Halloween 2009

You are not going to believe this - I am actually going to post all the Halloween pictures. We have a great time as a family and our kids are great to support the annual pumpkin carving. We had 2 shifts this year because Missy and Briant were on their way home from Utah on Sunday, so they came on Monday. We all had a great time.

The pictures are loaded, but they will be in haphazard order - so have fun. Make sure you check out Missy's blog to see the jacks from Monday night.

Kat's cake

All the jacks...... in the dark and with the flash on

And with a flash

The Three Musketeers

June activities

June was busy! The flowers in my yard were incredible! We had lots of rain which put us behind on our garden, but we were able to get our garden in (after the trenches and water lines of May).

We started the month by having a reunion with our kids at the barn. We had so much fun seeing everyone at one time. I agree with Julie that the high spot was when we played hide and seek in the barn. We enjoyed our time together and wished we could be there longer.

We have traveled quite a lot in June. We went to Island Park where Kathy had a staff meeting for Family camp (which will be in August). The wildflowers were great. Usually, we see Island Park camp during the hot summer and it was fun to see it in the spring when the wildflowers were out and blooming. Unfortunately, a lot of my pictures were blurry - I guess I was too close.

Then we received some bad news that Danny Massey (a nephew - son of Vic's sister Loreen) had passed away from a brain tumor. It was sad that the family is still grieving from the passin of Loreen in January 2008. We were not able to get to Loreen's funeral because of illness and weather, so we felt we should be there for Danny's funeral. So we hopped in the car on Wednesday and drove for 8 hours to Walla Walla, WA and drove back after the funeral on Thursday.

I guess we hadn't had enough traveling because we made a trip to Utah on the last weekend of the month for an Olsen family reunion. It was good to see Devin and Gene again - Anna and Cole are both growing up way too fast. It was also good to see Yvonne & Connie and lots of their kids and grandkids. Hopefully, we can keep up that tradition and more of our kids will make it and get to see their cousins again.

An update on the trench - things are almost back to normal. We have inproved on the design of the flower bed in the front - it is now two levels. We planted annuals there for this year. The trench is filled and grass is starting to grow. Life is good!

Good bye to old friends

We had to say goodbye to our dog, April, this week. She was 16 years old and suffered because she couldn't see well, she couldn't hear well, and she had arthritis. The kids watched as April and her brothers were born. She has been in our family all her life. Her mother, Holly, was a Christmas gift from Pam.

Even though she was old, she still found the energy to get excited when the kids visited. They all loved her and we will miss her.

We also said goodby to our old van - yes we sold it. We traded it to a guy who installed a sprinkler system for us. We had to pitch in a little extra because the van wasn't worth the whole job, but we are excited that the van will have a new home. I'm sure it has potential for many more miles.

We bought it when it was 4 years old and put aproximately 150,000 miles on it. It was a good old van - took us to Wisconsin and back when we picked up Kyle from his mission. It took us to the Oregon coast and Mt. St. Helens for family vacations. And who knows how many activities it took our kids to. After we bought the newer van, the kids drove it - to thier jobs, to mutual, to college. It was reliable and a good van, but we didn't need 3 cars in the family.

BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER

We had our water line replaced this week. All the flowers you see here are gone. We did dig them up and put them in crates. Then, we gave them a temporary home in the garden in the back yard. They are happy for the time being...

This 2nd picture is of this backhoe digging - it is amazing how they can take a big machine like this and be so gentle. Yes, they dug up all the flowers; but he was careful not to disturb the cement border that Vic put in for me years ago. Count your blessings!!!

The third picture is the after picture. Yes, things are still unsettled. We still have a hole in the yard - the water leak was actually on the City side of the hole. They haven't come to replace their part yet. So we are not back to normal..........

While we were in the mess, we chose to add a daylight basement window. You can see in the picture where the outside water faucet is in conjunction to the window well. So we had him dig over another 5 feet, A-cor (a cement cutting company) cut the hole to the exact dimensions Kyle asked. And yes, we got a visit that night from Kyle, Kat and the girls while Kyle installed the new window.

This last picture is of the new window and window well. It is great - it really makes a big difference in the lighting in our basement. We still have to replace the sheetrock around the window, but we were going to do that anyway because over the years it has gotten wet; but that is a project for another day.

Wow! It's About Time

Spring is here - snowy one week and warm the next, rain then clouds, then hail. You wonder whether to wear a winter coat or a jacket or no jacket. Here are pictures of the same daffodil just a week apart.

Here are some of the things we have done in the past month:

Vic received his Silver Beaver Award. It is the highest award the Council can give to volunteers. Vic has been in Scouting for 29 years. I had the priviledge to present it to him - I received my Silver Beaver in 2002 and have served the last couple of years as the Silver Beaver Colony President. I have now passed that priviledge on to another.

I got busy sewing - made 4 of my granddaughters spring dresses - they are so cute with little lady bugs around the bottom.

We have also replaced our water heater, paid lots of $'s getting the blue van fixed, and have yet to find a water leak in the front yard.

We are enjoying being Empty Nesters.

Snow Days

Aren't the trees pretty? The weather has been extremely cold and the frost does amazing things to the trees. Winter is a pretty season and when you dress warm, you don't even get cold.

Vic says you can't complain about the heat and the cold so he only complains about the cold. I don't like the heat and tell him that you can add layers when you are cold, but you can only take off so much when you are hot.

Vic would like to invent a perfect snow - one that doesn't snow on the roads and sidewalks.

The second picture is of the eaves of the house - we have a metal

roof and as the metal warms up, the snow slides down. Then it

freezes before it falls off. Quite unique.

The third picture is the snow after it has fallen off the roof. It falls with a thud that scares you if you don't know what it is. This picture is of our front step - the snow pile is higher than the 2 steps up to the top.

This is Vic and his new snow blower. He is truly happy that he got it for Christmas because he has used it quite a lot this winter. He is blowing the snowpile that fell off the roof into the driveway.

He spends a lot of time cleaning snow. First he cleans the driveway and sidewalks, then the snow plow comes by and he does the end of the drive and the sidewalks again. Then the snow falls off the roof and he is at it again.

Sewing Room updated

I am so excited! I now have a sewing room. Before now, Vic and I shared a room - it was the office, sewing, craft and whatever else we could scrunch into the room.

When Missy moved out, I adoped her room for a sewing room. I adopted a couple of cupboards from my office remodel at work and needed a few more to complete the room. So a few days after Christmas the new cupboards were installed. I thought that would be my Christmas present for this year.

Unknown to me, Vic bought me a new serger for Christmas - It now sits in a prime spot in my sewing room amongst all my new cupboards. I went to a class to learn how to use it and am in 7th heaven - it is an air threader (no more tensions either). I am happy!!!!