Fundraiser for cousin Kathy

My cousin Kathy needs a heart valve replacement and the surgery is scheduled for April 1. She's been a little short of cash and leave time and so her brother organized a benefit dinner and auction for her this past Saturday.

My goodness, he did such a fabulous job. He prepared a great manicotti and salad dinner on top of organizing a raffle and auction!! When you ask him he says he had a lot of help getting it together, but he was the driving force to get it done.

Tim cooking:



Ed and Cyndy serving:



They had a big table full of raffle items and sold about $400 worth of raffle tickets alone, plus the proceeds of the auction and the dinner to help defray the medical expenses above what her insurance will pay and to cover the two plus months she'll be off work recovering.

Tim auctioning one of dozens of item, this being his highly sought after pickled asparagus!!



The kids came out to support Kathy, on their 11th wedding anniversary no less!!



And the guest of honor, Kathy!!

Tenebrae 2008

We missed the Tenebrae 2008 service at church this year, but heard all about it on Sunday. Everyone said it was the best ever...great music and preaching are a given at Mt View, always awesome. This service also had some extras, the sound of sins being nailed to a wooden cross echoing through the sanctuary, symbolizing all the things we need to and CAN leave at the cross.

The thing that blew everyone away was a painting done by our new youth pastor Mat...done during the service itself as people watched and listened and heard the word of God they saw this painting evolve and emerge as the service progressed. The pictures say it all:















What a gift to our congregation. He is RISEN!

The great nephews

Saturday took us out to Billie Jo, TJ and Evan's house for lunch, yummy meatballs over rice. Very good, but the company was even better. Our great nephews, Ryan and Evan, were both in such good moods, very cute and silly. Here are some pics

Evan and daddy TJ:



Ralph, Julie, Evan with momma Billie Jo:



TJ and Ryan reading about Zelda:



Ryan playing Zelda with Uncle TJ:



Auntie Julie with Evan:



Ralph, Julie and Evan goofing around!

Weird Spring weather

Woke up this morning to snow showers, some of it sticking a bit. Then had some rain and sun breaks during the day and ended the afternoon with a hail storm. Welcome to Spring in the great Northwest!!

Celebrating Chris and Amber's wedding

Ralph's cousin Phyllis' son Christopher eloped with his girlfriend Amber, they were married December 22, 2007 in Idaho. Yesterday, Phyllis hosted a huge reception near their home in Tacoma to honor them and celebrate their marriage.

It was all done up very nicely, loads of people and loads of food to feed all the people. We were able to catch up a bit with the Lunde clan that was in attendance and I met a ton on the Turner side as well. They had a DJ and people were dancing after the meal. Very nice evening.

The table decorations included photos of the bride and groom kissing:



The bride and groom kissing live and in person:



Cousin Phyllis, mother of the groom:



Allan, father of the groom with Ralph, entertaining one of the many children there:



Roxanne, with her mom Phyllis and Roxanne's betrothed Bobby, their wedding coming up in June:



Cousin Mike, uncle of the groom, and his wife Diana:



Amber, Chris and Ralph:



And Chris, Phyllis and Ralph!



Thanks for including us in the celebration!

Sad day

Packer fans are a hearty bunch for the most part, but hearing this morning that Brett is going to retire was hard. Love the guy, love what he stands for, love his joy in playing the game. Gonna miss him BIG TIME! What a legacy he leaves!!! Easily a first ballot hall of famer. Bless him and his family on their new journey!

Cabela's redux with Nick

Greg and the kids came down for breakfast today since Darane' was off to Portland for a scrap booking event. We had a great breakfast and then decided that we needed to take Nick to Cabela's since he was sick when we went the last time and he missed out.

I think he liked it! He let out the most excited yell as we entered the doors and it made their greeter laugh out loud. She said that is her favorite part of working the door, seeing the reactions of the kids as they come in.

Even after being there a while he still was so excited to look over and see everything.



He's really into jungle critters right now, so he really enjoyed the Africa section.



Hanging with grandpa!



The kids even liked these goofy fake dogs...really easy to care for though:



After we left the kids we stopped to get gas ($3.19 a gallon!!! the most we have EVER paid) and saw this couple in line waiting to fuel up. Only in Washington!! It was about 45 degrees and partly sunny, they were bundled in winter coats and hats but they had the top down on the car!! Their custom plate was "W8N4SMR". Apparently not!!