Memorable Memorial Day 2009

Grandpa!

Is it a bit small for you Big B?

Grandma says I have to take my shoes off inside!

I want a wagon ride Grandma

Pretty Purple Columbines and pretty Amya

The best sandwiches ever

My first Otter Pop

Lovely lilacs on my lovely new table and oh, three lovely ladies

My new swimming pool and oh, check out my ponytail

Tessadora Manor Campground is open and ready for the party

Got and get dinner

The Big Catch

What you got there Rock?

Sucking on my first Mango seed, yum

More Barbie Jeep rides please

I think I like this tent

Now Brian knows how to make a campfire

Grandma's new table

I think I will cool down

I love my new Mexican Hut

Grandma loves me

A shady retreat

My chair

No, it's fresh Lemonade, not Mommy's Margarita!

Tub Baby

The structure goes up

The New Pose!

Our River Baby

You go girl

Audrey makes a path out of the river

Finally shade under "The Mexican Hut!" Now I will go to my beach more

Alana catches the Big One

Keep riding me around in this jeep Alana

Dionne "letting her hair down!"

Watch me Grandpa and Grandma

I can eat all by myself now

Even "Ouma's Spaghetti!

Oh, by the way, the three Irvins arrived on the 21st of May mid afternoon. Amya always looks around her car seat and sees Grandma and Grandpa and reaches out...what a wonderful feeling it is. Corey, Audrey and Alana arrived late that night. How fun it was to see them. Alana and Amya are great buddies and it was the cutest thing to see them "hanging out together." We had wonderful 80 plus degree weather and Dionne was determined to get a tan, which she did, so we spent most of our time in the great outdoors. We ate good food as always, set up Amya's swimming pool from Grandma and Grandpa, had John Deere rides, Barbie jeep rides, swing rides, and generally tons of fun in the sun. My happiest moment was when I requested a shady spot on our beach by simply sticking four poles in the ground and covering it with a Mexican blanket, but the men decided to "build" a structure which is quite permanent...leave it to the "Mason Man!" So, now it is there for always unless there is a flood or an act of God.....it has a big tarp over the top of it, which we can adjust according to the sun. Dionne has appropriately named it "the Mexican Hut!" Thank you men. Thank you also for all the fish you caught, the camp fires you made for all of us to enjoy and a special thanks to Brian and Corey for helping Rock with projects (as always), the best one being putting my new patio (oops, "satio") furniture together.....it was a very fun, warm and relaxing weekend. I sure do like a cold beer around a campfire, and we definitely all had good conversation!!

Welcome Irvins

Hi my friend Alana

Amya Loves Jeep Rides

Rock's Flophouse and Saloon!!

Well, Rock finally has a room "outside" the house, which he gets to decorate!! He has started it and it really is quite cute. Out comes all his "cowboy" stuff that he has collected and saved for years!! Thank goodness this time I don't have to have the horns in my house! Oh wait, they are yet to be hung out there.....one time they were in my rec room.....we have both been working so hard outside but things are coming together for the big 60th birthday bash for Susan. Today Rock went down to our river to do a little fishing and voila!!

Why it's Susan's Saddlebag purse~~

Gotta have that 56 Chevvy

Good ole John Wayne

20 inches and a 4 inch girth!

Some May ongoing Projects and Landscaping Updates

I’ve said it before, I sure do love the merry, merry month of May. The weather is perfect for outdoor projects, gardening, and bringing life to the outdoors for the summer….this month we are busily preparing to host my dearest friend Susan’s 60th birthday bash. We are expecting up to 30 people at any one given time!! For sure her family and mine will all be here, which will be a true Moore/DeWitt reunion as our kids have not seen each other all together since, who knows when? We will miss you Katie and Mike and wish you could come. We have had our road graded and graveled, we have spread gravel wherever we had plastic keeping the weeds down as there was a time I thought I would create new flower beds! What was I thinking, I already have ten and Rock has 27 acres to take care of….Rock has put a floor in the barn, so it can be used to sleep people and of course, it will be nice to have his “Flop House and Saloon” with a real floor. Next year he will lay bamboo flooring. We are cleaning up the outdoors, creating new areas to sit and enjoy the views and cooking and eating areas. We are really excited that we had the grader guy grade a large area in order for us to set up tents for the party and officially open the Tessadora Campground. There was not a level spot in all our space. Like everything else in this house, and for those of you who know it, there is nothing level anywhere. Even on the inside, everywhere you go, there is a step up, a step down and a stage to nowhere!! I always say that the guy who built this house, built as “high” as he felt for the day!! I am mostly working on amending all my flower beds, planting a few flowers and am looking forward to planting my flower pots and hanging baskets next week, with the held of my beautiful daughter, Dionne. Spokane here I come to buy flowers…


Worked really hard in the Orchard and looks as if we will be up to our ears in apples and cherries this year!! I will be making fruit leathers for Amya this year, that is for sure. Rock also finished the outdoor cooking area, so this way he can cook up a storm for the Birthday Bash. Our new gas grill has a surface for two dozen burgers, then there is his old charcoal cooker and his small one, so we should be just fine....

Just love the pretty apple blossoms

Our house through the eyes of the apple blossoms

Lilacs beginning to bloom

Rock's new cooking area

Love my tulips this year


How green is the Valley


Great view from under the ole Apple tree!

Welcome to the new Tessadora Campground!

Now we can play in
Rock's Flophouse and Saloon!

Videos of Amya for Israel Family Viewing

I am going to try and share videos this way....here goes!

Amya copying sounds!


Amya belly laughing with Grandpa!

I have to tell you, Daddy Brian and Grandpa Cliff laugh exactly the way Amya is copying. She started doing this way before that meal and Rock making her copy his laugh. She is just way too funny, has the most amazing personality and just starts these things in her "copying" stage. She is a fast learner.

The Best Ever Mother's Day

What can I say. I left town early Thursday morning and returned late Sunday afternoon. A quick but wonderful, packed full with friends, family and tons of fun. I even managed a doctor and dentist appointment!! Mother's Day began Thursday night with Lisa stopping by and Kimmy, our Scentsy supplier!! Gotta love those smells...Friday, we took Amya to meet four friends I used to work with. They had not met her and of course they loved her. We then played in the park with Amya, after which we squeezed in a mani/pedi. We just hung out Friday night. Saturday Dionne and I went out to breakfast while Amya napped and Daddy stayed home with her. We drove to Tacoma to meet two of my other friends I used to work with who had not met Amya. Again, of course, they loved her. We also did a little thrift store shopping and managed to spend very few dollars and come home "with two bags full!" The main event for me, was babysitting Amya while Dionne and Brian went out to dinner Saturday night. Grandma made it to the baby book as the first official "other person" other than Mommy and Daddy to put Amya to bed in her crib around 7 p.m., which is pretty much her bedtime now. I was worried for sure. She went from staying up until Dionne went to bed, to just going to bed!! She catches on really fast. Sunday, after opening presents, we all went to brunch, which was delicious. I then got on the road to Keller!! The Rockman stayed home and tended the homestead.....


Just plug your warmer in and you have a fragrant house!

Lori says this is the new way to stand and pose "at our age!"

I love my bracelet Mommy

"Peek-a-Boo! Grandma

Grandma says "always take time to "smell", uh, not "break" the flowers!

I told you I was a fast learner!

I also got a new toy, so there!

Those flowers again

I like to swing and rock

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there

The Merry, Merry Month of May

Well, April ended on a wonderful day full of surprises. April 30, kids arrived after having called the day before to say they were coming for a visit. We were only expecting them for Memorial Day. We really had a good time. Amya is a toddler now so we needed to see how she would do in this crazy house...she is still alive! For those of you who have been here, you know that she has to be watched constantly as this is the house of "funnies" and not "safetys" even for adults at times!! Rock and Brian burned many brush piles, went fishing a couple of times, caught 6 big Trouts, and generally did chores around the property in between having fun. Dionne and I worked out in the yard a bit during nap times, played with Amya outside as we did have some good weather days before this rain set in. Amya took us on a walk as well all over the property. We had some good "fooders" and some good "drinkers"! Have been recovering ever since!! Till later......oh, and an update on some of my pretty beds, with Tulips now joining the Daffodils, and behind them the Irises will follow in June. I have to have a constant bloom around here, after so many months of WHITE!!

Do we have to go home now?

Grandma, don't take pictures of me with my mouth full!

Good enough size?

You know it is big when you have to get the yard stick out!

I can shake my hair all around!

I like this swing Grandma

And this one

One, two, three.....

The big catch

I like bathing in this "fish tub"!

I can't open this China cabinet either right Grandma?

So glad to see this one gone!