Minute to Win It!

Casey and Jenna put together activities for this Minute to Win It game. As I heard each challenge, I said or thought "impossible"! Boy was I wrong, time after time! It was so fun and I took some pictures. In the picture above, Misty stacked 5 apples and they stood that way without her touching them. It looks like she's holding them but she's not - she just had her hands close in case the apples fell but they didn't! She did a great job!

In the picture above, Jenna moved that cookie to her mouth without touching it with her hands - amazing!

Casey balanced 4 dice on a Popsicle stick.

Malcolm stacked 4 chapsticks. If you think this is easy, you'll have to try it!

Nate successfully "fanned" eggs across the finish line without touching the eggs.

Charity threw ping pong balls in the air and caught them with the trash can on her head.

Misty stacked 5 ding dongs on her forehead. This was incredible! She made it look easy!

Here's Jason getting ready to shake his body to get the ping pong balls out of the Kleenex box on his back without touching them with his hands. I did this too and it was hilarious!
What a fun game this was! I think Misty was our winner! I'm hoping we can play more of this game at our next family reunion!

Family Reunion surprises!

We were pleasantly surprised that the house had a ping pong table in the garage! There were too many ping pong games to count. I'm not sure who was the best at ping pong. Weston had a great time standing on the ping pong table hitting the ping pong balls. Casey would hit the ones Weston missed. It was fun to watch. Weston was really good at hitting the balls. He has great athletic skills.

Another surprise was Malcolm coming to the reunion with his 4-wheeler. The kids had a great time getting rides. You'll notice that Weston is in the picture above and the one below - he especially loved to ride. Adalei and Brielle wanted slow rides.... (Malcolm is my nephew.)

Family Reunion - Wonderful meals!

Teriyaki chicken burgers - Charity's great idea! We may make this a tradition for future reunions! It was so good. Casey did a great job grilling the chicken for us.

Jenna made a really yummy breakfast - orange rolls and egg/ham casserole. (Jenna, what's the title of that great dish?) I could have eaten a dozen of those rolls - they just melted in your mouth.
Somehow I missed taking a picture of Jenna's wonderful dinner - she made BBQ pork with coleslaw, corn on the cob, and peach crisp. It was awesome! I think the meal was so good that all I thought about was eating it and forgot to take a picture. (Sorry Jenna....) The pork was superb and I loved it with the coleslaw!

Misty and Nate made scrumptious puffy pancakes with apples, blueberries, and strawberries. Misty made maple syrup that was nice and warm on the pancakes. We really enjoyed this breakfast!

This was our only meal out together - lunch at the Turtle Bay Cafe at the Exploration Park. We had a huge order and waited quite awhile but the food was pretty good! Jason was sitting at the table even though you can't see him in the picture - we was between Nate and Casey.

Misty and Nate made a great Mexican meal - some had quesadillas and the rest of us made burritos! It was really good and so healthy.

Charity had another great idea - making smores! The kids had a great time and we enjoyed that activity too. Jenna suggested using Reese's peanut butter cups in place of the Hershey's chocolate and that was great.

Ashley was sick with a bad cold but she still got up early to make us a super good breakfast - light and fluffy buttermilk pancakes made from scratch.

Ashley made strawberries with cream topping for the pancakes - it was divine! It went fast!

Ashley had a burger bar for dinner - that was really fun and we enjoyed choosing all the toppings we wanted for our burgers! Great idea Ashley!

Jason did a great job grilling the burgers. I think Casey was inspecting...

Our final dessert for the reunion was made by Ashley - the best ever brownies with ice cream, strawberries and blueberries. It was so good. I could have eaten the whole pan of brownies! Yum!

Swimming at Whiskeytown Lake

Weston loves the water.

Benson was so cute running along the beach with his sticks playing in the water.

Another cute shot of Weston - see how happy he is?

Looking at all the tadpoles - Weston, Jason and Casey. Casey was even catching them and trying to get me and Charity to hold one!

Family time swimming - Nate, Brielle, Weston, Casey, and Adalei. They had so much fun!

Paisley was so cute in her swim suit. You didn't need to worry about her drowning in the lake - she never got in higher than her calves but she was so cute to dry off in a big towel anyhow!

Another parting shot from the beach - Adalei in the front and Nate with Brielle in the distance.

2011 Family Reunion - Whiskeytown Lake, California

View above is from the balcony of the house we rented.

Weston is at the beach of Whiskeytown Lake.

Fish at Turtle Bay Exploration Park.

The view above is Whiskeytown Falls. The falls below is nearby. We hiked to both falls - approximately 1.7 miles to the first one and .5 miles to the second one.

Mother's Day 2011

Charity came to visit me so I had a fun weekend celebrating Mother's Day! We planted flowers, went to dinner & a movie, went shopping, worked out at the gym, Randy fed us waffles for breakfast, went to church, and cleaned my bathroom. We also did some cooking and enjoyed our delicious meals - banana nut muffins, mango chicken salad, Parmesan tilapia, blueberry almond creme brulee, and strawberry salad. We wanted to make teriyaki burgers but ran out of time - I'm having them tomorrow night for dinner!

It was really nice to get phone calls from Nate, Jason, Casey, Misty, Ashley, and Jenna. Charity gave me a lovely matching shirt & sweater that I love. Jason & Ashley gave me a hot chocolate mug with pictures of Paisley and Spencer on it - so cute! I also received a couple of beautiful cards that are now by my kitchen sink. It was a wonderful Mother's Day! I'm so grateful for my great family!

Visitors from Grants Pass

I was so excited to have Nate and Misty come with my grandchildren to visit. Nate had training so I was fortunate to spend the two days with Misty and the kids. I had a fabulous time and it was so hard to see them leave. I wish they could have stayed longer.I bought coloring books for each of the kids. Adalei especially loved coloring. She is really good at coloring and seemed to enjoy it a lot. She was so happy just coloring in her book. The day this picture was taken, it was also the day of the Royal Wedding so Misty and I talked a little about that. Later that day as Adalei was coloring, she showed us the picture of Cinderella and the prince getting married and told us it was the Royal Couple. We had to laugh as that was so cute. The kids seem to always be listening even when you don't think they are.
Brielle just loved the pancakes with chocolate chips. She really wanted pancakes with M&M's but I forgot to buy the candy at the store. Fortunately she was content to have chocolate chips instead. It was so fun to make breakfast for her and the others.
Little Elijah was just so cute and so good playing with all the toys. He especially liked the balls and a stuffed bird. He is getting so big so fast.
I was amazed that Adalei was riding my exercise bike while holding herself in the air. She was too short to sit on the seat. The picture looks like she is on the seat but she isn't. She has some good arm strength to do this.
Little Mister got up on Saturday morning and the first thing he did was climb up on a chair to reach for a muffin. He was so cute carrying around a muffin in one hand. He seems to love muffins. I had cinnamon sugar ones and then banana nut muffins. He loved them all.
Adalei is so smart. She can climb on a swing by herself and swing without being pushed. Misty and Nate have taught her how to lean to get started swinging and then how to pump her feet to keep her going. She was able to go pretty high by herself. I was amazed.
Brielle is a little dare devil. She loved standing up on the tire and had no fear at all! Good thing she has good balance. She was having lots of fun.
When I saw Adalei start to slide down this pole, I freaked out thinking she was going to hurt herself but she did great.
Then Brielle amazed me by showing me that she could go down the pole by herself too. These girls are so adventurous. I had such a fun time with them. I'm so glad they could come. I look forward to seeing them again next month.

More Sights of Vancouver, B.C. Canada.....

I had the opportunity to visit the other Vancouver again and had an enjoyable weekend. I love seeing the beautiful Canadian flag flying. I love the colors and the design. I wanted a hot chocolate mug that looked like the flag but couldn't find one. This is a picture of downtown Vancouver from Granville Island.
This is a very interesting piece of art work. It is a digital image of the orca. It is made of cubes. I thought Jason would especially like this.... This picture was taken at Canada Place.
A beautiful picture of the Canada Bay with the beautiful snow capped mountains in the background.
Another piece of colorful art work.................... downtown Vancouver........
I loved the views of the bay. This beautiful shot also shows the little ferry that takes you across the bay for $3 for adults and $1.50 for senior citizens and children.
A picture of me and John on the ferry.... We had a good time visiting Canada.
I loved this view of the bay too....... so peaceful there.......
We had two lovely days and then a storm blew in and it rained our third day. I loved the colors of the heavy, dark clouds.
This was my very favorite picture. I should have had it first! On our way back across the border I got this shot while waiting to go through customs. I am so proud and grateful to be an American! I love the U.S.A! What a wonderful blessing to live here and call this home!