Easter Spider.

Not sure how many of you had the Easter Spider show up at your house this year, But this is what he did to ours.

Snowshoe adventure

I found some end of season deals on snowshoes. I was hooked after the first time I did it. It is like hiking but absolutely peaceful. There are no dogs, horses or people on the trails. (I don’t mind dogs, horses or people but when you get to be all alone that makes the mountains that much more peaceful)

Here are a few pictures and comments about the trip.

We had just left our house and were headed up to The Mountain when we saw a several hundred kids lined up for an Easter Egg hunt. Of course we had to stop. We got a great parking spot, rummaged through the car for plastic sacks and had an impromptu egg hunt. The kids thought it was a blast. Even the 5th grader!

Emma getting all bundled up for the trip. It wasn’t really that cold on this day. I would guess it was in the low 40s but she wanted to be sure that she was warm. While we were in the parking lot we enjoyed some chips and were buzzed by the steller jays who have obviously been fed by tourists. They were a little upset when we wouldn't share our chips. One bird even got in the van with Lucy.

When life gives you snowshoes make cartwheels. I’m sure my mother could make up a better fable than that but it is the best I could come up with. Of course Chas is always in motion. I was helping all the kids get snowshoes on so I didn’t see this until after the trip. Pretty funny stuff.

On the trail finally. Lucy was in the awesome carrier that our friends in GA bought as a baby gift for Crystal. That carrier has been sledding, hiking and now snowshoeing. We love it!!!

Spring is slowly coming to the mountains. You can see the ferns growing next to the little trickle of water. The water is rust color because of the minerals in the area. It is a mineral springs area on Mt. Rainier that was used for health benefits in the 1900s. The water smells very strongly of sulfur. People used to bathe in it. I guess bathing in stinky water was a cure-all back then.

The great fall. (Grandmas best not read this section) Crystal was crossing this bridge and lost her balance. To her credit she maintained her balance until she finished crossing the bridge. At which point she fell down on her back to avoid squishing Lucy! The snow had melted into a peak and it was tough to get two snowshoes on it. I would guess at points the snow was only 8 inches wide with a 4 foot drop on either side. This was the worst bridge of the trip. Occasionally we had to traverse across bare ground as the snow had melted around melt off streams. At other points it was five feet deep. Luckily no one was hurt and we finished a great hike.

My Mater My Mater

Chas and I put the first tomatoes in the garden this last weekend.  Growing them here will definitely be more of an adventure than GA.  It is supposed to be down in the low 30s this week.  Mike turned me onto the walls o water that insulate the tomato plants.  They keep the plants warm enough to plant early in the season.  If they work as well as he says I will have tomatoes by the 4th of July.  If not I will have 3 dead tomato plants at the end of the week! :)

Flying a Kite w/ POPS and Joe

Dad and Joe came dowm to South Carolina for the weekend. It was a lot of fun, we flew our kite, Joe fell asleep playing in the sand. Its always good to have family come down and visit:)

Jaylin Easter 2009

Here is Jaylin picking out her EGGIES:) that mama and daddy got her:) She sure had fun:)

Hello Everybody,

Here are some pictures of Jaylin Easter pictures. Hope you all enjoy them as much as we did:) We love you all and cant wait to see you at the reunion this year:)

MaKayla finally makes her Arizona 14th Birthday trip

If you can't tell from the picture, MaKayla is beating her grandparents playing Mexican Train. I said to mom that our grandkids really enjoy beating us when playing games ... her reply "It's not me they enjoy beating, they want to beat grandpa." Wonder why?

Here we are in our Sunday best having just returned from church. Mom and I are also celebrating our 46th anniversary. Look pretty happy don't we. We were honored to have granddaughter MaKayla here to help us celebrate.

We had a great time hiking, golfing and playing games. MaKayla rolled a 50' putt in on the last hole in front of an audience standing on the next tee.

We enjoyed the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple ... here's MaKayla with one of the Centurion guards. He tried to arrest her but we escaped.

We arrived 2 hours early for the pageant so we could get good seats and found almost all of the good seats already taken ... however, MaKayla found these three good ones that were very close to the production. I kept moaning how long we were going to have to wait for the pageant to start. Mom finally said "cool it bucko". So I did!

A good friend of mine gave us incredible seats to a Diamondback game ... we got there an hour before the game started ... mom said "we're going to have to wait an hour for the game to start" I wanted to say cool it bucko but I didn't...

46 years together

We discovered that the gift for a 46th anniversary is an original poem. Knowing that, we both wrote our original poems to each other ... they'll probably never be published but they both show our love and devotion for each other.
Enjoy and love to you all,
Dad

Mom's
Doug, you're an original guy,
Jump right in, never shy.
Tackle any problem that comes
And in doing always hums!

You're happy and glad
Seldom ever sad.
See the good in everyone
"Join right in and don't be glum!"

For everyone there's room in your heart,
I'm happy I hold yours in large part.
For 46 years you've love me
Given me a world of bliss to feel and see.

You fill my soul with love and cheer
Can't wait to see what awaits next year.
For you my love is endless
Toward you my heart is full of tenderness!

In short - you are totally awesome!
LaRee

Dad's

April 12, 1963 was the 1st day of our happily married lives together
We had a wonderful time exchanging vows that day
Promising to share all things together for the rest of our lives
Pain, sorrow, happiness and love were a few
And then we kissed … oh what a kiss!

46 years have passed and our love remains as passionate as ever
Days come and go …………………
And my love for you remains incredibly strong
I care when you hurt
I cry when you cry
I laugh when you laugh
I love to see a twinkle in your eye

I never dreamt that life could be like this
Never thought I’d find someone so good
I’m blessed beyond compare
To have one so kind, loving and dear

We’ve had some struggles
We’ve had a few fights
But who could stay mad at someone you’ve loved all your life
Not me for sure
Not me at all
You’ll be mine for always and evermore

We creak and we grown
Yes we are growing old
Together we started
Together we’ve stayed
Promises kept that we long ago made

Together forever we later vowed
To love to cherish
To have and to hold
To honor and keep
We knelt, clasp hands and sealed it all
Then we kissed … oh what a kiss!

I love you, I love you!
Forever I will
You’re 1st in my life and forever will be
LaRee my sweetheart, happy 46th anniversary!

With all my love, passion and devotion,
Doug

Lug and DaRee

LOL .. I just saw that.

Who thought that one up?

Welcome Taylor

I am glad to annouce the safe and healthy arrival of Eliott's friend Mira's little girl - Taylor. 

Taylor was born on April 2, 2009 at just over 7 lbs and 20 inches long. She had to stay in the hospital a little extra long because she had jaundice, but she is doing fine now.

Eliott is choosing to be very involved in Taylor life, which makes her a very, very, very lucky little person becuase he loves her and is devoted to her and little people need a whole lot of love and taking care of. As you can see Taylor loves Elliot too.

Welcome little one. 

Happy Spring

No flowers yet at our yard but at last the snow is gone. We got the last snow (I hope) a week ago today. We are enjoying the green outside, and are looking forward to the Easter spider this weekend!

Happy Birthday Michael!

I'm not as good at this as Mike is... (my whole life I've been playing catch up with him) but I'll try.

Dad titled this photo "Cute Kid" when he posted it originally. I agree, even though I'm slightly out of the frame...


Here Mike is again, trying to upstage the rest of us... valiant effort. Is he trying to get away from Dad? Get out of a picture? Hmmm... who does that remind us of today? ZACH? GREGG? Yes and Yes.


More recently a photo of Mike with Dave and me at last year's spud... He proved once again that he can put up a tent in the dark... AND run a triathlon the next day.


He's happy here because he thinks he still has a gatoraid waiting for him at the end.


Here's one of him trying, and perhaps, succeeding, to be cute...


Here he is looking tough with the other pigs... or tired. Probably tired, it was a long reunion. I'm sure he's looking forward to another week with the family this summer in Maryland.


I think we'll all agree that this is one of our favorite photos of Mike, mostly because Laura and me are in it.


All joking aside, we're all so glad that Laura is in his life... he's truly, madly, deeply, in love and happy to be with her... which makes us all happy too! I think this one is our favorite!


Mike, I'm glad you're my big brother/Irish Twin... I'm looking forward to following you through the years to old age.
Happy 41st Birthday!
(thanks for always making me feel young!)