Portland

While Kimball was out of town on business, I decided to travel with my parents to Portland to see family on my father's side and celebrate at a surprise party for my Uncle's 65th birthday. Turns out that Kimball called me the morning of the party and said, "what would you say if I told you that I was driving to Portland today?" I said, "You're not going to make it for the party." Sadly, he then told me that his grandfather had suffered a stroke the night before and was on life support. He later passed away that afternoon. Kimball and his family traveled to Portland via motorhome and I met up with them and spent three more days with Kimball's family.

UNCLE DON'S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY

My Uncle Don- the initial reason I went to Portland. We celebrated his 65th birthday with a surprise party given by his children. He had no idea what had been planned or who was there. We all hid in the bonus room and were very quiet until he opened the door. We scared him when we all yelled "SURPRISE!!!" His wife Janet had no idea, and was just as surprised. We ate wonderful food, sang, listened to fun memories we all wrote, played a game on how well we know him, and then had german chocolate cake with sparkling cider. More than anything we spent time with each other catching up while the kids played. I especially loved getting to see the Lyman's house since they are selling it in January. She has four boys, and most of the house is pink- it is really so adorable!

What a great family get together- It was so wonderful to see everyone!!!

Ruby Dawn, Alex

Alison, Uncle Don, Rachel

This picture was taken after we all attacked the food.

Made by Ruby Dawn- So yummy!

The kids were so well behaved. I think they thought they were having their own little party. Thanks to all the Lyman boys, Alex, Scott, Kyle, and Porter for keeping them happy, and being the greatest role models of all time.

Andrew loved all the unfamiliar toys and crawled around and begged for food.

LAVENDER'S BABY BLESSING

Richard and Lavender on her blessing day.

This is Lavender in her beautiful blessing dress. I think she was getting hungry.

This isn't the 'finished' picture of Lavender's quilt, but it's only missing the binding. It turned out really cute. I'll have to make another (: I decided to add one square of lavender material just to personalize it.

ON THE TOWN

Kimball and I snuck away to go to lunch, (thanks to Carlie for entertaining the kids) at a fabulous restaurant in Portland called Papa Haydn's. It was a splurge, but worth it! I got pumpkin filled ravioli and Kimball ordered halibut. Neither disappointed. Better than the food was the company. Roger and Ruby Dawn, and Alison and Lavender, spent some of their precious afternoon time to dine with us out-of-towners. It was such a great time to laugh and talk about our family, the new baby, and an upcoming adventure in Tokyo. Papa Haydn's is located on a yuppy little street with unique shops and old victorian homes. We quickly visited a few shops in the rain and admired the fun environment.

Papa Haydn's famous dessert. It looks amazing, and actually tastes better than it looks!

Our favorite shop was this little hat shop. This fedora Kimball has on is really growing on me, but we didn't get it. I personally wish that hats were more common, I just love them.

REMEMBERING HUGH HIGH

Carlie, Andrew, Kimball, Erica, Andrea, Carter, Nathan, Michael, Sheila, Cameron

Louise, Benson, Darryl, Lorraine, Ashley, (Alyssa below), Susan, Jay

This is a family picture of Darryl's side of the family. We're missing Jeffrey, and Emily and her family, and Grandpa High... Darryl's father. He passed away on November 7th, after suffering a cerebral hemmorage (stroke). He'd been living in Portland for the last few years. I actually wanted to take the boys to see him on Saturday after the surprise party. We had a beautiful memorial service in Susan and Jay's home. Despite Andrew being wiggly and loud, it was wonderful to hear memories of his life. They had a military service for him on November 17th.