My Chapters of Life: 2010

Friday, December 3, 2010

Wonderings....

I am just sitting here tonight doing some wondering.

When did kids get to be so rude to their parents and grandparents?

The lack of respect is ridiculous. I really don't think that we are that stupid. Some how I thought that once they were older it would get better. Ha!

On another note...

I replaced my Christmas tree angel this year. After 25 years of blessings, she has retired. I didn't realize how upset my daughter was going to be with me. I explained to her that she was exhaused, her lights no longer worked and her bottom was broke (and as my husband said, just how my time do you think you could have a Christmas tree shoved up your ass! Yes I know he said it and I have to admit it I was thinking it! We are a pair. )

Yes, I love traditions, the stockings, the tree, the lights, the great food and the squeals of the kids but it was her time.

That does bring up the question....what is one to do with a retired Christmas angel? Well I decided that I would have her grace my kitchen window and hopefully she will bless my cooking!

On another note, thanks to my wonderful daughter, Kalisha, she is an amazing help to me. (and volunteers for it!) I think she might like Christmas decorating as much as I do (other than the Christmas music I have playing all day! I know she secretly loves my singing! ;)

Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Catching Up....

Where does the time go? Life seems to be going at full throttle.

So here it is in a nutshell....

Mexico....awesome (to short :( )

Thanksgiving...wonderful (loved having the whole family at home)

Thanksgiving nite shopping.....WOW...just all part of the experience (right Steph!)

Bring on Christmas!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

An Even Dozen....Melanie Cheyenne

Congrats to Erik and Kalisha! Welcome to the family, Melanie Cheyenne Storedahl, 8 lbs. 1 oz. 21" long.

She arrived a tad bit to early for Grandma to make it for her grand entrance. Missing the big event by 15 minutes!

She is perfect! What a joy to have another Granddaughter in the family.

Kalisha once again did an amazing job. She is one tough momma.

Thanks Erik and Kalisha we are so excited and very proud of both of you and your whole family.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Ahhh Fall......

Gage, Brooklyn, Austin, Fiona, Marcus, and Sydney

Marcus Gary

There is nothing better than the crisp fall air. This is my very favorite time of year. This is the time of year that I love living in the Pacific Northwest. The orange, yellow, red leaves turning colors. They are magnificent.

Marcus Gary plays in his last football season of the year. For his first year of football, Marcus practiced hard and loved playing with his friends. He has been working hard on his school work and making Grandma very proud. Every week he has practiced hard on his spelling words and earned a perfect score last week! Every week he has improved and last week he earned an ice cream treat with Grandma which Gage and Austin were very excited about too!

Austin and Gage are adjusting to kindergarten wonderfully. Just yesterday, Steph said how she was so surprised that they are being so good and doing such a great job.

Fall brings pumpkin patch time for the kids. Steph and I took six of the grand kids yesterday to the pumpkin patch. WOW! It was a car full and a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed the animals and trying to decide which pumpkin was going to be theirs. After some deliberation over size and color, they each found a pumpkin to take home.

Crisp air, football and pumpkins, yep I love me some Fall!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Syd singing to her babies

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Happy Birthday Syd

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Power Of Prayer.....

I am just sitting here tonight counting my blessings. I am truly blessed with a wonderful husband and kids.

All of my kids are very different. If someone were to tell me before I had kids that I would have five kids and they were all this different, I would have laughed at them and asked, " how is that possible, no way!"

Tonight I pray for my daughter, Michelle, to have strength to get through the difficult time she faces ahead.

If praying works, please join me in prayer.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Beautiful Wedding...Beautiful Bride....New Son.....

The last of five! I have been singing this song for months, but secretly I have been thinking, wow all my babies have married and moved on. I decided it was better to dance than cry, so I smile and dance!

I have been waiting to write about Peep's wedding until I have got a few pics to share, but not sure when I am going to get them so I will add what I have.

After months of planning, which was really fun and not to much stress ( Peep was watching every weather report for the big day and would always choose the best report to tell everyone, so glad she had the power of positive thinking!), the day turned out amazing. Peep was a beautiful bride and Gary a very handsome groom.

We are so thankful for the wonderful turnout of family and friends to celebrate. It fills my heart knowing we have such great family and friends.

We were very blessed with amazing weather for the wedding. James and I decided over a few cocktails at the reception, that Dad was watching over us for Peeps big day. Dad would have been so proud of his Peep. They had a very special bond. We are so happy that he got to meet Young Gar and gave his love and approval to Peep.

Welcome to the family Young Gar. You are an amazing man and we know you will take the best of care of our little girl with your never ending patience. And just remember, NO RETURNS! :)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Weekend Jeep Ride....

Kev and I took a leisurely ride up in the woods to spot Elk on Sunday. I think we need more practice spotting, all we spotted were two chipmunks! It was a very relaxing ride with some beautiful country. Had a picnic up on the mountain with a great view of the valley.

I think we need more practice taking our own pics! LOL

Virginia Girls Trip....

Stomping grapes at Bush Gardens

Bush Gardens

Kelly's Birthday Surprise

"What are you doing here?" That was the first words out of Kelly's mouth! After my trip to NYC, I hopped a plane to Norfolk, VA and meet up with My sister-in-law, Lisa, friends, Connie and Gail. We headed to Chesapeake, VA to surprise Kelly on her 45th birthday. With the help of Thom, Kelly's wonderful husband, and family, we arrived on Friday mid morning at Kelly's house to walk in the front door to tell her Happy Birthday! She was truly surprised and after the initial shock started crying and of course we all started crying.

We spent a great week kidnapping her and going up to Williamsburg. Boy we had a lot of laughs.

Went shopping at a great outlet mall, hit the water at the Water Country and then went to Bush Gardens.

Water Country was very refreshing. It had some awesome tube rides, even the black DARK tubes!

Some of our dismounts were hilarious and I was sure glad no one was videoing us! Especially my several attempts at getting on the double tube in the lazy river, lets just say it would have ended with an "X" rating! Not good! I thought Danielle was going to keel over from laughing at me so hard!

What a great group of girlfriends. They are side splitting funny!

But best of all I got to see my Kelly Ann (and of course her family!) Boy I sure miss that women! Many late night talks that I loved. She makes a great bed partner!

With Thom's insistent, I think we are now going to make it an annual girls trip! I am so excited knowing that we will all get together (somewhere warm was the census from the girls) yearly.

It is truly special to have such a wonderful friend that you can spend time apart from then get together and just pick right back up where we left off. Kelly Ann, I am so blessed to have you for a friend. Thank You! and Love You!

NYC trip....

The Lady and I

My BFF, Sister from another Mother, and always the hand! Lunch at Rockefeller Center

6th Ave. Street Fair

Central Park

Central Park~ pretty sure I could sell this pic to a jigsaw co.

Central Park

Once again my bestest friend, Vicky, and I got to spend a wonderful week together. I headed over to NYC on Aug. 20th for a week of adventures.

We started off my trip with a good gab session at the lounge of the hotel until 2 a.m. Yes we closed the bar down! On my first full day, we had a great breakfast then off to Central Park. What a magnificently beautiful park and a city treasure. I just could not get over the hills in the park. For some reason, I had it in my head that Central Park was set on flat ground. To my amazement the park has rolling hills and exposed rock all throughout the park. We sat for some really good people watching. (some pretty interesting people watching~NYC has it all!)

We woke to some rain showers the rest of the week but that did not detour my sightseeing.

We took in the King Tut exhibit at the Discovery. A very interesting exhibit. I have always had a fascination with the tombs and the items that were put inside them to get the kings to the afterlife.

We took the dreaded double decker tourist bus for some very interesting sites of the city.

Went on the ferry from Battery Park out to The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We didn't get to go up inside The Lady but did some strolling around the grounds. She has some mighty big sandals! Very impressive. Ellis Island was probably one of my favorite places. It was just amazing.

And our night going to The Top Of The Rock at Rockefeller Center was truly amazing. What a beautiful city at night with all the lights. The cab lights were flickering off the skyscrapers like Christmas lights. It was a beautiful night.

We took in two Broadway Plays, The Lion King and Wicked. How magnificent! Just breathtaking at times. The imagination and hard work to preform these plays shows from the moment you enter the theater. I just keep thinking how lucky I was to have seen both plays.

And of course, we did some shopping and lots of good eating. Found some great restaurants and had some very memorable meals.

But I would have to say the best part of my NYC trip was the tour guide, Victoria Marie! Just to spend time together I cherish. I would go all the way over to the east coast again to just sit in our spot at the Marriott lounge over looking Time Square. And yes we have dubbed it "Our Spot", some how we ended up there everyday just chatting away. There is nothing in the world like a girlfriend you can tell anything to and just feel the love back.

I am sooo looking forward next year's trip where every that takes us!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Beach trip.....

Headed to Seaside on Monday with Mom and Sis. Had a great time with lots of laughs, good food, excellent shopping, some knitting (with a trip to our favorite Seaside knit shop), some bike riding on the prom, and a few walks on the beach. Great weekend with lots of memories.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A Weekend of Firsts.....

Getting ready for the train ride up to Seattle ~ Yep I was talking in this pic! Imagine that!

My beautiful girls already for a good time!

The Big Yankee Fan, SP, Bulldog, Beer Boy and Great Dane at the M's Game

Steph and Kev on the roof top of the Hard Rock downtown Seattle

Young Gar, Em, Aaron, & Peep Cheers!

Emory Jordan and her Twin at the Kelso Train Depot

Love this store front with the colorful peppers

The beautiful flowers at Pikes

From the Roof Top of the Hard Rock

It was a weekend of firsts. We headed to Seattle on the train, a first for all of us. The train ride was awesome. I loved getting to see the landscape, interesting buildings, houses and beautiful water.

On arrival in Seattle, we headed to the hotel via Taxi. With our rooms not ready yet, we headed downtown to check out the Market and of course to find a bar for a beer for the guys. After some needed refreshment, Steph, Emory and I headed down to the market to explore. Boy you never know what you are going to see in Seattle. The market was very busy (we were the on a Sat. not a good plan). While exploring the market, a group of about 20 NAKED bicyclist road by with a large crowd clapping and hollering. (Yes, I did say NAKED and some should not have been showing that off!) After that excitement, we headed back to the Hard Rock to have a drink and get the guys and Peep.

After finally getting all checked into our hotel, (which required a few free drinks in the bar for waiting) we got all cleaned up and headed to the Mariners game. Another first for the gang was going to Safeco Field and watching a game. Thanks to Peep and her great idea to give Young Gar for Father's Day, we all got to tag along to the game. Young Gar got to see his beloved Yankees play and almost win the game. We were all excited about the Grand Slam home run in the 8th inning by the M's except Young Gar and Peep. So sorry Gar. :(

Back to the hotel for the evening we all headed. Upon arrival (11:00 p.m.) Kev decided he was hungry! So Kev and I went for a walk and found a 24 hour Subway for a bit to eat and then back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Up early the next morning to head to the train for the ride home. Upon arriving at the Seattle train station, Steph says "Mom isn't that Aunt Terry?" Oh my gosh to my surprise and delight it was her. What a coincidence. She and Uncle Pat had just arrived off their cruise ship from Alaska to head back home on the train. I can't wait to catch up with her and hear all about their trip.

Back home from our quick trip up north. Had a great time and we decided next time we will be headed back up via the train for a Seahawks game.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Up to the lake.....

It was a day of memories or should I say remembering chapters....

The boys and Sydney and I headed up to Merwin Dam today to enjoy the sunshine. A flood of memories came back as I sat and watch the kids play today. I remember coming up to the lake as a child playing in the water to stay cool. My mom and her girlfriend, Shirley, took her daughter, Lori and I up to the lake one summer almost everyday when I was younger. I remember coming up to the lake and staying with my best friend Vicky and spending hours at the lake. We would join in on which ever company was having a picnic that day and fill our stomachs with some good food. To later, I brought my kids up to the lake and now I am bringing my grand kids up to the lake. I guess that means I am into my fifth chapter up at the lake. But let it be noted that I am not in my fifth chapter of life just yet! ;)