The End of October & November!

This seems to be the norm now doesn't it? I get caught up & don't blog for a month or more & then try to fit it all in one almighty entry! Well, there are some pictures I just got off my brother Jeremy's camera that I must post. The first one is Lilyanah's first Halloween (which is why Will carved a 1 into our pumpkin. I have some other cute pics but they're in my camera so I'll probably post them later. Lilyanah had reached her limit, it was passed her bedtime. . . But you can kinda see a little of our house. We were sitting in what I usually call our 'fireplace' room & can see our very humble dining room. I love decorating for fall, I think I said that before. . .
The next picture was taken at the Cheesecake factory on my 30th birthday. My sweet husband was thoughtful enough to organize the family getting together to spoil me for a night. After dinner Will took me shopping & one of the things he got me was a spectacularly soft robe, that I LOVE! My hair is still not long enough to cover my neck so 'baby, it's cold outside'. . . even more so to this girl! But my lovely robe has a hood that I sport that keeps me extra toasty! (Thank you baby for making that day so special!) For the record, I now believe that every woman should get a massage, manicure & pedicure on her 30th birthday, or as my sister-in-law Michelle calls every birthday after 29, the 1st anniversary of her 29th birthday.

We spent Thanksgiving in Texas. Can you believe that Lilyanah was only a little over 10 months when we went & our flight made it her 3rd flight since she's been born! She's a very well traveled little girl. The picture to the left is Lilyanah with her great-grandad (Clyde Vernon "Jack" Henshaw) from Ft. Worth. It was only the second time they'd seen each other, so it was especially special! After lunch at Grandad's house we packed up & headed up to Lake Texoma. They rented a couple of cabins & we had a great time playing games & visiting. The weather was amazing, it was in the 70's every day.
This next guy is her great-uncle Howie. Lilyanah was fascinated by his goatee & his hat! Howie has always been really special to Will & it was so nice for Lilyanah to finally get to meet him! Howie has mouth cancer & has gone through quite a lot in the last year and a half. Please keep his healing & comfort in your prayers! This picture was taken out in Grandad's back yard. Can you believe it was November & we were all in short sleeves! Howie took a picture of the entire family with his camera but I didn't know how to set the camera we had to take pictures so (sadly) I don't have that one to share.

Thank you so much to Lynn & Michelle & Grandad & Dee for all your work cooking Thanksgiving dinner & all our meals at the campsite! You guys always go above & beyond!
The next guy you see Lilyanah is Will's dad, her grandpa Mike. We drove down to his house in Whitney, Texas on Sunday & spent the night with him & his new bride Ann. We had such a fantastic visit with them. Lilyanah loved crawling around on their sofa & floor. Ann was sweet enough to give her a little stuffed Santa that she loved playing with. I had some cute pictures of her with a full smile but I couldn't pass up posting this picture because of the silly look on her face!

On our way up to Oklahoma City on Monday we stopped in at Cabella's. I hope I spelled that right or I'll get some serious smack from Will! They have amazing stuffed animals. You can see the elephant in the back. They're all REAL skins. All the animals seriously looked real. Well, you can probably tell from the picture. I have to admit I love how she looks with her head band on! There's still such a serious lack of hair on Lilyanah's head that no barrette would stay without some glue holding it on! It's actually finally starting to come in, along with her 5th tooth! We just took a couple of pictures where you can see her teeth & maybe even some of her hair! Well, thank you to those of you who still take the time to check on our blog! We love you all & hope you're enjoying your holiday season! And thanks to all of you who shared Christmas traditions, I loved reading about them! Until next time, Wendy.

Some more tidbits

Our little lou-who, who will be 10 months old on Friday, has been sick for almost 3 weeks now. It's been somewhat off & on. . . we've been to the doctor three times, too! It's just a cold that won't let go! Here's somewhat a picture of our house. My mom took it on my birthday (November 1st) in our living room. You can kinda see the texture on the wall; it looks like suede. When I was painting, the wet paint reminded me of cake batter, which explained to me why Will chose it, my baby LOVES chocolate!
This pic is my aunt Mona, cousin Carrie & of course Lilyanah at Mona & Rick's anniversary party that I wrote about earlier.

This year at our Masquerade party we dressed as a past or future version of ourselves. Now since Corey hasn't had an ounce of fat on him since he was a baby I have to assume that this picture is of a very-far-in-the-future him!

We Masquerade party we had on the 28th of October. We all dressed as ourselves from the past or the future. I had to include a picture of Corey because he dressed as himself in the future with an old-man belly! The next pic isn't a great one of Lilyanah but she has more hair than she will for at least 7 years I'm sure, if not longer! Aunt Kelsey is holding her before the party (you can't see but she stuffed her belly too & came as a future pregnant Kelsey). It's not a great picture of Lilyanah but it's the only one I have of her with that silly wig on! She was actually a little sunflower, though we all thought she looked a little like the dressed up version of ET. I hope you are all enjoying your November! I'm getting giddy about decorating our new house for Christmas! I'm not sure how we'll work the tree with Lilyanah~ It'll all work somehow. My question for you all is what are your Christmas or holiday traditions? Love you all! ~Wendy

Happy fall. . . .

I absolutely LOVE fall! Growing up we had pine trees in our yard so I never had to rake a yard, so October 21st was pretty much a first for me. You see, we have a big beautiful maple tree in our front yard & it amazes me how many leaves we have to show for it on the ground. I'll look out of the front window sometimes & the way the leaves are falling to the ground reminds me of snow! It's beautiful. Sometimes I even catch Lilyanah looking out the windows with the gleam in her eye & you can just tell she's amazed.

Anyway, Will & I decided it was time for us to jump into a pile of leaves for the first time. We actually fell back into the pile, not such a good idea to all of you considering it! After our first & last free fall into the leaf pile the real task was at hand. . . . trying to fit ALL of those leaves into our yard debris can. Let's just say Will repeatedly picked me up put me standing in the container so I could jump up & down to fit as many as possible in. It was actually really fun though I was a little disoriented after each time he threw me back over his shoulder & put me back on the ground. As all of you veteran yard rakers know since we did not wait for the tree to be bare we will be raking again this weekend. I actually loved it, there's just something about the crisp air with the sunshine on your face. UMMMM I LOVE IT! After we were done with taking care of the front yard we headed out to Mona & Rick's 30th anniversary party. My mother was a bridesmaid, 8 months pregnant with me. Yeah, which means yours truly is going to turn the big 3-0 this year. But back to the anniversary party, Carrie described her parents as 'a united front'. I loved that; I hope in 30 years that Lilyanah & any other kiddos we may have can say half the things that Mona & Rick's kids said.

This is a picture of Lilyanah & her Mema (Will's mom) on a visit at the end of September. She came to see Lilyanah, us, & our new home (probably in that order), who can blame her!? We had such a nice visit, mostly shopping for house goods & painting the living room. The picture below is of Lilyanah crawling in the living room. See, now none of you can say I haven't posted pictures of our new home! Isn't she the cutest little crawler! She's wearing one of my birthday presents from her uncle Corey last year. Anyway, her mema got her a beautiful rug for her bedroom that she loves to play on, as well as some goodies for us for the house. Thank you again, Linda, for blessing us in so many ways!

And now I must go, we're at Mom & Dad's celebrating my father's 52nd birthday. So I hope you are all well & just a quick question . . . . What do you collect? I'll answer for Lilyanah because while Linda was visiting I got Lilyanah the ornament we'll give her this year & next year out of a collection I'll be getting for her & just hopes she loves--Krinkles from Department 56. It's a very whimsical collection. . . The artist, Patience Brewster, has a wild imagination! Crocodiles wearing high heel shoes & boas, frogs in ballerina tutus. . . . how can you not love that!? I tried to download a picture from a website & am gonna have to talk to my cousin Katie about that 'cause I cannot figure it out! Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you all! ~Wendy.

9 months ALREADY!?

Tuesday our little girl turned 9 months old. And so I guess it's about time I let her write a little something on our blog. If any of you know what the below means, let me know! jvv78iyg6eerd....
./jjjjjjmnmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmb
078tjghh 6,,,,,,, h
vbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbkkkkkkkkk
k 908--j vb vb

Her 9 month visit landed right on the day she turned 9 months. She weighed in at 16 lbs 8 oz and is 27 inches long. The visit was uneventful until she had to get a flu shot. YUCK, of course any shot is yucky! But she took it like a pro! She truly is one tough girl, I guess she's had to be. She has to get the second half of the shot a couple of days before we leave for Oklahoma. The majority of Will's family lives in Texas so we'll be in Ft. Worth for Thanksgiving this year. We spent Thanksgiving 2 years ago with his family in cabins at Lake Texoma. We had a blast playing games inside & out. This year we won't be going to Lake Texoma until after Thanksgiving, but we're excited to still be going. I just wish there was some way to go 2000 miles without getting on a plane. Lilyanah has been amazing thus far on plane rides but this time she's much more mobile & may not be as content as on our previous trips.

On our way home from some errands after Lilyanah's doctor appointment I gave her a taste of her first baby biscuit. Surely there's a better name for them than that! She was a natural & LOVED it! And as you can see , she made a MESS! But "What a beautiful mess!"

Next Wednesday I have a CT scan again. It's hard to believe it's already been 3 months since the last one. It's such a reality check for me & I'd be lying if I said I didn't go into it scared that they may find something. It's so crazy to me that before you get cancer it never occurs to you that you may get/have it. But after you've had it , it often occurs to you that you may have it. Well, that's where I am, so if you get a chance please pray that what we hear from my CT scan will be good news. I will never be able to express to you all how much I covet your prayers. Well, tonight Lilyanah & I are over playing with my mom while the guys watch a guy flick at our house. Tomorrow we're going to a party to celebrate 30 years of marriage for my Aunt Mona & Uncle Rick. What a beautiful testament they are to how we married people are supposed to treat each other. I admire them both for so many reasons. Mona is truly truly the Proverbs 31 woman & I am so glad to have her as my aunt.
I could never ever fill her shoes but like her I was fortunate to have married a man who not only knows how to love, but how to love WELL. It brings me so much joy to watch him love on our daughter, to watch their little 'conversations' which sometimes are simply fake laughing at each other. Lilyanah just stares at her daddy with such adoring little eyes that it makes my heart overflow! I love our little family.

I'll leave you with this question, where will YOU be spending Thanksgiving this year & with who?
Love you all! Wendy.

Well hello again. . .

Hello to the dedicated who still, despite my serious neglect to this blog, check in to see what's going on in our family. Having a house is WORK! But we love it! We finished painting the last major room this weekend (the kitchen) & are thus done with the big stuff for awhile (YIPPEE!) I apologize for taking so long to get pics of our house, in the move the USB cable that enables me to download pictures from our camera got misplaced so it may be a little bit longer! I hope God is showering you all with blessings, we miss you all & hope to get the house done soon so we can have a party to celebrate the new home the Lord has blessed us with. I'm going to leave you all with a random question. . . . Halloween has got me thinking about fashion, (it's a stretch, I know, but. . .) if you could set the trend & bring back clothing styles from any decade which decade would you choose? I think I would choose the late 1700's (like the clothes Gwyneth Paltrow wears in Emma) Mostly only for the women though, the tight pants the men wore are a little creepy if you ask me! Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you! Love you all! ~ Wendy.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, It's OURS!

Oh yes, after 3 years & nearly 9 months of marriage Will & I are now officially home owners! Wow, it feels good! It also feels tired, or I should say WE feel tired! Saturday we spent the majority of the day painting the third bedroom where Jeremy is going to stay. Jeremy has been living in my parents rental house in Lake Oswego for the past 7 years. Now the house is on the market & Jeremy is going to live with us for at least 6 months, which we're very happy about. So Saturday was all about getting his room ready for him since he'll probably move into the house before we do either tomorrow or Thursday. Sunday we went to his house after we 'churched' as my cousin Katie in Oklahoma says; (If you ever want to be entertained check out her & my cousin Ryan's blog www.ryanandkatie.blogspot.com) and helped him pack as much as we could. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Home Depot getting stuff for the house (so much fun!). It wasn't until 7:30pm that we made it to the house to start to work. We want to get all of the painting done before we move in, mostly b/c we don't want Lilyanah around all those fumes. We painted until 3:30 am. Not one of the smartest things we've ever done. Let's just say we won't be doing that again! We had music playing so we could 'whistle while we worked' & I fumbled up some words. So I decided to list some words I got completely wrong to some songs. . .

My # 1 worst offense is thinking for at least 27 years that Neil Diamond was singing about Reverend Blue Jeans. I never got that until I found out it was 'Forever in Blue Jeans', the song makes so much more sense now!

My next offense is Kenny Rogers "Lucille" I thought he said "400 children & a crop in the field" not "4 hungry children & a crop in the field." My heart went out to him when I thought it was 400!

Here's one of Will's, he thought "Islands in the stream, that is what we are". . . was "Islands in the street, . . . ." He stuck to his guns until mom confirmed it was in fact stream.

Okay so mom decided to contribute, do you remember the Beach Boys. . . in their song Good Vibrations she thought when they said "The clothes she wears" was really "schweres"

I seem to have song block, I can't remember any of the other songs, kinda ironic that I can't remember songs I don't know the words to. I'm sure once I post this blog they'll all come back to me. . until then, I hope you all are having a GREAT day. And my question for today is pretty obvious. . I would love if you would share some songs you botched the words up to! Oh, & the pictures, the top one is our little family on Corey's birthday (July 28th), the next one is Lilyanah chugging along in her little walker. The next one is Jeremy & Lilyanah outside Mom & Dad's house looking at the fish & the last one is me & her on Oahu after a day at the beach. Well, that's about it, love you all! ~Wendy.

American What!?

Here are just a few updates. . . Last Friday the phone rang a little after 7:00 in the morning. It was my sweet aunt Kathy with an offer that we couldn't refuse! For the second year in a row she had won tickets from a radio station to the American Idol concert at the Rose Garden and since her boss had already bought tickets for her & all the girls in the office, she offered them to Will & I. Let me just say that they were amazing seats & we had a really great time. The last time I went to a concert was Shania Twain in 2000. Anyway, a big thank you again out to you Aunt Kathy & to Don & Peggy (her boss & his wife) who treated Will & I to a yummy dinner before the concert.

I haven't written much about an adventure we're in the middle of because I wasn't sure how it was all going to go, but we're in the process of closing on a house. We actually sign the papers tomorrow. But, right now most of our stuff is packed away in boxes. Well I found the shoes on Lilyanah's feet in a box of her stuff & wanted to see if they fit. I know it's an interesting outfit but the look on her face was too cute for me not to post the picture! She loves to hold your hands & be walked around. Can you believe we are blessed with this smiley face every day!? The house we're getting is still right here in Newberg. I'll have to post some pictures soon! We're so excited about getting the keys in hand & starting to make the house our home.

The last picture is from Lilyanah's first time to eat 'real' food. And I think 'real' is a stretch, it's just her first rice cereal. She took bites like a pro, we were so proud. You see that hair on my head! My brother Jeremy says I finally look like a college kid who cuts her hair short. I went from looking like Cleopatra right after we shaved my head to a 90 year old man when it was first growing back to a 6 year old boy a week ago. So I figure a college kid is a compliment! This picture lets you see how Lilyanah responded. She wants to touch EVERYTHING in front of her, the food was not exception! Anyway, we're having a good time. I want to apologize again for being so bad at keeping up at this. I seriously think blog entries in my mind that never make it to the screen. Hopefully once everything slows down I'll become more consistent! Of course when do things ever slow down!? I hope all of you are enjoying the beginning of fall! I love every season & am always ready for the next one to come around. Fall, I love the gradual cooling of days & occasional sprinkle. I love the changing colors of the leaves & the approaching of autumn & winter holidays. . .
So my question for you all is what do you love about fall? ~love you all! Wendy.

Are You Ready For Some Football!?

This picture melts my heart. Will was holding Lilyanah & she just fell asleep on his chest. You can see by the smile on his face, his heart was melting too.

So, today is Will's long awaited day. . . the first NFL game of the season. Football season is a cherished time of the year by the guys in my family. Just to give you an idea of how much Will enjoyed football, he's involved in 8 different fantasy football leagues! Crazy, I know, but that's what can happen when you love the game. Can you imagine women being involved in something like that. Fantasy soap opera season. . . . where we all guess who's gonna break up, get together, pretend to die, return. . . and we'd get points for all the times we were right. The last time I watched a soap opera I was in college. It was short-lived, but I watched enough to know all the above happens to just about every character at least 5 times per year. Anyway, below is a picture of Dad holding Lilyanah. She was sad because Grandma had handed her over & walked away. Oh yes, our little girl is in a grandma phase. I guess she didn't get the memo she was supposed to have her mommy & daddy phases first! The dress was compliments of Grandpa & Grandma. She almost looks Hawaiian! (Obviously I'm kidding!) Hope you all are having a great day! Wendy.

Back from Hawaii!

ALOHA ALL! The awful irony with my posts is that when I go a long time between them it's because there is so much going on I don't have time to write. Of course then I feel like I need to update you all on EVERYTHING that has gone on. I'll refrain in this post.

The 20th we left for Oahu, Hawaii. We had such a good time, Mom & Dad took us to celebrate our recovery from cancer. I still remember laying on the hospital bed saying,

"After all of this, I'm SO going on vacation!"

Lucky for us my dad heard me & he & mom made it happen! What a blessed life I lead & what generous parents. Thank you so much Dad & Mom for everything, far beyond taking us Hawaii! The first picture is from our last night eating dinner at the Shorebird on Waikiki beach. (My mother's absolute favorite restaurant on the island.) Lilyanah wasn't interested in anything on the menu & characteristically decided to take a nap. The next picture is of mom & Lilyanah sporting her movie star glasses from her Mema. Thanks again so much Linda! You're so good at picking out clothes & accessories for Lilyanah! Of all the times we put them on her she never tried to take her glasses off!

We have relatives on the island who own a shop where they make Puerto Rican tamales. Tuesday we decided to make our way inland to see them. Unfortunately they had taken the day off, lesson learned, ALWAYS call ahead & don't go if you can't get someone to answer the phone! I decided to consult mom's handy-dandy book to try to find a good restaurant. It really is a very helpful book & I would definitely recommend it to anyone going to any of the islands as I'm pretty sure the authors have done one for all of them. Anyway, long story short the restaurant I picked was closed & we had to find another one quick as we were all past hungry.
I've never had to work so hard for my food! I
ordered crab. . . not expecting to have to do all the work to get the meat! I guess Will didn't expect me to dig into the challenge. In our 3+ years of marriage I haven't had crab with him. . . It was an authentic Chinese restaurant & Dad gave Will a hard time about ordering beef prepared some way so instead he got octopus. Dad followed suit by getting the beef Will was gonna get! Anyway, I had to include that picture, however bad.

Thursday was Mom & Dad's 32nd anniversary
so we rented a car & drove around Diamond Head up to Makapu'u Beach. It's a great beach to boogie board on. Though I guess Will & Dad got slammed pretty bad by the same wave & decided that was enough body surfing. So I got the boogie board & Will conquered a few waves! You can barely see Lilyanah in the picture but what a GORGEOUS day! We got cleaned up & continued driving around the island stopping at a restaurant where Will told a Hawaiian gentleman Hola & couldn't figure out why he looked at him strangely. He had a really hard time with the Hawaiian words, but at least he tried!

This last picture was taken at Pali Lookout. I guess it's where the last battle for the island took place when King (I'm not even going to attempt to spell his name) was uniting the islands. It had an amazing view of the island! I was snuggling Lilyanah pretty tight cause the wind made it REALLY cold up there! That's enough pics & enough of an update for now. Thanks to all of you faithful for sticking with me & my sporadic entries. ~Weneki (my Hawaiian name)

Let's see, my question for the day is; what is your favorite vacation memory? Love you all!

Corey & Kelsey - Married August 12, 2006

Well, Corey and Kelsey were married in a beautiful ceremony at Camp Yamhill on Saturday, August 12, and the newlyweds are now on their honeymoon. Thank you to all of you who shared in our wonderful afternoon. The day was absolutely perfect, not too hot, a beautiful blue sky, and lots of friends and loved ones in attendance. Here are just a couple of pictures. Enjoy and thank you again! Denise