4th of July Pictures

Waiting for the neighborhood parade

Still waiting for the neighborhood parade

Westview highschool marching band- well some of them anyway.

Rachel in the front rank

Bar-B-Q dinner under the new arbor

Bring on the food

Thumbs up for Elder Leete!

Celebrating Grandma B's 75th birthday

Yum Cheesecake made by Melissa and Jessica

Wishes to come true

Getting ready to blow



Mother and Son

Letter from Father to Son

April 29, 2012

Kevin,

Jessica’s home from BYU. She is looking for a job, and learning to cook. Apparently her cooking skills last year weren’t enough for her, and she is on the hunt for new things to cook. I think mom and I are going to be putting on some weight in the next couple of months.  Melissa has also gotten the food bug, and has made 3 different kinds of brownies this week. They are taking pictures of their culinary creations so posterity will remember this summer forever.  

 This week was stake conference, Rebecca joined us for conference. She will be attending FHE a little more now that she is feeling better. She came last week, and we had a fire in the backyard. I had to go to bed but She and
Jessica stayed up at least till midnight burning logs.

 The message for priesthood leadership was “lead by example”. One talk told a story by Ghandi. A mother brought her son to Ghandi, and said that her son eats too much sugar, and wanted Ghandi to tell her son not to eat too much sugar. Ghandi said he couldn’t do that, and told her to come back in a few weeks. She came back in a few weeks, and Ghandi looked the child in the eye and told him not to eat too much sugar. The mother was surprised and asked Ghandi why he couldn’t do that a few weeks ago. Ghandi replied, I couldn’t tell your son not to eat sugar, because I was eating too much sugar. Over the last few weeks I have not eaten too much sugar and now I feel I can tell your son to do the same.  Lead by example in all you do.

Jennifer is back at BYU, and taking more art classes. Bookbinding seems to be her favorite class this semester.

Melissa had a violin recital. Keturah Bay played piano. It went well, they both did very well.

I sent  Jessica, Melissa and Rachel to a Coldplay concert last week. They had a good time. There were 2 warm up bands, so they didn’t get home till after 10:30.  I think it was a good experience for them. They had to go by themselves (Rachel was mortified at the thought that Mom and I might come). They had a good time.

 I went to a work retreat for a day at the Skamania Lodge out in the Columbia gorge. It was good, we had a patent think tank for the stuff I am working on. A Patent think tank is where you brainstorm good ideas that you might not normally think of in your daily work, and file patents on it.

Devin Santa is home! He looks good. I think He’s taller now than when he left. His mom and dad are really happy to see him.

 Rachel had a couple of Lacrosse games last week. Both home games at Westview. I think I froze both games, but we won both handily. Rachel played goalie for the entire game on the second game. She let 4 goals go by, but since the other team let 15, I think she did pretty well.

Mom had a birthday last week. I got her a mug, and some flowers and a balloon for her birthday, Jessica made her favorite carrot cake.

Good luck, work hard, teach lots of people and baptize….

Dad

A Heart from Rachel

Bday Cake- 24.5 Candles (half her age)

Melissa after Recital with Keturah her accompanist and friend.

Our Firstborn in the wilderness is now 20 years old.

Jennifer celebrated her birthday on May 19th, 2010. She isn't my baby anymore. Wow, she is not a teenager anymore. She has grown up to be a beautiful woman. Where has the time gone?

We sent her a birthday box and she reported that it arrived that morning. She was heading off to class and found it on her doorstep. She said that she had a hard time going to class and leaving it there- but instead of going to the library to do homework like she had planned to do, she went home after class and opened it up. I found a message on our home phone from her saying that she loved all its contents (and her roommate Jessica in the background also cheering that she liked it too). Some things that were included: 3 musketeer bars (from Melissa), canvas and frame (from Rachel), Poky sticks, Instant Miso soup, Curry mix, angel food cake mix, cherry cheesecake mix, necklace, and cookbook. When talking on the phone with her later that day, she informed us that friends were coming over that night for fun and games.

Happy Birthday Jennifer. We love you!

Jessica turns 17

On May 17th Jessica celebrated her 17th birthday.We had a quick scripture time at 6:15am and then got right into the gifts. She got some pretty things: necklace, earrings, and scarf. A Snuggie (a fake one- but much nicer color and softer!)She also received a keyboard notepad and a female beta fish (from Rachel). In the mail she received a Book of Mormon in French from Jennifer, and card and $ from Grandma & Grandpa Greenall.What a Beautiful Young Woman!!!!!We had baked French Toast for breakfast.She was surprised to get a bunch of balloons from Kevin tied to her chair in Symphonic Band when she got to class. Melissa took her to Jamba Juice after school. Later in the day she received a package from Grandma B and Granddad: A nice tote bag which she now uses to carry her piano music. For dinner we had her choice of Chicken Broccoli Casserole. And Chocolate Cake (made from scratch) with Sea Foam Frosting. Served with Cherry Chip and Mint and Chip Ice cream. YUM!Lighting the 17 candles. . .

Blown all out in one swoop.Rachel contemplates which piece she'll get. Kevin and his nice short hair. He was giving himself a buzz and asked me to touch up the back for him- oops the comb had fallen off the buzzers and I gave him a nice stripe up the back. He said not to worry about it and cut the rest to match.

It was a Happy Day for Jessica.

Another Year Older, but Another Year Wiser?

Yes, another year has again gone by resulting in another birthday. But that's OK. I like birthdays! This year it landed on a Sunday so I went to BYC and then church. The YW sang to me, gave me a goody bag, and all signed a nice card. For dinner I planned my favorites: pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. I remember always asking for that growing up. I still enjoy it. I planned ahead and baked a carrot cake from scratch the day before.

I received some nice gifts from my adoring family. Cards, A Portland pin for my hat, some nice lotion, and a Sheri Dew book from Jennifer in the mail.

Rachel painted me this garden stake in YW (also my Mother's day gift).Roses from Brian.A butterfly from me.The kids created this fun candle for my cake.

A Flaming Carrot!

I managed to blow it out, but in the process got frosting in my hair- but that's OK because it tasted good! It was a fun day. Thanks to all those that sent me birthday greetings!

So am I wiser? Maybe a little. I've learned that to get served what you want on your birthday, you make the plans yourself!

Turtle Girl turns 15

Melissa was happy to turn 15 years old on February 15, 2010. She was so excited to be old enough to get her driving permit! She even had the day off from school. However she had pit rehearsal for Guys and Dolls all day. We managed, however to pick her up on her lunch break and take her to Sushi- one of her favorites. Here are some of the empty plates- we ate quite a bit and enjoyed every bite!

The pit surprised her with a BIG birthday cookie when she went back to pit orchestra rehearsal. They covered her eyes and took her outside where it was lit with candles (no fire allowed in the school). They were having a hard time keeping it lit for her because of the wind. It was real nice of them- she had a good day.

That evening when everyone managed to be home at the same time, we had cheese cake.
Eve helped blow out the candles.Here Melissa relaxes upstairs with game remote in hand all cuddled up in her new (fake but softer) snuggie. She is accompanied by her new pillow turtle from Rachel, and new crocheted turtle made by Jessica.A happy Birthday Girl!

She did finally get her permit, but not until March 4th- that was the first free day that she and I both had to go to the DMV. I paid the fee, she took the test, and she passed with flying colors! We were in and out of there in record time: believe it or not- less than one hour! Now she is happily driving whenever she can. She is a good driver.

We are so blessed to have Melissa in our Family!!!!!

Kaula Pork

We have been blessed to have the Elders in our home every Monday night for dinner and Family Home Evening. They have been teaching Elizabeth. Such a nice spirit to have her being taught in our home. On one occasion I had asked the Elders if there was any food they were craving or wanting. Elder Burroughs if from Hawaii, shyly said (as he rubbed his tummy) that he'd love to have Kalua Pork. I had no idea what that was, but offered to make him some sweet and sour pork instead. He was happy with that. Well, I chatted on facebook with Jenn Hoopii, my companion from Hawaii, and she told me all about Kaula Pork and how to do it. She said that if I made it for the Elder that he'd be my Friend for ever. So after searching online and getting more advise and recipes, and even going to a Hawaiian restaurant my friend told me about so I could see what it tasted like, I did. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. A few hours before dinner I got the thought that I should make some cake for dessert- so ran to the store for some pineapple, and Rachel baked a pineapple upside down cake. Well, the dinner was a success. Elder Burroughs ate until he couldn't eat anymore! When we served the cake, Elder Stanley (his companion) said "go ahead- tell them!". "Tell us what?" we asked. It was Elder Burroughs Birthday! We quickly put a candle on his piece of cake, and sang to him. I am so happy that I made Kaula Pork!

There's an 18 Year Old Boy in the House

Yes, Kevin turned 18 on October 16, 2009. We woke up early to celebrate before he had to leave for school at 6:40am. We had a birthday breakfast. All he wanted for his birthday was money. That's what he got. He had band practice after school from 4-6, and then a football game at 7. So I took a cake in during their dinner break for the band. (Also Togo sandwiches for our family). Did I say "a cake"? Well actually I took in 4 Costco cakes.

He requested chocolate with cream cheese frosting so I got two of those, then 1 white cake with strawberry filling and cream cheese frosting, and one chocolate cake with chocolate filling and chocolate frosting. I wanted to make sure there was enough- the kids had complained that last time a cake was brought in there wasn't enough to go around. There are 137 kids in the band. There was enough to go around. . . and around. We took 1 and 1/2 cakes home with us! We ate it for the next several days. The weather was so nice, Brian, Rachel, and I went to the football game. It was homecoming. We enjoyed seeing the kids in the band. Anyway, that was Kevin's birthday. I think he had fun - he always has fun with his band friends!
Something fun that his friends did for him was to decorate the van. They did it a few days early, because Jessica gets the van on Fridays afterschool to go to piano lessons. (They had filled it with balloons one friday, and she was surprized- they had to pop them quickly so that she could see out the window and get to lessons on time). This is what they did: (I got the photos off of facebook)