90th Birthday Party!~

The "Birthday Girl" and her children!  Keith, Melody, Heather, Mom, Joy, and Dolores. So glad I managed to steal this photo - my camera died right after the party started!

Fabulous photos of Mom's life.  I tried to get photos of the pictures but just couldn't make it work.  Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can eventually get them scanned. 

 

A beautiful (and good tasting) cake!

Mom cuts her cake!

April brought this chair up and used it for a very original guest book.  It was full of names before the party was over!

Elizabeth and Bray - They enjoyed hanging out!

Rick and the girls

Me, Keith, and Bray

A few of the ladies that came to wish Mom a great day.

April and Brennan

Mom and Melody

 There was a lot of good food and great company for all to enjoy while being with Mom on her special day.  We are blessed to have been able to be with her.  And it was so great to work with the family for the little amount that I was able to contribute!  It was to bad that the roses that April sent didn't last long enough to grace Mom's table ~ they were so beautiful! 

After getting everything all cleaned up and back into the proper order - Dolores brought her grandkids over to the Motel and joined us at the pool - time to cool off and relax!  I plugged in my camera - but - no battery yet!

A mad dash!

After the 4th - we worked on trying to get the house finished in time for our mad dash across the US!  Brayana joined Keith and I in our summer trip to Florida to get the final load of our belongings out of storage there.  And to bring the pickup back out here to the West Coast.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn on the beach for a few days while we re-connected with Barb and Jim, and, Jessie and John from Lakewood Village.  The summer Florida heat is something that is definately for those strong at heart - not for a weakling like me!  About all I wanted to do was to sit in the relative cool of the ocean breezes!

At Mulligans Restaurant in Vero Beach

Walking back from dinner at the Waldo's in the Driftwood Inn

Headed out to see the SEA TURTLES and the wreck just off the beach with the kayak and snorkles!

On the way to DisneyWorld - the pick was Magic Kingdom! 

We did Magic Kingdom until the wee hours of the morning - we caught the last bus back to the hotel at 1:30 am!

  The heat was about to get the best of all of us!  I do believe that it was well over 100 degrees but even that didn't stop us from riding all the rides and walking the whole park.  I don't think there was anything that Brayana wanted to ride that we didn't make it too.  Right up until closing time!  I had a great time ~ I was sure tired when we got back to the hotel! :-)

And after the Magic Kingdom we took off for Kentucky.  That oppressive summer heat stayed with us the entire drive.  I had wanted to stop at the Lookout Mountain (that had been on my bucket list for years) but it was just to hot!  Maybe next time!

We made it to Ken and Dolores's home in Kentucky in record time - and got started in trying to make sure that all went well for Mom Beatty's 90th birthday on Saturday.  We went over and had lunch in Charlestown, checked out the Church, had a great visit and got pretty well caught up since the last visit.  Brayana kept saying "I think I was here, I think I've been here before" and it turned out - she had already actually visited both Dolores's and Mom's homes when they visited Elizabeth and Brennan a few years ago.  So she got to revisit and remember!

Bray got her hair done and looks soooo pretty!

Keith and Mom at lunch

Dolores making sure that all is coordinated for the Party!

And here is my disclaimer for the time stamps!  I forgot to change the time and then it got changed to 12 hours later than it was - So if it looks like it's close to midnight - it was probably closer to noon!! 

Sorry!!

Independence Day Weekend!

To continue our weekend - on Sunday, we actually made it to Church on time!  Had a great message sitting out in the Ampetheater at River View Fellowship.  Sitting out in the sunshine, looking at the trees, and feeling the breeze while listing to Pastor Matt - puts a whole new meaning to God's works.   It is just so amazing!  After Church we met with a few of the leaders for trying to organize Jeremy's Memorial Event next month.  I wasn't able to participate much in that meeting - but I did watch the little ones...

Then Amanda and family brought all the leftovers from thier camping, Diane brought her kids over, and we had a wonderful afternoon of friendship and food. We wrapped up the little one's evenings with s'mores... boy how funny!

and a friendly little Elmore wrestle! (btw Chato rescued Raffy, his toy)

Then all but the 2 youngest went down to watch the Mill fireworks while I stuck the 2 boys in the tub and they watched tv.  We liked that better than the "booms"! LOL

And on Monday, we actually went down to Bandon ourselves - to Jay and Amanda's.  Keith hadn't been down that far on Hwy 101 - so he saw a little bit of 'new' (hahaa) scenery!

Where we ate SOME MORE!!

We meandered home again just before dark - and in time to see the Eastside Fireworks go off over the Bay.  They were the best!  We just watched them out the front door - at least I did!  The kids went out to the front yard and watched them from there!

And bright and early Tuesday morning it was time for the Elmores to pack up and leave, sniff sniff,  I'm always sad to see them leave - I pray often that we can be closer in distance - but - time will tell if that one is God's will.  I love having them here and watching them grow!  I love the life and vitality that having children in the house brings - even when they've become part of the mindless (hehee) and I am teasing!

So, now we are back to our normal hahaa!  Brayana is still with us - working most days and waiting for our intended take off date to go back east!

But first! the house!!! ;-)

Home again, Home again!

We have been safely ensconsed back in Coos Bay for a couple of weeks now!  We brought Brayana and Jaleel back down from Washington with us.  They are earning some spending money by helping the contractor who is 'doing up' the new addition to our house. 
Since we sold the biggest house we had when we sold out in Vero - we had to have someplace for all of our prized personal possessions.  We both pack a load of 'stuff' that we have become very, very attached to~  kid pictures, gifts from kids, crafts kids made, cards from kids, albums for kids, photos and keepsakes from our travels, and then there is the legal crap that we seem to need at every single turn, old tax returns, birth certificates, etc.  So we decided to add on a room.  Then that room became a master bedroom with bath - then it became a whole new addition!  So now - finished in just a short few weeks - will be our 1,000 sq ft addition to our 812 sq ft house! LOL

It is going to be sooo neat!  We have also been able to fix may of the issues our last contractor, that fixed the flood damage, left undone or did very, very sloppily!

Meanwhile, the Elmores came down for the 4th of July (and to pick up Jaleel) weekend and we had a great time! We went to Powers for the White Cedar Days (of course we missed the parade) and had pot luck with Evelyn's Model A Club.

Destini, Dad, Evelyn, and Me at the Pioneer House Grove in Powers

Cavelle had a blast!  Red Snowcone, lots of fruit, and in the old Koontz Dairy Model A~~ What more could an almost-4 year old boy want!

 From there we went up to the County Park to see Amanda, Jay, and kids!

Makkiah, Taniyah, Danika, Cavelle ~ from oldest to youngest!

Just us "Girls" at Powers.

Then came the Birthday Girl!!
And she's 15!!!

from there Keith and I went to pick up Chato from his Grandaddy - who stole him from the pot-luck :-)

and we had another BBQ at Yellow Creek

We finally made it home just before dark - and boy were we tired!