More Bight Side from the trip...

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

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...

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

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

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....

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...

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

...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

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...

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

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

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

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

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...

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

Jorryn's 6th Birthday

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

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...

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

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

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.