She is truly grand...

...and I'm talking about Mt. Rainier in Washington State. My DH and I just returned from a trip to Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash. We visited two of our kids and their families in the Portland area and then traveled by train to visit some friends in Seattle. Our friends have a gorgeous home on a hilltop with windows that frame a wonderful view of Lake Washington and Mt. Rainier. My DH took this photo from their deck:

He did use the zoom on our little digital camera, but we have no special lenses or other equipment. Isn't it amazing how Mt. Rainier just seems to rise up out of the ether? She is 14,411 feet high and is the highest peak in the lower 48.  Since this mountain is formed by a volcano, we asked our friends when they thought it might erupt, just as Mt. St. Helens did in 1980. Their answer? It could happen at any time!

When we were in Portland, we got to spend some time with this little cutie:

This photo was taken at the beautiful Chinese Garden in the heart of downtown Portland. Hadley is 5 years old and we don't get to see her often enough. Isn't she just a lovely little girl?

When we visited, I was able to take a few birthday cards I had made for Hadley to use when she is invited to her little friends' birthday parties. Here's one of them:

This is just a simple card with an image of Pluto from the Mickey & Friends cartridge. I wondered how much I'd use this cartridge when I got it, but I find that it is pretty great for birthday cards. Everybody seems to love the classic Disney characters, so I've had a good time picking just the right image for various cards. The red patterned card base came from a tablet of card bases that also contained the "Party hardy" sentiment.

The inside is simple, with just a red mat setting off the sentiment panel. I created the inside sentiment with my computer.
















Thanks for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day!
Cheryl