It's Family Night Again!

Sometimes, Grampa takes Grammy hiking on trails in the mountains.

The trails are well marked usually, but sometimes we will come to a place where there are several trails coming together, like the branches on a tree. Which trail is the one we should choose to get to where we are going? Often Grammy will chose which trail she thinks is the right one and then ask Grandpa if she is right. He either tells Grammy that she is right or directs her to the correct trail to choose.

Grammy likes to look ahead and see where the trail will take her. Sometimes the trail is hard or steep and Grammy cannot see where the trail is going; she gets worried that maybe she is lost or not going the right way. Grandpa will stop and show Grammy how to find the trail even though it is only wide enough for two feet to travel on it. Grampa always knows where it is!

Once, Grammy and Grampa stopped for a short hike by a lake. It was a very foggy day, but Grammy didn't worry because the lake wasn't very far away. However, after just a few steps, Grammy could not see the lake and Grammy could not see the car either!

As they walked, Grammy would see dark shapes in the fog and all the around the outside sounds were quiet.

It was a little bit spooky, but Grammy was never lost or worried; she had Grampa with her! Grampa helped Grammy know which trail to choose and they walked together all the way around the lake and returned safely to their nice warm car.

Grammy never chooses a trail without Grampa!

Heavenly Father created a plan where we would leave our heavenly home and come to earth. Here we would learn to use our new bodies and learn to make good choices.

Everyday we get to make choices.

How do you know if a choice is a good choice or a bad choice?

Is there someone you can ask?

How do you feel when you make a good choice?

How do you feel when you make a bad choice?

Which feeling do you like better?

When you turn eight years old you will be baptized. Soon after, you will be given a very special gift. This isn't a gift that you put in the drawer or one that you hide in the closet until you need it. This is a gift that you can use everyday! This gift is a friend that will help you to always know which path, or which choices you should make. This friend is called the Holy Ghost. Although you cannot see him and he is very quiet, he can be your best helper when you have choices to make!

Practice now making as many good choices as you can so you will be ready when you are eight years old to have the Holy Ghost be your everyday friend!

Look up this scripture and see what it says about the Holy Ghost: 2 Nephi 32:5

Love you all! Be good and make good choices and be happy!

Love Mamala and Pa

There's a Reason Why

As those of you who have hiked with Dad , especially in the "early years," will remember that in the back country you would have to string your food bags up on a bear wire. This was supposed to keep you and your food safe from the local bears. Then more recently, portable bear containers were recommended because it kept the smell of the food incased and bear buckets are nearly impossible for a bear to get into.

The following pictures, were sent to us by e-mail by Dad's old boss, Sherry. Now we all understand why the back country rangers no longer suggest we use a bear wire for food....

That bear is up, up, up in a tree...and wants the seeds in the bird feeder. It looks like he is on a hill, but it is Sherry's back yard which is steep.

This is not a bear cub...

Come to papa...

Bear wire or bear on a wire?! Enjoy kiddos! Stay safe!

XOXOX mamala and pa

Four Windows and a Wedding

To begin, many thanks to Heather for spiffing up my blog! Wow! I like it!

Each weekend, I think of what we are doing in terms of this blog. Is there anything that I can blog about? First I thought that I would start with showing you what I have been sewing...then thought better since some of them are gifts; but some things I have completed recently can be shown. So here are some of mom's creative moments (there are others, but I have not yet taken pictures of them):

This is the old green chair on the front porch; now it is blue with some sea glass glued on the top rail. Eventually, I think I will cover it in rock -- a winter project since I have much too much to work on currently...

Then I bought some fabric to spruce up the old couches with pillows. It helps to make the old things more comfortable...

This closet used to be stuffed with everything that I had available for crafts and such, as well as my bed linens and towels. Since I have a craft room currently, I thought that I would move the crafty things down. This a shot of the closet about half way through the process...like I said, there was a lot of stuff in there!

When emptied, I used some orange paint left over from another project, and then I painted the shelves (they are original to the house) with some simple dot flowers and leaves to make it interesting;

This is it. Not Martha-style but at least it has just towels and sheet sets and TP and such. It is nice to be able to get something out without...manuevering around!

During the week, Dad found some wooden blinds at Home Depot on close-out, so now the front four windows have nice wooden blinds on them...probably should have taken the shot with the windows open...but you get the idea. Dad finished putting them all up this weekend.

We were invited to K'aui Lani Fontes and Aaron Lawrence's wedding at the Suquamish Tibal Center. The main support columns all have carvings on them, similar to this one. The following pictures will give you an idea of the inside of the place...very nice.

This shot is back lit and hard to see...on most of one side, the walls open up to the sea. They had one section opened for the backdrop of the wedding. This is where they took their vows. The view was nice.

Here are Kaui's folks, Silas and Patty when the wedding party is coming in. The hall was full with tables for eating afterwards...remember, Silas is Hawaiian and he loves to feed people!

My camera didn't care for the low light, but here is one of the twins (K'uipo I think) with her escort. The guys are dressed Hawaiian style, so those are seed lei's.

K'ala was there and looked good too. He was sporting an Erroll Flynn mustache. He didn't know who Erroll Flynn was, so I said a movie star...he decided that meant it looked good.

The wedding vows...back lit so not great...

The wedding dinner, Aaron on the left, LeHalia (Patty's daughter...) K'aui on the right...

Peggy and Patty with K'aui and Aaron's daughter Tatiana (baby number 2 due in April)... there were two flower girls and Tatiana would pick up what LeHalia put down; it was cute.

After the dinner there was some Hawaiian entertainment from some of Silas's family. K'aui danced a solo and people dropped money for her (a variation on the couple's dance). Then the tribal singers did a couple of songs. I wish I knew more about their music and what it meant...

If the videos will load...one is of the Suquamish people singing for the couple and the other is of Patty and the girls Hula dancing.

Lots of food and people. It was a cool multi-cultural affair(Hawaiian and Suquamish Tribe). The family did themselves proud.

Hope you enjoyed your activities this weekend!

XOXO Mom and Dad

Summer's Swan Song

Every year we go through this ritual of mourning the loss of summer. Northwest summers are precious and fleeting. Where most of the country enjoyed (?) a hotter and drier summer, here in the land of green, it was cooler and wetter and now basically over! First a short indulgence: a quick tour of the things that I love so I can look back on this blog and remember what I love about home in the summer...

blueberries on the deck...

Grandma Gardner's hydrangeas still blooming until the first frost...

These white flowers that I can't remember the name of that a neighbor blessed me with one day just because...

Petunias flowing out of the red buckets on my old kitchen chairs on the back of the house... all gone very soon...

But fear not! Dad and I did not go down without swinging! Despite Marc and Jes being gone house and baby sitting for the Pecks, despite Tim and Sarah not getting a flight to visit us, despite Katie being at conference and Heather and the troop living in all the warmth of SE Colorado this time of year, (we feel so abandoned and left alone in the dark...sob and boo hoo...) and despite the fact that we woke up Saturday morning to a very thick marine layer, we went "over the mountain" to find the sun (hey its conference weekend...)

Yup, yup we headed for Chinook Pass to hike up around Twin Sister's Lake. Here's that great old entrance to Rainier...

The mountain was out. We were so excited to get to the hiking that we kept driving by and I snapped this shot out of the window. Never, never, never assume that you can stop and get a better picture on the way back. This is the Pacific Northwest...silly people...

The colors we so pretty and just beginning up the pass. Once again, this picture is taken from a moving car....

I added this one because you can clearly see where the glacier that made its way through the mountains. We drove up this really rough road in our little white car, made it to the end only to find out the bridge across the river was washed out. No hike today! So we ate lunch, regrouped and found...

Bumping Lake. You asked where the lake is? It's there behind the camera, I just liked the colors.

The lake was low enough that we could walk out to one of the islands. This is Dad inviting everyone to come hike the Pacific Crest Trail next summer (just 13 miles of it from White Pass to Chinook Pass).

Another of the foliage...ohh, ahh, pretty...

Cute girl in the woods...so guys not available...very taken....

And just a favorite shot, playing with the new camera.

Evidently Bumping Lake had a natural lake on it until about 100 years ago when they built a dam at one end. These locks are on the dam gate on the dam road. Sorry, there's no dam tour...

So the day was about over, and there was no hiking. We came prepared just in case so we camped on Bumping Creek next to a sweet swimming hole. If there hadn't been so many hunters in the area, there might have been a little....um...swimming...rats!

Dad trudged upstream a bit and found some dead salmon along the way. Yup, sweet stuff!

Bumping Lake at sunset; Dad captured this shot and the next one.

View from our free camp spot! Lots of them in the:

I didn't think there was any place that you can just pull off the road and camp. However, in this wilderness area, people were everywhere! Lots of horse trailers too...oh yeah and lots of hunters out looking for elk. Bumping Creek watershed is a wintering place for huge amounts of elk. Did you know that elk know the days of the week? Not a one in sight; poor hunters...:)

Next morning we started for home in the near drizzle. Did you know that mountain ranges can breathe?

As we drove back over the pass we entered the western, wet side of the mountain. No pretty colors to be seen, no Mount Rainier peering back us, just fog! Now you see it...

Now you don't! It was cool to watch the fog roll in !!

At the top we stopped at Topsee Lake and walked around it. Dad took this nice shot when the fog lifted a bit...

And I will end our adventure as it started, with the last of the mountain flowers. Notice even the spiders are getting busy for winter. I hope you enjoyed General Conference. We got home in time to catch the last session. Awesome! We love you all and hope you are enjoying which ever season you are in!

We love,

Mom and Dad XOXOXO