Fun time at the Casino!

I think everyone had a good time on the bus (I know I did) and a great time at Spirit Mountain Casino! I heard some people even left with money in their pockets - not Jamie tho! : ) I'll be looking forward to planning the trip again next year!

Congrats to Jan W on winning over $1200!! (I think she said it was just before she was getting ready to head back out to the bus.) She kindly donated 10% of her winnings back to Relay - thank you Jan!! Congrats to Missy P, the lucky winner of our Half-sies Raffle, who also donated her winnings back to Relay - thank you Missy! Stephanie J was the winner of the $150 Pumpkin Ridge Gift Certificate. Thank you to everyone else that gave additional donations to Relay - thank you for helping us in the fight against cancer!!

We had reserved a 29 passenger bus with RAZ Transportation, but they sent us a 59 passenger Spirit Mountain bus. Lots of room for extra food, prizes and fun!

Shortly after arriving, my sister and I had to hunt down the bus driver - the casino had given him a dinner certificate. We found him just in time!

here we all are (in the rain) leaving Spirit Mountain

here is what happens when I put my camera down

here we all are again, arriving safe & sound back in Hillsboro

Thanks again to everyone that came and supported the Relay For Life of Hillsboro and Tami's Full-House of Champions!

I had so much fun that I couldn't sleep after we got home! (Even losing an hour with the time change didn't help.) I was up almost every hour, and finally decided to come downstairs to catch up on some TiVo shows. Here I still sit on the couch; checking emails, reading or watching tv and enjoying my Sunday.

Blogging FROM Spirit Mountain!

Yep...I'm at Spirit Mountain and blogging! I don't gamble...so I'm not be "pulled by the game" to play. : ) I just spent two hours with two of my very best friends and my beautiful sister...definitely worth $35!! We had some drinks and appetizers in one of the lounges. Sadly...we don't really get a chance to do that at home. (Although we really should!) I did go out and take a few pictures too...I just didn't want to lose my table so I had to rush back in.

The bus left for Spirit Mountain this afternoon at 1pm - we had a great trip here! I'm hoping someone wins 'the big bucks'!! We've already given away some great prizes...and have more for the ride home. I'm hoping everyone had a great time - that was the idea!!

Spirit Mountain Casino!!

We are off to Spirit Mountain Casino tomorrow for our Relay FUNdraiser! Even though I don't gamble, I'm looking forward to the bus ride! Maybe I'll put a quarter or two in a machine! : ) Probably not, I'll be sitting somewhere with my laptop doing other Relay stuff. I'm not allowed to take pictures inside the Casino (I asked - something about rules) so I gotta keep busy somehow.

I have food & beverages for our 'bus riders', as well as games and prizes. This is the first time I've planned a fundraiser like this so I'm hoping it all works out. We initially had a bus reserved for 47 people...but it's looking like there will be about 25 of us. (It's the smaller groups that have more fun right?)

"Why I smiled today" - Jamie took me to lunch...just like the old days. : )

Final class

Sadly, tonight is the last of my camera classes. I'm thinking I may sign up for the next session, but I'd like to wait until we get some warmer weather. I have enough to keep me busy shooting right now anyways!

For our final assignment, we had to pick some of our favorites and blow them up to 5X7 or 8X10. It was hard for me to pick favorites...I had so many! I ended up picking out two from each week's assignment - which is probably more than I need but oh well. It's also a good experience to see the photos in a larger format.

I may not have many photos now until we return from our cruise, and then I'll have a ton of them to share! (That's a lie, I'll probably have a ton of them to share before we leave too!)

Happy Birthday Momma!

We spent time in Garibaldi last weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday. (She graciously shares it with Dr. Seuss!)

my beautiful momma

she posed for me - I couldn't believe it! (I want Rachel's BOB book.)

Mums for Momma

In a previous post, I mentioned that we had brought the Wii with us. There was a lot of laughing (with and at each other) as well as a lot of yelling and cheers!

Jeff (neighbor) came down to play too!

Chad 'trash talkin' Makena (all in good fun)

On Saturday, we all went to the hardware store for their 'bucket sale' - anything you can fit in the bucket was an extra 20% off. Now that's what "fun" is all about in Tillamook! : ) We mostly just went along to help carry buckets for Mom & Rudy, but ended up getting our own buckets. I think we spent the most money there too! I picked up a composting bin for the island as well as solar lights for our pathway there. Then, of course, we found other little things we couldn't leave without.

After shopping, we stopped at The Blue Heron for more shopping! Mom, Rudy and Makena headed back to the house, while Jamie, Chad, T and I stayed for lunch. If you are ever in Tillamook, you should stop at The Blue Heron - lots of animals to pet & see, good food and drinks, tons of things to sample and lots of great little gifts. Here are a few photos:

don't try to pet the Emu (or ??) - he growled and ran at me!

Jamie tried some different wines

T being funny at lunch (told ya I was gonna post it!)

Chad really loves my new (bigger) camera!

just thought the lamp outline was cool here

more Wii on Saturday night - T explaining it to Rudy

Makena is happy when she wins all of the time

After playing around with my camera on indoor photos, I think I like the warmer, golden hue photos better. (Like the one with Rudy & T.)

Night-time at The Big G

On Friday night, I walked across the street from my parent's house to take a few pictures. My mom said "It's dark out!"...that's what photographers (like myself) do! : ) It was very dark out (you can tell in the first picture) and there was no moon, so I had to use my tripod and play with the settings. The pictures turned out looking much lighter than it actually was - which was the point of course.

What a great day to...

What a great day to...

PLAY WITH KYLAH & KALLIE


WRITE OUTSIDE WITH CHALK


PLAY HOP-SCOTCH


BLOW BUBBLES




AND THEN CATCH THEM

there is a bubble right inside her hands!


PLAY HIDE-AND-GO-SEEK




ROLL IN THE GRASS


LET THE WIND BLOW THROUGH OUR HAIR


STOP TO LOOK AT FLOWERS


BE 'BUG HUNTERS'






GIVE AND RECEIVE HUGS


WHAT A GREAT DAY TO LOVE THEM

Back home

Makena and I are home from Garibaldi. We got home earlier this afternoon and then spent a few hours trying to catch Makena up on her homework. After being home sick all last week, she has a lot of it to do! We had a great time in Garibaldi! I have more pictures to load later, but right now I'm off to bed. Jamie and Chad were up very late (or early however you want to look at it) playing Tiger Woods golf on the Wii. Since I was sleeping (or trying to) in the living room where they were, I didn't sleep very well. : ) Oh well...the boys had fun!

Jamie is out of town now for a few days. He had to go back East for a factory visit with some customers. He will be gone again next week to a conference in Vegas. Then we leave for our cruise the week after that - can't wait!! We are going on Western Caribbean cruise - Makena wanted to go someplace warm. Jamie's mom will be joining us too. We are currently trying to plan our shore excursions. (I'm actually trying to plan for the best photo ops!)

We've delivered most of the pre-ordered Girl Scout Cookies. If you haven't gotten yours, you should be getting them soon. If anyone is interested in more, let me know. Thanks again for your support!! The girls are very excited about planning a trip to Great Wolf Lodge! Thanks for stopping by last week to pick yours up Kathy - I haven't seen you in a while! Good to actually 'talk' to you. : )

My Tulips

Jamie bought me these beautiful tulips while we were in Seattle last week. For my camera class we were supposed to take pictures by trying different or new things. I decided to use my tulips for part of the assignment.

I played with the zoom while delaying the shutter speed

and moved my camera back/forth

then I had Jamie use the hose to make 'rain'

I also played around with my white balance and aperture on several of the photos that I took downtown with Jamie. Still learning...still playing...still enjoying my new camera!