Christmas is Coming!!

After our wonderful surprise from Jayme and Virginia for Thanksgiving, we spent the next week with Jackie and the boys staying with us while they had bad colds. Jayme and Virginia surprised us by showing up Thanksgiving morning. We loved having them. We finally got the decorations up. I love the new entertainment center. It has lots of room for displaying my creches (nativity scenes). I love putting up my decorations. Now I need to get the downstairs decorated. Jess and I will head out tomorrow to look for a tree, in between appointments.

Josh heads for the orthopedic Dr. tomorrow. He has horrible grinding in his knee and will probably need surgery. Better to get it done now, before he heads off for college and then a mission. I am beginning to think that something with knees runs in the family! I will head for my specialist in Salem next week. There may be a new knee for me in the next year!

We took everyone to see a Trans Siberian Ochestra concert this last weekend. What a great time. Reed absolutely loves their music. I took him last year for his birthday. This year we took Jackie and Zach and Jessica and Josh. Jessica and Josh had never been before. It was fun to watch Josh during the concert. He was facinated watching them play. I am sure our basement will be rocking as Josh tries to gain inspiration from this band.

We are so happy that the Beavers won. Especially that Josh won his friendly bet with Justin. Josh has been growing his hair out since summer. If the Beavers lost against the Ducks, he was going to have to dye his hair black. Since the Beavers won, Justin had to color his hair orange!!! And Josh got to get his hair cut. Note the before and after photos!!

What to do after a Cortisone injection!!

So I had another trip to see the knee Dr. this week. Basically, the knee is gone and it is time for me to see about getting it replaced. I am being sent to a knee replacement specialist. We will see what happens from there.

At the Dr., since I was in so much pain, he gave me another cortisone injection. The knee feels better, not great, but at least I can walk and be on my feet and then load up with pain meds and ice packs at night! So, what would you do? I decided to paint the bathroom. Might as well get it done before the knee gets really bad again. The last injection only lasted 3 months, so I figured I better hurry and get this done before I was laid up for a LONG time!!

Here are some pictures. Jessica made the pretty swag that hangs over the lights and mirror!

I have also included a picture of my "Gratitude Tree". We made these in YW. Basically the idea was to come up with people you were grateful for and acknowledge them in some way. These names were hung on our tree and each week, we send one of these people a note, or do something special for them. This passed off a value experience in YW and Jackie wanted to see it for her Activity Days.

Halloween Fun!

Halloween is lots of fun even as you get older. Of course, having grandkids certainly makes it more enjoyable. We loved having Keegan and Kayden here to go trick or treating. But first we had to carve our own pumpkins. Reed takes his carving very seriously. Can you guess which pumpkin belongs to Reed, Peggy and Josh? These were even home grown pumpkins, hence they were still green!! But they are still hanging around. Don't you just love fall weather?

I have also included a few pictures from another trip to the coast. I know we are really obsessed with the coast. But I have a really funny story about this last trip. Everyone went. We were actually heading to the outlet malls to do some shopping. We even took the dog!! He is not the best traveler and many times will get car sick. This was one time we were very grateful. For his birthday his litter sister (who is owned by some friends) gave him a rawhide bone. Now he has had these in the past, but I tend to give them in the house where I can keep track of things. Well Riley received this one outside and promptly ran off and it disappeared, or so I thought. Anyway, we go to the coast and the poor dog lost it after Eddyville. We made a quick stop at my sister's place to clean up the mess and lo and behold, the dog had thrown up an entire rawhide bone, WHOLE! I know this is gross, but I can understand how he got it up after it sat in his stomach for at least a week, it was soft. But how the heck did he swallow that huge thing whole?

Can You Come NOW???

What a crazy few days. I knew it would be a busy week anyway. There was the usual volunteer work at the high school on Monday, followed by visits to my dad, the grocery store and my visiting teachers. Then it was meeting with the construction company to go over plans for the new kitchen. That was just Monday!!!
Tuesday I faced the reality of what it will mean to have no kitchen for up to 6 weeks. We are talking no water, sink, oven, cupboards, etc. So we began immediate plans for a temporary kitchen. The plan is to get this all set and ready before the holidays hit in 1 month. Construction will start right after Jan. 1! The obvious choice is what we affectionately call the dog's room. In previous dog years, the dogs actually used this room. But our poor, spoiled Riley sleeps in the house, hangs out in the house and generally goes where we go. To put it mildly, he does not like the outside room! But after so many years of an open dog occupied room, it is to say the least DIRTY! So we began to clean. Not a fun job. Part way through, I went and got Reed and asked for an honest opinion as to whether we would ever get it clean enough to even consider eating in there, let alone preparing food in there! Next step was bug bombs, ordering a dumpster and just getting it done. The old office looks pretty good, but still plenty to do. But all that has been put on hold as the next crisis hit the fan.
Reed's dad had a knee replacement about 15+ years ago. He never got the left knee done, but finally decided that he was going to live, so why not get it fixed. The plan called for having repair done on the orginal replacement with a short recovery this fall and total knee done on the left this winter. When the Dr.'s went in for the repair, they found his femur fractured (don't know when, how, or what happened) and deterioration around the original replacement. What started as a repair became a total knee replacement. What started as a short, easy recovery, became major. Wonderful Jessica offered to go back and help if needed.
By Thursday the family called and asked if Jessica could come - immediately. So today we are running samples in the lab, Reed on the SEM microscope at OSU, doing Jessica's laundry, packing, making airline reservations, rescheduling Dr. appt., and anything else we can think of. Jessica is great for doing this and being willing to go help out her grandfather. We love you Jess!

Too Much Fun!!

This weekend we celebrated Jackie's birthday. She has finally turned 24 and she couldn't even remember how old she was!! It all started with another trip to the coast. I know, you probably think we spend way too much time going to the coast. But hey, Josh had the day off and it was another incredible day at the coast. Besides we're self employeed. So we headed for' Lincoln City to hit the outlet malls. Of course we had to stop at out favorite spot at Cape Foulweather and then off to Mo's for lunch. We love lunch at Mo's! The boys left early to head for home. They stopped just outside of Depoe Bay to let the dog out. Lo and behold there were whales playing in the cove. They saw lots of spouts and tail splashes. The girls left later and witnessed an incredible sunset. Both events were without the camera.

The next day we took Jackie for a pedicure and manicure. The day was toppped off with dinner at the Tokoyo. It is the new teppanyaki grill place. It was lots of fun for everyone, except for Kayden who slept through the whole event. Then it was home for cake and ice cream. Fun weekend for everyone!

A Day At the Coast

Today we convinced Reed to take a day and we headed for the coast. We had Jackie, Zach and the boys meet us in Tillamook at the cheese factory. We had a lot of fun touring the cheese factory and then having lunch together. Afterwards Reed, Jessica and I headed for Cape Meares outside of Tillamook. It is really cool because you start off at the cape above the light house. As you walk out towards the end of the cape you are on level with the light portion of the light house. Today the lighthouse was open and we got to go inside! It is no longer a functioning lighthouse, but it was interesting to see it from the inside. The weather was everything from stormy to sunny!

Reed had quite the hunting experience this week. We both got deer tags since we have a huge overpopulation here this year. They have done quite a bit of damage to our trees, so we decided to try our luck at hunting right here on the farm. Our main motive was to decrease the population and damage, not so much for meat. So the first day of the season, Reed walked out the front door with his gun. As he left, Jessica asked him what he would do if got one. No response since we highly doubted any of us would get it. So as Reed walks down the driveway and got to the garden area and thought he saw something on the lower side of the garden. He took a shot. Up at the house, we heard the shot and waited for the yelling to begin, but nothing. So I went to the window to see what was happening. I saw Reed walking down the road just looking for deer. Was I ever surprised when he turned and shot again to make sure something was dead. He managed to shoot through the fence around the garden and hit the deer in the neck, killing it instantly and dropping it where it was. It was a nice buck. So we now have deer meat that we will be making into jerky and trying in various recipes. Reed has now been named the Great White Hunter!

Next week we meet with the contractor to begin design plans! Wish us luck!

We Have Arrived

This is Reed playing with his new toy and wave master. It is a cross between an ocean kayak and a surfboard!
The All-American boat driver!

Well, after spending time looking at other people's blog spots and lots of encouragement from my girls, Reed and I have finally decided to try our own blog.





It has been a crazy summer. It started with double knee surgery for Peggy at the end of May. Both knees were scoped. It was the second time for the right knee and it will be the final one for the right knee since the Dr. said it is pretty much gone and the next time it will need to be replaced! Oh fun!! This was followed by Jackie having her second baby five weeks later. Soon after that we headed for Utah for an extended family reunion on Reed's side. It took place on the South Fork of the Ogden River. Lots of family, tubing and river time. Reed and I used the camper as our place of residence and we were very comfortable! All of Reed's siblings came and it was lots of fun to be with his whole family. Peggy stayed after the reunions to help Jessica pack and clean and move home for her next adventure whatever it may be. Reed's Dad arrived a few days later and after Peggy worked with the high school registration it was off the the beach house in Delaware! Finally a REAL vacation! We returned home to the start of school and Josh in his senior year. But lest we get settled in, Jackie moved from her apartment to a townhouse and so Jessica and Peggy spent 3 days packing and cleaning again!

Keegan safely nestled between mom and Grandma!



This has put Peggy in the mode to clean and organize which is driving Reed right up the wall! Oh well, we are finally starting to move on the remodel of the kitchen. We will keep you updated as that happens, if it happens! Someday I hope to get to a "normal" or "regular" routine!