Future "In-Laws"???

We had hoped to travel to Washington this summer to visit the "Rowells". Unfortunately, due to a lack of vacation time, that didn't happen. So, I was very excited when I heard that they would be coming to Oregon to stay with Todd's family just an hour away. Of course, we had to visit, even for just an afternoon.

I have always teased that it would be wonderful for Amelia to fall madly in love with Nathan (shown above) and marry him, that way we truly would be family, just look how they are staring into each other's eyes, don't they make a cute couple?

It's hard to believe that Trevor was 4 or 5 years old when I first met him. One of my favourite photographs is of he and his brother Brandon and I, taken 9 years ago. Now he is old enough to babysit for Amelia. We share the same birthday, and have fun switching our ages pretending that he is the oldest and I am the youngest, next year I will 15. Seriously though, he is growing up to be a wonderful young man.

Tyler enjoyed a cuddle with Amelia too, although she was trying to escape most of the time, she is so wiggly these days.

Finally, Todd and Penny enjoy a little snuggle time with Amelia. It's funny how the tables have turned, not so long ago, it was I watching Penny with her babies, hauling around diaper bags and shopping for baby clothes together, now it's my turn, I am grateful for all of the "motherly" advice she shares with me.

While we were together, Penny and I made a beautiful necklace for her to wear on her trip to Hawaii. The inspiration was a pendant she had bought, it turned out really well.

Anyway, I think Amelia would make an excellent daughter-in-law for them, don't you?

We love you guys, it was so wonderful to see you!

Surprise Visit

One thing I have realized, as I have moved from the UK to California and then on to Oregon, is that even though you may not have contact with friends and loved ones every week, month or even every year, those special bonds you have formed do not disappear, and when you finally do reconnect, it is as though you have never been apart.

Last Sunday night I received a phone call, some dear friends of mine, Bonnie and Cam Davila were in Washington and planning to drive through Oregon, they wanted to visit us on their way to Klamath Falls. It was a nice surprise and so lovely to see them again after three years. Of course it was even more special since I was able to introduce them to Amelia.

We enjoyed dinner together and caught up with the latest "family news", it's amazing how much can change in such a short time. We took some photographs to remember the fun evening we shared together.

Sharing a smile.

Everybody say "cheese!"

Fun times.

I am grateful for wonderful friends, who have blessed my life in many ways!

Growing Up So Fast

Amelia is now 10 months old, and seems to do something new every day. She can now crawl 'properly' although still prefers the army crawl if she needs to get anywhere fast.

She is recognizing what words mean, and when I asked her where her book was, she went right over and opened up the front cover.

She now pulls herself up with ease (and the aid of a couch or leg whichever is closeby), I'm sure it won't be long before she is walking on her own.

She knows where her toys are kept and as you can see, likes to tip the whole tote over and get everything out. It was the funniest thing to watch because the tote is kept out of sight by the side of the chair, at one point all I could see were her two cute little feet sticking out from behind the chair, then after a couple of tugs, everything else came tumbling out.

She looks as if she's saying "can I help you?"

So many things to choose from...

Playtime is fun!

I hope this is not a sign of how tidy her room is going to be (or not) when she's older!

A Finance Family Picnic

I am blessed to have a good job which I enjoy very much. The people I work with are wonderful, so my colleague, Wendy-Lou, and I decided to organize the first annual "Finance Family Picnic".

With support from the Finance Managers, we reserved Bush Pasture Park in Salem and got busy making invitations and lists for the big event. Before we knew it, the day was upon us and last Saturday we enjoyed the fruits of our labours.

We had a great turnout of around 40 people, it was a day to share with spouses, children and grandchildren. The weather was fantastic and the location was perfect.

Darren and Brooks grilled up some tasty burgers and hot dogs!

Judy enjoyed visiting with her Grandchildren,

and Darren got his hug from Amelia.

Below, the three amigo's, Wendy-Lou, Teri and I pose for a picture.

Everybody brought a dish to share so there was lot's to eat, and the park was beautiful. We even had Safari gift boxes and balloons for the children, what fun!

I took lot's of family photo's to remember this fun day...

The "Bond" Family, including their nieces and nephew...

The "Fultz" Family

The "Finley" Family

The "Myers" Family

The "Hogle" Family

The "DuRee" Family

Our Family (of course you knew that)

The "Dankenbring" Family

Judy and Nancy

I cannot wait for next year, hopefully even more people will be able to join us. We had so much fun playing games, eating and socialising together.

All in all, it was a perfect day!

A Weekend Getaway To Seattle, Washington

Matthew, Amelia and I just got back from a fabulous weekend away in Seattle, even though it was just a couple of nights, it felt so good to get away. It was the "Seattle Seafair" and so there was a lot to do.

We left after work on Friday night and drove for about four hours to our Hotel in Bellevue (just outside of Seattle), it was a fairly new hotel called Hotel Sierra and was really great, we had a full kitchen in the room too which came in handy. As we were looking for our hotel, we also saw another great sight, the Seattle Washington Temple, just streets away.

On Saturday we got up and started our day with a trip to the Temple, it was closed for maintenance but it was still nice to drive around the grounds (we were going to get out and take photo's but Amelia had just fallen asleep and we didn't want to disturb her). Then we drove into Seattle, we passed Pike Market and decided to go on the tours of the Navy Ships, unfortunately, strollers were not allowed so we took it in turns to carry Amelia, it was a warm day and by the end of it I was pretty tired, but I'm glad we went, it was so interesting seeing the inside of them. We also went on a Coastguard's boat which is normally stationed at Astoria, Oregon which was interesting too.

Amelia and I hid from daddy...

Navigating our way across the Ocean...

At the end of the tour Amelia was hungry too, we laid her in the "boot" or "trunk" of the car, she looks pretty content, don't you think?

Afterwards, we went to see the Seattle Space Needle (see first photo), we didn't go up to the top of it, since it was $16 each, but we enjoyed the view from the ground. We decided to spend our money on "EMP" (Experience Music Project) and Science Fiction Museum instead, that was really great and we spent quite a bit of time there.

After getting some dinner we headed back to our hotel for some well deserved rest.

On Sunday, we got up early (well Amelia was actually the first one up - of course!) and headed to the Oberto factory. The whole reason we came to Seattle in the first place was because Matthew had been invited to attend a Seafair Party at the Oberto's lakehouse, (for all of you English folk, Oberto is a brand of beef jerky which Frito Lay distribute, Art and Dorothy Oberto are the owners who put on this party each year at Seafair time, they also have a hydro boat that races on Lake Washington) we couldn't really see the race very well, but from what I did see, they were super fast. We were shuttled to the lakehouse and that's where we spent the day, it was so much fun, we played bingo and Matthew and I actually won at the exact same time, of course, instead of calling "Bingo", you called out "Jerky". One of the highlights was watching the "Blue Angels" put on a show (Navy Planes), they flew right over our heads and were so loud, Amelia didn't seem too phased by it and although we plugged her ears the best we could, she seemed intrigued by the big blue "birds" in the sky - they were amazing. We enjoyed good food, good company, fabulous weather and all round had a great day!

Amelia wears an "Oberto" hat (for a minute anyway).

Hmmm, she probably shouldn't be chewing the balloon!

If you click on the photo above, you will see the detail on the "Blue Angel" planes even clearer.

Below, Matthew and Amelia watch the show.

Amazing!!!

Not giving in to sleep, Amelia was pretty tired by the end of the day!

Around 4pm we headed home, we could have stayed later but wanted to get home and settle before going to work the next day. Amelia slept the entire journey home, I even caught a few zzz's myself.

So you see, we had a blast, and now have even more places to take our visitors, hint, hint!!