Sea level on the Seventh floor

Tony and I have really enjoyed our trips to the beach this year, but this was by far the most fun going to Seaside to stay at the Worldmark Resort with Brent, Randi, & Brennalyn.

Our room was on the 7th floor beach front, which made it a great view of the ocean both directions, and very peaceful.








Each day we took in a different activity, and Brennalyn was really a great sport with all the changes she has been going through. Not that she never had bad times, but considering how many times her schedule got shifted, I thought she did pretty good.

Walking the main strip with all the shops, candy(170 different kinds of Salt Water taffy), many kinds of fudge, ice cream, and of course the carousel ride draws in all the visitors.


Brennalyn expressed her true feeling for the carousel experience, or maybe for grama taking another picture. She seemed to be fine watching the animals go round and round, or all the bright colors, but when Randi got on to take her for a ride, she would scream. After two different attempts she decided Brennalyn was too traumatized , so they got off.













The morning that Brent & Tony went golfing, Randi, Brennalyn and I went for a walk out on the beach to enjoy the fresh air, but also to watch the hundreds of people who were out clamming. It was interesting to see people of all ages with waders on, digging for clams.
As much as I love sea food, clams have really never been one of my favorites, which made it easy for me not to feel left out for not getting any.









On one of the overcast, drizzly days we drove to Tillamook for squeaky cheese and ice cream at the cheese factory. It wasn't the prettiest drive due to the clouds, but all enjoyed the tasty adventure. On the way home from Tillamook we stopped at Mo's for clam chowder, fish & chips, and Brent got his oyster shooter.


The evenings were great times to relax playing games, or watch a movie. As you can see even Brennalyn was focused on the show. The best entertainment however was talking to Brennalyn, and listening to her stories.















The time seemed to go by all to quickly, as is usually the case when you are having a good time, but I guess reality needed to be faced once again. I am so grateful for the time we have had together making memories.

Brennalyn's blessing day

This day may have been special to family members both direct and extended, but to Brennalyn it was less than exciting. She was a bit overwhelmed with all the extra attention, the blessing dress which she dealt with for about 10 minutes before the meeting, then she had a total melt down and Randi took the dress off, and wrapped her in a blanket for the blessing. She at least stayed calm during the actual event.

After church both family and friends came here to the house for a BBQ dinner & visiting. Once again Brenna didn't last to long with all the over stimulation. What we all learned from this experience was that she really much rather deal with small groups, and taffeta fabric dresses are out of the question.
I enjoyed having all around from both near and far, as well as the many sacrifices to those that came here to show support on Fathers day. It was really special to have Randi's cousin come from Elk Washington, as well as some dear friends also from Elk. I know how much both Brent & Randi appreciated the gathering, and that Rodney, Lauren, and JoAnna were able to make a 24 hour turn around trip to make Brennalyn's big day even more special.


Thank You to all!

The cookie throw down

With Rodney, Lauren, and JoAnna being in town for such a short time, and so much needed to be done in preparation for Sunday, Randi decided we should have a "Cookie Throw down". The DeRoest's are quite competitive, and Randi shows all signs of being a true DeRoest.

The competition was between Tony who has been the family cookie baker for years with a secret ingredient of milk chocolate chip and butterscotch chips,








Rodney has perfected his own version of chocolate chip cookie and adds cinnamon for a great taste,
Randi who has vanilla pudding for her secret ingredient, and

Rodney's mother in law Stacey decided to enter her own special recipe with oats and nuts added.

After all dough was made and cookies were baked we all sat down to warm cookies with milk and judged what we like most about each secret recipe. I think Randi's cookie received the most votes, however it was also decided that a combination cookie would be very delicious. We all ended on a sugar high, but had a wonderful time together.

All the remainder cookies baked were put a on large platter for treats for Sunday.

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy,
There are lots of ways to address a father... I choose to call you "Daddy" because it seems to be the most personal way to tell you that you've made a difference in my life. You've been such an example of love and service every day AND I want you to know that you are loved from afar. I hope that you have a wonderful Father's Day and enjoy the blessings of the family there with you. Wish we could've joined the party but you understand... :) Love you forever!

My sweet boy

Hi, happy Sunday. How are you doing?
I just got off the phone with my hubby not too long ago. We started out with multiple calls that were a couple minutes each. Eventually we had a real conversation. This is his long day & he'll be going back to working nights. His last email account is no longer an option. He didn't say they had a new one, so I'll wait to see if he writes from it.
Anthony has appreciated the mail & support. He looks forward to the updates & pics each week along with the phone call. We rely on that one call since email hasn't been happening for a while now. We both agree that weeks can feel like months..and one day feels like two or three. (Most of the time).
Here in Georgia there was quite a lot to juggle in a week. I guess I should be used to it--seems to have always been the case. (: Some of our week included car appts (and near future appts to set up), Father's day planning, fixing our internet situation, getting air fare & many on-going daily/weekly cleaning, errands, outings, meetings etc. We're having an Enrichment conference toward the end of the month so that will add to this coming week. I'm happy to say we did have some time to talk to friends & family and go to the gym. Troy (one of E's friends--refer to Easter pics) is having a play date with Ethan on Tuesday. His mom wanted to give me a couple hours to myself. What a sweet, wonderful, lovely girl!!! I'm not sure if I'm exuding stress (: or she really wants her son to be more social as she said. hmm I shared with Anthony a few of E's moments..all just in a few hours time...Rita & I had nursery duty since no one arrived who was assigned for the day. Usually Ethan is into the singing time but he & Josh both acted out since their moms were there. He ran to the stand (eventually) on a trip through our fast and testimony meeting. (Yes, we're clearly the reverent family). This was after coming back from changing him. At this point he was mad b/c Josh had left the building. Needless to say, we rarely make it through all 3 hours. After getting home and eating, he locked himself in Jersey's room. Thankfully he could be talked through unlocking it. I was dreading taking another door knob apart. He is fun & definitely keeps things more interesting to say the least. We love you, have a good week.
Chelsea