Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! What a beautiful time of year. We've had our share of snow lately and lots of freezing cold temperatures. Its gotten as low as 2 degrees (before wind chill factor!) We're not sure we will ever get used to that.

Here are a few pics.



Last night we had our first official "Open House." Lots of people showed up (close to a hundred in all!) Which was quite amazing given the fact that it was REALLY cold out side. But we had fun serving all of Janice's goodies and enjoying the new fireplace.



Before the open house, Bruce and his helpers worked hard to get the stair well wall built. Actually, it would have been better if the "Helpers" had opposable thumbs.



On our trip to California, Audrey had to show us her skills as a wall monkey.

Family

We recently went to California for Grandpa Bud's memorial service. What a great time to reconnect with lots of family and honor a wonderful man of God.

Here's the family (except Randy, who was at a job related conference and Alli who had to stay home for work)

Four Generations: Great Grandpa Porter, Grandpa Bruce, Ben (soon to be a dad), and Isaac (Jamie and Randy's son)

We had a blast trying on some of Grandpa Bud's hats (per grandma's request) 

We'll post some more photos from our trip soon. 

More stuff

Just a few more pics:

Our puppy Bella is getting Big. She's in Puppy Kindergarten and doing great. She "sits" plays with friends to get used to other dogs, is held by other dog owners to get used to other people, is learning to walk on a leash, and learning to "settle" (as in settle down - get calm). Its been fun to be with other puppy parents and see how other breeds react. 

Bruce had a chance to ride his motorcycle in the Buhler Frolic parade and hike a little boy from our church who doesn't have a dad at home. It was a lot of fun to see "the pastor" in his leathers riding bikes with 20 other riders.

Yes this is a gondola we saw in Boston along the St. Charles river. We didn't ride it but it was cool to see the couple riding along with an accordian player in the boat providing mood music. How great is that. We didn't want to pay the $275 for the experience. Ha!

Boston

We just got back from our trip to Boston in celebration of our 35th anniversary. We got to go with some friends who celebrated their 35th too. We found out they were married the day before us. We had lots of fun. Great weather too. Lots of history but mostly just a lot of beauty. The Kennedy presidential library and museum was phenomenal.
State House

Our friends Ed and Bonnie Zahn at the oldest restaurant in America


Hanging out with friends

Yes this is a Starbucks!




On the bridge in the Boston Commons park

Janice in 1994 and 1996

Gotta give equal time to Janice. Here's what she would have looked like as a '94 and '96 grad. I think she's pretty cute!

1994 - Jamie's grad year


1996 - Ben's grad year

Foe those who are wondering - this is what we really looked like our senior year in 1970 (Janice) and 1971 (Bruce)

If Bruce went to School when Ben and Jamie did.

So, what would Bruce have looked like if he was a senior in high school in 1994 and 1996 like Jamie and Ben? Bruce took his senior picture and downloaded it on to the site Ben referred to - Yearbookyourself.com Here's the results.


1994 - Jamie's Grad year


1996 - Ben's Grad year

Cartoon me

My son Ben (connect to his blog) told me about this site where you can make a cartoon image of yourself. What do you think? Does it really look like me?

Fireplace - Finally!

OK...It seems like building our house is taking a lot longer than we thought. But, it sure is nice when a project gets done and it all comes together like you wanted. Here's a picture of the fireplace Bruce designed and built. Marizzi tile with Cherry Hickory wood. It turned out great.



For those who were wondering about the lineage of our new puppy - she's part lab - part border collie - and part who knows what. A vet seemed to think there must also be some Australian Shepherd in there some where too. She's turning out to be a great little dog.

Fall around the corner!

Janice has done a great job with her garden this summer. She's really looking forward to harvesting her pumpkins. Our little patch should produce several regular pumpkins for carving and eating along with a few mini pumpkins for decorations. How fun to be so close to Fall! The weather is cooling off, we hear the football team practicing after school, and some of the maze is starting to turn to fall colors.


The MINI



The REGULAR

Bella

Yes, we have a new member of our family - Bella. Isn't she a cutie? She is a mixed breed - How about telling us what you think her mix is? We'll reveal the secret after a few have made their guess. She's doing really well - kinda knows her name and "come". She's starting to get the outdoor potty idea - we've got to keep close tabs on her, but she's doing remarkably well. Our other dog, Emily is "putting up with" the kid, letting herself be mauled, tugged,and generally harassed. She growls when she's had enough, but we've not had to break up a dogfight yet. I don't think we will have to. They really get along very well which we're happy for.

Great Vacation!

Here's a little more on our time with our kids and grandkids this summer. We just loved spending time with Ben and Alli in Hillsboro (close to Portland) and got to do a lot of fun things. But the best part was just hanging out and getting to worship with them at their church where Ben helps on the worship team playing guitar and singing. Our time with Jamie, Randy and the grandkids (Audrey, Isaaac, and Violet) was way too short, but we had a really fun time in Old town Sacramento visiting the train museum, panning for gold, and visiting the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. We also met their new dog Lucy who is way cute. Of course they real highlight is always the hugs!


Hanging out with Ben and Alli by the river in Portland (we just finished visiting the outdoor farmers market and were headed to a very good Italian restaurant. for lunch)



Last pic with Jamie, Randy and the kids before we went home


Rub-a-dub-dub ... three grandkids in a tub!

Fun In Portland

We had a great time in Portland (and Hillsboro/Beaverton), Oregon with Ben and Alli last week. We went to a Timbers Soccer game, hiked some "Green Space" trails in the city, Visited Multnoma Falls, visited Canon Beach and Astoria (where the movie Gioonies was filmed, and ate at some great places - super italian restaurant in Portland and a very cool loggers place where we encountered Big Foot. Way too much to do in one visit so we're sure we need to go back again!


Cannon Beach


Bruce trying to break out of the Goonies Jail


Bruce and Big Foot - see any similarities?


Can you see the elephant in the forest?


At the Falls

More Pics!

Here's a few more pics of our garden!

Harvest Time

Yes, its harvest time around here. Lots of wheat being cut and trucked to the silos. This is a picture of the field close to us being harvested.




We've had some more wild weather recently. One night we had up to 100MPH winds! It knocked our corn patch flat which we had to stand back up and reinforce with more dirt. Now it looks good and is growing fine.






Janice is really enjoying our garden - tomatoes, bell peppers, cantalopes, and cucumbers are all popping. Our flowers are doing well too. How great to see how we do a little work and God grows the rest!

Wild Spring

OK - Its been a wild Spring. We've had some unbelievable weather recently. Here's a picture of some of the golf ball sized hail that hit our house and car. Yes, this is the second time our car has had hail damage. Thankfully no broken windows, just a few dents that can be taken out easily.




Here's a view of the cemetery decorated for memorial day - its right across the street from our back yard. It looked really nice with all the flags and flowers.

OK... It was Janice's idea to give blood - not me - I'm a chicken. But we get there and they're giving away a cool t-shirt. So I say I'll do it too. Then Janice doesn't pass the test for iron in her blood. Go figure. It is a cool t-shirt though. Here's Bruce - happy to help save someone's life.


We started gardening about two weeks ago. Four kinds of bell peppers (Bruce's favorite!) Several different kinds of tomatoes, plus cantaloupe, and cucumbers. We're just about ready to plant the watermelon and pumpkins - probably corn too. Janice also planted an old iron bed to make our flower bed - Ha! (We'll post a picture when the flowers bloom) The house now has started to look like someone really lives here - we've even got several bushes planted in the front. We're still hunting for the right trees and hopefully get them planted soon.




Here's a couple of shots of the inside of the house - looking good eh? Janice has a nice touch with the decorating ideas.