This weekend was busy..

I had to show you these also.. I took these while was out walking at Jade and Deb's I love how the road looks going up to his house.. it is so beautiful.

I had 600 hundred students from the 2006 Archdiocesan Youth Conference of Portland. They were here for 2.5 days.. What a great group of kids... I worked a full 12 hours on Saturday only half of a day on Sunday... but fun was had by all. Robert was going to help me, but he forgot that he had a Special Olympics meeting so I worked it by myself. Everyone was so nice that I never stressed at all. I sold a ton of coffee to the parents so they could keep up with the kids.. *grin*

I crashed on Monday.. I couldn't hardly get out of my own way.. lol

I have to show you what my daughter and her husband brought back from New York for me.. I was so excited.. I love it!!


Robert and I have been getting rooms ready for the kids and that leads to other things.. yikes.. we have been organizing and cleaning.. we have gone through a ton of things.. and after the holidays we will get back to painting. We went through all the toys and cleaned out garbage and cleaned them up a bit. rearranged one of the guest rooms.. it is amazing the things you find.
thats it for now.

 

 

 

I got home tonight from Jade and Deb's .. Jade watched all four of the kids while Deb and I had a girls day out.. we went to Costco Home Store in Kirkland to look for bedroom sets.. and she found one.. she was very happy to get that done finally. We had a great time of shopping and went to lunch in one of our favorite little places. We got some Christmas shopping done.. and then we to our favorite Indian Restaurant Chutneys in Bellvue for dinner, and we were not disappointed.. the food was fabulous as usual.

We finally got rid of those black holes in the kitchen.. it was so nice to get the black appliances replaced.. I was so glad when the refrigerator started having problems... yahooooo so then we decided we would go ahead and replace them, now the kitchen looks so much brighter.. the light reflects off of the stainless steel.

I can't sleep we are having another storm and the windows are rattling and keeping me awake.

I love this picture of Alexis.. I played around with Photo shop and did a black and white with a little color.

The weather has been a bit crazy around here… Storming.. High Winds.. The winds flipped our patio table over on its side and the glass top on the ground… didn’t break.. We had our blow up pumpkins and turkey on the deck so the kids could see them when they came over but the wind was just too much and we feared they would end in the ocean… or torn to shreds. So they were moved into the house to dry out.



Everyone said we were going to get tons of kids for Halloween.. So we bought a bunch of candy.. We only had 15 at the most.. So needless to say we have a lot of candy left over. I think with all the events at school.. And local stores they don’t go to houses much anymore.

We went to Jade and Debs the day they were taking the boys to the pumpkin patch… we had so much fun.. I don’t know who had the most fun.. The boys , or us watching them.. We went on a hay ride, and we all enjoyed that also. We bought many pumpkins and then made our way home for a great meal.




The coffee stand has kept me busy… I worked two large events and I worked up a sweat. Phyllis came down to help me … she was awesome. The event with 1200 students she had to leave at 3:00 and when she left all heck broke loose and thank goodness for my hubby.. He came down and helped.. .I must have sold a couple hundred Italian Sodas. And 50 something chi teas. I have another large student event coming up next week and I am going to stock up for that.. I actually ran out of stuff and Robert and Monte brought it down.. But then we ended up having to buy more again.. the next day I worked by my self.. Yikes.. That was an experience.. But I did it.

Monte and Phyllis came down for the yearly stormy weather art festival… and it was really stormy this time.. LoL.. We were soaked to the bone. We of course had to do the usual art galleries and shops we like. While Phyllis and I were working the coffee stand… Robert and Monte were at home fixing lighting and surprised me… by getting the garage organized… I was so shocked… and thankful.. .I was able to park in the garage and it was so nice since the weather has been so bad.

I went to take pictures of the stormy cove area.. My favorite place to go.. It was crazy wild.. I wish my pictures really showed how crazy it was.. I loved it.. The waves actually came up over the road and brought with it rocks and logs. They had to close it for awhile. When they reopened I went to take pictures… while I was there I had to take off running when a wave came way up.. And then I was taking pictures and saw something wash up on the rocks turns out it was a huge seal.. But he was deceased… looks like he might have been lunch for something much larger… and in a blink the ocean came and picked him up again.




Robert has been at his mom’s helping her get settled in and moving items out of her house and getting things ready to put up for sale. She has been trying to pare down for her little apartment.

Alexis and Danelle’ are here visiting for a few days and we are have a great time with them. The girls and I spent the day down at the prom yesterday ( so glad we did.. It is pouring today). We went shopping and they went on the carousel twice each… we went for coffee (and cocoa) .. We walked down to the water of course they wanted to go on the beach and I said no way… it started raining and we had to run for our lives.
We sure have enjoyed them being here.. Danelle’ wanted a new book so we bought her one and Robert read it to them last night. You really should see my house… it looks like I have had 6 kids here instead of two little girls.. Sunday we are heading up to Deb and Jades.. Jade is going to take care of all 4 of the kids while Deb and I go to Costco home store to look at Beds.. Wooohooo… and hopefully have time for some other fun things.






Robert is home early today which is nice… he has been working the road in this wild weather. He looked so cute in his little rain gear uniform. I am sure he is very tired.. but he has been having fun with the girls and helping Alexis with her homework.. but he is barely hanging on.. he needs to go to bed. I really need to get the blog updated more often.. then it won't be so hard each time.

Thats it for now... take care and let us know how you are doing

Ok.... we have been sooooo busy..

I know I know... there have been people bugging me about where the
blog is. Here I am.. it has been so long.. Two and a half months! It really has
been so busy. Excuse typos nonesense etc.. *grin*

August was a busy month of preparing for Shayne's memorial which we
celebrated here in Seaside.. it was a wonderful tribute to him. It was
a humbling, emotional, tearful journey I think that he was honored in
the way that Florence, Eleasha and Josh wanted. Police Chaplain Jerry Gaidos
performed the memorial for Shayne.. what a great job he did. After the
memorial we all went to the beach and had a fire and smores, we stayed
out for several hours. I enjoyed having my family here.

Robert was busy like crazy all summer.. He had National Night out..
that went very well, volleyball tournament (it was crazy in town), we
had a parade with the Clydesdale horses.. Wheels & Waves,and Hood to
Coast, He did the "Buddy Walk" for children with down syndrome, going
back and forth to Portland and Corvallis for meetings and tri-cities
for him mom.

We have had a lot of work done on the yard.. though it doesn't really
look like it.. but I guess that is where that saying comes from..
"chaos before order" yikes.. what a mess. The retaining wall is done
and the city said we passed inspection.. yahoo.. it is so nice that it
is done. isn't that a riot... the house is 6 years old.. we are the 3rd
owners and we are just now passing inspection. We had all the ivy
pulled from the slope.. that cost us 6 times what we thought it would
be.. yikes. and we have not been able to get anything done to it
because we were waiting for the boulders delivered.. they are now in..
and of course they were huge at the nursery.. but when they placed
them down on the slope they shrunk.. *grin*.. so we may be adding
more.. we will see.

I enjoyed having Florence's neighbor (my friend now) and her sister
visiting Seaside, I was able to get together with them a couple of
times during their time here.

Little girl Danelle' decided that she wanted to come down for a few
days by herself (without her mommy, she is so funny) we had a good
time. unfortunately I was still suffering from a concussion so we
didn't run around as much as I would like to have.

Judy and Sherry from Reedsport were here for a few days for a
conference at the convention center, I enjoyed getting together with
them. It was so much fun to have them here.

Alexis decided it was her turn to come down.. so she was here for
several days... by then my head was semi normal (shut up!) no
dizziness or headaches. We had such a great time.. we walked and
walked and went to the beach. we shopped, we went to lunch. The Gross
family came down and they went to the beach and she had a
great time with the boys. We are so blessed to have them so much closer to us.

Of course we got together with our friends Monte and Phyllis.. not as
much as we would like because of everything going on.. but we did
take a trip to Newport for Roberts Birthday.. what a great time
we had. we stayed at a place that Robert and I stayed at all the time
when we were younger. Monte and Phyllis turned us on to two games we
have never played before.. "Mexican Dominoes", and "Sequence", they are
both fun games. We shopped but I told Robert nothing for me.. it was
his birthday and he was the only one that was going to buy something..
he bought himself a hat, he was very happy. The next day everyone went
to breakfast with out me.. (I wanted to sleep in) Robert brought me
back a glass sand dollar that I saw while we were out the day
before.he is so good to me. The kids and I went together to buy him
the phone that he wants.. it is like the blackberry but it is by
Cingular. We had a great time driving around checking out the areas..
looking at houses.

On the way home Robert decided to show we a different route home..
going through Pacific City.. we stopped for lunch at a great place for
lunch.. The Pelican Brewery.. you need to go.. food was great and the
view was awesome. Looks like a up and coming town.. lots of surfers,
sand boarders and volleyball players.

I have been busy with my volunteering at the hospital, and I have
started working now and then at the convention center Latte' cart. I
have had a great time doing that. I only work when there are events
that would sell coffee. There were a couple of events that I broke a
sweat. (*grin*) just think about it.. you can have a latte' whenever
you want... what a job!! Weirdest thing happened.. the owner said he
wants to sell the cart.. I was telling my boss at the hospital and she
told me the hospital one was for sale also... well Robert and I are thinking of
buying the one in the convention center.. for a couple of reasons.. 1.
you only work the events. 2. the hospital doesn't do well it and you
have to pay rent (small hospital) the one at the convention center you
just have to pay a % of profit. Robert can help weekends and evenings
if the time arises. He already has helped make shots one day when I
was alone and I was busy.. he came by to see how I was doing..
everyone got a kick out of him showing up in uniform. We will let you
know how that goes, if we decide to do it.
We are happy to say that Robert's mom is feeling better.. and
hopefully she will continue on that road, She is doing well adjusting
to the independent living apartment. My mom is going to have a procedure
done on Wednesday for her heart.. I hope that goes well.. she is
worried she is going to have to have a stint put in.

Update… Mom came through well… they had to put in three stints ,
and already in her room.. Wanting to go home.. But she has to do a
night in the hospital.

I am not sure that I have covered everything.. But I did my best.

Hugs.. To you all.. Love Joy and Bob

A Day At The Beach..

Hello there... well it has been a little bit but I haven't been up to much... I smacked my head and have been dealing with headaches and dizziness ever since I got home from the Tri Cities.

We are very happy to tell you that Roberts mom is now home... and she is very glad to be there. she is doing more each day ... and looks forward to feeling like her self.

Baby Girl Brooke is doing awesome growing quickly, Andrew and Brie drive mommy nuts with wanting to hold her all the time. Alexis and Danelle' thought she was pretty cool also.

Boy it was so hot in the Tri-Cities that it was so nice to be home in cooler weather.. but as soon as I said that it got quite warm here and people were swarming here from Portland to get near the water. Deb and the Boys came down and brought my niece Eleasha with them.. we all went to the beach for the day.. it was fun.. but warm.. Robert and Eleasha got a little bit of a burn... we stayed out until everyone was tired. Eleasha is here with me now.. I hope I can find some fun things for a 14 year old to do.. so she doesn't think I am a dork *grin* but I know she wants to go and see "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" again *grin* Robert and I are going to take her wednesday night. Then I think we will go see what the paddle boats are like on thursday if the weather stays nice.

Poor Robert he has been having to go to the Police department almost every night several times a night.. like right now he is there and it is 2:00am... the server keeps crashing and he is the only one around right now that can get it back up and working.. the person that does is on vacation.. I am sure he will be very happy when they get a new one.

Hugs to Everyone

Brooke Lynn Dodson

Yahooo... Our 7th grandbaby made her way into the world July 10th... She is beautiful and healthy.

Roxane and Phil are the proud parents.. Andrew (13) is the proud big brother and Brie (8) is the very proud big sister.

Here is the link for more photos... *click me*

We Will Never Forget You...

click on picture to see larger

We lost my brother in love.. Shayne on June 6th,

Husband of Florence
Father of Josh & Eleasha

We are deeply saddened and miss him so much.

I was in Washington for a month and have had company since I have arrived home... I am headed to Washington again this weekend to greet our new granddaughter as she enters this world. I should be able to get back to updating you all when I return.

Joy & Robert

Memorial Weekend

Check out the PHOTO link to the right for more photos..

Hi Everyone... I hope you all are doing well... and enjoyed your long weekend. Robert sure enjoyed the time off. Monte and Phyllis came down and we had a great time of resting and watching movies.

We did go and see the largest sitka tree in the united state.. I had no idea it was here. It was raining but still fun... we also went to a local nursery and Monte and Phyllis bought a few plants that Phyllis loved.

While we were out running around in our favorite places Robert found an awesome dragonfly doorbell.. so Monte and Robert put it in yesterday... it is very cool.

After Monte and Phyllis left for home... Jade and Deb and the boys came down for the day.. and the sun decided to come out.. so we went and played on the beach.. the boys loved it... and of course we did also.. We came home and played with the boys and fed them... and Deb and Jade snuck out the door and went to dinner in a little bistro in Cannon Beach.. they said they had a good time. They hung around for a while and we enjoyed their company, then it was time for them to head home.. the boys I am sure probably fell asleep on the way home.

Seaside was packed with people as usual.. and I was amazed with how many people were in the ocean.. there was a jet ski out there, now that looked like fun.. I truly am so thankful to be living here.

Those of you that met my brother in law Shayne (my sister Florence husband) please say a prayer for him.. he is not doing well right now and can really use the prayers. Roberts mom is getting better each week.. I am sure she is tired of feeling tired all the time. I am heading to the Tri-Cities to be with her for a few weeks.

Judy and Mike Macho came up for the weekend on the 20th.. they were here to meet Judy's cousin that was on a cruise and the ship docked in Astoria for a day.. so they got to visit and tour Astoria. I was in Washington at Alexis's school auction but then came home to join them for a visit... it was good to see them.

Roxane is tired of carrying that baby she says *grin*... her girlfriends are having a baby shower for her.. and it is while I am in the TC's so that works out wonderful so I can be there and not have to go back and forth. It is a long ride.

Have a great week... Robert and Joy

Had to brag...

Adam Amato / The Chronicle

Centralia Firefighter Jade Gross works through the ash and smoke to reach one of the last hot spots in a wildfire that consumed a small parcel of land above Little Hanaford Road east of Centralia Tuesday afternoon.

Just to let you know...

I just wanted to let everyone know we are fine... we are very busy but fine.. Robert has been going back and forth to the Tri-Cities to see his mom. I have been going back and forth baby sitting for the kids loving on the grandbabies. Patiently waiting for the newest granddaughter to come into the world... "Brooke Dodson"

Robert is still running is has gotten up to 5 miles a day.. and has lost 26 pounds. me... hmmm... run I don't think so.. I do get on the treadmill from time to time.. I have lost 21.6 pounds... sorry but if I lose .6 I am putting it in print *grin*

He is very busy with the daily work at the department and working on Special Olympics, his passion.

The weather here is awesome... yesterday the temp was 96.. so I spent quite some time at the beach.. we are working on decorating the house.. and have someone working on the yard for us.. just for this year.. it needs help.

Ok.. that is enough for today..