Good Times

"Some people stay longer in an hour than others do in a month."
-William Dean

On the other hand...
"Others can stay a week and it feels as though they've only just arrived."
Jeanne, my dear friend from Spokane, easily fits into the latter catagory.

Here she is telling her sweet granddaughter Maisey goodbye before we headed back to our place last Friday. Jeanne had spent several days with her son and his family and was planning on just a quick visit with us before heading home. As luck would have it, we decided at the last minute to cancel her flight and keep her here for the week instead. (The rest of her family was coming the next Friday for their little grandson's blessing so it worked out perfectly).

"Red Hot Pokers" in front of Shaun and Emily's house.
I was fascinated by how big they are. My little plant at home has years to grow before it will look this cool. The bees seemed to love them. They were everywhere.

We literally played all week. I'm a bit sad because I didn't get many pictures. Just a few of the fun things we did:
-Watched "Twilight" (Jeanne had never seen it before- she loved it)
-Goodwill , Dairy Queen and lunch at Danielle's with the gang
-Went to some awesome Garage Sales
-Celebrated my birthday with a family get-together
- Walks with Marissa and Fernando
-Shopping at Deseret Industries and Wal Mart
- Watched "Australia" with Beth Loveland and Marissa
-Went to the library
-Saw"Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince" with Garth and Marissa
-Went to the temple on Wednesday night
-Goodwill with the gang on Friday morning followed by lunch at Pizza Schmizza (below)
We are looking at our "loot" while waiting for our pizza to arrive. :)

-MORE Garage Sales
-Deep cleaning?!?
-Yardwork?!!!??
Hey, anything can be fun when you have a friend helping you.
-Saw "The Proposal" with Jeannine, Marissa, Danielle and Bennett (lol funny by the way)




One of the more humorous moments below...

Marissa hollered upstairs to me, "Mom, Aunt Jeanne's SHAVING in the driveway"!!!!!!
(A true "Kodak moment")
Apparently she could see the hairs on her legs better in the sunlight....
Jeanne, you crack me up!!!! :D



Below are 4 of the MANY reasons I love my friend...

1. Found our lost remote in the middle of "Twilight".
(this had been missing for several months)

2. Fixed our long ago broken ice-maker by clearing out a huge hunk of ice stuck inside it.

3. Introduced me to my new "dish drain" buddy.

4. One word. B-L-E-A-C-H

Thanks again Jeanne for spending the week with me.
You remind me of all that's fun in life. :)

Deja vu

Been there.... Done that.....
My birthday is the 18th of June, which means poor Garth usually has to share Father's Day with me. This year I decided we would do it later. Then I pretty much forgot about it because it felt like I had already celebrated ALOT (thank you friends and family). Danielle sweetly informed me numerous times that I would NEVER see my gift until we had an "official" family birthday dinner and I would LOVE the gift she and Matt got me!! Okay. Okay. Let's get the cake in the oven. :P
Here I am holding my present from Matt and Danielle.
S-C-O-R-E! The "ultimate gift"...$20 bucks to Goodwill. I think we're due to go shopping. Anyone game?!!?!


After dinner we hung out back for a bit.
Ethan and Grandpa are "chillin" in the swing.

Marissa and Ryan, don't stand too close.... remember, we're family!

Jeanne Grimmett (my dear friend from Spokane) and I

Garth and I

Brandon with Trinity (his dog) and Luna (brown dog that belongs to a friend of his).

Ethan was having the best time going in and out of the house bringing cars out one at a time to line up on the chair. Here he is making sure they are all turned the right direction.
Notice they are mostly Porsches. That's because they used to be Uncle Jason's...enough said.



Time to get another one. Luna was hanging a "bit close for comfort" sometimes and managed to bump Ethan over a time or two. But Ethan perservered. A man's gotta get the job done you know.



Uncle Brandon swinging Ethan on the trampoline sure brought the giggles out of him.
He kept begging for more. Ethan, you're so funny.





Ryan holding Bennett. He went from one set of arms to another all evening.
Since our grandbabies are all so precious, I have already put in a request for another one. For some reason, Danielle just looks at me like I'm not playing with a full deck. I'm reasonable. I said we would be willing to wait 9 months for the next one. ;)


Brandon, me, Ryan and Marissa

Thanks for helping me celebrate again. The best part of all is being together.

Becca's Birthday and Nina's Visit

Our granddaughter Rebecca turned seven on the 8th of July. We had a birthday dinner for her on Sunday the 12th (the day Bennett was born). She requested spaghetti, garlic Texas Toast, corn-on-the-cob and white cake with blue frosting. Vanessa joined us from next door for the celebration. As we were finishing up dinner preparations the girls decided to paint nails. Here they are selecting colors for Marissa. Apparently every finger looked different when they were done. Marissa, you are such a good sport! :)

Time to eat and visit for a bit.

Now for the important part of the meal...

Happy, Happy Birthday sweet Rebecca!!!!!!
Here's your very blue "cupcake cake".

1,2,3 B-L-O-W!
May all your wishes come true. :)

We love you Rebecca. It was fun getting to celebrate your birthday with you.



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Carolyn brought Nina over to visit us on Tuesday the 14th. We were so excited to see her. The last time we were together was the beginning of January (about 6 1/2 months ago). I can't believe how much she has grown. Nina, I love your new haircut too. So cute!
Alex was sleeping so Jack and Nina enjoyed playing out back while Carolyn and I visited.
Nina was excited to get on the trampoline.

Two sweethearts on the swing.

Thanks for coming to visit us Nina. We miss you.

Heaven Sent

Welcome little one. We're so glad to finally meet you....

and finally learn your name. :)

Bennett Emerson Young
Born Sunday, July 12th at 3:27 am
8 lbs. 6 ozs.
21 inches long
14" head covered with dark wavy hair
Delivered by Dr. Bair who also delivered your mother.


Bennett, who do you look like? A little like Dad and a little like Mom. Even a bit like your brother Ethan. Two things I did observe:
I see your mom's pouty lips.



And tell me those aren't "Hadley" toes! ;)



Freshly changed and right back to snoozing.

We love you Bennett. Welcome to the world.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Blue skies, a perfectly warm summer day, picnics and parades. Families and friends gathering across the nation. Today we celebrate the 233rd birthday of the United States of America. How sweet is that?!

Myrian and Al Fontan invited us and another friend of theirs (Bart) to join their family for a barbecue. We had a great time visiting with everyone. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of the table before we ate but let me just say the food was incredibly delicious. :P We had barbecued pork ribs, grilled chicken, corn-on-the-cob, a beautiful potato salad prepared "Argentina style", green salad, stuffed tomatoes, garlic bread, chips and lemonade. After we finished the main course we were treated to a wonderful fresh fruit salad with orange juice. Here is Myrian preparing a bed of fresh Romaine for her tuna and rice stuffed tomatoes. Yummo!

After lunch we settled out back for more visiting and a little afternoon fireworks. As you can see here, Vanessa is covering her ears in anticipation of what's to come.
(No worries. She was begging for more just as soon as the smoke settled.) :D

The smoke bombs were a favorite of mine. They look really cool in the daylight.


Marissa made a flag cake with strawberries and blueberries on top. A Hadley tradition from way back. Are there "seconds"?


Later that evening we carried our chairs over and watched the fireworks at the Hoppers. There was quite a gathering, as usual: The Hoppers (of course), the Stotts, the missionaries, the Johnsons, the McCanns, Chad Weed, Katie Phillips and a few others I didn't know. Between their fireworks and the ones in the culdesac in front of them, it was AMAZING. Thanks for the great show. We loved it!!!


HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY everyone!!!

Summer High

Yesterday Garth, Marissa and I woke to a beautiful sunny day with nothing on the agenda. If you know Garth at all, you'll understand how rare this is. (Intel vacation day + no classes at the moment + no volunteer hours scheduled= "Family Fun, Here We Come". We began our day with a leisurely breakfast out back in the morning shade. Cornbread with honey and butter, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, Marissa's yummy "Orange Julius's" and to top everything off, a game of Labyrinth. =)
After packing a small cooler with liquid refreshment we hopped in the toaster and headed for unknown destinations. Our goal? To get lost on the backroads and just explore for a bit. Note: If Danielle had been with us, this plan would have been shot down REAL quick! She still reminds her dad about the "short-cut" we took across the desert long ago with no sign of civilization for miles. Thus, to this day, it's always "Dad, are you SURE you know where you're going?!"

Driving west through the countryside we came upon the Willamette Valley Soaring Club. Having seen the glider planes on our way to the beach many times, we decided to stop and watch for a while. Wow. That looks fun!!!

Here's a glider taking off now.

Hey, wait a minute! Is that Marissa climbing in one?! Garth, you sly dog. We should have seen this coming. Bungee jumping, skydiving, mountain climbing, "kama kazie" rock repelling, race car driving...need I go on? Never one to pass up a little action.....
Marissa, it's your L-U-C-K-Y D-A-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buckle her in.



Look over the controls.
Remember Marissa, you can touch anything you want except the yellow knob and the release handle for the canopy. Especially the release handle!


Check the seatbelt once more.





My, what BIG wings you have Marissa. ;)

Ready....

Set (one last quick adjustment)......

GO! she and the co-pilot are OFF into the sky. Weeeeeeeee!!!!!




Circling back and over us.

Landing, about a half hour later.





Here they are just touching down. It kinda looks like a plane that forgot to put it's landing gears down, doesn't it?

Marissa is riding along in the golf cart as they tow the plane back. What an amazing ride. She loved it! =)



We took a beautiful drive afterwards. Here are a few pictures I snapped along the way.
I LOVE the outdoors. Thanks Garth for stopping while I hiked around.






On our way home we detoured through Beaverton and stopped here for dinner.


While waiting for your food to cook they have big boxes of roasted peanuts sitting around for you to munch on. Need I say the floors are covered in shells. Very fun and tasty too!



But the "piece de resistance"?
TO DIE FOR ...
Thanks Garth and Marissa for such a fun day.