I did find just a couple of pictures that I can post!

We went to Birch Bay, Washington for about 9 days. We stayed at the Worldmark right in the center of the bay with Bill and Lorrie, Karin and Jon, Steve and Kellie. They shared a suite and we had one with our kids. They all had a great time swimming at the 'hotel' and we made several day trips around the area. It was really neat to go out into the bay when the tide was out.. you could walk quite far out! The kids collected shells and chased the 'shadow-fishies'. The water was surprisingly warm!
We spent a day at a waterpark right in Birch Bay, which the kids LOVED!! Had to keep an eye on Cami the whole time though... she likes to wander off and do her ownsightseeing wherever we go!
On July 1st, we crossed the border and visited Vancouver, B.C., picnicking at Stanley Park on the waterfront and shopping on the 'elite' Robson Street. (That was top of Erin's list).
It was fabulous to eat some REAL chocolate and they even had Maltesers and Aero bars! And Turkish Delight! YUM!
Steve got some Ketchup flavored potato chips which we opened on the 4th back at the Bay, and I think everyone pretty much hated them except me? They were pretty good!!

We visited Blaine on the 4th for their parade and celebrations. It was alot of fun... kind of like the Church, ya know... everywhere you go, the Church is pretty much the same... so are 4th of July parades! Brandon and Cami were armed with large ziplock bags to hoard the bounty and they were not disappointed! And very happy!! And there were the usual homegrown entries in the parade... the local high school and middle school bands were actually very good!
4th of July night we spent at the Bay, and it was pretty spectacular to see the fireworks (real ones!) all the way up and down the bay. They kept going for a good hour and a half constantly. It makes me wonder why we live in Oregon.. where the fireworks are not allowed to be airborne above 3 feet! Nah.. not really! I LOVE Oregon! (Except on the 4th of July night... heehee)

We visited the quaint town of Lyndon... a cute little Dutch town with big windmills on the main street (where Mitch managed to lose his sunglasses.. a tradition for him when we go out!)
I bought some salted licorice to try out on the family... uhuh... they all hated it!! Surprise... NOT! It brought back lots of memories of my Nanna and Grandpa in Australia. They immigrated to Australia from the Netherlands with my mum when she was 9 years old.

It was a very fun and relaxing trip and we were so glad to catch up with Mitch's family! Good times!!!

Josh got his braces off after about 20 months.. he looks really good!! We just need to get him to smile more now!


I wanted to post pics and tell you about our recent vacation to Washington with Mitch's family, but all the pictures were deleted by a certain member of our family. Hopefully, she will be able to email them back to me or something like that!

So, I am going to post some pictures of Brandon during his baseball season and maybe something else.. we'll see what there is on this thing...

Brandon really enjoyed playing this year, and I think he also enjoys having his Dad as the coach.

I'm sorry, guys... I am really bad at this.
Well, it's been a busy month so far... Erin graduated on the 5th of June from Glencoe High School. It was also my 40th birthday...
kind of an uneventful day until....
When we got home from the graduation, I came home to a whole face full of silly string! Mitch had arranged a surprise party for me with the help of Margene! :)
It was the biggest shock!! There was a house full of friends waiting for us to get home!
Wow!!! I was so overwhelmed! It is so nice to know that there are people who care enough to come and celebrate with me as I become really OLD!! You know, I wasn't feeling old until I read some of the decorations around the house... black signs bearing tidings of age!
"If you were a horse, they'd have shot you by now" Yeah, lovely!
Well, I certainly still enjoyed myself and am very grateful for all the effort that was put in to making it a great party! What fabulous friends I have!

A little bit behind the times.... Erin was in a serious car accident about 2 weeks ago. She and 2 friends were on Hwy 26 towards Banks when they hit a patch of ice or debris, over-corrected, rolled and skidded upside down for 110 feet. We got the dreaded 1:30am call from the hospital.. she had been spending the night at her friend's house, so we had no idea she was even out.

The good news, though, is that she and her friends came out pretty much unscathed! A few bruises, a few cuts (a lot of smashed glass!) but nothing life-threatening, they were definitely being looked out for! They were all wearing seat-belts.. in fact, Erin had said that hers wasn't working properly when they got in the car, so they had taken the time to fix it before they left. Yep, they were certainly blessed! And I'm very grateful!

Blah....g

I can tell I'm not very good at this whole blogging thing and it doesn't help that our camera has not resurfaced at all! I kind of wonder what to tell you about.... hmmm....
Last night was our ward's New Beginnings and I think it turned out pretty good considering all the behind-the-scenes goofies that happened! Our theme was 'Chart Your Course' and we decorated with stars and lighthouses. The girls sang the songs they had been practicing for a few weeks and I think they did okay... I'm not sure they were heard very well... we kept trying to tell them that they needed to sing louder!
Chanda and Tiffany both did a fabulous job with their testimonies of Personal Progress and the YW theme.. and the girls thoroughly enjoyed watching the videos they had put together during mutual for the new Mutual Theme.. Be Thou an Example of the Believers.
I REALLY love being in YW! It's a lot of hard work at times, but there's never a dull moment and I am always so impressed by the girls in our ward. They really do 'shine'.
AND... I have such fabulous women to work with... they all have so much to contribute and are always so willing to help out with anything. I am SO lucky!
..wish I had some pictures to show you....

I found the original post about Cami's baptism and decided to put it in here too... don't want to forget a thing!!!


Well, today, our last child got baptized. Cami was one of six kids who were baptized at the Stake Center.. we didn't know any of the other families.
She was just sooo excited!! I wish you could have seen her as she came out of the water and in to the dressing area. She was a mexican jumping bean! She kept saying how she has never felt as happy as she did right now!
President Steck commented on her joyfulness, as did the Baptism Co-ordinator. Of course, with Cami, that always leads into a little silliness and then a lot of silliness, but who could blame her?
She was just beaming!
Mitch gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and did a good job of trying to get her attention along with the other kids.
When Cami was in the dressing room getting dried, she was almost disappointed that it only took one try!
Brother Fry came to see her get baptized, and helped with the confirmation. He is our Home Teacher... but that was it. Even the Bishopric forgot to come and welcome her into the ward. She didn't even notice... so that's good.
Right after her baptism, we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner... or in Cami's case, mostly dessert! She picked the place to go and got loaded up with lots of icecream, chocolate lava cake and croutons! (Don't ask!) I think she managed to eat two slices of cucmber and maybe a couple of small pieces of their pizza bread, but I think her motive was purely sugar driven!

I just tucked her in and she came out to look for her scriptures that Mitch and I got her for today.
She is just a sweetheart! I am so grateful for this experience for her... she often shows a lot of pondering on spiritual things.. I hope it continues forever!

More Baptism Pics

We misplaced our camera and had to rush and borrow one before the baptism. We weren't familiar with it so some of the pictures didn't turn out that good, but my good friend, Julie, came to the rescue with photo shop to lighten them up and make them more presentable... Thanks, Julie!!