Bill and Michelle

2009-06-17T12:17:00.001-07:00

Oh wow. These next pictures and paragraphs are completely out of order. I'm so sorry and I don't know how to fix any of it. Oh well.........I hope you enjoy it all just the same. Love you.
Mom/Michelle

2009-06-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

2009-06-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

We also went kayaking in Alaska on a glacier lake way up in the Canadian territory above Skagway. We rode the old train on the scary tracks all the way up and then took the kayak trip with our guide. That was fantastic!

2009-06-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

The pictures are also of our cruise trip to Alaska here and there. The order of it all is quite mixed up, but you might be able to figure it out. There are a couple of pictures of Anna's birthday party and some other events. Have fun looking at them.

2009-06-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

So, since I'm still a bit confused about this blog routine, the pictures and the writing are probably going to surprise me.....I'm never sure how it will all turn out. Anyway, the purpose of these blogs is to show our pictures of what's going on lately, so here it goes. There are pictures of our camping trip a few weeks ago at Ike Kinswaa. We are testing our new inflatable kayaks with great pleasure.

June 2009

2009-06-17T11:56:00.001-07:00

2009-04-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmmmm. I'm so sorry about the confusing way my blogs turn out. Sometimes the printing is after the pictures and sometimes it is first. Oh well. Ultimately, it only matters that I have sent you all a few pictures to look at so we keep in touch. I love everyone else's blogs so much.

2009-04-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

2009-04-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

2009-04-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

April 23, 2009

2009-04-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some happy pictures you all might enjoy. I'm including pictures of: April 1st snowfall, spring blossoms, the visit with our parents, visits of Eric and Julie's family, great fun at the spring Puyallup fair and a recent day with Conner. Have fun!

2009-03-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I realize that I haven't written a blog for a long time. I love looking and your wonderful blogs, but find that time gets aways from me and I forget to contribute. Oh well. Things have been so different for us during this last month, that I haven't paused very much to participate in blogging. So, here are just a couple of little pictures. Now that Bill has his wonderful camera, I depend on him to take the great ones, but then I need to have him put them on the computer so I can post them. Oh well. I did try to fix a red eyeball problem on one of the pictures. I made a couple of quick lap quilts to celebrate my twin brother's 60th birthday. And, Bill's birthday was well celebrated with funny cards, phone calls, gift cards for books, a toy helicopter, DVDs and love from us all. This was an especially poignant birthday for us to be happy about. He is doing very well now and should be just fine, by the way. So, enough of all this...........We love and miss you all. Spring is coming soon and we already have daffodils pushing up even on the snowy days that seem to pop up here and there. Love you all. MOm

January, February and little bit of March

2009-03-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

2009-01-15T06:14:00.000-08:00

December 2008 moving on to January 2009

2009-01-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

I ended up publishing three different picture collection blog posts. Sorry about the confusion. It is all from today. These pictures show a little bit of the joy and beauty of what December brought to us. All the gorgeous snow, all the wonderful and happy Christmas joys, all the family happiness together is hard to share in a few pictures. But, this was one of those family memories that will be always cherished. Somewhere in these pictures, you will also see Orion dressed up for the clam dig we went on with Evan and Heather last weekend right after the huge floods. That is the beginning of our new Year 2009. Fun and sweet family happiness.
Today is Liams birthday and he is five years old. Time is so hard to slow down.
I love my family.

2009-01-15T05:56:00.000-08:00

December 2008

2009-01-15T05:51:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER

2008-12-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

Well I don't know quite what happened to this entire beautiful month of November. Now it is December and I'm working on Christmas presents, projects, church music performances, cards, and the decorations. Hmmmmmm. So, this is really brief today. Plus, I don't seem to have a lot of great pictures to choose from. You would think that I would have taken pictures of Thanksgiving, but I didn't. Oh well. The picture with the pumpkin and Christmas tree probably says it all. Time just flew. Love, Mom/Michelle

2008-11-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, We just returned last night from a great trip in our Denali to the great Pacific coast at Camp Canby State Park. We've been there once before, so we knew how wonderful it is there. This time, the weather was wild and wet with patches of beautiful sunshine. Our hikes and beach walks were so wonderful. We just had a great time together. I forgot to grab the camera and snap a picture, but Evan and Eric did join us late Friday night for a quick sleepover and then went with Bill on a little (wet and challenging) elk hunt all day Saturday. They returned for cookies and a quick shower in the afternoon before driving back to their homes. No elk was "harvested", but they had a fun day together. I took a picture of the most unusual deer ever seen, by the way. It had reverse polka dots like an appaloosa pony. So, this was a delightful trip and I'm so glad we went. Love to all. Mom

September

2008-10-11T07:56:00.003-07:00

September is a great month

2008-10-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'll show you a few pictures that explain what we experienced this past month or so. The weather this month was outrageously beautiful, so we were outside a lot. I love Washington for so many reasons. The beauty of autumn is just one of those huge happy gifts that make it so marvelous to live here.
Anyway, Bill and I took a little "camp" trip to Ocean Shores early this month and picked up a couple of darling kites. Also, we had our sweet grandchildren visit us a couple of times, so there are pictures of them.
I had a birthday (no gray hairs, but definite differences going on with age). Heather and Evan took me out for great Thai food lunch.
Then, the last week of the month, I was in Utah for a number of days visiting the folks, family and cousins. My BYU dorm friends from my freshman year had a reunion. We were all young girls of 18 years old back in 1971-72. That was also the year that I found and fell in love with my Bill, thanks to my roomates. Now, we are grandmothers. There were 41 of us that made it to the reunion! We re-bonded so easily that it was really tearful to say goodbye again. I was amazed at this experience and will cherish it. These sweet women are incredible mothers, professional musicians, dentists, missionaries, business leaders, principals, teachers, and my friends. They all are active members of the church with firm testimonies. Imagine the odds of all that.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share that with you. It makes me realize how important all our choices are throughout our lives. This was a really wonderful thing to experience.
Love to everyone.
Mom/Michelle

Summer joys

2008-08-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some wonderful pictures taken this summer. There are pictures of the MacKay reunion, a little gathering of our sweet family right before Peter & Brooke left for Germany. Liz & kids have been around for a visit or two, so we snapped some quick pictures of them when we could. And, to top it off, there are a couple of pictures of new, beautiful Merrick on his Birth Day! Hooray for a delightful family summer. I love you all!. Mom/Michelle

Pictures from June

2008-06-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

here is a collection of pictures taken recently. We're so glad that Peter & Brooke shared a couple of days with us so we could see Benson. Also, we had great fun with Ben & Jen's family visit so they could see Peter & Brooke before they fly away to Germany. We had fun with Eric & Julie for an extra day or two of family time. We had fun with Heather & Evan's family for graduation celebrations. And, Bill and I went on a charter boat out of Westport for a cold day of fishing. I've never caught such big fish so easily. We just put the lines in the water with two hooks on and waited on the rocking boat. Fish just bit the hooks that had little plastic bait and didn't let go. There wasn't really a strong bite feel or jerk. The rod just got a lot heavier, so we just rolled it up and there were the fish. The deckhand ran around the boat grabbing our fish for us each time and then threw them in the plastic barrels. Bill caught a very large ling cod (I didn't get to take a picture of me with my fish). That big fish was biting the other two fish he had on the line. The deckhand ran over with the large net to scoop it all up. That was amazing! So, that was how we spent our 33rd wedding anniversary. On the way home, Bill took care of an emergency patient and we had a very late dinner at the local cafe. Not the most romantic celebration, but it was unique. Love to you all. Mom

Our recent adventures

2008-06-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Bill and I have had a great time getting acquainted with the Denali this past weekend. We took a quick trip down to one of the most beautiful places of Washington called Fort Canby/Disappointment. It's called Disappointment only because an early American explorer was trying to find the mouth of the Columbia River from the Ocean and didn't. Later, Lewis and Clark took their first view of the Pacific from the Columbia at this place. So, lot's of historic things to see happened to be the highlight of the trip. We took our bikes and hiked/biked all over. We still didn't have time to see everything, so we'll obviously be going back to this great place many times over the years ahead. This is one of the fabulous things we love about living in wonderful Washington. The other pictures are of cute Conner sitting on the porch bundled up because he was "chilly". We watched the birds and trees fly around in the wind. He said the trees looked liked chickens or roosters flapping their wings in the wind. Pretty clever little fellow. Sorry you have to scroll down through the pictures, I'll find out how to make a slideshow soon and post things that way to conserve space. Love to everyone, Michelle

Oh, I also thought it might be fun to post a couple of pictures of Bill's graduation from dental school, plus little Peter.

To Boston and back again

2008-05-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

What an amazing experience it is to see Peter graduate from Dental School and proudly put on his handsome uniform as a new Army captain. Now we have two dentists in the family and three army men. Of course, Benson wearing his little suits and green scrubs was the cutest of all. He was absolutely the main attraction everywhere we went. Boston was fabulous and we had great fun. It sure seems a short time since we were the ones graduating from dental school in Chicago with three adorable little boys and Heather "on the way" Wow! Such a strange feeling to see this all happening again. Congratulations to you, Peter and Brooke. This is marvelous! Love you all. Mom

May has been very busy

2008-05-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

We have had great fun taking care of Liam and Anna while Eric and Julie went on their grand European trip. As you can see from these pictures, we played outside on beautiful spring days. Aren't they adorable!

Some pictures of recent family times:

2008-04-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hello family, I'm including pictures I took in Utah for a couple of events. The pictures are a bit mixed up, but you will see: the birthday dinner and celebration with Bill's Mom at 80 years young. You'll see Kathie, Brian, us, and the folks. There are pictures of my parents, my Aunt Nola and Uncle Ralph and my two cousins Loralee and Nola Lynn (whom I haven't seen since childhood). Then, Easter evening we dashed over to Kelley and John's beautiful house for a visit. Their cute kids are in a couple of pictures. Finally, I have returned home to find this fabulous Denali Fifth Wheel home on wheels in the parking space with gorgeous blossoms and daffodils trying to come out in spite of snow and rain. I love visiting all the family and really love to be home again. Miss you all.
Love,
Michelle

2008-03-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is frustrating. How do I edit and repair a blog once it is posted? I'm sorry about the weird printing on the side of the pictures. I'll fix that next time. Just make your eyes go up and down.

March madness

2008-03-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, here are some great pictures of our March events. We went to Chuck E Cheese for horrible pizza and hours of very loud fun for the children (all of us played games with glee). In celebration of Eric's birthday, we later had cake, presents and wild boys running through the house joys! So, these are the delights of having family times together.

Happy, Happy Spring time to everyone we love.

Mom

2008-03-06T19:36:00.001-08:00

I don't know what button I forgot to push, but here are the pictures that were supposed to be in the former blog. Sorry about that.

2008-03-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

Heather and Evan are basking in the rays of the Mexican sunshine somewhere for a couple of more days. Bill and I have had the fun of caring for the two little darlings. This is like old times caring for two busy boys full time. But, I admit that I truly am a little older than I was back then. It takes lot more "pepper" to keep up with them.

So, I have to share a couple of Conner moments. When asked if he would like to speak with Grandpa Bill on the phone during lunch yesterday, Conner asked, "Why? Why do we need to do it?" How does one repond to that?

Next, this little picture tells the "story". Conner had just pinched his little finger playing with the paving bricks that I said would happen if he didn't stop. I was holding and rocking Orion on the Grandmother swing in the warm prespring sunshine. He came running over to let me try and negotiate holding both boys while juggling the swing. After a while he climbed up to sit by me, calmed down, gradually fell asleep sitting up and there I was. Hmmmmmmmm. It was naptime for Orion, so I carefully put him down to crawl around for a minute, picked up Conner (who sleeps like a log sometimes) and could only think to put him in the wagon in the warm sunshine for a nap while I helped Orion go to sleep upstairs in his bed. It worked quite well. Conner slept for about an hour until the sun went behind the trees and it got too chilly. Little boys in warm sunshine always are a wonderful joy.

We have been quite busy

2008-02-22T16:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to share a cute Conner quote. He and I were watching a beautiful ballet with lovely dancers in fairy dresses. The fellow was wearing a red kilt and doing fabulous leaps and dancing all around. The ballet is Les Sylphides, for those who are acqainted with this. Conner mentioned how he liked the dancing so much and wanted to put on a dress when he is a girl so he can dance too. In an effort to help him understand that the man wearing a "dress" was actually a man with akilt on, he said, "I don't want to wear a kilt. When I have my birthday, I'm going to be a girl and dance." Heather, you mentioned that you were going to be a man when you grew up (you were probably about three at the time), so this is perfect for your son to follow your lead on this.
Now, for the rest of the pictures, Orion was adorable in the swing, so I had to show you all this picture. We have a big new truck in our garage! Yes, Bill finally has his manly truck. We miss the Durango and all the great memories with that car. But, we need this truck so we can haul the big fifth wheel trailer that we have coming soon. How about that for turning 55 this year and enjoying the new status of nearly Senior Citizen.
I finished my tenth quilt, so I thought I would share that with you and we bought a lovely flower arrangement (I have added to it to fill it out) to put on the piano.
Today, it was gorgeous weather, so we were outside doing pruning, fertilizing, weed killing, and other projects before the rain returns.
I don't know how to "wrap" the print around pictures like you all, so this is the best I can do until Heather shows me more options.
Love to you all,
Mom

I'm trying to blog by myself. Hmmmmmmmmmm

2008-02-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

So, I don't think there is anything quite as beautiful as this home on a snowy day. January winter is always so gorgeous in so many ways. We have had warm sunshine, huge rainstorms, gentle snowfalls and silent winter evenings. Sitting in the hot tub under a full moon on a crispy cold night is amazing. What a gift this home is to us.

Christmas 2007

2008-01-09T19:03:00.000-08:00

Although this time with our family was quite short, we had a great gathering here and there for Christmas Eve and a New Year's Eve. These grandchildren are so adorable and we really had a blast with them. I'll write a little more later, though. This is my first blog with Heather sitting next to me, teaching me how to accomplish it. Hooray for technology! (I think).

Singing with Conner

2007-12-13T17:20:00.001-08:00

We sure do love these wonderful little people

2007-12-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

This is our whole family...

2007-12-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

well almost. It's missing 4 grandchildren, which means we need to take another family portrait! {copyright Carole Huff}

and so it begins...

2007-12-13T14:16:00.001-08:00

our delightful daughter Heather started this blog for us, and it is our promise that we will keep it up by posting pictures of our daily adventures, and by telling wonderful stories by the wise grandparents that we are. hooray!