Mel's Birthday and Don's and Gaylynne's Anniversary

Happy Birthday Melanie! As you can see from the photo above, the settings on my camera changed and I lost several pictures. I kept this one just as a reminder of the cute little necklace that Great Grandma Coates bought for Mel. It is a little shoe and so sweet.

Next is Melanie opening the dance mat that Neal found for her. She seemed to enjoy it very much even though she is just getting over being sick for a week. Except for Don and Dayton, the whole family was sick with what was probably the flu. Fevers, headaches, and vomiting all week.

I was very happy when Don asked if I would make a Lemon Meringue pie for dessert. Great Grandma has taken the title of "Family Pie Maker" for a long time so I haven't bothered to bake. This turned out very nicely though.

The kids played on the dance mat for quite a while and Gaylynne joined us briefly at dinner. Her head ached very badly and her temperature was at 101 so she excused herself to lay down on the couch in the living room.

We gave her and Don a gift certificate for one of our favorite Italian Restaurants called DiNicolas. It is over on Powell.




Even Stuart got in on the dancing.


We had just planned on driving up to Camas to drop off Mel's birthday gift and Don's and Gaylynne's Anniversary gift. (can you believe it - 12 years?!?) But Don invited us to a complete Turkey Dinner with all the side dishes! He did it all and it was delicious!

We hope that next year's anniversary and birthday will be enjoyed without all of the sickness they endured this year! Happy Birthday Melanie, we'll see you at your baptism. Happy Anniversary Don and Gaylynne, we wish you many, many more celebrations together.