Another Visit to Grandpa

When Nicole and Ryan came into town, we decided to go visit Grandpa so he could spend some time with them before he takes off  for Clovis to spend Christmas with my brother John and his family.

Here is a picture of Grandpa with Ryan Cleaver.  Grandpa is showing off his muscles.  He lifts weights while he sits in his chair and watches football on TV.  He is rebuilding his upper body strength.

Grandpa with Melissa and soon to be Wheeler-baby-boy.

Nicole with her Grandpa.

Sisters with their Grandpa.

Siblings with Grandpa.

Ryan and Nicole Wilder with Grandpa.

Me and my Dad.

Paul joining the picture.

Ryan Wilder was nice enough to take a group picture of us.

Thanks Ryan!

Girl's Day Out

We tried to fulfill our favorite tradition of going out for "High Tea".  We got all dressed up and ready to go out.

Here is a picture of Nicole, me, and Melissa standing in front of our Christmas tree in our living room.

Notice the snow in the background.  We braved the freezing temperatures and snow and begun our journey.

We arrived and even though I had made reservations, our Tea Room was closed.  We went to the Country Store to buy some time, hoping the Tea Room would surely open soon. A kind gentleman offered to take our picture by this beautiful tree while we browsed around.

Since we were starving, we finally gave up on the Tea Room and headed to Poulsbo and ate at the new Tap Rock place.  Melissa's sandwich was the best choice.  Nicole and I were disappointed in our salads and soups.  We still  hope to make it back to our Tea room soon,  If this foot of snow will ever melt, we will try to get back there before Nicole has to head to Salem next week or before Melissa has her baby.

Decorating Grandpa Wright's House on Dec. 11, 2008

Paul picked up Ryan from CWU on Wednesday, so on Thursday we decided to head down to Grandpa Wright's house to help him decorate for Christmas.  Here are Ryan and Grandpa after greeting each other.

Melissa adding ornaments to Grandpa's cute Christmas tree.  (The baby's due date is only two weeks away.)

Ryan getting the outside lights ready to put up on Granpa's house.  Scott and Ryan did a nice job hanging the lights above the garage and by the front porch.

We all took a break after decorating the tree, the house, and the lights outside.  Scott read a little on the couch and Melissa took a cozy nap in the recliner while Dad and I visited.

Here are Ryan and Grandpa standing by the finished product.  I think it turned out great.

Melissa, Grandpa, and Ryan.

Scott, Melissa, Grandpa, and Ryan.  What a great team of workers we had to get the job done!

Catching up on November 2008

I'm trying to play catch up from the last few weeks.  I was having trouble with my pictures downloading to my blog and got completely discouraged and just gave up on blogging.  But I am giving it a try again and even though it takes me two hours to do the something like the following presentation (and some pictures I never could get to download) I am going to keep trying.  Here is a picture of Scott, Melissa, and Leo around mid-November.  They know how to do things together as a family.
We had Grandpa Wright up for dinner one night and enjoyed a nice time visiting afterwards.  Scott was interested in hearing about Grandpa's World War II experiences and so he gave us a nice narration.

Leo, Scott, Melissa, and Grandpa Wright.

We had a great Thanksgiving at Rick and Jill Cleavers house.  Thanks for hosting the huge crowd of people.  Here is a picture of David and Virginia Barnhill with their two oldest girls.  The youngest was having too much fun playing outside to come in and get her picture taken.  The following pictures are from Thanksgiving at Rick and Jill's.

Andrea feeding  her new baby boy and with proud Grandma Reona.

Nadia with her "Papa" Ron (Is that what she calls him Andrea?)

Ryan and Scott know what to do after a filling Thanksgiving dinner.

Cousins forever!  Melissa and Suzanne, who have years of childhood memories together.

Suzanne, Lisa, & Melissa enjoying some couch time after a delicious dinner.

Jared, sitting back and enjoying some tunes while the Thanksgiving chaos goes on around him.
We really enjoyed having Ryan home for Thanksgiving break.  We are glad Ellensberg is not too far away so that he can come home and visit us.

Leo and Ryan saying their goodbyes.

Melissa and Scott saying goodbye to Ryan.

Here is Ryan before heading back to Central Washington University.

Melissa and I had fun visiting with Grandpa Wright at his house and talking about some of the items from his past.  This clock belonged to Grandpa's Grandmother.  It is a beautiful clock that still works and rings on the hour.

This is Grandpa Wright's red truck that he played with as a little boy.