Ivie's 3rd Birthday Party

On Saturday, Carol and I left the island and headed to Cornelius for Ivie Rose's 3rd Birthday party. It was a gorgeous day - Tracie had the pool out for the kids and goodies out for the adults.

This is what happens when TeaLee says she doesn't like her picture taken anymore : )

Kallie Bug drawing with sidewalk chalk - then asked me to take a picture of it. Love that!
fun times in the pool

Logan loved the pool!

so did Ivie!

yummy cake

this is what happens when we sing to Ivie Rose

and this is what happens when I ask her to say 'cheese'

presents!!

We love you Ivie Rose - Happy 3rd Birthday!!

Walden Island Day 53, 54 & 55

We headed back up to the lake on Friday. And, we actually left before noon! We had a few stops to make though, so we didn't arrive at our planned time. Oh well...it's always there waiting for us. : ) Carol hadn't seen The Shed since her last visit in June 2008. A LOT of changes since then!!

a new sign my Momma got me "Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder" - love it!

a new Relay sign I got for The Shed too - and a flying pig (in the left corner)

after getting everything unloaded & organized, I was off to the hammock!
Moxie likes the hammock too
finally...time for a fire
Moxie likes to be covered up when it's cold out : )

We got up early on Saturday (well, earlier than we usually do at the lake) so we could get to work. I needed to leave by 1pm to go back in to town for Ivie Rose's 3rd bday party, and had lots to do.

First things first...burn those piles! Look Jason, I did it!

Jamie had a lot (150) holes to drill with his new Mag Drill

Carol and I didn't get back from Oregon until around 7:30pm. Jamie had gotten all of the holes drilled and was even making us some dinner.

We weren't as eager to get up early on Sunday. We watched a movie and relaxed a bit before heading out to work on the boat house again. I burned another pile before heading down to help Jamie dig out around the boat house. We had to dig out between each post another 15" - NOT fun in that muck! Because the water level is still dropping, we'll have to wait to screw in the bottom two boards for a month or so.

looks like the first hole wasn't as deep as it needed to be

more digging

I'm not sure why I was smiling, I wasn't having fun.

I wouldn't usually post such a flattering picture of myself, but I'm not in many photos - working.

Carol helping Jamie as he screws in the boards

The first wall is almost done!

We did get the first wall completed, and it looks great!! I had already packed up my camera, so I'll have to show a 'final' picture of the first wall later.

Beautiful Friday

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day today here in Oregon. Later though, we'll be headed up to the lake - in Washington. Hopefully the sunshine follows!

As you can see in previous posts, Relay For Life of Hillsboro was last weekend. It took me a few days to get caught back up on my sleep, and it seemed like the weekend went by quickly. The week seems to have gone by quickly too...my desk is getting buried in paperwork again! : (

I finally got caught up on my photography class yesterday, I had missed the first three classes. Luckily the classes are online and I have two weeks to do each assignment. I had taken enough pictures at Relay to submit for each week though. I do have to say that I enjoyed my classroom photography class much better. There isn't really one-on-one training with the online class and we can only submit 3 pictures per assignment. ONLY 3 - can you believe that?!? The instructor does look at each assignment and give his opinions and advice.

Makena signed up for the Summer Reading Program at the library again this year. She's already read 10 books of course! Hopefully she'll win one of the many great prizes that they offer. If not...at least she's enjoying the books! : )

Jamie's mom, Carol, arrived the day before Relay. It's nice to have her participate in Relay with us; as a Survivor and participant. I think she's as ready as I am to get up to the lake with a good book. Speaking of, I'd better go pack...

Luminaria Ceremony

The Luminaria Ceremony is always the most beautiful and memorable part of Relay.

The Empty Table

my sister reading while sitting next to her Luminaria for Aunt Tami

my Luminaria for Grandma Neena

my Luminaria for my Aunt Tami

another Luminaria that I made

walking along the track

You can see the rest of my pictures at my Picasa site - www.picasaweb.google.com/amberzpix or at my Picasa site for Relay - www.picasaweb.google.com/RelayAmber. I have several more Luminaria Ceremony photos as well as other Relay photos.

So, of course, during the Luminaria Ceremony my memory card filled up. I quickly tried to delete a few pictures so that I could take more and then dug in my bag to find another card. Well...I was NOT happy...but I missed getting some good shots of the Ceremony. Looks like I'll be needing another 4G card!

And I see that my pictures are still much darker on my computer than they are on my laptop. I thought I fixed that! Hopefully you'll be able to see the night photos.

Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2009

The Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2009 was another wonderful event!! It was a bit quieter at the campsite this year as some family members couldn't make it. We missed you all very much!!

The week of Relay is always a bit stressful for those of us on the Committee. (Well...the months before can be too!) Friday was set up, at our new location, the Washington County Fairplex. Things went smoothly (between the down pours) and then the Committee met for dinner at Extreme Pizza to also participate in the Relay FUNdraiser. I got a few hours of sleep on Friday...then was off to Relay by 6:30am on Saturday. Registration for teams and participants was at 8am, Opening Ceremony at 10am and the Survivor Lap & Luncheon at 12pm.

Opening Lap - Abe, Kim (newbies), T and Carol

Makena and Kylah (Makena was the Captain of the youth team this year)

Dylona & Kallie, Momma and Rudy

Zona and Lee (with their Tami's Full-House of Champions decorated hats)

Grandma Neena during the Survivor Walk

Sheila & Dennis during the Survivor walk

Momma with a Tami star at our campsite

Dylona & Nikki walking their laps

Kylah Teagan

Makena, Sydney & TeaLee during a youth lap

we got a cake and surprised Rudy for his birthday

Kallie loves birthday cake!

the Brunsons walking their lap

newbies; John, Karen & baby Mia

Things went well all through the day and night. We only got rained on a few times - thankfully we had tarps, pop-ups and buildings to cover us! There were tons of activities for all ages, great bands to listen to, goodies at the Silent Auction and lots of people to visit with. I also went around and tried to take Team Photos - something I'll work on next year too. I, of course, didn't get a team photo of us!?!

As I was also the Accounting Chair this year, so counting incoming donations was part of that 'job description'. I was stressing before Relay thinking how much work this would be for me - BUT - things went really well! We decided to 'close' Accounting for most of the day this year and then stop taking donations at midnight. This way, we were able to enjoy time with friends/family, participate in Relay and relax a bit. I enjoyed this much more than I have in the past when doing the Silent Auction! : ) We were totally done counting/recording money by 4:30am (that's good!) and then walked around until breakfast came.

Syd & T walking early morning laps

poor Makena wasn't feeling well because of allergies

Happy Father's Day!

Tami's Full-House of Champions was 3rd with over $5000 raised!

Our total by midnight - $106,948.00!!! More came in on Sunday!

"To Tami!"

final laps

Clean up went well this year too. (I'm telling ya, I was waiting around for something bad to happen but things just seemed to go so smoothly.) Makes the last 9+ months even more worth it! : ) Jamie has reminded me that I'm not allowed to volunteer for so many things this year. I have CASA, Girl Scouts and well...work to do too...so I need to take some time for myself. I'm thinking that sounds like a good idea...hope I can follow through. : )

Thanks again for all the support given to me, Tami's Full-House of Champions and Relay For Life of Hillsboro!! I continue to HOPE that we will win this fight against cancer in my lifetime! You can make donations until August 31 - www.relayforlife.org/hillsboroor - I'm still $160 from my goal, but working on it!!

OH - I forgot that I also met a wonderful man named Will who is currently being funded by the American Cancer Society in his research. He came to his first Relay ever, brought his family, and enjoyed Relay For Life of Hillsboro.