Jason's Birthday (11/8/07) and My Trip to California

I was so excited to go to California for Jason's 28th birthday. I arrived on his birthday and Ashley had a delicious dinner and birthday cake all ready. You can see the pretty plates and the yummy birthday cake (Boston cream pie).









Jason had fun modeling his new pants from Marshall's. They looked great!

















Look at the beautifully wrapped gifts. I brought mine without wrapping. Ashley was so thoughtful; she had a gift bag with tissue all ready for me to stuff in the DVD and the camera flash cord. (I'm sure Jason will correct that terminology if it's not quite right.)

This is a DVD of The Office - Season 1. We had fun watching it.





I could hardly wait for Jason to open his birthday card. He agreed with me that it was the best birthday card I've ever given him. The card has Napoleon Dynamite on it and when opened it says - "you have so many skills - numchuck skills, bow hunting skills, etc." It is really funny! You'll have to take a look at it! It's guaranteed to make you laugh!






I spent the first night with Charity at her house in Rocklin. It is really a nice place. She was so kind to let me sleep in her bed. I slept great!











Charity looks so happy; I just had to include this picture also.












This picture is for Jenna. Off Broadway Shoes with Jenna's favorite shoes and low prices! Actually, this will be Casey's favorite shoe store when he sees the great prices!

I bought two pairs of cute shoes!









We celebrated Jason's birthday the day after by going to a Thai restaurant. I think Thai is one of his favorite restaurants. It was quite a struggle to decide where to go since Charity didn't think she liked Thai food. As it turned out, she hadn't had Thai food before but was pleasantly surprised that she loved it!








Satay in peanut dipping sauce! Yum!!! This was a great appetizer!












Jason and I had curry - he had yellow and I had panang. I think we decided mine was the best! Ashley had a delicious chicken/vegetable dish.











Charity had Pad Thai noodles at Jason's suggestion. She loved it and was disappointed that her leftovers disappeared from the frig by the next day!










Jason thought we should take a picture after Charity and I shopped one afternoon. I got two wool coats; $70 total - what a deal! In addition to the 2 pair of shoes, I got a skirt and 5 pair of pants that need hemmed. Finally I will have pants that fit me.








Jason's favorite birthday gift was the Wii from Casey and Jenna. I was amazed we got Jason away long enough to go to Apple Hill.











He actually bowls quite well and insists that this is really good exercise. (I think I need to consult Jenna on that since she has the degree in exercise science.)










I loved these shoes and wanted to buy them for Jenna since they were Jenna's size and had her name on them. They were $80 and I wasn't able to get a discount so I didn't buy them. Jason and Jenna both said the colors weren't that good anyhow. Jason and Ashley will have to keep checking on the prices at the Nike Outlet in case the price gets reasonable.






We had a blast at Apple Hill. Look at this huge pumpkin.












Here's a picture of me and Charity at one of the Apple Hill Farms (near Placerville, California).

















Lots of apples everywhere. Pink lady were Charity's favorite. I can't remember what kind Ashley bought but they were all sweet and juicy.











Look at these fabulous apple fritters. We had apple doughnuts too but the fritters were the best. Jason enjoyed some hot cider also.











Jason made off with the kettle corn and was trying to talk Ashley into getting on the equipment so I could take a picture of her there. He wasn't successful but I thought they would enjoy a little reminder!









Even better than the apple fritters were the chocolate fudge caramel coated apples! I ate a whole one myself in no time at all. It is delicious beyond words!!! The caramel was super!
















Charity did a great job of being our tour guide at Apple Hill. This is the place where we purchased the caramel apples. We think it is the best place there for caramel apples, chocolate apples, etc.










I found my dream house! Isn't it beautiful? We took a little drive after church to see some of the homes for sale. I loved this one.











This lot is for sale for $1 million. I'd love to have a house here with a view of Sacramento and Folsom Lake. This is actually Eldorado Hills near Folsom.










The cute couple after church. This is a beautiful dress on Ashley!

















There's my 3rd granddaughter! I can hardly wait to see her and hold her and try to spoil her like good grandparents do!


















Ashley was proudly modeling her new shoes from the Nike Outlet!

After lunch and sampling the fudge from Apple Hill, I was back at the airport and on my way home. I had a fun trip to visit Jason, Ashley and Charity for the weekend! Thanks to them for showing me a wonderful time!

I'm already excited to go again in March to meet my new granddaughter that is scheduled to arrive around February 20th next year!

Nate is 30 years old!!! (10/24/07)

Misty had a surprise open house/birthday party for Nate! It was great - family and friends came over a 3 hour afternoon to tour the remodeled house and congratulate Nate by sharing a delicious chocolate cake and cookies and cream ice cream! Misty took pictures of the surprise party and all the guests that attended. I was serving and eating the refreshments so I didn't take any pictures!!! The cake was superb!!!

These pictures were taken a few days after the party. These are the gifts that I gave to Nate in celebration for his 30th birthday.




This is a book "Love" by Truman Madsen, one of Nate's favorite authors.










A navy sweater for Dr. Tanner to wear to the dental office to keep warm! I was so happy that it fit well. :)



















The sweater looks great!

(Don't forget to notice Misty too. This picture of her tells quite a few words!)












This apron has the latest family picture on it. This family picture was taken at Cannon Beach on Charity's 30th birthday!

Little Adalei knows everyone by name on this apron. (Adalei was in bed during the opening of the gifts so she's not in any of these pictures. I know Charity will be disappointed. I'm sorry Charity!)

Nate seems to like to make cookies on Sunday evenings so this apron will keep his clothes clean if he doesn't change out of his suit!






I really wanted to do something special for Nate's 30th birthday but had a hard time coming up with the perfect gift for the occasion. After some time, I remembered this summer when Nate discovered about 10 packages of chocolate chips in my cupboard. He was so excited and wanted to make cookies using double the chocolate chips! I was afraid my stash was going to be eliminated! Remembering this Sunday evening, I decided to get Nate 30 packages of chocolate chip cookies for his birthday. When Nate first opened this heavy bag, he was excited to see the chocolate chips!

Nate was looking inside the bag with awe! He asked if it was a year's supply of chocolate chips! Misty and I hope the chocolate chips will last a year but I won't be surprised if they are gone sooner than that! If you come visit Nate in the next 30 weeks, you'll have a good chance of having some of Nate's great cookies!







Nate was thrilled to see how many packages were there!












Nate started counting to find 30 bags of chocolate chips! One package for each year of his life so far!

Actually there were 10 different types of chips for cookies with 3 bags of each type - milk chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, mint chips, chips with toffee, caramel chips, etc.






Nate was overjoyed with all the chocolate chips. He laughed as I repeated the reason why I choose the chocolate chips for his birthday gift.












As you can see, Nate was very happy with his birthday gifts in celebration of his 30th birthday.

Unfortunately, Nate didn't receive his birthday presents until two days after his birthday. I took my car for an oil change on the Monday before Nate's birthday and was shocked to find out that my car needed a new engine. All of Nate's birthday gifts were in my car so he had to wait until my car engine was replaced and I got my car back that Friday after his birthday. I hope Nate will always remember his 30th birthday and I'll be able to enjoy some of the cookies from this birthday gift!

My first photo shoot! (11/3/07)

These pictures were all taken at Vancouver Lake or the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. The mountain that you see in the background of some of the pictures over the lake is Mt. Hood. One picture has the geese flying in a "v" over the lake at dawn. I got up at 4 a.m. to be able to have breakfast with two friends and make it to Vancouver Lake before sunrise to take these pictures. Althea and Tom were a big help to me with taking these pictures. The three of us had a great time. I could have spent the entire day taking pictures. I hope to do something like this again. It was really fun! I love these pictures of the sunrise, the fall colors, the leaves, the water, and the flowers. Nature is beautiful!

Halloween 2007 - Adalei, the cute lady bug!

At approximately 8:30 pm on Halloween evening, I was thrilled to have this little tricker-treater knock on my door! What a cutie! She was just adorable. I asked her if she wanted some candy. Of course, she said "yes." I had a basket full of lollipops so I asked her if she wanted one. She took one and put it into her pumpkin. Then she said, "More?" Or course, I said yes and we continued with her taking one lollipop at a time and asking for more until there were no more lollipops left in my basket! I was surprised she didn't start eating any but hung onto her pumpkin and left with it tightly in hand!







After a ward trunk-or-treat party, I watched Adalei at Home Depot while Nate and Misty shopped. I followed her around to get some pictures of her in her cute lady bug costume! You can see her pleased to be sitting in the motorized cart at Home Depot wondering why she couldn't get it to go.







These pictures show the front and back of her costume. It
is made of fleece so it is warm for her. Hopefully it will fit next year also.













































I wanted Adalei to pose
for a picture in her
costume but I couldn't
get her to stop until she
came upon this cute Christmas bear. She was so cute to hold his hand and pose for the picture. (It is hard to believe Christmas decorations at Halloween!)

























Notice that Adalei is checking out Santa. It was so funny that she was saying "girl, girl" as she stroked his beard!













Adalei was thrilled to find these friendly dogs. They are retired racing Greyhound dogs. They were a little intimidating but she had fun touching them.










I think we were in Home Depot more than an hour and we probably almost wore out the batteries on this cute horse that moved and said "neigh" when you squeezed his ear. After he stopped, she would say "again" over and over again. So we did that until Nate and Misty were ready to go home. What a fun evening with the cute little lady bug!