BBQ @ PAM"S ON SATURDAY.....

Pam called last week and told me the Fadely's were coming to town. She invited me and Tony over for a BBQ so we could all see each other. It was great! The weather was lovely and it was nice to see some relatives that I hadn't seen in a long time!
I'll explain..................... This is Pam and Jerry Hochstein.
Pam is my cousin Glenna McCloud's daughter, making Pam my 2nd cousin! They live in Meridian. We get together occasionally but not as much as we use to when I was single.

This is Teronda Erickson. She is my cousin Jenny Lynn Erickson's daughter making her my 2nd cousin as well. I haven't seen Teronda for years and years! She lives in Meridian. It was great to get her number and address. She is getting married soon so will be Teronda Robinson in the next few weeks!

This is some of the Fadely boys with their uncle Spencer Erickson .

This is my wonderful husband whom you should all know! He was enjoying some relaxation time and looking forward to lunch!

This is Kevin and Mya Fadely! Mya is my 2nd cousin as well being the eldest child of my cousin Jenny Lynn. These two are incredible parents! They live in Stevensville Montana. They have 11 children. Nine of them are their biological children and 2 are adopted. They have had up to 15 children in their home because they are foster parents as well. They are an incredibly talented musical family! Mya is going to home school her children this year. They have a boy on a mission and they were here to go through the temple with another son who is leaving on a mission soon.

Kevin works BUT in order to provide for a family of this size the two of them work at a Farmer's Market most every Saturday throughout the summer. They make crafts of all kinds. ie: birdhouses, benches, paintings etc as well as baked goods! Mya and her children bake cinnamon rolls which she is know for throughout the Stevenville valley. She has done up to 30 dozen for a Saturday's market. She has taught all her children and they help out!

Here are three of the little darlings in Pam's tree. Mya told them that if any of them fell it better be "super glue" that would work to mend them cuz she wasn't taking them to the emergency room! LOL

This is Aspen, their youngest. She is adopted. Can you tell, she loves olives?

This is Spencer (my 2nd cousin) and his wife Cassie and their little boy.

Teronda (my 2nd cousin ) on the right. Teronda is Jenny Lynn's eldest and Spencer is Jenny's youngest.

This is the Fadely family. I don't know how we missed him, but the boy who is going on a mission did not get in the picture. The oldest girl (3rd from the left) is living with them. She became interested in the church through their son standing behind her. She joined and her parents dis-owned her and kicked her out. The Fadelys took her in!

And of course, Jason and Caulene, Addie and Isac were there too. It was a great Family get together with some of my relatives that live here in the Boise area and of course some that were here visiting.

MY NEW BUSINESS....I'M SOOOO EXCITED !!!

OK, so I know you all are tired of hearing about my struggle with weight issues!
It's been hard ! The older I get the harder it seems! My metabolism has literally turned off!
I feel like the lady in the cartoon.....SERIOUSLY! I'm sick of it!!

I joke about it all the time! It's funny but it's NOT! Know what I mean!
Well, I was introduced (Monday 8/24,09) to a company by the name of FREE LIFE
I am so excited about one of their products call THIslim. I was given a sample on Monday and I tried it. I have lost 4.5 pounds in 5 days. When ya have about 70 to lose, that's a drop in the bucket BUT it has me enthused and excited and I KNOW I AM GOING TO DO IT!

I've been talking to several people that are on it and I hear nothing but good news! The results have been awesome. There are many more pluses to the product than just losing weight. It helps with stress, sleep, and elimination! I hate to say it, but that is a biggie for me! I plug up like no other. I've always had problems with it. When someone tells me I'm full of it......well, their RIGHT ON! I am!

I signed up as a distributor ! I haven't felt this excited about working for something in a long time! If you want to check out the product, you can go to
lavernenorton.freelife.com
Check out the site but further more.....I'll be posting my success and I am confident I WILL HAVE IT ! And if your interested......call me! We can talk!

OUR OREGON TRIP HIGHLIGHTS......

OK, to start with, these pictures will not be in any particular order. I took around 400 photos and so I selected a few to let you know some of the things we did.
We left on Saturday morning the 15th and went to Astoria. My brother Rick and his awesome family live there and we wanted to spend Saturday and part of Sunday with them before driving on down the coast to Depoe Bay. We got to Astoria around 3:30 Pacific time. We immediately went to the Bowpicker for a wonderful lunch of fish and chips. We then rode the trolley that goes up and down the waterfront. We then went to Rick and Wendy's for a visit before going to a play called "Shanghaied in Astoria". It was so much fun. A slap stick comedy . That evening we drove to Seaside and spent the night at the Seaside Resort and then went to church with them in Astoria on Sunday.
After church we went to their home and they fed us a delicious roast beef dinner. We went and saw their new home after dinner. (They will be moving into it in a couple of weeks.) We also checked out a few of the sites in Astoria and then left to drive to Depoe Bay.
We drove down to Newport one day and went to the "Sea Lion Caves". You take an elevator down to the cave, however the lions were out on a rock sun bathing instead of being in the cave.
If you make this picture bigger, you can see the lions on the rock. They blend in real well.

This is the cave. We did see a couple swimming in the water but the rest were outdoors.

We went to a couple of lighthouses. For some reason, the flies were horendous at this paticular one so we didn't stay long. The view was incredible though!

Here we are aboard "The Morning Star." We were right up front on the bow...."I'M THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD"....lol Actually I was scared to death. I took a couple of dramamine so I wouldn't get sick. I've never been on a boat on the ocean other than a ferry. I did fine and it was so much fun I would have liked to go again. We went out to look for Whales. We did see a couple .....but........

we also could see whales from off the deck of our condo unit, (which by the way was beautiful) Here we all are watching the whales one evening. We saw them nearly every day! They were Gray Whales.

We saw beautiful sunsets!

There were several bouys out in the ocean and when we went out in the boat I took a picture of sea lions sunning themselves on the bouy! The boat was a rockin, hense the blurry picture! You couldn't see them from the coast because the bouy was out too far.

This is a picture of Depoe Bay (the bay is on the other side of the bridge) as we were coming in off the ocean after our boat ride.

We went swimming 2 times at the condo. Unfortunately, I took the picture or you'd all been able to see a whale! LOL

We went into Newport to the "Under the Sea Gardens" and watched all kinds of sea creatures as well as a diver that went under and would pick up animals (he could catch) and bring them to the window so we could see them being handled. (eels, crabs, annomes, etc) We were hoping to see an Octopus but the onery thing wouldn't come out. Outside on the docks we found MORE sea lions. The fishermen don't like them (especially down near Astoria) because they are mean, and they eat all the fish, especially the salmon and they take over the docks!

We went to an aquarium in Newport. This was a tank that went overhead as well as had a couple of glass floors. It had several fish plus sharks!

We explored several beaches. I was very disappointed not to find any sand dollars this year.
One lady who owned a store in Depoe Bay said that this is a bad year for finding shells and rocks etc. Too much sand being washed ashore this year........interesting!

This was the view from our condo! It was incredible! It was awesome sleeping at night and hearing the waves crash on the rocks! I loved it! It was often foggy but usually cleared off nicely!

The front of the resort. We were on the 2nd floor. It was perfect!

These are the "BEST FISH AND CHIPS" (in Tony and my estimation) They are from the Bowpicker in Astoria! They are made from tuna. We love them!

Dad prefers cod.

This is Mom and Dad in fron of the column in Astoria. There is a circular staircase inside (166 plus stairs straight up) and we all walked up! The view from on top is spectucular and well worth the exhausting trip)

This is one of the actors at the play we went to in Astoria. He played a Norweigen named Ano!

It was a blast!

This was an actress in the play.......she was a H. O. O. K. E. R. !!!

It was all in fun and I asked her if I could take a picture of her so she leans on in to Tony and planted a kiss on his cheek! She had a cute little French accent. Tony was as red as her outfit! PRETTY FUNNY!

This is a picture of one of the structures at Tapiola Park. My sister in law Wendy designed the park and raised a ton of money for the construction! This is a miniature of the Flavel House. Captain Flavel was a river pilot and his home is a museum now.

This is a picture of us in Rick and Wendy's current back yard. It overlooks the mouth of the Columbia River and the ocean. The bridge in the background connects Oregon and Washington States and is 4 miles long!

The day before we left to come home was very windy and the ocean waves were incredibly high. This paticular picture is called a blow hole. There are several spots on the rocks that have holes in them and when the waves come up the water shoots out of the holes.

This was just a sampling of what we did! It was a wonderful trip. I always enjoy the coast and all it beauties and wonder!

WERE BACK.....

We got back from the coast tonight around 7:45. We unpacked, looked at our mail, made a couple of calls and did a little laundry. I'm so tired. I will post more of the trip later. Just letting you know that it was AWESOME! We saw whales nearly every day and not just this statue either! The REAL DEAL!

OREGON COAST....HERE WE COME!

We leave early tomorrow morning for the coast. I'll be taking LOTS of pictures to be sure!
SO....... see ya in a week!

I CAN SO RELATE TO MAXINE...

IF MY BODY WERE A CAR.....

If my body were a car, this is the time I would be thinking about trading it in for a newer model. I've got bumps and dents and scratches in my finish, and my paint job is getting a little dull. But that's not the worst of it. My headlights are out of focus, and it's especially hard to see things up close.
My traction is not as graceful as it once was. I slip and slide and skid and bump into things even in the best weather.
My whitewalls are stained with varicose veins. It takes me hours to reach my maximum speed. My fuel rate burns inefficiently.

BUT HERE'S THE WORST OF IT-------

Almost every time I sneeze, cough or laugh, either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires.

CASH FOR CLUNKERS..........I QUALIFY - How about you?

NAMPA FAMILY FUN NIGHT........

We spent the evening at the Nampa Civic Center. We met up with Deedra, Stillman and Michelle and the kiddies and we enjoyed all kinds of.........
DANCING

BLOWUP PLAY THINGS.....

SOME TO CLIMB ON......

AND SLIDE DOWN....................................

JACK RODE ON GRANDPA'S BACK ALL NIGHT..............................

THERE WERE BEAN BAG TOSS GAMES...................

AND COTTON CANDY......................................

THERE WAS A PRINCESS.......................

AND ANOTHER PRINCESS...........................

AND A SUPER HERO...........................

AND REPTILES GALORE............................

THERE WERE TIRED BABIES....... AND SOME WIDE AWAKE.............

THERE WERE SNOW CONES ....................

AND TRAIN RIDES.....................

AND ONE SAD LITTLE BOY BECAUSE HE GOT THE BLUE CAR INSTEAD OF THE BLACK CAR...............................

AND ANOTHER SAD LITTLE BOY BECAUSE HIS BALLOON GOT AWAY AND WENT HIGH INTO THE ATMOSPHERE..............................

BUT WE ALL HAD FUN ! I THINK WE'LL ALL SLEEP GOOD TONIGHT!