Rachel Joy got married

Just beautiful and very touching

 Our niece, Rachel, became Mrs Jeremy Robb this weekend. Harlan and I got to go up to Seattle and attend the wedding and reception. I am so glad we did because it was such a blessing to be a part of their day. It was especially touching to see June's (Rachel's mother who passed away) photo and a lit candle bringing her presence to the ceremony.  Raymond prayed over the couple and mentioned that he and June both prayed for Jeremy before he was even born!

Jeremy and Rachel seem very well suited for one another.

 The reception room was very lovely. Each table had heart shaped bowls of nuts and mints, candles, orange tulips and turquoise napkins.  The luncheon after the ceremony was so nice and low key but very fun too.

 2nd cousins saying "Hi"

 Cherise and Kiel's, Anabelle, and Kevin and Ann's, Kai, were both born last July. They are both so cute! Kai looks a lot like his big brother and Belle-belle looks like hers too.

More cousins!

Rachel with a few of the Hilman girl cousins. From L-R: Erin, Rachel, Meghan, Brianna, and Jodi.

A friend of Rachel's made the cake for them.  It was beautifully decorated with real roses and delicious as well.

 Visiting and catching up with family

Harlan's cousin, Judy, and his sister, Anita check out each other's digital photos. Harlan and sister Iris strike a pose.

Color coordinated cousins

 and Good Ol' Aub

Loreli, Wendy and Janette must have called each other to get their outfits to match.  They even matched the accent color on the tables!

It was wonderful to see Aubrey and meet his wife, Rachelle! They are such a sweet couple.  Wish we were going to be at the Hilman reunion this summer to get to spend more time with them.

Name sakes

 I had to get a picture of these two guys that were named after Har's grandfather on his mother's side.  Raymond Henry and Henry Owen are both namesakes of Grampa Matson.

Traditional Sibling Picture

 It is rare to have any amount of these siblings get together without having them pose for an official picture. So here are the representatives of the Ray Hilman family at Rachel's special day. We missed Naomi (& Mike), Clint (& Judy), Bryan (& Fia) and Dennis. I joked that we had to travel all the way to Seattle to get to see Howard and he lives a block and a half away!

The Mammarazzi 

 Judy, Marlene, Janet and I were snapping photos for ourselves and those in the photo. I loved what everyone was wearing.  Just darling.  The guys cleaned up nice too :0)

Sunny Seattle

It was a rare sunny day in Seattle.  Harlan took this picture of the downtown as we headed south toward home.

Somebody was sightseeing 

I was surprised to get this picture on my phone this afternoon.  Henry and Cherise were sightseeing in Seattle. The Space Needle turned 50 years old yesterday.  I would imagine that there were quite a few visitors in the city because the weather remained beautiful today. Have a fun time!

One stop on the way home

 We were talking to Alyssa on the phone as we drove through Lacey on our way up to the wedding.  I thought it would be easier to manage the lonesomeness of them not living there anymore.  She mentioned that if we had time we should stop at one of their favorite burger places on our way home.  We were coming through at around 7 p.m. so it was a great time to stop and have a bite to eat.  We chose a booth for two on the side of the restaurant that didn't remind us of our many times eating there with the "kids".  Our meal there and time together perfectly topped off a terrific day trip!

Things that make me smile

My cool youngest

 He's not into sports at all but I think he looks like he works in the booth at a Nascar race in this picture.

Cool Cam!

 Any picture sent from VA

I got this picture on my phone.  It was sideways and in my inability to see without my glasses I thought the lovely ballerinas on Katie's shirt were umbrellas. So I fired back a comment about her fitting in in rainy Portland.  I'm sure Alyssa and Kelly thought I was crazy.  That in itself makes me chuckle to myself a little. :0) 

Cute baby activities caught by cell phone or camera and sent my way are always appreciated and enjoyed over and over.

Evie is getting so talented! She can get her foot into her mouth on purpose!

Henry's accomplishments

Cherise sent this picture of Henry's name this morning. He wrote it himself and only needed help with the "r".  I'm always in awe of how each and every child has gifts and talents and strengths in different areas. Henry is tuned into letters at this stage. He'll be reading before we know it.

Humorous reminders

This is so me these days. "What was I going to do?"  "What was I thinking?" "It will come back to me eventually."

I blame it on menopause. 

It couldn't be that I've got a lot on my plate and have yet to admit I need to start writing things down ;0)

Boys and Birdie

Tuckered out

 Garrett was being very quiet the other day.  Courtney and he were in the den and she said he was watching something.  I came in there and found him standing at the couch taking a nap. We have pictures of Krystle doing the same thing at about the same age.

Payday lunch

 I took the boys to Monsoon today for lunch. After Garrett finished his food and was getting squirrely, he climbed off the bench next to me, went under the table and popped up on the bench between the Uncles. It's not a good picture of either of the big guys but that little guy seems awfully pleased with himself!

 We didn't even have to miss watching Perry Mason.  It was playing on a large flatscreen TV in the entry of the restaurant.

Bye Bye Birdie

 The girls, Hayden and I got the privilege of attending a high school musical this evening. Our friends the Turners had two daughters in the production put on by Sherwood High School.  Hannah had a major role playing Rose Alverez and Rachael was Margie in the teen chorus that had a large part in the play as well. The entire cast was superb!  It was a very fun night.

My how they've grown!

We met Hannah (center) before she could walk or talk.  Now she's singing and acting and is going to be attending Portland State in the Fall in their theatre program.

Sherwood High is fortunate to have Rachael there for a couple more years. I'm pretty sure their next couple musicals are going to have her as a major player.

Great job girls!

Global Awareness

I should get this or maybe not

Unfortunately, this is mostly true. I'll keep you posted when I find a way to remedy this.

Freddy's fun

Our Fred Meyer has started their major renovation. The tentative complete date? Thanksgiving! It is kinda fun searching to find where they've put certain items. If I'm not in a hurry when I'm shopping, I'll just pretend it's a scavenger hunt. There were no balloons on this day so Garrett got a sticker and then asked nicely for a second.

Goofy little spoiled shopper.

Pretend teenager

I don't know how many times I've seen teenagers posting pictures of themselves trying on clothes. I'm just as cool as they are so... Here's my outfit for the wedding.

A couple more Cool Kids

I have got to get Hayden's senior pictures taken. Though he will get a CD from PCC with a picture of himself in his cap and gown that we can have printed for the graduation wall.

Danika swiped Aunty Krystle's White Sox cap and wanted to have a picture taken. It's refreshing to have someone enjoy posing for pictures. Some boys don't like it at all.

Global Awareness Night at the school

Harlan mentioned that there weren't any parents recording with iPhones the last time we were in this auditorium for a performance. The video recorder we had at the time recorded on actual VHS tapes. It was the '90s after all.

Last night though, I didn't get any really good photos during the performances. But you get the gist of it. Genevieve's class is on the stage singing a song based on the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear".

She has the purple cat puppet. Most of them are also wearing 3 cornered hats that they sang about with the whole school.

Various activity areas

Wyatt and a classmate had an impromptu drum performance on the garbage can in the hall where all of the Family Tree posters were displayed.

Mr Lamp's room had 3 different crafts from around the world. The kids did two of them. Foil bead making and mini rain tubes or some sort of shakers.

School library

I took this picture for Rylan. I think there are seven or eight of these computers in the library. I don't know what kind they are or how old they are but he should be able to figure that out on his own.

It was a scrap-booking bonanza in there. Danika made a couple of sheets with stickers.

There was minimal supervision so everyone was pretty much doing their own thing.

There isn't much that these kids enjoy more than cutting, glueing and making scraps out of perfectly good papers. They sure were in their element tonight.

We are from America

On the whole it is nice to know where different cultural differences originate but officially these guys are born in the U.S.A.

They're silly children and all American.

Back on the home front

I mentioned the remodel at Fred Meyer.

I dragged Harlan over there on his coffee break today to see this chair that was a floor model on sale. We picked it up. It was a $300 chair. Final discounted price...$46.

I like that kind of deal! And I like my new "Family" doo-dad on the shelf there in the den.

Sunday, Sunday, so good to me

Hungry hungry children

Eating on the day of "rest"aurants is serious stuff. These guys didn't look up until they'd plowed through more than half of their entrees. They really did have breakfast. I guess sitting in church works up an appetite.

Sunny bench sitting out at Cascade Station

It was such a beautiful day we took the long way back to the van.

Harlan told them they could only walk around the block if they walked as slow as Garrett. For a while all three older ones were doing duck walks. I only managed to catch Wyatt in the act.

I like this picture of Har and the kids. It's what we should be doing every Sunday.

The Kleenex flowers are blooming!

I don't remember there being so many leaves on these blossoming trees when they bloomed but this same kind is blooming next door to our house. I'm sure I've commented on them before, but they sure do remind me of the flowers we used to make out of kleenex to decorate for showers and receptions. The pansies in the planter were just too pretty to pass up. I may not stop and smell the flowers but I try to get a picture of them ;0)

How "fortune"ate

I happened to be next to Har when he opened his fortune cookie. The kids got a big chuckle out of that one.

This little happiness maker is constantly jumping up and sitting in any vacated seat when we are trying to watch something in the family room. He finds it hilarious that he is sitting in my spot.

Garrett is full of fun today

He had a couple of plastic spoons that he was drumming on things with. I then put one on his nose and it stuck! He tried to get it on there himself. His brother was good at this trick when he was a little guy too.