Cheyenne's Birthday Party

This evening we went up to Shaune & Michelle's to celebrate Cheyenne's birthday. After a dinner of hot dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad and watermelon, we adjourned for the "games". We played a version of Dodge ball, using marshmallows. Even Grandma got into the fun. You can see where some were very good at this game (attacking the poor picture taker), so not as many action shots as I would have liked (thanks Audrey, John and Kathy). We had some birthday cake & ice cream and then we watched Cheyenne open her presents. There seemed to be an animal theme tonight. She got a cute homemade top from Aunt Kathy and two Frog educational dvd's; gummi bears & some barnyard animals (horse, cow); and a sidewalk chalk set with barnyard animal figures. I think she had a good time and so did we!

Once Upon a Mattress

Audrey and I went to the CDA Summer Theatre's production of "Once Upon a Mattress". We stopped before hand to get her a shake at Paul Bunyan as we were a little early. When we got into the theatre we found out that our seats were only 4 rows from the stage. The musical was great and funny and we had a wonderful time. On the intermission we ran into Robin & her husband and Jodee & her husband, two folks that work at Safeway. Audrey really enjoyed the night and even got talking about both the next one we're going to (Les Miserables) and some tickets that we need to buy for the Lake City Playhouse (Nunsense for one). I'm glad we went!

Dishwasher

This was a very weird week. We ordered a new dishwasher and it was to be delivered Wednesday. So I stayed home to be in the "delivery window". That morning I got a call, "Sorry, not today, but we'll reschedule to tomorrow". So Thursday John was going to run home during the delivery window, but then about an hour before hand we get a call "Whoops, we did not pick it up from the warehouse, how about Friday?" By now I'm not the happiest of campers (major understatement). John said he'd just go pick it up himself and skip the delivery folks. Well, once something is scheduled for delivery it is much like pulling teeth to change that to a store pick up, but we had just about had it with our delivery friends and the 1-800 # that was headquartered in another country. Enough said, you know what I mean! Long story short, it is now in our house and works lovely. You cannot even hear it when it is running. Yeah.

Pioneer Day

Happy Pioneer Day! To celebrate, we went with John's sister Marcie to her Stake's event that was held at Medical Lake. Actually, we went because Marcie said they were having a fun run around the lake, about 3 miles. There seemed to be a bit of confusion on when the run would start (5:30? 7pm?) but they did finally announce that it would start at the same time that they started serving the meal. He even said "We'll save food for the runners" (silly, silly man). So we started on the run. We were sorely tempted to turn around just a bit into the run and go back to eat and sit by the lake, but we persevered. My running buddy & niece Lindsay hung out with me (thanks Lindsay) and Audrey stayed with Marcie. John (speedy boy) ran ahead of all of us. He finished in 25 minutes. Marcie & Audrey finished in 33 minutes. I did not catch Derek's time (nephew). Lindsay & I leisurely walked & talked & finished with 46:44.We all headed over to get some food only to learn that they had run out. They had to go to the store. Here is where the Pioneer spirit kicked in (grateful for what you are given and make do with what you have). They brought back a bag of lettuce mix & some cans of chili. I think everyone else had gotten a taco salad, but we got lettuce with COLD chili and salad dressing. We just did not get filled up on this so the next Pioneer spirit kicked in (ingenuity) and we headed back to Spokane and stopped at Arctic Circle for hamburgers, fries and milkshakes. We did have a fun time, so please don't take the commentary on the event in any way except as an accurate accounting of the facts.

Iron Man

We headed out to the Northside and had dinner at the Wall Street Diner. This is the second time we have eaten here and I would recommend it to anyone. I had the Monte Cristo sandwich last time (very yummy), but this time ordered a Ham/Pineapple/Cheese grilled sandwich (also quite tasty). I cannot remember what John ate last time, but this time he ordered the meatloaf and it was fabulous. I kept sneaking bites - I don't think he would have noticed except I kept making "mmmm" noises - it was really quite good. Audrey ordered a ham & cheese omelet. The waitress punched in the order wrong and so she got a Denver omelet instead. I just thought my daughter was becoming more brave in her food choices what with the green peppers & onions all mixed in with the ham & cheese, but then we figured out the problem. The folks were so gracious and fixed her up a new omelet with just her ham & cheese. Afterwards we headed over to the Garland to see the movie "Iron Man". This was one of those movies where I was not sure I would want to go, but was pleasantly surprised when it was over. I really liked it. Fun & funny & full of adventure. Of course, the guy was amazingly talented to whip up the technology just like that : )

Summertime

After a day of work, chores and Lacey, the three of us headed over to Lindsay and Brandon's house to pick cherries. They have a nice selection of different types of cherry trees, so we were able to pick some Rainier's and some Bing's. John used to pick cherries as a kid - two in mouth for every one in bucket he tells me - so he was rather good at picking. I was not, but I still enjoyed getting up into the leaves and shade. A great summer evening activity! Then we got to tour Lindsay and Brandon's beautiful home. They certainly have put a lot of sweat equity in it. We were quite impressed with their work - Very cool!Afterwards we headed to Angela & Robert's house. Audrey went there to demonstrate some of the finer aspects of her Xbox 360 game (as Robert was curious) and we ended the evening when they demonstrated their "General" game on the PC. We had brownies and huckleberry Italian sodas for treats. All-in-all a great way to finish off a fun summer day.

Curses

We were invited to dinner at JoAnn & Ralph's to celebrate the recent July birthdays in the family. Dinner was fabulous: chicken enchiladas, green salad, frog eye salad, veggies & dip, broccoli and birthday cake with ice cream. Though the dinner conversation was great and it was nice to visit with the relatives, the fun really began after Joseph opened his birthday present - the game "Curses". I had never heard of this game, nor obviously played it. Boy was I in for a treat. The basic premise is that every time you pick a card, you do what is says (example: try to explain to the officer why you were speeding) and then you also get dealt cards by others in the group telling you something you have to do (example: speak like a pirate anytime you speak). Poor John, he had to speak like a French man, speak like a vampire and be a ventriloquist all at the same time. Once someone catches you not doing what you are supposed to do (like bark anytime the person on your left speaks), then you loose that card. Loose 3 cards and you are out of the game. For some of us (me) it was a relief once I lost my cards so I could speak normally and not have to "think" all the time!