A Very Random Review of the Summer of '09

Yesterday I posted a piece in honor of Brent's and my 33rd wedding anniversary. I had included the photo below in the composition but it somehow disappeared and I just had to resurrect it today to give everyone a good laugh! Is this the seventies or WHAT? Check out those tuxes and the southern belle bridesmaid dresses. This is a bouquet of 33 red roses that Brent brought me for our anniversary. So beautiful.

The rest of this post will be July and August in review in no particular order. I took this picture today of a particularly nice cluster of champagne grapes in the arbor. They are oh, so sweet!

We finally purchased an adirondack style porch swing for the arbor. The vines and trees down there have finally matured to the point that we're getting some decent shade during the hot part of the day. The swing provides a romantic setting at sunset but all of my married kids have been married long enough, now, that they're not particularly interested. Sad, eh? If any spooning is going to happen on that swing it's all up to you, Annie. Don't let us down.

Isn't this the saddest thing you've seen for awhile? We've been aware that we've had a problem with our back deck for some time now (years) but really had no idea what the extent of the problem was. Not only was the grout chipping out of the tile but the cement, wood (soaked and rotting) and stucco underneath the tile are in less than stellar condition also. In other words, we basically are having the whole thing demolished and starting over again. Ka-ching. I'm trying to remember that this is an annoying, expensive inconvenience and not a tragedy. Sigh.

Moving along to better things . . . I got a big kick out of this photo of Lucy with her little stick legs flying in opposite directions out of her onesie! Laura and Jordan and Lucy have been in McCall, Idaho for the past week with Jordan's family and neighbors. I'll bet she'll have put on a pound by the time she gets back. She eats like a horse . . . a very, little horse.

This was taken just before they left for McCall. I can't help but smile every time I look at our little Lucy. She just enchants me!

The other morning I got up early (somewhat unusual) and was rewarded by the most intriguing western sky. Looking over to the northwest, there was a lightning storm . . . lots of black clouds and rain. Then, glancing over to the southwest . . .

. . . was a pink, sunrise sky with the moon still hanging above the horizon. Intriguing.

This is a photo that Brent took with his Binford 2000 camera using some kind of special setting. I would have loved to have told you that I got this photo with my point and shoot camera but I don't think any of you out there are that dumb. This is looking East from our front porch above the mountains (late July). What a great shot, Brent. Maybe I COULD get this shot with my camera . . .? Naw.

I like to go to the downstairs apartment, in the morning, to see what kind of night Lucy had. Several mornings in a row, this is the sight that greeted me . . . Jordan sacked out on the front room couch with princess Lucy snuggled up, sound asleep, on his chest. Another iffy night, eh?

Brent and I took a whirlwind trip up to Canada for my nephew Brian's wedding to Michelle Lepine. We decided to drive a different route this time and drove through the Columbia River Gorge and over to the Oregon coast. It added a few hours to the trip but was so worth it. This is driving along the Columbia river at sunset. It took this photo with my little point and shoot camera . . . just hung my head out the window going 60 miles and hour and fired away. Got some great shots but couldn't get a brush through my hair for a couple of days!


This is a gigantic bridge that spans the mouth of the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. The bridge is high off the water where you enter from the Oregon side, I imagine, to provide a shipping lane. Then, it just seems to plunge straight down into the water, kind of like an amusement park ride. Wheee! Has anyone seen my stomach?

This is my sister Elaine, my brother Mike and me at Brian's wedding at Hayward Lake in British Columbia. I didn't get any pictures of the bride and groom because Brent was getting plenty with his mega-camera which I planned on using for my blog. He actually got some great photos, which he burned on to C.D.'s for Brian and Michelle and then erased off his computer. Sigh.

THese are my brother's good looking kids at the wedding. From the right is Rachel, Matteo, Jessica, Sarah and Sarah's husband Zach.

While we were in B.C. we went on one of my favorite outings to Steveston. Steveston was a Japanese fishing village before world war II, but after Pearl Harbor was bombed the Japanese people were moved to internment camps inland. All their property was confiscated and "redistributed" and they never got it back. The town is still a fishing town and it's become very touristy with lots of kitschy little shops and restaurants. Not the finest hour of the Canadian government (or the American government for that matter), but I love to go there for fish 'n chips and gelato and a walk along the river. Down on the docks, there are usually tons of fishing boats in with various catches . . . shrimp, salmon and a variety of other fish. Brent and my dad are in the photo.

The LDS church is building a temple in the town of Langley, about 1/2 hour from where my folks live. This is a long awaited temple . . . the closest temple to my family is across the line about 2 1/2 hours drive away in the Seattle area. Before the Seattle temple was built, they had to go to Cardston, Alberta. My parents and brother and sister and families are really looking forward to the completion of this temple next year. There will also be a large stake center on the site and a home for the temple president and his family (which my dad calls the parsonage).

The next three photos date back to July 18th at Laura's Hale family baby shower. Rachel hosted it at the pool in her and Scott's back yard. It was a pool party/baby shower! Below is Brent's sister and two of her grandchildren.

This is Brent's sister Kristen and three of her grandchildren. Looks more like a bath than a "shower"! What a great idea for a party, Rachel!

Annie, Laura (who was technically on bed rest) and Rachel (holding yet, another Hale grandchild). I think that to date, Brent's parents have 40 grandchildren and 40 plus great grandchildren!

My sister, Elaine and her husband, Len came to visit us just prior to Lucy's birth. While she was here, she saw this birdbath in a store and decided that I had to have it. If you look closely you'll see the cute frog that's on it (she knows that I'm nuts about frogs). I LOVE my birdbath. Thanks Elaine.

Well, here's a blast from the summer past . . . waiting for the Centerville parade to start on the fourth of July. I LOVE the Centerville parade. Marching bands, clowns, a fleet of vintage Cadillacs owned by our friends, the Yorks, bag pipes, the Stake float, and always . . . lots of candy! Gotta love it.

The other thing I like about the fourth of July is all of the flags flying in front of every home in our surrounding neighborhood, compliments of the scouts. It just does my heart good to wake up on all the patriotic and state holidays and see those flags waving in the breeze (assuming there IS a breeze). Either way, I love the flags.

I do believe I'll wrap up this post with tonight's sunset . . . this doesn't even begin to do it justice. I really do hate to see the sun go down on the summer of 09. I've actually enjoyed the summer very much this year. Signing off . . .

Oh . . . just one more thing. For those of you who keep track of such things, this summer was the 40th anniversary of the "summer of love" when a half million stoned and sex-crazed young people converged on the little town of Woodstock (particularly Yasgur's farm) for three days of rock music, drugs and unrestrained num nums. At the time, I had a much romanticized picture of what was going on there and just couldn't understand why my parents were so opposed to me (a wannabe hippie) going there. Hey, I had the headband, the bell bottom pants (with three inches of fabric dragged off the bottoms), the beads with the peace symbol pendant AND the attitude. What more did I need? Possibly a few more years under my belt. Doing the math now I realize that I was thirteen. Sigh. Jimi Hendrix just had to go on without me.