December 2014

Here are a few photos from December 2014. Anna gets to be the star of the show this month!


Clay and I were hosting at the Eugene Community Creche when Neil & Mandi showed up with Anna. I have a new portrait lens for my camera that can take photos in fairly dim lighting, and I was pleased with how this one turned out.

Clay and I were lazy this year and didn't want to put up our big Christmas tree (since we weren't having any company for Christmas). So we got this little tree and set it up on the end table. We don't plan on un-decorating it -- we'll just stick it in a big bag and set it upstairs or in the attic.

Clay won second prize at the ward's "Ugly Christmas Sweater - International Cuisine Potlock". We were somewhat confused because he is wearing a cute Charlie Brown t-shirt, not an ugly Christmas sweater. He graciously allowed me to take a photo of him in his winner's finery. We then used the tiara for a Christmas tree topper, since we hadn't yet found one we liked.

We were invited to Christmas dinner at Neil & Mandi's that afternoon. For some reason, I only took a few photos of Anna "opening" the Christmas present we gave her, a Fisher Price Little People dollhouse. As soon as the wrapping came off to reveal the people figures, Anna pounced on them. But since they were behind the plastic, she was frustrated that she couldn't actually get her hands on them.

Here is a photo of the toy from the FP website -- since I didn't take a picture of Anna actually playing with it when Neil got it put together. (I was enjoying watching her play with it so much that I didn't think about getting my camera out again).

They had gotten a wooden "toy" Nativity set so Anna could play with it, but I guess Neil got tired of it always being scattered around the house. So with his usual offbeat humor, he put up a "No Babies Allowed" sign, which Anna ignored, of course! They said she carried Baby Jesus around with her a lot, and they would find him in all sorts of odd places around their house.

Clay enjoyed playing with one of Anna's new Christmas toys -- he was proud of himself when he finally got them to stay stacked on top of each other.

Anna came over to our house a couple of days later to play with our Fisher Price nativity set, which she enjoyed. She spent a lot of time carrying Baby Jesus around, and her other favorite was the "hay" that came with the set.

I got a photo of Arlene and I together a few weeks ago. I had worked for her for over 32 years before her retirement in December. I wish I had a photo of us together from 1982 when I first started. That would have been an interesting comparison!

Just a few photos

I know I have shamefully neglected this blog, so here are a few photos to prove that we're all still around. I did not take many of these photos, so I hope that no one objects to having me post them.

This is the photo that was on the invitation for Anna's baby blessing in August.

And here are a few photos from that day.

This one is from when we were baby-sitting her in September. She didn't want to hold still (and I didn't want to use flash) so it's a little fuzzy.

This was taken by Neil and Mandi in October.

These are from when we were babysitting her later in October. I was trying out my new camera lens, but I don't think I've got the hang of it yet. 

Grandpa Clay is showing her how to hold her mouth open for a bite (not intentionally of course).

Here are some photos taken by Mandi mid-November.

This is one they put on a Christmas card.

And now a few photos of Melissa's children. I think this one is from May.

And a few random photos of Calvin.

The girls before school on "picture day". I'm so glad they love each other so much.

A couple of Melissa's pictures from Halloween. They went trick-or-treating at Rob's work, where each department was decorated as a different video game (Rob's department did Angry Birds, so he is dressed up as one of the pigs in the game).

 A recent photo of Nate.

Clay let his facial hair grow while he was on his trip to Montana in October. I took this photo on Sunday when he got home, just before making him shave it off because I didn't think a new member of the bishopric should look so scraggly at the baptism we were attending that evening.

And I thought I'd better include a recent photo of me in case everyone has forgotten what I look like. This was taken in early November from the top of Skinners Butte where I had gone hiking with my friend Jody.

There, you're all caught up now. :-)

Belated Blogging -- Newport

 

 

As we have done several times in the past, we went to Newport on Memorial Day weekend to celebrate our anniversary (36 years on May 31, 2014). So here are some pictures of this year's trip: 

 Heceta Head Lighthouse from a long ways away.

 

Heceta Head Lighthouse zoomed in a little closer.

 

 

 Now we're standing next to the lighthouse, which was re-done about a year ago, so it's nice and pretty now.

We stayed at the LaQuinta of course. The manager is a friend so she offered us free tickets to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We had been once, a couple of years ago, but we were excited to go again.

 

We really enjoyed walking through the "Passages of the Deep" exhibits where you walk through three different tunnels, representing 3 zones of the ocean, and the fish, including the sharks in this photo, are swimming all around you. The acrylic is about 4 inches thick, and many of the animals swim right up to it, so you can really get "up close and personal" with them.

 

 I've always loved seahorses -- not sure why. I spent a lot of time watching them glide through the water.

 

The puffins were fun to watch also.

 

 

We went to some more of our favorite spots: Cape Perpetua and the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. 

  

 

 

 

 

We (and a whole lot of other people) stayed past closing time at the Lighthouse to take photos of the sunset. I was sad when my camera battery died unexpectedly before the sun went all the way down, but when I saw that the few photos I had taken before the battery died had turned out pretty nice, I didn't feel too bad about the situation.