Wedding Bell Blues

Yes, I'm talking about Jim & Pam! We've been looking forward to this wedding ever since they flirted on the first season of The Office. What a huge disappointment it was! There were moments; when Jim swept her off to Plan C (Niagra Falls) and the cute dancing all the office staff did up the isle, but for the most part it was the trashiest episode ever! Doesn't Hollywood know what real romance is anymore?
Jill had a Wedding party and I brought over the bubbly (sparkling cider) She did the wedding cupcakes and we all watched together.

I think I should write some of these episodes! I can think of real romance! This happened with the last episode of Cheers years ago. I wrote my own ending after that disappointing one. Shelly Long would have come back with a little mini Sam (some little actor with perfect hair) and he'd have gotten his baby he wanted so bad!
. . . Why don't these writers call me?

It is FALL in some places!

We just got back from New York & Ohio. Those are amazing places and yes, it is FALL there! The leaves were beginning to change, although it was still quite green. We went for a business meeting in Buffalo, but when that was over we went to Ohio and saw the Kirtland Temple. Although our church does not own it, the relationship between the Community of Christ church and the LDS church was amazing. Truly unified in their Christianity.

We stayed at this cool Bed & Breakfast - the Homestead House











We also went to Palmyra and did a session at the temple and walked in the Sacred Grove. It's incredible to realize what happened there, and to ponder the significance.
I loved how the missionaries would tell you about the sites, but then apply it to their lives and ask how you could apply it to yours. At church there it was cool to hear them say the opening prayer and thank Heavenly Father for the Autumn weather. Then we left for home and arrived in the 100 degrees here. Yah, we'll be thanking Him too, in about another month.

Charlie Brown can rock & roll

A tearful goodbye; another one leaves the nest!

Bye Bye Aunt Brandee

Jerry, the tough one who didn't cry

The best to our Brambo

It's hard to say goodbye

even siblings who rival cry

2 sisters in Seattle

I'll miss your kiss!

Our last look as we drive away. Hours later after we stopped crying we were reading the Ensign aloud and read Pres. Eyrings tearful goodbye to his father as he left the nest . . . yah, the crying all started again!

Birthday Party in Seattle!

We had the best time taking the whole family up for Gavin's first birthday. It was a trial at times; driving long hours, CJ & fam getting bumped from flights, and blow outs in the RV, but all in all the fun stuff made up for the troubles. We used a friends huge luxury RV, and went first to Paul & Skye's to bring his car back to him, then drove up through Couer de Lane, ID, which was so beautiful (slept in the Walmart parking lot), then up to Vancouver to see John & Chawna for a day, then to Nikki & Shaun's for the big birthday celebration. We were also there to deliver Brandee, who is going to either be a "Nanny for Nikki" or she'll get a job & go to school there. She's so excited to get out of this heat! On the way home we went back to see Paul & Skye (slept in the church's parking lot & woke to girls camp gathering just outside the RV) Then drove to Las Vegas to see our good friend Teresa Staples, then on to home. A great big thanks to Brittney & Kyle for taking good care of our house, pets & plants!

EM Excitement!

The box (unfinished)

The boys
The barrier

So what is EM? It stands for ElectroMagnetic and are we excited about it? On July 16 we had our demonstration to show some big wigs this new system our company has been working on. (the picture above is not the big wigs, it's our boys, seeing what dad's been up to) The meeting went better than we could have hoped, and the jobs are beginning to line up. This is such a blessing in this economy when so many in the construction industry are out of work. We have had so many people helping to get this together; a great freind who let us use their warehouse and nice offices to facilitate; a couple of amazing engineers who have worked for next to nothing for many hours; office staff who put so much together; and my sweet hubby who never sleeps (seriously I wake up in the middle of the night and he's not snoring, he's thinking) - he eats and breaths thoughts of EM! He's pretty amazing! And thanks to God on high for helping this come together!

Girl's Fun Time

It is really starting to hit us that Brandee is moving out soon. We'd better enjoy every minute that we can. We were having fun one night playing Skip Bo & Ligretto, in between Jenny making this yummy strawberry cake, listening to music and playing with the dog, when it suddenly hit me that we were all girls, right down to the dog! This house has in the past, been mostly MALE, and here we were, no guys around and having an unplanned girls night! It was so COOL! The next day we even went out and took a bunch of pictures of the girls in the front yard. And let me tell you, they were the "models", striking poses all over the place (see facebook, I'll post more there). It was hilarious Brandee put her leg out and said "Jenny touch my leg", meaning to sit on the bricks too, and make their feet meet. Well Jenny being so obedient strikes a pose and puts her hand on Brandee's leg in such "Vanna White" style. It was so funny! We laughed and laughed! I love these girls!

Independence Day 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4S10D6SdCs
It's been a fun & relaxing day! I love the 4th of July! I get all my cheesy decorations out and have my side of the family over and swim and eat! It's one of the few days I actually play in our pool. We had a mean game of volleyball going! My nephew, Matt Platt, must have just gone to see the Transformers movie, cuz he was playing like a transformer, it was hilarious! Brookie & Heather spent the night and we had a blast doing Karaoke, making "cottage cheese" shakes, and playing Lagretto (cards). Wow does she have a set of singing pipes! Be watching for her on American Idol in a few years! I included this youtube video so you'd know that we did also think about our great nation today. Celine Dion has an amazing voice (almost as good as Brookie's) & the pictures are great. I am so thankful for those who founded our country; their courage and strength and inspiration. God Bless America!

Transformer seen here with baby transformer

From 1 to 90

June 6 Charlie turns 1 year old (seen here with his sweet mama)

And on July 3 Grandpa Breinholt turns 90!

(seen here with his 2 favorite daughters)

Grammy & Papa to the rescue

Not that we did all that much, but both Chuck and I have gone back to Washington to help out Nikki & Shaun in their move. They renovated a house and recently moved in. It's amazing the work Shaun did for 4 months everyday after a full days work at Boeing. He basically gutted the inside and made this house so beautiful. Nikki in the meantime has been raising two beautiful boys, Jayon & Gavin. She's the best mom! They don't have any family there, and since they are our other adopted kids (even named Brown!) we had to come help.

The Storm is Here!

This is a cool picture I found, and it reminds me of the monsoons that have now hit Arizona! Wow, I haven't blogged in 2 months! So much has happened in the past 2 months, not all bad, but just enough to show me that the storm certainly is here. (I refer to President Hinkley when he said a storm is coming) In the past 2 months we have seen &/or lived through a friend who went a little crazy and committed a horrible crime being killed in the process; a young friend who tried to committ suicide; loved ones who are deceived into thinking temporal things are more important than they are; another loved one who had to appear in court; friends dealing with stress & hard times in their family or from losing a job; a nation which is heading towards socialism & greater debt faster than we could have imagined. It's unbelievable! It seems like it has been one thing after the other, but we are holding on and having FAITH that this all leads to a loving Heavenly Father and His plan for us to learn from these experiences. We will weather this STORM with God's help!

May - the Birthday Month

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Chuckie, Paul & Jerry!
Oops! How could I forget my sweet daughter in law, Stephanie too!

(we got this family picture taken in May, so there are more of us than the birthday peeps)