Alesha on the final stretch

Yeah! Alesha is on her final quarter at BYU. She has two class that last till the end of July. Then she will head home for 3 or so weeks!! We are all so excited we can hardly wait. This is the longest stretch we've gone with out seeing her. I keep wanting to just fly her home. But, know I just need to wait.

At the end of Aug she will head back to BYU for one last semester. Most of it will be spent Student teaching and in Dec. she will graduate. Being our first 4 yrs grad. ( Erica and Tressa ea. have a 2 yrs degree and Melia is 1/2 done with her 2 yrs degree)

She has worked soooo hard! And we are so proud of her. This is her second summer in a row of going to school! She has basically been going to school all year round. And until this last year she was working too! Her class schedule has made that tough for her this past year. So she has had a very very tight budget and many calls home for some $$$.

Here are a few pic's she sent home of her teaching this past spring. She worked in class rooms some of the time.

Fathers Day

We combined Doug's b-day and Fathers Day into a one day event. (just makes it easier for everyone to travel) We celebrated on Sat. again just makes life easier for everyone.
The day began with Doug heading in to town to pick up his son inlaw "Nate- the Master Fence builder"( he did this for a living for along time). Then they headed to Home depot. Doug must have been in paradise!! It's his favorite store! Once they got their supplies they headed back home where Nate and Doug, with the help of Jesse.,(I think he got stuck doing all the hard grunt work) built two back gates. They serve two purposes. One we know we can't lose any kids out that way. Two-they keep our dog home (well better than before) and other dogs out of the yard.

Before
After- on smaller gate

Nate even helped Doug do a fancy rounded cut on the fence. It looks nice. Now we just have to agree on a color for the gates and rest of the fence. I say dark blue would go best with the house and hide dirt. Doug seems to favor lighter colors. Tressa said he was contemplating purple and gold. Letting his true logger spirit out. I veto that, so the debate goes on.

Then everyone headed in for b-qued burgers and dogs. Yes -Doug did have to do alittle cooking on fathers day/b-day... but we didn't want anything but the best for him and the boys...and he does cooked them the best!
Later after naps.. we sang happy birthday and had angel food cake with french silk frosting. Which is the best. I followed his moms lead and made two cakes so we would have some left for the next day!

Grandkids playing while the men built the fences.

Isabell doing her Izzy dance!!

The grandkids had fun together. Over all it was a nice day. good to see everyone. Hopefully all the dads got some rest on the real fathers day.

Spokane

Peyton and Isabell playing in Papa & Grandma A's sandbox in Spokane

Doug's mom and dad.

The day school got out Doug & I w/ Melia, Isabell, & Peyton hopped in the car and headed for Spokane. We both have family there we've wanted to see. With Erica due at the end of June and Tressa the end of July our window of opportunity is kinda of small. This seemed like a safe time to run over their. Doug's grandma P is 99 yrs old. ( 100 in Sept.) He really wanted to see her and have her meet Isabell as Isabell's middle name is after her.

Peyton was so cute. He saw Grandma P eating and sat right down and begged for some of her chips!

We meant Doug's family at the casino for a birthday dinner for his brother Steve. It was a really nice buffet with a really good dessert bar!! Peyton had a really hard time though. After sitting for 6 + hrs he just couldn't sit still to eat. Doug ended up walking all over the place with him

Doug's parents had an old guitar in the living room and Peyton and Isabell had too much fun with it. As it wasn't there anymore the next morning.

Papa and Isabell having a morning chat!
Isabell just being cute!


Isabell was running to fast on the concrete patio and wiped out, hit her head pretty hard! She was pretty unhappy for a while.

On Tues. My friend Jolene came by and we got to catch up a bit. I always look forward to seeing her. We've been good friends since high school.

Next we headed over to my sisters house. We took the kids over to the park by her house. They had a water spray park. Peyton loved it. We had a good time catching up. My dad had gotten a new dog. he was pretty excited about it.

My dad, Isabell and his dog duffy. Below Peyton in the water.

That night Doug's mom had a Birthday party for him with all the family over. Really enjoyed seeing everybody and the other great grandkids! Isabell had a good time playing in the sand box etc. Oh, yeah and eating the dirt!

Isabell trying to decided if she likes dirt or not.

Peyton just sat there watching. Pretty soon he stood up screamed and headed for the house.

Cameron try to help Peyton be happy by washing his tires.

Peyton on the other hand was not to sure about all the people and kids. He just kept going to the back door of the house and wanting in. He went back and forth abit. Brought him back out for the singing of happy birthday to Doug. Then he finally went and played with Doug and Molly's little boy Cameron. He was laughing and having fun for the first time that night! Except when he was eating his cake. He could of cared less who was around, he was just excited about having cake it eat.

Cameron, Dylan and Karter trying help Doug blow out his candles!

Cameron and Peyton tackling Doug.

The next day we headed home around 12:30pm. We first took a 5 generation photo.

Peyton had watched grandma talk on the phone. So decided to try too by just using the cord. It was sooo cute.

Then Isabell copied him giving the phone cord a try.

The trip home went pretty good kids slept till Mose Lake ( well Peyton had woken up by Ritzville but, was happy till Mose Lake).

Melia played a video -Dora the explorer and later some sesame st. The two of them (Peyton and Isabell) were glued to the tube the whole time.

Sorry for so many Photos. I took over 400 on this trip so just be thankful there isn't anymore.

Memorial Day family B-que

Saturday seemed the best day for all the family..so that's the day we all got together. We spent the first half of the day getting the hot tub cleaned up and running. It's been off since last fall. Then weeding the strawberries and other minor clean-up projects.

After naps. We started on dinner. Doug grilled up his famous Burgers & hot dogs,. We had all the usual B-Que stuff with them. Tressa made a smores brownie dessert that was very good.

The kids even got in the pool for awhile. but, it just wasn't hot enough and the girls really started to shiver and look cold. Madison had just learned to pull her self up to a standing position. (a big event for her!!) so she tried doing that in the pool. Isabell like to get in and out. When climbing back in she would grab hold of Madison and pull her over into the water trying to get back in the pool. It was so funny!!! Sorry no picks. But we do have video!


The big boys hit the basketball court. Melia played with all the little ones. She really misses Peyton and Madison now that she lives in Lacey.

Tressa watch the action from the new swing she and Jesse bought for the front yard.

Erica and Madison played on the grass. it was a pretty casual gatheringWe wanted to play some boche ball, but the little ones wanted the balls and Peyton was picking them up and chucking them. They are really heavy...so in the interest of safety, we put them away

Later we moved inside and watched a movie. it was a good day. Lots done and lots of family fun.

Hope every one has a good Memorial Day. As we think of the sacrifices made by men and women we don't even know, so that we can all live in a free country with the safety that allows us to gather our families around to enjoy these kind of days, we are grateful to their efforts and dedication to this nation and the people in it.

Popcorn time

As a life long lover of popcorn I'm happy to see the trait being passed along to the grandkids. Peyton is such an avid connoisseur of the corn that he comes running any time I get the popper out. He likes to sit on the counter next to the popper so that he can get the first kernel to hit the bowl. He will remain on the counter until it's all popped and has been buttered and salted, then he goes where the big bowl goes.

Peyton loves to share a BIG bowl of popcorn with grandpa!

Isabell is new to the world of mass consumption of popcorn. Until last night I had not given her much more than the occasional broken off piece free of any of the husk shell. Last night that all changed.

Jesse and Isabell enjoying popcorn while watching the Mariners

While trying to monitor her progress in eating a piece of popcorn she was busy stuffing 3 or 4 more pieces into her mouth. Once she got into my lap where the big bowl was she was all business. At one point I ran a mouth check of the kids to see if I would share my water with them, Peyton was all clean but Isabell had corn stuffed into her cheeks like she was saving it for the winter time. She did manage to eat all that she put in and that was quite a bit. I can see more nights of popcorn for her in her future and I imagine she will get to be like Peyton and coming running any time she hears the popper working.

Isabell stuffing the corn in as fast as she can. Peyton seems more concerned that the mariners might lose...again.