My sister Jennifer died on Nick's birthday, January 17th. Spent about five days at the El Cajon Elks, really close to Troy & Darcy's. The girls did a nice job on her Memorial Service. Was great to get to visit with all her kids and grandkids. Mike came from Kentucky for a few days. So sorry that she never really decided again that she wanted a sister. I had to deal with that 30 years ago.
Came home in March from winter south but were able to spend a couple weeks
at the Elks in Tracy and drive to Corey's each day. Was great to have so much time. It was just about spring when we got home.. This is a sample. Love spring flowers.
On Corey's birthday, May 5th, Chris & Kristina held the reveal party for Graham Christopher Hooper.. It was held at Karen & Casey's new place.
Taco's are always a hit.. Yummy ! !
Chris's sister, Cathy, was the only one to see the ultrasound ahead of time. Kristina supplied her with both pink and blue confetti and she sealed the pinata. So fun, was a great way to see that this baby will be our great grandson!! Even Sir Edmund was involved.... LOL
Edmund is sure watching out for the new addition to the household!! LOL
Two grandsons graduated from High School in June. Kenny had a party at his parents house..
Got Kenny to open our gift, $500 cash, should come in handy for the new computer that he wants.
Great way to get the kids from the lower area where the bonfire was up to the house where the food was ! ! Great celebration!
The next day, Seth had his graduation party at our house. OMgosh, forgot how much teenagers eat ! ! LOL. His graduation ceremony was held at the historic Elsinore Theater in downtown Salem.. Totally forgot to take pics of the boys tenting out on the greenway and eating ! ! !
Seth's $500 grad gift went into a family fund for a future trip to Hawaii.
Spent a week in June at the Newport Marina Annex clamming with Charlie & Joanne Leeth. Not too successful with the clamming but we had beautiful weather. We had enough clams to make one batch of chowder when Joe & Celeste came. Yummy!
We hosted a baby shower for our great grandson that will arrive in late September this year.. We held it on June 30th and Joe & Celeste were able to come up. Gosh darn, I didn't get any people pictures..
Kristina planned this shower so well. Fun games included these bags that had the initials of the theme "Baby in Bloom" on each bag and guests had to guess what was in each bag that matched the letter on the front. The game on top of the bar was about guessing the MSRP of each product. Much harder than it seemed. All items that Kristina will need for Graham. The last game was one where you had to match the animal with their gestational time. Very interesting... and fun ! ! The cookies below were made by my friend Brandy who owns Brandy's All City Sweets. Kristina gave them and a yellow marigold in a blue pot for thank you gifts. Turned out great with a lot of help from Jan ! ! !
These beautiful mums were Kristina's gift to Jan and I. Got mine planted right away ~ ~
On July 3rd and then again on July 4th we hosted parties for the 4th and our 54th anniversary. The first night we had hot dogs and hamburgers and the second night, we had pulled pork and chicken. BJ did the smoking for us and did a great job. BJ also runs the fireworks over the river. Corey is always handy with the water. Did a great job again!! Loved that all three kids were here for both days. Rarely get them all together anymore.
This is Joe and Celeste walking on the greenway...
Corey will turn 50 in May next year and he and Angela have picked Silver Falls State Park as the place to celebrate... We went there with Corey and scoped out the camping. We will reserve it in August and hopefully will get spaces together. There are three cabins that have long driveways for RV's. Two for the price of one, can't beat that... LOL
North Falls
South Falls by the lodge
On July 7th, Patrick and Christine as well as Kristina, hosted a surprise 25th anniversary party for Karen and Casey. Amazing that it really was a surprise. Great food and party. Christine and Kristina had every detail managed. Beautiful and fun. Casey had asked Corey why he wasn't starting his trip home on Saturday morning, couldn't tell him that it was because of him and the party! LOL. Joe and Celeste just couldn't stay as they had time commitments and had to leave on July 5th.
Hard to really see in this picture but this was an ice bucket made with pouring water over real roses in between two bowls. They put champagne in it later. It was beautiful
Jeremy & Porche'
Chere'
SURPRISE ! !
We gave them a wall hanging that said "This is my happy place". Thought it might fit on the hot tub patio. Also, a bottle of late harvest pino noir. Casey had just been asking us where his bottle was??? !! LOL
Corey showing Mo his camera. She is a cutie!
Monday, July 9th left home about 9:15am. Heading out to meet George & Pam Raney in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Friday. We will have four days traveling together with the WM so we can get our acts together before Colorado Springs. At about Marion Forks and on to Sisters we got caught up in the most amazing butterfly swam... Never before has that happened to us. The windshield was a mess... Took Ken three stops to get the window clean.... YIKES
Wyoming has a fair number of gas rigs out in the fields, a few oil wells but many more gas rigs. Next was Phillips RV Park in Evanston, Wyoming. Pretty park in the trees but not too many to cause us any problems. It was hot and humid when we got there, so for the first time, we started up the air conditioning. Got everything all cooled off and all of a sudden it was thunder, lightening and a downpour. Over about an hour it cooled outside by about 20 degrees. Got a break in the weather and walked up the block for Mexican dinner. Not the best, but ok with leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Someone pulled in with a horse trailer and parked over by the edge of the park, along the fence line. Pretty soon they unload their goats !! Must be the new lawn mower system. What a site. They were gone very early the next morning.
Last stop before meeting up with the Raney's is in Rawlins, Wyoming at the Red Desert Rose Campground. Along the way we crossed the Rockies and the Continental Divide going as high as 7200 feet in elevation. This part of Wyoming was fairly boring until this short distance of beauty. we are surprised at how dry and "ugly" most of the last two days have been. Have seen a few antelope these last couple of days too.
Today is our last travel day, Friday, July 13th, getting into Cheyenne. Now we are finally seeing the Wyoming we expected. Beautiful, green and some trees. We were up to 8,000 feet elevation today too. Lots of cattle in this high country as it is perfect with all the grass and lot of water holes. We crossed the Continental Divide and also we are in the Rockies. Meet up with George and Pam at the FE Warren Air Force Base. They got us into the FamCamp. Nice area in the very back of the base. This appear to be a very old, 1800's buildings, base with lots of open land. lots of antelope and/or prong horns living on this base. Pretty cool... Busy working on Fantasy stuff for the tour. Glad to have these extra four days with the WM. They took us out to a great dinner last night at the Wyoming Rib & Chop House.. yummy. We then drove out to the Terry Bison Ranch RV Park where our tour will go later. Was nice to see it early. This area is getting ready for Frontier Days. It's a big deal here and our guests will have front row seats at the parade.
Last stop before meeting up with guests in Colorado Springs for the Fantasy RV Tour, Rocky Mountain National Parks of the North. We have been in Aurora, Colorado for two days at the best State Park ever. We are at Cherry Creek State Park, right at the edge of Denver. Huge park with a lake. Lots of room... There is a big reservoir here and across it you see the skyscrapers of Denver. This huge park and open space are right along side a big city. GREAT ~~