Snow...snow...snow and more snow!!!

Meet our new addition to our family,

Justin our Penguin. Richard surprised

me with this big guy last Friday night.

What a wonderful surprise when I

drove into our driveway and saw him.

Richard named him "Justin". He is

the twin to Jakers.......who will be home

on December 30th for a week  : ) Justin

will keep us company until Jakers gets home : )

Isn't he cute???

Hunter went outside for a quick trip

and then wanted right back in...

Hunter is much happier just looking

at the snow from inside.....

Taking care of our birdies...

And our hummingbirds...

The snow is beautiful but I am ready for

all of this to go away!!! It is messing up everyone's

plans for the holidays...

Ok, it is official.....

I talked to Jakers on Thanksgiving and he told me

that is boss said he could be off from 12/30-1/5/08.

I am so relieved to know that we will see him and

be able celebrate his birthday on Jan 1st. Even though he

won't be home for Christmas....we are so happy

for the time we can be together. I know Hunter (pic)

will be happy, along with my family too!!!

My singing Christmas Penguins will cheer me up....

Jakers will not be home for Christmas....and

not sure about his birthday yet either.

My step daughter Mickie bought me the penguin

on the left last year and Richard bought me the 

penguins on the right today. They are delightful when 

they sing together. They will help cheer me up I am sure.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE....

Jaker's coming home....

Jakers will be home December 17th!!!

He will be here for Christmas and we will

celebrate his 21st birthday on January 1st.

Jakers will probably leave around January 5th. 

Even though he won't be home very long......

we are just so HAPPY that he will be home and

will take FULL advantage of our time

together!!!!!!

We are hoping that Catherine will make the

trip here for a few days to help celebrate Jake's

birthday too. Let's keep our fingers crossed  : )

Celtic Group "Beccon"

(Jan is on the left) 

Today, my mom and I surprised my sister-in-law Jan

as she performed with her Celtic Group "Beccon." They

performed at Marylhurst University Campus and we enjoyed 

the music very much... 

http://beccon.com/

Jan (on the right) plays the Hammered

Dulcimer

Our Cozy Family Reunion

A couple of weekends ago we had a wonderful 

family reunion. My Aunt Joan drove down 

from Medford. Cousin Debbie and her daughter

Michelle came from Salem. Cousins Carol and

her mother Ruth came from Seattle, Washington. 

Mom, Gary, Jan and I met everyone at our 

cousin, Harold's assistant living facility in Hubbard.

The whole gang...

Michelle, Aunt Joan and Ruth

Cousin Harold and mom

Jan and Gary

Carol, mom and Debbie

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together...

And...We celebrated Aunt Joan's birthday too!

We had a wonderful day together !

I Miss my Jakers...

Jakers will be home December 17th for Christmas

and will be here through January 3rd. His birthday

is January 1st and he will be turning the BIG

21 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see him.....

SEPTEMBER IS HERE ALREADY????

Well, one thing I don't miss, I don't think,

is getting Jakers ready for school. You know, buying

the school supplies, making sure you follow the list

the school gives you to the best of your ability....uggg

you reach the cash register and as the lady is checking

everything that is laying out on the counter, you shreak

just waiting for the total of purchase to come up. I remember

saying to myself under my breath "Wow, it wasn't this 

expensive last year." ha

Now Jakers buys his own supplies and he orders his

school books through Amazon.com, which according to

him, is a heck of a better deal then buying the books at

the bookstore. Good for you Jakers.....

Jakers is into his fall term at Arizona State University

and is enjoying all of his classes so far. Jake is a Junior......

wait a minute, can that be true?????? Yes it is....wow time 

flies by. He is already thinking about where he wants to do

his internship in his Senior year. He has a list so no way of 

knowing at this point. Great thing is, he has time to think 

about it and narrow down the list. I am excited to go through 

this journey with Jake, even though we are 2 1/2 hours flight 

away      : (

Jake will be coming home for a couple of weeks in December

and I can not wait. Last time he was home was in June.....

We miss him so much, but he is doing great. Going to school

full time and working almost 32 hours a week. A very busy

schedule indeed.....but he is doing great. Jake, Cat, Taylor and

family are doing great too! I unfortunately don't have any recent

pictures to add to this post. Hopefully soon....

Richard and I are doing fine....just plugging away at work and

home stuff. Not to exciting life style.....but we are doing fine. We

are doing some spring cleaning (I know, alittle late) but we want

to clean out some stuff. I had six big garbage bags of clothes for

Goodwill ready to go last weekend. Wow, I was really proud of

myself. Now, I need to go through my books and thin them out.

Those of you who know me well, this will not be an easy task for

me. I LOVE my books. We shall see. 

Our plan is to move next May to a smaller place..........we need to 

downsize and we figure we better get ready before our rent lease 

is up in May. I just know our landlady will raise our rent again........

ugggggg!!! We want to find a nice little two bedroom, one bath 

house in Milwaukie. So, if you hear of any great find.....PLEASE 

LET US KNOW....thanks   : )

I will update soon......

News Update...

Jake just finish up his summer class "Applied Mechanics

of Materials" (Major: Aeronautical Engineering) at Arizona 

and received a high A.....So, that is terrific news.

Jake will be starting school in the fall with a full class

load on August 25th and he will continue working at 

JoAnn's. At work he does a variety of things; framing, 

warehouse, stocking shelves and cashiering...... he likes 

the variety throughout the day.

Catherine is still working at the "Coffee House" and 

Taylor started school already. Taylor is 8 years old 

and is involved in swimming. She participated

in classes and a few swimming meets. Jake says that 

she does very well and she is fast. She is tiny with very 

long legs, so, I can believe that!

Jake is doing great......enjoying life, spending time with 

Catherine and her family, friends, school and work.

Boy, do I miss him. Jake will be home this Christmas, 

unless I can spring a round trip there sooner  : )   We will see.

Richard and I are doing fine. Trying to stay cool in this "HOT"

weather. I just keep thinking that fall is right around the corner!

Ahhhhhhhh......Beautiful!

My mom just celebrated her 78th birthday! Happy Birthday 

mom. We all went to Pine Garden Chinese Resturant and 

had a wonderful meal and celebration! Daniel was in town, so

it was an extra treat to have him with us.

Gary and Jan have recovered from their long vacation to N. Dakota

to see David and family and then visited the Glaciers----beautiful

pictures were shared and they had a wonderful time. They are 

packing up and heading to a childrens Christian camp next week. 

I have the honor of feeding and talking to Sadie (their cat) and 

watering  everything. I enjoy being able to do that for them.

More later......

Meet my lunch buddies.........

I continue to work at ODS and during my lunch

break, I drive to the Clackamas boat ramp just

down the street. It gives me a chance to have some 

"down time" before I return to work.........

And, here are my lunch buddies.......

My lunch buddies include Canadian Geese, ducks, squirrels and 

black crows. It can get pretty noisy sometimes, but I enjoy the 

quick get away.

Easter Lily in July

Richard put our Easter Lily outside on our deck and 

it started blooming again a week ago. He diffently has 

a green thumb.

ENJOY.........

I did it!!!! I will update soon.....I promise.

I am still going.....

I thought it would be fun to share some pictures from Gary's

travel blog to North Dakota.......they look like they are 

having a great time.

Gary, Jan and Matthew buying 4th of July fireworks. WOW!!!

Gary, Kirsten, Eric, Jan, Matthew, Jazzy, Rhonda, David 

and dear friend Irene.

Rhonda, Kirsten, David and Jazzy.

The kids: Eric, Kirsten, Jazzy and Matthew.

The gang at the Ralph Engelsad Arena in front of the

huge pipe organ.

Matthew and David out in the backyard with Lilly and Theo.

Out for their morning bike ride with the dogs. Guess who is

pulling who.....

Kirsten made her famous 4th of July cake....with Eric's help.

Beautiful Jazzy relaxing in the hammock.

Gary and Kirsten relaxing in the backyard.

Matthew and Kirsten.

Kirsten loves Mac and Cheese.......

Jazzy and Matthew.

Da da da da....It is now JULY and I am back on schedule!

HAPPY 

4TH OF JULY !!!

I borrowed this fireworks picture from Gary's blog

he created while he and Jan are in North Dakota visiting

my brother David and family. AND celebrating 4th of July!

Richard and I stayed home and enjoyed some fireworks

that were going off in our neighborhood. We sat on

our deck and was able to see some shows across the

river from us. It was fun and our dogs did pretty well with

all of the noise going on around them.

And......

We celebrated Richard's birthday in June...

AND Jakers came home to help us celebrate!!!

While Jake was working at Michael's in Mesa, Arizona, he framed

a war picture of the flight deck where Richard was stationed. I

brought the original picture with me when I went to see Jake in 

April, and he brought it back with him on this trip. Richard had 

tears in his eyes when Jake presented it to him. Here is the framed 

picture.

Jake was home for a week and we enjoyed every minute of

our time with him. I took the week off from work so we were

able to do somethings together. We did some shopping and

just hanging out together. Tuesday Jake went to see his long 

time friend David in Monmouth. He stayed the night and drove

back home the next morning. A couple of hours after Jake

returned home, he and I took a day trip to Lincoln City. Our

favorite place ever! First, we stopped at Mo's and had some

lunch.......

Afterwards we headed to the outlet stores and did some shopping.

I bought Taylor a darling top and short outfit. Perfect for the Fourth

of July celebrations.....Then, on our way to the beach....

We take this type of picture everytime we make it to the

beach together.........he is my heart!!!

The weather was cloudy and windy but we managed to walk

on the beach and pick up some treasures. Another favorite thing

we love to do at the beach. We had a wonderful day. We arrived

back home around 8:00 p.m. I wish we would have had more time

at the beach, but I am thankful that we had this time together.

Richard took Jake back to the airport early Thursday morning and

I went back to work. I already miss him.........