A few trips in the new year...

Gary gets the week between Christmas and New Year off from work because his office shuts down. We figured it would be a good time to visit his mom since we had been told she wasn't doing well. She lives in Brookings, OR which is on the coast. We started out in sunshine but met up with some heavy fog once we hit the valley on I-5.
the sun came out as we hit the California border though-
hello big trees-
this is a mighty redwood-
the view from our balcony in Gold Beach.
Then the storm came in the following day and brought some rain...
and some snow! This is how we felt after awhile on I-5 with a billion (maybe exaggerating here) other going about 5mph.
After dinner at Red Robin (let's here it for fries!) we headed through the back roads to home. We got back to Vancouver around 11 pm and drove around Officers Row and downtown taking pictures.We heard on New Years morning that Gary's mom had passed away. Guess she was waiting for him to show up... decided he needed a bit of time to process, so I took him off to Cannon Beach for a few days. No one was there in the January drizzle but we didn't mind...
The view from our window. We stayed at the Land's End Motel. We loved it and it was right at the waters edge.
This photo is of Gary getting ready to take a picture at Ecola. And then the one I took with my little camera while he was taking a serious one.

Right outside our room...lots of seagulls...
Rested and relaxed and ready for the new year now.

Christmas recap

Smiles for photos...
always talking with the hands...

lots of laughter...
smiles and tears for homemade gifts...
Christmas Eve at the Toners...
Christmas morning tradition...are last time with one of our babies at home...
gingerbread house-well, sorta...these were done with graham crackers...

lights on apartments and truck...
lights at our house...lots of lights on a house...lots of houses with lights-Peacock Lane...
Anthropologie displays...

Display of plastic yard figures in Sellwood area...
practicing with each other as models/subjects...
Sugar cookie elves...
80 th. Birtday dinner for my dad...
Fun, fun times...

Good things to eat...

The last few weeks have been full of good things to eat also. Around here and on our trips!
This first photo shows the 6 dozen cupcakes that I made for a Magenta awards ceremony. The next one is just a close up we took.

Kornblatt's on 23rd. has the best Reuben sandwich according to Gary. Oh and matzo ball soup too!

We visited California Pizza kitchen when we were shopping at Bridgeport Village. Gary had the pesto pizza, Amy had the Greek and added avocado and I had a salad with added grilled shrimp.

Christmas day was held at Karl and Amy's this year. They put out a grand spread of finger type foods...

We have been to Laurelwood at Battle Ground Village a couple times now. This visit Gary had the risotto cakes and I had a burger sans bun-so I could have some fries too. Oh and the beer sampler was fun also.
This last shot is from our trip to Cannon Beach and we ate at the Lumberyard. We arrived during happy hour and were seated over in the corner by the fireplace, so cozy. Gary had the pork sliders on hawaiian buns with their pepsi bbq sauce and some of the mac and cheese. The rest went back to the room for another meal. I had the burger without the bun, see above to know why...
okay...now back to the healthy eating plan...
Gotta lose some inches before the big birthday and wedding this summer!

the Wedding date...

Unfortunately because we aren't made of money, not all of our friends are able to attend the grand event. However, I didn't want you to miss out on all the fun...
Here is their save the date card-

the back has a dating time-line... you can read more about them and see some photos (I think more will be added) here.

We are all really excited to see them make this commitment to one another and ecstatic that they are relying upon God for their marriage not just the ceremony.

New design and recap

No photos this time :( It took me an amazingly long time to find a cute background to put up and then searched for a header image only to end up making one up from a free digital scrapping image.

Still having computer issues. I am currently typing on Gary's computer and his doesn't want to find my photos for some reason...
I will head over to mine now and sort, size, etc. and then put up another post-hopefully today.

This will catch you up to what has been going on in my life...well other than the hibernating and book reading I have been doing-no photos of that. Mainly because I didn't want to scare you with photos of me sans makeup, bra, cute clothes and washed hair!!

What a start!

This week sees 2010 entering in and we said goodbye to Gary's mom, Cele. We had made the trip down to see her a week ago and then got the news on New Years Day that she had gone to join Gary's dad in heaven. I figured Gary needed some time away and so I whisked him off to Cannon Beach for a few days. We were feeling pretty good and then we had a message to call the director at a funeral home in Cele's home town. Now we are scrambling trying to figure out how we can get out of paying for the expenses that her current husband should be responsible for. So we went from our peaceful feeling to this.

I still haven't taken down Christmas here and I have lots of photos I want to share and the computer is acting up....

I'll be back when I am doing better, keep us/me in your prayers please. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now.

thanks,karin