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.

Landscaping Begins

Janice and Emily in front of our new Japanese Maple

Well, its about time! We finally got a break with the weather so we could begin planting a few trees. We've been plotting out our landscape plan and are going to and fro checking out the best deals at several nurseries in the area. Our house is looking pretty good on the inside - just a little more detail work on the main floor and we'll be done. (Which is code for there are only 20 projects left instead of 50. But its really feeling like home to us. We're starting to have people over more often and can't wait to have an open house. Now that planting season is officially here - we'll almost, they say we won't be frost free until late May - we're busy cultivating a garden area and will be joyfully planting things around our house. We'll post more pics of the progress soon.

Bruce busy planting a new River Birch

Cookie Traditions

We love decorating cookies for special occasions. Janice decided to host a cookie decorating party for the kids of the young married sunday school class we work with. We had a fun time and afterwards we took some of our cookies to the retirement home to share with some of the residents.

Bruce showing some of the kids how to do the fancy stuff!

OK...we know we've been bad not posting for quite a while. It's just that there's a lot going on - moving into our new home (and we're still not totally moved yet!). We've still got boxes and things in a storage area at the old farmhouse we were staying in for the last 6 months. But everything is coming along nicely. The kitchen is all done except for the backsplash. We have a toilet and sink that are functional and the shower should be usable in a few days. Bruce just has to finish the grouting and sealing and install the shower door. Then its on to a lot of finish work.

OTHER GOOD NEWS! Janice is done with school and has received her temporary credential so she can sub for the rest of the school year. She'll be studying for her tests later so she can consider a full-time position in the fall. In the mean-time she keeps busy helping as a waitress at the local coffee and sandwich shop called "The Mustard Seed." The owners would like her to think about becoming a co-owner. We're actually thinking (LONG AND HARD) about that.


Our den



Living Room (note the boxes with the "Bruce" wood flooring - specially made for us of course!)



Janice's beautiful kitchen

Great Christmas!

Janice and the girls

Bruce and Violet goofing off


What a great Christmas. We traveled to Fresno on Christmas day to see the kids and family. Our flight was great - no delays this year (coming or going). Lots of fun with our grandkids Audrey, Isaac and Violet. And, it was great to spend plenty time with Jamie, Randy, Ben and Alli. It was good to leave the ice and snow and experience a good old California Christmas with weather in the low 50's - and almost no fog! We don't know if we'll be taking another trip to California this summer - most likely we'll hook up with everyone in Oregon. We'll see.

In the meantime, we're continuing work on our house. We're just a couple of days (maybe a week or two at the most) from moving in. We won't be completely done - lots of trim and details to finish - not to mention the basement and the outside landscaping - but we'll be glad to be in our new place. We'll post some new pics soon of the progress on the house.

Lot's going on!

Well, it's almost Christmas. We've had a lot going on. Janice completed her student teaching and is officially done with her schooling for getting her teaching credential. Yay! Now she's getting ready to take her tests. She already has had one school as her to apply for a long term sub position. Pretty cool.

We had an ice storm last week that many here are still recovering from. It was beautiful but dangerous. Fortunately, we never lost our power and the farmhouse we are staying in didn't have any tree limbs fall on the house - but a couple glanced off the roof as they went down. My truck would have gotten totaled if I hadn't moved it from under a tree. A branch came down right where it was parked ten minutes after I moved it. It had to be a God thing.

Our house is coming along - we've got our lower cabinets in the kitchen - I'm almost done with the kitchen counter tiling and we've made a lot of headway with finishing electrical (minus a few fixture installations) and we've started painting inside. We hope to be moving in around January 15th.

We hope to see lots of people in California over Christmas time. We'll be flying in on the 25th and flying out on January 2nd.
Beautiful ice!


Janice enjoying teaching