A fun vacation

Vacation was so nice and much needed.  I cannot believe that I have been home a week already!  And put in over 50 hours of work too.  We had so much fun playing and holding and watching all the grandkids.
The travel days getting to and from Minnesota were long but went fairly smoothly considering I had to go through 4 airports each way.  Got into MN about 5 hours later than expected because one flight was delayed making me miss the next one.  But the airlines booked me on a later flight and I got to MN safely.  I just kept reminding myself that "God was in control of everything and had it all worked out".  Terry got to MN before me, so he and Christy and Becca were waiting for me at baggage claim.  It was so wonderful to have the girls yell "Granma" and run to me once they spotted me coming off the escalator.  Terry was able to spend the entire vacation week with us.  It was so nice.
Here are some photos from the week plus Michelle has posted some on her blog and I have uploaded other pictures on facebook.

Grandkids and Sunset

Our kids, Ryan and Julie, and grandkids Lance, Liam and Shella May moved from Minnesota to Oregon!!! After 15 years of having them far away, they are finally within 3 hours drive. So, of course, I went to see them and the kids and I played lots of games. There is a rule that "Grandma always wins" but they ignore the rule quite frequently. We played Sorry, Life, a new game that has you do all kinds of different things like a cross between Pictionary and Scattegories and trivia. We also went shopping and walked to one of their schools and enjoyed the Lake Oswego Farmer's Market. The weather got over 100 degrees so the shopping mall was crowded because so many people were looking for air conditioning! It was a great weekend.  At the last minute, Shella May decided she didn't want her picture taken.  Oh well - maybe next time.

The day after I got home we had a beautiful sunset so am tagging pictures of it to my post.

Yard Work

I have had "cleaning up the planter around the tree in the back yard" on my list all summer and I finally got it done after spending most of Saturday and part of Sunday working on it.  It was really hot here - in the high 80's or low 90's so I had to take lots of breaks!  But it feels so good to look out the window and see it AND to mark it off my huge to-do list.  Here are some before pictures.

Now for the after pictures!!!

4th of July and Baseball

I spent the 4th of July at the Central and Eastern Oregon All-Stars Little League tournament.  TJ's team played on the 4th and lost, then played on the 6th and won, then played on the 7th and lost again.  TJ played catcher most of the time.  In one game, he caught a pop-up foul ball, got a bunted ball thrown to first base in time to put the runner out, and tagged two other players out at home.  He also got one hit and stole 2nd, 3rd and home to make a run.  Needless to say Grandma is VERY PROUD!

The weather was very sunny and HOT.  I am so thankful that James & Amy brought their canopy.  It was a fun weekend but wore Grandma out!  I ended up taking naps when I got home.  Here is a video of TJ stealing 2nd base.

Things a trucker has to think about

Terry is taking a load of trucks from Portland, OR to Bangor ME (about 3200 miles).  Most of the time, there is now problem with the trucks, but this one had a tire problem so Terry was 'broke down' in LaGrande, OR.  The next thing that went haywire was the air conditioning not working.  When you think about the heat wave currently in the mid-west and east, driving without air conditioning would be very, very uncomfortable and also a safety hazard.  If you are too hot, you might be distracted while driving.  So, he stopped in Salt Lake City, UT to get it fixed.  Now he is heading toward Ohio which has power outages.  Hopefully, the power will be fixed and OK where he has to stay the night.  He also ran out of gas once!  Since he is hauling new trucks every load, the gas tanks are different sizes, the gas gauges are different and they are hard to estimate from one  load to the next.  Some trucks have small tanks and others large.  You also have to plan for toll roads, whether the motel has enough room to park a large truck hauling two other trucks, are their restaurants within walking distance?.  Then throw in all the driver regulations.  It really is not as 'easy' a job as many people think!!

June 17 - a special day

Twenty-nine years ago on June 17th - Terry and I got married on a Friday morning at 9:00 a.m.  It has been a wonderful journey raising 4 kids and adopting (in our hearts another) and then having the joy of being grandparents to 13 grandchildren.  We have 5 honorary grandchildren as well as 7 compassion children too.  Plus numerous nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and grand-nephews.  We have gone  scuba diving, traveled to Japan, the Bahamas, and taken 3 cruises.  We have also had lots of trips to Minnesota and Alaska, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California (together!!)  And we have managed to make our marriage work no matter what shifts we are working or what kind of traveling is needed for our jobs (which right now is ALOT!! )  We have so much to praise the Lord for.

June 17th is also the day our twin grandsons were born and now they are already a year old!!! How can time zip by so fast?

And June 17th is also our friend Marsha's birthday.

Portland Rhododendron Garden

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Portland, Oregon, visiting some of my  kids and grandkids who drove in from Minnesota AND visiting my nephew's family.  One of our excursions was to a Rhododendron Garden.  There were lots of beautiful flowers and bushes and baby ducks and geese.