Spring Snow

Officially it is spring but one would not know it with the weather we have been having. This past weekend Ski Bluewood got over 30 inches of snow. Sunday morning the ski report stated that there was 24 inches of new snow over night. I really thought about skipping church and taking the boys skiing but then got to thinking about all the stuff we really needed to do. Foothills of the Blue Mountains.

The boys are out of school on Friday for the end of the semester. I am taking a day off from work to head to the ski slopes. We will also go on Sunday, April 5th for the last day of the ski season. Ski Bluewood always has a big celebration called "BASH". We love going up that day and enjoying the fun on the ski slopes.

Relay for Life

I am help Stephanie organize a team to participate in the Walla Walla Relay for Life in memory of a good scrapbooking friend. Sandy died last April with Breast Cancer after a 5 year fight. She was only 43 and was the same age as me. Most of us participating were part of a scrapbook group that got together twice a year for weekend retreats. Share the ups and downs of life, children, family, etc... Our group has been in a funk every since Sandy died. I hope that this will brings us out of the funk. I miss us not getting together sharing the laughs, memories, etc....
The Relay for Life walk starts at 6pm on Friday, June 12, 2009 and goes until 6pm in Saturday June3, 2009. At least one person from the team has to be walking during the 24 hours. They also have a survivor lap that all cancer survivors can walk at the beginning of the Relay.

One of the fundraiser at the Relay for Life is Luminary's. I will be selling them soon. If you are interested please let me know. The bags are plain so that you can decorate them as you please. There are many ways to decorate the bags including placing photos of loved ones, in memory thoughts, etc... The bags are then lite at 9pm for the laminate part of the walk.

I am really looking forward to participating in the walk this year. Our team name is Sandy's Sunflowers. Sandy's favorite flowers were sunflowers and we know that she is watching over us all now. When I was in Germany years ago that was one thing I loved was all the sunflowers along the road sides. This year I am planting a row of sun flowers out by the creek for Sandy.

Hope everyone will support our Relay for Life team in some format.

Andrew's band concert

Andrew plays in two school bands. He plays trumpet in the 7th grade band which is a regular class for school. This is the band at Monday night concert. The group started in 6th grade with about 60 students and that has dwindled down to about 30 students this year.

Andrew is in the center of the photo playing the trumpet. The band played Cyberspace Overture, The Pink Panther, Baby Elephant Walk and La Bamba.

Andrew also plays in the Central Middle School Jazz band which meets every morning at 7am before school starts for practice. He loves Jazz band because all of the students in the band are committed and want to play. They are not just taking a class for a eady grade since they get no credit for Jazz Band. They have fun in Jazz band. They have also been traveling to competitions the last three weekends. Last weekend they competed at the Clackamas Jazz Festival in Portland, Oregon. Andrew has been meeting new friends from around the northwest at the competitions.

This is Andrew playing a solo in the music Georgia on my Mind. The band also played Moanin' and Coming Home Baby.

New Kitchen Faucet

Our old faucet final gave starting giving us enough problems that Rick replaced it Sunday. We did not go with anything fancy but I really like the new faucet. It is much easier to move and higher that the old one.

The downfall with replacing faucet is you have to empty the area under the sink. Which is really a blessing in disguise because not you can toss stuff that you have not seen or used since the day you moved in. At lease I found stuff that needed to be used up or tossed.

Rick installing the hoses to the new faucet.

Completed project. It is much cleaner under the sink. really need to do about once a year.

ADK's 13th Birthday

ADK was born 13 years ago today at 9:10am. He was 19 1/4" long and weight 6lbs 8ozs. Dad and Grandma Clara were in the room for his birth. ADK just a day old in this photo a few hours before we brought him home.

First birthday

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Sixth Grade

ADK at 12 years and 364 days of age. He invited a few friends over for the evening. Photo is of BY, CK, BB and ADK. CK a long time friend that moved away a few years ago was even in town for the weekend and was able to come over for a few hours. They hung out in the shop playing ping pong, hide and seek in the neighborhood. Of course ran into a group of girls that were at another sleepover party a few blocks away. Got to love text messaging.

Skiing in 24" of new snow!!!

View from the top of Scorpio Run at Ski Bluewood. We took the day off and ELK out of the school to go skiing with ADK's Ski Cougars club at school. It was a great day of skiing. 24" of new snow in the last 24 hours and sun shine. Was the best day of the ski season for us.

ELK waiting around for Mom and Dad. This was his first time skiing since breaking his collar bone skiing in January.

Soft landing in the snow. Just hard to get back up.

We ran into ADK skiing on the hill. He had a AWESOME day of skiing with all his friends from school. We just say him on a few runs but mostly on the lift.

Rick enjoying the great snow. The legs were sore at the end of the day but the knee held up. That's a good thing.

Last but not least there I am enjoying making new tracks in the knee deep powder. It was light and fluffy powder for March.

CTK Youth Group Sledding

February 28, 2009 Christ the King Lutheran Church Youth Group went sledding at Meadowood Speech Camp up near Tollgate, OR. There was 34 members that made it sledding. It was a great day, sunny and not to cold. We rented a cabin so that when people got tired of sledding they could get in out of the cold and have a warm lunch. I love looking at ELK's facial expression he makes while sledding. Almost every picture I took of him it was different.

Here Elk is with KK having fun sledding double.

ELK and KK had a great day sledding together. They climbed up the hill so many times that by the end of the day they were worn out. Which is very unusually for KK since he is the Energized Bunny in disguise.

Even Rick took a few runs. He spend most of the day replacing old heaters that did not work in cabins up there. The Elk's Lodge is a big sponsor of the Camp and have two big work parties a year to help maintain the place. The camp also calls upon members for assistance at other times when needed. Rick is the man they call when they have electrical problems.

At one point in time I handed the camera to ELK and took a few runs while he took photos. The older I get the more I look like my mother, I think at least.
It was a great day! ADK did not get to join inthe fun because he was in Moscow, Idaho at the Lionell Hampton Jazz Festival with the Jazz band from school. Hopefully I will get some photos from a parent that went. ADK had a great time at the Jazz Festival. He can't wait for the next one in a few weeks over in the Portland area.