proclamation

Seventy Six Trombones led the big parade.............
Well, maybe it was not TOO big, and there were only SOME trombones........today the city had a very short parade with OUR marching band as a send off to the Inuagural Parade. Grandma and Grandpa Cameron came. Richard was on the street cheering the kids on. I waited in the park with G&G for the band to arrive.
The kids started off from an elementary school down the road from this city park. They were escorted by a veterans colorguard and some vietnam veterans on their motorcycles. They marched into the park playing their song "Washington My Home" our state song.
There were dignitaries, speeches, free Krispy Kream donuts and an official proclamation declaring next Tuesday, Jan. 20th, Evergreen High School Marching Band and Colorguard Day. This is our director Mr. Kuske, thanking the city for the outpouring of support they have given us.
Cousin Jane was very sweet to come and support Joshua and the band. It had been a beautiful day, but by now it was getting quite chilly. We were all getting cold.....a small sacrifice:) The kids got back onto busses, and we headed back to the school, loaded up the equipment and our luggage (it's being driven by truck to save money).... then the kids ate pizza and MORE Krispy Creams!! We're flying out bright and early Saturday morning.
I'm so glad Josh will have this experience AND that I will experience it with him!!!

Christmas has come and gone, New years has passed........

While I have been very flakey about posting, I have loved reading everyones blogs even though I haven't had any motivation for posting. Call me LAZY!!!

Our Christmas was very nice...it was a most beautiful white Christmas, snowing a good part of the day. We spent time with both sets of Grandparents on Christmas Day as well as our Christmas Eve tradition with Art and Marilyns family.
I was whining about not having a snowman so Jon and Josh built me one...isn't he cute????


The boys ended up in a snowball fight and dragged me into it in the process.

AND....this icicle was 40 inches long that was hanging on Art and Marilyns house.
AMAZING!!!

You may be wondering why my blog is patriotic. Just getting ready for Josh and my trip to the Presidential Inauguration as he marches in the parade with The Evergreen High School Marching Band. We leave in 11 days!!!

The "White" Before Christmas.........

I was going to tell about our harrowing ride home from Rexburg last weekend, but that was so long ago. Let's just say that it was a white knuckle drive with overturned cars and closed passes and blizzard like conditions. We are home safe and sound and we brought the weather home with us.It's basically been snowing since last week here, though Vancouver didn't get much the first time around. We did miss 2 days of school, but only because they didn't want to chance people sliding off the road. Yesterday we couldn't escape it. Yesterday it was fun snow....today it is ICE.. Here, Josh broke off a chunk and is holding it.It snowed all day....mostly a very fine snow, but it was very windy. It caused the snow to come up onto our porch, which looked very pretty.
Here it is on our porch railing...I thought it was so beautiful mixed in with the garland I have wrapped around it.
This morning church was cancelled because it was solid ice outside. Isn't this bush pretty with the ice formed on it's branches???
We have icicle lights on our house....look at the REAL icicles formed on the gutters inbetween them.
This is in our back yard. The snow drifted on the back roof and here it is hanging frozen OVER the gutter. It's in midair....really cool!!
Not much shopping is happening here. Not good for the economy....but we are enjoying the white "before" Christmas.

Jenny The Graduate

It was with much perserverence that Jenny attained her Bachelor of Science in History last Friday night. She worked very hard, went through fun times and trials, her marriage to Logan and now....the payoff.

Richard, Josh and I drove to Rexburg and met up with Jenny, Logan and Jessell last Thursday. We had a fun time visiting, picking up Jon at his dorm and eating Jack in the Box from the drive through. The weather was very windy and cold. Before graduation on Friday we took everyone to Applebees for lunch.

Commencement was Friday night. Jenny was on the very front row and could almost touch the speakers...President Clark of BYUI....and President Uchtdorf of the First Presidency of the Church, who was the keynote speaker. The talks were WONDERFUL!!


There were nearly 1100 graduates. Here she is as they filed out after commencement. Since she was on the first row, she was the last to leave. The graduates then broke into their different colleges...she was in The College of Language and Letters, where she received her diploma cover (the diploma is mailed to them).
Here she is with Jessell....her lifelong friend who had flown to Salt Lake and drove with them to Rexburg. CONGRATULATIONS JENNIFER THE GRADUATE!!!!!!

p.s.......stay tuned for the story of the harrowing drive back home:)

More Excitment Than I Can Take............

Rarely do I get so wound up....but this has been a red letter week:) My heart is racing and I'm very giddy with happiness. With so many things in the world going wrong, it's good to get some good news.

FIRST: Yesterday Joshua participated in a DECA mini conference at school. All of the marketing classes took a written test and did a role play where they were judged. Jon also participated in this last year. Josh was hoping to win an award, but I knew that being a Freshman, the chances were slim. Today were the awards and he didn't go because he didn't want to miss any classes (it was during school). People were coming up to him all day congratulating him, and he wasn't sure why. WELL.....he won 1st place in the role play with a score of 99/100. He placed 2nd overall from all the classes. Now he will go on to the area conference with hopes of going to state from there. He was so excited with his ribbons and awards. It just makes me happy to know he is finding his way in high school and having experiences that will help raise his self esteem.

SECOND: We got word today that the Evergreen Marching Band has been chosen out of 1400 bands to march in the Inagural Parade in Washington DC!!!!!!!!!! We have been planning this since last year. Even though I didn't vote for the President elect, this is a most exciting (and a bit scary) event. I will be chaperoning and we will be seeing ALOT of sights. The media from all over Washington and Oregon have been calling our band director for the past month wanting exclusive rights to our story should we be selected. Papparazi here we come!!!

THIRD: Jenny is graduating from college next week and we will be bring Jon home from Rexburg.

Like I said.....a great week:)

22nd Annual Shopping Day.............

Boo Hoo!! I can't believe another day after Thanksgiving shopping day with Melanie is all done!! I wait all year for it and I get sad before it ever starts, knowing it will end all too soon:(
(See November 2006 post for more details)
Melanie and I had new matching sweaters again this year. The picture we took before we left the house (@3:50am) didn't look too good, so I'm not posting it. She had someone take one of us while we waited in line at GI Joes, but it's on her camera phone and she doesn't know how to send it to my computer.
We couldn't believe how CRAZY we were to get up so early this year. But, we decided to get going while the going was good, and with 2 1/2 hours sleep we rolled out of our beds and headed down the road. 12 hours later, we said our goodbyes. We have been shopping like this for 22 of the 35 years we've been friends.
It's always fun to run into so many people I don't always see throughout the year as they too are crazy like we are.
We were much more conservative this year than in years past, buying more necessities than anything else, but we had a grand time. Donuts and juice at Fred Meyer's, breakfast at Jack in the Box and lunch at Sweet Tomatoes.....the important stuff you know!
May you all have a wonderful beginning to the holidays. Around here, Josh is keeping us on our toes....he begged us to get our outside lights up before Thanksgiving and is now pushing me to get the inside done. My life would be very boring without him:)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

I will eat my share of turkey on Thursday, but honestly....aren't turkeys beautiful!!
I'm thankful for all my many blessings........for everything I have comes from Heavenly Father. It would take my entire blog to list all the things I am thankful for, but you can relate because I know you are thankful too:)

WHAT???????

I know this is a strange picture to post....... but I'm sure some of you can relate to it!!
I don't know if it's that I turned another year older on Saturday BUT........
I was teaching a primary class of 11-12 year old girls for a friend of mine on Sunday and I noticed they all had black shoes on. I casually mentioned that we all had black shoes on and I lifted up my feet as I said it, only to be MORTIFIED that I DIDN"T have 2 black shoes....I had ONE BLACK rounded toe and ONE BLUE square toed shoe on!!! This picture does not do the situtation justice (click on it to enlarge and get a better view). The girls and I had a good laugh and as we walked to sharing time I walked between the girls so they could hide my feet:)
I am so silly!!!!

The Seasons of Life

The seasons continually pass by. Another fall is here. The air is moist and crisp and has the smell of burning logs on the fire. Time is just speeding by, but I still enjoy the seasons. That is....the seasons of life. The kids are growing and leaving home. Our house is down to 3...but life is still very full. I get tired, but I wouldn't trade my life for anything!! Every day is filled with something new.
The weekend after my trip to see "The College Guy", Jenny surprised her Dad and Josh with a visit. I knew about it, but she came earlier in the morning and surprised me too!
Our time together was short. We had Friday and most of Sunday to catch up on things. Saturday I was heavily involved with the marching band competition our school was hosting, so Jenny spent the day with friends.
On our only free Saturday of the month Josh wanted to go to get a pumpkin. I figured he was in high school now, so we could just go to the store to get it. Instead, he wanted to go to Bizi Farms, where we've gone to get pumpkins a few times before. I told him he could invite a friend, but he said he was fine just going with me.
I thought what a lucky mom I am, that my 14 year old son would want to spend time going to a pumpkin patch with me. It's not just a place to get pumpkins. He spent time climbing and crawling on the huge haystack they have there. We had fun time trying to catapult pumpkins into big barrels. Josh got one in, but it split as it hit the side. There are prizes if it goes in.
We had a great time in the corn maze, which took about 45 minutes to get through. I had never been through one before. There's always a first time for everything.....and right now, we are throughly enjoying this season of our lives.

Visit to see "The College Guy"

Well, I had a great time visiting Jon. Ericka and I were a tamed down version of Thelma and Louise. It seemed like the 12 hour drive just flew by. We had fun chatting all the way. I got to go to 2 classes with him on Friday...we watched an extra credit movie in Psycology titled "Happiness" and I met his professor in Pre-Law. He was a funny old man. He even gave me the quiz the kids were taking. I was huffing a puffing everywhere we went. I feel so out of shape!! I ran into my old friend Stephanie Crain AGAIN....I've seen her every year I've gone to Mothers week. She lives in New Hampshire. I got to check out the dorm room, which was very clean and tour the building to see where laundry and stoves were.
I took Jon alot of groceries and a big pumpkin filled with candy. I asked him to sit here so I could get a picture of him in his room. I took him and Josh (his roomie) to the store. I was able to give him a haircut too!!Saturday we did some shopping and went to the mother/son banquet with Ericka and William. It was delicious.

Here's our group Sat. night after the Natalie McMaster concert we went to after dinner. She is a fiddler and plays Irish type music. It was wonderful!! Ericka's daughter Brooke (where we stayed) came along for the concert. Brooke babysat for Jenny and Jon when they were little. She lives in Parker just outside of Rexburg and we stayed at her house.
These are Brooke's 2 adorable kids Savannah and Hudson. They liked playing a chase game with me. Sunday I went to church with Jon and he got set apart for 2 callings he's recieved. After church we went to Brooke's where I had put Cafe Rio on for dinner. Then we played games until Jon and William went back to campus.
This is Biscuit....Brookes dog. He lives outside on their property and we couldn't even go outside without being jumped on. We were quite a sight to see as we tried to get to the house from the car and visa versa. He is cute...but watch out!! We woke up Monday morning to a little snow. It was actually very cold our entire stay. The wind blew like crazy and it snowed every day. It just never stuck. I was in my thermal's every day. The temperature highs were like 34 and lows into the 20's....but with the wind chill it was very cold!!
On our way home there was more snow near Pocotello. It was beautiful. We passed through the mountains with no snow at all. It was toasty when we got home (like in the 50's) I was so glad I went....I LOVE YOU JON!!!

I'M OFF.............

Between work, marching band, and church, I've had no time to blog.......
BUT NOW.....I'm off to see "The College Guy"

See you soon:)