80 years and other bits....

This weekend I went to Oregon to help my grandma celebrate her 80th birthday with cake and coffee at the church. It was a good time and it got almost all of my family together which, in my opinion, doesn't happen often enough. We had a nice visit with the parental units as well. The weekend before, I had my dia de los muertos party which I think overall, was a success. I plan on having it again next year, which will be on a Monday. Plan you days off accordingly for next year! Here are a couple of picks from my goings on....

Best Cat Ever

My parents finally had to have Scruffy put down today and I am convinced he was the best cat ever. His nickname was the Dude because he was such a mellow macho man. He was the nicest cat, though. I don't remember one single time when he bit or scratched anyone, even when you had to give him medicine. He got his name because he was always dirty, like Pig Pen, he loved to lay in the dirt. When you patted his back clouds of dirt rolled off of him. He was quite the scrapper, too. Notice the notch in the ear in the above picture. I'm sure he always won:) He must have been at least 15 years old but probably older. We will never know since he adopted us and I am sure glad he did.

Someone Loves You

We got back from our trip to Yellowstone almost a month ago and I can't believe that tonight was the first night we went to our friend's house to hang out with them. They are our friends from El Salvador and the wife, Mariela, makes the delicious pupusas I am always talking about. Anyway, I wanted to put a picture up of the boys in the t-shirts (camisetas) my parents and us got them in Yellowstone.

Back to Reality

Well, we made it back yesterday from our trip threw Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Jackson with the fam to celebrate a couple of birthdays. Minus the truck/rv troubles, we had a great time. I love Yellowstone but as this was my 3rd time in 7 years, I think I am good for awhile. That being said, I'm not sure I could ever get enough of the Grand Tetons. They are so beautiful and peaceful. I also love the town of Jackson, although I imagine it is a lot like Leavenworth...the novelty would wear off after awhile. Either way, I have been to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar on several occasions now and appreciate it every time. I think my favorite things were the hike we did to Inspiration Point in the Tetons, bike riding around West Yellowstone, and we had a great dinner out for my dad's birthday and then listened to live music at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Check out my flickr page for pictures from the adventure.

My Name Is Earl

Apparently, either J or I have done something to upset the karma gods. Not sure what it could have been. Maybe it was the time I got too much change in the grocery store and I realized it later and didn't bring the extra back. There have been too many things in the last couple months that have happened to mention them all. For example, I went in last week to get a nail hole patched in my tire and ended up leaving with 4 NEW tires. Then, less than one week later I discover that I have a giant screw in the SAME tire I went in to get fixed. This morning we were set to leave Yakima at 7am for our big road trip and of course there was a major mal-function with J's truck that had a major service check this last week. Then, when we were already a couple hours behind, we stop at a rest stop to eat dinner. A kind truck driver came up to the rv and mentioned that there was something leaking out of the back of the rv. Turns out it was the power steering fluid. After some jerry-rigging, we were back on the road. We got into West Yellowstone at 12:20, the rv fun continues....the jacks won't go down, we are having a problem with one of the visors, blah, blah, blah. I hope we run into a bear in the park tomorrow because I am so ready for a brawl. Crap, since I said that it will probably happen:(

My Crop

Although I haven't been entirely successful in the past, I decided to plant some vegetables this year. I have had herbs for a couple of years now that seem to do pretty well, even my basil looks good this year. The problem for me has always been that I don't think we ever get hot enough in Seattle for long enough. Well, things are looking pretty good this year. I planted cucumber, zucchini, jalepenos, and tomatoes along with various herbs and some great smelling lemon verbena. I have been using the herbs in my dishes for awhile now but today was my first harvest of vegetables. Today I picked a jalepeno and zucchini so here are some pics! Also, compare my pond picture to last years(on the bottom, duh).

Beachin It

Yesterday we took Jose and his family to the beach and had a great time. The weather was perfect and the beach was nearly empty. Before we headed down there I popped into Fred Meyer for some beach toys and they were a big hit. This was Diego's (in picture) first time at the beach and he was loving being able to get super dirty. By the time we left, both boys had sand in their ears, probably up their noses, and in their underwear!