Project Williams

It feels like Fall already

2009-09-09T13:59:00.001-07:00

I decided to try a "Kari" post. She always makes simple things interesting. Today it is cooler, cloudy and has been sprinkling rain drops occasionally. Maybe that was why I am craving home- made soup and caramel apples.

I started with this....

Then.....

And finally!

Now add some home-made Pasta Fezule and I am happy.

Hmmmm, maybe some garlic-cheddar biscuits and THEN I will be happy.

Yachats, Oregon

2009-09-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

I had never heard of Yachats, Oregon until my brother Andy announced that is where he and Lindsay would get married. I then preceded to do tons of research on this little town and became excited about the sandy beach, the hiking trails at the National Park, and the cute little beach towns. Even after all the research in the back of my mind I still wondered why they chose this particular town.

We have now returned and there is no longer a question (besides how did they discover this little gem!). I loved this place. Even though all the hotels stated they were booked, you would never know from walking the beach or taking a quiet drive through town. If you want to get a way from the crowds and relax with your family, this is a great place to be.

Since I am usually about the pictures and not so much the words, here we go.

This is where we stayed for the four day weekend.

This was an interesting little house. You cant get any better on the location. The ocean water is just missing my heels when I took this picture.

We spent most of our time here. Playing on the beach, relaxing on the beach, sitting and staring at the beach....you get the picture.

Now for the reason we all were here. Andy and Lindsay's wedding. Heceta Head Lighthouse is in the background. (The following few pictures were stolen off of Lindsay's facebook, thanks to who ever took them )

The Reception. Inside a tent thank the heavens! It was a windy day.

We had to take advantage of the gorgeous scenery and brave the wind for a quick family picture.

The next day we took a break from relaxing on the beach to visit Devil's Churn National Park. A fun little hike with lots of picture opportunities.

That evening I finally remembered to take a picture of the gorgeous sunset from our back porch.

I can't wait to visit again

Arizona in June 2009

2009-09-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Arizona in June is HOT. Jake has hit the age where we have to be thoughtful of when we pull him out of school. That means a 2 week trip to visit family and friends must be in the less ideal Arizona summer. We still had a nice relaxing vacation, nothing exciting and that was the plan.

You can't beat hanging out with good food, nothing but time, and the people you love.

The Williams-Packer's

Chris and Lori

Joe and Mom

The troublemakers...every last one of them!

A rare picture of Joe and I together. One of us is usually taking the picture.

Jake decided he would rather have spending money then take a little side jaunt to Legoland. It is tough being the only person who loves amusement parks in this family. Anyways, he spent some of his money on the above scooter. He only had a short window in the morning's and evenings to ride it before the heat was unbearable.

Joe actually let me take a few pictures of him. This one he didn't approve of.....

...... Or this one.

Jake and Logan at Peter Piper Pizza

Good friends. We always make time for Ken and Jen.....

And their wonderful kids!

I can't remember exactly what Ken was trying to do here.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/photos%20of%20arizona/autabee/Arizona.jpg

Until next time.

Baseball-1, Jake-0

2009-05-05T14:33:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Jake!

2009-02-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

Today my one and only is turning 11! Words cannot express how proud I am of him. Sure we go through our struggles, he is a boy and he is eleven after all. I can already tell the man he will become. He will not be easily swayed into something he doesn't want to do. That, I know for sure. I can see how that is a wonderful quality, I just feel the responsibility as a parent to ensure his values are such that he is steadfast in a positive way.

I remember being pregnant with Jake. We were starting to get frustrated thinking that I would never get pregnant, then one day I finally went to the doctor for these bad headaches I had been getting. He ran some blood work, as the medication he wanted me to take is not recommended during pregnancy. I told the doctor that I had "failed" a pregnancy test a few days prior, but he wanted to be safe.

The next day I received a phone call at work telling me not to take the medication as I was pregnant! I had been planning for months a memorable way to announce to Joe when I became pregnant. All those idea's went out the window and I called him right away to give him the news. I later received a dozen roses with the card simply saying "It's a boy!"

It took another 2 months for the regular urine tests to show up positive. Thank goodness we had a good doctor who was on top of things. She ran some tests that showed low progesterone. If she would have missed that, I most likely would have miscarried.

Jake was born one day before his due date, February 18, 1998 at 4:21p.m. I feel very blessed to be Jacob's mom. I can only hope and pray I do this very important duty well.

Blue eyes & blue popsicle slobber

Jake & Simon

Joey, Jake, and giant cookies

Jake & Madeline

Disneyland 2003 with Madison & Tyler

Christmas 2004

Preparing for Pinewood Derby 2005

Disneyland 2006

Jake's Baptism 2007

Jake & Aunt Lori 2008

Jake & Madeline December 2008 (The closest I have to 2009)

Christmas Break Starts Early

2008-12-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

Jake's wish came true, his Christmas Break is starting 2 days early. Five and a half inches of snow cancels school so let the sledding begin!

Joe & Simon even came out for some fun.

Happy Snow Day!

Jake & Madeline

2008-12-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today Madeline came over to play. Jake and Madeline noticed it was trying very hard to snow so they bundled themselves up and went out to play.

I think if you dragged your finger down the car window you might have seen a trail like dust, but that was it. I think we will be waiting a little longer for our first "real" snowman. Mr. Plastic will have to do for now.

Simon's Stocking

2008-12-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

Most of you know we are pretty spoiled by our neighbors Tina & Roger. Well, last night they delivered Christmas presents early to put under the tree.

First Simon stared at his stocking and whined.

Then he went over and casually sniffed.

Then he finally gave up and started pawing at it.

At that point we let him have a quail and put the rest of his stuff up in the office till Christmas morning. How does he know what is his? He hasn't touched Jake's stuff.

This whole process took around 2o minutes. Joe thought I was being mean and should just give him something. I guess it is the Godsey in me!

The BEST time of year!

2008-12-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas time. It starts getting fun at Halloween actually. Maybe that is why I like to go to Disneyland in November. Anyways, since everyone is posting there "tree" experiences I will post mine. We don't have any tales of mud or cold or saws. Just a 50 lb. box in the attic. Actually, I am going to weigh it when we get ready to put it away this year. It might be 75. I don't have any pictures of Joe yelling down from the attic "It's coming do you have it? DO YOU HAVE IT???" Maybe next year I will video tape the fun experience. But it is all worth it in the end.

We don't have to worry about our tree catching fire, just melting. We also don't have to vacuum up pine needles every day. I do need to go out and buy a pine smelling candle though.

Well here is our Christmas tree. After I put the 3, pre-lighted sections together. I have to say I really had a hard time finally going to the "fake" route, but now I am OK with it :).

Also, another reason it was easier to go "fake". When your 10 year old son would rather play Lego Star Wars then decorate the tree you know it has lost some of the magic.

Oh, and one more thing. Can you believe this is the only Nativity we own. A plastic Playschool set. One of these days I will invest in a grown up one with out a cardboard backdrop.

Memories

2008-11-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

I came across this picture today and it made me smile. What a blast this trip was! Does anyone else recall how this was one of 3 pictures that Ben's face was covered by someones arm (upper left in case you couldn't find him) ?

I can't wait till we can plan our next family reunion/vacation to Disneyland. I am so poor though we might be on a 3 year plan this time :)

p.s. Ben, you better sit in front from now on.

Trunk or Treat Anyone??

2008-11-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't get anywhere near the amount of pictures I wanted. Joe wanted to "trunk or treat" with Jake, so I was stuck manning the treats at our trunk. Combine that with Joe not trusting himself with my camera and you end up with very few pictures.

Jake, Tyler, and Curtis by our trunk.

Jake and Curtis heading back from hot chocolate after a long hour of "Trunk or Treating".

Just a cute little poodle and rat we ran into along the way. (a.k.a Sophie and Jaxson)

The Williams Family rarely captured on film.

Jake, Tyler, and Curtis. Once they finally got to get out and start knocking doors.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

We are half way into Fall soccer!

2008-10-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I promised you a soccer rant. That promise was coming off the heels of a frustrating game with a pretty dirty team we have faced before and beat. Unfortunately this time there was no referee, and at this age level that means the home team (them) assigns a ref. So they won, and our team left with bruised backs from their elbows, bruised behinds from the other team kicking at our ankles instead of the ball, and our goalie had to be pulled out of the game before half time because he was charged, resulting in hurting his wrist.

Exhibit A- Jake seconds before elbow to back, whistle you say? Nope.

Now, don't get be wrong, I know soccer is a violent sport. BUT, there are rules for a reason, so blow the dang whistle when those rules are broken!!! Nicole, this is why we need to start this "C" level women's team. I need to let out some of this frustration.

Now on to some action shots of Jake, with some help of my photo editor since my lens is far from adequate for this size field.

So, we have 4 more games left. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can bring my camera and get some more pictures. By the way, that dirty team. We still only lost by 1 goal. So playing dirty doesn't really pay. Just playing dirty with no ref pays :). Oh, and Bets, no I am not the coach. I am the team mom. We were lucky enough to have a friend of one of the parents step up and Coach, another parent is Asst. Coaching. They are both doing really good too. So everything worked out in the end.

Summer Vacation 2008- Final Phase- Andy & Lindsay in Salt Lake City

2008-10-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well looking back through my pictures, I am realizing Lindsay escaped my camera. I don't know how that is possible. I guess that is because we were talking most of the time at the park, and she was working the next day while Andy played tour guide at Temple Square. Sorry about that Lindsay!!

This was our last stop before heading back home. We did not plan enough time, so we had a few hours in the evening that we spent at the "dog park" visiting and playing catch......maybe catch is too loose a word.

ummm....I guess that means no more pictures of Joe???

The next morning we had a few hours before we had to start our long drive home. Andy was kind enough to show us around Temple Square.

On the roof of the Conference Center.

The Salt Lake City Temple

Inside one of the visitor's centers.

Andy also doubled as photographer :) Thank You!

Well that concludes the Summer Vacation series. My future blogs will continue with normal, everyday ramblings. I have been looking forward to the vacation series ending so I can vent about youth soccer actually so you are forewarned!!

Summer Vacation 2008- Phase 2- Mt. Zion National Park

2008-09-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

In our humble opinions we liked Mt. Zion much better then the Grand Canyon, and we hardly saw it. We pretty much have a standing date to go back and meet Andy and Lindsay there for a week. There are tons of hiking and biking trails for all levels of expertise, not to mention the camping. We are going back, and we are going back for at least a week. Anyone interested is welcome to join us. You know how I like to get a group together!

We arrived at Mt. Zion by driving down into it by means of Mt. Carmel Hwy. What an experience that was!! My only regret was that I was in such awe that I totally spaced taking pictures till we were almost finished with the 25 mile drive. Here are a few of mine and a few I found on line to try and give you an idea of how cool this drive is.

These first two were taken by me as we were winding down into the canyon. By this time we are almost to the bottom. Mt. Carmel Hwy is mostly 2 lanes crammed in between these giant cliffs winding down the canyon. At some points they had to carve tunnels through the rock. Those pictures are coming up.

The following pics I found off the Internet at the National Parks website or just random pics when I did a search for Google images of Mt. Carmel Hwy.

Every so often they carved out just enough space along the side of the road to pull over and look out over the edge. Most of the time I could just look out my window and see over the edge just fine, thank you very much!

Inside one of the tunnels.

Outside one of the tunnels.

We loved our hotel here, Flanigans. There is a little town called Springdale just outside the park. You can catch a shuttle from any hotel to the park or trail head. This is the pool area that we had to ourselves most of the evening.

Since Joe had injured his back right before the vacation, and I wasn't feeling well, we couldn't participate in the hikes we wanted to. So we went on a mini hike right above our hotel room.

I borrowed Jake's hiking stick to make the picture look better :)

See ya next time with Andy & Lindsay in the final instalment, Salt Lake City!

Summer Vacation 2008- Phase 2- Grand Canyon

2008-09-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

The Grand Canyon at Sunset

After tearful goodbyes and promises to be back soon, we headed off on the second leg of our vacation. The Grand Canyon, Mt. Zion National Park, and Salt Lake City, Utah to visit Andy and Lindsay. I will post each destination separately as they are more pictures, less talk. Here we go...next stop Grand Canyon! Oh, by the way. Keep in mind the night before we leave, Jake gets a Wii. I know, I know, but they were sold out everywhere in WA and his Grandpa Brent has CONNECTIONS!!! So now the 6 hour drive to the Grand Canyon is filled with begging to just skip the remaining stops and drive 24 hours straight home to Port Orchard, WA. That added a fun layer to the "are we there yet?"

This was Jake's first attempt at the ledge. Let me admit, it took me longer.

We found a really good spot to catch the sun setting and as you can see by the following pictures, we took advantage of it. So did a tour bus of people right as we were leaving :)

Don't you hate it when you realize it "could have" been a great picture if you would have had the fore thought to not wear cut off sweats, not have a camera bag strapped across your chest, and maybe left your hair down????

Cool replica of a ancient watchtower in the background.

Inside the watchtower was covered with tons of cool markings. Jake thinks they look like "thinking" bubbles, I guess I should of scooted over.

Coming soon....Mount Zion National Park.

Summer Vacation- Phase 1

2008-09-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

Jake with his Aunt Lori

Well, this year we did something we have never done before. We took a 3 week vacation. Now, I never thought I would doubt my decision to insist that my frugal husband ensure our new car had black leather seats......until Arizonia.....June.....115 degrees. Our first day we purchased one of those window blocker thingy's that EVERYONE should have in AZ, and the NOBODY has in WA. It actually helped, but we still needed towels to save the back of our legs from 3rd degree burns (well, it felt that hot anyways).

So, lesson #1. Visit Arizona during spring break, not summer break!

OK, so Phase 1 of Summer Vacation 2008 was Mesa, AZ to visit family and friends. Joe said he was tired feeling like he didn't have enough time to spend with everyone, and that he wanted to be sick of his family by the time we left. So 2 weeks in Mesa it is. Didn't work. Actually made things worse I think. Oh, well. What to do, we still had fun!

Cousin Time
Jake, Nathan, & Caleb

Good Buds and their little Mother
Jake, Logan, & Natalie

Mexican Train anyone?
Jake, Grandmother, & Me

WARNING: Public Affection
Judy & Brent

At least you guys aren't eating in this picture:)
Chris & Lori

When you won't stand still, you can't complain when I post it on my blog!
Cheryl, John, Caleb, & Nathan

Again, if you would just cooperate every now and then I wouldn't have to put a picture like this up.

Joe, Lori, & John

Phase 2 still to come.......I am a little tired from posting phase 1 a million times to get the picture thing right.

Kicking and Screaming

2008-09-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I suppose I better get with it. I will attempt this blog thing and see if I can stick with it. I don't know why I have been fighting it. I enjoy reading all of yours. So here it goes. Wish me luck...better yet, keep me in your prayers :).