December 2008 moving on to January 2009

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.

December 2008

NOVEMBER

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

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

September is a great month

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