What Happened in July

The 4th of July weekend was a baseball weekend for us.  We had a great time going to Brandon's West Valley All Star games in Richland, WA and then to our Hollie Minor's All Star games in Milton-Freewater, OR.  Hollie is our great niece.  We were really glad the games were so close together and the time of the games were just right for us to watch several games for both Brandon and Hollie.

Right after the 4th, Nina and Dave Pearcy visited us for several days.  It was awesome to have a really good visit with them.  They are pictured sitting left of Bill when we went to Whistling Jack Lodge on Chinook Pass to celebrate Ron and Linda Stephenson's 48th wedding anniversary.  I think I caught them with their mouths full - Ron is in blue shirt and Linda is in gray sweat jacket.  Congratulations on 48 years together.  How cool!!!

Teri celebrated her birthday with a pool party at Becky's house.  We had a BBQ and followed dinner with my current favorite dessert - pumpkin cheesecake.

We hung out in the shade except Courtney who loves the sun.  It was a hot day but we made it a fun day.  Sorry, Becky, I got a weird picture of you when you were checking out your Dad's sore foot.  It was sore from taking a spill at the Columbia River when shad fishing.  He didn't stop fishing that day but it has been bothersome for a while now.

These pictures are so funny because Lindsey is posing and Merry is hiding herself with her hand.  It is totally the opposite of what they usually do.  Was there a full moon?

Brandon was enjoying his time in the pool.  Triniti is hoping someone will retrieve her ball.

While Mike and Becky celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in Maui, HI, Brandon stayed with us from Tuesday until Sunday when he went to camp in ID.  Brandon and Teri made a camo helmet out of Brandon's bike helmet.  He used it at his friend's (Mason) birthday party that included an air soft war.  We also went fishing on Dog Lake at the top of White Pass.  It was really cold but we aren't sure if Brandon was actually really cold or needed an attitude adjustment because he wasn't catching any fish when he pulled the stocking cap over his head.  We managed to talk him into holding up the six fish that G & G caught.

Here's Lindsey when we picked her from the West Valley Youth Local Mission Trip.  It was an extremely busy and productive week.

The group was friendly and fun.

A group picture of all youths and leaders who participated in the local mission trip.  The group was made up of youths from Yakima as well as Roseburg, OR and Sacramento, CA.  Some the projects done in the Yakima Valley were replacing a fence at a church, weeding for a disabled woman and at a local church, helping with a free soccer day camp, feeding the homeless with a local organization, painting and cleaning a church (just a few of the many projects).  The youth were very busy.  Volunteers from the West Valley Church of the Nazerene prepared all the meals and everyone loved that. 

While the honeymooner's were in Hawaii, their fence got tagged.  Grandpa and Brandon scrubbed it clean.  A nice white fence must be tempting for taggers because this isn't the first time that they have been tagged.

Brandon and his friend, Gabe Miles, went to an awesome camp in ID.  Gabe's mom, Christine, took a  full vehicle of campers on the long drive.  She said no electronics on this trip and about halfway there she was wishing the kids had some electronics.  

One morning we had an amazing and long thunder, lightening and rain storm. It had been over for about two hours when we heard this helicopter.  It was flying over the cherry orchard across the road from our house.  The cherries were several weeks from being harvested and they used the helicopter to dry the cherries so they wouldn't spoil.  There is always something interesting going on around our house.