He's Back! He's Back!!!

And boy are we glad! Rob came back from a week long business trip to Philadelphia! We NEVER get used to him being gone. But the week long trips just do us in. We HATE them! He got home at 1:30 AM. The shortest leg on his trip was the flight that was delayed. Seattle to Bellingham.

Before the real business took over the trip, Rob was able to get out and play tourist for a bit on Tuesday morning. Here's a few of the places he visited.


Independence Hall


The room where they signed the Declaration of Independence


That's where President George Washington sat. And that IS his original chair!


The Liberty Bell

But I have to share one of the most touching things that Rob witnessed on his flight back yesterday. On the flight from Philly to Dallas/Ft. Worth there were about 6 - 8 military personnel that were dressed in their greens going home for a vacation. Many people thanked them for their service. But here's the touching part. Before take off, the pilot came on the speaker and said "We have a woman in first class that would like to trade seats with the lowest ranking soldier." WOW! Then others in first class did the same. I think every soldier rode in first class for their ride home. It brought tears to my eyes (and Rob's too) just hearing Rob tell the story. I'm sure I would have been a blubbering doofus if I had seen that in person. I truly will remember this act of kindness.

And if the opportunity ever presents itself where I can sit in first class (only has happened 2 times my entire life) and there is a soldier dressed in their military greens, I will trade seats with them. It's such a small sacrifice compared to what they choose to endure. And now my son will be one of those as of August 4th!

YES! It is a MUST see movie

Pixar has another hit on their hands!
Very, very cute!!! Very funny too. A little slow in setting up the story line at the beginning but it picked up the pace and it's very good. Some of you know I LOVE Screenit.com for movie reviews. Boy, it's saved us from a many bad or inappropriate PG-13 (14A for our Canadian friends) movies. Screenit gave it an 8 out of 10. And we agree. Warning: You won't be able to get the song from the musical Hello Dolly out of your head for the rest of the day. The Pixar short before hand is cute too. It's about a magician and his cute, adorable little rabbit.

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend! We will!

A Disney Princess!

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Interesting isn't that?!?!

We're SO proud!!!

It's now official!!! Robert is now

Private 1st Class

in the

Army National Guard Reserves

We couldn't be prouder of him for his decision to support his family in addition to serving his/our country in this way. The down side is the amount of time he will be gone. He reports for 10 weeks of basic training on August 4th in SC. Then 17 weeks of AIT for Information Technology (computers) in Georgia. He does get a 2 week break during Christmas. Then an additional 3 weeks for Jump school. Yep! You read that right ~ our boy who doesn't even like to walk across the Deception Pass Bridge will be parachute jumping out of planes and helicopters. GO FIGURE!!!

Since I don't have pictures from Jessica yet (hint, hint) of the swearing in ceremony, I thought I'd post this adorable one of Robert in a "Navy uniform" given to him from his Grandma DeWees.

Robert's Grandpa (my Dad) served as a radio technician in the Navy during WWII. Both my brother, Seth and Rob's brothers, Phil and Ken have served in various branches of the service as well. So there really is some military blood that runs through those veins of his.

We wish Jessica lived closer during the time Robert is gone. But we know her family will watch over her while he's away.

We love you guys!!!

Diversity ~ I LOVE IT!!!

I have to admit that when we moved up here 14 years ago I was stunned at the comments I heard about Canadians and American Indians. The lack of tolerance is still somewhat present now. Having grown up in So. Cal. there were MANY nationalities I grew up with. If you've seen the movie Napoleon Dynamite ~ I had friends like Pedro's cousins! And yes, they were on MY side!

As an example, every year the schools print up a race %. Needless to say, Caucasian is the highest percentage in our school district with Hispanic, African American and Punjab rounding the report out.

Why am I talking about this somewhat taboo subject? Well this past Sunday we went up to Vancouver, BC to visit some friends and go to Church with them. Their son just returned home from his mission and originally his talk was going to be then. But things changed and he's doing it on the 29th. A day we couldn't come. So we went up anyways to see him and the family. I LOVED the diversity of their congregation. Someone was asked to say a prayer and she said it in Japanese. Now I've heard prayers in different dialects of Spanish but this is the first time I heard one said in Japanese. It was GREAT!! One of our Sunday School teachers was from Chile. There was one sweet woman that came up to me to introduce herself and she was from South Africa ~ LOVE their accent! Even after the services were over, she came up to me to make sure I had an enjoyable time. Oh, so sweet! Even the subject of Canadians/Americans was brought up. A subject I never knew about living in So. Cal. But proof that we can co-exist without put downs. Not only are we Americans we are from Southern California ~ a double whammy. And we've been on the receiving end of those not so nice "just kidding" jabs and it's not pleasant. Amber thought it was fun that she was the only Caucasian in her class. But it didn't matter.

Diversity ~ embrace it!!!

Photo taken at Cannon Beach, OR

Teacher Gifts!

Wooohooo!!! Hoots and holler's from this end!

School's out!!!!

With that comes teacher gifts! Here's what we whipped up and the teachers LOVED it. Both are male teachers and the usual fluffy stuff, candles and such don't work. So go with a good stand by ~ CHOCOLATE! M & M's and almond kisses. David and Amber both decorated their own boxes and had some great fun making them.

What difference a few days make

So on Saturday we had the annual Farmers Day Parade! Gotta LOVE watching tractors parade past.

Remember, we're Southern California city folk! But we do appreciate an antique tractor!

But hey! We're there just for the band. Because really, they are the only one's I'd be cold for. Parades are more enjoyable for the spectators when the sun is out.

Nothing like being followed by a raspberry picker!

GO AMBER!!! The BEST State flag carrier EVER!!!!


(Any one know why the banner girl is wearing flip-flops to march in? Gotta love Emily!!)

Last year we celebrated with ice cream. This year hot chocolate ~ well, except for David. He HAS to have his Vanilla Bean Frapacchino.



Now fast forward to Monday. I remember hearing LOTS of sirens around 1:20ish and lightly wondered what was going on outside the walls of my little home. Little did I know that this was happening less than a mile from our house.

How would you like that to be your car in front of that building? I've parked in those spots before too.




Delft Square is one of Lynden's MANY historic buildings over 100 years old. No one was injured but the building is a total loss as the roof collapsed.

Now here's the extra sad part to the story. Just last night we heard on the news that 2 boys, ages 13 & 14, were arrested on suspision of arson. Yes! They should have been in school. Why they thought it was "cool" to break into the upper storage area of an office building and set papers and books on fire in a make shift ashtray is beyond me.

It took 6 firestations to put out this blaze. Kudos to these wonderful men and women. We heard people being "upset" that while they were breaking the front windows to get at the fire, they were breaking antiques. HELLO?!! They prevented the fire from spreading to nearby buildings! You can imagine how this has our little town in an uproar. A sad story indeed.

Why is it?

That teachers freak out when they realize they have less than 2 weeks of school left and pile on the projects? Amber came home on Monday with one of the most "busy work" projects EVER! For her health class she has to redesign a water bottle label. Aren't the labels that are on them fine enough? YIKES!!! Assignment = teacher with too much time on her hands. This kid is preparing for final tests (not to mention catching up from being sick last week) in Chemistry and World History and she has to do what?!?! Well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much. At least Amber doesn't have to do a video on the adverse affects of drinking. Oh, how I wish I could post that video that Tabitha did. A bottle of white mexican vanilla worked perfect for a bottle of vodka. And if you ever need the sound effect of barf, use a flour and water mixture and keep the lumps. Eeewwwwww! Sorry! It was quiet good though and she got an A! We still laugh everytime we watch it.

Miss Amber has managed to pass along her cold to the rest of us. We don't have it as bad as she did so no antibiotic for us. Just sucking on throat drops, taking cough meds and resting. Amber even fixed US dinner last night since she was feeling better than the rest of us.

Can't wait for the mail to arrive today. We should be receiving our wedding photo order!

Woohoo!!! And the digital book Cassie is putting together for the newlyweds is beautiful. We proofed it last night. LOVE IT!!!! Looks like we're going to have to wait another 3 months for the dvd though. David Perry is in such high demand. But at least I know now that next time I need to pay the extra $$ to get the video completed in 2 weeks.

Happy Wednesday all!!