Gram turns 90!

We gathered at Green Bluff this weekend to celebrate Grama's 90th birthday!

Sue and Steve's place looked great and we enjoyed time together doing all sorts of fun things. There were many competitive games of croquet! 

The children loved riding the tractors and talking to the goats.

Naomi is a charmer!

Of course we did a LOT of eating!

The "Bobbsey twins" played so well together, had long conversations, and stayed up as late as possible. 

Even the birthday girl got involved in lawn darts.

And she was hard-pressed to take a seat and be served, even if it was her special weekend!

Scamp Eyes ready for his next rascal move - no doubt encouraged by one of his equally scampy uncles...

After church together in the morning, and the afternoon at the house, we went to Trezzi Vineyard for Gram's party. It was a beautiful venue, made prettier by Sue's plans and decor.

 She was a beautiful birthday girl (and graciously applauded our singing). There were so many people on hand to celebrate her!

Sue arranged for a lovely and delicious cake and Gram made mints.

Gram's children

Gram's grandchildren

Gram's great-grandchildren

The Shamberger and Allstot cousins in attendance

The kids played,

  adults visited, 

     the party planner relaxed,

guests ate, and we all had a lovely evening.

Back at Hogues, we finished off the evening with a smaller gathering.

The Shamberger cousins came over to visit some more.

There was a LOT of laughter and trips down memory lane.

We released the balloons with a lovely backdrop.

And the festivities wrapped up. What a wonderful weekend celebrating a special woman and renewing important family connections. Gram, our beloved matriarch, has given us the gift of her life well-lived and we are all richer for it. May the years continue to add up!

Another win!

The Tigers took care of business against the private Catlin Gabel Friday afternoon. Bryan's final game at Madigan Field was a win, 17-1.

We scored 12 runs in the 3rd inning on an offensive blitz that brought loud roars from the crowd and big smiles on players' faces.

The bat boy was thrilled to join in on the post-game handshakes, as usual.

The Johnsons came to support.

Next up: #2 ranked Rainier at their place on Tuesday. Here's hoping our winning mojo continues!

Playoffs

Bryan's team won their first round of state last night against the Lakeview Honkers with a score of 11-2. 

It was a great crowd and a fun way to open state playoffs.

Now the team faces Catlin Gabel tomorrow, also at home, for round 2. They are a private school out of Portland (and I adore beating private schools) and should be a good game. We have our ace throwing, so fingers crossed we continue to advance!

A little post-game posing in our Tiger gear. I have loved being a school with blue as a color base. Orange and black next year will not be as kind to my skin tones!

Love from the bat boy. 

Kitchen Remodel

Cue the band..."At laaaaasst, my kitchen has come along, my dishwashing days are over, and life is like a song..."! The kitchen is done and with that, we bid adieu to the gold-fleck tile of the 1950s and welcome a new fangled machine called an automatic dishwasher. Oh sweet love. 

This was the kitchen before demo began in mid-July.

In a couple hours, we tore our the upper cabinets and many of the lowers, moved the stove out of the way, and opened the space up for our (volunteer) contractor, Dave, to cut a hole in the wall.

Which he did. It became a raceway for a month-ish. There was electrical work, and plumbing work under the house. The original paint colors were oh-so-tempting in the interim.

Then Bryan and Dave tore up the flooring and redid it. Something about it not being level. Huh. In this house?!?

Bryan put on the cement board.

 

And we had a bare naked kitchen, all prepped and ready for new to come in.

The addition of bottoms was a happy day. It also meant we brought the stove back in from the garage after a 2 week hiatus, and turned the water back on. Whew. 

 The next step was getting the counter top glued on and beginning to lay tiles. Sore knees!

Don't be fooled by the smile; this project did not make us happy. Two steps forward, five steps back felt like our mantra.

The grout is in and we even hosted a birthday party at this stage in the game.

Progress continued. Yes, that's a dishwasher - a running dishwasher! - in our kitchen. Bryan hooked it up all by himself to much fanfare. Dave came back for a quick partial install of the upper cabinets. He found our cabinets on CraigsList, picked them up, and made them fit our space. Incredible man. At this stage, it really felt like it would never end, in spite of the obvious progress.

We were in a holding pattern for several months like this, through the holidays. All the appliances worked, though the microwave was still in the garage. The everyday dishes were in the cupboard, but most other items remained in garage tubs. We clearly can get by with far fewer kitchen gadgets than previously imagined!

Dave came down the first week of February and put in the last cabinets and did the final electrical for the microwave. Mitch helped install the microwave - no more going out to the garage for that!

Bryan and Dad did the backsplash. Some cuts from the glass, but otherwise a smooth and easy process. I LOVE it!

We lived with the kitchen in a state of near completion for months. It was so close to being done and we loved it already. Just waiting on the finishing touches. 

In April and May, we put in a new light fixture and Bryan even got a new door (classy!). We shipped Poly north since we didn't want a cat door cut into it and braced ourselves for selling. 

 We listed Monday afternoon at 3pm, had 3 showings that night, and 4 on Tuesday. Wednesday we had a realtor open house and that afternoon looked through 3 offers. 

We accepted an offer just over listing with the buyer paying closing costs! That would not have happened as quickly without this kitchen and the tremendous help we had throughout the project. We have loved our home - and even more with the updates! Time to celebrate - and keep packing!