It's Bob's Birthday Today!

Wow, I'm married to a 59 year old man. Time sure flies by. We tried celebrating his birthday all weekend. We had many church things to attend to this weekend, but we did have a nice time going out with friends on Saturday night. When the bill came, so did a keylime pie. Thank you Woodlands for surprising him. That was such a treat! Dave, you are really receptive (Bob had just said how wonderful the keylime pie was at the Brock's wedding reception).Bob's got will power, he said he would pick up his own birthday cake on Friday night. This is what he came home with.. yes, he bought his own cake(s) for all of us to enjoy. He knows I'm not a big fan of chocolate, so he even bought me the carrot cake (Yum).

Today Bob is having a lunch date with his 2 favorite friends from our West Linn ward, Dave & Mike. I would hate to be the waitress today... amazing how loud they could be (Alright, not Mike as much as the other two). We love you Bob, have a GREAT day and a FABULOUS year to come!

(How are people able to take pictures of themselves? We sure could use a lesson)

Derek was happy to play Happy Birthday to his dad! Enjoy the little video. We could have done it over, but it's cute to see how he'll do it until he gets it right!

And the paint job continues!

My good friend Mindy told me that we could have our blogs put into books, sort of like a personal journal. So at times you may not be interested in my little post, but this one is for the book.
Our paint job keeps going. As you read, we have painted most everything outdoors that there is to paint. We extended the roof so it wouldn't be flat, and then we fixed the sidewalk (No more tripping over cracks in the cement mom) and now we finished the garage with a new paint job, an attic space and new cupboards (I know you are thrilled to see the new garage). Justin's Custom Woodworks came..they measured, built, and installed some pretty nice looking cupboards. They are pretty bare, so you know what that means... I'll have to take a picture with the filled (Which won't be hard at all).
Bob, yes, they are done and I hope you like the finished product as well as I do.
Oh dad, here is the new sidewalk.

A Sunset just for you on your Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!
If you could have only seen it. This sunset was about the best so far. Wish you could have watched it with Derek & I. I thought of you mom and knew if you had have been here you would have had us all standing out on the porch watching it happen! We miss you, and we will continue to share our sunsets with you. (For all of you that didn't know, Utah has no sunsets.. just kidding)

Once again...

If you skip down a few postings this one will make sense.
We are still having "things" done to our house (You can check out the paint job that has escalated to more and more things that need to be done... usually fix ups happen when people are getting ready to move.. that won't be the case with us so not worries). We are having cupboards installed in our garage. The guys that built them and are putting them in are just really nice guys (Justin's Woodworking Company), the other day they had to leave early so they left us a note. It made me laugh. So once again I need to make an appointment for some speech therapy!

Another "burr"... morning

I was up early on Saturday. Our church here in Bend has a "Great Give Away". It has grown every year. It's a huge "free" garage sale type event. Everyone brings their items (clothing, housewares, furniture)two days before, and than on Saturday it is already to go. It is a fabulous event for our community. The line was incredibly long until the doors were opened. I was there to help, but it seemed like the "race was on" and people pretty much found what they wanted.
This isn't why I blogged this post.. the post was to say how cold it was. My little Bob Shaw weatherman on the counter didn't show the outside weather (Maybe he was still asleep since he is working the 11:00 news now), but when I got going in my car I had to stop, take out my camera and shoot the temperature. Yes, it was cold! But now this week we are suppose to have 90 degree weather (No, I didn't see or hear about it on the weather channel. I heard about it on the local rock and roll radio station).

Yes, we live in Bend, Oregon.

(Kent, in case you were wondering, my car is a 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara XL.7 and it has 90,780 miles on it currently.. about the gas mileage.. humm, I wouldn't know)

This is why we like Bend, Oregon

The thing about Bend is, we "always" have cool nights.

Last week we had high temperatures.. but this weekend we are having GREAT weather. Dee you failed to let me know what the weather channel was saying about our upcoming weather. For our friends in Nevada, California & Texas come here to cool off!

Our little weather man here on our temperature gauge... we call him "Bob Shaw" after our weather man shows the outside temp. on top and our house temp. on the bottom. Look what the newspaper shows for upcoming days.

Do I need speech therapy?

This has happened to me twice.
First time was a Jamba Juice. The young boy at the register asked me my name. He looked at me and said "Really" I said yes. Than when the girl was ready with our drinks she went and spoke to the young boy. She than said, "Order ready for Chill."
I just dismissed it and took my drinks wondering if I'm the one that needs speech, not Derek... or no wonder people have a hard time understanding Derek, his mom has problems. Wednesday I took Derek and Lyndee to MacDonald's (I stopped by Subway for my meal.. just so you that know me know that I still don't do fast food). When Derek's order was ready I could barely hear my name, but I knew it was his so I went up to get it. There on the receipt once again was written Chill.
Oh well, what's in a name! Yes Alisha, I had to blog it.

The Bledsoes came by to "Hang" out!

Rebecca and her family have been anxious to attend the Rick's Family Reunion at Mt. Shasta, at Shasta Lake. Lucky for us they were able to stop over and spend time with us before and after the reunion. I wanted to kidnap the boys and hold them hostage for the week, but the other grandma would have not approved them not being in attendance. Justin's brother and wife (James and Tina) and their 5 children came one night before and after the reunion as well. It was a housefull, but it sure was fun. Trey discovered our climbing tree (thanks Clawson kids for pointing out that it was climbable), had fun again on the 6 wheeler, and he LOVED being out with the cows. The picture shows him with Patty (read in another post about Patty the Cow-Whisperer) Rebecca apologized for Trey being in his p.j.'s but you know how excited 4 year olds can be about getting out the door ready for a trip. In fact he had been counting down the days for 2 weeks. The morning that they were leaving to come to Bend Trey ran in their room and said, "Today is July 25th, we are going to Bend!")

Now that he is 4 years old he "isn't scared a bit of them" Tian was excited to sit with Grandpa Bend on the 4 wheeler, and Rebecca had to get a picture of him with all the cousins too.



Sunday with both Bledsoe families here we still made it to church on time(Altogether there was 14 of us). For the Garretts information (Dee, Donna, Kent) we have 4 bathrooms, not a problem signing up for "shower time."

If anyone else needs to stop by for a nights sleep
"We'll keep the lights on for you"

Lyndee came for a visit

If you that are involved in my American Idol Fan Club know that Lyndee is one of our faithful members. Besides loving American Idol, she is up with all the new, young, hip stars of the Disney type.
She came from Washington along with her younger brother and mom to help surprise her grandpa for his 70th birthday (Lyndee celebrated her birthday on a Disney cruise earlier this year) party. We were happy to see Lyndee at the party, and we invited her to go to McDonald's with us the following day. Thanks for being Derek's friend Lyndee!

Patty, the "Cow-Whisperer"

We've known Patty and Rodney for many years. Patty was my grandma Garrett's backyard neighbor. Patty is as sweet as they come. While grandma was alive, we depended on Patty to give her the love and attention that we couldn't while we were too far away. Though the years since Grandma has passed, and even though we don't go to Reno any longer, we have still kept in touch with Patty and her husband Rodney.
Patty is always interested in two things, Derek and our cows. She always asks about Derek even though she had never met him. She has sent junk mail, has asked to hear his piano playing, and keeps tabs on all his accomplishments. Patty has decorated her house in a cow theme. Rodney, being the great and caring husband decided to vacation for 2 nights here in Bend. My parents were still here which was so nice since my mom (and her siblings) still keeps in touch with Patty. The weekend they came was a crazy one. Our ward had its 24th of July party here at our house (Over 170 people came), and Rebecca and her family were coming through on their way to a Ricks Family Reunion at Shasta Lake and then the Redwoods. Well, Patty got her wish. She saw the whole family, she got a hug from Derek and she got to spend time with the cows.
Rodney and I both had our cameras.

Rodney even got in a shot or two.
We drove around to the top of Pilot Butte, and a few other sights of Bend (Bend hosts a world-wide biking race, which happened to be that weekend, so many of the streets were blocked off) Come back Evans! It was a fun, but short visit!

It's not the same without Mom & Dad

We were so fortunate to have mom and dad here for most of the summer. Besides their company, they are so helpful in sooooooo many ways. Just yesterday Derek said, "Mom is washing the sink". It was if he hadn't seen me do that for such a long time. My mom was pretty much my housekeeper, and cook, and planner and organizer. We all have those Tupperware cupboards that are in disarray.. not me any longer. While my parents were here I had several dinners and funeral luncheons to plan for.. she, being a 2 time Relief Society President came to my rescue. Thanks MOM.

Dad was such a part of our ward (and everyone of course loves my mom), he taught Priesthood several times, sang in sacrament meeting at a missionary farewell, and sang in the ward choir. My mornings are not the same without Dad up and at 'em helping me with the cows and the irrigation. Dad loves the cows and came to help watch them (long story with the AI situation.. and the AI doesn't stand for American Idol). We had a great system in the mornings and at night, which cut my time down quite a bit. On some evenings when I was out with Derek on a field trip, dad would get started without me, which made for an early night. Now it's very boring and the cows aren't getting any attention from me as I try and drive past them on the 6-wheeler. Dad would stop to say "Hi, you pretty girl" as for me, I just give them a honk and I yell "Out of the way".

Bob appreciated Dad being here and used him during the weekends with all the "chores" that there will always be.

You'll love the pictures of dad. Yes he is wearing a farming hat (Much to his disapproval), that mom insisted he wear. Notice the coveralls also.

Hurry back mom and dad!

July came and went so fast

July whizzed on by!
Two of the fun things we did were attend "Oregon, High Desert Classic" horse jumping contest. My dad loves horses and had never been to such an event. Derek, my dad and I went twice to watch the hunter/jumper contest.

It was so relaxing and exciting. Derek really did like watching and clapping for the horses... but he especially enjoyed buying root beer snow cones.

Then for the 3rd year in a row Derek and I joined the YMYW church group at Billy Chinook. Derek loves riding in the boat, and riding the waves on a tube.
We want summer to slow down. There is still much to do in such little time.

50 years and counting!

Yes, it came... my 50th birthday! I wanted a nice relaxing weekend
and that is what I got! My parents were here so we were able to go Dancing.. (Yes ballroom dancing, lessons and than open dance... really Bob did it)
A movie (The Proposal.. loved it),
dinner out and bouquets (5 dozen to be exact)of flowers and so many nice cards and calls from my friends & family. Rebecca made a book,(hard bound and everything) with such kind words to me/about me. I had to laugh when Rebecca told me she felt like she was planning my funeral!

Thank you all for all your kindness through out these years. (Why didn't someone tell me to fluff up my bangs, Crazy hair day I guess!)
I truly am a happy, happy (young at heart) girl!