Christmas

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

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

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

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

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...

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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

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

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...

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!