A Trip to the Wild Side (Oops! the West Side)

Jayden is so handsome and then dress him up for a dance.  Wow!!  He was going to the Sadie Hawkins dance with his girlfriend, Promise.

Megan, left, and her BFF, Isabelle, were having a sleep over.  They were showing off their fake butterfly tattoos. 

We celebrated March birthdays by having a nice dinner at the Black Angus in Lakewood.  This special dinner seems to have become a tradition because we want to spend time with our family before going south.  We want them to know that we miss not being there for their special days.  Pictured here are Courtney (March 10th) and Jason (March 29th), Merry and Courtney, Kyle (March 8th) and Brett (March 20th) and Brett and Teri. We love all of them.

The best thing that Facebook has done for us is getting in touch with friends that we have not seen in way too long.  Our friends, Bo and Janis Orlando, live in Ashford.  While we lived in Ashford from 1977 to 1985, we got to know Bo and Janis through our daughters.  Their daughter, Lisa, and our daughter, Becky, went to Columbia Crest School together.  We are so glad that we have re-connected.    On our trip home from the wild side, we stopped for a visit and nice lunch with Bo and Janis.  We talked for 2 1/2 hours about memories of living in Ashford and caught up with everything that has happened between then and now.  We shared pictures of kids and grandkids.  We are all retired now and enjoying life.  One of the funniest memories (a little embarrassing at the time) is when Janis and Teri took a girl scout troop on a weekend camp out and our daughters were the ringleaders in toilet papering the cabins. 

We also visited the Zuelich's - Donnie and Gerri.  (Dang, my camera must have hid when we stopped to see them.)  Our daughters, Tina and Becky, were also friends and classmates.  Bill and Donnie trapped together for quite a few years.  Our boys will probably remember Gerri giving them perms when curly hair was cool for guys.  It was a great weekend!!!

Welcome, 2012

Bill wants to wish everyone a fun New Year.

We had lots of fun in the Tri-Cities where Lindsey, number 14, played in a volleyball tournament.  She belongs to the Strikers, a traveling volleyball team.  This was the first tournament of the season.  They didn't win this tournament but they played really well.  It is so fun to watch the grandkids learn new skills every year they play at their sports.  Since the tournament began at 8:00 am, we went over the night before so we could enjoy some time together and be ready bright and early.  On Sunday afternoon, Jon and Melissa Forbes and their sons watched Lindsey's last game.  Jon was an usher in Mike and Becky's wedding and graduated with them from Eatonville High School.  It's so fun to see special friends.

Well, well, well. We had a mild winter with only one snowfall in December that melted after several days. Then we started to plan our trip south and we get 15 inches of snow and cold weather. We are used to snow and we know we are taking a chance leaving in February. We always hope we will be lucky and have a clear driveway to get the trailer out for our trip.  However, at the same time of our snow storm, the west side had a very bad storm with wet snow and freezing rain.  Many people were out of power for 2 to 6 days.  There was a lot of damage especially to trees and shrubs.  The wet snow made the limbs heavy and then the freezing rain on top caused them to fall off or fall over.  It was a real disaster so we know our storm was manageable.  

  We have a heartwarming story to share.  There are some of the nicest people on earth that live in our area.  We don't worry about getting around in the snow since we have 2 four-wheel drive vehicles.  We thought it was great when our neighbor plowed out the private road where we and our neighbors live.  On top of that, we were surprised to see this guy on a quad with a plow come up our driveway.  It turned out to be our UPS driver who had delivered a package and saw our driveway hadn't been cleared.  His work on our driveway helped us get our trailer out of the driveway and on the road several weeks later.

A good project during a storm.  We smoked and canned 60 pints of pink salmon.  It's something we enjoy doing so we can share it friends and family.

We stayed at Becky and Mike's with Lindsey and Brandon while they went to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend.  Brandon had his friend, Alex, spent the night before going to a band solo and ensemble contest.  They had an airsoft shoot out in the garage.

These guys looked great for playing their trumpets at the contest.  The contest was held on the Central Washington College campus in Ellensburg.  This was the first time we have watched this type of activity.  The boys played very well and the judges gave very helpful comments to the participants.