utah

family reunion in midway, utah. my favorite part was staying at the rental house and eating the berries mom brought from oregon.

just one more

we miss you, jess and amol!

twin falls

we breezed over to twin falls for president's weekend, when my parents also came to visit my grandma. we finally went to the infamous depot grill. it was fun, but let's never eat there again, ok?

oregon coast at christmas time

93

i spent the weekend in 2t for my grandma's birthday. she turned 93 on sunday. i showed up unexpectedly on her doorstep holding poinsettias. she was so surprised i finally had to tell her i was getting cold and i wanted to come inside. the next morning we noticed a friend of hers had written a birthday message on her driveway. we ate out a lot, and she shared all her birthday candies and treats with me. it was a nice weekend.

our thanksgiving

a picture speaks a thousand words

a picture is worth a thousand words, but i only got 3 pictures from my trip to salt lake, and they actually don't cover all the details. here are the rest of the details:

driving to salt lake where i met with my mom and sister.

eating in-n-out, double double animal style. so delicious.

shopping at nice stores, big stores, and old stores.

celebrating the marriage of these lovely people,

and reminiscing with them about that funny robe party we had. those pictures are priceless.

midway, utah where the trees are pretty and the pizza is good.

spotting elder oaks and elder nelson and being totally cool about it.

missing robert who stayed home to work.

chocolates, pastries, cake.

parking ticket.

panoramamama

from our day at the oregon coast

jam

strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry jam (and we picked the blackberries ourselves!).

that's what you can make with a lot of berries, a lot of sugar, and a little bit o' love.

oregon coast

we went to pacific city, oregon with my family.

climbed the sand dune and ran back down, walked out on the rocks as far as the land would take us, flew a kite, played with anemone in a tidal pool, and ate at mo's.

pretty ideal, i'd say.

Oil and Brakes

Oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, brakes, rotors, headlight, foglight and belts.


Thanks, Dad. I freshly regret paying so little attention to car maintenance my first 20 years or so.

we decided to draw animals with our sparklers and we ended up with 3 giraffes

we must be related.

mine's the one with spots. there's also a butterfly and a penguin in there.

The Fall(s)

Shoshone Falls (which is taller than Niagara Falls) is engorged.


Laura and I, along with a score of other Hellewell relatives, are in Twin Falls, ID, for a family reunion.


Shoshone Falls looks like this:








And I think this might be my favorite Laura and Emily picture to date.

daddy-o

aren't we cute!

Harbor Springs

We spent two nights at Uncle Don and Aunt Vicky's place in Harbor Springs, MI.


We also got to see my cousin Chris Howse and buy some fudge from his fudge shop.



They are doing some construction in town because apparently they haven't been changed since the late 19th century. Hooray for progress.


This cannon is here in case the French try and invade again.


Don and Vicki took us out to dinner at this place, which is not, as I first heard, called "Leg Zen." They had the best Polish food I've ever had.



And they also had a cool door.


That night, perhaps feeling the aftereffects of the saur kraut pierogi, I got a wild hare to jump in Lake Michigan.


So I did.


And then Rasheed (the dog) got so worked up that he surprised us all by jumping jumped in too. Apparently it was 'Sheed's first time in the lake, but he took it like a champ.


I should also mention that Tyedye the cat and Bunny the cat (perpetually unpictured) were great hosts as well.