Josiah Turns 2!

Yep!  We bought him a drum set!  But it was with permission from his parents.  Actually at first it was his mother who suggested it.  But then she decided it might not be a good idea after all, so I was coming up with a new idea, we would just take him shopping to pick out something else.  Well, at the last minute, we were given permission to go ahead and get the drums.  I assured her that if they became a problem, then we would just bring them to our house and put them in the basement for him when he comes to visit.  So far no problem.  It is so fun to watch him play.  Really!  I know, I am his grandmother, but he really seems to have some talent with them.  He does not just pound on them, he has a beat.  First off, he taps those sticks together a few times to get going and then he just drums away.  He hits the different drums at the same time and every so often reaches up to tap on the cymbal.  He can even use his hands independently to tap out different beats at the same time.  He has to use both feet at the moment to beat the bottom drum, he does not have enough strength to do it with just one foot, most the time I think he just forgets it is there.  

We were with them at their church for their family dedication and even without seeing the drummer, he was pretending he was playing just from listening, his little hands were going just as if he had his sticks with him. Jessi sometimes will put on a u-tube video of some drummers and he gives them his full attention for a long time, then runs for his playroom to practice what he saw.  Watch out world, we have a new drummer!!!

Introducing Hannah Ye-won!

We have received news that grandbaby #6 is a GIRL! As many of you already know, my daughter-in-law was adopted from Korea as a baby and so my son and his wife have decided as a first choice that they are going to adopt their children. Natuarally they decided on Korean children. Gabriel Do-Hun was their first, and will turn 3 in February. Hannah is the name they have given her. Her middle name,Ye-won is the name that she is being called by the foster family who has cared for her since her birth. She is now 8 months old. Because of Korean laws, she will most likely not be in their arms until after she is a year old. We are hoping that by the summer we can travel to Korea with them and help them with Gabriel while they meet their new daughter. (this is not my photo, but the one that has been sent to them by the Holt agency) This gives each of my 3 children one boy and one girl. PERFECT!

Happy Birthday to Joshua. I can't believe how fast the years are rolling along!  Our birthday season has officially begun.  Starting with Rachel's birthday at the end of October, then Joshua, Josiah, Meri, my Mom and nephew Matt, Abby, Ellie, Johnjr, Johnsr, my Dad, Emily Ariel, David, Alan, Gabriel, Hannah, ending with Jessi at the end of Feb.  It seems we have one continual birthday cake going!  

My nephew Matthew married Karely last Saturday.  They had the wedding at the little chapel in Boring. Here are some photos from the day.

 Following tradition, my Mom did the cake and flowers as she has done for all of her grandkids.  

They asked me to take the wedding photos, but I didn't feel qualified to do them.  Just way to stressful to be in charge of that important aspect of their wedding memories.  So I referred them to a person I have never met, but feel like I have known for years.  His name is Erick Claytor.  So strange how our paths have crossed so many times but we never officially met.  When I first joined a photography site called Flickr, he became one of my contacts.  It was so strange because he would post a photo right before or after I did and they were almost identical to ones I was posting.  You can take a look at the photo 'information' called EXIF and I could see that he would be at a place I had been, sometimes withing the hour of when I had been there! It got really weird when he posted some photos of horses from down my road!  My Mom was SURE he was stalking me!   One day, I was going through his old postings and saw the exact wall hanging in his living room as mine! It was just too crazy.  We would make comments on each other's photos and we realized that he even goes to the same church as I do!   It is a big church with 3 services so we have not managed to meet there.   He has continued to work on his photography, taking courses and is now doing weddings and other professional photos.  Finally, for the first time in all these years, we met at the wedding!  To make matters even more coincidental, he brought along a back up photographer and in chatting with him, we realized that his friend Brian Pasko is one of my contacts on another photo site called Project 365!   

R.E.T.I.R.E.D.

John went to work for the last time October 30!  He is officially done working.  Well, punching in and out working that is.  I have a 'I'm Bored' list ready for him.  Two years ago, he let go of his position as meat department manager and became the store secretary.  It was a good pre-retirement job for him.  He worked  10 years at Dick Wolfe Meat Company, then for 28 years at WINCO, which first was called Waremart and  then they bought out Cub Foods and changed their name to WINCO.  He says he will never wear black pants and a white shirt again and has also thrown out his long underwear.