Summer fun in the lake

We've had an extraordinary run of sunny warm weather this month and the grands came down for a swim in the lake. They had such a blast! They ran and jumped and splashed and then ran and jumped and splashed some more until they were completely worn out.



Savannah started jumping off the dock and decided it was fun!



The lake has a ton of small fish in it and even with all the people splashing and swimming around there were still little fish hanging out near the shore. Greg even found a big snail, which Nick found fascinating.

Baby Ryder arrives early

Kiesha's new little son Ryder gave us all a big surprise, arriving about six weeks early. He needed special care for a few days (breathing assistance, IV, feeding tube) but he's proven to be a tough little guy and was able to go home within a week and both mom and baby are doing fine.

Here's a couple of pics from Grandma Cyndy:

Ryder James



Grandma Cyndy with baby Ryder (that's Great Grandma Donna peeking on the right)



We thank God for Ryder!!

New pictures of Evan

Billie recently sent us some of Evan's first birthday portraits and we think he's looking particularly adorable in these!!

My personal favorite:



Cute little man!





Adorable tub time photos!









What a sweet guy.

Greg turns 34 & Nick gets the training wheels off!

Being born on the fourth of July means that every birthday for Greg is a big celebration, at least somewhere!! He's gone through phases of having big parties and has now moved into a quieter mode. This year it was a camping weekend with family and friends.

Since we aren't big campers anymore we just joined them for the day rather than the whole weekend. It was a lot of fun with Greg's friend Eric BBQing ribs, brisket and chicken for the birthday meal. Really fine job of it too, pretty yummy!



Lucy also prepared lumpias for Greg's birthday and he even shared!!



And Greg conducting the happy birthday singers:



It was a big deal for Nick too as he decided he needed to have the training wheels off of his bike. He got the bike from Santa for Christmas in 2006 just after he turned three. Check out his technique:




And here's cousin Mike with his summer Mohawk:



And Savannah in her best 4th of July form:

At long last!! SUMMER!!

FINALLY! We have had lovely warm and sunny weather for several days in a row now including a 91 degree day on Saturday and a 94 degree day on Sunday. Now it's settled into a marine layer of clouds in the morning that burn off fairly early and temps in the 70s and 80s. Can you say "perfect"? So nice to have good weather and the temps will stay in that range for about the next ten days at least with a few "maybe" showers here and there and some thunderstorms in the Cascades. But I'm a happy girl! We even got to take the flannels off the bed! The furnace hasn't run since last Wednesday. Our bill may finally dip below $120 this month! So much to be happy about. See what a little sun and warm does for my disposition?

Gas prices. Is this crazy or what?

Had to snap this as we were traveling down Black Lake the other day. $4.50 per gallon for REGULAR!

The last two times we have filled up Ralph's car and then mine we've paid $4.09 at Costco. That seems a real bargain compared to this! We are thankful we have only an Accent and a Camry!

Breaking bread

Seems like most of our great visits happen when food and friends combine!!

Over the past month we've had many wonderful occasions to break bread with friends and it has been wonderful. The month long adventure began on May 31 with the BBQ at Tom and Kathy's for the visit of their son Tommy, home on leave from the Coast Guard in Louisiana.

Then our friend Sue decided that even though she lost her husband in October, she still wanted to celebrate their wedding anniversary. We all thought it was a great idea! So on June 8 we gathered at a steak house in Tacoma and had a wonderful meal surrounded by her family and closest friends. A fabulous time was had by all, starting with great conversations, followed by yummy starters, a great salad and a lobster and filet mignon dinner that could not be beat...except by the wonderful desserts. But by the time dessert arrived Ralph and I were so stuffed we had to decline dessert. The best part of the whole meal was that we were all seated around a big table and had the luxury of time to visit with one another. Sue's great celebration idea was a huge success. Here's a few pictures:

Sue and Cherita celebrating together:



The entire gang at the beautifully appointed table...we had a private room and everything! Very elegant!



And the beautiful salads they served.



The following weekend we had dinner with some friends from church and had a great Summer BBQ meal of grilled burgers, baked beans and macaroni salad with fresh cold watermelon for dessert! Again, the meal was the excuse to get together, just hang out and visit. Robyn and Carolyn hosted and Bob, Sue, Ralph and I feasted! It seems like all of our lives are so busy that we just don't slow down enough and these meals give us that opportunity. We try to do them every other month or so...and I hope we keep doing them because we love these couples!!

Then last weekend was a whirlwind of food and friends with my birthday celebration thrown in for good measure. Ralph and I started out celebrating my birthday with dinner out at Anthony's Friday night. It was a pretty night, lots of boats on the water and people out walking around on the Port Plaza and boardwalk. Really great. And the first of our local strawberries were finally coming on so I had a lemonade with pureed fresh strawberries on top. So good I had two! Ralph had steak for dinner and I had a combination of beef kabobs and coconut shrimp. Yum!

On Saturday we had our community garage sale here in the subdivision and then later in the day Tom and Kathy and Art and MerrieLynn came down and I cooked a Mexican meal for all of us. We visited for hours, lingered over the food and had root beer floats for dessert! Wonderfully cool and creamy after the Mexican meal. We've been friends with these couples since our youth group days in Graham a LONG time ago and we still enjoy getting together with them regularly.

Sunday brought Bruce and Cherita down for the celebration of both my and Cherita's birthdays! They brought us wonderful fresh picked Spooner strawberries from the Puyallup valley. We whiled away a few hours visiting with one another and then capped the evening off with a dinner at Outback!

Not a bad way to spend the month of June!!