We're All Wright

Bahrain with Lee

2011-12-07T11:09:00.001-06:00

As Lee and I got to Bahrain it was late afternoon and we were only going to be there one day so we took advantage of it and rented a car and went to see some sights. I was blown away by how modern everything was.

I know this picture is blurry but it still captures the Middle east! This is Fort Bahrain with the moon behind it. It is centuries old. from 2300 BC. It was there at the time of Christ, through the Romans, Portuguese, & Persians. Lee and I wandered around and just loved being there!

With these arches you can see the Persian influence which was the last.

Archaeologists are still digging to find out all about it. You can see the beautiful city behind it.This is a beautiful Mosque. They have them all over and are very accessible because they need to pray 5 times a day. I found out that they really know how to make yummy drinks in the middle east! This is an avocado shake. The people are muslin and they don't drink alcohol so they make all kinds of wonderful drinks.

All over the middle east we would see twin buildings. This was my first but there were hundreds that were built together to complement each other. Beautiful!

The buildings were unbelievable! See the wind propellers? That is to generate electricity for the building.

After our meeting with the Government officials we drove out on the King Fahd Causeway to the Umm an Nasan Island which connects to Saudi Arabia. We could see Saudi Arabia but didn't want to drive over and perhaps have problems getting back. Can you believe it? I HAVE SEEN SAUDI ARABIA! =) What a fun day we had but then had to hurry to the airport to catch a flight out to Dubai by 2pm.

Kuwait with Lee

2011-12-07T09:48:00.001-06:00

Lee (my son) invited me to go with him on a trip to the middle east. He was going to a Law Convention in Dubai but had other business before and after to take care of in Bahrain and Jordan. This is my attempt to share my unbelievable trip! On our way to Bahrain we had a stop over in Kuwait so we had to take a picture to prove to ourselves we had really been there. In the one part of the airport there were hundreds of people all dressed in white sheets. I would have loved to take a picture but Lee and I were so out of place that people kept watching us. Lee kept telling me it wasn't normal and that something was going on. We found out later that they were all going to Mecca and it is quite a process to be ready in mind and spirit to make the once in a lifetime pilgrimage. So here is a picture of us on our own pilgrimage!

Dickson Family Reunion 2011

2011-08-21T01:22:00.000-05:00

These are a few of the pictures from the family reunion. I will add pictures and tell about all the activities but for now here are the families! We were mostly color coded so you can tell who is with who.

This is the Lynn and Sharon Dickson family

The Doris and Knude Swensen Family

The Jack and Delores Dickson family

The Viv and Dave Wright family

The Roy and Karen Dickson family

Us kids with mom and pops

With our spouses

Everyone!!! It is a wonderful family!!!

Family reunion

2011-06-12T18:10:00.004-05:00

This picture was taken months ago as Sheri, Janice and I planned our Dickson family reunion. I can't tell you how hard they have worked to make sure it would turn out good and be well worth the expense involved in getting here.
We had another planning meeting this week and there were major differences this time. I forgot to take a picture so you will have to imagine. First Sheri and Janice have both lost more weight. (and I have gained some) But the real difference is that it is all coming together beautifully! We are feeling very relieved. Let me remind you a bit of what is going on.

=Almost everyone is going to be there! Very few cousins and their families will be missing.
=Shayla is taking charge of our Family Fun Run. (start getting in shape!)
=Erin is in charge of our talent show. Let her know when you have a something for it. This will be a really fun evening! You can even sign up when you get there if you want.
=Susanne is in charge of our family Olympics. You might ask if she needs help.
=Randy is in charge of our family service project. We don't know what it will be but will somehow benefit Grandma and Grandpa. You may need to ask how you can help.
=Dorrel is in charge of our family play day and barbeque at his house. So fun! Zip line, bouncy house, huge slip n slide, tree houses, volleyball tournament, food, visiting, swimming.
=Jana will be in charge of our kids craft area. All the mothers will sign up for a time to be there and help the kids. We have fun crafts planned but could use more if you have some ideas or stuff.
=Many of the families will be camping and many will be staying at the motel. Most of the motel people will be staying at the Medallion in Marysville.
=Each family gets to bring a gift for the gift exchange! Yippee.
=Jamie is teaching a ladies jewelry class during free time so bring old jewelry if you have some.
=Each extended family is invited to do a 15 minute video presentation the last night of the reunion at the church. David is doing ours, Lisa I've heard is doing Roys, so who is doing the others? Don't forget!
=Are you wearing extended family T shirts? We are. (Tracy and Tera have designed them and are getting ours made.) Family Colors (unless you choose a different one): Lynn Navy, Jack Red, Doris Green, Roy Lighter blue, Viv White.
=You may want to bring lawn chairs if you have extra room to tuck them in.
=We are gathering large kettles but if you need something special for your family meal please let us know.

This reunion will be so much fun. It will be one of the last with the oldest generation and they are thrilled and excited that we are having it. See you all in a month!!!

Please comment!!! It helps us all to get more excited!!!

Aunt Catherns funeral

2011-06-10T07:53:00.007-05:00

Last Saturday Dave and I drove mom and pops down to Enumclaw to moms sister Cathern Harston's funeral. It was a nice day and we really enjoyed the visit with everyone. Aunt Rhea came in from Orem Utah.
Aunt Flora came from Fallon Nevada with 2 daughters and a son-in-law. I took such terrible pictures that I am embarrassed. Aunt Georgia from California is in this picture with Aunt Flora.

My cousin LaVern helped bring her mom Flora.

Uncle Frank from California.

At the funeral

Mom.
She will hate this picture but I took terrible pictures all day! She actually looked beautiful!

The sisters were teasing on the couch at the church. Mom was acting like she was the next to go. This is mom , Aunt Flora Miller and Aunt Bessie Zeller (who came in from Lovell Wyoming.)

This is Aunt Catherns children and spouses.

Front row: Flora Miller, John and Helen Dickson
Back: Frank and Georgia Baird, Bessie Zeller, Rhea Wille, Alice and Ron Brownell

What is left of the family. Gone already are Grandma and Grandpa Baird, Aunt June, Uncle Leo and Aunt Cathern.
We had a wonderful visit with everyone! Lots of cousins were there. I didn't get a single picture of Lynn and Sharon or Sheri and her family or Janice or so many who were there! What can I say? I was having way too much fun visiting with everyone to actually stop and take a good picture. It was a wonderful day and Aunt Cathern will truly be missed.

The New Shower

2011-05-29T11:22:00.004-05:00

I have promised everyone that I would post pictures of our bathroom project so here ya go!

The shower in Mom and Pops bathroom was really small and mom and I decided one day that we wanted to change it! I special ordered the shower base and shower doors and then we had to wait. Dave and I were leaving to go and visit the kids so Lynn and Roy planned to build it while Roy was here visiting. The only problem with that was Lowes and Home Depot didn't deliver the stuff on time so Roy couldn't spend his vacation time slaving away on our project!

When we came home mom and I decided Dave had vacationed long enough! To take the old shower out Dave had to saw it in half or it wouldn't go through the doors. We determined that Uncle Leo built this home to last forever. The shower was put in with so many nails and the walls were so well built that the tear out process was much harder than we dreamed it would be. Notice the dust on Dave's clothes, fine fiberglass powder was everywhere.
The shower is out and now here goes the wall and moms swans. Remember those everyone?
Here is our blank slate. We insulated the walls and then put up OSB (or something like that) which is like plywood on the walls.

We put up FRT panels which is the good waterproof stuff for shower walls.

When we were putting up the shower doors Janice stopped by and Dave put her to work putting on the handles and helping hang the doors.
Meledie gave them a brand new shower chair and I calked the shower and painted the room.
I kept remembering what Marty always would tell us..." a little calk and a little paint makes a carpenter what he aint." He was right! We hid a lot of stuff and it looks fantastic!

Dave is our HERO... again!

Uncle Leo

2011-03-13T14:26:00.004-05:00

We had Uncle Leos funeral this week. We were supposed to have a 90th birthday party this month but had a funeral instead. He wanted to celebrate it with Dorothy I guess. Moms siblings all came except aunt Cathern. She is in a care center in Enumclaw and has memory problems.

Aunt Bessie Zeller and Aunt Alice Brownell

Mom and Aunt Rhea Wille

Leo and Dorothys children and their spouses. Lee was at the funeral but didn't come to the dinner where we took the pictures.

Darel, Terry, Wally, Peggy and Ann

Moms siblings. Aunt Bessie, Mom, Aunt Flora,
Aunt Alice, Uncle Frank, Aunt Rhea.
I didn't take a lot of pictures. It was so nice for everyone to get together ever if it was under these circumstances.

Pops is home

2011-02-06T23:44:00.003-06:00

We called 911 the other night when we couldn't get Pops to feel better after taking 3 separate nitro tabs. It was nice that Lynn and Sharon are home from their mission and can be here. We spent a couple days at Arlington General.

They adjusted his medicine and now he is home and feels really good! We are glad to be back to normal again.

Dave

2010-11-24T08:05:00.006-06:00

I love to go see and do things! I don't want to miss anything! A few years ago when I took a train with Jamie to Utah I was shocked that she could put her nose in a book and read while beautiful scenery was speeding by. I couldn't stand the thought of missing something. I hated knowing I was missing beautiful vistas at night!

While I'm out taking beautiful pictures here is Dave! With a book!

Dave celebrated his 68th birthday last week so I took a picture to show you how he likes to have fun. He loves reading and doing geneology. Here he is reading about Abraham Lincoln. It is his 4th or 5th book on the subject. (and he has 4 or 5 more waiting to read and then plans to go on to George Washington after that.) It reminds me of how his dad was when he was Dave's age. Dave's mom would watch some TV but his dad would spend his time reading. His dad was always wanting the light brighter so he could see better to read and Dave is the same way. He uses a reading light on his head or a light next to him on the book. His Dad was also always concerned about his geneology and getting all the information he could. Dave has spent so many hours on the computer doing family history. This week he sent out names to our kids to take to the temple. I have been thinking... we have 4 sons, will they take after their dad and grandad? How about the girls? I guess time will tell but I look at their personalities and I think there is a very good possibility.
Dave and I have been called as church service missionaries at the Mt. Vernon cannery. We started 2 years ago, soon after we came here to Washington. We were called for a year but we were asked that our call to be extended a year last November. The end of October they came in and changed around the whole dry pack system. They built a new office and got us a fancy computer register and even debit/credit system and asked that we stay another year to get it all changed and going good. We are delighted and really enjoy being service missionaries!
So this is how Dave spent his birthday! He would read between customers and then after we closed up I took him to Outback for a steak dinner! He is a good guy and this was a nice 68th birthday. We are planning to go visit Tera in Germany for Christmas and Dave is lining up books to read while I am getting my camera ready!

Where did the summer go?

2010-08-10T09:56:00.003-05:00

This is a bit crazy but someone stole my summer! Really I can't believe that we are in August already. Jamie was talking to me on the phone and mentioned that Lacey is starting school soon and I wondered why she was having summer classes starting now.
Do I have any pictures to show for my fun times? Not very many! In July my wonderful sweet sister Doris and her husband Knude came to visit for a few days and I took a couple pictures then.
We went out to Deception Pass and had a picnic on the beach. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed it. But the day they left Jack and Delores came and I didn't ever pull out my camera! Now I feel really sorry that I forgot.
Mom is still having fun with her 90th birthday. We had a visit from her brother Frank (and Georgia) and they brought her a beautiful wooden butterfly that he had hand made. When he saw how she wanted to use it he made and sent 2 more. That, the pictures of our Lake Palmer trip, and the flag pole is all I have to show for this short summer. On Saturday however is mom and pops 70th anniversary and I promise to take a few pictures at the parties. Yes I said parties. We are having a party just for the family on Friday. A pot luck dinner and we wish everyone could come! Then on Saturday we are having an open house on our patio for all the friends and ward members. Sat there will be an article in the church news. Then on Monday is our 43rd anniversary and we are going out to dinner so I'll do a picture of that too. So until then happy end of summer everyone!

Lake Palmer

2010-07-19T21:27:00.006-05:00

Dave and I joined Lee and Tricia and their family, Randy and Lisa, Joel and Sheri and their families at Palmer Lake for a wonderful restful week.

The kids know how to have fun! From a midnight swim......

To boating and wake boarding.

Dave enjoyed soaking up some sun and reading and eating!

Everyone enjoyed good food, good company and fun games.

Just resting and relaxing... everyone enjoyed it!

Andrew and Dallin just hanging out after swimming all day.

It was fun being pulled behind the boat.

We had so much fun on the water trampoline.

This is a picture of the house we stayed in thanks to our friends the Grimmers.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-06-30T21:02:00.004-05:00

With 2 of our kids families in the military Dave and I decided we need to be more openly PATRIOTIC. "My country tis of thee".... anyway today Dave put up a telescoping flag pole. We bought it before we came to Washington but never decided on a good place to put it. It is easy to put up and take down.

Don't you just love it? Now that we have planted and fixed up this area it seemed like the perfect place for it.

Grandma and Grandpa really like it but it is especially special to Dave and I. Happy 4th of July everyone and thanks so much Thad and Erick for all you are doing to protect our freedom. We love you! XOXO

If you haven't read yesterdays blog keep on reading.

Kite, bluegrass and more!

2010-06-29T23:18:00.005-05:00

On Saturday I went to some garage sales with Sherilyn and found this cool kite for a whole dollar! It hadn't ever been used. The package was dusty but the kite was in brand new condition. We decided to go find a windy spot today and see if it would fly. It is like a bi-plane and has a wing span of 5 feet.
We drove out to Camano Island and looked all over by the beach but couldn't find the type spot we wanted. Finally we found an empty spot up on a windy hill. Perfect!

It really took off and looked like a plane in the sky. It was so much fun to watch.

We were like a bunch of kids with a really fun toy!

We let out all of the string and wished we had some more. Makes you want to sing "Let's go fly a kite up thru the atmosphere...."

Bluegrass

A few weeks ago the Sherrills (who live in Darrington) told us that they, the Morgans, and some others wanted to come sometime and sing for Mom and Pops. They sing with a bluegrass group in Darrington and are really good!
We invited them to come for a barbeque and then they entertained us afterwards.

We had a ball! Shirley Sherrill is here by Meledie and Mom.

Pops and Dave helped make a pretty good audience

Jared and Mary also came to enjoy it with us. It was a wonderful evening. I had pictures of the whole group singing but they won't download so they will just have to come and do it again! We are talking about them singing for Mom and Pops 70th anniversary. Fun!

Fathers Day Bench

I told you before about the bench mom and I got for Pops and Dave for Fathers Day.... Mom loves it!!! Can you tell?
We finally got around to painting the shed to match the house. It only took me a year to get to it. Having bluegrass singers come puts me in the mood really quick to finish things up before they come!

DONE!

2010-06-29T23:10:00.000-05:00

Jenny's and another project

2010-06-02T18:46:00.004-05:00

For Memorial Day we went down to Dupont next to Fort Lewis where Jenny and Bryant built their new home. Bryant is deployed to Iraq for 6 months so we enjoyed Jenny and the kids and talked to Bryant thanks to Skype. I forgot to take out my camera until we were about ready to leave and the kids were off to other activities. We went down on Sunday afternoon and stayed all day Monday. We had a wonderful time!
I was so impressed with Jenny's dishes and took these next pictures for Tera. While Jenny and her family were in Korea there was a factory that made dishes and Jenny said whenever someone came to visit or someone new was transfered that is where she would take them. She started buying these dishes and would add to her set every time she went back.
They had so many types and sizes of dishes and she just added and added.
These are only part of the types she has. There are also serving dishes, butter dishes and probably pitchers. Anyway now that they are in their new home these are what they use and she loves them! Anyway Tera I thought that might give you a good idea with that beautiful German pottery! I would do it in a second if I had the chance!!

Now on to another subject! Grandma and I did another little project!

This rusty table was given to mom by Wendy (her grandaughter) when they moved to Nevada. She had gotten it from her grandma Jones years before that. We decided to use it and make a fun place for our summer dinners.

So we primed it then painted it black....

Isn't it cute? We also found the chairs and the cute umbrella to match it at Costco. The rocking bench next to it is the guys Fathers Day present from mom and I. We found it and stained and varnished it.... but wait... it isn't Fathers Day yet so don't notice it yet! So who is going to come and enjoy the patio with us? Jenny says she and her kids will, Doris and Graham will in July, Jack and Delores will in July... any one else?

Mom's Mothers Day

2010-05-16T19:19:00.002-05:00

For Mothers Day Dave and I decided to give mom another place to sit and enjoy her yard. We pulled out some overgrown Juniper along the driveway last fall and so there were 2 large places of dirt that needed flowers and fixing up.
We put in a park bench so when pops gets the paper or mom gets the mail they have a resting place on the way back. The doctor told us to do this all over the yard but we have only done a few. He told us again this week to have lots of resting places so we better get busy!!
They seem to really like it! We have planted lots of flowers this year and the yard is looking really nice. Now keep on reading to my next blog about our adventure to the rain forest.

Our little adventure

2010-05-16T18:48:00.002-05:00

Dave and I and Mom and Pops decided to go on a little overnight trip a couple of weeks ago! We went over to the Olympic Peninsula to the Pacific Ocean and to the rain forest. You can see by this picture that it was a bit rainy but that is how it is supposed to be in the rain forest... right? Here on the beach people were clam digging.

We took 2 Ferry's on our trip and really enjoyed them.

On the second one we just sat in the car and had the best view straight out the window!

Out on deck... some guy asked if he could take our picture... it really was fun. The pictures make it look cold all bundled up in our coats but it was actually really pleasant. We spent the night in Forks Washington.

The rain forest was so cool. Moss everywhere... pictures don't do it justice.
This is mom in front of a big blown over tree. We loved the ferns growing everywhere.
This is supposed to be the worlds largest spruce. It is as tall as 2 football fields and you can see how fat it is. We have decided to take a few day trips and see this beautiful country we live in.

Grandmas 90th birthday!

2010-02-19T11:26:00.014-06:00

Grandma Dickson was so excited for her 90th birthday party. We invited so many people and knew so many were planning to come. The night before she couldn't hardly go to sleep. She looked radiant all night as you will see in these pictures!
3 of moms sisters came to support her. (Ron and Alice Brownell, Bessie Zeller, and Cathern Harston) Others are planning to come to the April Conference party.
Aunt Bessie flew in from Lovell Wyoming and spent a week with us. Mom was so happy and we had a lot of fun with her! Aunt Alice and Aunt Cathern came up from Enumclaw and spent the whole day on Saturday so there would be time to visit before the party.
The real surprise was my little brother Roy and his wife Karen. They didn't tell anyone they were coming and just drove in from Orem Utah the day of the party. It was so cool and couldn't have been a nicer birthday gift for mom.
Now I am just going to put in a lot of random pictures from the party of family and friends. This is Ron Reid from our ward.

The tables all had 3 primroses on a mirror and 3 pictures frames with old pictures of grandma. It actually looked a lot cooler than you could tell in the picture.

Uncle Roy made the geneology chart that everyone loved!

We all had family tables. This one is moms.

Roys family

Doris' table

Jack and Delores' family did a fun slide show that re-played over and over all evening. It was really nice.

Meledie and her niece Samantha (who is here from Rexburg helping Meledie recover from her car accident) helped by taking pictures. They and Dave and Aunt Bessie took all the photos.

We had relatives and friends come from all over. This is my cousin Ruth Karlinsey and her daughter-in-law from Tacoma talking to Roy.

Uncle Ron and Aunt Alice with Dave and I.

These next 2 photos show the real heros of the party. Janice and Sherilyn are so amazing! They did the decorating and worrying. I sat down with them one day to help plan and they already had so many wonderful ideas. They worked so hard I owe them and their husbands big time!!! Because of them it all turned out so perfect.

Lynns table

Vivs Table

The food table was so cool. There were all kinds of cakes, nut cups, candy and punch for people to choose from.
Gina and her kids drove from Stansbury Park, Utah to be there. Mom and Pops felt bad that after all that traveling they didn't hardly have time to visit. There were so many people! It was so fun to have Gina, Andrea, Jenny and Emily all come together.
Pops was so happy to have such a nice party for mom. It is just what he hoped for.

So many cousins! This is Terry Baird and Ann talking to Andrea.

Grandson in-laws

My cousin Lyle and Anna Brownell (are putting in their mission papers!) & Aunt Cathern.

More relatives!

Mitch and Jane Zeller with Aunt Bessie amd Ann Bairds grandaughter Madison.

It was a great party! I'm so blessed to get to spend this time with our parents. They are the best.

Working on the park

2010-02-03T18:24:00.003-06:00

I have heard that this is what you call "MAN TOYS". Dave has been playing all day long! He rented this thing for the day and doesn't want to miss a second of fun. He keeps pulling out roots and rocks and moving dirt. It doesn't look at all fun to me.

Pops has been feeling really good and he can't stand to sit around and not help too so he started up the mower and has been picking up stuff to throw on the fire.

Yes it is raining lightly but that doesn't even phase them!

I can't even watch this but he seems to be enjoying himself.

Looks like lots of grass to plant.

I can't even tell you how much tangled brush, blackberries and stuff they took out of here. They even had 2 big wind fall trees they pulled out and cut up into firewood. There is still a fire going back there past where you can see in the picture where they are burning the ugly tangled roots. Dave will have a big job cleaning out and grooming back in the trees but there are beautiful ferns and cool quiet spots. Pretty nice park! (for the neighbor.)

Finished projects finally

2010-01-28T18:51:00.003-06:00

In our last blog we said we would show you the finished results of the projects we did and so here they are! This is moms new kitchen floor. They got it for Christmas from Jack and Delores. Tricia and Lee helped put it in while they were here. It looks so good and we really love it!

It washes up so nice and it looks like real tile but it is better because it isn't cold!

This is where the guys put in the new pump for the septic system. It makes that downstairs bathroom 100% usable!! See the big yellow rock they brought up from the field?

We even planted back some of Pops mother hens and chicks.

This is a new project. Remember the multi-colored stairs before? They were all done with different carpet samples. Mom and I found this remnant for a steal of a deal and we love it!
This is my Christmas present from mom and pops! You kids all sent mom the photos and they bought the frames that we finally hung up in our room. Thanks everyone!
Okay so now we were suposed to be all finished and caught up... right? The guys had other plans and have made a major mess. At least I think so... They are cleaning up the neighbors property!
The owner of the property to the west of us gave Pops permission to do whatever he wanted to make things look better so the guys are making a park or something... actually just cleaning up many years of neglect.
But this mess has a way to go before we can call this project finished! Right now they have a big bonfire out in the back and we just found out there is a burn band on.... Oh I hope the fire department doesn't show up tonight!!! Yikes!

I Finally did it! Yippee a new blog posting!

2010-01-21T09:17:00.006-06:00

As you notice my background still says Merry Christmas.... That is because I don't deserve to have it changed yet. One of my daughters usually sees that it needs changed and does it without my even asking (last time it was Erin) but I went through the whole season and never blogged even once!!! So it showed Thanksgiving all thru the Christmas season!!! So here is Christmas!!!.... but wait first is Dave's birthday November 18.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE

I took Dave on an all day Seattle City tour! We started at Pikes Place Market where we found a handmade journal as a birthday gift and we ate a goodie (breakfast) at a wonderful quaint bakery. Then we went on a wonderful tour at the Seattle aquarium (That is where Janice and Matt volunteer dive but this wasn't their day darn it.). Later we went on a boat trip out in the bay to see the cityscape and hear all about Seattle. After that we had a fish and chips lunch out on the Pier at Ivars Acres of Clams.
Next we went up in the Space Needle and enjoyed the cityscape from above! Afterwards in the City center science museum we saw "A Christmas Carol " in 3D at the IMAX theater! We loved it so much... It started our Christmas season for us. After another trip up the Space Needle for a night cityscape view we headed home.
Of course on the way we had to stop at Applebees for Dave's favorite dessert... Chocolate Volcano birthday cake!!!

CHRISTMAS!!
We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Janice and Matt and Matts mother came and spent the night. It was so fun to have people here on Christmas morning.

I didn't do good with taking pictures but Sheri and Joel and the kids also came over to open presents and enjoy the day with us.
After opening presents we all went over to Dorell and Stephanie's house for a Christmas breakfast they plan for the whole family. We had a fun relaxing day. We invited everyone and the missionaries to dinner that evening. Yep it was a good day.

Lee and Trisha coming!
We knew we had company coming but didn't worry about having enough room. Janice proved that we had plenty of space for everyone to have their own private rooms if they want.

Who needs leg room anyway? That is way over rated. She had a little too much fun with Seth and Ellie's toys I think!
Lee and Tricia left SLC at 4 in the morning and got here in the afternoon the day after Christmas. They probably think we were staying up nights thinking of jobes they could do!!!
Mom and Pops got new flooring from Jack and Deloers for Christmas and we were all excited to have the experts put it in. Tricia was in charge and was so good at figuring it all out.

Dave cut where he was told...

Mom kept a close eye on things and OOHed and AAHed and loved what she had picked out. I don't have a finished picture but it looks so good and washes up so nice and doesn't have any holes to drive us crazy. It totally changed the look even though you can't tell in the picture.
The kids and Randy and Lisa's kids all love Grandma Wrights bed and on demand cartoons! They had a ball together!
We took a little time out to do a bit of sight seeing. They went to Darrington and also we went on a ferry ride to Friday Harbor. But mostly they WORKED!!!
Lee had to show his kids what logging was all about so he and Randy cut a couple of trees down for us. It was work but Lee was having fun anyway.
We appreciated it so much. They cut the trees down and sawed them up so the could be split into firewood.
The kids helped fill the shed with firewood plus fill and stack wood in the barn.

As the guys were falling the trees they had a good audience.

This is the best place to be.... watching where it is warm! After tackling the trees the guys started a new project. Remember the problems we had with the septic system in the downstairs bathroom? Well they set out to remedy that! Right by the house Randy and Lee dug the dirt and moved huge rocks and finally found the old sewer pipe. Lee and Dave worked for a couple of days uncovering it and digging a big hole and putting in a pump to pump the sewer stuff up to the other big septic tank. Lee had to go home but didn't leave until he had the new pump in and ready to just add the pipes.

Dave decided to add another rock that was in the pasture to the rock wall by the new pump. It was so heavy it is a wonder he didn't break the tailgate.
Here he is leaning against the new rock by the pump talking to Lee on the phone. It is all ready to be buried and was at that point already working perfectly.

Since this picture was taken he brought in new topsoil and made it look so good! I'll take a final picture of all the finished projects for a new blog.
Here is where he hooked the new system to the old one. We had the old one cleaned out so it is all just like new!!! Whew!!! Okay company you can come and you can now FLUSH TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT!!!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T09:33:00.002-06:00

This year we were invited out to Meledies house for Thanksgiving dinner. We really enjoyed the meal with her and the Missionaries. The only problem was that we didn't get cell service and missed several of your calls. We had a wonderful meal and ended the evening teaching our missionaries the fine art of playing Chicken Foot.

Cannery

2009-11-16T22:46:00.002-06:00

Dave and I were just called to extend our service mission at the dry pack cannery for another year. We were supposed to be released November 9th but are happy to do it another year.

Right after we came to Washington last year to take care of my parents we called Shelf Reliance in Utah and ordered some shelves for the #10 cans and a bunch of food storage. We set up a storage room and have been working hard to fill it but we are still lacking enough shelves and would like to get a better variety of food. We are working on it and hope all you kids are doing the same!
I'm sure you have seen www.shelfreliance.com
We love these shelves and use the same ones at the dry pack cannery! It might be a good idea to think about for your families for Christmas!

Two Weeks of Bliss

2009-11-12T16:13:00.004-06:00

Erin was so nice to change my background so I decided I'd better post something new. Doris (My wonderful sister) came here from North Dakota on Amtrak so she could stay with my parents and let Dave and I go visit our kids. She was here for 13 wonderful days!!
Now the embarrassing part. We went on a wonderful trip and didn't take any pictures! It was so crazy because we planned to but all we did is take some as we drove down the coast and then we never pulled out the cameras again.
Here are some pictures of the Redwoods. Dave took all the pictures in this blog. He is enjoying his photography.

The trees are so big and it was so quiet and restful there.

As we came to the Coast in Oregon this funny little motel was right across the street from the first ocean view we saw. We stopped and wouldn't go another foot. It was so beautiful there and the roar of the waves was so wonderful. It was wonderful and dumpy and cheap and we would do it again! We truly relaxed on this vacation!
So beautiful! You know how much dad always liked doing panarama shots... now his camera helps him. Isn't it pretty? You can see why we relaxed so much!

Not a bad picture for a beginner is it?

This is what Dave did most of the trip. I drove and he relaxed!

I mean really relaxed!!!

On our trip we went to David and Julies home in California. He got us into Disneyland the next day then we met his family at Disneyland for dinner. David got us a fancy suite at the Paris in LasVegas to stay on our way to Utah the next evening. It was so fancy that we just stayed in our room all evening! We went on to Utah and saw the rest of the kids. Everyone had fun things planned for us. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!! Lee took Dave to enjoy a U of U football game in box seats, I went trick or treating with Erin's kids, We went to breakfast with Tracy and Steve, went out to Lunch with Lee, Had a fun family home evening and dinner with everyone, Had a fun day and dinner at Jared's, Dave talked at a youth fireside in Erin's ward. We were only there a few days but it was a whirlwind and wonderful thanks to the kids! I think it was a perfect trip.

Moms projects

2009-10-11T00:09:00.006-05:00

Remember our cute little chicks??? Guess what? They grew up and now we have 12 hens and 2 roosters! One rooster reminds me of fried chicken but so far he has been spared. Mom gathers the eggs every day and counts them. Here we have 7 eggs.
Today's eggs are more like it. Eleven!!! We have even had 12 eggs twice. We sure do love them and so do our neighbors and friends!
Mom decided she wanted to do something with her dining room curtains. They look much better in this picture than they really were. They were faded and even broken in some places so we knew we needed a change.

The problem was what to do?

We put up 3 new cordless shades that are so easy to put up and down and we took a trip to the thrift store to find the perfect valance. Boy did we luck out. It is hard to tell in these pictures but the fabric on these valances is so rich and beautiful. WE LOVE IT!

It is so much better in person so come on over!!! After that mom was getting pretty confident so without saying a word to Pops or Dave we took a hammer to........

Moms wall!! IT LOOKS SO GOOD AND DIFFERENT! Can you see what is gone? The Amber plastic panels that went to the ceiling are now gone. Pops heard the banging while he was outside but looked all over the living room/dining room and couldn't see what we had done. Whew! He did seem okay with it though when he found it. Okay mom now what?

Mt. Ranier, Herman, Sheri leaves

2009-09-20T13:27:00.005-05:00

Last Monday we took a little adventure down to Enumclaw and stayed overnight with Uncle Ron and Aunt Alice. Our plan was to take a drive up Chinock Pass and enjoy a picnic while looking at Mt. Ranier. The mountain looks so huge from there but we never did get to see it because after having a beautiful week the clouds decided to obscure our view. This was the most we saw of the mountain!

We saw a few huge trees however!!!

And the scenery was breathtaking! The Mountain Ash were full of berries and looked beautiful.

Oops! Still no Mt. Ranier!!! This was the view most of the day.

But this view was what I saw when I turned my back on Mt Ranier!! So pretty! We didn't feel slighted in the least.

We drove up into the clouds and stopped for our picnic. I thought it was so beautiful! Here is a real cute guy on a rock!!

Isn't it beautiful up there?

Aunt Alice made the most wonderful picnic lunch that we really enjoyed!

It wasn't as cold as it looks but it was damp from the fog. The type of damp that goes right through ya and yells I need a jacket!

Dave, Aunt Cathern Harston, Pops, Mom, Aunt Alice & Uncle Ron Brownell
It was a perfect day and now we must go back to see what the clouds hid!

Herman Gets a New Family Look

Herman has been stuck in that tree for years and finally received a new "Family" look. The hairdu seems to fit. I have been watching for a new face for a long time but they were all too scary and grotesque. This week I finally found this one at the thrift store for $1.25. Was it worth it? Pops says he looks a little too happy but I'd be happy too if I finally got a new face after wearing the one he had for so many years!

Oops I guess you can't really see his face. Sorry... mom says it isn't happy but a grimmise. Whatever?!

Sherilyn and Joel leave for Nauvoo

Friday Sherilyn and Joel took their 5th wheel (after living in it here on the property for a year) and left on a long extended vacation. They will go see Lynn and Sharon in Nauvoo then go down south.
Ellie wasn't sure she wanted to travel in her carseat that far but Seth was already asleep by the time they left!

It was quite a job hooking it all up and unpluging from life here after a year!

There they go!! That is one BIG travel trailer!!! We already miss them.

Mish Mash

2009-09-08T22:22:00.005-05:00

I called this post Mish Mash because it is a lot of little stuff that I should have blogged ages ago but didn't get around to doing it. I didn't even take very good pictures but plan to remedy that in the future!

This first picture was taken at Randy and Lisas in Coupeville. They invited us last Monday for Family Home Evening. Randy caught some Salmon that morning and barbequed it for us. It was SOOOO good!
Here is Pops and Dave sitting on Randys new patio with the kids playing and having fun on the trampoline.
Last Saturday Sheri had a yardsale in our carport to make some money for their trip to visit Lynn and Sharon in Nauvoo in 2 weeks.
There was lots of stuff!!! We all took advantage and cleaned out lots of closets. We hope she made lots of money. It was fun and full of people.
Pops has been going to Physical therapy twice a week and also doing some at home everyday because of his accident. Here he is with his elastic exercises
Today Mom and Pops and Dave and I froze 20 packages of Corn. Yummmmmm we love frozen corn from the garden!
We still have our deer coming thru our yard every day. There are several bucks, does and fawns.

We really enjoy watching them!

Jenny and Bryant came and stayed the night Sunday and enjoyed Labor day with us. They have just moved here to Fort Lewis from Cincinatti. We had a fun barbeque. They have a neat family.

A couple of really nice old men who hang around here!

Oops! Where is Tera? Wrong picture! Oh well. Tera and Erick came to bring their car to ship it to Germany. It has to be shipped from Seattle or LA, We were so glad they chose Seattle so we get to see them again before they leave. We did a bit of sightseeing because Erick has never been here. We took them to Deception Pass. That is the bridge behind Erick.
Here is Tera with Erick up on the Deception Pass bridge. We enjoyed them for a few days and will really miss them!
Meledie and I spent a day at Friday Harbor. This is a lighthouse on the island. It was all so beautiful!
But what was really cool is there were Orca whale out there . We watched several of them out in the waves.

What a day!

Where are they??? Oh ya there they are!!! It was a really cool day and I'm so glad I got to go.

Jared and family come to visit

2009-08-07T18:53:00.006-05:00

Jared and Casi came and spent the week. We were so excited for them to come we couldn't hardly wait! The girls (Mallory and Lily) got acquainted with Pickles and Pansy.
Also the chickens. We let them out the kids loved them and all went well until one of them decided to chase Mallory. That was it! No more enjoying them.
They loved doing other things in the yard like swinging!
We all enjoyed watching our other "pets". These are all bucks!
We had a fun hike up to the ice caves up in the mountains past Verlot. We hiked about 2 miles or so.
The caves were so cool~ I mean really chilly cooool. After the hike in the heat we needed the cool blasty air.
Lewis got a little tuckered out but smiled the whole way until he crashed and then woke up smiling! Unbelievable!!
We also went up to Darrington and saw the big slice of tree. It is SO big! At the ranger station they showed us a map of all the forest fires up around Darrington. We had no idea there could be so many because we hadn't heard about them but they were all started by lightening. Scarey!
We took them to the Puget Sound right across from Downtown Seattle and watched Janice and Matt scuba dive. They brought up lots of fun sea creatures from the bottom and put them in a large tub so we could see them . We have some really cool pictures but they are all on Casi's camera and they already left!!! Bummer! Look on Casi's blog in a few days to see those! We also went to Deception Pass in the above picture.

And Fort Cassey. The girls thought it was named after their mom.

We found a spot and hid so we could scare every one. We sure scared them!

This is our new4 generation picture we took this morning before they left.

We miss these guys already!!!

This and that and the other

2009-07-30T12:26:00.006-05:00

The heat has been terrible this week!!! There is no way to even describe it. It blew away all records since the 1800s when they started keeping track. Almost no one has air conditioning here including my parents. On Monday I was worried about Mom and Pops. Pops is still recovering from his accident and on the news it said people need to be in air conditioning at least a couple of hours to cool off their core temperatures. So we took them for a drive in the mountains. We tried earlier in the day to buy an air conditioner and were told everyone was out but there was an emergency shipment coming to Costco the next morning. We went early to Costco the next day but they already had given out tags to people who were waiting and were gone. Bumber!

Then on a whim we went to Lowes. We found an air conditioner which was made for a volt 220 line. We bought it because we knew there was a 220 line in the carport for pops portable welder. Everyone in the store who saw it on our cart wanted to know where we got it. Their phone was ringing off the hook with people who were asking for air conditioners or fans and everyone was out. We even got it for a discount because it was out of the box! The problem was that when we got home our plug was 30 amps and we needed 15 amps! And we needed one which was just dedicated to the AC and that one wasn't. We ended up running a new line that is solely for the AC and now it works so good!
It normally NEVER reaches 100. People are just dying in the 90s. Everyone is swimming in the river to get out of the heat. The park by the bridge was so full of cars that people were parking on the highway for 1/4 a mile. Sheri and Joel went there but said it was even hot there unless you were right in the water.
Mom says ahhhhhh this is more like it. The cooler works so well and the house is finally nice and cool.
Doesn't look too bad for all it does to make us comfortable does it? It is such a blessing!!! It is quite small but it puts out more cool than we need!!! AH life is good.
Dave is still doing his barbering.... mostly just for Uncle Jared and Pops. Jared was getting a bit shagy.

Now that is more like it!

With the hair cutting done Dave and Jared decided to go do a little fishing up at Lake Cavanaugh.

Driveway resealed

2009-07-26T12:22:00.006-05:00

This week we had some guys come and reseal the driveway. It hadn't been done for several years so would be ruined if it weren't taken care of. They filled all the cracks with tar then sprayed the whole driveway.
It was really thirsty and soaked up the spray. We were pleased with how good of a job they did. The spray went on brown and turned jet black as it dried.
They were careful of the rocks and flowers so it looked good when it was all done. We couldn't drive on it for 24 hours so drove thru the yard down by the garden.
Mom suggested we take some pictures of her flowers now in full bloom so here are some fun random pictures in the yard. When we came to live with Mom and Pops we said we wanted the yard to be like a beautiful park for Mom and Pops to enjoy. These pictures show where we are at this point. There is a lot more we can do but this is probably the "Park" for this Summer. Now we will start adding more perrenials and long lasting beautiful areas. Enjoy the pictures!

Pops accident

2009-07-23T15:38:00.002-05:00

We have had a lot of fun with our farm animals. Last Saturday while Dave and I were at the temple Pops thought he would put a rope on Pickles so he could lead her around and then we could tie her up in other parts of the yard that aren't fenced. He and Dave had talked about doing that sometime but Dave hadn't done it yet and so far had only put a halter on her so she could get used to it. We don't know what happened because Pops can't remember but he was knocked out and lay in the pasture for at least an hour until mom realized it was past lunch time and Pops hadn't come in so she went looking for him. She called 911 and they took him to the hospital.
He was released by about 6PM and has been recuperating at home. He has really been miserable and finally Tuesday we took him back to the doctor because we were concerned and found out he has pneumonia. Things are going well finally but this next picture shows you why he feels so bad.
Doesn't it just make you feel bad? He has been in a lot of pain but he is so blessed to even still be here with us!! We sure love him and feel bad this happened. Be sure to comment so I can read them to him.

The unveiling of our huge paint job

2009-06-27T09:03:00.008-05:00

For those of you who have been holding your breath...waiting for me to blog our new paint job on the house.... ta da!!!! The day is finally here!!! We finished yesterday. We have been working on it every day for two weeks and are thrilled with the results. We are also worn out and tired of painting!! Okay, Now lets see what you think. I decided to put up unpainted then painted right after so you can compare each part of the house.

We are busy working on the front of the house.

Dave and I just starting. I always get paint in my hair so I was prepared. Yes I finally did get paint in my hair the last couple of days when I was so tired I didn't care enough to cover it!

Joel helped us out several times and we were so appreciative!

This is our audience and biggest supporters.

Still doing the front.

The front finished!

Different huh? Do you like the color change?

We painted the screen door white and painted Pops handrail black. We put up a new light.

After we get back from Sages wedding in Nauvoo we will repaint the steps and deck.

The carport before.

And after. It is so much brighter in the kitchen because the carport is so light now.

The deck

Do you like the new lights?

The living room is so light because of the reflected light on the deck.

The north side of the house.

The back

All finished. Now lets see.... What is our next project???? Nauvoo here we come!!!! Look out world we are ready for a vacation. We will fly out Monday and stay there for a week and I vow not to even look at a paintbrush!!!

This is for my sister-in-law Sharon!

2009-06-14T23:19:00.007-05:00

Isaac (Dorrel's 12 year old son)

Grandpa, Meledie and William

Victoria (Robyns neice) and Lainey (Randy's daughter)

Janice and Savannah (Randy's)

Last Sunday was a baby blessing for my neice's daughter. I told Sharon I would take lots of pictures for her. She and Lynn are on a mission in Nauvoo and living in our home. It is hard on missionaries to miss out on baby births and blessings so this is my feeble attempt to let them feel a part of this family gathering. Mom is holding Ellie Woodson who was blessed a few hours before.
All the Western Washington kids of Lynn and Sharon were there. Brent and his family were too far away but Lisa, Randy and family came from Coupeville to attend the blessing and potluck afterwards.
These are the proud parents. Isn't Sherilyn looking good for having a one month old baby?
Ellie Woodson being held by uncle Dave. She really is a cutie and so allert and tiny.

Robyn wouldn't miss this for anything. Isn't she really Aunt Robyn?

Dorrel was there with his family. He holds any baby he can find... this happens to be Randy's little Darcy.

Such a nice day to sit and visit. Jacob was a bit bored but aren't all teenagers?

Bishop Randy and Darcy

We had lots of food and time to enjoy it.

Aunt Janice and Uncle Matt are always making things fun for everyone. Janice helped organize and plan our potluck.

Cousins!

Uncle Dave and his famous football hold

Grandma sure loves her Great-grandbabies!!

Ellie Says:
It sure is great to be born!!! I love you grandma Sharon and grandpa Lynn. Aren't I cute?

Mom's cool

2009-06-11T11:32:00.001-05:00

I'm showing this picture cuz mom's cool

An early Fathers Day!

2009-06-08T23:47:00.003-05:00

Last week it was so hot that mom and pops couldn't even sleep. Jack and Delores called and asked what they could get pops for Fathers Day so I suggested a fan light. Jack said that was a great idea but he wanted it right away! We took them to pick it out then installed it for them. What do you think? Nice huh? Now don't the rest of you wish your gift was already taken care of? I wish mine was figured out.... I do have an idea or two if anyone wants more suggestions! That was fun!

Memorial Day drive

2009-05-27T10:52:00.005-05:00

On Monday we went on a drive. It was such a beautiful day and we loved getting out in it for the afternoon.

Look at the wild flowers! The water is clear and cold right off the snow.

Does anyone recognize this picture? My brothers and sisters should. We went on a drive up the Mountain Loop highway. This is the cabin we lived in for a summer above Verlot when I was about 10 years old. It seems to me like it used to be green, is that right Lynn or Doris, Roy was too young to remember.... ?? Jack?
And here is Green Gables general store. They had good penny candy and I remember the night the owners shot a bear that was getting in our garbage. They hung him in the shed and gutted him so they could make a bear rug.
Anyone like skunk cabbage? It looks so pretty but you are in trouble if you bring it home for a bouquet! It stinks sooooo bad.

There was snow up on the highway. I kick myself because I didn't take a picture up further where the road was closed. The highway still had about 4 feet of snow on it where they quit plowing so we turned around and went home instead of going on to Darrington.
This is Big 4 mountain. The road to the ice caves was closed and has to be rebuilt starting this summer. There was a trail open however.

It was a beautiful drive and a wonderful Memorial Day!

Family Potluck

2009-05-26T22:42:00.004-05:00

Sunday evening after church we had a potluck dinner here at our place so everyone could come over and visit with Tracy and Steve who were here visiting from Utah. Like normal we completely forgot to take pictures until the food was gone and the kids were off playing a Ring Toss game. The food was wonderful and there was plenty of it!
We invited Meledie to join us, then there was Dorrels and Stephanies family, Janice and Matt, Shreilyn, Joel and family, Tracy and Steve, Mom and Pops and Us.

It's hard to tell we had so much good food!

Mom and Pops had a great time!

After dinner we went in the house to sit around and visit for a while. Janice had a better idea..

She brought her nail stuff and filed and painted Tracy's toenails. Tracy loved it and said she felt very spoiled and pampered! LOOK HOW CUTE!
Then she did MY nails and Sherlyn's nails. We had a really fun evening!!! Thanks Janice and everyone.

Tomatoes, weeds and flowers!

2009-05-24T23:25:00.002-05:00

Mom and pops have complained about how poorly the tomatoes do here in Washington. They started growing them under the eves of the carport where the rain doesn't get them as bad. During the winter mom and I saw an add in a magazine and decided to send away for our topsy turvey tomato planter. I know a lot of you have tried them but mom and I each got one and are determined to show the guys how wonderful of tomatoes we can grow. Now if it really will work we will be so happy!!! We have some baby birds in the birdhouse so the parents aren't very impressed with them but buy the time we are eating tomatoes they will have flown the coop!
Mom didn't like the looks of the area where last years tomatos grew which was now a weed patch so she pulled the weeds. We rewarded her hard work by planting flowers.
Dave picked them out and the colors were beautiful together. Not bad for a color blind guy!

Mom kept saying she was so glad she started pulling the weeds!

Pretty isn't it?

The barn

2009-05-21T00:52:00.002-05:00

This picture was taken of the barn a few weeks ago before the chicken coop was built or things were all cleaned up. Our reason for showing it is so you can see the roof. It leaked! Where the sky lights were it was a constant big leak and couldn't be fixed without a new roof.
We talked to Bro. Allen in our ward and had him come and give us a bid. We had to choose a color. We picked brown because it stays looking clean and doesn't show mildew after a few years like the white did.
He sent out his best crew because he said he has to see us every week at church and wants us to be real happy! Boy they were fast and good and we really are happy.

This is Dave and Bro. Allen settleing up after a job well done.

Thanks Russ, now our food storage and everything else will stay nice and dry!

Stuff, more stuff and Mothers Day!!!

2009-05-11T23:45:00.005-05:00

I'm sure you get weary of reading about our projects but that is what we do with our life and it is fun to show someone so either read or scan thru this quickly and pretend that you loved it!!! This week we put up a new split rail fence to go down to the garden.
Mom and Pops need something to hold on to to steady them when going down the stairs. I personally love this rustic type of fence but I think Pops thought it was sad to go back to that type now that there are such new smooth nice types available.

Mom wanted to know if we were going to sand it and paint it! Well....... awh.... no?!

When we finally got it in they both love it! Whew!

It really does look good and it works good for them. It was a fun and necessary project.

Dave and Pops had to get a little creative but did a good job.

All done! Now what?

Dave edged the driveway and gained at least foot and sometimes 2 feet on each side! That is about 3 to 4 feet wider in some places! We didn't know the driveway was so nice and wide!!!
While Dave was edging the driveway I decided to redu these old chairs of Moms. I am also putting this naugahide on the benches of the picnic tables. I'm still not quite finished with the 2nd chair. They sit on the patio so they were pretty worn out but had good bones.

MOTHERS DAY

Tricia said she thinks her calf "Big Mac" was the most unique mothers day present of all. Pickles wants to challenge that!!! She says what is another cow? For mothers day Dave brushed pickles hair and got her all gussied up. (She is a mother too you know.) He even bought her a special comb and combed her hair on her tail. But my surprise present came from Jareds kids. Malory, Lily and Lewis.
They bought me these 3 new chickens. They even named them! The Black one is Lewis's and he is named "Blue". The brown one next to him is Mallory's and it's name is "Isabelle". The buff one in front is Lilly's and it's name is "Lilly the beautiful flower". Wow what can I say? When you all come and visit maybe we will have blue eggs... or flowers or??? Humm. Thank you so much! Eat your heart out Tricia!

Dave, (with mom and Pops help) built me a swing for mothers day! It was a fun surprise.

Grandpa likes it! See grandpa go! Go grandpa go!

See grandma. Funny funny grandma! Look high grandma.

See grandma go! Go grandma go.

Go go go

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!
Thanks everyone for a wonderful Mothers day!!

front yard.. back yard!

2009-04-30T11:58:00.001-05:00

I need to say first off that these pictures do not to these projects justice. I should wait and photograph them again but I'm tired and lazy so these will have to do. Come and see them in person to really enjoy them. This first picture is the mound out in front. We planted lots of flowers for summer and put on a thick cover of cedar mulch.

It should be pretty in a month or two!

We planted some pots on the handcart on the back of the mound.

Pops got this bench from Jack and Delores for his birthday. We put it together so we could use it in our next project.
Some of the bushes on this side of the house didn't survive the harsh winter this year. We trimmed them but it didn't look very good.

Some were overgrown and some were dead.

We added new soil in this bed and filled it with flowers and mulch to hold in the moisture.

The crushed rock in this bed was some that Pops crushed special just for this purpose several years ago. It is beautiful granite and Quartz and even some fools gold. We blew out the leaves and junk and washed it down.
We put the new bench on the gravel. It is beautiful and shady in the afternoon and Mom and Pops really like it.

Okay now let's start on the back yard projects.

First we planted a Japanese Maple surrounded by Azaleas under Mom and Pops bedroom window. This was just a weed patch but now with thick mulch the weeds shouldn't be too bad. The moister is provided by an underground drain with holes in it that comes from the roof that the guys buried. Looks nice doesn't it?
Our next projects caused a little damage to our truck. We were using the bumper to pull out some evergreens. Guess they were stronger than the bumper.

It was a fun show

Lots of big bushes to pull out

Dave and Pops would put a chain around them and then I would pull them out with the truck. I guess technically I'm the one who ruined the bumper but I also have the idea of how to fix it.
Pops sat out at the fire and burned the bushes in the pit. He uses the blower to fan the fire and it burns really fast.

No fire department this time!

When they pulled out the shrubs there was a big stump under there. They dug down and sawed it off so you can't tell there ever was one there.
Here are more shrubs by the stairs to cut out. They are all overgrown.

These pictures aren't very good but I'll try to take some finished project photos tomorrow. For now these will have to do.

Tiptoe thru the Tulips

2009-04-28T11:26:00.008-05:00

Last Monday we decided to do a day trip with our Family Home Evening group. Uncle Leo and Uncle Jared have done a lot of work for a guy up past Mt. Vernon. They have built roads and rock walls, retention ponds and cleared brush on his 180 acres. As we were talking about a day trip they said lets drop by Jeff's place and drive around and feed the fish. WOW! What a place. The ponds were full and fish were jumping. The scenery was breathtaking.
There were even fun places to stop and things to see. It is completely private and the sign said as we entered: "If you weren't invited, we don't want you!"

We are sure glad we were invited! After seeing Jeff's place we went to the Royal Fork in Mount Vernon for lunch. It was a very good Buffet and we had a great time.

Then it was on to the Skagit Valley Tulip fields. All I can say is they were jaw dropping beautiful! The pictures will say it all and they don't start to do them justice.

There were field after field for miles! I love pink! I couldn't stop here and I was driving but I took this picture myself anyway. Can you believe it?
Here is red and yellow but there were tons more colors and types. What a day!
Here is our group. Me, Dave, Mom, Pops, Uncle Leo Baird (Moms brother) Uncle Jared Dickson (Pops brother) Aunt MaryAlice Dickson. We usually have family home evening together every week.
The guys couldn't leave Conway without stopping to get the famous ice cream cones everyone was talking about. Lynn mentioned it to us but then everyone we talked to said that is part of seeing the tulips. Dave and Jared waited in line for a good 1/2 hour.
I can't believe I didn't get a bicture of the cones. When she started giving them to us they were so big that I didn't have a choice but to put up the camera and help the guys take them to the car. Next year I vow not to go to an all you can eat buffet before going to the ice cream place so I can have one! This was a day to remember.

Pops 91st Birthday

2009-04-23T21:32:00.003-05:00

It was interesting to read your comments at the end of this blog. I couldn't figure out why Janice mentioned that not everyone was in the pictures. I showed Sheri the pictures I was putting in and thought I had done it. After reading Janices comment I kept thinking who in the world was at the dinner that I'd forgotten to take a picture of? Then I decided she must mean everyone who called to wish grandpa a happy birthday but couldn't come. But then I looked over the blog and I was shocked to realize these last two pictures were not there. Oops! Believe me this won't be the last time I goof but I hate doing it so publicly to my super heros. :0 Viv
Yep I mean it when I say these are my super heros! They drop everything to come and help us and are so good to grandma and grandpa.
For his 91st birthday we asked Pops where he would like to eat dinner. He said he didn't know but would really like some real good ribs. We started a search for a good rib place but had trouble finding one. No Tony Romas around here! We looked and Sherilyn even searched the internet but we had no luck until we asked Janice. Janice said she had seen a new place called Famous Daves Barbeque by the Everett Mall so even though none of us had tried it we went.

We went for lunch because Dave and I had a cannery assignment in the evening. Famous Daves was a good choice! The place was full of people and it was great food.

With all the gooey yummy ribs Meledie was wondering why she wore a white jacket! We had a fun lunch with Sheri, Joel, Seth, Janice, Matt, Meledie, Dave and I, and Mom and Pops.
All day Pops received phone calls from his grandchildren. The calls started the day before his birthday and kept coming for several days. He was so happy to talk to everyone.
Jack and Delores and John and Melinda bought Pops a new park bench to add to the seating in the yard.

The day was great, the ribs were wonderful,
but the telephone calls were the best!
Thanks everyone!!!

Pops had so many ribs he took home a whole meal for the next day.
Yep it was a good birthday!

The farm is growing!

2009-04-19T12:54:00.004-05:00

Dave and Pops have been working all week on a new project, they were building a chicken coop. They are sitting here resting after seeing their hard work finished. Now it is time to get the chicks!
As you can see they cleaned out the woodshed part of the barn and built the chicken coop there. We have been putting benches around the yard, barn and house so Pops can sit and rest occasionally. He always works too hard but this helps.
There was a lot of stuff to clean out and they even needed to fix the west wall of the barn to stabilize it and strengthen it.
The coop is in here. Mom and Pops are looking inside at the new little chicks.
We opened up the wall and changed how we put in the new wood. It works great!
Dave made the chicken nesting boxes so they open from this side and you don't have to go in the chicken yard to gather eggs. Notice the bench there?
When they are old enough we will open the gate during the day and let them free range and eat all our bugs but for now they are confined until they grow up.
At the top of this ramp there is a door for them to go in and out to the enclosed yard.
Here they are just 2 day old chicks. Mom and pops are looking thru the front doors of the coop.
We got 3 each of 3 different types. We will have red, golden, and black and white speckled chickens. None of them are named yet because we have to see some personality first. As I said at the beginning the farm is growing!

John and Melinda Dickson come

2009-04-17T17:32:00.004-05:00

John and Melinda decided to come to Washington to visit over Spring break. They got here about midday on Friday and left to drive back on Easter morning. It wasn't a long visit but we think they had fun. Melinda is so perfect for John. They complement each other so well. To put it mildly we were totally impressed!

On Saturday evening we met everyone at the Golden Corral and had a nice dinner and visit. I (of course) forgot my camera then afterwards a few came over to visit. Randy and Lisa, Lisa's parents, and Dorral and Stephanie went straight home so they missed out being in the pictures! It was great to be with everyone and have a nice visit.

Grandpa slept through a lot of the visiting but he and mom spent the whole day with John and Melinda going to see the daffodiles and Deception Pass so he deserved to be tired.

Sunday morning they had to leave but not until they ate a good breakfast and had a visit from the Easter bunny with a basket of treats for the road. It sure makes Mom and Pops happy when they can spend a little time with their grandkids. Thanks for coming!

Some fun things

2009-04-09T16:50:00.004-05:00

I mentioned we wanted a few places to sit around the yard. We bought this bench at Walmart a few weeks ago but had to pull out several overgrown bushes and things to get it ready. On an earlier blog I showed us taking out the bushes behind the house but finally Dave did the rock work so we could put it in.
In this picture you can see where it is. Since I took this picture I finished painting the stairs so they are all black instead of 2 toned. We also planted the small Rododendrens to fill in where we took things out. It is looking nicer all the time.

I painted the railings and changed them from brown and white to black. We also planted a few flowers. Pretty Huh?

Last Friday I went to a Garage sale and bought this glider bench. It is real comfortable and was cheap so I loved it. Mom and Pops really enjoy it too.

I painted it

Mom loves it! Looks a little different doesn't it?

I told you that Dave and Joel were putting a second story in the barn. It will give us quite a bit of new storage space.

They are putting down the floor.

They put a rail on the front and opened a door from the other room and wolla it is done! Uncle Leo cane over to check it out and started cleaning up some of their mess. We always love it when he comes. Well, that is it until we start another F U N F U N project!!

2 new pets

2009-04-04T15:43:00.005-05:00

Since we first got here to Washington Dave and Pops have been plotting, planning and finally working towards getting a few farm pets. Here is a new terminal for an electric fence the guys put in. (You can probably tell what is coming.)
Dave tightened the barbed wire, added dancers (made of willows he cut by the back fence) Then he pulled out all the blackberry bushes, willows, scotch broom, and anything else that was growing under or within about 4 or 5 foot of his fence.

They put out this old bathtub for water and hooked up the new electric fence.

This morning we went to Stanwood to pick out our "Provident Living" new pets. There were a bunch to pick from because the people had to give up their whole herd so they could work out of state. I knew our pets the minute we saw them... like family.
The owners were good enough to deliver them for us free of charge. They were so happy when they saw our setup. They said their cows would think they were in heaven!

They used their good horse trailer. Nothing too good for our pets!

Meet Pansy and Pickles! Mom named Pansy but Pickles was named before she came.

Pickles is 5 years old and Pansy is 2 weeks old.

Aren't they so cute?

The office makeover

2009-04-01T18:29:00.005-05:00

Since we first came mom mentioned that she would love to repaint the office so after 6 months she and I dove in and tackled the job. It was really a lot of fun. Here are some before shots. I had already taken the curtains down when I remembered the photos for the blog.

Remember the turquoise desk and the old file cabinet?

Remember the hide-a-bed and pictures? The color? Mom never liked the color but felt she was stuck with it.
I'm painting the new color. I brought home 15 or 20 shades I liked and she choose this color. Mom says that you can't tell from these pictures how nice the color looks. The lights and all change how beautiful it really is.
Remember the chairs? I repainted the metal on them so they are no longer turquoise. Oops! Okay I am not perfect! Have you ever tried to wash black spray paint off your face? The chairs look great however. Look for them in the pictures.
We moved the furniture around and put the couch under the window. I bought 2 small filing cabinets to use as end tables instead of the big gray one. The lamps are ones Pops made.
We also moved the bookcase to the other side of the room. Mom always had a problem with her desk being in the way when she opened the hide-a-bed.
The bookcase looks so much smaller on this wall. Ialso made new curtains for the window.
We made a logging wall for Pops. We brought up his old saw from downstairs where it wasn't showing very well and put 3 logging pictures with it. It looks cooler in person. The other wall is the family wall. It also has one of Pops clocks and another lamp he made.
While we were in the process of painting Meledie came over and asked Dave if he would like a roll top desk! Dave has wanted one so bad for years and years and I veto it every time he mentions it because they are so expensive. She gave it to us saying she needed to get it out of a house where it was anyway. He is SOOOO happy... it was made to hold a computer and everything just like he always dreamed of getting someday. What a good week!

DO YOU LIKE IT? COMMENT TO MOM AND TELL HER WHAT YOU THINK.

Jack and Delores inaugerate guest room

2009-04-01T17:39:00.006-05:00

Jack had a stake conference up in Victoria BC last weekend so when it was finished Sunday afternoon Gary Jones drove them here to visit and spend the night. It was so nice to have them here for a few hours. Mom and Pops were so happy.
I forgot to bring out the camera until late in the evening. Dave is already in his jammies. Uncle Leo, Ann and Darel (who was here visiting from Utah) had already left for home.

Meledie was still here and enjoyed their visit.

Janice heard they were here and dropped everything and came. Sherilyn and Joel were also here and I can't believe I didn't get their picture!

The next afternoon Mom and Pops went with me to take them to the airport. It was great to have them come. We were planning to see them in Utah for conference but now that we have canceled the trip we are really glad he was assigned a conference so close. Now if Roy and Doris had some business trips... mom would sure be glad!

Bread?

2009-03-19T21:10:00.005-05:00

Mom and Pops made me put in this post!
Question:
What happens if you forget to add the yeast to a loaf of bread?
Answer:
Um... you get bird food! The only problem was even the birds weren't interested.
Oh well I guess I'm not quite perfect yet!

Splitting wood and trimming a tree

2009-03-19T00:17:00.002-05:00

Pops and Dave have a constant job of getting firewood ready for the furnace. Here they are splitting wood to stack. We use a wood burning furnace so it saves lots of money but is quite a bit of work.

Randy needed to borrow the splitter so the guys hurried to get the wood done before Joel took it to him. See the leftover snow? Will it ever be spring?

Pops has kept this Alaskian Cedar trimmed but it has gotten out of hand the last
couple of years so we started cutting.

We hauled several loads to the burn pile.

Wola! Here it is! Cute huh? The TREE!

Uncle Ron Brownells 80th birthday

2009-03-18T08:55:00.004-05:00

I was determined to get some fun pictures for the blog when we went to Enumclaw to celebrate Uncle Ron's 80 birthday. I got so wrapped up in visiting and enjoying people that I am disgusted with the results of my photo efforts. I didn't get much so please forgive me! This first picture is Aunt Alice showing my parents the book their kids made for Ron showing his life. It was so nice!

Whose birthday was this? The only picture I have of Uncle Ron is this one with him smiling in the background! Mom told Kay that she would never fill Dave so she made this plate to be funny. Yes he ate it and loved it!
All of the Brownell kids and their spouses were there for Sunday dinner plus Aunt Cathern and Beth Harston. Others of the Harstons stopped by. Then of course us, my parents, uncle Leo and my cousin Peggy.
They had a wonderful lunch set up buffet style! We went downstairs to eat. It felt like Thanksgiving with so many there.
Ron and Alice had no idea any of this was happening. As a surprise for Rons 80th birthday all the kids from out of state flew in . Gayle and her husband invited Ron and Alice to go with them GeoCacheing (that is where you use your GPS to find things that others have hidden. It is a fun sport that is done all over the world now.) and then to breakfast. When they got there the Cache was their family. They were at a school and as they approched them Ron thought it was a bunch a high school kids. They were so shocked and happy.
On Saturday they all went to the Seattle temple. It was so fun because I had the assignment to be first follower on their session. I knew about the whole plan but had to act dumb because we were all coming as another suprise the next day.
Uncle Leo and his daughter Peggy came with us. They were visiting with Lyle's wife Anna.
Dave and Lyle were visiting. Lyle was just released from the Stake Presidency a couple of weeks ago. He said he hadn't been called to the nursery yet but I assured him it would probably be coming... or perhaps cub scouts instead.
The girls fixed the best meal and had everything so nice. Things were so organized that I am sure every one of them have been Relief Society presidents!
And here are the siblings! We only wish the rest of the family could have been there! It was a wonderful birthday and we were so happy to be invited. We look foreward to more birthdays.

A fun day!

2009-03-12T23:45:00.002-05:00

Today we decided to have a fun day. We went up past Mt Vernon to Samish Island and bought fresh oysters. Then mom and I cooked them for dinner. We ate the whole quart! They are so yummy!!! I even made Aunt Sharons tarter sauce.
These guys are doing some bird watching. We have been figuring out all the different names and type of birds that use our bird feeder. It has been a lot of fun.
Earlier today we went up to Fir Island to see the Snow Geese and Swans. We were certainly not disappointed! We saw thousands of Snow Geese all flying in special patterns across the sky leaving the area to fly north. Mom and pops said they have never seen anything like it, it was so neat. After that breathtaking experience we saw a field of Trumpet Swans that were so close to the road we couldn't believe it. They didn't seem to be bothered by us watching them. Pops said he had never been so close to a whole flock before. We also saw 14 Bald Eagles. They were mostly on the ground and only one or two together. We saw a few Blue Heron and the sad thing about the whole day was that I forgot my CAMERA!!! I would have had such wonderful pictures if I had remembered to bring it!!! It was still a fun day.

We thought it was spring!

2009-03-10T20:34:00.002-05:00

We were getting so excited because each day the sun was shinning and it looked like our long winter was over. Even these daffodils in our yard thought it was spring. THEY WERE WRONG!!
Saturday it started snowing again (much to our dismay)... but Sherilyn, Joel and Seth seemed to be excited and built us a new snowman!
Pops, Joel and Dave spent their time putting together this shed. They are still thinking that spring must be close because this is a shed for their garden tools and supplies. They put it down close to the garden so the rototiller and hoes will be handy. (Just in case spring ever decides to come.)

More projects

2009-03-01T12:31:00.004-06:00

Dave is fixing the bottom of the fence so the rabbits can't come under and feast on our garden this summer.
Dave and pops have been doing a few more projects around the place. First they knew it wouldn't do any good to plant peas or anything else with our "pet" deer hanging around so they put up a 7 foot deer fence.
The only problem is the deer fence is up and you can't see it....can the deer see it? I don't think so! We could imagine them or any other animal (including human) just running into it.
See? It is there! It is a nylon mesh..... pretty strong but if you don't see it......

So we bought this ugly floresent flaggers tape and here it is all ready for the deer. Cool huh?
The next project was building stairs in the barn. Before we had the stairs we had to use a ladder. Well a ladder didn't do much good for mom or pops or Dave (who isn't supposed to be on one since his stroke) so this space wasn't very usable. We needed a place to put our food storage and other things so this is great. Except for the 2 big boards they used leftover wood that was in the barn so it was fun to see what they could come up with. Looks pretty good doesn't it?

Remember our buried treasure spot? This is what we came up with. We plan to fix it up as a little sitting area with flowers and a little herb garden. It isn't very level...hummm we'll work on that too. Watch for changes!

BURIED TREASURE

2009-02-22T23:50:00.000-06:00

2009-02-20T11:06:00.007-06:00

During the week the weather was so nice that we decided to hunt for buried treasure. Around the yard are 40 year old overgrown shrubs that Dave decided to cut back. Everyone decided to get in on the fun.
Down by the garden past the patio Dave heard there was a water faucet and decided to clip around it and unbury it. Whoa under the bushes he found a beautiful rock wall! Also a barrel that used to hold geraniums, an old tree stump, some barbed wire, also an old lost set of horseshoes, a can of pop, and a pretty big cement slab!!! There was even an old bathtub that Pops says was not lost but I hadn't seen it so it is treasure!!! Cool
Joel was rototilling the garden but I don't think he was so lucky... only a few rocks. Now it is ready to plant peas. I guess that is a pretty good treasure right there.
We had a truck load of branches to haul back by the barn to burn. Sherilyn and Seth helped grandma and I load the truck while Pops supervised
This hill was covered with shrubs out past what shows in the photo. It is looking really good and we want to put a little sitting area there to rest after working in the garden. Just wait it will be beautiful!

Grandma's Birthday Cards

2009-02-18T14:37:00.006-06:00

I think everyone that reads this blog already knows about the "card party" the family had for mom's 89th birthday but we decided you need to see the results and the final tally of how many cards she got! Every day mom would go out to the mailbox and bring back an armful of cards. She finally started taking out a grocery bag so she could carry them. This is one days mail and she had several days like this. It was so much fun reading all the cards. Several had pictures and many were homemade. All of them said the nicest things. We all had fun sitting around and listening to mom read them. Pops said several times that you can sure tell how much everyone loves her.
Believe it or not there were 136 cards! Most of them were mailed individually so mom was forever opening and reading and admiring and enjoying the cards. She is still enjoying them!
Somehow the pictures don't do it justice but it is pretty impressive! Mom says thanks a million to everyone, it will be a birthday she will never forget. Pops says what in the world are you guys going to do on her 90th??!!! Oh oh!

Please leave a comment if you read this! :)

Keep on reading to the next post to hear about our Birthday Buffet.

Grandma's birthday Buffet

2009-02-18T13:28:00.004-06:00

On Monday Feb 16 we met at the Golden Corral for mom's birthday dinner. We decided that Saturday would be too crowded because of Valentines Day but were shocked by how many people were eating out for Presidents Day! We had made reservations so we didn't need to wait in line and it worked out great. Leo and Jared and Mary usually have Family Home evening with us so this makes an especially fun FHE for them. Even Ann came to enjoy the party.
Randy's family missed the ferry by 5 cars so they were a little late but not too bad. The extra cars on the ferry was also because of Presidents day and no school. Jared and the other kids didn't let that curb their appetites.

Lisa home schools her kids but today was a holiday so they were tickled to be invited to celebrate moms birthday. Savannah and Dave seem to like it too.

Mary and Jared visiting with Randy who had been cutting trees all day with his tree service and was glad for the break and good food.

Janice and Matt are always ready for a fun time! I love this picture of them.

And here is the birthday girl and Pops! We were all glad for a reason to celebrate! Lainey, Sherilyn, Seth and Joel are all chowing down...Yummy!
Robin visits with Janice and Matt while Bill and Nina Dearinger and Meledie visit with mom. When it was time for dessert they brought mom a plate of goodies with a candle lit on top of a cupcake . They announced that it was moms 89th birthday and everyone in the entire place sang happy birthday. Thanks everyone for a fun Birthday Party!

Grandmas Birthday Cake

2009-02-15T21:44:00.003-06:00

We had a special birthday dinner today to celebrate Mom's 89th birthday. We invited the missionaries, Meledie, Uncle Leo and Sherilyn. (Joel was gone.) Meledie made the birthday cake, a yummy spice cake with cream cheese frosting! Mmmmmm

We put on and lit 89 candles! What a blaze!

Mom huffed and puffed.....

and huffed and puffed and finally decided she needed to stand to get a better angle....

WOW!! It is so hot it's burning my hair!!

I need help or it will set the house on fire! Come on you windbags BLOW!

Wow! We did it! All 89 candles are out! Whew!!!

Our view at night

2009-02-10T21:15:00.002-06:00

We are still working at making the mound beautiful so we decided to show you how it looks at night. We put low voltage lighting out there and it is lit in the evenings. There are a couple of lights in the background that are in the neighbors yard far away but they don't don't really show. Pretty huh?

Our wild pets

2009-02-01T23:19:00.003-06:00

We told you in our last blog that mom and pops didn't want changing the mound to scare away their birds and squirrels. Yesterday we showed you all the blue jays now today our friendly squirrels came to check it out.
He's hanging by his toes to eat the bird seed. He has a great view of the new fountains and doesn't seem to mind them one bit.

This is a pretty fat one. No problem getting lots of food with the bird feeders so handy.

This squirrel mom named Tipsy because he has a bad back leg and falls over pretty easy. I had to throw out several pictures because he would tip over and look almost dead in the pictures. Now all we are missing are pictures of our deer. They come around every few days. The old mound would almost hide them from the window so they might be a little shy with the heavy greenery gone. We will put in their picture if we can get it!
What do you think? Don't we have great pets? We could watch them all day!

Re-doing the mound

2009-01-31T23:53:00.008-06:00

The mound in front of mom and pops house has been beautiful over the years but the plants have gotten overgrown and old. They built their house in 1968 so the plants are about 40 years old. (40 is pretty old isn't it Jamie?) Anyway Mom and I decided to make a much needed change. (With Dave and Pops help of course)
This has been a fun place to watch the birds and squirrels and we didn't want to change that!
Dave and Pops hooked on to the old Junipers with the hitch of the little truck and pulled them out. They came out quite easily.
We kept all the rhododendron and azaleas but pruned them then added a few other plants. Mom had a good friend Barbara who died this past year whose husband gave mom their water fountains. Her husband said he knew Barbara would be so glad to have Mom have them. We love them and were excited to put them in.
The birds love it too! The picture doesn't do it justice. It will be even prettier when we can have our summer flowers added to it. It has been a fun project. It is still a work in progress but it is making this quite a showplace. We will add more pictures later as it gets better.

Well....What do you think?

Dave's rock wall

2009-01-28T21:06:00.004-06:00

This property is a gravel pit so these rocks were all over the property. Where we pulled out stumps we pulled out all these rocks too. The cement pieces were in a pile back in the corner of the property.

Looks good doesn't it?

I have mentioned Dave's rock wall several times on this blog so I finally have some pictures and a video of it. He has worked on it for quite a while collecting rocks, building the road and finally building the wall. Doesn't it look great? We will be planting grass on the road and all around in the yard.

Random pictures

2009-01-28T00:23:00.006-06:00

Mom and I were going through the pictures that Dave took and decided to add a few fun pictures. Mom really enjoyed all the little kids during the work party.
I mentioned that Janice took charge of the young rock pickers. She hauled them around on grandpas lawnmower then they would fill it with rocks for Uncle Dave's rock wall.
We ate lunch after the work was done down on the patio. It was the only day we have had in weeks that we could eat outdoors. By the next day it was cold again.

See... I told you we had lots of help. About 30 of us and the food was terrific!

This is one of grandpa's apple trees before Randy and his gang started.

And this is the finished results! Quite a change isn't it?

Remember the snow storm? Moms snowman is the buried hump on the right...
This is at the church. You can see why we couldn't even drive into the parking lot for over a week. WE STILL can't believe how much snow we had.

The guest room is ready!

2009-01-26T18:09:00.002-06:00

Okay no excuses! We finally finished our guest room and bathroom and need someone to try them out! Jack says they are coming in March but otherwise our calender is pretty bare.
Mom and I have had a lot of fun with this! The pictures don't look too great but we like it.

Work Party for grandma and grandpa

2009-01-26T16:51:00.012-06:00

Last Monday there was no school so all of the locals of Lynn and Sharons family including Robin and her family came over and spent the day working in Grandma and Grandpas yard. It is unbelievable what they accomplished in such a short time!All good work parties require lots of fun food. This bunch sure know how to make that happen! I was impressed at how easy they put together a whole banquet. I have a lot to learn from my nieces. Sherilyn and Lisa aren't in the picture but together it was wonderful!
Grandmas favorite part was enjoying the great grandbabies. There were so many kids everywhere but they were so good and so helpful. Most of them were outside working their hearts out.
Randy (in picture) owns a tree service business with another teacher in Coupeville and it suppliments their income by about double. They are very professional. His partner even came and helped free of charge because he does the fruit trees. What a team!
The two trees in the background are apple that have been cut way WAY back! They were covered with ugly suckers and needed it so bad.
They had an assembly line getting the limbs in the chipper! Even the younger kids really worked. There were about 30 people (workers and watchers) who spent the day. Janice even put the little kids to work hauling rocks for Dave's rock wall. (You will see this in a later blog.)
They cut down this cherry tree by the side of the carport. Pops has wanted it cut for a long time.
Oops, this picture is out of order. Randy is up in the Cherry tree preparing it for cutting down.
Dorrel and the boys pulled the rope to keep it from landing on the carport while Randy sawed it down.
The old men stand around and are amazed at how fast and effortlessly the young men and kids get everything done. Pops says there is quite a change in the "old Dickson place!" Mom says the whole family is so good to us. The guys are so happy to have it all done!
Dave sleeping after a hard day watching. Uncle Leo's hand was killing him with arthritis but he loves being here and enjoying everyone.
Now! Work is done, food is eaten, lets play games! This is my kind of family!!

Cut off from life as we know it!

2009-01-08T11:53:00.004-06:00

They closed the road to town about 3 AM. They were told the river would crest by 4AM but at 8AM when I was taking the pictures they said it wouldn't crest until at least 10 AM!

They say all the businesses at Island crossing are flooded but I can't take pictures because we are stuck here at home.... so I think I'll go work on my newest project, the basement bathroom! Dave and I are supposed to start our new service mission tonight in Mt Vernon...perhaps we can go through Granite Falls or.... we will try another route Pops mentioned.... or perhaps?

2009-01-07T21:37:00.002-06:00

Oh no, we are flooding!

2009-01-07T20:35:00.006-06:00

All that snow turns into all that water! It has been raining and raining so the snow is melting so fast. This is across the highway from the church looking toward town.

This is on the church side of the highway. See the top of the fence?

Someone called and told us the highway will be closed tonight so we will be cut off from town. Sherilyn said they just crossed it and she thinks it might be getting a little better so I guess we just wait and see.