Monday, August 25, 2008

Catching UP

Our Family at Tammy & Jeff's wedding

This is why I don't keep a journal: I am forever "Catching up." The past eight months have been very full--starting with the biggest event of the year so far. Our son, Jeffrey Leo married Tamara Froisland on January 19, 2008. They were married at Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake City. Tammy is a wonderful young woman. Jim and I feel they are a perfect match! Jeff and Tammy honeymooned in Las Vegas. They are living in Sandy, Utah and house sitting for Tammy's parents while they are serving an LDS mission in Rochester, New York. Jeff works for University Hospital in the billing department. Tammy works doing medical coding in Sandy.

In February, I traveled back to Utah and spent some time with Jennifer's children while she and Paul went to New Orleans. I really enjoyed the time spent with the kids, getting them to school, dance, and basketball. I love it when I can spend some one-on-one time with the grandchildren. We are separated by such a distance that Jim and I miss out on some things. Of course we think our grandchildren are the best, cutest, and smartest. . . . And we aren't biased either!Alison (3), Porter (2), Jordan (6), & Taryn(3)

The day after returning home, Jim and I cashed in our Christmas gift from Matthew and Mary. They had given us tickets to see Bill Cosby at the Hult Center in Eugene. It was great fun! We felt like teenagers in comparison to the rest of the audience. Most people attending were baby boomers or older. Cosby was great! Matt and Mary told us they were giving us the "best Christmas present." It was pretty awesome.

Back to Utah again. . . .We borrowed a huge cargo trailer from our neighbor, packed our 1947 Plymouth and some miscellaneous furniture and other items that needed to get to either Salt Lake or St. George, loaded Jim, Nathan, Grandma, Grandpa, & I and took off. We dropped G & G at the airport where they flew to Salt Lake. On the other side, we picked up G & G in Salt Lake (after unloading the Plymouth and a few other things) and headed to St. George. Once in St. George, we loaded Grandma and Grandpa's possessions into the trailer. We left enough furniture, dishes, etc. to maintain housekeeping and living as Mom's condo is being set up as a rental for snowbirds. We headed back to Salt Lake, had a little time with our family, dropped Mom and Garth back at Uncle Lynn's house and headed back to Oregon! We picked up G & G a few days later at the Portland airport. It was a wild and crazy trip!

Matthew came home to visit after Winter Semester at BYU. We had a great time with him. We spent some time at the beach and also took a day trip to Silver Creek Falls. We spent a day at the Portland Temple as well. The Devil's Punchbowl located on the Oregon Coast.


Here we are at Nye Beach in Newport, Oregon.


This picture is from Silver Creek Falls.

Jeff and Tammy came to visit in July. Jim, Mary, Jeff, Tammy, and I went on a fun trip to Crater Lake while they were here. (Nathan was at EFY.) First we stopped at the Lava Tubes and cinder cones near Bend, Oregon. That was amazing to see. We hiked through the lava tube which was over 1 mile long. . . .then on to Crater Lake National Park. We camped that night in the park. We got in late, so we were setting up camp in the dark. Jim got up early the next morning and got us tickets to go on the Crater Lake Boat Tour. I believe the hike to the lake was about 1 mile down. (Going down was the easy part!! Coming up was a lot harder especially after all our walking on the previous day.) The boat tour lasted 1 1/2 hours and it was awesome! We were so glad we put forth the effort to go on the tour. We have been to Crater Lake twice before, but the boat tour was a first. After getting home from the Cascades, we spent a day bowling; the final day with Jeff and Tammy we hiked to Mary's Peak--another short trip, maybe 30-40 miles from home and a short hike. (After all the hiking we did I think I lost 3-4 pounds!) It was a beautiful hike. On a clear day, you can see the Pacific Ocean on one side and look out to see the Three Sisters on the other. Unfortunately, we had some low clouds and fog, but it was still beautiful! Tammy & Jeff on the Crater Lake Boat Tour

We attended The Phantom of the Opera in Portland. This was Mary's birthday present and our Anniversary Present. I have seen it before and I could see it again. It was wonderful. We all loved it!

We had a fun visit with Jim's family: Kathy, Duane, Kimberly, & Keith from Santa Paula, CA, came to visit their daughter Katie and family (who live in Portland) to celebrate granddaughter, Elizabeth's first birthday. Diana and Douglas came down from Kennewick, WA. Katie, Edward, & Elizabeth joined everyone here on Saturday night for a cook-out, spent the night, and then we all went to church together. Doug, Diana, Jim, Alice, Kathy, Duane

Nathan has been going all summer and we all can hardly believe it, but school will be starting next week. Nathan spent a week on the Lebanon Stake Pioneer Trek. He spent a week at EFY in Forest Grove. . . .another five or so days on a Scouting Bike Trek on the Oregon Coast. . . .and last week he spent three days on a Ward Youth/Leadership Conference on the Northern Oregon/Washington Coast. He feels that he has been gone almost all summer but he has had a great summer. Today he got his Driver's License and got registered for his senior year at West Albany High School.

Mary started school today. She is doing the Pharmacy Tech program here at Linn Benton Community College. She has been working for Target for the past few weeks. They just hired her to work as the pharmacy tech in the Target store while she is doing the program at the college. Things seem to be coming together for her! She was also just called to be the Education Counselor in the Singles Ward Relief Society Presidency.

Amid all the busyness and coming and going, Jim and I have been working on a big project to convert our barn into a shop. This has involved digging out the dirt floor, leveling it, spreading gravel and setting some forms. (We also tore out a wall and shuffled everything out so we could have access to do the work. We did hire a concrete man to do the actual pouring and concrete work.) As if that was not enough, we decided that while we were doing it, we should a dig out a sidewalk and patio area along the south side of our house. It was a huge job which we started about mid-April and finished about early July. We thought it was never going to get finished! Fortunately, our neighbor generously loaned us his small tractor. Unfortunately, the tractor wasn't small enough to get into the barn and scoop everything up. We ended up shoveling most of the dirt into the tractor shovel first. It still made a huge difference. All in all, I have no idea how much dirt we moved, but it was a lot! I had also ordered about ten yards of bark mulch and planting mix which I moved almost by myself. We probably unloaded another ten yards of gravel. It is now done and it is really nice! We still need to put in electricity, a door, and replace some of the siding on the new shop! Jim also needs to finish organizing his tools! Now we have a shop; the garage is our new game room/food storage area since we brought Garth's pool table home from St. George. But we have no garage. . . .another time.
I think the only reason Jim wanted to do this project is
so he could drive a tractor. . . .He enjoyed it way too much!!

Oh, almost forgot. . . . we have another huge garden and we hope to get a good crop of tomatoes.

COMING UP. . . .

Nathan is going to continue on the WAHS Swim Team. This is his third year!

Alice & Florence will continue to harvest the garden--canning, freezing, etc.

James & Amber are expecting their third child--a boy around Christmastime!

Matthew continues to study at BYU. His major is Bio-informatics!

Paul is continuing work on his P.H. D.

3 comments:

Alice said...

I love you, let's go for another great thirty years!! Jim

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

Wow, that has to be the longest blog post ever! LOL. Can you email me the picture of the kids at Jeff's wedding?

Anonymous said...

Whow you've done a lot this year. Your yard looks good and it sounds like you guys have had a lot of fun. Your pictures are all very cute.