What we've been up to while I've been on blogging vacation :)

We've been dog-sitting Emilee and Paul's dog - Dohini, while they went camping with Paul's family this weekend.
She's been LOVING having a big backyard to run around in. I always say "a tired dog is a good dog".

We've been loving our raspberries from the backyard! Our vegetable garden that we planted (after all danger of frost) rotted with all the RAIN we had so it's a good thing that SOMETHING grew.

We now officially have 2 baptized granddaughters - Gracie Lynne was baptized last weekend.

She played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" on her violin, accompanied by her Mom on the piano - it was beautiful!!

Gracie and her Dad

The front of Gracie's program

I went to Sandblast in Duvall with Em, Paul and co. and watched a free play that Paul's Dad directed; "Romeo, You Idiot". It was a fun night.

Em and gals

Then we got some L O N G over due new carpet - here's the beginning of the replacement process

It was such a mess - we had furniture EVERYWHERE!! Believe me, Lee, Nellie and I got a serious workout with all the moving of furniture up and down the stairs this last week.

The playroom was full

The living and dining room were full, minus a trail so we could still get through

. . . in progress

We had the piano, china cabinet, PLUS all the "treasures" from the china cabinet in the kitchen - with a trail of course so we could still use our kitchen

Here's a view of the eating area of the kitchen

. . . mind you we had "stuff" in our garages too, in fact there still is stuff in the garages because I realized @ 3 hours after the carpet layers left that they forgot to do the closet (of no return) under the stairs!!

Lee ended up tearing out the carpet himself (downstairs) so he could fix the "creaks" in the floor, because we learned the first day, when the carpet guys get here - they flat MOVE and there's no time for fixing then, as we had been lead to believe!!

Here's the living room all put back together with the fresh new carpet.

We decided to move Miss Nellie into a smaller bedroom, so here's her new pad - minus the fresh paint job - which we'll do ASAP. She's excited to get to help paint this time - too bad we didn't think about this before so we wouldn't have needed to worry about protecting our new carpeting - oh well!

A good close up of the new carpet :)
(Nellie's prayer rock)

Our room looked like a mess today because Nellie wasn't feeling well so she was DYING in there, trying to feel better - and I'm sorry, but my bed is THE most comfortable in the world . . . or at least in the house :)

I AM my Mother's daughter - I took this opportunity to dust EVERYTHING, wash all the baseboards/woodwork before moving back in to my house, as well as the windows (in and out), casings, most of the curtains and etc.

It was a lot of work but it's so nice to know for once my house is clean :)

What used to be Nellie's room

So there you have it - a tour of our house with the new carpet :). Kaisa had asked to see it so let it be known that I delivered =)

Gutsy Critter in Carnation

This is either a gutsy little critter or he's confused. He's been coming out earlier and earlier to get the leftover (expensive type of) dog food. He obviously comes out in broad daylight these days. It used to be as long as we collected the dog food at night we avoided this type of visitor, but not now. Scott was here when this guy made his entrance and was all excited to shoot it with the paintball gun - but the gun didn't work like it was supposed to, and then this guy finally got the point and ran off.

PS . . .

Cute Braden after being told he needed to finish his dinner before he got dessert . . . he finished it alright :)

Memorial Day Camping 2010

We went on, what has become, our annual Memorial Day

Weekend Lee Soptich Family camping trip last weekend. We went to Fish Hook Park, which took FOREVER to get to - especially with the traffic (6 hours) and all but I guess that's just part of the package deal. We avoided rain for the most part, and had a lot of fun.
We have a new (to US) truck which has an extended cab, but when you're used to having a full bench seat to yourself (like in the suburban) it seemed a little squishy, so at our stop in Yakima for gas and trailer toilet paper, Nellie and Chad hopped in the back and sported the lounge chairs for the rest of the trip :). It brought back memories from my childhood riding in the back of our truck (gem top canopy with a seat against the cab facing backwards) on camping trips. The windows on the canopy are dark so it all worked out and they were a lot happier.

Here's Chad - it was a little chilly at times, can you tell? ")

Nellie and Chad kickin' back . . . with Lee's percolator on the fire

We had a movie night in Grandma and Grandpa's trailer one night

While the guys were playing hearts they put the little video TV outside so the kids could watch it

Notice not only the percolator, but also the jiffy pop on the fire - "Jiffy Pop, Jiffy Pop, the magic treat, as much fun to make as it is to eat". Lee can't resist things like this for the Grand kids - sometimes I have to roll my eyes, but it really was a fun thing to do.

Nellie with Emilee and Paul's 4th daughter

Emilee and Kaisa

Chad got caught up on some rest

Addison going for a walk

On a dare of course

Lucy being thoroughly mortified because of having to wear her "gentle leader" . . how embarrassing!!!

The kids still went swimming. Paige looking like Nemo

Addison in her Bay Watch swimsuit

The hot dog roast

Loves for Uncle Chad

Most everyone played Ghost in the Graveyard one night in the dark and had a lot of fun. We had a couple of great potlucks/hot dog roast, roasted "smarshmallows" (as Braden says), and were parked by some train tracks so every time we'd hear the whistle blow the kids, and some of the big people, would go running down to see the train. We went for walks, played at the park and with the 3 dogs, threw the football around, went swimming, the kids rode bikes, Kaisa did a little studying, and all in all it was a very good time. PS notice Kaisa and Billy's tent with what Kaisa calls their white trash refrigerator (vs. a ice chest) on the table. Tyson and Calley's family were at Disneyland, and Scott couldn't get the time off work. I hope our little tradition continues for years to come :).