Sewing 101

Granddaughter Hannah has been wanting to sew for quite a while, so we picked her up from school a couple of days ago and headed to a local fabric shop. She picked out two different fabrics to make a pillowcase for her dad. She also wanted to embroider her name on it, so that's what we did. Here's a couple of shots of her working on this project.

Easter

Easter was wonderful in our new community. We took our grandson to the outdoor sunrise service on the golf course. We walked there at 6:30 am since it wasn't too far and then sat in the 30 degree temps for the service. The sunrise was spectacular - a sunrise service was the first for us and we liked it so much we are planning on it again for next year - we'll try to get more family to join us.

Afterwards we went home to warm up, then to 'regular' church and then on to our Easter dinner at our daughter-on-law's parents' house with lots of family gathered around. Both our sons were thousands of miles away and couldn't be with us, but we had our grandchildren and other family with us. Drew should be back home next year and hopefully we can get Mark here, too. We did get to interface with Drew on the computer Easter morning and we talked with Mark the day before, but we still missed them. Memories of their childhoods always flood back on family holidays.

The days are trying to get warmer, but the nights still freeze - at least the days are mostly sunny. We do love living here!

April Fool's Day

Today is Mark's birthday - he was born on April Fool's Day 23 years ago. What a fun day for a birthday! We are on opposite sides of the country today, but close in thought. If you are reading this - Happy Birthday!!

Sarah did great in the marathon - she finished in 3 hours 36 minutes - fast enough to qualify for the Boston run - if she goes, we'll go, too.

Strange noises here..... every morning we wake up to 'helicopter' noise. It really sounds like a helicopter has landed next to our house and doesn't shut down. We came to find out that the orchards here run huge fans to try and stave off the frost from damaging the buds on the apple trees. It still freezes most nights, but since the buds are out they need to take precautions. Another thing they do is spray the trees with water in the evening so it encases the trees with ice. That way they don't drop below 32 degrees and it does seem to protect the buds from getting too cold.

That's about it for now.... Easter is just a few days away. Happy Easter to all!!

Marathon

Our daughter-in-law Sarah is running a marathon this Saturday with her sister. Here's the link....

http://sportsyakima.com/2010/03/sisters-taking-it-all-in-stride-for-marathon/

Yakima Home and Garden Show Here We Come...

Sundome


Today we are volunteering at the Yakima Home and Garden Show held in the Sundome. We've been wanting to attend to see what kind of plants will do well here. We want to add some colorful plants to our yard.

Uplands Trail Hike

A couple of days ago it was sunny and fairly warm, so we ventured out for a spring hike in the hills around Yakima. Some of the spring wildflowers are blooming and the snow covered mountains were visible in the distance. It was a great day! Beautiful flowers, sunshine, semi-warm temps, and, best of all, way too early for the rattlesnakes to be out.

New Pix

Our darling daughter-in-law snapped this picture of us on our cruise just before Christmas. This was a family trip to celebrate my 60th birthday - among other things. She takes better pictures than the pros on board.

Friends from our old neighborhood drove 3 hours each way today to visit us! What great friends we have! The day was crystal clear and sunny, but still cold. We had a great visit with old friends. Nothing like 30-year friendships - no time to make new friends like that.

Can hardly wait for spring. I want to plant flowers, but it is still freezing at night, so that will have to wait.