Last Day of Seminary

...ever, for Bella. She graduates from Seminary on Sunday. (sniffle)

Here we are in front of the Turleys' home. Thanks, Pam, for the extreme patience I know you used to teach these two.

Just so we're all aware, these pictures were not taken without some whining, griping, slapping, shoving, photobombing from Spencer, and my other phone dying with the Spencer picture not quite showing up, dang it. But I managed to get these two.

Long Beach and Astoria Day

But first: our new microwave! Dad noticed our microwave-less state and took pity on us this morning. We took off early for Walmart and found this lovely item.

It's red and that's all that matters

Rosalind's fourth grade "big" field trip happened today. Brian took the day off and joined her. They rode the school bus to Astoria and visited Fort Clatsop and learned all about Lewis and Clark.

Have fun Rozzie! Be safe :)

Meanwhile, Dad, Neenaw and I took a day trip to Long Beach. They hadn't seen the beach in a long time and Dad wanted some crispies from the local bakery. The weather was beautiful and it was a great drive.

First we had lunch at Dooger's, which was good. Eat at Dooger's!

Saw this sign in a shop window... I see a future cross stitch project happening here.

Ha. Hahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA

We procured our pastries from the oh-so-pleasant women at the bakery (snort) and browsed the shops along that one street in Long Beach that has shops. Dad wanted to find part of his gift for Bella's graduation but no luck. We still had a good time.

Then we drove around and up the hill to Beards Hollow viewpoint. Just absolutely gorgeous.

We eventually made our way across the Astoria-Megler Bridge to Astoria, drove to Rainier and Longview, and then home. Brian and Rosalind had already come and gone to soccer practice.

Later Ernie came over and joined us for dinner at Shari's. So glad he'll be sticking around Portland for a while and was able to see Dad and Neenaw while they were here.

The Folks

Uncle John and Aunt Karen had some clientele to visit in our part of the country, so they took a trip and brought Neenaw with them. Dad arrived later in the day, while we were dining at the Izzy's in Hazel Dell. We all had a nice visit. John and Karen took off for Corvallis area after dinner and Dad and Neenaw stayed here.

Business

Just another fun, busy Saturday.

Carson spent the night with Carter last night

Bella worked on her Food and Fitness cooking projects. She had to make several foods, clean up, have taste-testing and critiquing done by family members, the whole shmear. We lied and said it was all good (wink, wink). This breakfast casserole was part of her assignment. I didn't have any because of the meat, but Hubby said it was delightful.

So meaty

Bella chows down

We also had our new dishwasher put in. Here's the old cruddy dishwasher that actually dirtied the dishes - they came out with more muck on them than they had when we put them in... not the kind of solid performance you'd hope for from a dishwasher.

See ya

Rosalind spent some quality outside time practicing her archery skills. She put one arrow all the way through the box and was pretty excited about it.

See, the feathers are poking through

Bullseye!

Feathers, again

"You come up this instant... or I'll get the hose!"

First: here are two necklaces Brennan made.

Awesome, huh?

And now, a tirade.

THEY FOUND US! WE DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND US!

It's that time again

It's not that I don't want my children to watch scripture-based cartoons (although I do wonder how putting Jesus and Nephi on the same level as Scooby Doo and Bugs Bunny messes with their little heads); it's that I HATE THIS COMPANY.

We've had several unfortunate run-ins with the Living Scriptures people. It all began in Utah, when we lived in Logan and made frequent visits to Kristy in Salt Lake. Their kiosks were in every mall you walked into and they were MERCILESSLY annoying solicitors. Like, don't even walk by them, don't get in their line of vision, or you'll get stuck there for ten minutes before you end up telling them "no" fifteen times.

Then we moved here, and they were making the rounds door-to-door, which was infinitely worse. I know they're just nice kids, usually newly returned missionaries, trying to make a living - it's the company making them do all this stupid stuff. One day I was working in my garage and this kid calling me "Sister _____" walked into my open garage door while my back was turned - I almost had a heart attack. I thought since he knew my name, I must know him, but alas, he had learned my name and address from a probably harried ward member who just wanted him off her porch. I was sufficiently creeped out by this kid that I was inspired to complain to whoever sent him my way.

I emailed the Ward Email Lady (this was before Facebook) asking that she please email the other ward members and ask them not to give our name to any Living Scriptures people in our area. This touched off an email explosion the likes of which I had never seen. "I don't want them here either!" "Quit sending them to my house!" "These people are shysters!" And the stories of people being ripped off, trapped into contracts, bothered on the phone, at the mall, in their garages - just from people in my ward, never mind the rest of the scripture cartoon video-watching world - were most impressive. Not good, Living Scriptures.

Another guy came to my door and tried to guilt me into buying these cartoons. I told him that with our tight budget, the cartoons weren't a priority and he was AGHAST that I would say such a terrible thing. "How can they not be a priority?" he wept into the frame of my front door. "They're very affordable! Even people living in TRAILER PARKS can afford these!!"

Uh, what? Did you just disparage trailer park people to me? I COME FROM TRAILER PARK PEOPLE.

I called the company's 800 number at that point and told them that if they ever darkened my doorway again, they would be hating life, and I think I scared enough members of my ward with my Living Scriptures wrath that only my darkest of enemies would dare send them to my house again.

It's been over ten years, and we've moved several times. But today: another cute young 20-year-old calling me "Sister _____" showed up at my door. Hence the sign, and the nasty email I wrote to their company. I may have to call them again if this kid doesn't take my sign seriously.

This concludes my tirade.

Fortunately, Hubby rescued all involved by whisking me off to dinner at Who-Song and Larry's. It was a lovely evening and we sat outside and watched the boats and a nearby cute fussy baby. I think Hubby was afraid I would start trying to make friends with the baby's family so I could play with him.

Us

We enjoyed a lovely drive home and I went to bed at, like, 8:30. I love being old.

FrankenBlanket

One thing I didn't like about being addicted to Facebook (along with the more obvious problem of having a screen in my face every waking minute) was the fact that I never made or did anything constructive. When I quit, I decided to make a concentrated effort to always have some project in my hands when I'm sitting down because I hate just sitting with nothing to do.

Neenaw taught me to crochet when I was little, but I hadn't crocheted in years. I'm crochet-illiterate and can't read (okay, don't want to learn to read) those hyper-abbreviated crochet pattern instructions. Can we just not type the thing out? To quote someone I know well, "I don't want to think. I just want to DO."

I bought the rainbow-y yarn (on the right) several years ago and haven't been able to find any more of it since. That's what I get for being short-sighted, but it turned out to be a wonderful center stripe of a great big blanket with rainbow colors.

And we named it "FrankenBlanket."

Now it's getting big and heavy and unwieldy. If only I could read crochet pattern instructions, I could be crocheting cute small things like hats or baby booties or toaster cozies, and take my projects out in public to work on in the light of day - but no. I can only crochet at home or in the car. It's really sad.

My life is harrrrrd, but at least now I'll have FrankenBlanket to keep me warm.

Superman ate a pickle.

...while standing in his mom's room,
wearing a sweatshirt.
It was sour.

LATER THAT EVENING...

Roz's Activity Day leaders threw a fun Mad Hatter Merry Un-Birthday party. We were all asked to wear silly hats. Thanks to Grannie, we had several to choose from.

Roz is in the straw hat with black band

Hubby as Captain Jack Sparrow;
me with the Salem hat

Cute girlies

Rozzie and Daddy

Us

Joni G and Missy K of the Primary presidency
(two of my most favorite people ever)

Later, Harrison and Carter played ultimate frisbee with the stake young men, and Bella and I played ultimate Hangman in the Relief Society room with the Laurels in lieu of our scheduled activity, a spa night. I worked more on FrankenBlanket. It was a fun evening.

Happy Saturday 2: Willamette National Cemetery

A couple of years ago, we learned that the Saturday before Memorial Day is a good day to visit our national cemetery. Also, the Farmers Market is open on Saturdays and has gorgeous flowers for sale. Hubby and I made a quick bouquet run in the afternoon, and I cut some flowers from our yard. Then we met Ernie at the cemetery (he's been working on a project in P-town).

Carter getting to work

Carter and Bella

Roz and Carter

Harrison watches

Bella, Brennan, Ernie

Hubby

Me! And flowers from the Farmers Market.
And Brennan's legs.

Gran

Poppy and Grandma Keithler (Ernie's camera)

Grandma Keithler's sister Rose and her husband Kenneth Austin

This is our cousin Gwenda Knutson's husband.
Gwenda was the daughter of Edith Eldred (Wilson) (Hull) Layton,
and Edith was Grandma Keithler's first cousin on her Clark side.
Not confusing at all, is it. Neenaw says his nickname was "Swede".

 Some shots Hubby took near Swede's grave... it was a beautiful evening.

After we visited everyone that we had time and flowers for (Aunt Marguerite's husband Uncle Ralph and a cousin of Grandpa Carl's are also buried here), we went home for dinner and games. It was fun to have Ernie come over. 

Ernie is good at this Wii bowling stuff

Roz loved playing with him.

A very happy evening, indeed.