The Von Ruden's

Lots of rain...

2012-01-19T10:44:00.001-08:00

Well, too much rain. We are sitting on a hill, but our neoghbors have a little bit of a water issue.

Here is a link to a few videos as well.

1st video

2nd video

3rd video

Our foot bridge.

More to follow.

The waterlogged Von Rudens

Gabriel

2012-01-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Today is a mixed feelings day. A day where we lose a friend and companion, and yet at the same time, his suffering is gone.

Our dog Gabe had developed an autoimmune disease that we have been watching and treating for many years now, and it has been slowly catching up to him. When we first started to treat him, we noticed improvement. He seemed back to his normal happy self, for awhile. Then we noticed the medication had some new symptoms. Decreased appetite, blood in his urine among other things. We tried to get a balance of medication and diet, buying him expensive dog foods. (Jer stopped here, unable to finish so I'm going to try.) Eventually the medication didn't give him any relief. Then neither did his diet. He didn't like the expensive food anyways and would often go days without eating. When we realized he would eat his breakfast and dinner and often more if we just fed him pedigree, we thought at least he'd put on weight. And he was happier. If only for a short time.

What makes Gabe so special? Let me tell you about an unbelievable dog and his fight to live many times over. Gabe was the third and last puppy born to our first German Shepherd, Diva. He probably should have died that night but Jeremy finally pulled him out after being stuck in the birth canal for 30 minutes. He was gasping for air almost the whole time since Diva had licked off the sack. He amazed us by immediately latching on to mom. We knew he was going to be tuff. A few days later, Diva stepped on him and he didn't stop squawking for an hour. After talking to the veterinarian he said there was very little that could be done for him if he did have internal damage since he was so young. He seemed to be ok and turned out to be the alpha of the litter. He also preferred to be outside and aloof. When it came time to sell the puppies we had to choose the best fit for some friends who wanted one of the two males. I had grown very attached to the other male, Chance, and wanted to keep him. Since they would have an outside dog we thought Gabe would be a better fit for them, also. His strong will and their dedication were a good match that first year. I believe it was his first night with them that an owl tried to carry him away. His persistent yelping got them to have mercy on him and discover he really was in danger and not being a troublesome puppy.

When he was 6 months old he managed to jump over their wood fence that enclosed a pool and land in the water. It was winter and extremely cold outside. Again his persistence in barking got him rescued. They treated him for hypothermia the best they could and he bounced back.

We took him to his first show in the spring and got lots of attention for his conformation and "look at me" presence. I had huge hopes of making him a champion.

I'm not sure when this next life threatening event happened to him. I think it must of been after the show because the weather was very nice. I was with Ana and Jorryn dropping Gabe off at his owners after watching him while they were on vacation. They have a giant swing with a specially made wood seat so the little kids wont fall out while being pushed. It's very sturdy and I was pushing Ana in it. I'm thinking the arc was about 12 ft, much higher than just any swing. Gabe ran thru just as the swing came down and hit him in the side of the head knocking him out cold for just a few very long seconds. I'm still horrified when I think of it. He was bleeding from the mouth and could hardly stand. I knew the family would be back soon and by the time they were he was acting normal. They agreed to keep an eye on him but as far as I know he never showed any signs of trauma. He eventually developed a white line across that side of his head that we thought must be from that accident.

We moved to Lebanon in August 2006 and just before we did, Gabe's owners, felt it better for him, (and I think for me too) to give him back to us. We had intentions on finding him a "show" home. But Gabe had a very dominate, stubborn temperament that quickly made me realize he would be too aggressive in the show ring, and with the wrong owner, dangerous. We had him altered and with in a week he was a different dog. It was night and day. He loved everybody and even other dogs. It didn't take Jer long to realize I wouldn't let him go again and Gabe had always been Jer's favorite. He even became the kids favorite and almost everyone who met him. He was 3 yrs old when he when discovered the auto immune disease. The first vet that we consulted, said she was so sorry and that there wasn't much that could be done. I finally found a vet with experience with his type of disease and she helped maintain him comfortably for a year. With more research I found that I could help him with diet.

When eventually even the diet wasn't helping, his discomfort was more than Jer and I could bare. It's an extremely hard and agonizing decision to make that the quality of your beloved pet it more important than the quantity. He was a huge part of our family and will be greatly missed.

Skunks!

2011-07-02T16:51:00.001-07:00

Jami takes care of a neighbors in the afternoons, and there is a resident skunk that has been there stinking up the place for a couple years now. I know what some of you are thinking, WHY in the world haven't we rid the barn of the skunk? I'll tell you. I don't know.

So this momma skunk has 5 little pups running around now, and they are quite cute. The picture above is not them, but they look just like them. There is wooden floor in the barn that they live under, and on the wooden floor is where the grain is for the horse. Sometimes they come out and hang out around that area and Jami doesn't want to go near them for fear of getting sprayed as you can imagine. Sometimes Jami goes to get the grain and momma comes running, and Jami goes running! I get a phone call to come and take care of them, but by the time I get there they are always gone. I thought of live traps, we have a few, but I have been lazy.

Today Jami went to the barn and there was a few baby skunks there looking like they were sick and dying. As far as we know they hadn't been poisoned, but they sure were acting like it. We decided it was time to get rid of them permanently. Shot the two that looked sick, and two more came out from under the flooring to check things out. Ended up just getting the four, and there is the momma still there and one more pup. Not sure where they were this afternoon, but we might run into them later.

I came home smelling like skunk, but Jami at least shouldn't be getting sprayed anytime soon.

We have two working cats here on the property as well. Tiger and Captain. Tiger is the young hunter, and he is constantly leaving piles of guts right in the footpath of the back door. If your not careful you will step in them. Lately the piles are bigger than normal. We recognized a few as rats, and found out today that he has been getting a few gophers as well. Goooooood Kitty!!!!

Until next time,

Jer

Reminiscing

2011-06-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

Ran across some pictures that just reinforce Gods gift to me in giving me Jami as my wife.

Love ya Jami!

Jer

Mud & Snow

2011-06-23T10:18:00.001-07:00

I came across a few pictures of Matt & I playing in the hills. The one in the mud was up Post canyon, Hood River area. We had gone up to visit Thad, and got a little crazy in the mud. I got high centered in a stump that I couldn't see as I was trying to stay on the road. That one took about 45 minutes to get out of, with about 40' of chain and two hi-lift jacks.

The snow pick is some Saturday afternoon with nothing better to do than to go push snow with the front bumper of the truck. If I remember right, we passed three other rigs that couldn't go any further and were trying to back down the road and one got stuck.

The other is the fun coast trip Matt & I had many many moons ago. We have a whole series of pics from that trip. if only I can find them.

Jeremy

Skipping Phase Three until further notice

2011-06-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of current events that we want to start sharing with you, but first we thought we should tell you why we skipped phase 3 of last years trip.

Phase three was supposed to be last summer in Nebraska, but nothing materialized. We have pictures of branding, kids on quads, rattle snakes, horseback riding, bathroom remolding. Where are the pictures? Here somewhere. Why haven't we posted? Some say we are procrastinators. Some say too lazy. I say, I might tell you later after a nap.

Jeremy

Road Trip Phase Two

2010-10-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

Long time between post, but Jami was supposed to write up phase two.
So after leaving Cedaredge, we headed to Denver to see Jamis cousin Laura and meet the rest of the family from Osh Kosh to go to Elitch Gardens Six Flaggs.
We got a decent night sleep even after getting in so late at Laura's place, and all of us were ready to go when it came time to get up and get ready for the theme park. We met up with the Osh Kosh crew around 9ish and were off to the park. I was just as excited as the kids I think, and could hardly wait to hit the big rides with them as well. I was thinking the biggest rides would scare them off, but I was wrong. One ride, the TOWER of DOOM, which looms 200ft into the air and free falls you to the ground, was begging all of us to try it. Jorryn runs up to the measuring stick to check and see if the kids meet the height requirements and when he checked himself and realized he was tall enough, he starts yelling for all the crowd to hear, "I am TALL enough! I can RIDE IT! I CAN RIDE IT!" All this shouting and jumping in the air at the same time. This ride as we found out later would end up to be his favorite for the whole day. Jami found a new boyfriend at the park, I wasn't too jealous though, so I took the picture of them so she can remember him after the day was over.
We did some water rides, and then the kids went to the water park towards the end of the day and got soaked. We stayed there until it closed at 6, then a cool wind started up and those who were wet, (kids), got pretty cold. Ana had some extra clothes, but Jorryn needed a shirt, so he and I went to the gift shops to look for a cool one from the park. Finally found one after about 15 minutes that wasn't too high a price and one I thought he would wear on a regular basis. Mission accomplished! Until we went outside. Apparently the cool wind was binging in more than just a mild change in temperature, but also some thunder showers. We put up with a few rain drops, then some thunder claps, then came the heavy downpour. Soaked us to the bone. So much for the new dry shirt I just bought him 10 minutes earlier! We found some shelter, then ran to another ride and stood in line amidst the intermittent rain. Just when we were next to board, they decided that there was too much lightening and all the rides in the park were closed. CLOSED! ugh. What an abrupt end to a pretty fun day.
We found the rest of the crew and all went back to the hotel where the grandparents were staying and the kids ended up playing in the pool. Lots of fun.
Laura was also having her shower in the master bathroom replaced and I ended up pushing a wall back for her, opening up the shower another foot or so and then dropping the ceiling a few inches so they can have plumbing run above the shower for an over the head shower head. I was glad to help, and the payment was a pretty awesome dinner that filled me beyond capacity.

Enjoy the few pics, next phase is in OshKosh.

Road Trip Phase One

2010-08-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Howdy all! (anyone out there?)

We decided to hit the road the end of July and go on a three week road trip visiting family and friends along the way. Maybe even do some sight seeing. There has to be something along the side of the road to see besides hitch hikers and road kill.

First stop is Cedaredge, Colorado visiting mom, Steve, Nana, and my sis Carolyn. We, (Jeremy, Jami, sis Jenny, and the kids, Ana and Jorryn) left home Sunday night at 12:20 A.M. I guess technically that would be Monday morning. Jami and I took turns driving with really nothing eventful to speak of the whole 23 hours straight through. The worst part of the trip was some traffic in Salt Lake City. That wasn't even that bad, we just kept looking in vehicles trying to profile the non-Mormons. You know, looking for the long haired type, not wearing collared shirts and drinking coffee and soda.

We got to mom's a little after midnight and still had to setup the tent that we were going to be sleeping in. Luckily I had some practice a few weeks before when I set it up for me and the kids on a camp out in the backyard. I think it only took about 30 minutes and we were setup and about ready to crawl into bed. It felt good sleeping on an air mattress instead of a moving vehicle I tell you. That is until about 5 am when I woke up laying on the ground because the mattress had a leak in it. ARRRGGG... Tried to fix it later and was semi-successful.

Next morning we had a big breakfast with the whole crew, minus Nana who we visited later that day. Steve showed us all the cool cars, trucks ad tractors he had around the place. Got to go on some rides and got some pics of a tractor or two. The Farmall in the picture runs, just needs a little timing adjustment.

Carolyn came over with her family, her husband Brian and his boys, and the twins. We had fun visiting and seeing them all for the first time. (Not Carolyn of course!) Then we went to see Nana at the care center.

We hadn't seen her for so long and it was great to be able to give her a big hug and visit in person rather than on the phone. After a visit awhile that afternoon we headed back to the house, had dinner at Carolyn's and tried to get the air mattresses patched for a good nights sleep. We were only successful with one air mattress, not two, and to top it off we had a thunder storm that night. We stayed dry for most of the night. We got a few puddles started shortly after we got up and moving around.

Headed back into see Nana for lunch and had a nice time with her for a few hours chatting with everyone and getting caught up with all the news we could think of and then snapping a bunch of pictures to remember it all by. Ana and Jorryn got to play a few songs on the piano for her and even drew a small crowd. They did great and I think I caught a tear from my moms eye. We headed back to Nanas room to say goodbye and after some tears and hugs we said goodbye for now and headed out.

Next Stop, Denver.

We tried to get on the road for the next phase of the trip by 3pm, but I think it was more like 4pm. ANYWAY, we loaded everything up in a rush and after some more tearful goodbyes we headed down the road. Got some good sight seeing in and even saw a black bear on the side of the road with her two cubs. Jami was pretty quick on the draw with the camera, but I ended up having to turn around and go back to get the better shot.

When we were nearing the interstate almost an hour and a half later, I heard a funny noise like there was a rock stuck in the tread of the tire. Upon further inspection I found that a large chunk of tread had detached itself and found freedom somewhere along the road behind us, leaving nothing much behind for us to continue on. As I reached for the trailer door, in my minds eye I saw the spare tire laying on the ground back at moms waiting to be reloaded into the trailer. I don't know why I even opened the trailer to check, just to slap myself in the face again with the realization that it really wasn't there. STINK! Well, Carolyn and mom to the rescue and a few hours later after they brought the tire to us we were on the road again.

Once again, we arrived at our next stop just after midnight. No tent to set up this time though. Jamis cousin Laura had spare rooms for us to sleep in, and no leaky air mattresses to deal with.

Hope this post was semi coherent as I am super tired. Jami might interject some facts after reading. Phase two on the trip is next time...enjoy the pics.

Spring

2010-06-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

HI again! Just wanting to share our springtime fun with our friends and family. Ana's getting ready to show her goat Lila for the first time at fair this July. She'll be in 4 classes, but her goal is to get through the pack goat classes obstacles without to much of a fight. Jorryn, Ana, and I were in a local parade and went on a hike with the 4 H club Ana belongs to. Surprisingly, Jer didn't think the hike sounded that exciting.

Besides goats we've been having fun with calves. Our neighbor Lorell lets me help him take care of his animals, and we had been anxiously waiting for the cows to calve. The first cow had twin bulls and two weeks later the second cow had a heifer. Unfortunately (or fortunately for me) the second cow had already taken to the twins and was even nursing them, so she rejected her own calf. I now have a huge baby to pamper.

John and Neysi came to visit with their new baby boy, Jayden! I can't tell who he looks like more. It's still hard to believe that Bub is a dad!

Jer really wanted to go camping Memorial Day weekend. I was not up for it so he compromised and put the tent up in the yard. We haven't had this tent out for many moons, and I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him reading the directions! I got a picture for proof!

We have a lot planned for the summer. Stay tuned for updates.

April Fools

2010-04-01T19:54:00.001-07:00

It is April 1st and the Feb post just got officially posted. I'm not sure who the jokes on but it's kinda funny. I'm on a roll.....there's two posts in one day. It must have something to do with April Fools Day.

My parents came to visit in March and we went to the coast and stayed for a few days. It was a much needed reunion! I hadn't seen my dad in over a year. Longest time ever and I hope that I'll never go that long w/out seeing him or my mom again. I did get to see my mom in Aug. '09 but that was still too long.

We've been cleaning up the trees around the property. Hopefully, we will be able to spiff this place up this spring and have a bunch of BBQs, and even camp outs with family and friends.

Sadly, the pictures of Graycy were the first ones that we had put on here and they will also be the last. She went to be with the Creator on March 31st and our hearts are broken that she won't be here to love on. It's one of the heartaches in life that as a parent I wish I could keep my children from. I'm encouraged to share with them that the anguish they feel for the loss of their beloved pet is so minor compared to the heartache God has for us when we separate ourselves from Him. Thank you, God of all creation for giving me the peace that passes all understanding in Knowing that this is not all you have for us and even our cherished pets.

Over due

2010-02-16T19:59:00.000-08:00

It's been put off and put off, excuse after excuse, but it's finally happening. A Post! I had to look and it's been since Oct. Yikes. We have had 2 birthdays and 2 major holidays that should have been on here. Ana turned 9. Jer turned 38. Enough said. He's still trying to decide what he wants for his birthday. I knew exactly what I wanted for mine and everyone went way over board! I am having a really hard time getting older. I don't feel older, except for when I try to workout and pull a muscle when I think I'm taking it easy. Or look in the mirror and wonder were that old lady came from.

I'm so excited about the gifts that I have received this year, that I just couldn't wait to show them to everyone who looks on here. Three years ago I went on a trip with my friend Monica where we stayed in a cabin in the Sierras and went horseback riding everyday for a week. Monica had a Morgan gelding named Yankee in training that she brought for me to ride. I think she must have known I'd love him. Jer had spoiled me that year too with a Nikon D80 camera and I was taking pictures of everything. I got a rather good shot of Yankee that I had blown up and hoped to have framed. But like most things it hadn't been done yet till now. Alan made me a beautiful frame and now it is finally on my wall where every time I look at it I think of how much I'm loved by my family, friends and God who gives me the desires of my heart. It's amazing how much just a picture of a horse can swell up so much emotion in me. Jer also made the spice rack that I'm still in awe over. The picture on the blog just doesn't do it justice.

I'm feeling like it's too late to say anything about the holidays but I've got lots of pictures for you to look at and see how fun the birthdays and holidays were.

Jamis early birthday present

2010-02-13T15:47:00.000-08:00

Jami has been wanting me to build her a spice rack, and we had some decorative tile that needed to be used up. I decided to try and incorporate them into something we could take with us if we built a house or moved so they got used in the spice rack. Here is a pic.

Happy birthday babe!

Our Long Absence

2009-10-22T00:56:00.000-07:00

So I have been told that our online blogging journal of our summer stinks. I would tend to agree. But given the busy summer we have had...I fail to report. I (jeremy) mainly keep up the blog, that is when I get around to it, and that means if I come home from a hard days work and don't feel like...okay thats not the excuse. The real truth is this. I do have long days, but still stay up late. Lets put it this way. You ever see a guy in a long conversation on the phone and after an hour or so he hangs up and when you ask what he talked about you get this, "Nothing." Thats what this blog has been this summer.

We have been snapping a few photos here and there, had funny things happen around the house. Well, like just the other day when Jorryn, oh...look at the time. Its 1am! I need some sleep.

Catch up with you all again real soon. I promise. No really...I promise. (define soon?!@?!)

Jeremy

Newport & Silver Creek Falls

2009-08-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

When we moved from Reno, a lot of friends gave us 2 years max before we moved back. That was 5 years ago and we are more rooted than ever. You might think we would take advantage of living so close to the coast, and head over at least once an month, right? Wrong! Life seems to get in the way of life. Our friends Chris and Monica came up with their boys and broke us out of the mundane rut that we'd made for ourselves and got us back into fun mode.

Newport was on the list of things to do, and after a little late start in the day we headed over. By the time we got there everyone was pretty hungry so our first stop was the Rogue Brewery. A couple of complimentary beer samplers and some good food was a good start to the afternoon. We walked the shops up and down the street, popping in and out of the cool nic-nac stores. We watched a guy tossing little fish to the seaguls. The kids did well with all the walking we did.
We found the sea lions all basking in the sun on floating docks so we stopped to watch and listen to their banter. Jorryn's crock mysteriously got torn from his foot and tossed down to the sea lions just as we were leaving to go see a "show". He screamed bloody murder so that pretty much every one in Newport knew something was askew. Jer and Chris were off buying the tickets and Jami was trying not to laugh and to calm down her frantic son who wouldn't leave w/out his shoe. They just happen to be his favorite pair. Dad came to the rescue! Jer went and found a fisherman who lent him his fishing pole so that he could make the catch of the day. Chris caught most of the drama on video so we can relive the momentous event. Click here to see it. It is truly priceless, especially to one little boy. I just thought of a quote for this, "Who throws their shoe, honestly?"
We soon headed off to find some tide pools so all us kids could explore. It is amazing how being chased by waves can be so exhilarating. Jami had the forethought to think it would be very cool on the beach so she brought jackets but didn't realize there would be soaking wet kids at the end of the day who'd need a change of clothes. She must not come to the beach much! Since we had naked kids wrapped in jackets we weren't able to go in and sit at a restaurant to enjoy our much anticipated clam chowder. We took it to go and drove home. All in all it was a great day!
The next day we headed for Silver Creek Falls. Definitely one of the best sights to see in Oregon, but maybe not the greatest idea when toting small kids. Chris got a good work out carrying Brice most of the way, but I'm sure he was relieved that he worked off all the clam chowder from the night before. We only made 2 of the 10 falls but we were ready to hike back to the car. When we got home we decided that we needed a fire pit and Jer and Chris went down to the creek to get some rocks. I'm not sure what happened but Chris ended up with the shovel and the big job of digging our fire pit. He was expecting to find some soft dirt since Jami had told him how the trees fall down here with a light wind (if you've lived in Reno you know what I"m talking about). Our part of Oregon has been unusually dry this summer so the ground was hard. We love our fire pit and think Chris is awesome! After some s'mores we headed off to bed.

Jami left for Reno the next day to see her Mom, sister, nephews, and niece on a last minute whim sos-to-speak. Jer took the Robbs geocaching on their last day here in Lebanon.

July Madness

2009-07-13T22:42:00.001-07:00

Did I say busy? Jami signed the kids up for t-ball and baseball, which play four nights a week. Jorryn plays Mondays and Wednesdays, Ana plays Tuesdays and Thursdays. Not only that, but we have church softball on Mondays as well. Jami is taking tennis lessons on Tuesday mornings, and Ana has piano Tuesday afternoons. We have had a lot of BBQ's or dinners to go to on Fridays, and the last 2-3 weekends have been helping other families with moving or projects. Jami has a horse show this weekend, and I have planned a camping trip with some friends as well.
Work has been busy too. I have been keeping up pretty well and now July is a bit crazy. I am double booked for two of the weeks and have to hire a guy to get me through the month. Its a good problem to have.
This year has been flying by for me, and I am not sure if that is good or bad. Ana is growing...she grew an inch in 37 days, Jorryn isn't far behind her.
The kids baseball is pretty entertaining. The pics we get are great. Boredom sets in pretty quick and we end up catching them laying on the ground, looking up at the sky, dancing, picking their nose, flipping us the bird. Not on purpose...but there is something funny about the innocence. We love em!

Jami has been moving the goat pen around a lot. It consists of cattle panels that we tie together and move it around the property. She was getting the fence put together on a spot close to the road when she heard a tiny kitty mew from the blackberry bushes. Of course she has to go check it out. Apparently there was a kitty abandoned
on our road, and the biggest animal lover around happened to find it. We are guessing he is around 10 weeks old, and kitty box trained already. Nice to have that taken care of. This will make two cats that have adopted us, and I think the word is out because Jami says she sees other strange cats in the area. I need to put up a sign that says "no vacancy".

Its a little late and I think I need to wrap up the post. Jami can fill in where I let out any good details.

Enjoy the pics...

Been crazy busy as usual

2009-07-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

So yes, over a month and no new posts...we are BAD. Life has been extremely busy with work and then baseball and softball games four nights a week. The weekends seem to fly by like they are your lunch hour. I think we should always have a three day weekend. Going to start next week. Wait, that is planned for me...

Anyways, got some pictures rounded up and a post in the making, so stay tuned if you are interested.

Busy Von Rudens

I was kidnapped for a day...

2009-05-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

No really.

Jami home schools the kids through a state program called Connections Academy. Its considered a charter school. The end of year picnic was held at the Champoeg state park and I was NOT allowed to work, but needed to accompany the wife and kiddos to the event. There was some teacher meet and greet stuff starting at 11am, but the games and fun didn't start until 1pm, and ended at 2:30pm. So that's when we decided to get there. This really meant that we were going to get there at about 1:30pm, which was pretty close to the time we pulled up in the parking area.
There were a ton'o'kids everywhere and the first thing we had to do was hit the face painting table. There is a back story behind that, something about not getting the faces painted at Disneyland...anyway, moving on. Even though Jami teaches the kids at home, they are each assigned a teacher that they need to send papers to during the year to check progress. We located both Ana and Jorryns teachers while standing in line and were able to visit with both of them and get a few pictures taken.
We also got cup cakes in line, someone was moving from table to table with a flat of chocolate and vanilla mini cakes of yum. So while eating the little sugar high cakes the kids were able to think of what they wanted on their faces. Jorryn wanted to get a tiger painted on his face, and Ana wanted a butterfly.
The face paint line took about a half an hour which put us about 2pm. I guess when we were told the event went until 2:30pm, that meant cleaned up and gone by 2:30, because they were rolling up the game tables, the animal balloon guy was done and out of balloons, the prize table where you turn in your tickets for prizes was the only one still up. SOOOOOO.....we visited with Ana's teacher a little bit more and packed it in. To sum up, we drove an hour to get our kids faces painted and take a few pictures. Gripping time. I am glad I took a day off for that. Of course we could have gotten there on time and it would have been better, so I can't be totally justified in blame shifting our semi exciting time.

Next on the agenda was home...but I had better plans. As soon as the Excedrin, (free plug), kicked in to reduce my headache to a manageable level, we were going to have a blast mini golfing at the fun center a little more north on the freeway. Its been awhile since we took the kids to something like that. I made sure to video each hole to catch the inevitable hole in one that always happens, and wouldn't you know that the time I didn't video it, Ana got the hole in one. ARRGGGG!!! So I made sure to video Jorryn take the next shot at it low and behold, back to back singles! They both got a hole in one on the same hole. I did get his. All we had with us was the camera video, which isn't the best quality, but still...
After the game, we went inside, played a few video games then ended up heading to Fuddruckers for a good burger dinner. The kids had their standby favorites, Ana with a standard cheeseburger, and Jorryn with his chicken bites, Jami had a bacon avocado, and I of course had to have my bleu cheese and onion. Mine was fabulous, and Jami paid me a compliment and told me I make better burgers at home.
So thats it... our day in a nutshell. I felt kidnapped, by my kids. It was great. I wish they would kidnap me more, but maybe next time on their nickel. Heh heh...

As a bonus, Jami found a mole that the dogs killed out in the dog pen. A bonus because they are tearing up our fields like crazy right now. Pesky critters!

More about LA trip

2009-05-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

You would think that Disneyland was the highlight of our trip since it's all that's been posted so far. It was a good time but John's wedding and California Adventure were even better. Friday was spent with suit fittings and set up for the wedding/reception. I can imagine that when a guy gets his measurements done out of state and sent to the tux rental in another state the chances of getting it correct are slim. Jer and John's suits were wrong. It being the day before the wedding didn't give the tailor much time to fix them but they did and all was well. We got to the marina to set up for the wedding and it shouldn't be a surprise that at first it was a little chaotic. Neysi had everything planned out and organized well and as soon as everyone got there it didn't take too long to get it done. We weren't sure if the ceremony would be inside or out since there was 50% chance of rain. Therefore, we rehearsed for both. The wedding wasn't until 3pm on Saturday so we got to sleep in, sort of, I had planned on braiding Ana's hair so that it circled her head. I've done it twice and it was amazing but takes me about 2-3 hours. She just wasn't up to it that morning so I was lucky to get two braids across the top of her head. We wanted to be able to help set up the chairs, but it was done and only had to get ourselves ready. Jorryn's suit was too big so thanks to Grandma and Aunt Jeanne they were able to alter it that morning! Neysi was doing some last minute touch up to Ana's dress so I wasn't able to get them dressed for the wedding until about 15 minutes before 3pm. I was sweating it, but had nothing to worry about. Neysi and some of the bridesmaids weren't ready either and we couldn't start the wedding without the bride. After the beautiful ceremony that was done in Spanish and English we had a blast at the reception. I love to dance and haven't in a long time so I was having a hard time not dragging Jer on to the dance floor. I finally got Jorryn to dance with me and then Ana. Pretty soon all four of us were crowding a corner of the dance floor. Jorryn wasn't to keen on the loud music so he was ready to go back to the hotel long before the rest of us.
We were planning on a day at the California Adventure park and then a 7 hr drive to Sacramento on Sunday so getting a good night sleep was important. Jer was in slow motion on Sunday morning and so we didn't get going quite as early as we should have. (Geez, I wonder why? 4 stressful but fun days and all on about 15 hrs of sleep) We said our goodbyes to family and got stuck in traffic. We decided that we were going to enjoy whatever time we had and not feel rushed. Made sure the windows were all rolled up and the kids and I had a fantastic day. Jer had a mountain of a headache. He was a trooper all day but I know he didn't have as much fun as he could have. We enjoyed the California Park more than Disneyland which was a surprise but I think it's because we didn't have any expectations for it and everything was new. It was 6:30pm when we started the drive to Sacramento and got stuck in traffic because of an accident. Once we got threw traffic it was smooth sailing all down I-5. So we thought. When Jer had gotten his nap and dose of Excedrin to numb his headache he took over and I dozed off. When I woke up he said , "Can you check the GPS and see where we are?" I can't even tell you what went threw my mind but I was worried. Technology is a amazing. We figured out that Jer had missed an exit to stay on I-5 and stayed on another highway that was taking us to San Fransisco. We were exhausted and it was already 1am or else I think we just might have gone on to Fishermen's Wharf. It was a bit of a detour but we got back on track and to my friend Monica's house at 3am. I was very happy that Jer and the kids got to see her and her home but next time we'll have to plan it better. Jer and the kids left for Oregon around noon on Monday and I got to stay for a much needed visit. I flew into a very rainy oregon and wasn't even irritated. We had men's bible study and Awana's to get ready for that night. It was a great vacation and life seemed to fall right back into it's business here at home.

Our Captian...

2009-05-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

Many moons ago we found out that we were a candidate family for a program some local felines call the Adopt a Family Program. We found this out by one of the members showing up at our doorstep with the look that I am sure was part of the class training. If you ever have seen Shrek 2, picture the cat with the big eyes. The pleading eyes, the ones that say, "Can you help a poor needy helpless cat? I am hungry, cold and need a place to live. If I play on your sympathy, can I stay and mooch off you forever?" The wife and kids fell for him immediately. Of course, there had been much talk previous to this as to us getting a cat, but me being the mean daddy I am had always said no. I was the big meanie and for a few weeks we just gave him goats milk out the front door and secretly I was hoping he would just go away.
After a few weeks I finally broke under the strain or the pleading family members and we bought a bag of cat food and let him in the house.
To my surprise, he seemed very comfortable. and he hopped right up on the couch and curled up like that was his spot. I tell you I was a little indignant! Come to find out, Jami had been letting him in the house while I was at work then vacuuming the couch before I got home as if nothing had happened. SNEAKY...
He has a little crook in his ear, like it had been damaged in some cat fight early on, or he was born with it. I think since he is a guy cat, he would want me to convey it was from a nasty life and death fight where he almost lost his ear, so we will go with that. So since his ear was crooked...the kids came up with Captain Crook. His new name.
Ever since we let him in the house he has been a part of the family. He is great with the kids. He lets them pick him up and carry him at uncomfortable angles, leg up here, paw around his head...no complaining. He plays with them. He had started to just come hang out in the rooms where we were just to be with us, his adopted family. At nights he would come in and wake us up when it was time to let him outside to use the bathroom. Pretty cool. Until one night when I didn't wake up and he decided he couldn't wait and he peed on me. Not cool. I woke up then...and chased him to the front door. No more in the house overnight. Did I mention he peed on me?
So the new routine was out at night when we went to bed, and he would be there in the morning waiting at the door when we woke up.
He was very happy to have us home after our trip to L.A. Very personable, talkative, playful. Happy as can be. We let him out on Thursday night and he went missing. No greeting Friday morning, and that's when we suspected the worst. We figured an owl, or a cougar got him. There has been a cougar seen in the area, so we thought he was dinner for some other animal. The other possibility was he was hit on the road.
Oh, look at the time. I have to finish the story later on another post! Let you know what we found down by the creek.
So Jer needed a nap and I'm taking over. I'm going to try and make what's become a long story, shorter. We took a walk along the road and then into the woods to see if we could find any trace of what might have happened to Captain. The good thing is we didn't find any sign of Captain but discovered the remains of a beaver and raccoon. Basically it was the head and tail of both. We are pretty sure that it is a mountain lion and will have someone out from the Dept of Agriculture to verify. I'm a little freaked out and my long walks will now be on the road instead of threw the woods. Bit of a bummer but I'd rather find out this way than with a fight for my life or someone else in my family. I'm sure that would be very unlikely but...why take risk it.
I woke up this morning and as usual went to the door to let Captain in, feeling very sad that he wouldn't be there. I waited for a minute or two and then went to get ready for church. Jorryn got up awhile later and started yelling,"Captains here." We didn't believe him and thought it was a cruel joke. It wasn't! There he was looking very pitiful with wounds to show he'd had a tough couple of days. If only he could talk! We are all super happy to have him home again.

More Bight Side from the trip...

2009-05-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

Arriving at California Adventure an hour late.
The bright side is we get to spend more time in line observing how well the no spanking laws are working out in the parent/child relationships here in sunny California

Having your son drop his trousers and “moon” everyone as he stands in front of the urinal next to you in the guys bathroom.
The bright side is I can live vicariously through my sons innocence.

Forgetting my headache medicine in the Yukon and not realizing it until AFTER we were in the park.
The bright side is that I increased my pain tolerance in case I am ever caught and tortured for information after being inflicted with a head injury while at the same time reducing my dependence on pain relievers.

Getting a sunburn on the top of my head after being in the park all day long.
The bright side is that if I lose a bet and have to shave my head in the next week I will have a cool lizard like pattern to detract from the fact that I am now BALD.

Saving the most anticipated ride for last only to find out that the line is so long that we have to leave the park before we can ride it.
The bright side is that we will never know what we missed out on. Yeah. That’s it. Grrrr….

Leaving the park at 6:30 pm for a 7 hour drive on virtually no sleep and a headache the size of southern California.
The bright side is that you are so distracted by the pain traffic doesn’t bother you nearly as much and also keeps you from falling asleep at the wheel.

Missing the exit and turning the 7 hour drive into an 8 hour drive by taking a 65 mile detour.
The bright side is that now I know that there is a $4.00 toll at the George Miller Jr. Memorial Bridge. Good to know.

Arriving back home and having a few good days rest and recoup.
The bright side is I have a few good days rest and recoup. SWEET!

Disney Day 1

2009-05-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am a little bummed. I remember viewing the pictures on my computer, and yet, I can't find them. I do have the ones from my sisters camera. I will have to update the album later. Moving on to the post. **UPDATE** Found the pics...linked to the album. All is well.

Day one was HIGHLY anticipated by our kids, and yes, us parents too. We were told that if we parked in the Downtown Disney lot and get a validation, there wouldn't be a parking fee, so we pulled up, rolled down the window, grabbed a ticket and off to the perfect start to the day. After loading up the backpacks with disinfectant wipes, snacks and water, we locked up the Yukon and headed to the park entrance. We were able to meet a friend there and get the tickets we needed to get into both parks. We did Disneyland the first day and California Adventure a few days later.

Let me give you Jami's and my perspective on what was expected. We have been talking about going to Disneyland for a few years now, and since the kids have almost seen every Disney movie made, they love to watch them, pretend to be the characters, Ana loves the princesses we figured that once we got there it was going to be a wonderland of bliss. The Disney castle, the characters, the atmosphere of DISNEY all around! YEAH! The HYPE! That bubble was burst pretty quick...read on.

We started slow, you know the tea cups and then moved it up to the Matterhorn pretty much right away. Once the kids got a taste of the real rides, it was all over. I think the adrenaline rush gene was passed on to my kids, and my daughter has it BAD. Every time we tried to do a slower ride or take some good photo opportunities, it was immediately followed up with, "Are we going to go on a big ride now?" What a thrill junkie! Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain were big hits. Jorryn of course really liked the Star Wars simulation ride. While we were in line for the Nemo Sub, they were doing Jedi training close to us at the mini outdoor theater. My sons eyes were glued to the spot. Storm troopers, Jedi, even Darth Vader. It looked cool, and we wished we had known the schedule and got some better seats rather than standing in a slowly moving line.

The day went pretty quick, faster than we thought but we were getting worn out too. Lots of walking, lots of waiting. We did have the fast pass to go hold our place in line while we went to go do other things. It was great. After inserting your fast pass ticket, it gives you one in return telling you when to come back. So a 45 or more minute line takes us less than 10 minutes usually. Pretty cool. There was lots of time to people watch while we did wait in line. Many strange people go there.

Pirates of the Caribbean was CLOSED...ugh, that was one Jami and I were looking forward to. The Autopia was fun for the kids. Gave them the sense that they were driving. While we were in line waiting, we saw a teenager in one of the cars driving...and...wait for it...yes...she was texting. COME ON! I wish we had the camera out for that one.

We started wrapping up the day with a little shopping for souvenirs. The kids were done. Ana and Jorryn both had turns getting carried on the way out to the parking lot. The normal price for parking was 7.50 an hour or a $36 maximum all day. I was thinking that we had no worries since I could just get a validation, but come to find out we have to eat at a sit down restaurant or have gone to the movie theater in downtown Disney. Ordering a $8.99 appetizer to go wouldn't work, you actually have to SIT and eat. Ridiculous. Especially since we were VERY tired at this point, we had been at the park for almost 11 hours and were not about to wait the 45 minutes on the waiting list to order an appetizer. On to try the movie theater. I came up to the ticket booth, asked how much for a ticket.
"Which movie sir?"
"Don't care, how much for a ticket?"
"It's eleven dollars. Which movie would you like to see?"
"None. It's cheaper for me to buy a movie ticket and get it validated than pay for parking, so just one ticket please and a validation."
She looked around nervously, like she was being watched my Mickey Mouse himself, and in a low whisper said, "I'll validate it for you, no need to buy a ticket."
Relief! Joy filled my heart. I thanked her and off to the Yukon we went. As we got close to the truck I hit clicker to unlock the doors and pop the rear hatch, then walked around to the drivers side door. Remember way back up at the top of the post where I said I rolled down the window when we entered the parking lot? Yeah, I never rolled it back up. We left our nice SLR Nikon camera in there, Jami's purse, all the stuff we didn't want to leave in the hotel, laptop, GPS, ipod, etc. You get the picture. You know that joy that filled my heart minutes earlier? GONE. I couldn't believe I left the truck open all day in L.A. at the Disneyland parking lot. Who does that? ME. I do. Lame. So we started doing inventory to see what was left if anything, and you know what? Everything was there. No one messed with a thing. THANK GOD. Relief once again, and joy all back.
We packed up and went to the ticket booth, gave him my validated ticket and instead of seeing a $0.00 total for the parking for the day, we saw $30.00. I thought there was a mistake. The ticket was validated and I had experienced joy. Now this guy was telling me I owed him $30! He then kindly explained that the validation was good for the first 5 hours and after that the clock starts over. Joy gone. My emotions were now at the best roller coaster ride at the park. Gimme a break. I had the urge to drive right through that striped wooden arm holding us ransom like some evil parking lot thug. Then he tells me that if we had parked just across the street at the other parking facility it would be $12 maximum for the whole day! Isn't that like pouring lemon juice on a paper cut? Let me answer that....~YES IT IS~! But, seeing the motion sickness look on my face from the ups and downs I had been going through the last 20 minutes I think he decided to have pity on this poor wretch of a soul and said, "Next time just park over there. Have a nice night." The wooden thug raised up and out of the way to the open road ahead. FREEDOM! Joy back again.

Got back to the hotel after a stop for some real food, got the kids down and started looking at the pictures from the day. I will have to look harder, cause I am sure they are here somewhere. We had John's wedding that kept us busy for the next few days, but I think this post has rambled on long enough. More to come later.

Off to a good sleep in my own comfy bed! Night all!

Blog post comin...

2009-05-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

Updates comin! I gotta get the pics sorted out...I left Jami in Sacramento with a good friend of hers and we got in late last night. Spent the day SLEEPING IN and doing some run around in town. Got back home and after cleaning the Yukon stopped for dinner and some goofin around with the kids. Time to sit down and get the pics organized with a blog post.

See ya soon!

Jeremy

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

2009-05-02T10:06:00.001-07:00

The Bright side of the hotel

When you drive 16 hours and they put you on the 3rd floor with a long walk from the parking area.
The bright side is you can get great exercise and have a great view of the busy street corner and can observe the variety of cars, trucks and do a well documented study of emergency vehicles at all hours of the night.

A room with with the shower head at just over 5' tall.
The bright side is that my kids can adjust the nozzle by themselves without help.

The shower drain that drains slow enough that I am standing in a puddle by the time I exit the shower.
The bright side is that its like having a foot bath every day!

Having strangers that are resident guests on the first floor ask to to bring them the newspaper in the morning so they don't have to change out of their day wear pajamas.
The bright side is that they are no longer strangers and you get paid in a banana every day if you like.

Having sugar ants invade your vehicle while siting in the parking lot overnight.
The bright side is that they clean up all the crumbs from the trip minimizing vacuuming.

More Bright Side later. I need to go soak my feet and get ready for the wedding...

Oh...if the weather report is right, and it starts to be windy and rainy at the outdoor wedding...well
The bright side is that is that its like having a nature spritzer too cool us off from the hot day.

A Vacation from our Vacation

2009-05-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

So another busy day has gone by and no real time to even organize pictures let alone tell of our time at the park. Rushing something to post it wont do any justice to the trip, so a good post may not come until we get back.

We did have a good trip down here. It started by getting ready on Tuesday for the trip. Oil change, trip to the store for final supplies, laundry, getting the house sitter lined out with all the chores, prepping the cd's and audiobooks to the mp3 player, food...clothes packed...next thing I know, Jami is in bed and I am still up and its almost time to get up and go. So I just showered, brewed a pot of coffee, and by the time I was done with that Jami was getting up ready to get going. This was about 3:30am. We ended up leaving the house close to 5:30. We got to town and I realized that I had forgotten the adapter to play the mp3 player on the radio, so at 6am when we were leaving Wal-mart and really on the road. I drove for about an hour and a half then Jami took over cause the coffee wasn't doing the trick for me anymore. No sleep was catching up with me.
Jami did great as usual and I got some sleep in the back seat with the kids. The trip was pretty uneventful, nothing to report really other than we were extremely ready to hit the hay when we got to the hotel. 16 hours down.

There is more, but for the life of me I cant think of what it is right now...again the lack of sleep is killing the thoughts...

So the wedding is tomorrow, and I can see a big day planned again. We are going to hit California Adventure on Sunday if all goes well, and more good stories should be in the ready when the time comes. Night all. Von Rudens are TIRED.

Jeremy

Just a quick post....

2009-04-30T23:52:00.000-07:00

We are down in Disneyland area and just had to go to the park. Its almost midnight and I am pretty beat. It was a long day. SO...I will save any brain cells I have for tomorrows post, and just send you a picture of the kids on the way home from the park. It says it all.

Until tomorrow~

Jeremy

Some Fun Work...

2009-04-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

So in my everyday mundane duties of typical remodel work, I finally got a customer that wanted to get really creative and brave in a project. They wanted something decorative behind the wood stove, so I gave them an idea from a display I saw in a magazine. They loved it and we decided to give it a go. I am on week three here in the design and install, but here is what I came up with so far. Its been fun and look forward to some more jobs like this one.

Here is a link

Mural

Enjoy!

The Front Hedge

2009-04-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

...or "Steve" as we like to call it. For those who have seen Over the Hedge, you know what I am talking about.
So let me explain, no, there is no time, let me sum up. We bought this house, an 800sqft fixer upper that has some nice property and a lot of potential. I don't want to give you the wrong idea though, the previous owners had dumped a lot of money into replacing windows, insulating the house, clearing the property on the house side of the creek, I have to give them credit. But here in Oregon, if you leave something unkempt for a summer, you better be ready to dig in with a brush hog, cause the underbrush, weeds, grass, blackberries, and poison oak run wild.
Jami and I have been neglecting the front hedge area for two years now, and the saplings and poison oak were taking over, so I included a few pics of our afternoon giving the hedge area some of our time. Between clippers, the chainsaw and a killer treehacker, (its a weed hacker on steriods, another Over the Hedge reference), we took on the project and cleared out the way for some new parts of the front flower garden and fencing.

We had to make 4-5 trips with the truck to the burn pile, which should be fun tomorrow...the pyro in me may take over. I fell in the last time we made a trip down. Revenge will be sweet. A little diesel and gas fuel mixture and...BOOM...heh heh.
We got the telephone poles over the creek last week as well, getting ready for the footbridge. More pics of that to come.
After about 4 hours we were ready to call it a day, and my stomach was telling me dinner needed to happen soon. So into the shower I went, washed all over with Tecnu to try and get the poison oak oils off, and the chicken wings, meatballs and tater tots went into the oven for us to munch down. Jami was good though, she made a salad for everyone. Good to have a wife to balance my carnivorous appetite.

Catching up

2009-03-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

How to begin? It's been too long and though we've had many days where I thought I can't wait to get home to share with friends and family on our blog, now that I'm making the time, I can't think. I'll start with Christmas since that was left up to me and... well, woops! I'm am glad to hear that more people keep track of us than we thought! (Hi Marty!)
We had a very good Christmas here in Oregon. My parents and sister (and her family) are in Nebraska and we missed having a holiday with them very much this year. We usually rotate Christmas and Thanksgiving but now they are just too far away for us to visit more than once a year. If you've ever been to NE then you know it's more desirable in the summer than winter. We are planning our trip back there for this summer '09 and hoping to make a big road trip out of it. I'm getting off track so back to Christmas. I think you will be able to tell from the pics that Ana and Jorryn got spoiled rotten some more. I guess their Grams and Gramps, Aunts and Uncles, just love them too much.
Time has flown by with homeschooling. I still have my days where I'm not sure I'm going to stick it out but for the most part I really enjoy it. Ana and Jorryn are both fantastic readers, and Ana is super talented in art and writing. Jorryn isn't so good with the writing but he is already in 2nd grade math and determined to be in 3rd grade math by the end of this year. Jer's work schedule has been pretty consistent. We are very thankful and keep praying for the work. Jer has one employee he trys to keep busy. Ana, Jorryn, and I are all in AWANA's. I've tried to get Jer to get involved also but he's now leading a men's bible study and taking advantage of us being out of the house. Our AWANA club participated in the Sparks Arama games this March and so we made a "day" of it with our good friends the O'hara's (minus Tracey :( ) and the Dons. Tonya and Kurtis just had their 5th baby and I was in heaven holding her all day. She is two weeks old in the pics and so precious. I've got the baby bug bad and Jer is putting his foot down, Again. NO puppies, bunnies, kids-the four legged kind, kittens, or anything else I might bring home to nurture. We have 13 acres-I just don't understand why not. We only have 3 dogs, 2goats, and one cat. I've been begging for a horse too. Poor guy.
I just started coaching the kids soccer team. We've had two practices and I'm wishing I really would have played soccer, not only so I had some skills, but it is soo much fun! I'm sure that we will be posting pics of games soon. We got to go ice skating again w/the O'hara's. I didn't skate this time and Jer had to work since we had all been sick the week before and he was behind schedule. I did learn that you should never mix comet and lysol w/clorox in it. Very, Very bad combo. Just FYI.
Jim Ferguson and several of his kids came over one Saturday to chop wood with Jer. I'm still amazed at how much they accomplished. I got to go to a barrel racing competition with my friend Mary that day. I was only a spectator but it was fun and of course now I can't wait to get in the saddle. I know there is much more to say but this is already getting long and draggy. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I always enjoy seeing everyone and the good times in their lives even if it's only on Facebook. LOL

Yes its been awhile...

2009-03-03T00:07:00.000-08:00

WE KNOW WE ARE BAD AT KEEPING THIS UP TO DATE!

Many of our fans keep telling us to update the blog, update the blog...and to all of you we are sorry. Really, all three of you. We will try and make it part of our "chore" list.

I will let Jami fill in on some past events, and I will just post a little video and let you know that the training wheels are OFF for Jorryn. Yep, we finally got his courage up and he did it. (No it wasn't liquid courage Chris)

Now we have a tag along that we can put on craigslist and see if we can't get the money back we bought it for!

Until next time!

Jeremy

Snow day

2008-12-26T20:56:00.000-08:00

I will let Jami post about Christmas, and I will take the snow day post.
We were supposed to get up and head to the mountain pass sometime around 10-11am, but its hard to get up and around when you stay up playing games and watching movies until 3:30am the previous day with family. Needless to say, we got up there sometime around 2ish.
The O'haras and the Dons came up with us, and all the kids were really excited to get up there and play in the white fluffy fun. My mission as a dad was to find a good sledding hill and see if we can find a jump at the bottom and get some air. Hang time is a must. I think the moms just wanted everyone home in one piece. Declan was the only casualty of the day when he tried to take a tree out with his face. The tree was left standing, and Declan has a good war story if he embellishes it right.

We found a few good sledding runs. One for the kids, and one for the adults. I made it down once without bailing into the snow, but since I had the camera, no one got me digitized. (heh heh)

We had a great time, a good way to enjoy the weather and let the kids burn off the candy from the stockings.

Here are a few pics and a few videos...

Jer

Prayed for weather

2008-12-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

The weather has been so cold and everyone else seemed to be getting snow but us. Ana had prayed for two days that it would snow and finally it did. It was hardly worth playing in but Ana got Jorryn and me up early so we could before it melted. The goats think when ever we are all out there playing they should be too. After a minute of bellowing, Ana had to let them out so they could go for a walk with us. Gabe is the only one I trust not to chase them to death, at least little Lyla since Bella isn't intimidated by the dogs. After a few snowballs thrown at me, the kids started a snowball game that only got one hit but Gabe got Lyla to run around Ana and Jorryn for a "home run". After about an hour we humans were ready to go inside our warm cozy house and start school work.

Our Christmas tree is a little taller than last year but Jer thinks it looks like something the Grinch might have. We probably won't have any more updates before Christmas so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Winter fun & frustration

2008-12-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

No pics today, just a rant.

So most of you know that if you live somewhere below 500ft in elevation, it doesnt snow that often. When it does, most people who have lived in this area all their lives FREAK OUT when a skimming of snow hits the valley floor. I'm sorry, did I say freak out? I meant drive like they are 10 years old with no idea how to control the vehicle. There is slow, then there is STUPID slow.
The scenario:
Four lane highway with patchy ice above freezing. Not the slick ice, but the still have traction ice. You can do 50 mph no problem as many of us were. Here comes an onramp with about 5 people not sure of themselves going 25 mph. That would be fine if they would have stayed in the slow lane like they are supposed to do, but no. They had to pull in FRONT of me and drive side by side blocking all traffic and regulate us to 25 mph for the next 5 miles. These are the idiots that cause accidents. That is stupid slow. Semi trucks were waiting behind me.

I still think there should be tickets given for driving while stupid. Think of the money that would be generated.

Here is some winter driving fun for you:

Jeremy

Ana's 8th Birthday and Our week w/The OHara kids

2008-11-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

Our good friends Sean and Tracey had asked us to go on a cruise with them last November for this October. Because of my "love" of the water and boats after watching movies like Titanic and Jaws, they just couldn't persuade me to go. It turns out the Lord allows me my paranoia for a very good reason. Jer and I needed to be here to watch their five kids. Unfortunate circumstances prevented Tracey's parents from being here with their grandkids so we were more than willing to watch all 5 kids why they enjoyed a much deserved vacation. Since we don't have enough space in our home, I stayed at the O'Hara's. Jer and the kids stayed with us on the weekends and then slept at home during the week nights. It worked out great. We loved getting to know all the kids more and establishing bonds that will last for eternity. We've known Declan, Alexis, and Kimberly since they were born. But we hadn't had the chance to get to know Alyona and Tanya, their adopted Ukrainian sisters, at least as well as we'd like. This was the perfect opportunity! I'm not an early bird but a night owl and getting up to get them ready for school seemed a little scary, but I did it and even had time to do their hair on occasion. They are all very self sufficient and really didn't need me except to drive them to school. I'm not at all like their mom, though oddly enough we do get asked often if we are sisters. Lucky for them they all have a little of her in them (and a little of their
dad, too. HEE HEE)!

We wanted Sean and Tracey to be there for Ana's party so she had to wait for her main b-day party this year. I have a hard time not celebrating on the actual day but this year we had a great reason for waiting. We did take her to Red Robin that night and embarrassed her fully when the whole restaurant broke out in their own version of "Happy Birthday"! It was awesome and she's young enough that she enjoyed it. Ana really wanted to go roller skating this year but our local roller rink closed weeks before her b-day. Jer came up with a great alternative- to go ice skating. Neither Ana nor Jorryn had been before. I knew Ana would pick it up quick, but I was a little worried about Jorryn. We reserved a few tables and took some decorations. The O'Hara's, and the Don's, Tonya and Kurtis, Jacoy, Acacia, Kutler and Amy and Dallas Griffith were able to come celebrate with us. Two hours of ice skating was not enough and telling all the kids it was time to go eat cake and open presents still didn't make them want to get off the ice. Unfortunately, they didn't have a choice since the rink was closing for a hockey game. All the kids and parents did really good skating and I don't have any fun stories to tell about crashes on the ice-but I do have a pretty good one tell about the trip there. A week before the party I was feeling pretty ambitious about making Ana's cake, but as the week progressed and I realized how busy I was going to be over the weekend I really didn't have time to do it. Friday I went to the grocery stores to order a cake and ran into some problems. I was going to have to make a cake. I stayed home from church Sunday morning to decorate it and was felling pretty good with the results. I wrapped it in tin foil and we very carefully put it in the back of the Yukon. Jer said it would be fine and I nervously left it the way it was. Juice that was in the back started to slide around and even though Jer said it was fine, I asked Ana to crawl in the back and get the juice. We were at a stop sign and Jer needed to go so he stepped on the gas and Ana fell into the cake. I unbelievably laughed but Jer and Ana weren't to happy. We all agreed it wouldn't be worth it to be upset about it and quickly we were all having a good time again joking about Ana taking out Cinderella. I had this little feeling before I had gotten the cake all ready to travel that it wasn't going to make it so I had the forethought to take pictures. We had fun retelling the story when it came time to blowing out the candles. Over all it was the best birthday ever and she can't wait to go ice skating again-with everyone of course!

I'm still homeschooling. Much to my surprise. I have wonderful teachers to help me out when ever I need it and Ana and Jorryn are great students. Jer made us each a little space of our own in our 10x10 office. It's cozy and helps keep us all focused.

The animals are all good and muddy! The goats are getting big but they are still super cute and affectionate. I had to take Bella to the vet this week and she was better behaved than any dog I've ever owned or had to handle while working for a veterinarian.

We have one more birthday dinner planned for Ana with her family here in Lebanon. I'm hoping she doesn't expect a 3 week celebration every year.

Updates coming soon...

2008-10-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts, but we are busy busy. stay tuned!

Jorryn's 6th Birthday

2008-09-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today was Jorryn's b-day. As always I have big "ideas" for celebrating and usually start thinking about them with plenty of time to prepare but for some odd reason I don't do a thing until a few days before the big event. The day before is more accurate. Jorryn is a huge Star Wars fan right now and light sabers are his favorite toy. He'd really like a real one which will be a dad and son project to try someday. I had visions of grandeur for his cake-a light saber. It was fun to make and he was thrilled with it. Someday maybe I'll take a cake decorating class and learn how to do it the right way but for now I wasn't completely disappointed with my results-unfortunately I was to concerned with it's looks that I put a bit too much sugar crystals on-woops-even kids have their sugar limit.
It was a beautiful day and we had family and close friends to enjoy it with. The kids had a blast getting Jer with the confetti sprayers. He's such a big kid. Next we had to have a battle so the kids locked themselves in the tower with their bucket full of water grenades while the adults and Alyona stormed it from the ground. It didn't take Jer and Sean long to climb the walls and attack. It was so much fun to watch and I think you can tell from the pictures that it was just as much fun to get splat. We found that we had one casualty of the day-Ana's tooth. The good thing is that she wasn't even aware that she'd lost it. The tooth fairy will have fun trying to figure out how to compensate her.

Side note from Jer:
When there is a slight breeze outside and the candles on the cake really need to be lit, I can only think of one sure way to light them...blow torch! Yeah, that's right. I think Tonya was a little worried about what I was doing to the cake at first. Heh heh...great day, lots of fun.

Branding / Nebraska

2008-08-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Nebraska safely, leaving 100 degree weather in Oregon to rain with thunder showers at the Denver airport. It felt a little backwards to me. Our plane trip was kind of interesting, ten minutes AFTER we were supposed to be in the air from the Portland airport the stewardess announced we had a first aid issue that needed to be resolved and that maintenance was supposed to be working on resolving the issue so we could get in the air. Turns out it was a bad defibrillator, and evidently Southwest did not have a spare one handy. They did have a spare plane that we could use though, and we then de-boarded the plane and an hour later boarded the spare one they had chilling over on the tarmac somewhere. Good thing they had that thing all warmed up and ready for us...
(Personally I think there was another issue that they didn't want us to freak out about, but hey...what do I know)
We got to Denver an hour late, and our bags also made it, woo hoo! Jami's cousin Laura came to pick us up and drove us to the ranch from the airport. The weather cleared up and it was a good trip all the way back. It was horse talk all the way. I finally put on a movie for the kids and I put my mp3 player to good use decided to take a nap. Got to love technology.

Jami now-I think this was the longest I have ever gone without seeing my family so it was a most needed reunion! I hadn't seen my grandparents in 8 years. The ranch holds my fondest memories as a child growing up and ironically I was always the one who wanted to move back and live there. Our second day there was the cattle drive. My cousin Deb let us borrow her 3 horses and we had my sister's 2, along with 3 quads and a mule-that's an ATV. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera along so there's not one picture of it. Jer was busy making his "football picks" for fantasy football so he missed the whole thing! I'm aware that I will not reap the consequences had I thrown the wife card at him but I'm still a little disappointed that he wasn't there. Laura, Deb, Clint, my cousin Mikey, and I were all on horses while Great grams & gramps, Nana & Papa, and I think Jorryn rode in the mule. The kids and Julz were on the quads. I'm also sad to say that my kids did not ride a horse once the whole trip but couldn't wait to ride the quads.
Day 3-Branding. I can't imagine there is anyone out there that hasn't wanted to be a cowboy or girl at one time or another and this is as close as you can get. I'm hoping next year it will be more of the old fashion type brandings I remember but this one was super fun. The veterinarian was there to do the dirty work. John and Jodi, a couple who are friends with Julie and Clint, also were there, they were a huge help! I think Jer and Jodi had the most dangerous job-getting the calves and cows into the chute and calf table. Jer almost got kicked in the face a few times but his lightning fast reflexes saved him from some serious plastic surgery. He did have a cow kick the fence into his face and had a soar cheek for a few days. He never let on that he'd seen stars. Shortly after that he went face to face with one of the bulls trying to escape through the gate-yes through it! He gave that bull several good punches in the nose and he learned who not to mess with. It was after the gate had pretty much been mutilated that we realized we didn't need to have the bull in there and opened it to let him out. I was trying to beat the bull back with a metal bar on the other side of the fence so I didn't get any pics. I sure wish I had! Next time.

Laura and John definitely had the poopiest job-to put it nicely. Literally, they had the end of the calf you don't want to be next to when they are stressed. Laura helped get the calves down the chute too with Jer. She's an old pro at this. Mom and Julz were keeping track of the cows and calves and all the important details for the records. Clint and my Dad were making sure the cows kept coming and going the right way, plus putting their brands on. My brother Jeff helped with the calf table, moving hay bales and he had his own little herd to put his brand on. Jorryn didn't like the smell of the branding or the poor little calves hollering so he headed back to the ranch house to hang out with cousin Dallas-and play swords. The other kids hung out for awhile and then decided to take the mule for a drive. I remember my kid days there and doing similar fun stuff that now as a parent doesn't seem so good since it's my kid doing it. Strange how that happens. Brexton, Julie's oldest, stuck around for the entire branding. I was super impressed. He's got cowboy written all over him. It was a great day. I wasn't even tired of a whole day of taking pictures.
Day four-We went out shooting with Laura's AR-15 and siqsauer p226. We were suppose to be shooting groundhogs but we could only hit water bottles. Clint came with his 440 mag revolver. I loved the holster. Laura had to get back to life in Denver. I was so happy to see her, and am glad that it won't be another 9 years before I see her again!
My sis and I got in some really long rides the next two days. My mom spoiled us with some good eating. She had menus planned for the whole week. It was awesome. Their is a man in the town that owns a Thomas the train. He drives it around on Sundays picking up kids and taking them for rides. He brought the train to my parents house on Friday night just for us. We got a little tour of Oshkosh to boot. The trip went way to fast and next time we will definitely have to stay longer!

The Gate...

2008-08-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

To the married ones, what I am about to say will make sense, to the single ones...not so much.
My wife looked me in the eye and said, "The gate needs to be built before we leave for Nebraska." Being the man I am, understanding the way things need to be in a family, stood my ground and looked her in the eye and said, "Okay." To anyone wondering, yes I still have my man card.
We started looking around at prices, new and used, and being the good with money guy I am, (broke is more like it), I decided we couldn't afford new or used, so I built one instead.
Before anything started we had to walk out the front door and pick fresh blackberries for our morning smoothie. That's got to be one of my favorite parts about living in Oregon. We have berries all over. Oh yeah, the smoothie was excellent.
We started off with a picture in my head, and transferred it to a piece of paper for Jami to see what I had planned. Either something was lost in translation or I am just a bad sketch artist. Either way, she said the finished product was better looking than my spaghetti bowl thing I drew and I am assuming that was a compliment. I only colored out of the lines a few times...pasta?
Dad came over and we went down to drop a few small trees in the field for the rails. It was good we waited until almost ten o'clock to get started, as the cool of the day would have been to easy to work in. Who in their right mind would make the project go easy when they can be a martyr later on by working in the hottest part of the day?
We only had one tree that stuck in the branches of an adjacent tree when we were cutting them down. After that we threw a chain around the trunks and drug them up to the front to cut them to length, notch, and peel the bark. We then assembled them by bolting them together, and then made a trip to town to buy a cattle panel for the backside of the gate.
Dad and I had too long of a break in town and when we got home we had to eat some lunch kill some time chatting about whatever, all the while waiting for it to either get cooler outside or the gate to magically put itself together. I have heard tales of things like happening to those in the favor the gate gnomes, but I think we must have ticked them off by not starting this project earlier in the cool of the day. At any rate, we decided that it was time to finish putting the thing together and our long days work out in the hot, hot sun was finally done and all we had was the gate assembled. Honestly I think we were only at it half a day, ALL day sounds better. It may have only gotten to 80 degrees too, but it FELT like more.
Over the next few days I worked on getting the holes dug, and some power poles put in place. I didn't have my tape measure handy, so I thought a "kids depth" should be deep enough. See the pics and you will understand. It works great. I think I need to patent it somehow.
We got the poles in and some friends came over and helped lift the gate into place. green timber is full of water, so it was a little heavy. The extra hands made easy work of it though. We worked until dark, getting the chain set and some final things done. All in all it turned out pretty good. Cheap...under a $100. I like that. I still have to make the man gate next to it and finish tying in the fence line around the gate, but that won't be nearly as much work.
I am just glad Jami didn't say the gate AND the man gate. Otherwise I would have had to bribe the gate gnomes with something and let them go to work. I wonder if I leave a drawing and some cookies out by my fence...hmmm. Nope. They may have a hard time deciphering what colors are inside the lines and which are out. I may end up with a spaghetti bowl in my front yard.

Games

2008-07-30T21:42:00.001-07:00

For those who know us, we are a gaming family. We have a closet full of board games, computer games, and TV console games like the original Nintendo, N64, and an Xbox. The latest thing is the kids completing the Lego Star Wars missions on the Xbox...WITHOUT ME! I am not bitter...no really, I am not...moving on.

So last night was Sequence and we each won a game, and tonight had to be Pictionary night. Jorryn and Momma won a few nights ago, but Ana and I won tonight, but only by one square! I had to post some of the pictures the kids drew because they are both fun to look at and no one would believe me if I said that Jami guessed "steak" from a few squiggles that Jorryn drew. I think something fishy was going on. We do get a clue, and the clue was "Whats for dinner". You be the judge.

Also, I have to post a pic of our new addition, Capitan Crook. He is a cat the was in the Adopt a family program and chose us about 3-4 weeks ago. I think he had a little to much cat nip when he decided that we were the family for him. He obviously didn't look in the backyard and see the 3 large German Shepherds licking their chops. Jami has a different perspective on it. Maybe he chose us because the coyotes don't come here because of the dogs, and for the most part they are in the 40x40 kennel. Either way, we now have a cat. He won't run off either. I have had a talk with Gabe and he has tried to chase him away, and he has successfully done just that, but Capt keeps coming back. I think the bowls of goats milk that show up on the front porch every morning from Jami have something to do with that. I still say it all a conspiracy against me! I must say though, he is trying to earn my respect. He is bringing us mice and moles, leaving them for us on the front porch. I guess we can keep him, as long as he earns his keep.

Enjoy the pics!

Jer and the Family

Busy Summer

2008-07-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

It's already the middle of July and I can't say where the time has gone. We've spent a whole lot less time working on the property this summer than last. We did get some fencing up and plan to have most of the front side of our lot completed by august. It took a very hard lesson to make us decide it needed to be the priority this summer. The greatest dog ever to live, Ashes, was hit by a car right in front of our driveway. She had many good years left and our hearts are broken. Now that my throat is all in knots and my eyes full of tears I need to move on to happier times.

We did get another baby goat. We waited anxiously for one of the other goats in Grandma Janna's herd to have their babies and after almost 3 weeks none had arrived. Bella, who was too small to be left outside by herself was in the house and the mud room. I have heard the tone of voice in friends and families voices (and looks on their faces) when told about our "inside" goat, so I know most think I'm some crazy lady. Well I'm blessed among women because the only ones I'd worry about is my mother-in-laws and they are both animal lovers like me. I've been a wonder to my own mom when it comes to animals but I think she's just as soft hearted when it comes down to it! (well noway she'd have a goat in the house). It was getting to the point where we knew our inside goat must be an outside goat. I had made up my mind I wasn't going to take away a baby from it's mother right at birth(much to Jer's approval) and wait till it could be weaned. I think the goats knew our plan and were holding out cause as soon as the decision was made they popped them out, 3 little does. One was a set of twins and the other a single. The set of twins came first and one of the twins was extremely tiny and we think must have had some problems in the womb with nutrition. She was skin on bones and her muscles weren't quite working. Of course Ana and I immediately took a liking to her but we weren't sure if she'd make it. Grandma thought she might need to be put down but we'd let nature takes it course. Ana prayed for the baby goat several times. After a very rough first 3 days especially for Grandma Janna who stayed up with her all night trying to keep her warm which seemed to be her biggest problem as her muscles were strengthening and the baby goat's own mom (we think) laid on her almost killing her, I brought her home. We weren't sure if she would be normal or even live. Ana claimed her right away and named her Lyla and thanked the Lord for her. I can't tell you how good it feels to see my daughter delighted in a miracle that she had all the faith in the world for. God is good. Little Lyla was 3 lbs when we brought her home at 3 days old. She is now almost 5 weeks old and the liveliest little kid. Even Jer is very happy about her. The goat pen was started and completed within a week.

Chelsea, Jer's sister got married the end of June. All our kids were in the wedding. Yes, all four, 2 children and 2 doe lings. Oh too see some of your faces would be priceless! It was a surprise for Chelsea. I've heard that many people thought it was adorable. We had some good friends, Kyle and Delyssa, come and stay the weekend with us. We were so excited to see them since its been 5 years. They have 4 kids, 2 boys, Jorryn was thrilled, and 2 girls, the kids had a blast playing together.

Jer has been very busy with work. God has kept the calendar full and we are very thankful. He's still managed to work on the tractor and mow the fields partially once.

More to come...including pictures.

Bella

2008-06-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

So I am wondering if we are normal and the rest of the world is strange, or its the other way around? I prefer to think we are normal, but when I come home and greet my kids and my wife and see the goat, Bella, curled up on the couch next to Jami, I feel something is a little out of place. Don't goats usually belong outside in a pen with other farm animals? Yes, they do. I know some questions are going through your heads, is she clean and is she potty trained? The answer is yes to both questions. She stays in the house or the mud room at the moment, and somehow she has it in her head that she needs to go to the bathroom when Jami takes her for walks outside and tells her to go. I don't know what she will do when she has to go by herself when she is outside and Jami isn't there to "prompt" her. I guess she will just have to get used to being a goat someday soon and nature will take over. An OUTSIDE goat...

Jeremy

Our newborn kid

2008-05-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

So everyone knows that we have two kids, Juliana and Jorryn, and now we have a newborn, approximately 6 hours old, Bella. For all those who like to know the "stats", she was 7lbs 8oz. and 16 inches long. Very healthy. Lots of dark hair. Labor was quick and painless for Jami, but she is expecting a long sleepless night. I plan on getting some sleep though. If you are wondering if she was planned...the answer is not really, it just happened. If you are surprised, you are not alone. We were too when we found out. Actually I was more shocked than Jami, she was ecstatic. So were the kids. Here are some pics, I hope you enjoy.

We took her from her momma right away, as she was not really being accepted. She was the second born, and did not bond as well as her older twin brother. The kids and Jami have been asking us for a goat for awhile, and I guess now was the time.

It started out to just be a dinner over at mom & dads, but I didn't know that the goats were ready to kid. They were just a few hours old when we got there at 7pm, and it was clear that we were going to be taking one home at around 7:01pm. I don't think I had a chance to object on this one. I guess we are getting another one within a week or so, so stay tuned.

Oh, and sorry to lead you on a little, but I couldn't resist.

Jer, Jami, and the "kids"

End of May

2008-05-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

So Jami posted the start of the month, this may be the last post for the month...but not sure. We have been really busy, and its been hot...rainy, hot, rainy, cool, hot, all over the place! Right now, its raining.
Ana & Jorryn had to get into the water last weekend. We even got the little pool out for them.
Jami is getting a late start on the garden, and when that happens, the weeds go CRAZY.

Here are a few pics of whats been going on, but not much news this post. Although we did find a strange looking spider in the shower this morning. Anyone know what it is, by all means let me know!

Until later,

Jer & Family

May starts out sunny!

2008-05-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hello All! I had such a full day and some fun pictures that I decided I better post a blog for once (actually I think this is twice). We only have two more soccer games left and then we'll have to wait until fall for another indoor soccer league. Jorryn can't wait since then he will be able to play! Ana is having so much fun and I'm liking the sport so much that I want to join an adult league. We'll see-don't hold me too it.
Our tractor is needing a little TLC and so until the radiator (at least) is fixed Alan and Janna have been wonderful to let us borrow their riding mower to mow the part of the property around the house. The fields haven't been mowed as you will be able to see in the pictures and they will keep growing until we can mow with the tractor (I'm still having a hard time with mowing a pasture when I know that a horse could be so happy "mowing" it for us but I'd be miserable with the mud so I'm patiently-sometimes not so patiently-waiting for the barn). Hopefully we won't lose any kiddos or doggies in the grass. Ashes has been cooped up in the house since it's been so rainy and muddy (I wasn't letting her out except for very short periods to keep her as clean as possible)and we've been keeping Diva in the Mud room. This winter Diva was showing her age and the cold winter nights were hard on her outside. She was allowed in but this spring she hasn't been able to contain herself and keeps running through the mud. The mud room is earning it's title. Ashes was thrilled to get out and play ball with Gabe. He's missed her too. I have Chance in Obedience class and then hopefully agility.

Alan, Chelsea and Johanna were in a pirate play a year ago and we found out that the man who had the props was going to burn them so Jeremy and Alan went and got them. The kids now have a partial ship to go with their castle. Jer wants to build a platform for the props and make it a little more "real". The kids love it and can't wait to bomb the castle when we make the cannon balls. We had a family out for a barbeque and their eldest daughter said when she first saw our back yard, "It's a like a child's wonderland". We hope it will be!

Jer could tell that I was a little down this morning and as soon as we got home said what project would you like me to do for you today. Where I should start I wasn't sure. There's so much we want to do this summer. But after a few minutes and tears of joy we got the green house frame put together(thanks to grandpa Alan coming over and figuring it out) and a pile of old tires moved to a somewhat hidden spot. The prior owners had left them and I'm not sure what they had in mind for them but if anyone has any ideas, Please let us know. It costs to take them to the recyclers and there is quite of few of various sizes. We got the hot tub moved and cleaned out from the family of squirells that had moved in. Lucky for them Ashes the mighty squirell hunter was locked in the house! Hopefully they will find a nice tree somewhere. I tackled some serious pruning and Jer reached the branches that I couldn't. Ana, Jorryn and I got in some soccer. I tried to teach the dogs how to play but no air buds in this house.

To make a perfect ending to a great day Jer got out Jorryn's rocket and we all headed to the fields to launch it. We had 3 successful launches, and 2 very nice landings. The third launch was with a much stronger "engine" and I'm sure some pilot looked out his window and said "What the...?!" It was way up there and the wind took it over the trees and through the hills... well no hills but it was gone. Jorryn was very sad and mom decided she would trudge through the "river" and blackberry bushes and out to the cow pasture to hopefully find it. It's about 7pm. I suit up and take the trusty machete. My first attempt at crossing the creek trying very hard not to get water in my boots left me flat on my bum, soaking wet. I then hear a "mom", and a "hun" and two kids and dad are already on the other side! LOL! Yes, Daddy had come to save the day. He took the machete and followed a trail from last summer that I had made and we reached the cow pasture behind our property-no rocket! Ana believed we would find it and Jorryn looked like there would be no peace till we did. So on we went looking in tree tops. Finally we came to the edge of the creek were a tree had fallen and Jer climbed across, Ana fussed the whole time since we wouldn't let her go and Ashes swam across like the loyal companion she is. OH-I can't forget the most important part of this whole adventure. When we didn't find the rocket in the cow pasture which we really thought it would be, Jorryn prayed that Jesus would help us to find it. You have to imagine a very thick forest with many trees and bushes and realize that it really did seem impossible. Now back to Jer on the other side of the creek where everything is wild. He disappears into the foliage and we can't reach him on the walkie. Ana is starting to panic. He comes back and says I found a fence post and that might be our property line and then holds up the rocket to all of our great delight! It was in a pasture just two neighbors over to the south. God is so good. We got back in the house around 8:20pm. Ana was brushing her teeth and lost her 6th tooth. It was a great, eventful day!

Please check out our friends the O'hara's blog for some more great pictures of our family and theirs. You can find the link on our page and they have a great story.

Taxes, work and soccer.

2008-04-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here it is again, another few weeks gone by with no updates. I have heard tell that if you don't MAKE the time, you will never have the time, for anything. I guess I need to just make time to write updates here, and post pictures.
Its been a stressful month with taxes due, the Yukon breaking down, finding out the tractor needs about 3k to get back going again.
Ana is in soccer. We had a blast at her last few games. She is taking a break from gymnastics right now, and loving the new sports. Jorryn possibly will be starting pop warner football in a week or so. We need to follow up a little more to see what is required.
Jami has the two boys, (Chance and Gabe), in agility training. She has the first couple pieces of equipment out here in the back yard. Weave poles and a few jumps. I guess the weave poles is one of the harder things to train a dog to do properly. Looks like they are having fun though.

We had dinner with some friends a while back and they gave us some seed heads. Basically, its a nylon stocking stuffed with dirt and grass seed. Just put some crazy eyes on it, water them and watch the hair grow. the kids just have to trim them up every once in awhile. Jorryn's is pretty wild.

It snowed here last night as well. After having an almost 80 degree day last week, it dropped to below freezing and I don't think today it got over 40. I am ready for summer to be here for good. We even had a great day riding our bikes in the park last weekend.

Enjoy the pics!

Jeremy

Who has a castle, WE Do!

2008-03-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

We've been looking for play structures for the kids and not having much luck when I came upon this ad on my favorite shopping network-craigslist, a castle. We are going to be building a bridge-hopefully-this summer across the creek and Jer thought it would be cool to make it look like a draw bridge and build a tower for the kids. Now he just has to build the bridge! Yeah!! The kids have been saving money to buy a trampoline but they liked the castle so much we all couldn't resist.

Our families members were scattered this easter, but Grandpa Alan, Aunties Jenny and Johanna, and the four of us all got together and had a wonderful Easter lunch and egg hunts. The kids (Ana, Jorryn and Aunt Jenny) got tired of waiting for us to hide the eggs so they hid them and told us, -Jer, Jami, Johanna, Grandpa-that we had to find them and to make it interesting we'd be timed. The competitiveness came out and I had to beat Jer. It was fun but he still found more eggs than me. It was great fun and we all had turns.

Jer got me a Sig Sauer P232 for our 10th Anniversary present. The type of gift that is suggested for a 10th anniversary present was tin or aluminum. HEE HEE! We were out practice shooting last weekend but those pictures were mysteriously erased. Seriously! The kids had their turn with the .22 and the paintball guns.

Its late and the AM comes too fast. More news and pics to come.

Jami and family

Where has the time gone?

2008-03-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

I have neglected the post for too long again, but our lives have been really busy. Jami is watching an infant for a couple in the church while they are trying to get their house ready to sell. So her plate is full during the week. She takes care of the little one, home schools our two kiddos, Ana has gymnastics, and both her and Jorryn have swim lessons. Then there is all the housework to do on top of that.
I have been really busy at work. I have had some jobs overlap in schedule, and until I hire another guy, I have to stay late and get the work done. Sometimes I won't make it home until 9pm. I think the schedule is getting a it lighter, so there may be more activity here. But there is one thing I want to know...where has the time gone!?
Our car is in the shop, and they don't know whats wrong, so we are driving our other vehicle that frequently stalls without warning. It also has a bad heater core at the moment, so it fogs up the windows on a drive longer than 10 miles. We may be in the market for another vehicle soon, but everything is so expensive! Have you seen the price tag on the new Toyota Land cruiser? Check it out. Remember, its a TOYOTA. Click here and look at the STARTING price.

Got to run, I am late for work!

Jer and the family

Youth weekend

2008-02-11T22:34:00.000-08:00

So I ended up being one of the chaperons for the youth retreat last weekend. It was a hoot. There was two groups going, and we were the second one, leaving later in the evening. We had a 3+ hour drive since the highway normally taken was closed due to avalanches, we had to take a longer southern route to the place we were staying. The pass wasn't too bad, but we still had to take it easy. Of course I had to slip and slide a little to keep everyone in the van on their toes! Only in the parking lots though. We had 23 of us altogether, I think 12 of us were from our church.
We got in about midnight, and games were already in progress. We unloaded the food, and promptly started to munch, snack, and get to know everyone there by greetings and introductions. We setup the rules, itinerary, and then we played a group game. That lasted until 2:15am or so. Since we had devotions at 7:30am, we figured to send everyone to bed...yeah right. Everyone went, but sleep didn't come easy, at least for the guys.
A few guys were "chosen" to be examples of good character and patience. Those lucky ones were blessed with water, flour, and shaving cream. Do you know that flour sticks really well to the face when first primed with water? The victim, I mean model of virtue, is sleeping soundly, you would be too if it was after 3am, and the moral builder silently comes into the room with a cup of water, and a cup of flour in each hand. The diamond in the rough is then splashed with water followed by the flour, and the chase begins. Kinda funny seeing someone bolt out the room with a panicked "I have to get out of here look" followed by what in all appearances resembles a ghost. This, along with the shaving cream incident put most of the guys on edge, and the sleep deprivation was set in stone. I was the last one to dose off around 4:30am, and was up at 6:30am. Every little thing woke me up. One eye was always open, I tell you that!

Next morning was a good, with devotions and breakfast. Then off to the sledding hill. Tommy & Dave got the worst of it I think. But all in all, nothing too bad. I mean, as long as we didn't have any broken bones, right?

We went to the Maverick center after a quick lunch back at the house. They had a hot tub, ool, (we all know there is no "p" in the pool, right?), rock climbing wall, volleyball court and a exercise room. Oh yeah, can't forget the wave pool @ $20 a person. Basically you pay and take turns for two hours falling off the little surf board and looking like a fool. Good times...
We played vollyball for a bit as well. small court, but fun as well.

Then back to the house for dinner, evening devotions and worship. That was a blast. Tommy did a good job bringing a message to the group and later Troy and Tom C. lead us in some songs that went into some prayer time. I think it lasted about two hours in all, and was good to see the youth open up from behind the defensive walls and receive some encouragement and healing in their lives.

Next we went on to the game of Bet-a-Bite. Basically there are two teams, and the object is to get the most points by eating items in a certain number of mouthfuls. One mouthful is 3 points, two mouthfuls-two points, three mouthfuls-one point. The item in question is brought out in a box so you can't see it. You can guess the weight and size, and before you open it, you have to disclose how many bites, or mouthfuls as it were, that you are going to down it in. The items ranged from M&Ms to pickled pigs feet. We only had a few that weren't able to complete. One was cake frosting in one mouthful, and the other was a can of SPAM in two mouthfuls. I don't blame either one for not finishing, I am just glad they weren't on my team!

Spoons was the next game, followed by the name game, and that ended the night/morning around 3:15am. Once again, I was the last to go to sleep and the first one awake...I just stayed in my sleeping bag with one eye open when I heard someone get up. I didn't want to wake up with shaving cream on my face.

Made the trip home just fine, I did sleep for a good 12 hours the next night. Yeah, I know what your thinking. What a wuss. Hey, I am a 36 year old trying to keep up with the 18-26 year olds, and no coffee all weekend! What's up with that?!?!?!

Until next time....

Jeremy

Quick update

2008-02-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

Hello all! (By all I mean the two people that randomly read this blog)Almost time for another weekend to relax and unwind from work. Whats that? Oh yeah, Jami and I are supposed to chaperon the youth from the church this weekend on a trip to Sunriver. So much for the relaxing and unwinding...

I think Jami is staying home. Juliana has caught a nasty cough and stuffy head. We were bummed, but family first. There is another married couple going along, so the girls will still have someone to keep them in line. I am bringing duct tape and zip ties to keep the guys under control.

Ana had her gymnastics meet last weekend. It was great. she did very well in front of all the people and I dont think she was nervous at all. She was grinning from ear to ear. Of course we brought the cameras, video and still, but do you think we would have remembered to make sure the batteries were charged? Ugh, no. We got there early and I plugged in the battery for the video camera, and put a full charge on it, but full charge on that thing only lasts 10 minutes anymore. It might be time to find a new battery. We didn't bring the charger for the still camera, so only a few shots were taken. I will post some pics later when I have more time.

Jami is on MySpace so she can talk to her cousin Laura who is traveling around the world. I was talked into Facebook by another friend, but this is probably the one I will still be updating on a more regular basis.

Enjoy the weekend.

Jer, Jami & the kids

More Snow pics as promised

2008-01-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

The kids were very excited to get snow...okay, maybe Jami & I were just as happy. I know its not much compared to other areas of the country, but 5 inches was plenty to build a big ol' snowman, sled down the hill and have a snowball fight. Jenny came over and helped us have a great time. Here are more pics from the web album. I downloaded 400+ from the camera, these are just a few.

A Little Snow for Us....

2008-01-27T09:24:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to show we do get snow here on occasion...more snow fun later!

Click any image to enlarge

Family Camp 07

2008-01-24T19:29:00.000-08:00

We had a small group at family camp this year. It was a lot of fun. Sitting around the campfire at night, telling tall tales, avoiding the smoke inhalation. Lots of food and fellowship.
The theme seemed to be motorcycles and quads this year. Out of the four families up there, Jami and I were the only ones without something motorized other than our Yukon. The kids couldn't ride until they hauled 10 buckets of water each from the creek, to keep the dust down. Then off they went. Riding the trails or going up to the cinder rock pit.

We got the kids a pinata to beat on. We figured they would like the work for the candy. We went youngest to oldest, and when the last oldest went, we let her finish off what was left of it. Then we formed two lines, young ones, then the older ones, and let the younger go start gathering candy before the older ones got in there. I think it faired pretty good, because each kids take was approximately the same amount of candy.
All in all a great time out having a family vacation away from the hustle and bustle of the work week. We look forward to next year.

Snow Camp '06

2008-01-18T01:22:00.000-08:00

So I never posted the crazy fun Sean, Thad, Steve, and I had last year camping in the snow. After looking at the pics I have, we missed a TON of things. We didn't get nearly enough playing around in the snow, (hard driving sending up snow showers), or shooting the .50 cal desert eagle. We did have great fun, and next year will prove to be better documented. Maybe even a video or two. Enjoy these few pics.

Let it SNOW!

Sports and guys

2008-01-18T00:34:00.000-08:00

There are some of us guys out there that like sports. For me, its my competitive spirit. I happen to like baseball and football. Some like that left turn car thing NASCAR, hoping to see a crash, or root for some sponsor on the hood of a car. Some watch hockey, I think mostly to see if a fight breaks out. I guess that inst much different than some of the plays in baseball and football. Here is a hit that I saw in a game between the Titans and Colts this year. OUCH...

How about this stiff arm...

Or this awesome college football catch (poor quality)

Anyway, I don't spout off much about some of my pastimes, but I thought I would give a little variety to this blog.

Enjoy the playoff games this weekend!

Jeremy

The New Year

2008-01-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

We are now into the second week of January, the tree is down, the decorations put away. Its time to get back into the routine. School, work, exercise. Yes, the new year always brings those resolutions to get fit and eat healthy. We joined the racquetball club in town and Jami and I have been playing when we get the chance. They have a mini gym there as well, so we can hit those if we feel like we need more of a workout after running around the court. Its pretty fun. The eating good thing? Well, we still like food, so...
Ana still does gymnastics as stated before, so we included a few pictures in this set. Jami was only able to get a few that turned out. We are not sure what Jorryn will be into this year, other than swimming. Time will tell.
The dogs are ready for some good weather again. I think they are tired of being wet and cold outside. We are going to see about getting them some better shelter this week, and something more permanent next year.
House plans are in the works, and with many, many revisions, we are getting it down to what we think is the best options for us. Adding on to an existing home, and trying to incorporate all the things we want without completely gutting the place is more of a challenge than we thought. All in good time.
Posting some misc pics for the time being. More to come later.

The Von Ruden clan...

Christmas

2008-01-06T21:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve.

So Christmas Eve we went to my folks house for dinner and opening presents. We pigged out on great food, turkey, ham, potatoes, candy, ugh...food is good when moderation is involved. Isn't it that way? What is it about Thanksgiving and Christmas that we have to pig out? Well, whatever it is, I am thankful for it, moving on...
All was well Christmas eve until about 10pm. Jorryn is not a night person, so he usually hits the "wall" sometime about then, and needs to get to bed. He is an early to bed and early to rise kid. So when he started feeling groggy and sluggish, we thought it was just the late night getting to him, but alas, it was worse. Lets just say he let dinner visit a second time. Poor kid. Not the best for celebrating, but it was an overnight bug and he was raring to go in the morning to open presents.

This was our second year having a tree at home. Normally we aren't home to enjoy it, so we only put up our Christmas houses, etc. But I think we are going to be home for the holidays from now on since our extended family moved over 20 hours away from us. Kinda sad, but we support them!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning came to early for me. We stayed up pretty late the night before, so sleeping in was the priority, well, for the adults anyway. The kids, yeah, the same thing in every household across America, get up and open gifts! We had a late breakfast after the presents and then headed back over to my folks for leftovers and games later that evening. It was a pretty relaxing fun day, and all was good.

Enjoy the pictures and the new year!

Jeremy, Jami, Juliana and Joryyn

The Gingerbread house

2008-01-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

We all had a GREAT Christmas, and more to come later, but for now...the candy house.

The kids had been asking and asking to build a gingerbread house, but Jami and I didn't want to do it from scratch. I know, we missed the "experience" of doing it all ourselves or something like that, but it was an hour long project even with a kit. No that didn't include cleanup. Ana and Jorryn were squealing with excitement as the materials were delivered to the table. What do you think the first question was? That's right, "Can we eat it?" That question was throughout the whole building process.

Daddy helped lay the foundation while mommy read the directions...as in, "Lay the frosting in the preformed tray, not to much...there we go, you missed a little there...the gumdrops go here, hey, you put the roof on upside down!" Yes I did. You can see it in the picture. Hey, I was in the groove, slapping this thing together.

Then we each took a side and started adding, a little frosting here, a little there. Pretty fun.

The Little Christmas tree was given to us after I bid a job. The guy owned a Christmas tree farm and he took me out to the field and cut one down for me. It had to be small because of our lack of space at the moment, but we had a blast getting it decorated. We ended up having to trim the top because the star wouldn't stay upright!

Okay, more Christmas pics coming soon.

'Twas the week before Christmas

2007-12-21T23:03:00.000-08:00

It's 11pm. The night is quiet except for an occasional crack from the woodstove. A sweet sound as it is keeping at bay the chill of the night. I am sitting in the living room, with Ana on my left laying on loveseat, Jorryn sacked out on the floor, and Jami asleep on the couch. The only lights are from the Christmas tree and the fireplace. We are very cozy, very blessed to have our needs met.

This year has been very busy with all of the "new" things going on. We got more involved with the church and became friends with the pastor and his wife. I started the tile business which has proven to be very taxing on my time, but gratifying. Ana is back in gymnastics and is doing very well. Jorryn has tried gymnastics but would rather have swimming lessons. The property was explored a little more and our plans for this place have developed a little more, but without the time and finances right now, they are still ideas. A friend got married, another is expecting, and yet another had a baby. Two other families adopted two kids each, both from overseas.

It seems like no matter how much you plan, or how much you try to remember, time just keeps bringing birthdays, holidays and events sooner than you expect. Christmas is just right around the corner and we didn't send out any cards, or pictures to any friends or family, yet we received these from friends and family. Every year we say we will be better the next year, and low and behold, here we are again. You would think that we could get a simple post up at least once a week to keep all two or three of you posted, but we can't even do that.

Our camera was dropped and we are just picking it up tomorrow after being in the repair shop for two months. Thats not a good excuse for not posting any pics, but its an excuse...
Everyone has been remarkably healthy this year. Nothing really serious that put us out for more than a day. I can't say that a credit to what we eat, but maybe its the vitamins and the Oregon weather!
Wrapping this up, I just want to say Merry Christmas to all, and have a great New Year. Thank you for checking in on us.

Jeremy, Jami, Juliana, and Jorryn

The living room remodel

2007-10-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

I realize that most of this project was almost a year ago, but now that the slide show feature is available in the blogs, it is very easy to show you the process.
When we bought this place, the previous owners were not idle by any means about getting the property cleared off and starting to update the home. We appreciated the things they had finished, but there was still a lot to do. I will give you a glimpse of our living room project.
The living room closet used to be the front porch area, but they put in a big sliding door, and closed off the porch, making it into a closet. The big metal front door was still there when we moved in, so we decided to put a smaller closet door in, and build some shelves in there for games, DVD's and what not. I put in a few plugs as well, since there wasn't anything there. We put in a ceiling fan and well.
We had to change the texture on the walls. It was very much old school, and I was afraid that when the kids were bouncing off the walls as the sometimes do, they might start to bleed. Just kidding, but you get the point. I put in a few pics to show you how rough it was. I had a few choices. Tear off the sheet rock, and replace, then retexture, or scrap and fill the existing, then retexture. I chose the latter, it was cheaper, and we all know I am cheap. Well, I would like to think I am quality, but inexpensive...moving on.

Like I said, I ended up scraping the really high rough spots off the texture, enough to start filling with mud. I put on two coats, sanding flat in between coats. I put 12 gallons on sheet rock mud on the walls before texture just to smooth them out. Then the texture went on. Fun....
The door on the closet used to be the door that was out in the mud room. That was fun, keeping the old hinges and glass knob. We wanted to keep the older look. We stayed up all night painting the living room and getting the door in place. About 5am we thought we should get a nap before the kids woke up.
We are now thinking of expanding the kitchen by removing the wall between it and the living room, making it really open. The pics should give you a little bit better of an idea of what we went through getting it ready for hanging out in. We are drawing up some add-on plans right now, but depending on the cost, it may be awhile!

Warm up, Biking & Mt. SI

2007-10-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

So back in JUNE...I know, why did it take so long to post? Life happens, FAST. You make your new years resolutions and all of the sudden its October. Go figure. Speaking of figure, I am adding to mine everyday. Moving on...
Back in June, we went on a little getaway weekend with some friends. We went up to a Bed & Breakfast spot in North Bend Washington. They had been there before, and just loved it. I must admit, it was a great little cabin and the surroundings were beautiful. It was supposed to be just a nice relaxing time, lots of rest and relaxation, a little hiking and mountain biking. Well, their idea of an easy weekend was a little different than our out of shape bodies were ready for. We started out with the warm up hike the first evening. Just a mere four miles, checking out the cool falls and what have you. Not to bad. Just enough to let us know how bad of shape we are really in. It was a good start. We had a great time, as the pictures should tell.
The next day was the big day. It started off by having our B&B host drop us and our bikes off at the top of the John Wayne Pioneer trail head. It then is a 20 mile downhill ride to where the car was to be parked. That is more biking than I have ever done, combined. Anyway, it starts by heading through the Snoqualmie tunnel. A little over two miles, right through the mountain. There are no lights in there, unless you strap one to your forehead, or you have one on your bike. I had Jami turn her light off so we could "feel" the darkness. I thought it was pretty cool, Jami thought it was a little spooky. Here is a Wiki link to for a little more info. Click me.
We had a great time the rest of way down the trail. We stopped a few times to take some pictures, have some water and a snack, or just chat. There was a section where a bunch of guys were rock climbing. Some of those guys were really good. Climbing up to set the rope is the big challenge. There is no one to belay you, and you just tie into the rock as you climb up. If you fall, you trust that last clip you put into the rock.
We stopped for a geocache once. I forgot my GPS, so it was just from description. No biggie. Jami posed with her finger atop of the Mt. we were going to hike up later that day. We were finished in a few hours, and I tell you, I was saddle sore. Get a good seat if you are going to do that very often. No, I take that back. Get a good seat no matter how often you ride.
We went back to the cabin for some lunch, and then headed out to hit the next trail. As if we didn't feel enough out of shape with the previous days four mile hike and the 20 mile bike trip, we topped off the day with a 8 mile round trip hike up Mt. SI. It's not that high, just 3600ft, but the trail head starts you out at 500ft. So you have four miles to gain 3100ft. All part of the adventure I guess! Jami and I brought up the rear the whole way up. It was a pretty crowded trail the first few miles, but the traffic died off after that as only the die hards, or INSANE people were going to the top. I know, I must be a wuss, but for a guy who doesn't hike, that a lot of elevation. About halfway up a guy went jogging past us. About two thirds the way up he was jogging back down. Yes, he jogged up and down the mountain. I was never in that kind of shape, even in high school. Here is a link for the trail. Click me.

We got back, all safe and sound. That night we treated ourselves to some Ben & Jerry's ice cream and a movie. It was a good finish. We only had a few blisters from the day, and were pretty sore the next.

Enjoy the pics.

The Von Rudens

I will start off at the end of summer...

2007-10-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

So we have been busy having fun around the property. I will start here, and collect my thoughts later on some other news.
We have been here a year and still haven't made it across the creek to start clearing out the berry bushes yet, so I got a wild hair and drove the tractor through the creek, (it was low enough), and got busy clearing with the brush hog. We made a go of it throughout the weekend and got quite a bit done until the tractor got a branch through the radiator. Now I have to find parts for a 19?? Massey Ferguson. Such is life.
I must admit we are terrible at keeping this thing up, but tomorrow may prove to get some creative juices going and let me update this more thoroughly.

Until then!

Take a look at our friends the O'Haras Blog. There are some good things happening in their family!

I know, I know!

2007-10-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, there has been little activity here...BUT, we are busy bodies! Things are changing up, and we will post pics, news and stuff here real soon!

The busy Von Rudens

Civil War

2007-05-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

There was a civil war reenactment last week here in Lebanon, the first one ever here in town. Here are some pictures of the camp, men, and the battle that happened. Hope you enjoy, we did.

It was just a small glimpse of the real action, but gave a fresh perspective on what the men went through during the split our our nation. Two sides, both fighting for what they believed in, both dieing for their cause. Very sobering, and good to revisit history so we will not forget. We thank all those who choose to do these reenactments, and the hard work they put in to keeping history alive.

Baby Goats

2007-05-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

There were some baby goats born last week at Grandpa & Grandma's house. They were soooo tiny! Their names are Tiny & Humphrey. I didn't get any really close pics of them, but here are a few. (click on any image to enlarge)

Here is a pic of Grandma & Ana. Also a few pictures of Grandma's flower garden, and Grandpa kickin' back and enjoying the evening. Actually there is a big chink of meat on the BBQ behind him and he is waiting for the timer to go off.

This guy is here to keep you comapny if you want to just hang out in the front and need someone to talk to.

Weather is holding in there, its going to be a beautiful summer!

K-9 Confusion

2007-05-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Jami posted some pics of our shepherds, and I would consider these real, honest to goodness K-9's. The following pictures are of Jami's sister Julie's so called dog. I am still trying to figure out if it is part of the K-9 family. I think it may be some sort of superior being. It either doesn't know how to walk, or it is royalty, and simply must be carried everywhere. Fed on a schedule, bathed & dressed by others, and to top it off, he can make a stink in the yard and someone cleans up after him! Is it the face? If anyone has any information on this being, let me know. I'll let you decide! I think its called "BRODIE"

The Dogs

2007-05-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hi, Jeremy will be so happy. This is my first post. After reading his most recent post I couldn't help but feel something was missing and then I knew! Diva, Chance and Gabe are not on here! You would think that we didn't have 4 dogs! Shame, Shame. I'm really surprised that Jer has not put a pic of Gabe on here at least since he is his dog, so is Ashes But only because he says it. (ask her and she'll tell you the truth :) ). Gabe was one of the pups we sold and got back a 10 months later. He is a blessing to our family. Jer says "he is my kind of dog." That is a huge compliment considering Gabe is not a aussie or bodercollie. Gabe is very playful and him and Ashes are constantly fetching-though Gabe thinks its more fun to play keep away.

I can't help but feel a little bad for Diva. She went from being a very pampered indoor dog to a little less pampered outside dog. She loves her boys and I have found would rather be with them than me most of the time. It's a little heartbreaking but I still love her. I knew from the day Chance was a day old that he was going to be MY dog and he is. I still have high expectations for him though I don't think it will be in the conformation ring anymore. Neither of us enjoyed our last show all that much and so I've decided if it isn't fun then don't do it. I'll give agility, obedience, and herding a try and hope they will be a blast.

Chance is on the far left, next to Diva. Gabe is playing with his ball. I'll try to be better about updates now that I know how to do it.

Spring is in full force

2007-05-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

Nice to have a break in the cold, wet weather, and have the sun peeking out through the clouds. It seems that the slow growing grass, that has been green all winter has been given a shot of Miracle Grow. I had to pull a little maintenance on the tractor, then put the mower back on so we could get after the fields before they turned into a jungle. Here is Jami out in the midst of it.

The kids also had a sad surprise when we got home from the park the other day. Their tire swing limb had broken.
We were just glad they weren't on it when it came down. Ana just had to climb it.

Jami & I got some mountain bikes. I know, I know, you say it's a phase. Well maybe it is, but we are having a lot of fun riding down at the park. We are supposed to go on a 14 mile ride the first weekend in June, and I am not so sure either one of us are ready for it. Thats not to bad on a bike, but if you haven,t ridden in years...it could be a major undertaking, or maybe just call the undertaker.

Ana and Jorryn are in a kids club called AWANAS, and there was a pinewood derby race that they entered in. Too much fun. I think the dads that helped make the cars for the younger kids were more eager to win and get the fastest times than anyone there. Jorryn got to race early on, so he got a track record, but it was broken later by the kid who won first place for the day. Actually Jorryn didn't place, but Ana got third, and her friend Alexis got second. It was a fun day for all of us. Jorryn was more excited about the cotton candy than any car race! I think he had the fastest time inhaling the candy...then he was the fastest kids as the sugar burn hit him.

Enjoy the weather, be back soon!

Jer, Jami & kids!

Poison Oak

2007-05-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

Spring is weighing heavy on us and the yard is growing amazingly fast. We spend a good half a day in the garden area, getting beds ready for planting and cleaning up all the overgrown areas around the walking spaces. The kids helped and I was inpressed as to the fun they had with all the bugs we saw.
We also started to clear out the front hedge, where the dreaded poison oak is. I expected to get it, but Jami was a not really getting into the bushes were it was growing. Next day I started to have the rash breakout on my arms, then it just got worse from there. I ended up with it over my arms, torso, and parts of my legs. It took a week and a half for me to see the rashes subside, and start getting back to normal. Jami on the other hand didn't get the rashes, at least right away. She ended up with a patch that started 5 days later, and then like me, got it over the same areas of the body. it seemed to be worse on her, to where the rash would blister, and one patch got infected. It took two weeks for hers to subside. We are finally having some itch free sleep time now.
Work is great, God is good. I have a full schedule into August now, with some flexibility, and that is always nice.
The fields needs to be mowed, and the garden planted, so this weekend I am hoping for sun!

Until later...

Jer, Jami & the kids

A long long time ago...

2007-03-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

Thats whe that last post was. This hasn't been a priority, but it should be!
Things are going well. Jami is out of town this week visiting family in Reno, and then on to a dog show with Chance. We think he has good potential, we shall see. He doesn't have the experience in the show ring, but he may do well just the same. Good luck to him!
Post agin soon with pics.

Wetlands

2006-11-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hello again from Winter Lakes. Yes, what was once dry, grassy meadows, and a almost non existent pond, we now have tons-o-water. Here are some before and after pictures.

Makes for a mucky mess for a bit. The creek is pretty high as well. When we had our big rain a few weeks ago, the water level came up several feet overnight.

We finally raked up our yard. Big trees make big leaf piles. I should have had the burn pile going that day....oh well.

Ana also lost her first tooth! She was very excited about it, but didn't work it very often, so the new tooth was coming in behind the old one before she had it pulled. I think she was afraid the last little bit hanging on the tooth would hurt too much to take it out.

Okay everyone! Have a great Thanksgiving! More news and pics to come!

Recap on the house...

2006-09-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

I got the camera back from Jami so I could take some pictures of the house and put them on paper for you. First there is a little background on the place, and how we were blessed with it.

Jami & I have been wanting some property, someplace pretty, and with room to grow. A place that we could get for a decent price and fix it up ourselves how we like it, and give it our personality. We have found the place.

Before we left Reno, we were praying about finding a place just like this, but we were not sure how God’s plan for us would work out. We became attentive to His leading, and I decided to take a job in Vancouver, working at a desk, and let my recent shoulder surgery heal up. We could not find a house in our price range, so we settled for a place in town on a small lot with a newer house, knowing that in a few years we could sell it and move to a bigger lot, possibly out further in the country.

The job worked out for a few years, then the plans to grow changed, and my position was eliminated. The new position in the company wasn’t a good fit, but I was thinking I would make a go of it, and stick it out. We started looking at houses up in that area, and fell in love with a one acre lot with a decent house on it. After looking at several more houses, our realtor asked us if we wanted to make an offer on the house, and our initial reaction was “yes”, but I had a little check in my spirit, like we should wait through the weekend. This was Friday about 3pm. At 5pm, I was told that my pay would be reduced to a base salary, 14k less than what I was making at the time, with a possibility to increase depending on my new performance. All this in a position that the last two years training had little to do with. We decided that this was CLEAR direction from God to move on, for He had bigger plans for us.

We decided to start looking for a place down in the Lebanon area, and on one of our trips down visiting the folks, a friend of mine asked us if we would be interested in his sisters house. He said they had considered selling, and since we were in the market, we should come by, take a look, and see what we think.

It was a dinky little house, almost 900sf, but it had almost 13 acres, and a ton of potential. The owners had done allot of work on it already, but it still had allot of things yet to do.

We walked the property, and decided it was the place for us. In the following week, we were set on a price, with no realtor, and got all the paperwork ready.

The next step was to sell our house, and although we seemed to have lots of interest, no one was willing to buy it. We think that was also part of God’s plan, because we ended up selling it to some friends who needed a house exactly like what we had, and if we had sold it immediately, they would not be able to buy it. The way things worked out have been extraordinary, and everyone involved has felt like things have been orchestrated from the start.

We have two huge meadows with the year round creek along one side. They are below the house, which sits up on the hill. There is a Quonset for a garage/shop. The house is a little two bedroom one bath. There is a kitchen, living room, and mud room. The mud room used to be the patio, but it was covered and closed in. This is currently where the washer and dryer are.

The kitchen and master bedroom was painted over smooth walls, no texture, and where the sheetrock met, you could still see some of the joints in some places. There was baseboard missing in the kitchen, and where there was trim, it was the old clamshell style. The living room had a meringue look to the texture, high sharp points. We decided to re-texture and re-trim all the rooms, walls and ceilings, except for the kid’s room, which would be done later after a future remodel. This has been a lot of work, and we are still in the process.

The outside needs new siding, a few windows changed out, and something done to the roof over the mudroom, (it leaks). We also have lots to do getting the bushes trimmed back, the poison oak eradicated from the corner of the courtyard in front, the garden shaped up, and some fencing.

We put up a 40’x40’ dog kennel for our shepherds. They like the new leg room when they have to be put away.

Ana & Jorryn have a little playhouse. It’s pretty cool for them to play in.

I have been trying to get projects done around here, as well as working for a dollar to keep the bills paid, and believe me, it keeps me hoppin! I find myself thinking that the days need to be twice as long so I can balance out the projects a little more.

I hope the pictures turn out pretty good, and you can get a good idea of what we got going here. It’s been fun seeing how the place is changing, and how faithful God is in taking care of us in the process.

Hope things are going good for everyone!

Jer, Jami & the kids

Sad News...

2006-09-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

I know its been awhile with no news, but things have been a little hectic here. Jami has been trying to get some things ready for the kids and school, I have been working and trying to get projects done around the house.
My StepMother is Janna, and her mother is Grandma Marjorie VanDyke, who has been feeling under the weather, and went in to have some lumps checked out. The result was she has terminal cancer, very advanced throughout her body and she has less than two months to live. Janna is already down at the house with her, and Jami left last Thursday as well to visit. I am here, getting things buttoned up to go down as well with Dad.
I will talk more later as I get news. We only found out last week.
Pray for her in these uncomfortable days.

Mowing, painting , cleaning

2006-08-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the update. I guess I will start off by telling you about the move. We were blessed with 13 acres, and an older (1948) almost 900 SF home that needs allot of work for both curb appeal and some inside help to keep the bugs and the mice out. We have a squirrel in the wall to the outside mud/laundry room and the dogs want to eat him.
We have textured the kitchen and master bedroom so far, added trim and painted the bedrooms and the kitchen, but the living room has this heavy texture on it that I will have to fill and float out smooth with sheetrock mud before we retexture to the 21st century.
It is a cute house. The previous owners did a bunch of work already. They updated the electrical and plumbing, which is very important, exposed the nice hardwood flooring that was covered by carpeting, put in newer vinyl windows, and updated the kitchen. They also pushed back the brush that was growing on the property and encroaching on the house. I figure that if they hadn't taken affirmative action against it, the house would have been engulfed sometime in late 2007. We now have lots of meadow to mow, and a metal garage that is used for storage at this point.
I am working odd jobs here and there, using my building skills and praying that God will keep bringing in the work. He has always been faithful to provide, we sometimes just overspend! Life is simple for us right now. We have to be humble because of what we have, and we are thinking that allot of the things in life we used to think important are not. Its not the size of the paycheck, what kind of car you drive, or how big your TV is, its friends and family. I spend more quality time with my family, and am happier with less material goods than I could have ever thought. Don’t get me wrong, I still drool over the Bose Home Theater system, and plan to have one in my home someday, but right now, if I try to make the bigger money and have it all immediately, and sacrifice family time, I am wasting precious years. My kids would be growing up without me. I will sacrifice my home theater, fancy car, and a bigger home in the now, to have a walk down by the creek on our property with the kids and my wife. God has blessed me with a wonderful family, and I want to enjoy them while I can. Okay! Enough Jer rant!
I am posting some pics showing Jami mowing the fields and some work on the house, our creek, etc, etc... Busy Busy! Send us emails, we love to hear from everyone. I promise to try and keep this thing updated more...no really, I promise.

New Home

2006-08-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Well...here is a quick note to say, more to come tomorrow. I have been extremely busy, and the move along with all the projects have been keeping me from any good updates here. This pic of Jorryn is before we textured and painted the kitchen, and if you zoom in, you can see white paint in his hair. We are having a blast . Look for new pics soon.

Changes...

2006-07-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

No pictures this time, only news. Jami and I are moving! I will no longer be working here in Washington, but will be venturing out on my own doing...WHATEVER! I am getting my contractors license and praying in the work. God seems to have blessed us with the possibility of buying some property in Oregon, and we are extremely excited. I will post some pics and more news later! Enjoy the Fourth!

Time flies!

2006-05-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

We have dried out up here in the northwest. It was a wet winter, but spring is finally here. The first Easter we were here it was around 80 degrees, and this year it was in the 50’s. Its finally back up to the 70’s and 80’s now, and we are loving it.

Jami bought some plants for the front yard. I don’t know the names of them, except for the rose bush. Ask me about a car part and I can tell you, ask me about a flower or a bush and I will just tell you it’s a flower or a bush…so, we got a couple flower plants to put next to some other bushes in the front yard. Yeah, I am a guy, I know.

We are looking to possibly move. We are feeling like we need a bigger yard for the dogs to stretch their legs a bit. They are getting bored with the small amount of room they have, and are tearing it up. The grass is struggling, the hot tub cover is half eaten,(puppies love to nibble), and the kids chairs get pushed around the deck all the time. We need a bigger playground for them and the kids.

I don’t know if you remember JJ & Gretchen who sang in our wedding, but they came up to the coast last weekend and we met them there, spent the day with them and had a great time waling on the beach, and finding little trails to hike on. We did some more Geocaching as well. That’s always a ton of fun. The picture above is of Ana on the beach.

The kids are growing fast. Jorryn is not yet four years old and he is almost as tall as Ana. I need to measure them again to see exactly how tall they are, but they are getting to big, too soon, at least it seems so.

There is an amusement park here in the Portland area that has allot of fun rides that the kids can go on and is not expensive at all. We try to go a few times a year, and we now know for sure that Ana and Jorryn could probably take on any roller coaster Disneyland has to offer. They are CRAZY KIDS! They love all the rides.

We went to the zoo, and low and behold, we saw this sign on the way out. Apparently its okay to drink while you are in the zoo, but you can’t drink after you leave. I was confused, but now know for next time.

Just a note

2006-04-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

Rain or shine. That’s pretty much sums up the mornings here right now. The weather guys get it pretty close, but it still seems like rolling the dice when you get out of bed and open the blinds. It’s definitely getting nicer, that’s for sure. I had to mow the grass twice last week. The yard-work season has come into effect full force.

Softball season is here as well. I had my first city league game last night. It was the first of two placement games that we have at the beginning of the season to match up teams by skill level. We did well, the score was some-teen to nothing. Yes, we won. We also have a three game minimum tournament this Saturday. That should be fun.

Jami entered Diva’s pups in a dog show last weekend. What fun! Jami was nervous, but did great with the pressure. The dogs were stinkers though. She had been working with both Chance & Gabe in the confirmation, and they were looking AND behaving well the night before. I even went through all the motions that the judge would do, to see if they would stand still and let me check their teeth, etc. They did great. Come ringtime, they weren’t sure about the whole thing. They wouldn’t stay stacked, and who is this strange guy touching me??? Look at all the other dogs-Why am I following this dog, why is that dog following me! They did well for the first show all things considered. New sights, sounds & smells. Again, it was fun.

I have a new job description, which I will elaborate on later.

Jami’s folks will be here the week after Easter. We are looking forward to that. We are spending Easter at my folks place. There are LOTS of good hiding places for eggs down there!

Also, I am curioius if anyone actually reads this thing, so I enabled the post feature. If you want to make a comment on anything, or just let us know you like the updates, post it! Click the post icon at the end of whatever post you want to comment on. Thats it! Okay---Until next time, have a great Easter.

TheVonRudens

Quartery update...

2006-03-25T18:20:00.000-08:00

Well here it is…FINALLY a new post. WHOO HOO!

Last we left you it was Thanksgiving, and we were in Reno, visiting family. We had a GREAT time. Lots of food, my birthday.
I must say if you are to have a birthday near a holiday, thanksgiving is the best. There is no need for special food prep, or calling to get your family together, that’s all built in to this great day. I get a great food spread only rivaled by Christmas dinner, family is coming anyway, there is a football game to watch, and on top of that, I get presents. Its not close enough to Christmas to combine the gifts, (Christmas & Birthday), and it always gives you a four day weekend as well. So lets recap;

No extra prep for the party-built in
No extra invitations, family will be there anyway
Football game
Awesome spread for food & dessert
Presents that will not interfere with Christmas

This was the first Christmas we had with just the four of us. We got a tree, went down to a tree farm and cut our own. Had a blast! Tried to go up and get a tree the weekend before, but all we got was temporarily stuck. We are normally at Jami’s folks for Christmas Eve, exchanging gifts, and opening stockings on Christmas morning. This year we stayed here in Vancouver, and opened our stocking on Christmas Eve, and opened our presents on Christmas morning. It wasn’t the same without all the family, but new kinds of memories were made.

Ana is currently doing gymnastics 3 times a week. She goes twice a week to her normal class, then once a week for a TOPS class which works specifically on her strength building for competition. She loves it. Jorryn isn’t as thrilled as he has to wait with momma for the two hours of each class, but he is a trooper, and keeps busy with books or coloring, etc. Ana comes home and practices all the time. Standing on her head, handstands the splits,(OUCH!).

Jorryn is currently in swimming lessons. He is almost done with his classes, and still can’t swim. BUT…He isn’t afraid of going under the water anymore, and he definitely has more confidence when in the pool. Being afraid of the water is a major hindrance in learning, and maybe that will be the most important thing he gets out of it. He looks forward to it two times a week, with a huge smile on his face.

Jami is trying to get Chance, our dog ready for some shows this year. He is learning manners and how to listen. Like a puppy though, he is full of energy, and wants to play.

I just got back from camping this last weekend, but I will save that one until I can get the pictures ready for the post. Until next time…

Jer, Jami, Juliana, Jorryn

Coming attractions....

2006-03-10T22:37:00.000-08:00

Howdy all! I am here alone this weekend with the kids, and I think I will be able to catch this page up! Jami is on a womens retreat until Sunday afternoon, and I have a few projects around here...updating the page is one of them. I have to get everyone caught up on the after Thanksgiving trip, as well as Christmas, and Jami's BD...our trip to the coast. Stay Tuned...

Update for Josh ....and others

2006-02-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

As you all well know, we haven't updated in awhile. We will be taking a little trip this weekend and I plan on getting an update next week. Thanks for the patience!

Thanksgiving

2005-11-23T23:50:00.000-08:00

We are on the road! Jami and the kids traveled down to Reno to be with her family the week before Thanksgiving, and I flew down the week of. We will all drive back together the weekend after Thanksgiving, hopefully rested up and ready to get back home.
The kids and I took the dogs geocaching on Monday, traipsing around in the desert, climbing rocks and looking for little tupperware containers with treasures in them. If you don't know what geocaching is, check out the website at www.geocaching.com.
My little Ana is a great rock climber, FEARLESS. Jorryn is not so bold as of yet, which is probably a good thing. I only really want to worry about one being a daredevil right now, not two. Here are a few shots of us climbing and caching.

Thanksgiving will be good. Lots of food, games, sports. Jami's football team , the Broncos, will be there for our viewing pleasure. Lets hope they don't let us down. I hope not, I picked them in my football pool. Fun for everyone. I just hope I don't eat to much as to ruin my chances of winning another ping-pong game!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Jeremy & the Family

Camping trip...

2005-10-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

In the middle of August, I took the kids camping for the weekend for the first time. Jami had to stay home with the brand new baby puppies, and we missed her. There were 24 kids and 7 families at camp if I remember right. Never a dull moment with all them running around. The picture is of Juliana and I in the creek with our dog Ashes next to us. in case anyone is wondering, the keg is full of beer. Henry Weinhart's Root Beer. Ice cold from being in the creek. We had two of them shared for the whole camp. Several hiking trips wore the kids out, no wait, that was the adults. I know we have all talked about it before, but if we could only harness that energy...

The kids and I slept in the back of the Yukon, no tent this trip. We had a great time eating s'mores Saturday night, and a pancake feed on Sunday morning before we headed out. A good time was had by all, and we look forward to our next trip out with everyone, Jami included!

Oh yeah, I was able to get a little paintballing in too, one of my pastimes the I have that is a little safer than motorcross, which Jami is happy about.

Until next time...
Jeremy & the family

Our Family

2005-10-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

Just a quick hello to all as we are gearing up for posting news about whats going on in our lives and what we are looking forward to in the future. Come back soon to hear all the news about Juliana and Jorryn's activities, Jamis new adventure with Breeding Diva and having puppies, and me trying to stay in shape while sitting behind a desk all day. The pic is from last weekend on their first trip to see their daddy. They have all eyes and ears alert for the first glimpse.
Thanks for the visit!
Jeremy and the Family.