Ballets and Birthdays

In our month long adventure, Dan and I headed out to Tacoma on June 12th.  Gwenevere was in a ballet recital and we just had to be there for it.  We drove to SL and caught our flight and all was well.  Elizabeth got us at the airport and took us to their new home.  They bought a place in Tacoma and have been working very hard to refurbish it.  It was looking fantastic and we were excited to be there. 

First off, Elizabeth took me on a walk around their neighborhood to show me a couple of homes that were close by and for sale. Oh, to dream... there were some really cute places close by and it would be so fun....

Dan got comfortable while we went shopping.

 

Gwenevere got comfortable while we went shopping.

 

We went to Costcos and I love Costcos.  We bought lots of fruit and Gwenevere even asked me, "Granma, did you go crazy with the fruits?"  Yap, Gwenevere, I did! 

 

That night we got ready and went to the ballet.  James took Gracie on an adventure and Dan, Elizabeth and I went to the ballet.

 

METROPOLITAN BALLET OF TACOMA

presents

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

(starring Gwenevere Roemhilt)

 

 

 

Gwenevere was so cute in her Turkish Delight costume we must have taken a hundred pictures.  Here are just a few of them.

 

She loved the flowers Granpa gave her and she loves her Granpa.

The next morning we got Preston's Thomas Train cake in the oven and cleaned out Baby Brothers room.  Wha Hoo.

Now Elizabeth has "this much room".

Gwenevere helped me with the cake and the frosting.



 

Wha La ~ Thomas the Train for Preston

Sharloee and her friend got there and Elizabeth and James went with them to the ballet.

Dan and I stayed with Gracie so she and I went for a walk to the library and park.  She had a great time climbing on the toys.

After she learned how to cross the bridge she would tell me, "I can do it." over and over.  What a little sweetheart.  I loved spending this time with her.

 

Saturday morning we loaded up the cars and headed for North Bend.  Preston was having a Birthday Party today. 

We met everyone at the park near Will and Jenni's home.  It was wonderful.  It had a pond with ducks and a walking path which Elizabeth and I enjoyed.  Jenni had the table all spread out like a train and Preston liked his cake.

So did Taylor

 

We got to visit a bit with Ron and Carolyn as well as Will and Jenni.

 

The "kids" enjoyed the kyaks and the water while the Granpas enjoyed the view.  Elizabeth and I went for a run around the lake.

After all the fun at the park Jenni, Elizabeth and I went looking for new running shoes for Elizabeth.  She was like the Queen on the Throne as we brought her pair after pair to try on.

Back at home we had another party

Will mentioned a home two houses down from them that is for sell so I walked over to look at it.

Nice home with two bedrooms and an office.  It would be fun to be that close to their family, too!

Oh, how would you decide???

What a fantastic day and a great trip for a ballet and a birthday!

For memories sake we did have trouble getting out of SeaTac this time. I spent two days at the airport waiting for open seats.  Elizabeth took us both back for an extra night during the wait.  Thanks Sweetheart!!

 

Portland and Paisley

A month or so ago we got a HS graduation announcement from Tess O'Leary.  Can you imagine?  She was just a baby when we left Paisley and here she is graduating.  Well, Dan thought it about time to attend a graduation there so we flew into Portland on June 6.

 

 I was just getting in SL from our Sister's Retreat in LV and had stayed the night in Provo with Gracie. 

 

Dan had taken the 2:20 AM shuttle from home to SL and we met there at the airport. Our flights were good and Tessha picked us up at the airport in Portland. We came a couple of days early so we could spend some time with her and Patrick.
She and I went for walks everyday and I realized how much I had missed her company. We get along so well and can possible walk and talk forever. But, sometimes the men like to eat, too so we went to lunch at a favorite of Dan's and Tessha's.

 

Gustah's is a wonderful little German resturant close by the Washington Square Mall. I guess Tessha and Dan have eaten there before but this was my first time and I think Patrick's as well.
We had an amazing, quiet, enjoyable lunch together before Patrick needed to get back to work.

 

Tessha and I did some Father's Day shopping and later that evening presented Dan with some new clothes for his fun return to Paisley.

On Saturday morning Tessha fixed us a breakfast of "hole in ones" before she loaned us her car to drive to Paisley. 

 Dan and I headed out about 9:00 since the graduation was at 4:00 and it was a good 5 hour drive. We made good time and even got to stop at Bob and Diane Elders for a few minutes.
I didn't get a picture but we sure had a good visit. They're both doing well and we got caught up on lots of the goings on. We've sure missed everyone in Paisley and Lakeview and it was nice to hear how well everyone was doing.

When we got to Paisley we went by some of our favorite spots and stopped at the swimming hole up the canyon. 

 

Dan had me take pictures of the inside of the gym for "old times sake".

I'm sure several of our kids will remember these.

We had such a great visit with everyone before the graduation began. 

It was almost like being "home" again.

 

Tess was the Valvictorian and gave a great speech.

 

Here's a picture of Dan in front of the ball field.

and the school. 

 

Somewhere there is a picture of him similar to this only about 23 years earlier.

 

After the graduation we went to the O'Leary ranch and had a wonderful BBQ with everyone.  And then we headed on down to Lakeview.  Elders had told us the the Voelkels were still in town so we stopped by to see them, too.

They had put in their mission papers and received a call to Brazil but the visas hadn't come through yet and they were still had home.  We had such a great visit with them both.  Aren't we glad that friends are forever, too.

 

It was late when we left them so we went straight to our room in the King's motel in Lakeview.  Bob and Barbara were out of town but arrived home around 11:00.  Barbara called our room and we talked for a few minutes but didn't get to see them since we were leaving around 5:30 the next morning.

 

It had been a very full, fun-filled day and we were both rather tired when we finally got to bed.

 

The drive back to Portland was beautiful.  We had driven down through the Willamette Pass down pass Eugene so we decided to drive back through the Santiam Pass up Bend and into Salem.  Both drives were amazingly beautiful this time of year and we enjoyed every minute of the trip.

We arrived back in Portland just in time for Patrick and Tessha to take us to the airport. We caught our flights and were headed back to SL before we knew it.  It was a long night's drive back to Idaho but we did it and look back on a great visit to Portland and Paisley.

Thanks Tessha and Patrick for all your help!!

As a side note: Dan and I had talked about whether to go to Tess's graduation or Megan's wedding which was to be later in the summer.  I'm glad we went when we did because now Dan has been in the hospital for 2 weeks and they're thinking he'll probably be there another week at least.  If we hadn't of gone then we might have not made it later.

Good thinking, Dan.