Riding Quad's and Horsy

Caitlyn was showing off her new helmet for riding on the quads. We spent the day at Mike's brother Brad & wife Patty's house. They live in the country in Cook Washington so we took the quads up so we could hit the trails with Mike's nephew Nicholas. We had a great ride but just as we cleared the woods on our way back to the house the rain hit.
Caitlyn got a very special gift this day. Mike's stepsister Cyndi gave Caitlyn a rocking horse that his dad made years ago. Cyndi has not had any kids and with none in the future she thought Caitlyn might enjoy it. What an amazing gift for her to have, something made by her Grandpa Gallagher that she never got to meet. It will truely be a family treasure for many generations.

American Flag Ceremony, continued

Here are a couple pics of Caitlyn before and after the ceremony. Hopefully next year she will sit still a bit more! She sure had fun waving her flags around though. And of course she was dressed for the occasion in Red, White & Blue.

American Flag Retirement Ceremony

On June 10th my parents had their local (Boring OR) Boy Scout Troop perform an American Flag Retirement Ceremony. As I am sure you all know, when an American Flag becomes worn the respectable thing to do is to no longer fly it. But then what do you do with it. One of the proper ways to dispose of the flag it to PROPERLY burn the flag. We had quite a few veterans present including two family members that were in WWII. Both of those veterans had a flag that needed proper disposing of. One of the flags was actually flown on the Arizona during the war. The ceremony included adding certain wood to the fire to symbolize certain things as well as the flag being cut a certain way. Each of the stripes were cut into their respective strips and the blue square with stars was cut as one piece. Due to the length of time this takes they did the full ceremony on the two war flags. The other five flags being presented for retirement were burned whole. It was a very interesting and moving ceremony and the boys did an amazing job. They even have one member that played the bugle. I think my parents are going to make this an annual event so if you would like to be included in future years or have a flag that needs retiring please just let me know and we will add it to next year event.

Rose Festival

This year the Rose Festival had a special meaning to my family. My Great Aunt (teal coat in front waving) was in the Grand Floral Parade. She was a Rose Festival Princess during WWII and because of the war there was no parade. This year being the 100th year of the festival they had a float for all the Princess' and Queens from the war years that never got to be in a parade. The whole family went to the parade. Some of the family watched in the Memorial Coliseum but the rest of us wanted the real parade experience. Unfortunately that meant battling the rain. Caitlyn had a great time. She waved to everyone that passed by. Every time a horse went by she said "orsy" and she danced and marched to all the bands. Afterwards the family gathered at my parents house for lunch and cake.

Spending the Day Helping Daddy in the Garage

This is what Caitlyn can look like after spending the day in the garage with Mike. At least she was having fun.

Mother's Day in Roseburg

This year we spent Mother's Day traveling to Roseburg. Mike's mom has been very ill and has been in the hospital for a little over two months. (She was just moved to a care facility) She is doing better then she was but will have a long recovery ahead of her. In between visits to the hospital that day we went to Mike's sister Laurie's house to spend some time with the rest of the family. Caitlyn played with her cousin Tanner in the yard while the rest of us made sure they stayed out of the pond construction. Caitlyn was very interested in her newest cousin Grace too.

May 9th

Caitlyn got some time to play with somone her own size. We were at a bridal shower for a gal I work with. Her new playmate is the son of another co-worker that was at the shower. Not a great picture but it was so cute when Caden tried to give Caitlyn a hug goodbye.

Bubbles!

Taking a bath at Grandma & Grandpa's with lots of bubbles!

Playtime

April 7th.
Caitlyn was getting in some play time after going to a suprise birthday for my boss's wife (hi Tomi). She kept rolling her ball under her bed so she could crawl in after it.

Irish Eyes

This pic was taken for the St Patrick's Day cards I sent to the grandparents.

Helping Daddy?

On March 15th Mike, with the help of Caitlyn, put in a new faucet at Grandma & Grandpa's. For some reason the job didn't get done any faster with a helper. Hmmm I wonder why?

The Rest of 1yr Pictures

Here are the rest of Caitlyn's 1yr pictures. I made the birthday hat for the big day. I got all the sewing done before we went to Jamaica but did all the trim work on the plane. She didn't think too much of actually wearing the hat however, oh well, maybe next year she will. As long as it takes to get things done anymore I better start sewing on the number two now - hehe. Caitlyn was showing off her new skill of blowing kisses. These pictures were taken on March 12th. It took me a while to get her in for her pics, only a month and a half late.

1 Year Pictures

The dress Caitlyn is wearing was mine as a little girl (and turned out I wore the same dress for my 1yr pics). She is also wearing her Grandma Wall's baby ring.

What a Smile

Here is one of my favorite pictures. This was taken on Feb. 26th. What a cute smile.

Keeping in Touch

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog. Boy never thought I would be saying that but Mike has convinced me that a blog will be an easier way for me to send updates to everyone more often then I have been via e-mails. Guess he is tired of my complaining about my lack of follow through. I am sure my postings will get better with time so until then just enjoy the pictures.

When I post updates to the blog I will send you an e-mail like I have in the past but it will just have the link to the blog.

So far I just posted a couple pictures for a trial run. I will add some more next week.

Enjoy!

Caitlyn playing in backyard

Here are some pictures of Caitlyn playing in the yard and with Max on May 29th. Taking pictures of Caitlyn was a good way to put off mowing the yard.