Oct......A Very Busy Month!

***WARNING*** this is a long post! Read at your own risk of boredom!

Not only did Mikel and I have a weekend adventure to celebrate our anniversary, but we also made our annual family trek to the Hood River Fruit Loop. For those who have never been, there is one main loop around the Hood River fruit growing area. Not only apples and peaches grow in Hood River, but also pears, Lavender, grapes, blueberries, cherries, Alpacas, pumpkins, apple cider pressed, wine is made, jams and jellies, and just about anything else you can imagine for year round adventure. Our family LOVES the day trip in the fall!




































We have some favorite places to stop along the way, and some favorite things to do....


































































































































The drive home is always rather quiet as the worn out kids fall asleep....





































...And what is Oct. without pumpkin carving?



















































On Tues, Oct 25th....before Roy'l's due date, some of us girls went for pedicures.


























...then the big day arrived! Friday, Oct 28th at 8:01 AM...the day Roy'l said was her due date (differing from her midwife's guess), Coralie Pearl Dover was born weighing 8 lbs. 11 oz and 21 inches long.































































































































Friday night was our ward Harvest dinner and Trunk or Treat. I only got one picture of Javen as the other kids were off running around. I will post pictures of kids in their Halloween costumes later.




On Sat. my sisters and I threw an open house celebrating our parents 70th wedding anniversary. They were married Nov. 29th, but we decided to celebrate a month early before the weather turns bad for those traveling. Sandi, Eric, Linda and Joanna came from Idaho and Utah, and our Aunt Wilma and cousin, June (Squeek) came from Medford for the occasion. It was so special to spend time with them, and we're so grateful they came!


From left to right: Lorna, me, cousin Squeek, Linda, Sandi.














Aunt Wilma and my dad. They are the only living siblings left from the family of 8 children.















Lots of dear friends from our past attended, including Myrna (Montana) and her mom, May, who lived across the street from us all during our "growing up" years.
From left to right: Linda, May, me with Daniel, Myrna and Sandi.











Family members who could attend, beginning top left counter clockwise: Mikel and me, sister-Sandi and Eric, sister-Linda, sister-Lorna and Tony, Pam and brother-Ron, mother and daddy.
Those missing: brother-Lonnie and Sandy, and Hal(Linda's husband. Our oldest sister, Sharon passed away years ago from cancer. (Sharon's husband, Warren, lives in Utah).














Today was Daniel's blessing but we didn't get any pictures of the little guy in his shirt and tie, but Cavan and Sarah did have family pictures taken this afternoon. As soon as we see them, I will post here.





The next post: Halloween and everything else I forgot!

Our Anniversary Celebration

Mikel and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary on the 23rd of Sept. But since we had a meeting up at LMCH that we had to attend, we really couldn't fully enjoy our time together (although we did get a nice afternoon ride in the boat). We planned a weekend get-away last weekend to the Oregon coast to enjoy the sites, relax, eat wonderful sea food and even drive across the Astoria bridge to Washington to visit my brother, Lonnie and sis-in-law Sandy.

We arrived in Seaside on Friday afternoon and stopped to walk on the beach. It was wonderful! It was a bit windy but we enjoyed our walk. A Seagull even walked with us.




























































Of course we had to visit the Candy Man store to enjoy a $.75 ice cream cone!

We then drove up the coast to Astoria to check into our motel room. We reserved a kitchen unit which was very nice. We were able to eat breakfast in every morning and pack a picnic lunch to take with us as we went site seeing. Our room was the center room on the top floor with a wonderful view of the Columbia river from the front windows. We loved watching the ships pass by.


























On Sat morning, Mikel decided that he wanted to go see the Lewis and Clark fort. We hadn't been there in years, and it has been rebuilt after burning several years ago. It was interesting, and made us grateful for our warm home and all our comforts!
















































Sat. afteroon, we drove across the Astoria bridge to Washington to visit my brother Lonnie. He lives and works in Ocean Park. We had never been there before so after driving and only asking directions once, we found our destination. I could not remember the name of the store Lonnie works at, but knew that there was only one main store in town. There it was in front of us..."Jacks". We went in and found Lonnie helping customers and stocking shelves. It was fun to see him in action and visit for a minute or two, not to mention see a little bit of everything you can imagine in that store! They have things you can't find any place else, or have to order from specialty stores! They have a web site also, so check out http://www.jackscountrystore.com. They also have a catalog http://www.jackscountrystore.co/reference/flipfiles/fall2010flip.html.
It is amazing!


After leaving Jack's, we drove out to Lonnie's house to make sure we could find the way in the evening, after he got off work, then we drove back into Long Beach to walk on the beach and do some window shopping and site seeing. We even had another seagull walk with us on the beach. Do you think it was the same one from Seaside?....hhmmmm














































































































It was a wonderful day, which ended with taking Lonnie and Sandy out to dinner and visiting. But to top off our evening, as we were getting ready to drive back to Astoria, we discovered our headlights would not turn on. It was 9:30 on a Sat. night, out in the middle of no where...in the dark with no street lights...and we had no headlights. Lucky for us, my brother solved the problem quickly by finding some fuses in his garage which were for a truck that he didn't own any longer. After plugging in a new fuse, we were off...safely...with headlights!