Camping

We were invited to go camping by some of Dennis' cousins. We were there for 2 nights over a weekend. Whenever I have the opportunity to go camping and it's just for a weekend, it never seems long enough. I have extremely fond memories of my mom and aunt taking us kids camping for a whole week in the summer time. We would anticipate our journey, our time there and even have to take a seat out of the van to accommodate all of our camping gear. We got dirty, dusty, sunburnt, smelled like campfire smoke, rode in paddle boats ... such wonderful memories. Since reaching adulthood I haven't taken the opportunity to camp for one whole week. It is on my list and possibly one summer in my future I can do just that. We did have a wonderful time camping for this weekend! We went to Ft. Stevens State Park in Astoria, OR. We went to shipwreck beach and Dennis dove into the ocean water. It was super cold so my feet were the only part of me to get wet. We're looking forward to camping again - maybe sometime this summer or next summer even! If you like camping, let us know we could get a group to camp together! ;)

Mary brought part of her stamp collection. She and her niece spent some time stamping and coloring.

Campfire coffee. Probably the best beverage there! Dennis made it for me and it was super tasty!
Another shot of the campfire coffee with the fire going.

Not many pictures were taken but that's because we were having such a great time there wasn't time to take pictures! :)

Parma convention

We had the privilege of going to Parma for the weekend again this year. Neither of us took too many photos while there but we did capture some pics of sweet Ava! Ava sat with us for a couple of meetings and was so quiet. I was super impressed for an almost 2 year old how well she was/is behaved. Oh and on our way there, the moon was so spectacular that we had to stop and take pictures of it. Of course the pictures weren't even close to what the real moon looked like that evening. Jenny and Ava rode home with us and that was a lot of fun.

The moon with a train going by - it was super noisy but also an awesome sight!

Ava with my polk a dot umbrella
Again, Ava playing with my umbrella

Spinning with my umbrella - she is so adorable!
Eating goldfish crackers in our tent!

A close up of her eating goldfish crackers in our tent!

Thanks again for coming home with us J&A! And, thanks for washing our pickup - that was a treat! :) Looking forward to next time or next year! ;)

Some sewing projects

Recently I have been wanting to work on some sewing projects. I thought that I'd try to make skirts for Rowena, Mari and Katelynn before Devon convention this year. Instead of doing just the Oliver + S lazy days skirt pattern I decided to do that pattern with some additions. I found some matching material and made some skirts that have panels. They turned out so super cute. Then I thought about adding ruffles and bows to some skirts and I love the way the pink skirts turned out! Maybe I should start taking orders? :) Naw, not sure that I could sew little girl skirts and sell them - I think that would take the fun all out of it.

Purple and green panel skirts. Super easy to make and really cute too.

These skirts are my favorite. Lazy days skirt pattern on the top and ruffle sewn onto the bottom. The ruffle is 2 times the width of the bottom of the skirt. It was also my first time attempting anything with a ruffle!
The ruffle skirts hanging up
Rowena's ruffle skirt - her's has the pink bow!

Mari's skirt - with the purple bow
Katelynn's skirt with the yellow bow!

Weekend in Boise

We went to Boise over Memorial Day weekend. We had a wonderful time. We arrived really early Saturday morning. Later that morning, Jenny, Dennis and I met Lenora, Jon and Tamara at the Saturday Market, Jenny. Jon and Tamara know where all the good food sample booths are! If you are ever hungry on a Saturday morning and in Boise, just ask J&T to take you to the Saturday market! :) Later Saturday afternoon, Dennis, Lloyd and Jon went shooting, while Jenny, Tamara and I went shopping. Sunday we went to meeting and then we all went shooting. All of us include: Lloyd, Jenny, Eric, Lenora, Jon, Tamara, Dennis and I. So, of course there will be some shooting pictures attached to this post! We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to our next time over there to see family.

Dennis and Lloyd cleaning their guns

Jon and Tamara

Gathering around the computer watching Grandpaw's toot toot. Dennis' grandpa made a steam engine train and drove it in Shelby, MT. Seriously! Youtube it! :)

Tamara playing with or looking at a gun! (In fact, that's my gun that she and Jon are looking at)

Tamara checking for bullets in the gun (I think) :)

Jenny shooting

Jon teaching Tamara how to shoot

Tamara shooting a big gun! :)

Setting up our guns, getting ear plugs put in, etc

Dennis shooting a rifle (black powdered, I think)

Dennis shooting a pistol

Eric shooting a rifle

Lenora shooting a pistol (black powdered I think)

Dennis shooting with his AR-15 (again, I think)

So, as you can see, unfortunately most of my pictures from this trip include guns, shooting, etc ... Maybe next trip over there there'll be pictures of beautiful scenery, friends. We did have a wonderful weekend (in spite of all the guns and loud bangs).

Evening with the Waldo's

So we finally broke down and got a Wii. We haven't played it too much nor have we bought any games that didn't come with it. We have had fun with it though and had Don, Jenny and Ava over while it was still fairly new. Here are some pics of our fun evening.

I think Ava may be ready to be a big sister. The doll: Emily Sue - some of you may remember her! I think I got her when I was 5 years old and she is still my favorite doll!
Dennis and Don playing the Wii

Um, carrying a baby by the neck? Maybe Ava isn't ready to be a big sister yet ...
Oh no, Ava you aren't supposed to carry real babies by their feet. Maybe some more time will be good for her!

Ava sitting in a chair looking all grown up.

Well, she sort of is grown up. She is not even 2 yet and knows her ABC's by sight and the song, can count to 10, is starting to know her colors, repeats most everything a person says AND she can say FRAPPUCCINO! Yeah, my kind of girl. Oh and not to mention that her mom is a very good friend of mine and Ava herself is so cute. We are super sad they are moving away but we'll be sure to visit as often as we can!

On a nice sunny day, Jenny, Ava and I headed to the Oregon Ag festival. We had a lot of fun - ended the day with shopping! There were lots of neat animals, not too many pictures on here of them, though because Ava didn't want to touch them and she is cringing in most of the pics! :) We had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to going again someday.

Ava checking out the chicks.

Ava sitting in an 'egg' chair

Ava sitting on a cow

We got to watch a sheep being shorn. It was pretty amazing.

More of the wool is gone

There is the sheep's wool

Ava's favorite thing to do. She loves to push her stroller, push grocery carts in stores. I think she needs her own baby stroller and shopping cart to push!

Ava holding Roscoe - a stuffed pear.

Jenny and Ava on a horse drawn carriage

The pretty horses with Jenny and Ava

The pretty horses.

A huge tractor with Ava and myself

There were swimming pools filled with corn. Ava could have spent hours in there if we would have let her. I actually think she may have played in there for 45 minutes.

Ava burying her leg in the corn!

It was a great day. We followed it up with going to Target, Craft Warehouse and Wal Mart! Oh and Starbucks on the way home! What a great day!

Sale at Gymboree!

Sale at Gymboree! I happened to look at Gymboree's website today and saw that everything in the store is on sale for $12.99!!! Happy shopping mom's grandma's, and aunties! gymboree.com