Spanish Party, Quick Trip to Baker City, Birthdays and Happy Halloween

We had dinner at Charo's home on the 24th and her father, Domingo, was the main chef. Of course Charo was a very gracious hostess.....it was wonderful!


Charo's family wanted to experience carving pumpkins so we gave them two and they had maybe a little too much fun.


Sunday we hosted the party for them at our home. Kyla, Jed and Emmy were there as well as Jill and Wade, Kelli and Isaac and Brian of course. Jen Simonds provided some entertainment and even with the language barrier, everyone seemed to enjoy the party. Dave cooked a mean salmon on the BBQ and Kyla was such a great help. She made a fabulous dip that was gone in the first half hour and was the main dish washer for all those many dishes. My boss and his wife also came and Sharon just took charge and was working along side of Kyla.

My mom had back surgery last week and is now home but needs help for a while. My sister in law, Laura, helped her until my older sister and I could go home. So it was off to Baker for a week to feed dogs, cats, horses, do some winterizing of her yard, clean house and cook meals. She seems to be getting better but it is a slow process. We returned on Halloween and I missed both Brian and Dave's birthdays. However, we did manage to make it to our nephew, Braedyn's, birthday party on Sunday. Lots of birthdays this month.....Happy birthday to Max, Lisa, Marisa, Dave, Brian, Jen, Braedyn and Happy Anniversary to Max and Delpha.

Fall Upon Us

Things are going well even with the scooping of pounds of leaves from our pool each day. Curious how the world works. The trees are all becoming ablaze with color now, though yesterday and today it feels like summer....in the 80's. It is all so beautiful yet so much pain and suffering is happening at the same time. I choose to think we are given all this beauty because we may not be able to get through the bad things if we didn't have something positive to focus on.


We went to dinner with Charo's family last week at Dos Amigos. Brian and Charo treated everyone to a great Mexican feast. It was a first for some of her family members but I think they enjoyed it. Since they speak no English and Dave and I speak no Spanish poor Brian and Charo were trying to keep up with translating. They are a very nice family and seem to have so much fun together. This Friday they are going to cook a Paella for us which is one of the most famous Spanish dishes with seafood and rice and looks something like the picture above. We are excited to try it......it is Brian's very favorite. Sunday we are hosting a dinner for her family and friends and some of our family. I think it will be around 30 people give or take a few. It should be lots of fun with some entertainment and lots of food. It also doubles as a birthday party for Brian and Jen Simonds and a going away party for Charo's family. They will be going home on the 27th.

This past weekend we cut all the pumpkins even though some are still green. They look so festive sitting on the deck. I mowed the lawn and pulled weeds while Dave burned our huge wood pile. I also worked on our bathroom for part of Sunday and then went to a bridal show with Jill and Kyla. We watched most of the fashion show and I have to say those little flower girls modeling was worth going. They were so cute! We managed to get her toasting glasses and a scroll which takes the place of a guest book. I had never seen one before and it can be framed with all the signatures of the guests.

Another MRI, Fun with Emma, Giant Tomato, Sears Saga, Spanish Boy

Kyla and Jed just returned from San Francisco where Kyla had another clear scan. Amazing isn't it? We are so very happy about how well she is doing and depending on what Dr. Chang says in December, she may be able to be weaned off of her seizure medication (Tegratol). She has had no seizures since the first one when this was diagnosed in December of 2001 so we are hoping that at some point it will be safe to take the last medication away. Dave and I kept Emmy while they were away and had a great time as usual. We fed the chickens, the cat, Oreo and Buster (the cows). I also had some great help in dusting the piano, we baked cookies and picked tomatoes and pumpkins. Speaking of tomatoes, we took this picture a couple of weeks ago of Emmy with our big tomato, mostly to tease Dave's dad. I think the fact that she is holding the "BIG ONE" with only one hand might be a give away about the fact that we zoomed in on the tomato. But Dave swears it was huge. We also took her to her swim lessons where of course she is doing great. All in all, we had a great time.



September just flew by. A few of the things that we did......I had a great birthday. Dave took me to the coast for the weekend where we had dinner at LaSerre in Yachats. We met with Jill and Wade on Sunday and went to see the place where they will be getting married next September and met with the scheduling person at the Best Western in Newport where the reception will be. We now have that all taken care of. Jay, my youngest brother worked so very hard picking those Northeastern huckleberries and sent me enough for a pie for my birthday. I was so happy because I love to pick those berries and I haven't had a chance for a couple of summers to go home and do that. Dorothy, Isaac's grandmother, took Dave, myself, Kelli, Isaac and Gail (Isaac's mom) to dinner at the Olive Garden. She is such a sweet lady and very interesting. I found out she is working on her 8th novel and has written her memoirs already. She just has such a zest for life and is cherishing every moment. I love to be around people like that.

The continuing saga of our Sears appliance repairs continued but we finally have the condenser fan and ice maker working in the refrigerator after 5 visits and the bottom oven working. All of this on appliances 2 1/2 years old. We spent a fortune at Sears when we moved in to this house and now we have this $400.00 repair bill.

We found out my mom has diabetes and at the same time hurt her back so is looking into surgery for that as soon as they get her blood sugars stabilized. John, my other brother, fell off a ladder while installing windows and broke his arm. He had surgery and they wired the bones back together and we are praying that it heals well. He is so blessed to be here.....someone was looking out for him that day.

College classes have started for all and Brian came home from Spain a couple of days ago. He had a wonderful time, loved Charo's family and friends and was not ready to come home. He is now our "Spanish Boy".

I'll try to be better about updating. I have been so busy the past few months with things outside at home and conferences at work that I haven't had time to really do this much. But the good news is that all is well in our small part of the world.....now if only everyone else in our family would heal.