Too Bright But Beautiful

I was itching to take some “artsy” pictures when we visited The Natural Bridge in Oregon, but it was way too bright and I knew everything would be contrasty. So I just enjoyed the walk and beautiful scenery.

The Natural Bridge is an inlet where the Rogue River disappears into a lava tube, taking 35 seconds to travel 200 feet to the tube’s outlet.

I tried zooming in on smaller details and these are the best I got.

Oh well, it was fun to try. I need a cloudy day… hopefully (pray) one that brings some rain with it!

The Kids

We had four kids join us on our Shady Cove RV trip (and their parents, of course)…

Did I say four? I meant FIVE!

The kids opened a salon and took appointments… manicure, foot soak, leg rubs, shoulder and hand massage, and they also provided a fan to keep us cool. It was on the pricy side, but worth every dollar! My appointment also came with a refreshing margarita (Thank you John!)

An art table kept them busy and I have to say they were quite creative!

Of course they loved being down by the river. Whenever they saw a raft coming they would run down and grab their squirt guns.

We told them to try and roll that huge rock in the river… good entertainment for us!

And of course they rode their bikes and scooters around the campground… around and around and around and around!!

I loved having these kids join us, and I’m pretty sure they loved it too!

All ready to raft down the river.

Don’t worry… Gio is a very good driver!

Shady Cove

The most beautiful things

in life are not things.

They are people and places

and memories and pictures.

They are feelings and moments

and smiles and laughter.

Bernard Meltzer

I am still recuperating from our ten day Shady Cove, Oregon RV trip with family and friends. I was going to go into detail about everything we did… our day trips to Crater Lake and nearby waterfalls, two rafting trips, guided and bank fishing, morning river walks, celebrating the 4th of July and Linda’s birthday, water fights, etc., but decided to just post a few (ha!) pictures instead.

These were all taken with my phone, not my “real” camera. I was busy having too much fun to concentrate on photography!

Already looking forward to next year’s trip!

RING IT LOUD!

After two years and four months Collin got to “ring the bell” at Valley Children’s Hospital yesterday. The ringing of the bell indicates that he is FINALLY leukemia and chemo FREE.

Family and friends gathered outside the hospital entrance excitingly waiting for Collin to walk through the doors to witness this momentous occasion. When we saw him, his smile said it all… his lab results were good and he is FINISHED! I think he was a little overwhelmed by the number of people that were there to support him. I know I was.

Oncology… the people that make days like these possible for so many children.

Congratulations Collin. You and your family weathered the storm by staying strong and keeping your eye on this day that I’m sure at times you thought would never come. But here it is, and now it’s time to celebrate… I think we are all more than ready!!

A Mermaid??

Is that a mermaid in our pool??

I gave the kids my underwater camera. It is always fun to upload the pictures to my computer and see what they shot. This time there were 900+ pictures!!! Geeze… it took me forever to eliminate all the ones that were just water or feet! But I’M IN LOVE with these mermaid ones. I think the majority of these pictures were taken by Brenden. He’ll probably be just as surprised as I was on how good these are because underwater you never know what you’re going to get… you just aim the camera, press the button and hope for the best.

Skylar was the most beautiful mermaid I’ve ever seen. She did a great job swimming with her tail. If I put that on I would probably drown!

Great job Brenden… these are BEAUTIFUL!

Jump For Joy… Or Not.

Me: “Ok kids. Line up and when I say three… everyone JUMP in!”

“One… two… THREE!”

Me: “Logan… you have to jump when I say THREE.”

Logan: “I will Grandma. I will.”

Me: “Okay, let’s do it one more time.”

“One… two… THREE!”

Oh, this is soooo Logan!!

It was nice to see the Holm cousins have so much fun together. They may have started out shy but it didn’t take long for them (including Emmalyn) to warm up.

I love that our out-of-staters could come for a visit. Hopefully we can do this again next summer.

Kari is thinking… “There are six kids here and no one is throwing me my ball???”

The Progression

Just as Jennifer and her kids left, more out-of-state kids came in. Levi and Skylar are visiting from Utah.

Wednesday I had the Holm side over for a family get-together, and of course we wanted to get a picture of Gigi with all six of her great-grandchildren. That sounds so easy, right?? Well, Emmalyn wanted nothing to do with it.

The bribe… Renee is contemplating… what will it take to get her to stand with her cousins?

Just pretend she’s Emmalyn! Our thinking was maybe if she saw mommy take a picture…

Well, that sorta worked but she wasn’t too happy about it.

Now we’re getting somewhere. We got her to smile! Quick Renee… run out of the picture!

Yeah… success! Don’t look too close or you will see Renee hiding behind everyone. You gotta do what it takes sometimes.

Hard To Say Goodbye…

Jennifer, Drew and Emma flew in from Florida ten days ago for a visit. (Keith had to stay back to work.) They timed it to attend our Annual Joe Burch Family reunion.

It came to an end too quickly, but we are so thankful they made the trip.

Emma celebrated her 4th birthday the day of our reunion… HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!

Jennifer and Bryan… the two oldest “kids” testing the water slide.

After the family party Jennifer and the kids spent the rest of their vacation at our Long Barn cabin where we could all go visit and have even more fun!!

Have a safe flight home today and give Keith a big hug from his California family. We hope you had a great time visiting your Great Grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins. Love you guys… and we miss you already!

Beautiful Scenery

The scenery is always so beautiful at Pinecrest.

Oops… wrong picture.

I meant this one…

Happy Friday!

Happy Day!

You never know when or if it will ever happen again, so it was more than a Happy Day for mom to have all seven of her grandchildren together…

And all TWELVE of her great children…

It was another wonderful Joe Burch Family Reunion. I know Dad and Nancy were smiling from above happy that we have continued this tradition. Maybe they were having their own party with my Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles. I hope so.

We were missing only three… Nick, Keith and Adam.