Family Get Togethers During The 2009 Holidays

The following pictures are times we spent with the childrens while we were in Auburn for the Christmas holidays.



Kim and Noelani at Pappy and Nana's house on Christmas Eve Day.

This is at Steve and Holly's house on Christmas Eve, Pappy, Kaven (Great Grandson,) Noelani Granddaughter and Kim. Pappy is guarding the stair way where the little ones wanted to play.

Scott and Gabby and the dogs waiting for presents and dinner on Christmas Eve.

Here is Teresa with her niece Nevaeh on Christmas Eve. Very Cute picture.

Here is Teresa with Noelani who is very tired and ends up falling to sleep in aunties lap.

Here is pappy and nana with great grandchildren Kavan and Nevaeh on Christmas Eve.

Here is Barb with her granddaughter and the mother of Kavan and Nevaeh on Christmas Eve.

Dinner at Teresa and Scotts on Tuesday before New Years. Teresa made Rachel Ray's famous french onion soup which Scott and Jerry and Gabby were getting ready to eat.

A family picture after we ate the delicious dinner Teresa made and played Mexican Train Domino's.

This picture is after we played Mexican Train Domino's and Teresa and Barb was winning the game tell the last few rounds and then Jerry took the game that is why he is smiling.

We had a lot of fun with family and friends over the holidays and we wish all our family and friends a Very Prosperous New Year in 2010.

December 2009.

December was a very busy month. Jerry and Barb flew back to Auburn to spend the holidays with the children and grand children and great grand children. This year the weather was much better than 2008.



The first event happened 4 days after Jerry and Barb arrived home and it was the annual Lefsa party. For anyone not knowing what Lefsa is it is mashed potato's mixed with butter and cream and then rolled out with flour and fryed. A lot of lefsa was made and shared with family and friends.

These three pictures is the Lefsa making in progress.

The next event to take place was to start some decorating so the house looks a bit like Christmas

Jerry don't put up all the lights outside like he use to years ago Barb would just as soon as he don't be climbing around on ladders any way.

Jerry and Barb's mothers loved Christmas so the tradition now is to light a candle by their pictures and honor them on Christmas day. Also Jerry's brother loved Christmas so he is included as well.

The third event was to get some shopping done so we have presents under the tree. Ark and Saw was very happy to see Barb and Jerry come back for Christmas and that they got to be in on the big day.

This year Barb did not cook her son Steve volunteered to cook Prime Rib it was delicious. Also he volunteered to have it at their house and in their newly remodeled kitchen very nice and Steve & Holly are very pleased with the improvement.

This is the cooks but it looks like one is having wine and letting Steve do the cooking I think that is a good deal.

We did something different with gift giving this year we did a Secret Santa exchange it was fun and Barb's gift got took by Holly (her daughter - in -law) but Steve her son really encouraged it. The gift was a cutting board that went over the sink and had a vegatable strainer attached. Oh well Barb ended up with a gift card to the Cheescake Factory so it turned out OK. But Barb wil not be forgetting what happen any time soon.

The day after Christmas Jerry and Barb had a little open house for friends and neighbors to come over and have some goodies and drinks. All had a good time and drank a little wine.

The Month To Give Thanks

Another very busy month. Weather has been great sunny and warm every day.


Barb and Diselle (her sister) did the Cancer Relay For Life Walk.

This picture is the ribbon that is luminated with paper bags that is donations given by individuals in memory of or cancer survivors or just donaations to the cancer fund. As you can see there is a break in the ribbon what happen some of the bags started on fire and had to be taken out and set to the side. The bags are made of paper and then sand is put in the bottom and a candle in the sand. It is very pretty when they do the lighting.

This is Nancy and Rich our neighbors next door and they are from Oregon. We golfed with them this month and had a good time. We do a lot of laughing when we go golfing and that is good for us all.

This month there was a Good Guys car show in Scottsdale. These are three of the cars in our neighborhood. This was a guys day out well it ended up being all day Friday and three quarters of the day on Saturday. It is a very huge car show so impossible to see all in one day.
The wives enjoyed a day of shopping or going to lunch or just doing what ever they wanted to do.

We put up a humming bird feeder as we have a lot of humming birds around. So when we don't have any thing else to do we sit and watch the humming birds. Retired life is tough.

Thanksgiving day was a quiet day at home ate a little turkey and watched football. The temperatures was 80 degrees hard to believe it was Thanksgiving Day.

We did venture out on Black Friday but the crowds were not bad but then we did not go out tell 10 am and only to a couple stores and most of the shoppers had went out at 4 am.

That pretty much wraps up another month of fun in the sun. Sorry to keep mentioning that when I know we have family and friends in weather that is not so nice.

Good By October

The month of October we have five birthdays in the family.



We first celebrated our granddaughter's Gabby on October 5th. Kaven our great grandchild has a birthday on October 4 we did not get to celebrate his birhday with him but I am sure he had a great one he was Two. Then Jerry's birthday is on October 17th and Ron's is on October 18th. We went to Bainbridge Island to Kim and Rons to celebrated the guys birthday and we stayed over the night. Jerry got a WII game for his birthday so we played a couple games of bowling and golf in the evening. On Saturday Ron and Kim fixed breakfast and we went back to Auburn. Then that evening we celebrated Jerry's birthday again with Scott and Teresa and Gabby. A Lot of partying for one birthday wouldn't you think. Then on October 30 Steve had a birthday but we were already in AZ so didn't get to celebrate with him on his special day.

Teresa, Scott & Gabby bought a StoneCold Ice Cream cake for Jerry and that is why he has a big smile on his face we are about to cut in to that baby.

Here we are celebrating Gabby's birthday at the Spaghetti Factory in Tukwilla.

Here we are celebrating Jerry's & Ron's birthdays in Bainbridge Island at Kim & Ron's. I am not sure why we don't have the birthday guys in the same picture but they aren't

After all the birthday celebrations on Sunday afternoon October 18th we headed for sunny AZ. We drove as far as Baker City, OR. On Monday we drove to Jack Pot NV and spent the night and invested a little money well I guess Barb invested Jerry boke even. Tuesday we drove to Laughlin, NV and Barb invested a little more money so she is going to be rich some day. Jerry come away with a little cash not much though. On Wednesday we arrived in AZ. Very warm in the 80's and 90's. We have been cleaning up the yard and house.

Barb started bowling and golfing with the niners. Jerry and Barb been out golfing a couple times and found out they weren't as rusty as they had expected after not golfing for 6 months.

That pretty much wraps up the month of October.

Saying Goodby to the Month of September

Another month flew by but it was a fun month.

The month started off with a granddaughters birthday Jenny's B-day was Sept 5th. A new bride on August 22nd and birthday right after.

On September 10th we took our street rod and headed south to Seaside. Our first stop was in Chehalis to have breakfast with some friends (Larry and Sherry) who live at Toledo. They met us at a restuarant in Chehalis and we visited for a couple hours and caught up on what was happening in our lives. We traveled on down to Seaside and then met up with other friends who live in OR. Steve & Judy live in Battleground, WA and Rich and Nancy live in Wilsonville, OR. These two couples are our neighbors in Chandler AZ.

On Friday Sept 11, we all took the street rods and headed out for a 60 mile poker run what a beautiful day and seen a lot of areas we would not have seen had we not been on this scheduled route and the many stops at towns and businesses to get our cards for our poker hand.

This is Steve, Jerry and Rich by the cars at a look out stop which was a beautiful view of the ocean but of course Barb did not take a picture of the view.

On Sunday Sept 13th the car show ended and Jerry and Barb traveled with Rich and Nancy to Willsonville to spend the night at Rich and Nancy's. The picture of the guys on Monday morning waiting for their breakfast. Nancy made scones and coffee they were really good.

Nancy and Barb in their front yard just before Jerry and Barb started back to Auburn.





Jerry is drewling over Rich's Corvette he asked Rich if he could just sit in it to see what it would feel like. Very pretty car it is a 67.


This picture is taken at the same look out point that the one up above was taken where the guys are standing by the cars. A very nice lady offered to take a picture of all of us with the cars Rich & Nan, Jerry & Barb, and Steve & Judy and you can see a bit of the view. Barb could not get this picture to move up with the other one for some reason.

September 18, 19 Teresa and Barb had a garage sale which turned out to be a great success. The garage sale got post poned when Teresa got sick so we both were happy we could get this accomplished this year.

On Thursday September 24th Jerry and Barb decided to do the Puyallup fair. It has been a few years since we had been at the fair. Kim and Noelani (granddaughter) joined us however after 3 hours Noelani was wanting a nap.

On Sunday September 27th Barb fixed dinner for Helen & Ray and Loren & Irene our neighbors who do so much for us while we go south for the winter. We also did a little wine tasting which we try to do once a year.

Hot Month of August

The month started out very warm several 90 + degree days but all in all the summer has been great. Hopefully the fall & first part of winter will be nice also.



We had quite a busy month Teresa still recovering from her surgery which she has done quite well. She had surprised some of the doctors that she has recovered so well. She is one amazing individual a fighter to say the least.







Here is a picture where Jerry decided to get his hair cut as short as Teresa's so they could look alike. Teresa'a hair is growing in so cute.

Then we had a get together that my dear friend Jan Craig organized of a lot of the people we went to church with for 15 + years in Federal Way. It was so much fun to see everyone and chat about things in the past. The day was a bit chilly and windy but didn't rain so that was good. Two of the couples come to AZ and one couple lives just down the road from us what a small world.

Kim had a birthday this month on August 15th and turned the big 35 wow that seems like a long time ago for us.

Then our granddaughter Jenny got married on August 22 and Barb's sister and niece Carisa come from AZ to celebrate the special occasion. August 22nd is also Barb's brothers birthday so that should be easy to remember Jenny's anniversary.

Here we all are cuddled together for a group picture.

Here we are with the bride and goom it was a very pretty wedding out doors and a nice day it was.

Guess we will gear up for another month of sunshine and see what events keep us busy for the month of September. Until them hope this finds all our family and friends happy and well.

Month of July

The month started off with a bang oh ya I guess it was the month of the 4th of July fireworks haha. The 4th of July we went to Bainbridge Island for a barbecue at Kim's. Very nice day sunny and warm and great food.




The day after the fourth Teresa was admitted to UW hospital in Seatle and diagnoised with a brain abscess and had brain surgery on July 6th. After being sick for two weeks before then and being treated for other things unrelated to what was the real cause it was a relief to find out what was causing her being so sick.

Here we are Teresa is back at home and she had to have her head shaved and all she wanted was a pink hat (pink is her favorite color). Barb went to the Harley shop and found a pink scull cap with black flames. Cute huh! She is improving every day and we are praying her full eye site will come back as well.

We are having record breaking heat in the Seattle area. It feels like we are in AZ. Today is the last day of this month so we are looking forward to what the month of August will be not really we hope it is cooler haha.

Is There Life After RV ing?

Ark and Saw are really worring if there is life after RVing. We watched the motorhome and jeep driving away with someone else driving them. Think our parents sold the RV and Jeep what does that mean for us. Now they got this SUV sitting in the drive way will we get to go in that or are they going to just leave us sitting at home? We loved to travel and now here we are in wonder what is going to happen to us.

Month of June

June started out very busy. June 6th our granddaughter Gabrielle had her final piano recital at 3:00 pm and at 5:00 pm she had her granduation from high school celebration.

On June 7 our youngest granddaughter had her first birthday.

On June 15th we celebrated Fathers Day at our house . Here is Jerry and Scott holding a Stone Cold Ice Cream cake patiently waiting to dig into it. They had just got done playing a game of golf on the WII game that Kevin has and shared with us all for a fun day of golf and bowling.

We had a family photo as Kevin was in town from AZ and that don't happen often so we thought it was time to get a picture with all the childrens. Missing in the picture is Steve's fiance Holly and his daughter and two children.

Here is Jerry baby sitting his granddaughter and he is feeding her. She loves her papa and he takes care of her every Wednesday while her mom is at work.

Jerry has been spending a lot of time at doctor appointments this month so he is hopeing that next month it will be a lot less. He is feeling better so that is a good thing.

Barb has been working a couple days a week doing product demo's at Costco so that keeps her out of trouble.

One day Barb sewed curtains for Teresa's kitchen, and nook area and bedroom and bathroom.

A Busy Month of May

We started out the month of May on the 7th by taking a short trip to CA for Barb's family reunion it has been 12 years since she last saw her mom's siblings and her cousins. It was a three day fun filled packed activities.



This is our first evening in CA having dinner with Barb's cousin Patty and husband Rich and Barb's second cousin Amber and her husband Jeff, their two boys and Barb's other cousin Audry's husband Andy and their two children. Kinda of a get to know each other gathering.








On Saturday there was a tour of Hollywood Andy the guy in the picture above that went to dinner on Thursday evening was our tour guide and drove the van. The picture above is down town at Graumans Chinese Restaurant in this large entry to the restaurant individuals are dressed up as movie characters. This is just a few of them.





This picture is taken at the Chinese Restaurant. We all had been looking at all squares on the ground that the movie stars have put their hand prints and signed their names. This is is a large area so there was hundreds of squares.







This is a famous drive in called Tommy's Original Burgers. Many movie stars come here the night of the grammy awards to eat because it is to bring good luck. They drive up in their limo's and someone jumps out and orders and they go on their way. There is no sitting down at this place you order and then stand by a bar like area and eat. We ate lunch here it was cool.







On Saturday eveing May 9th we had a dinner and dance and that is when all the family was together at one place. This picture is all of Barb's cousins that attended. Eight cousins was not present. Four cousins have passed away. I have one Uncle and one Aunt left from my mom's 11 siblings still alive.


On Sunday morning (Mothers Day) we are having breakfast my brother on the right and sister on the left and my sisters children. In the far back in the green shirt is a cousin Steve and his wife next to Jerry and Barb.




Sunday afternoon there was a picnic at cousin Patty's house a horseshoe and cribbage tournament and lots of food and drinks. That wrapped up the family reunion.



On May 17th we celebrated Mothers day at Teresa's house. We had a great time Steve barbecued Tri Tip steak Teresa made twice baked potatoes and Kim fixed Ceasur Salad.
Teresa made home made fundge syrup that we put over angel food cake and strawberries and ice cream on top of that so we all indulged in dessert and then was very very full. It was a great day.

Auntie Teresa is trying to get Noelani her niece to walk to her mom Kim.



Here we are full of dinner and dessert don't we look full.

Here is papa Jerry and Gabby hanging out on the deck waiting for dinner.

Kim had to leave early to take the baby home she was tired so she is absent from this picture.


We wrapped up the month on May 24 we baby sat Noelani for the first time while her mom went to the Super Mall to shop. Papa did just fine intertaining her. Pictures will have to come in the next block posting as it posted the pictures at the top and would not let me move them to the bottom so you will see them later.


That pretty much wraps up a very busy month. The memorial week end we stayed pretty quiet.