Fish stories, did the big one get away??

A week ago the Tacoma Sportman's Club had their 60th annual Kids Fishing Derby at Bradley Lake. All the grandkids had to go and all their parents and of course Grandpa. I think Kaylee and I were the only ones that didn't make it, just to early for us I guess. They all did quite well and got many fish. Grandpa loves helping them fish, he has so much patience. Me, I would just worry about them falling in!

Shaylyn caught the biggest one, she was pretty excited. She even held it while I got a picture.
Getting to the fun part, cleaning them. I think Austin wanted to help, At first.
Grandpa, doesn't seem to mind. It's a good thing because I'm not doing it!

The finished product, lots of nice fish. Some little ones and some pretty nice ones and then there is Shaylyn's big one.

Here she is holding her fish and the prize she won, a Hannah Montana fishing pole. Cierra won a prize too, I don't have a picture of her's.

Austin won also, a small, one burner camp stove.

Chance got a one burner camp stove also, a little bit bigger, looks like a nice one. I think he won it because there weren't too many in his age group so they gave them all something. Whatever it takes, it is still fun.

The fruit trees we planted are doing very well.

I wanted a picture with Austin so we can see how much they have grown over the years. I just forgot that Austin will be growing too.

This is a picture of a plant we have had for many years. We actually have two, that we planted at the same time, well, the other one is only about 10" tall. Not sure why one is huge and the other is so small.

As I was taking pictures I noticed all these blooms on it, never saw them in the past. I suppose I might have but just have forgotten, that happens a lot anymore.

Well, summer might finally be here now. We hope everyone has a great one and are able to do a lot of fun things. Maybe we'll be able to see some baseball and soccer games now, with not so many rain outs. I also want to thank all my family and friends for all of their support. We love you all!!

Mother's Day and More!!

Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day, Sean's birthday and Chance's birthday. We had home made lasagna, salad and garlic bread, it was great. Then cake and ice cream for dessert. Sorry I didn't get pictures of the birthday boys. Did get one of Mindy and Jodi. It was a nice time and we always enjoy getting together as a family. I got two hanging fuchsia baskets, which I love to get. For three or four years now a bird has made a nest in one of the baskets, it is always in the basket in the same location, never in the other one.
Then there is always one of the grandkids having a game during the week. Austin, Connor and Cierra are playing baseball and Shaylyn is playing soccer. Oh yes, the girls are playing softball too. We are finding it hard to go to all of them and with the weather being so bad, well we are staying home more then going. We do love watching them all!

This is me and Brooke after going to Shaylyn's Mother's Day program. I think Brooke is saluting Grandpa!
Mindy and Jodi on Mother's Day at Doug and Mindy's. As always, they are beautiful.
The girls took me out for a movie and lunch on Saturday. This is a picture we tried to take in the movie theater. It didn't turn out very good for any of us.
Here we are at Applebees, we had a nice time and were able to visit (with no interruptions).
Again aren't they just so beautiful.

Cierra's baseball game, she is doing really well and seems to be having fun.

Shaylyn at her school's Mother's Day program.

Just doing a little catch up!!

Just some pictures to see what has been going on. Nothing real exciting.
If you remember we got a tree from Sean and Jodi, well it didn't make. We have beem watching it die for awhile now. so we decided to take it out and replace it with some fruit trees three of them. They seem really healthy and we hope they will do well.

Baseball season again. Connor on base.

Austin pitching.

Cierra with something in her teeth. (I know, just something silly to share).

Cierra with it gone.

Shaylyn stayed over night and as always wanted to play games. I taught her how to play Skip-Bo. She caught on really fast. Teri taught me while we were hunting (well the guys were). We had a tournament, guess who won!!

Grandpa always loves to play with the kids!

Brooke is so funny and the last of Grandparents Day!

Jodi was in Utah for the weekend and Sean was painting so we took Brooke for the weekend. She was so good and we really enjoyed spending time with her. Friday we went to the movies and saw Monsters vs Aliens. On Saturday we went over to see how the dogs were doing at the Gaileys, they were still in Arizona. Brooke fell asleep in the car and wasn't real happy when we woke her up. She laid down on the couch and wanted her blanket, she covered up her head. Then her Mom called and she still wouldn't come out from underneath the blanket, but she wanted to talk to her, so I had to hand her the phone, only her hand came out. I was cracking up and knew I had to get a picture. She finally came out when I turned on Sponge Bob Square Pants.

We finished up Grandparents Day with Cierra, then Kaylee and Connor. Cierra is such a sweetheart and actually was shy at first (not like her).

Cierra with her teacher.

Connor came into Kaylee's classroom and ate lunch with us. Then we went to his class. Their teachers seem really great.

If you look in the background you can see a picture of Sean with Kaylee, Connor and Cierra.

Babysitting Dogs and a New Toy !!!

We have been taking care of the Gailey's Puppies while they are on vacation, in the nice weather, at the Mariners spring training in Arizona. I should say Lee has been. Austin, I am sure is in heaven, he really loves sports and even called to let us know that he got an autograph from Ken Griffey. The Puppies are doing very well, but seem to be getting pretty antsy for their family to come home. Kaylee and the other kids have helped. Yesterday they went to Bradley Lake and took them for a good walk. I take watching someones dogs as serious as watching the grandkids, worrying about them getting away, hurt or anything else that could happen. So, Jodi calls me Wednesday night and said they went over to play with the dogs and that one was gone and there was a hole in the fence. I was in a panic and ready to run out the door when she says "April Fools". I was so relieved, but ready to wring her neck, I will get her back. Here are some pictures at the park.


On the way to the park.

Anyone that has walked around this lake will recognize this tree.

OK, now for the new toy. Lee and I have been talking about getting a side by side quad for a while. We had thought we might wait for awhile. But thanks to Jay and Penny for asking us to ride along while they went to look at one. Well you can guess the rest of the story. We were able to get a great deal for buying more then one at a time. No one had to twist our arm, we will have lots of fun and as they say, you only live once! Here are some pictures of Lee, Jodi, Connor, Cierra, Brooke and Meaghan having fun. Kaylee and I are in the house staying warm. The Gailey's are in Arizona, staying warmer.

The guys always like the ditches.

Brooke is having a blast!

Cierra is getting excited to have her Mom give her a ride.

There they go.

Oh yes, does anyone want to buy a quad, it is like new. If you do or know anyone just let us know and we will give you all the details.

Isn't it a beauty!

Cabela's 4 hour Hot Buys!!

Saturday morning we got up early, real early to go to Cabela's in Lacey. The four hour sale was from 8 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. We got there at 7:40 and the line was down and around the building. I was having a de-ja vu moment, Black Friday all over again, but it was all men (just a few women). Of course they were all these big and strong outdoor types, lots of flannel shirts. Yet I figured it was probably better then facing all women waiting to go in Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving. We decided to wait till they opened the doors which they opened early. The main item Lee wanted of course we couldn't find and when we did they were all gone except the floor model, they let us have that so all was not lost. Of course we ended up buying more then what we came for (there is always a need for one more jar of fishing bait, right Bill). It was crazy, but we had a good time and came home without any bruises. I had to take some pictures of the beautiful display of all the beautifully stuffed (and dead) animals.

Chance (#40) is playing 7th grade basketball and seems to be having fun.

And another picture of Brooke, who can resist!