Pictured out

Ok so no pics this time!
I have been taking the pics from my New Camera which is taking like 8 megapixels or something, maybe 10, and shrinking them down so they don't take 400 years to upload. To shrink them down I have to put them in I photo Plus and crop and squish and resave as JPG. I have been meaning to upload Picasa but haven't yet. Anyone tell me a faster way to do this?
So you can see that we had a great time but have been pretty busy since we have been back. Hang on for more!

Baby shower

My friend Denise is having a baby, so we threw her a shower. It was fun! I loved making the diaper cake. All I have to do is make sure Greg's home and look inept. He figures out a great way to do everything! Whitni did all the work and Pat came in to decorate. Get this, we got Denise's husband to get her out of the house and then had the shower there! We break in the back, and 4 miles of Crepe Paper and 50 assorted removable stickers later and it's a party! I think she was genuinely surprised. Everyone was such a good sport and brought such lovely things... it's only been 9 years since I had a baby and it's amazing the CUTE stuff that's out that wasn't when I was expecting!! She is very much looking forward to Caitlyn's arrival (hope I spelled that right) because we all think Caity is going to break her ribs if she has to stay in there much longer!

Driver's License

We finally let Philip get his license. I was holding back... it's so much $$$!! But he's got to "fly" sometime. He was so excited. Can you see this smile? He's trying to keep from one of his I HAVE STRAIGHT TEETH NOW smiles! He got extra points for taking his test in a stick. He can't stand the automatic transmission. Daddy's boy. Anyway, he's driving now!!

SNOW!! This was the first time the girls had seen this much, ever! They couldn't wait to sit in it, get their hands in it and see what it was all about. Then they got cold and wet!

Katie found a Sally Kitty. Anne really knows how to pick kitties.
Cousins!
Ryan and Aaron playing out in the snow. Fun!

Carol's - More!

The girls playing with PlayDoh in the School Room. How nice to have a whole room to get messy!

Elizabeth and Evie and Innertubing!!

Dominique and Elizabeth baking cookies. What sweet girls!

Carol's - More!

Peach Blooms in my yard

The sun has been lying to the plants that it's spring. It's JANUARY. The buds are all popping out everywhere. Ah Louisiana!! Ok back to the travel blog!

So where did you go again?

We flew into Portland late and spent the night in a lovely hotel (with suites, they actually let us all 6 stay in the same room. When you have lots of kids that is pretty cool. Now I know to look for suites.) and headed out in the AM for my dad's over by Shelton, WA. Then to my grandmas close to the Canadian border, and got to see my mom there too, then to Carol's and then south to Oregon to see Greg's folks. It was a lot of driving. Then back up to Portland to fly home.

I highly recommend the GPS thing with the cell phones. We had it and tried it in New Orleans which was wonderful, they still don't have all the signs up directing you to the freeway. I know, Katrina was 2 years ago. What can I say. GPS knew which way to go though --- so we used it all the time on our trip to see family too. It was fantastic. Even Carol's house out in the country was easy to find with our little direction lady. And though we had lived in Oregon and sort of knew our way around, the GPS finds the short way. Ahhhhh!

This is what it looks like in January in Oregon in the sky. Ok I am serious, it looks like this MOST of the time. Which is why my next post is so wonderful!

Carol's House!!

We got to visit Carol while we were in Washington. It was TOO SHORT. They were such good sports and went all out to entertain us with what we like best. THey provided snow, and inner tubes, and baked lots of cookies. It doesn't get better than that. Look at her cute kids! She is the bestest-- even had kids in the range of mine so they could play together well! The boys (David, D'Andre, Philip and Alex) stayed up playing video games and were pretty tired looking in the morning. The girls paired up, with Dominique and Elizabeth making cookies and Katie and Natasha doing lots of girly things together, and Evie jumping in wherever she thought was interesting! Anthony I think played video games for a while too but didn't last all night... hey you're still growing! You need that sleep! And the baby was just so good and cuddly the whole time. It was beautiful and I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends who let us pop in every year-and-a-half or so and wear out their kids. And Carol's husband is a fan of our Lousiana hot sauces. So if you find a hot sauce that is TOO HOT for you or anyone you know, let me know and we'll send some to Emmanuel. He has the highest tolerance for HOT I have ever seen. And I live around Cajuns!

Somehow it seems to be tradition to wait until the last possible moment to take group shots. So we are all up early to get to the airport so everyone is not exactly dressed up, or woke up either! Someday we'll get smart and dress up for this the first day and get it over with so we can just hug and kiss and say goodbye civilly without flashes and stuff!

More pictures of Family

Sorry, the camera was sitting on top of the TV so I could get in there (not a good choice) and we didn't get Cindy, I am glad I got other pics of her LOL! The two on the far left there are Cindi's daughter and her bf. In front in the red is Great Grandma J. She still is the best cook ever... I hope I can cook that well when I am 90... but I will have to work hard!!

Pictures of Family

Greg has a cousin, Cindy, who is REALLY A BLONDE!! I must put that out there because she tries very hard to cover it up. But she is a big goofball too and lots of fun. I love this picture!!

Random Stuff

Blogging

So I just went around and snooped on blogs of people I know and read all kinds of goofy stuff. It is amazing how much you can learn if you pay attention. And some people take even worse pictures than me!! So I thought, my blog is really boring! Sorry if we bore you.

I also read something that made me think. I read one that said we have to dream. I have a real problem with "dreams". First of all you dream that you will grow up and get married to Prince Charming and be rich and life is rainbows. Then you have your first fight and you have that big "POP" go off and realize this is going to be a lot of work, he is never going to be a Prince, and we'll never be rich, and that the dream isn't what you really wanted in the first place. Then you have friends and you see them put their dreams above their family and you worry that their priorities are askew... and they end up losing both. And they're not happy even if they do get their "dreams". So I have been leary of "dreaming" because I don't want anything to get in the way of what I am supposed to be doing. Being a mom. Being a wife. Taking care of what is here NOW so I don't have to do remedial work later. And if the dreams come along and happen, great... but I find God surprises me with things I never would have even hoped for. So I am happy without having my castle and trip to Hawaii. My big dream of family forever is all that matters right now. Maybe later I will set goals... but I will have to call them something besides dreams...

So that was really boring, I know introspection on a blog is just... yech... so I will try to get out of that and be entertaining!

The Richins

It was fun to go back to our ward in Oregon and see so many familiar faces. Some of them haven't even aged!! The Richins invited us for dessert and we had a great time hearing about them. The stories were great and the snacks were too... Sometimes you do have twinges of really missing people and these folks are the kind to do that to you.... Thanks again for the super trip. Am printing up a few of these and will get them in the mail ASAP. PS I could not put the book down. WOW!!! :D

SEE Gars

Lori being the fabulous auntie that she is, with the memory of all the horrible things we sent her when her kids were little (finger paints, Play-Doh, Legos, giant squirt guns) went to See's Candies and bought See-Gars for the kids. Solid Chocolate... I didn't even know they had these!

Taste Test

Cocoa Krispies.... which Greg has been complaining are never consistent... sometimes lots of "cocoa" and sometimes not... versus Lori's pick, Cocoa Pebbles. Lori decided to give him a taste test.

As you can see (sorry pics backwards) brand loyalty wins again. You didn't think the blindfold could keep him from knowing which cereal it was? At least he did try the Pebbles!

Great Grandma

Lori and Grandma J

Five generations of girls... Grandma J, Lori, Katie, Elizabeth and Grandma A
We probably should have put Greg in there for a pic too!

Grandma J and Becky...It's great to see family... I am probably posting these all backwards but I shrunk down some pics for Lori so I thought I would post them. Shrinking pictures is something that I know should not take as much effort as it does for me. Someday I will get my kids to tutor me on this art.

It was great to see Becky and her husband. Grandma A prepared the huge Christmas Dinner with all the fixings (including her fabulous stuffing. I love that stuff!) and we had a pretty big family gathering. It was delicious!

Lori

Greg has not seen Lori in a very long time... something around 15 years when Philip was little. It was great to see them together at their folks' place. Lori is full of enthusiasm and just fun to be around. Here are some pics...

WE ARE BACK!!

Ok for security reasons, i.e. letting the cyberworld know I was going to leave my house unattended, I did not post anything about our upcoming trip. But we went to Portland and visited relatives and friends in Washington and Oregon for 10 days and we're back now.
I will go into detail with the trip when I have pics ready.
In the "now" I came home to a house just as crowded, messy and in need of attention as it was when I left. I guess the magic elves didn't come. I was disappointed! And my dog forgot all her manners while we were gone. And the cat down the street got mysteriously fixed (I had offered so the owner thought I had done it.... No I don't go neutering cats without permission... I just offered because it is easier to pay for a little surgery than give away kittens. And the kittens always end up in my yard hence are my responsibility.) so I got blamed for that. I didn't do it. Maybe the elves did THAT!! Other than that life is good and my lemons are still producing and the peach trees (yes today is January 9th, 2009) are blooming and shedding pink petals all over my yard. I hate to tell them this isn't spring yet, it's 75 degrees out there and they won't believe it will be in the 30s next week. But it will.

We had a safe journey and only forgot about 4 things we know of so far. Which is pretty good with 6 people going 6 places, really. (not counting restaurants).

A big fat thank you to all of those we saw on the trip and to Whitni for picking us up and dropping us off, and Larry for feeding the fish and the cat and getting the mail.

Ok now i am going to look at my pics so I can post some ok?? Love ya! Heidi