Memorial Day at the Beach

Three years ago we spent Memorial Day weekend at a beach house with four other families and it was magical!  As our families are all growing up, I was determined to re-create it.  So despite many changes in the past three years (including one family that moved to Utah!) we had all five families, plus three more, commit to come spend Memorial Day 2019 camping at Beverly Beach near Lincoln City.

DeVries - Dougalls - Dyers - McIlmoils - Stocktons - Stoddarts - Wildes - Worths

The location was amazing....the campground is on one side of this bridge and the beach is on the other.  Stunning!

The down side was that the weather did not cooperate and on Saturday it rained and rained and rained and when it wasn't raining, it was windy and cold.  

(insert reminder that we were camping)

Fortunately on Sunday the rain let up and so after church we all headed over to Yaquina Head Lighthouse to explore the tide pools and to hike to the overlook.  

We made the best of the crummy weather.  Luckily we had reserved the group Yurt that housed all of us during the day.  We were able to have all of our meals there as well as play games, work on puzzles, enjoy a talent show and karaoke.

Monday we drove to Devil's Punchbowl when the tide was low so we were able to climb down into it and that was really pretty.

All in all, the weekend was so much fun.  We have the best friends....truly our second family!

{C} Bling Bling...Championship Ring

Remember this kind of big deal post here????

They took a couple of months to arrive....but the bling, bling made it to WHS and there are now 12 high school boys sporting championship rings.

Oregon Live reported on the ring ceremony celebration here with lots of pictures.

Such a fun memory for these boys!!!

{T} completion of Arrow of Light

T finished his cub scouting about a month before his 11th birthday and was recognized with a special Arrow of Light ceremony.

His leader read a poem about what each color of the Arrow represents as I painted the colors on his face.  He then received an arrow wrapped in all seven colors and walked over a makeshift bridge representing leaving cub scouts and entering boy scouts.

I am sure appreciative for great leaders who worked with T these past few years and went a long way in making some great memories.

Take yellow from the sun and place the mark of WISDOM on your son’s forehead. This mark stands for his desire to learn wisdom and with it make a better life for himself and his family. 

 Take blue from the summer sky and place the mark of COURAGE on his chin, just under his lip, to show that he will stand up to any task asked of him. 

 Take purple from the lilac flower and place the mark of SELF-CONTROL on his chin, below the other mark. This shows that he knows his limits and when to say no. 

 Take green from the tall mountain trees and place the mark of JUSTICE high on his right cheek to show that he deals fairly and honestly with everyone. 

 Take white from the winter snow and place the mark of FAITH high on his left cheek. This shows that he has a deep faith in God and acknowledges His hand in all things. 

 Take orange from a brilliant sunset and place the mark of HOPE lower on his right cheek. With every sunset, we have hope for better things to come. 

 Take red from the wild rose and place the mark of LOVE lower on his left cheek to show that he loves his family, his friends, his country and Heavenly Father.

{C} permission to drive

Our family rule about driving permits involves the teenagers that wish to drive to have $2,000 in their personal bank account...with the understanding that expensive mistakes get paid for by the offending party.

It took C some time but his bank account finally had sufficient funds to allow him to take his drivers permit test.  And he did so well that the DMV had him come back and do it again!

Congrats on the pass buddy!

Encompass Financial Planning Photo Updates

Rich's company, Encompass Financial Planning, has been in business going on four years now and it was time for some new photos for the website (particularly an updated photo for me since I didn't have a whole lot of hair back in 2017 when the last photos were taken)

Here are the updates.....

{K} putting away the spikes

This cute girl just wrapped up her senior year track season....wrapping up an amazing high school career...

three Cross Country seasons 

two Varsity letters

three League Championships

two trips to State

three All League Awards

three Scholar Athlete Awards

&

four Track seasons

four Varsity letters

four League Championships

one trip to State in the 3000m

four All League Awards

four Scholar Athlete Awards

Running changed this girls life...I will be forever grateful for the coaches that encouraged and supported her.

{K} end of season for the last time

This final track season for K was over in the blink of an eye.  

Maybe I was in denial, knowing that once track ended the school year would soon follow and my daughter would be graduated.

Maybe it was my own busy schedule that was busier than previous springs.

Regardless, my "runner" has retired.

A lot of seniors got "senioritis" and didn't run this season and K really missed her teammates.  I think that made a hard season even harder for her but I was proud of her for sticking to it, for herself, for her team and for her coaches.  She ran her beloved 3000m all they way through Districts (in which she placed 4th)....

And then, just like that, she was done!

One of the non-league events that K had fun with was the Nike Twilight Relay, running on a 4x800m team.  I don't recall exactly how she referenced it but it something along the lines of her team was a bunch of XC kids who know how to run distance but who'd never passed a baton before 

("ugly" may have been an adjective thrown out there)

Evidently it was a site to behold but from the looks of it, she didn't let it get her down.  

I love that K knows how to not take things too seriously and can find the fun in almost anything.