23 Birthdays of Happiness for Cherise!

April 5th is Cherise's Happy 23rd Birthday. We are going to be in Walla Walla to celebrate with her. Hurray! Whether we are in on a road trip or on a golf course we have fun when Cherise is there.

Whether you are trying to kiss up to her or share your birthday cake it is fun to have Cherise there.

Sometimes it is great fun to play board games when Cherise is here. Especially Scrabble.

It is fun to be in the rain with Cherise. Notice she is the only one that lives in a dry area of Washington and she is the only one that wears rain gear.

Even though she gave up WSU for Whitman it is fun to have early Thankgiving at Alyssa and Logan's when Cherise is there.

She dresses fancy for special occasions.

And even when you give her the evil eye she still loves you and wants to have fun with you.

Just ask Lalita. She calls Cherise "Friend" and has for sometime.

Thanks Cherise for coming into our lives 23 years ago and making many many days fun because you are here.

Happy 96th Birthday Dad

On March 31st, 1911 in Eveleth, Minnesota Raymond Edwin Hilman was born. He has since traveled across the United States and Canada numerous times. Has visited Europe and Northern Europe several times as well. His occupations have been many but most importantly he has been a husband of one remarkable lady, father of 13 incredible offspring, grandfather of 44 unbelievable grandkids, great-grandfather of 67 and counting and now great-great-grandfather of 2 precious new ones.
Here he is pictured with 3 of his sons. Harlan, Dennis and Howard.


This second picture was taken today in Goldendale, WA. Ten of the 13 were on hand for the final day of a marathon purging of the house and outbuildings. It is the end of an era of sorts but the continuation of a great heritage.
One of the things people treasure most about Ray is his love for the Lord and his steadfast faith. He has been a pastor for 72 years. Pretty cool hey.

Happy Birthday Dad. You are one in a million!

Visitors, Projects, Wedding and Farewell

My mother Marie and her husband Don came out from Michigan for our niece Tiffany's wedding. They are pictured here with our nephew Justin (Tiff's brother)and his wife Kristy. Everytime Mom comes she spends the vast majority of her time cleaning and doing something that makes a difference around here.

Don, Mom and I took a little jaunt to Home Depot and came back with some copper flashing for me to make a backsplash for my counter. As you can see from the pictures I do like copper.

The wedding was very nice. I got lots of pictures but I thought I'l post one with their pretty cake. The newlyweds are Craig and Tiffany Jensen. They will be living in Battleground, WA.

My brother Gerry was here to give her away. He and Amy have been traveling the country. He is a sales rep for a cookware line. It was good to see them again too.

We had 5 of our eight kids with us at the wedding along with the 2 grandbabies.

Krystle was down in Lebanon, OR spending as much time with Matt as possible. He had to report last night for the final processing for the Air Force. This morning after he did his main paperwork and such he called and said that he could have company. So I brought Krystle down there to spend the rest of the day with him. He'll be able to come by this evening one last time before he goes back to the hotel and flys out tomorrow. We wish him all the best in his basic training experience. We will miss him though.

Happy 20th Birthday Krystle!!!

Today was Krystle's birthday. We took her out to breakfast, Matthew took her to lunch, Joylynn and the children came over and we had chocolate marble cheesecake and strawberries and angel food cake. YUM!

Matt is leaving for basic training next week so I thought I'd take a picture of him and Krystle with the flag in the background. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Does Krystle look 20? Actually she did look a bit older today. Do you think it has anything to do with the company she has been keeping? She has an exciting year ahead of planning and preparing. Doing everything she can to develop the qualities that are going to take her far in her life. Kind like Boot Camp without the 6 year committment at the end of it. It's going to be fun to be a part of it.

Happy Happy Birthday Lil Bit!

Beautiful Day for a Bike Ride!

On my way home from my Friday morning outing I had a feeling that today was going to be a day for a bike ride.

It was close to 70 degrees.
A rare sunny, practically cloudless and not windy day.

I figured Har and I would go for a little spin. It was so beautiful though....much to beautiful for the children to be staying home while we enjoyed the sunshine.


So the bikes came out of their winter hiding place and tires got pumped up and adjustments were made to seats and brakes. Then front wheels were taken off of all the "big" bikes and a van seat was removed and Voila! we were on our way. Now we know what all goes into getting ready to go and how long it takes so we can do it again. I think we shall.

I believe a good time was had by all. Anybody want to join us next time?

Babes in Black and White

I love taking pictures of the grandkiddos (as if you couldn't tell). I usually take a half dozen or so of each of them when they are here. Especially if I have bought them a new outfit or something like that .

Wyatt usually has something on his head as a hat if not an actual helmet or cap. His pics are usually pretty funny. That's why I love this one. He was kinda melancholy. The black and white adds to the mood.

Genevieve is almost always smiling for the camera now. She even says "cheese" when she sees the camera pointed her way. Her black and white picture looks so nostolgic to me. Har said it looks like a little Tammy Kay. Maybe just a bit (she is much more adorable than I was though).

Hey, Yooper Cousin, I think this picture looks a bit like you too. Doesn't that dress hat and shoes look just like something our mothers would have put on us?

The Fracture Saga

Late the night of Feb 15th Hayden was being a good brother and friend by fetching a DVD for the girls that wanted to watch something. He was hustling taking the steps two at a time...he slipped, heard and crack, saw stars... The DVD was fine and so was his wrist or so he thought.

The next morning his wrist was still hurting and our plan to spend our long weekend with Alyssa and Logan was now in jeopardy. We chose to be "better safe than sorry" so headed off to the Urgent Care Center at Kaiser. There were hardly any cars in the Urgent Care parking spots so we figured we'd get in and out in a hurry. Four hours later we came home with his wrist and thumb immobilized by a splint type thing that was removable.

We had a great time messing around in Lacey with Lys and Logan and Max and Chaos and Havoc.

A few days after we got home we got a call to make an appointment with the fracture clinic. The x-ray that showed a possible fracture ended up showing an actual one once the experts saw the films. So today, eleven days after the event, Hayden has a full cast with the ability to move all his fingers and thumb. I'm glad it wasn't worse than that. No surgery or major breaks just needs to knit up a bit and he'll be good as new. I think his black cast is pretty cool!

Babies Everywhere!

In keeping with the tummy blog pictures....started by Ethen's mom and continued by Bob's wife...here is my installment. Well not mine but you know what I mean. Guess who this belly belongs to.

Here also is a picture of our baby holding Joylynn's baby. Uncle Cam looks quite happy with his neice hey? They don't look at all related.

Hayden was waiting very patiently yesterday for his turn to hold our friends grand-daughter Isabella. Isn't she cute! Such beautiful brown eyes.

Courtney is FIFTEEN!

Courtney had a fun and busy day yesterday. She had a kind of car themed birthday.

It started with breakfast with Har and I at the Cadillac Cafe here on Broadway. They have the best french toast.

We also got the family a Valentine gift: Cars on DVD.

Courtney got a mini shopping spree instead of a "big" present this year. She got a couple pair of pants and 5 new shirts. She also was gifted with a couple new pair of shoes, some make-up and skin care products, some girly girl stuff from the brothers. Including the teddy bear from Cam.

Keeping with the car theme she got her drivers permit as well. A key chain she got from her "god"sister says: "If you don't like my driving stay off of the sidewalk."

She got the most appropriate shirt from Old Navy. Don't you think that should be her motto?

We are looking forward to having her spending the next year learning everything she needs to know to be a safe driver. Thus separating the girl and her cell phone during those times she is in the car.

We have enjoyed having our Sweetheart of a Courtney in our lives for the past 15 years. She is growing to be one special young lady.

Happy Birthday Courts!!

La Belle Krystle

Our Krystle was proposed to this evening! She came home wearing a big smile and a sparkly ring.

We approve of her intended and trust that God has his hand on these two. They met at the military processing center. Have spent hours upon hours on the phone. He has made it up to Portland as often as he could and gotten to spend a bit of time with our whole family. (So he has some idea what he is getting into ;-) ) He is an only child and has wonderful Godly parents.

It isn't clear what the future will look like with the military involvement and all ,but we pray that their love for each other will continue to grow as they walk daily in God's guidance, grace and peace.

Congratulations Krystle and Matt!

Ray, Dad, Grandpa.

Har's dad is living around the block at his brother, Howard's house. We have gotten to see him a few times in the past couple of weeks. Last Tuesday the kids and I did school over there while his caretaker went to a class.
Tonight we popped over to see Har's sister, Iris, before she leaves for her home in California tomorrow. Cam got creative with the duplo blocks that were there. Dad is doing quite well considering the stroke. He does his excercises and goes to therapy a couple days a week. He has a wonderful CNA that comes to the house. Though Portland isn't Goldendale or Hockinson for that matter I think he is pretty content being here for now.

Angry Eyebrows

Wyatt has started to object to having his picture taken. Especially when I open a closet and find him trying to hide while he eats a candy cane he found. No one likes to be caught sticky handed.

I had some "eyebrows" of my own going this morning when I wandered downstairs to find my washing machine on the rinse cycle. I didn't know anyone was doing laundry at the time. So after looking through the glass door I determined that Wyatt put a load in the washer and started it up.

There were only a couple of casualties. The bleach top broke off and the can of bug spray got substantially dented and the spray nozzle is gone. The full bottle of laundry detergent seems to be just fine. The others were in the recycle bin to begin with. C'est la vie!