And a wonderful weding it was

If you look carefully you will see the tissue in the right hand that was used a couple of times;~)

It finally happened after many months of planning, frustrations, doubts, tears, excitement, happiness, and emotional roller coaster March 26th finally arrived. It was Paul's and Heather's wedding. I know it has been a long time since I opened this blog. In fact I had forgot and had to reset my password twice, but this was such a special occasion with some special people I thought ity deserved to be published in the World News Gorst.

What a day for many of us that had lived through the preplanning and the ups and downs that go with the reality of an upcoming marriage. For some this was a first time experience others experianced it before, some living through their own rememberances. But today belonged to Paul and Heather and they deserved this moment.

Here comes the Bride in all her beauty - You look lovely Heather

The very happy and serious Groom with proud mothers

The top picture groom attendants from left Chris, Paul's son Nicholas, and best friend of family Clark

Attending matrons: from right Heather's younger sisters (unfortunately I don't know their names (oops on me) and Tiffany

DID HE OR DID HE NOT?

He did. As many of you were aware Doug was determined to pee on the Four Corners Monument. I swear he is part Dog not Doug. In past trips he has peed on the Continental Divide marker and the Meridian marker and was thus determined the Four Corners would not escape his territorial markings.

As you can see from the picture it may not seem too obvious as this site presented a Major problem. There were constantly people around the monument. Not to be deterred Doug was looking at his options and started strategizing his approach. First he canvassed the area for a cup. None to be found! He next he looked in our car for something and he thought a 16 oz. Coke Cup would be too obvious.

So the next item may be too graphic for sensitive for some viewers.

He went into the Porta Potty,gathered himself a wad of toilet paper, and peed in to the wad, carried it out to the monument and squeezed it dry. This reporter could not believe what he was seeing so a photo is "seeing is believing".

And the rest of the story - afterwards there are NO faucets, drinking fountains nor lavatories thus no way to wash his hands. This reporter could not have asked for more poetic justice.

HELP LET ME OUT!

One of the most memorable things about visiting my sister Stephanie and her family is the hours we spending laughing and telling stories. From a family of thirteen and many more in offspring, there are so many stories we have told and have yet to discover. This evening on our first major stop of our journey through Idaho, on our way to Texas, to enjoy a wonderful, specially prepared dinner by Stephanie. To our surprise she had invited her son, Tony, and daughter, Tori. We missed you Misty.
For many of you having spent any length of time with me and my brother Doug it is understandable why most of my sibling's off-spring hesitate to introduce any new girlfriends or boyfriends to either of us without a disclaimer of our personalities, unending wit and sarcasm. My brother Doug's especially.
Tonight was no exception Tony, my naive Godson brought his girlfriend to the slaughter. Her first comment was, "I have already been briefed and I am prepared!" NOT! You can never prepare for the rewarding experience of a first time meeting with Doug. It is only as a salvation I accompany him to buffer the pain and agony. Tonight was no exception. Tonight, if the barbeque was not hot enough Kim was ROASTED to perfection. I can truthfully say from a magnificent dressing down by Doug she was provisionally allowed to spend the remainder of the evening with us and later proved to be worth her intiation by paving the trail to an unmerciful dressing down of boyfriend Tony.
Here is the story: Kim to Tori (Stephanie's daughter) "I have found the perfect wall paper for our bathroom." Tori: "Really what?" Kim: "Wallpaper with Outhouses." This immediately brought laughter from Tori and Stephanie and an explanation to those of us not privy to the story. It seems that Nels (Tori's husband) and Tony were up camping and while Nels was passed out in the back of the vehicle Tony LOCKED HIMSELF IN THE OUTHOUSE. While Tony was red with embarrassment Tori suggested: "Tony, why don't you tell them the story." Tony's response: "Which time?" Oh, oh, NO. You didn't say that Tony did you? You didn't just say: "WHICH TIME?" Yep, he did, he not only locked himself in the outhouse this time but TWO OTHER TIMES besides. Now any of us that have experienced Outhouse use know it is virtually impossible to lock yourself in let alone the fact that, most outhouses do not have much more than blocks of woods as handles, old screen door hook and eyes, or a block of wood that shoves into a slot. So how do you lock yourself inside an outhouse. Tony can and Tony did not once, but three times, so here is the rest of the story. Several years ago Tony's dad Gary, took Tony to one of the Casinos in Nevada and they had modernized their urinals with automatic flush-o-meters. This opened a wonderful opportunity for Gary and he proceeded to tell Tony that the way these units worked was to stand back and say, "I'm done now." Bang! On cue the flush-o-meter opened up and water gushed out. Tony had never forgotten this valuable lesson from his dad so on three seperate occassions in three different outhouses Tony stood up and shouted at the door, "okay I'm done now!" SOME PEOPLE WILL NEVER GET OFF THE LITTLE BUS!

A DAY AT THE ZOO

Oh My Gosh!! Thank goodness there were NO PARENTS allowed on this day trip. With Great Uncles almost anything is okay, shoes, shirts, socks and all. Ah ha yep, yep, yep, thank goodness for Grand Uncles and Grand Parents. They can be so much fun!!

One thing about taking a 7-year old and a 2-year old to the zoo, it is not always about the animals. Aside from the Ice Creams and Lemonades there is the sprinklers and the fountains. Catch them if you can.

And of course dressing up as a starfish is just as fun as running through the fountains.

Even if one size does NOT always fit all!!

And though the Lions and the Tigers and the bears oh and the Belluga Whale were noticeably missing in the overcast and muggy weather. "The puppies", as Tayla shouted were an okay draw and worth a pose - well, maybe, if you note the ho hmm expression Tayla dispalyed.

And of course some of the wonderful things about spending the night away from home are kid's movies (especially Disney), staying up late, waking up late, and making car and truck pancakes

And then it is down to some serious painting of wall plaques for Dad and Mom. Such dedicated concentration.

Finishing up the minute details with a dot here and a dot there of sparkle before the finished product was ready to give to Dad and Mom. - Oh, did I mention that when it was time to go home it was a tearful event of "We don't wanta go home Uncle Ray" ;~> Dang do I have them spoiled!!!

I am including this picture, not because I took it - just in case there was a question - but because it reminded me of an experience I had sometime with my great niece Hailey.

I was holding her and she was looking at my face and she was asking me about my mustache and wrinkles and for a brief moment it made me realize how old I was.

That is until a second later I realized how much age difference there was between us and what a wonderful feeling it was to be as old as I was and holding this wonderfully dear child that unquestionably loved me. Her questions were in innocence and meant no judgement and I felt young again.

I sure love all my nieces and nephews because I share such special moments with each of them.

Yesterday a friend and I went to "The Great Wall", an Asian shopping mall, an old Home Base conversion, and enjoyed Dim Sun. It has been years since I had Dim Sun and I remember now why. Every cart that was rolled into my sight had a sign that said "pick me"! It is a good thing my friend is Asian because with her help I was able to be more selective rather than attempt every morsel and have her roll me out of there.
She ordered one dish before I realized, she speaks Chinese, it was TRIPE!!! I HATE TRIPE!!! It is one of the most horrifying dishes I remember. My Dad used to spend Sundays cooking up a big pot of Menuda and all of us kids except my youngest sister who has been diagnosed as DEMENTED, hated it. However, my Dad being from the old school unwaveringly insisted we would eat Menudo until THE POT WAS EMPTY!
This most likely was thebeginning of my theatrical career because I could convince God I loved that C*** as I choked down each tiny morsel. For those of you my firends who do not know what tripe is, it is cow's gut.
Back to the present, here is this bowl sitting in front of me, my friend licking her lips as she begins spooning it on her plate, and I reminiscing about Sunday in our house.
Okay so what does a man do I mean he is with his best friend and they are sharing a wonderful time - I PLUNGE! I dish some on my plate trepidly bring it to my lips and I LIKE IT. I am so crushed, so disappointed in myself another part of my past cast to the wind. I even brought the left overs home.

I'm BACK! I have decided to resurrect my blog site and I will attempt to reunite with so many of you my friends who encouraged me to get my butt back in gear and start blogging again. I hope I will become more regular than every six months.

I am hoping with the help of Tiffany to begin downloading some of my photos that you asked about. Don't blame me if I start overwhelming you. So with instructions I received from dear Tiffany here comes my first attempt. ------ WISH ME LUCK!!



This picture is from my file of last year when I was attending O.C. taking a photography class. It certainly showed my beginning steps of becoming a world class photographer. It is a picture of one of the fountains at the downtown Bremerton Conference Center.