Blessing Day for Ella

It was a beautiful day! GG came down from Seattle and Gpa was able to make it to the Butler Creek Ward for the blessing, as did Rosemary and Angel. (Aaron and Lauren wanted to come but were unable to make it.) Ella was exquisite in a dress that had been worn by her Great-Grandma, Grandma, Mom, Aunt, Great Uncle and cousins when they were baptized in the Catholic church. There was also a pink jacket and bonnet. She was very beautiful! After the blessing, we all had dinner at Matt and Katherine's. James and I made manicotti which is what James had made for Matt when he was blessed at our home on December 31, 1984. It was a wonderful day!

Katherine, Ella and Matt

Little Ella

























Grandma Kathleen, GG, Matt and Ella
Grandpa, Matt, Gpa and Ella

GG and Ella

Grandpa and Ella


























Katherine and Angel with Ella























Katherine's decadent Triple Chocolate Cake

Introducing our first Grandchild: Miss Ella

It was a long day, especially for Katherine, Ella and Matt. James and I waited in a state of anxious patience for the big event. We had frequent updates from Matt, and we took Matt up some dinner and 20 'It's a Girl' Cigars we had bought at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. While there I spotted a stuffed elephant that was so cute I had to get that. Katherine loves elephants! We fell asleep in the family room waiting for news. Finally it came at 11:40 PM! Ella was finally born! She weighed 8 pounds 3.6 oz and was 22 inches long! We are so excited! We had to make phone calls to Great-Grandparents and aunts and uncles and send text messages to others. We arrived up at Mt. Hood Medical Center at 12:10 AM and spent an hour there with the new little family.

New little family

Auntie Angel and Grandma Rosemary

Matt, Grandpa and Grandma Kathleen with little Ella

Grandma, Grandpa and Ella

Grandpa and Grandma with Ella

Renton Kammeyers visit Oregon

John, Anne, Titus and Ginny came to visit the first week in August for four days. We had a houseful with 7 of us here, but it was lots of fun! We went boating, hiking in the Gorge, visited Bonneville Dam and went to see the movie, 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince'.






Wahclella Falls




































Anne, John, Titus, Ginny, Clarissia and James on hike up to Wahclella Falls.











James and Kathleen

Titus, Ginny and Rissia on hike.

Boating on the Columbia River--it wasn't the warmest of days, but still a lot of fun!
















John and Anne





















Oops! Our poor Four Winns ran out of gas for the first time in 15 years and we had to be towed by 5 fisherman in their 14 foot boat. When they came up to us and James said we were out of fuel, the one man said, 'Do you want me to pull over a tanker?" It was funny.

Four days with Clarissia

We had Clarissia with us for four days and we were able to visit the Portland Temple and go boating several times. James took the week off and was able to take a group of people that Clarissia knew out boating.














Kathleen and Rissia drove to Lake Oswego in the Porsche for a tour of the temple grounds on Sunday evening.

Rissia wakeboarding

James wakeboarding

Seafair in Seattle

James and Mel had to get their Seafair fix and so we made a trip to Seattle. I spent time with Mom walking, talking and shopping-we did Farmers Market in downtown Edmonds. As we walked along the edge of Lake Ballinger it was interesting to see that the island in the middle of the lake was smoldering. It is really just a peat bog and someone had illegally started a fire when having a BBQ. We could smell the smoke for the time we were visiting.








One evening we took Mom out to Ivars for fish.

Fishing and Ferry dock at Mukiteo Beach

Mom, James and Kathleen

James, Kathleen and Mel







The guys had a wonderful 2 days at Seafair watching the races over Lake Washington and the Blue Angels. On Saturday afternoon we drove over to Bob and Marianne's and had a BBQ and then headed for home bringing Clarissia with us.

Our new Front yard and Back yard

After all the work that has been done, our yard is starting to shape up. We had a new drainage system and rockery in front put in as well as a new sprinkler system. In the process we had loads and loads of dump trucks that took away top soil and new top soil brought in, then it was hydro seeded. If we do it again, we will not hydro seed when it is 100 degrees out and will be for the next two weeks. We were watering it constantly! Thank goodness for the sprinkler system! We still have plants to plant....

Matt and Katherine's Moving Day

Matt and Katherine bought a beautiful new home just 6 miles away from us in Portland. After living with us for 14 months it was difficult to see them go. Don't get us wrong, we are very happy for them, but sad too because all of us had such a great time together. We will miss the nights of watching movies together, and doing other things together. Katherine did all the shopping and Matt and Katherine both shared in 1/2 the cooking and cleaning.







A month before the baby is born and she worked so hard along side Matt to have things ready.


















Katherine learning about her new washer and dryer.

















Matt and James taking down the Hawthorne tree that is swallowing Matt and Katherine's backyard.