This wide, wonderful world!

Rod and I drove up to Washington to help our second daughter and her family move into their new house.  I was struck once again by how amazing this world is.  We put about 3,000 miles on our truck, through 6 states.  Fertile  fields, dry deserts, high mountain forests, sandy dunes, cliffs washed by ocean waves, even the cities left me with a sense of wonder.  What precious gift life on this beautiful world is and how often we fail to even see it.  TV reruns sometimes hold my attention more than the breathtaking sunset glowing  just outside my window.  I know there are sunrises too, but lets not get extreme.  Thanks to the magic of IPhones, we learned some interesting facts too.  We were held up on the road in Idaho because of a hay truck that caught fire.  Did You Know?  It's hay that is too damp that catches fire!   I had heard that hay would spontaneously combust...but I didn't  know why.  Hay that is too moist has increased bacterial growth...causing decreasing protein levels and exothermic reactions leading to increasing temperatures....eventually high enough to start a very stinky fire which, in this case, blocked the highway for almost 2 hours.  Now aren't you glad you read this blog? I didn't get a photo of it..  but here are some others.

 In Idaho..from the car window.

I admit that the water fascinates me the most....hey, I'm from a desert.

Oregon coast

This is a River...with real water flowing in it!  I think it was the Colombia River.

the bridge turns for boat traffic.  soo cool!

A light for boat traffic? Yup!

One side of the brigde

The other end of it.

 We stopped along the way and visited several missionaries and friends.  I didn't get photos of them for some reason. But, the purpose of our visit was mainly to see these cuties!

 

 

 All the furniture, toys and household goods you see in these photos were unpacked in 2 days.  We especially felt we needed to help as a new mom shouldn't be lifting heavy stuff, and the Dad had training in Cali for a couple of weeks.  We even helped get the Garage put together.  Very satisfying. 

That is a Lot of boxes!

A Feature of this house that we loved was this deck.

And there are flowers at her house!

 

There were the occasional wrestling breaks of course.

We had such a wonderful time.  How blessed we are!

More August Adventures

We were missing the Santan Valley grandkids, so we decided on a movie.  I wanted to see Kubo so they escorted me.  It was cute but a little intense in some parts.  I think the kids enjoyed playing on the games in the lobby as much as the movie.

 

  I even sprang for one game each.  My own kids would be shocked.  I never let them do such things.

She actually drove better than I would have done on this game.

In the car after a fun day!

 Oldest daughter had a birthday, so we went over and left her a surprise!  A clean house, cake, flowers, and hand crafted posters.  We sure do love her!  And Them!

We loved being part of a Niece's wedding too.  Such a gorgeous girl.

Beautiful reception too! Plus there were some fun 'good stories' too!



The center pieces were perfect to these cute girls.

 

The next post will feature our trip to Washington.  I know... you can't wait!
I sure do love our Amazing Family!