This was a short work week, but lots of travel. The weather has been so bad that my poor van hasn't been washed for more than two weeks. SO...today was the day...I started with my Patterson van, moved on to Carol's car, and finished up with my big green van. It wasn't warm outside, but no rain today. Mom Peters came over for lunch, but her knees are bothering her really bad. Keep her in your prayers! New Years Day I'm off of work, but certainly have things to do around the house. Hope everyone is doing well, will write more soon!

Saturday, Dec 22, Carol and I took Aunt Millie out for lunch to Mc Donalds and visited for a while.

Then we Picked up Mom Peters, Linda and Ron Rangel had dinner at China Bay. And went to Lake Oswego to see the play "White Christmas". It was great! Second year in a row for us. And, of course, it was raining! 

Sunday, Dec 23, Carol & I got up and went to the early service at church. Then, we picked up Mom Peters and we met her friend ,Jean and her daughter, Suzanne at Olive Garden for lunch. After lunch we went to Jean's home for coffee and pumpkin pie. Time for football - Seattle and San Francisco!

Monday, Dec 24, we picked up Mom Peters and drove to Grande Ronde for late lunch...we made this our Christmas dinner! The place was empty and the buffet was wonderful! The drive is easy and we love the coutryside. 

Tuesday, Dec 25 - Merry Christmas to all! Carol and I went to see  the 3D movie "Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away". Then we went to Mom Peters' place for a Christmas gift exchange. We had a very nice dinner and quiet evening together - made (and received) lots of telephone calls from family and friends today - love you all!!! Thank you for the kind words and encouragement for the new year!  Lots of plans and dates on the calendar for 2013 - ALREADY! More stuff to come!

After work on Friday, Dec 21st, we went to Jim & Vonnie Lash's house for a wonderful dinner and a rousing game of Pinochle ( or 2, or 3). The picture above it the life-size poster they got me for Christmas - along with many other things!!! What a fun night after a very long week at work! Carol got a panda bear on a mirror, and plastic wrap (inside joke). But nothing as cool as my Jeff Gordon!

He now stands proudly in my Jeff Gordon Hall of Fame, next to his #24 Cars :)  Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Will write more soon.

Carol had Choir Practice with the kids choir at church yesterday, then we took off for Lincoln City. We had lunch at Grand Ronde, then on to Inn At Spanish Head. We got there at about 3:30 P.M., dropped out stuff off and changed clothes. We had to jump back into the van and drive south on hwy 101 to Florence, OR - we had "last minute" tickets (7:00p.m.) for Restless Heart! Great Concert!!! Love the oldies and the new Christmas songs. We drove back to Lincoln City at about 9:00p.m. - it was cloudy and really dark!

When we got up this morning we looked outside and found all this debris had washed up on shore. Lots of tree roots, and logs, etc. But, it sure was good to listen to the ocean last night (I'm so spoiled :). We had breakfast at the Inn and did some shopping at the Christmas Cottage in Lincoln City. We were home by 1:00p.m. Wonderful  anniversary weekend! Hope everyone is well. More to come soon...

Friday night we went to the Rose Garden and watched the Blazers beat the Timber Wolves. Great game...didn't know if we were going to win until the end of the 4th quarter!
Yesterday we all piled into the van and traveled to Tillamook to visit the cheese factory. And to taste some of that great ice cream! Last night we went to see the Christmas lights display at Portland International Raceway, and it wasn't raining :)  Good Times!!!

Today we picked up Lynette, Frank, Caleb, and Joshua at the airport. Nice that it didn't rain! Frank is taping up Caleb's broken toe...it's pointing the wrong direction :)  Joshua gave technical advice. Thanksgiving dinner was great! I'll post more pictures and descriptions soon.

Today we attended the Memorial Service for Hazel. It was good to see Mom Peters together with her relatives during this time of great loss. Hazel now joins her husband, Dan, in a place we can only imagine...but, is promised. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jeanne, Becky, Danny, and the entire family.  What a special lady! Save us a place up there!

I added this 2007 Department of Defense car to my Jeff Gordon collection this week. The dark area you see is actually chrome! Very cool and only 504 were made. Thank you Ebay... my collection has grown to 34 now. Wish I could have Jeff stop by and sign them all :) Hope everyone has a great weekend! More to come soon.

Thank you, Kelly, for the Pumpkin Bread recipe...Mom did good :)

 

 We picked up leaves AGAIN! So, I had to take this picture in a hurry! We filled 4 leaf bags and our yard debris barrel. And the rain stopped long enough for me to wash the van!

Carol and Vonnie took Payton for his quarterly clipping :) He looks like half the dog he used to be.
We set the clocks back today...I have to remember how to do that for each clock...I should write down the instructions :) More news and pics to come...so good to talk to my kids in FT. Collins this morning...we love and miss you all!!!

The past two weeks we've been working in the yard, trying to beat the bad weather :(
Our tree in the front yard is almost bare. The picture above is about one hour after I raked it clean!
The back yard is almost ready for winter...I have to replace a couple of bad spots with new sod. The rains come and go, so we work in between downpours.We're going to see Zac (up in Lynden, WA) this weekend. The Sipma family is always so gracious, we love spending time with Jill, Brian (and family). I'll take pictures to share.

This was Carol's birthday weekend, so we left Saturday afternoon for Lincoln City. I'd made reservations at The Inn at Spanish Head. We couldn't check in until 4:00p.m. so we went to our favorite shop in Lincoln City - The Christmas Store. Then we played a couple of lanes of bowling - we won't talk about the scores :(   We checked in at the Inn and hit the Jacuzzi. We drove to Depot Bay for dinner at the Italian Riviera - they had a live jazz band and Paul Biandi was playing sax. It was all 30's, 40's and 50's song night. Lots of great oldies! It was a great day, and today we had breakfast at the Inn and drove home with some super memories!

SO...tonight my Dad is looking for a part and Ebay has it in Indiana for $55.00 and it looks like this...

Hope this is it, Dad. Let me know if you want it. Love ya!!!!

Yard project update - we completed the french drain project. Then, we had the boarder and sod installed...what a difference!

So, now, we need to work on the rest of the boarder and adding more Lava Rock. Next summer...maybe a water feature against the west fence :)
More news soon...gotta get stuff done before it starts raining again!

We worked all day Saturday around the house, washed the cars, and cleaned the yard...so, now, it's time to relax on the Beach !!! This is Canon Beach, OR at sunset,,,ofcourse, we took Payton along.

It was hard to leave, but, we had a full BLUE moon on the way home.
Yesterday, Carol fixed a great dinner. Millie and Mom Peters were our guests. Then NASCAR was at Atlanta! Jeff Gordon came in second...but, he should have won! Hope everyone has a great week...more to come soon.  

I promised all my friends at Van Gordon Dentistry in Willsonville, OR that I would post a few more pictures of our trip to Crater Lake...here ya go :) Enjoy!

Our back yard kinda settled over the years and when it rains, we get puddles and the ground sloped toward the house (not good!). So, we decided to take action while the weather was good.

We went to Home Depot and bought some drain pipe, socks, crushed rock and pea gravel. I tied the french drain into the 3 inch downspout drain on the side of the house (more digging :( )  While I had the ditch open, I ran an electrical line for a water fall (later project). On top of the pea gravel you see above, we're going to continue with red lava rock. Next, we're going to remove the existing grass, add fill dirt to level things out (slight pitch away from the house), roll it, then put sod down.
Hope everyone has a great week! More pics soon.

A couple more pictures of chipmonks at Crater Lake :) They weren't bashful at all.

We're working on a backyard project....will post some pictures tonight.

I just got  home from Sirona Training at Seattle. It was 3 days long and I'm tired! But, it's so good to be home. Thought I'd share a couple more pictures.

We're working on the back yard this weekend...not many left before the rain starts again :(

So, here are a couple more pictures from Crater Lake. Carol and Vonnie at the visitor's center and snow bank on the north slope. More stuff to come!

Last Friday, Aug 10th, I had the afternoon off. So, I had a new crown put in (Navy filling finally gave up). Then Jim & Vonnie Lash came to the house and we loaded the van and drove to Canyonville, OR. The next morning we headed east and stopped to see the Rogue River. Then, on to Crater Lake! Awesome - is the only word I can find to describe the sights and sounds I experienced. We drove around the Rim and took a lot of pictures and had a light lunch. It was 90 degrees at over 6,000 feet but there was still patches of snow around! We made it back to Canyonville just in time for dinner :)
The next morning we drove west and hit Coos Bay, OR and drove up the coast to Lincoln City. What a great weekend!! I'll share more pics from this trip soon.  

Today we got up and went over to Jim & Vonnie Lash's house - we volunteered to help remove the moss on their elderly, widowed neighbor's house. We used 30 Seconds (liquid remover), soft bristle brushes, and 2 power washers. And after the house and one side of the garage was done, we did the sidewalk around the front and steps up to the front door. We left the roof alone due to the age of the house! Vonnie and Carol fixed a great lunch! Tonight, another pinochle match - guys vs gals. Next weekend - field trip....Crater Lake, OR. By the way...it's 97 degrees here today :)

On Monday the 16th of July, we arrived at Dana's apartment at about 11:00 a.m. We received the grand tour of the apartment by the kids...they were so excited to show us their rooms! We couldn't believe how the kids are growing. And we'd never seen Eli and Kaytlyn. Dana gave us the grand tour of Just 4 Kids - where she works. Nice facilities and really nice people to work with. Dana and Ron have a new car (new to them) - the old van just died a sad death. I like the Chrysler Pacifica. The bottom picture is everyone at America's Favorite Pizza - what fun to watch the kids play games and drive the bumper cars. Nice to meet Ron's parents. Next day we drove back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to catch our flight home. It was delayed and we missed the Denver connection to Portland. So we camped out at the Denver airport until the next morning. We caught the first flight out (Frontier) at 8:30 a.m. So glad I took the extra day off of work! What a nice trip...fast, but it was worth it to see everyone! Love and miss our family and friends! More to come.

Last weekend we left Oregon for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We picked up our rental car and our first stop was to see Ken and Chris Petersen in Beach Park, Illinois. Ken bar-b-q'd  and we had a great meal. We told them not to fuss, but we had more than enough to eat! They have a new puppy - Ellie May. Then we talked until evening. The next morning we went to our old church and visited with lots of friends including Mike and Betsy Lonchar, Pastor Joe and Debbie Boreman, and Tom and Diane Veretti. After church we visited the Veretti's at their new house - very nice time! Then we returned to The Petersen's to have dinner with the whole family...Great time...good food! I ate way too much. We got an early start to Dana's place the next morning. Thanks to everyone for the great food and hospitality...we love you all!!!

Yesterday we thought it might get a little hot in the valley, so we asked our friends (Jim & Vonnie Lash) if they wanted to cruise out to the beach :) It got up to 87 degrees, but the beach was a cool 68 degrees and a fairly brisk wind. That didn't stop us from planting our chairs in the sand and enjoying the ocean! Lots of kite flyers were out. We had  buffet lunch at Grande Ronde, Carol really likes the turkey. Then we came home and played Pinochle - great day! 

We're getting ready for our trip to Illinois next weekend :) Can't wait to see Dana, Ron and all the kids. We're also going to visit Ken & Chris Petersen, and hopefully, more friends from our home church in Waukegan. I'll post more when we return.