Hello from Yakima

Well Greg and I have been doing the annual physical/doctor appointments the past few weeks. We had to establish new doctors here in Yakima so it has taken a while to get in but we are just about finished and glad to get that out of the way. The weather has really changed. In fact, this morning it is actually raining. It's kind of a nice change and we sure need it around here. Very, very dry time of the year. The leaves are turning slightly and starting to drop. The temperatures are dropping too. The expected high today is only 77 degrees. It's been running around 85 - 90 up until now. By Wednesday, it is supposed to be a high of 67 during the day and dropping down to 34 at night. So fall and winter are definitely on the way. Which makes me think of the holidays and the possibility of snow at Christmas. It probably sounds strange to many of you but I am actually looking forward to seeing some snow this year. Greg isn't too excited about it but I sure am. A white Christmas -h...

Last weekend, we headed over to the Seattle area with my Mom and Jackie to visit the kids. Due to the distance between where our children live in the Seattle area and the short trip, I spent time with my kids and Greg met Laura and Melanie and the grandchildren at a park in Bellevue. They had a fun afternoon together. Sorry Greg didn't get any pictures. :( My Mom had a nice visit with her brother Dick and her nephew Willie who live in Bellevue and with Cindy and Andy, my brother and sister. They all had breakfast together on Sunday at Cindy's new apartment in Bothell. Recently, Jessica and Serena and Joel, Sarah and Jordyn moved into a new home in the Kent area. It's a beautiful, 2 year old, 4 bedroom Quadrant home. http://www.quadranthomes.com/about/ It's very spacious with lots of room for Jordyn and Serena. We are very happy they were able to find a home that could accommodate all of them; helping them to save on housing expenses which are extremely high in the S...

We took a road trip to Idaho and Wyoming over Labor Day weekend. My sister and her family live in Idaho Falls and have a beautiful cabin in Star Valley, Wyoming, just 50 miles from Jackson Hole. We traveled to Idaho Falls last Thursday with my sister Deannie and her husband Scott who live in Yakima too. Deannie is my sister who was diagnosed with breast cancer this year and just completed 6 months of chemotherapy. My sister, Martha, who lives in Idaho Falls had a great idea to throw a "barn dance" for Deannie to celebrate her fight against cancer. Deannie has for many years had a dream of some day having a barn dance and Martha wanted to make this dream come true. On Friday, the three of us spent the day together shopping and as you see in this picture below enjoying a glass of wine or two along the way. The barn dance was a surprise for Deannie so Martha and I had to keep her busy all day, as the party didn't start until 6:00 pm and she thought we were headed to the cabi...