From Sunny Southern California

Merry, Merry Christmas,everyone.  We  wish we were all together.  Have a wonderful Christmas and blessed 2011.

Love -- The California Clan

Abigail's visit

So, here we are, at our house in Central Oregon. Little granddaughter, Abigail, came with us and has been just enjoying having grampa and gramma spoil her! Saturday we got here quite late in the afternoon so it was pretty much eat, relax, and then to bed. What a good girl Abigail is! Never got up even once! Sunday we went to church where Abigail had a good time in the nursery and then for children's church went upstairs with grampa for a movie and snacks. We went to some friend's for lunch and a birthday party! Once again, what a little trooper. But today (Monday) was all about Abigail and her friend, Berlin. We went to town, drove back to the ranch and picked up Berlin, then back to town shopping at WalMart for snow boots for both girls, a dress-up kit for special "princesses",things to eat for lunch and ingredients for cookie making. Well, even the best of plans can get some snags! Berlin also had some cookie dough that she had brought along that was with us in the car for quite a while! Well, troopers that we all three are, (me included), we rolled out the cookie dough, used cookie cutters and finally had to give it up and just roll the dough into balls! Well.....they didn't stay in balls, they flattened out, attached themselves so that it all bacame one BIG cookie, and just a few good candy canes! Everyone enjoyed them anyway. We also made traditional chocolate chip cookies, so all is well!

Caleb's 1st Birthday

Julie & I went over to Gresham on Friday the 19th. Julie & Amy had a jewlery party and Joel & I went to the movie. The next day was Caleb's 1st birthday so we opened the presents and then went to Red Robin for lunch. Amy made these cute monkey cupcakes and Caleb tried to burn the restaurant down with his candle on his cupcake!
What a fun day! Then we brought Abigail back with us until Wednesday when we go over there for Thanksgiving!

Tony & Dawn's marriage ceremony

Julie & I drove up to Tacoma on Monday Nov 15th for Tony and Dawn's marriage ceremony. They got married at the Tacoma county courthouse. It was a fun ceremony. The judge gave them the long version because they were the last marriage of the day. Tony's friend from the Army, who is a Sargeant also, stood up for Tony, and their neighbor stood up for Dawn. We all went to Red Robin for dinner afterwards. Julie & I spent the night and came home on Tuesday. We met Amy, Elijah & Caleb at IKEA on the way through Portland. It's always fun to have a quick hug and kiss from grandkids. Joel and Abigail were at home sick.

Julie's Birthday Message

I used the pictures from last weekend and dubbed in the phoone message.

Joel & Julie's Birthday

We went over to Gresham Friday afternoon to watch the grandkids while Joel and Amy went out to celebrate his birthday. Saturday was a rainy day (imagine that in Gresham)so we hung out around the house all day. Elijah and Abigail tried on their holloween costumes. Abby is going to go as Cinderella, but she put on her cat costume from last year and showed us her cat growl. Elijah is going as the Green Monster! Wow were they cute! Before we came home we had a birthday dinner of delicious BBQ ribs and of course the birthday cake. Thanks for the beautiful vest! Love the color! We can't wait to see Joel's watch.

M & M Dispenser

A lady from church is working in Vegas temporarely, so she bought this dispenser for me and brought it home with her this week-end.

A Vacation that came full circle!

Sunday, September 12th came and Chris and I left for Lake Tahoe. We arrived quite late, but had a nice condo for a couple of nights. We enjoyed the sights, relaxed, and then hit the road for southern California. We spent one day with the family and then took Mom with us, hit the road again, and went to Las Vegas. We have never been there, didn't know what to expect, and were quite overwhelmed, and impressed with the special hotels such as the Ballagio, New York, New York, The Venetian, and the MGM Grand. As you can see, Chris had to stop at the M&M store for a look at their dispensers. He bought one, but left it somewhere in one of the casinos, so we didn't get to bring it home for all to enjoy. He may get one anyway, because a friend from church is down there working right now, and he e-mailed her to pick one up for him.
We travelled back to southern Cal. and spent another couple of days with the family and then it was time to start for home. We decided to travel up I-5, got to somewhere above Sacremento, spent the night and then travelled the rest of the way up to Springfield. We met the kids at Toys R US in Clackamas and then headed to Gresham for lunch and some time at a local play structure. What fun to end our vacation with our grandchildren, and of course, Amy. Joel was working. They keep getting cuter everytime we see them. The next to the last picture, if you look really, really, hard, you will see a bunch of cows, yes...I said cows, on US 26, going over the mountain pass, on the way over to Central Oregon. I just had to try to get their picture. I bet they were scared! Then, at last, the Welcome to CRR sign, welcoming us back home.

Jamestown Flea Market

Hi everybody,


Oh my goodness -- where does time go! Well I guess better late than never. Jeanette and I wanted to share some photos of our booth at the Jamestown Flea Market in Tustin, Ca. We always have a great time there, all the other vendors are so nice and there are so many goodies!

This last flea market on August 22, 2010, Jeanette and I were pleased as punch to meet the sweet Kate from Salvage Dior and her husband. You really should stop by and check out her blog http://salvagedior.blogspot.com/
she has a wonderful blog, with many inspirational pictures and fun messages—check it out.

Wishing you all a wonderful week. Jackie and Jeanette

Time with the Grandkids

We went to Gresham and took care of the kids while Joel & Amy celebrated 9 years together. On Thursday we took the kids to the Portland Children's Museum. It is a great place for the kids you never have to say don't touch, don't climb on that, just watch them have fun.

Time with the Grandkids

On Friday we went to Hood River to see the kite surfers and on the way back we stopped at Bonneville Dam to see the fish hatchery and sturgeon ponds.

Graveside

Just wanted to do a quick post for the California Clan from today. Mom & Dad drove over the mountain, Tony & Dawn came down from Tacoma and we all met at the graveside for Grandma's burial. After that, we went over to Grandpa Sorensen's grave as well. It was really nice...in a graveside sort-of way. : )

Day 1 of Abbey's first solo visit

We had to spend most of the day at the hospital visiting some friends that had been in an auto accident, and checking on mom.

Later in the day, after a trip to McDonald's for a meal, we made it to the pool. Abigail enjoyed the shallow pool, but Julie and I took her into the big pool for a little while. Afterwards we went to MacPherson park for a picnic. Then came home and watched part of a movie before bedtime. It turned out to be a fun day.

Abigail's 4th Birthday

We arrived at Abigail's just before the party started and I had to hold Caleb so Amy, Joel and Julie could get ready for the party. You can tell by this picture that Caleb and I didn't mind that one bit.

Amy made the cake to look like a strawberry shortcake hat.

Abigail had lots of friends over to celebrate her birthday.

Elijah was very interested in what she was getting for her birthday.

3rd post about Fort Lewis trip

The day after Tony got home we went to Denny's for breakfast and then said good-bye to Tony & Dawn.

We stopped and saw Amy and the kids on the way home.

Julie's mom was getting really antsy after 2 days of travel and a late night. She wanted to stop so we pulled into a rest area in Warm Springs. You can seeby the look on her face that she was in a good mood.

Military Ceremony

This dog was a puppy of one the soldiers in Afghanistan. There was a blog about him and money was raised to bring him to the US.

The troops were on the other side of the curtain and here the speaker is announcing the troops and they getting ready to raise the curtain.

They had a brrief prayer and then dismissed the troops.

Tony's grandma was very happy to see him home.

Trip to Fort Lewis

On the way up to Fort Lewis we stopped and saw Robert and Annie and their family. It's quite a group.

BJ and Jackie came a little late, but they got their time with mom!

These kids have grown so much!! The girl in blue, Kayla, is now going into her second year of collage, the tall one, Guido, is going into his third year, and the girl in the middle of them, Hayley, what a cutie! The boys, Isaiah and and Joseph.

What nice Mother's Day gifts from my kids, Tony & Dawn, and Joel and Amy. The roses are 6 blue ones for Chris, Tony, Joel, Alexander, Elijah, and Caleb. The pink ones are for Amy, Dawn, Cassandra, and Abigail! I am the red rose at the top of the picture. Thanks for making Mother's Day special!

This gift is very great! A digital photo key chain so we can upload pictures of our grandkids and I will always have them with me to boast!! Yah!

Caleb is getting cuter every day! He is so full of smiles.

of course I love having my grandchildren right beside me!!

it was a nice day for playing in the backyard.

February visit

These pictures are in reverse order and the kids finally just get tired of having their pictures taken.
Up to that last picture they were a bunch of happy campers.

Pictures from South Carolina

I was going to download last week-ends pictures from my camera and I found these from South Carolina.
We went to Cracker Barrel for breaksfast before catching the plane on Saturday. Joel took this picture. Sure is a good thing that he got a job as a pastor instead of a photographer.

These were taken at the condo on Friday morning.