Memorial Day

We invited people over for a bbq on Monday to celebrate my birthday, Dylona's birthday and Memorial Day. I enjoyed the beautiful day, in my backyard, in the sunshine with my friends and family. It doesn't get better than that!

beautiful day to be outside on the deck!

and hang out on the hammock

Makena & Sydney decorating the cake

Renee & Sydney brought Dallas over to play with Moxie

yummy cake

Jamie and I had spent Sunday doing "our list" around the house. We got a ton of stuff done - thanks Honey! It was nice to finally have my house clean again, it's been a while. It was also nice to have things ready around the house before everyone came over on Monday.

Great Wolf Lodge

My Girl Scout troop sold cookies this year so that they could spend time at Great Wolf Lodge. We were originally going to spend 2 nights, but when they learned that it would save them at least $350 to only stay one they changed their minds. I really must be teaching them something!

We left around 11am on Friday (there wasn't school that day) and arrived in time to check in, have lunch and go to the water park. Makena still wasn't feeling her best, so I went back to the room with her a couple of times to rest.

waiting to get in to the water park

Makena & Hailee at the arcade

she loves me and my camera!

coloring at dinner I wouldn't let her drink it until I got a picture : )

It was a bit expensive, but the girls all had a great time! And, they even have some money left over to do something else this summer. I felt that the girls were safe in the water park - a big concern that I had - and were able to enjoy Great Wolf Lodge.

A few things

1. I found a new show that I'm loving called 'I want to save your life.' http://www.wetv.com/save-your-life/index.html
2. Don't forget to visit Burgerville on Sunday, May 31 - Burgerville is donating 10% to their local Relay For Life Event. Go to http://relay.acsevents.org/site/DocServer/BurgervilleFlier.pdf?docID=88509 to print out the flyer first so that the donation can be credited!
3. I'm going to a Pampered Chef party tonight! 15% of the total sales will go to Relay For Life of Beaverton. If you are interested in placing an order, go to http://www.pamperedchef.biz/brendaskitchen?showId=2068457
4. If you haven't visited it yet, go to http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/ for some good laughs!
5. I did get my garden planted on Monday! I actually made the garden space a bit bigger - and need to get some additional bricks - but am now just waiting for the goodies! I also have a few herbs in a pot and strawberries in another.

Walden Island - Day 43 to 47

Catching up:

We had a 'work party' up at the lake to get the boat house started. The guys did a lot of work! THANK YOU - Chad, Cousin, Chris & Jason!!! I did some work too, but not much. : )

We brought up stuff to make Kylah & Kallie a little sandbox to play in.

what do you think she's thinking about?? hehehe...I asked Kallie to 'cheese me' and this is the face!

Jamie went up to the lake on Mother's Day weekend to start the boat house. Neil (our neighbor and who we are sharing the boat house with) and Jamie dug the holes and got the pilings in.

how it looked with the pilings in Jamie driving in one of the pilings - they all got to take turns : )

all in

Kylah wanted to go for a walk in the 'forest'. We didn't end up going the way she wanted and then she got poked by a sticker bush so I had to carry her back to the shed. I did get a couple of pictures before tho...

then I took some pictures later...after the ouwie was better

dinner time!

Leah & T playing SkipBo

We did get to get to play a bit on Sunday. Chad, Cousin & Leah went out for a while on the wave runners. Then Chris & Kris went out while Jamie and I went in the boat.

Krissy

Chris

'Bat-dog'

'the garage' was built!

we now have a real bed - and I brought up my new, cute table

There was a Celebration of Life for Lorraine on Sunday. Lorraine has been on the island for years - her daughter KC lives in the yellow house in front of us and they all live on the island full-time. Lorraine was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in February and passed, in her sleep, with her family and on her island, in May. She said that no one was to wear black or show up on the island in funeral clothes - she will be missed by family and friends.

Jamie and I stayed until Monday afternoon, we still had a few things left to finish. Hopefully we'll be headed back up there this coming weekend!

My NEW screen

I did get my screen painted (from antiquing on Mother's Day Weekend) and am loving it...

The green is probably more like the shade in the photo above. I painted chalkboard paint on two sides.And if you can't remember...it was this ugly orange shade before. I did like the aqua (a little) but just couldn't keep it. I painted the boarders white, but did leave the hinges the aqua.

Grab a tissue

One of the blogs that I follow is Mark Horoszowski's Blog - A Volunteer's Guide to Changing the World. You have to read his post yesterday (click above). It's a wonderful story of a Father & Son - Team Hoyt.

Oh yah...grab a tissue!

Momma's Yard

I love walkng around in my Mom's yard...there are so many cute things to find!

Simplicity Part 2

My sister was laughing at me this weekend about my previous Simplicity post. She was laughing at me even more when I found these great items while shopping over the weekend!

1. The white table was too cute to pass up! It has wheels, a small drawer, and two leaves. I'm thinking it will be a nice addition at The Shed.
2. The highchair is actually my birthday present from my sister. So cute & loved! It's going to look even better upstairs in my hallway!
3. The shutter I found at the dump - it's in great condition and only $2! I'm going to use it to hang pictures on. When I first saw it, I thought it would look great by my desk - now I'm thinking it'll look great in our living room. Who knows... :)
4. The screen...well it's a horrible color but I have a vision! A fresh coat of paint and it will look great in the front room, by my treadmill! As soon as we move the futon out of the room (I can't wait!) and get a comfy new chair in there, it will be like a little reading room off of my office.
5. There were a few little things that didn't make it in the picture, either because they were too small to see or because I haven't finished creating them. More to come...

Mothers Day Weekend

Makena still wasn't feeling well on Friday, so we were hoping to head to Garibaldi early. Somehow...it never ends up that way...I had to mow, pack, work and do some shopping. We arrived early evening; T & Chad had gotten there on Thursday and Gram was over for a visit. We decided to start celebrating Mother's Day right away!

My sister started it (as usual) by breaking out gifts. She had gotten this beautiful necklace made - one for me, one for her and one for Mom - it has our initials on it. So sweet and something I will cherish.

you can tell this is my neck by all the freckles : )Then Momma got out our birthday presents to open up early too!

love her! Woodstock record (also the first record Mom owned) cute new apron

Gram's turn for some Mother's Day gifts
Momma's turn - I had a photo scrapbook made of her and Rudy

love this!

On Saturday, Chad and Rudy went golfing while Mom, T and I went shopping! There was a new antique shop in town that Momma wanted to show us and I wanted to make my usual trip to Wheeler Station Antiques. T & I found some great stuff!! (More on that in another post.)

Jamie surprised us by showing up at Wheeler Station - he had been at the lake since early Friday morning. We're getting a boat house folks! (More on that later too.)

lots going on in Momma's little house - can you guess where I was sitting?

T & I decided to go to CartM's (the dump/recycling center in Nehalem) on Sunday. More GREAT finds! Jamie, Chad and Rudy went golfing again, while Makena and Mom hung out at home. T & Chad usually leave early on Sundays, so it was nice to spend the extra time with my sister.

After golf, Jamie wanted to help with a few things around the house. Momma had found something that she wanted mounted on the house - Jamie said "No problem", Rudy said "No way" - and so it began...

Momma loves it!

We headed home a short time later. Makena and I stoped at a waterfall to take more pictures (again, another post) and arrived home around 6:30pm. Jamie made 'dinfast' (breakfast for dinner) and we tried to get to bed early. What a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!!

My sister also has a bunch of pictures that am patiently (anxiously) waiting to see.

I've noticed lately that the pictures I load from my laptop are much darker when I view them on my computer. And...Blogger is killing me again with the editing!! I double space and it doesn't show up that way...I center and it left indents. Oh...nothing is ever easy anymore!