An Epic Trip

I was in Wisconsin a few weeks ago to go to the Epic XGM conference.  It has been five and a half years since I was there for certification training and a lot has changed.  I didn't revisit any of the office buildings I had already seen and it still took several hours of the course of three days to see the new buildings. 

Here is just a glimpse of the new auditorium, dining facility and office buildings that I saw.  There is so much attention to detail in the design and decor of each office building to fit the theme of the building-including the carpeting, types of windows, office doors, and name plates.

Not only did I get to see the Epic campus again, I got to see four of my cousins that I hadn't seen in 30-40 years.  So fun catching up with them.

I got to go home to Tomah for one night.  Enjoyed seeing my family and exploring around town a little.  We had fish fry at Murray's on Main.  It is the new restaurant that is on the site that the TeePee used to be.  I like that they have photos of when the old building was a livery stable and theater and that they have the Indian maiden and TeePee neon sign in their bar as a tribute to the history of the site.  We went out to see Mandy's goats and I enjoyed seeing the Amish both driving out on the Ridge and in town.

Camas Lilies

I have tried to see the Camas Lily Fields in Camas for many years now but have never timed it quite right.  After living here twenty six years, I was finally able to see them in bloom.  It was amazing to see field after field of camas blossoms.  Now that I know when a good time to go is, I will probably try to go more often.

Timothy and Izzy's Wedding

Time has flown by so fast this year.  It is hard to believe that it has been five months since I have last updated my blog.  I guess I have been busy.  Since I am so far behind, I am just going to hit the highlights and one of the biggest things that happened was that Bill and I went to our nephew's wedding.  It was definitely an experience of a lifetime to attend a Sikh wedding and Christian wedding on the same day and all the other events surrounding it.

Here are the layouts I made from the photos that were taken over the course of the four days we were there.

Celebrating Christmas

Just before Christmas, my work group celebrated with a cookie exchange.  I felt left out last year when I didn't participate due to our diet.  I decided to do it this year and made pumpkin cookies.  Even at half a dozen from each of us, that was a lot of cookies.  This cookie monster ate a lot.

Christopher was off on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I was on call so we couldn't really do anything away from home and he was pretty tired and slept a lot as well.  But we did spend some time making Christmas cookies together.  He always loves doing that.  He wanted to make sugar cookies.  I haven't made them in forever because I don't like cutting them out and cleaning up the mess.  I even got rid of all my cookie cutters but he insisted so we used a wine glass to cut out our cookies.  We made a few other kinds as well.  Great mother son time together.

Chris and I went to Christmas Eve service at Columbia Presbyterian.  It was a beautiful candlelight service.  I loved their huge advent wreath. 

They also have a great nativity display.  

We saved celebrating Christmas for when Tom arrived on the 27th.  We had our own little Christmas miracle.  Tom called the night before he was supposed to arrive to let us know all his flights had been canceled due to the thunderstorms they had in the Dallas area.  He was disappointed and didn't want anything to stop his Christmas holiday so he checked with American Express concierge and was able to get even better flights through them using his points and got home 12 hours after he announced he wasn't going to be able to come.  So happy to have my whole family together!  On the 28th we officially celebrated Christmas.  Tom made breakfast for us.  Once Chris got home from work, we opened gifts.  We had duck, mashed potatoes, bacon and garlic green beans and roasted beet and goat cheese salad for dinner.

Since Tom hasn't seen our friends in a long time and many of them don't seen Chris that often either, I decided that I wanted to have an open house to give our friends a chance to see the boys.  With it being a busy time of the year, so many couldn't come and a few were sick but we had a great time with those who came to help us celebrate the holidays. 

It has been a long time since we had the two Toms together.  Tom was named after Tom Grace.  They met for the first time when Tom was four months old.  I promised them that I wouldn't make Tom sit on Tom G.'s lap.  Great to have a photo of them together 29 years later.

Bill, Chris and I celebrated New Years Eve by going to Birch St. Lounge to hear our friend Shannon Roberts sing. 

Tom went to Cannon Beach to attend his best friend's wedding.  

And they had a bonfire on the beach to bring in the New Year.

Here is to a wonderful 2019.  May it be everything we dream of.

Holiday Parties

Our parties this year seem to be front loaded to the beginning of the month and Christopher's work party was in November.

The mission took their employees out on the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler for a dinner cruise on the Willamette.  Someone he works with offered to take his shift that night so he could go.  He had a great time meeting people from the mission that he never sees since he works night shift.

Bill and I went to the Southwest Washington Contractors Association party.  The theme this year was "Baby It's Cold Outside" and the attire was ugly Christmas sweaters.  We bucked that and just wore regular party attire.  We don't own ugly Christmas sweaters and didn't want to buy any.  They had a llama there which was fun.

Friends invited us to their home to watch the Army Navy game.  We had a toast to an Army victory with moonshine.  Army sang second again this year!  It was a hard fought game but Army ended up winning 17-10.

After the Army Navy game, we headed down to the flying club for our party there.  Nice meal with friends.

No more parties that I know of anyway.  So just waiting for the big day to get here to celebrate our Savior's birth.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving was spent with friends.  Since we invited a vegetarian and some with a gluten intolerance, we changed up the menu this year and tried some things that Christopher found on the internet and had prime rib instead of turkey.  We had a really nice time spending the evening with friends.

I have much to be grateful for including family and friends.  It is always good to remember that.