Dad and Mom

I know that it has been such a long time since the last post.  Our family has had a very long spring.  I lost my father on the 5th of May and my mother passes away on the 12th of June.  They would have been married
65 years on the 4th of August.  You know you don't always realize how much you will miss that phone call or the chance to say I love you or to hear them say those words until they are gone.  I truly miss them both!
I know they are in a better place now and together again.

Thank you to all the care givers and staff from Powell Valley Assisted Care and the Dr.s and Staff from
OHSU and Providence hospitals that cared for Dad and Mom on their last journey.  Dad and Mom were
very blessed to have so many friends and family that were always there for them.

These are a few of the pictures of my sister Debbie, Mom, brother Harley, Dad and myself from a few
years ago.  The picture of  mom and dad sitting on the bench together is one of my favorites that was
taken just a year ago.  Dad loved to garden and I know I got my green thumb from dad.  Dad would
be proud of my garden so far this year. Mom and Dad lived a long great life together and we were so
blessed to have them all this time.

Winter in Parker

Well here we are at out new home for the winter.  Pirates Den RV Park in Parker, AZ.
Sunshine and blue sky for most days. Lee and I were able to ride our bikes and kayak lots.

 Can you believe that even in Jan. the big boats were out on the water trying to get some
sun.

 We couldn't miss the Parker 425.  There were lots of  big and little trucks traveling out
in the desert. Lots of wind this year and needless to say dust!

 This was our spot on the Colorado River.  Our friends John and Ruth let us borrow
their kayak for the winter. I was kayaking  in the River in Jan.  We had such nice days
even up  to the 80 degree mark.

 The sunsets were  really pretty.  We didn't have a cabana this year but our neighbors were
nice enough to let us use theirs when we wanted.

Lee, Dorthy and Gary did the desert walk out to the old desert bar and had a great time.
I missed this year because I was on my way back to Portland to help out with my folks.

 This is a picture from one of the hikes we took with our friends Myron and Susie. You
can see the river below.  It is a very hilly surrounding us but makes for wonderful hikes.

 As you can see below we were having snow today March 31,2012 ! I could have been
an April fools joke!  We are getting winter at home now.  We had a good winter down
in AZ and look forward to next year already.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Our little grandsons, Dane and Porter
turned 4years old this month. We are having a family gathering in April and I will
post more pictures then.  Bye for now.

Merry Christmas

 Boy, where does the time go.  Here it is Christmas already and we wish all our family and friends a very happy one. All our family are doing fine this Christmas and we are thankful for all the blessings we have received.  Below is a picture of Nana with, Porter, Wyatt and of course Santa.  Porter wasn't about to
sit on Santa's lap this year.

Lee and I had Porter and Wyatt for a couple of days and here are  Porter and Wyatt making gingerbread muffins. ( They were suppose to be cookies but Nana didn't read the recipe quite right so, Oh, well improvise )

 We were in Puerto Vallarta for Thanksgiving and this is were we always stay.  It is like coming home. A lot of the same staff have been there for 20 plus years. The weather was great Lee got a lot of sun time and we both had a good time.

 Lee went fishing with Sonny and Russ.  Russ caught this nice Tuna. Sonny and Glenda are from Prineville
and were down here at the same time so we were able to have a few dinners together.  The girls had a shopping day and the guys went fishing.

 Lee and I were out in the kayaks almost everyday for an hour. We saw manta rays, dolphins and lots of bait
balls.  I just wish the water on the Colorado River was going to be this warm in Feb. My friend Ruth is lettiing me borrow a kayak for our trip south to use this winter.  ( I am going to try to get back into shape!)

 I can't remember if I posted a picture of  Porter, Wyatt and Shannon at Holloween.  They were all so cute

 We have been feeding apples to the deer since fall, thanks to Sam and Shannons' apple tree.

The week before Thanksgiving Toni,Harley,Debbie and myself were all in Portland to get together with Mom
and Dad.  We all had a wonderful time!  Clint and Tanya are doing great and are all ready for Christmas I will post more picture of them next time.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Just Got To Brag !

 Hi, I just had to brag about our daughter inlaw, Tanya.  She shot this outstanding 6 point Elk last weekend.
 Can you beleive how big that critter is.  Clint is finally home from 6 weeks away training with his new drug
 and tracking dog Shep.  Sam and Shannon and the boys are on their way to Montana to spend a few days
 with the kids.  I'm sure they will have lots of fun with all the grandkids together

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

What a heavy load!

Thank God for Veterns !

Today is Veterns Day and we should all be very Thankful for all that have served and are now serving to  keep us safe from Harms Way. Thanks. Below are a few pictures from fall activities.

 I Think that little Kimber is the next Martha Stewart in the making.

 Big brother Dane with little sister Kimber

 Sam with Porter and Wyatt up at the house getting a little tractor time.

 Lee had a great time fishing at Harley and Toni's this fall.

 Lee and our friend Hal back from a morning fishing trip on the Columbia River.  Way to go guys!

 Lee and I even got to spent a morning on the river along with Riley of course !

We had a bountiful harvest from our garden. I still have a few herbs, but everything else is finished until next year.

August and Fair Time

Hi, as promised here is a picture of Lee's fish at Holter Reservior in Montana. Boy I sure wish they grew them this big at our reservior.

 We had Porter and Wyatt for fair. Three days and two nights. What a good time was had by all.!!!  Here the boys are helping PaPa pick the blueberries.

 Wyatt's favorite was eating.  We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

 While the boys were here we went to the fair. Wyatt was really into the animals this year and wanted to pet them all.  We saw cows, pigs, goats and lambs.  The fair brought back old times.  Porter was so excited to
see the cows and I wasn't watching all that well and you know about cow pies! you guessed it all over his shoe.  We went up and asked one of the 4H fellows who was washing his cow if he wouldn't mind giving Porters shoe also a wash.  From then things were fine.

 The best thing about fair is LUNCH!!  I didn't know Wyatt could put that all in his mouth!

 Porter ate his corn dog plus about a 1/3 of Wyatt's.  Along with other things we ate our way thru the fair.

 Porter was really into getting a baloon fish on a fishing pole. We were amazed that it lasted until he got home.

Fair is pretty exhusting!!!  We had a great time and Lee and I entered some things in the fair and received ribbons for them.  My Pepermint Herb received the Judges choice award.  Our garden produce about 4
lbs of beans and we are now eating tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and herbs.  We are just about to start Salmon fishing season.  Lee is pretty excited we will keep you up dated. 

Montana what a fun trip!!!!

Well, It seems that I have loaded the pictures in the wrong order, so what is new.  Our garden is really growing, I have lots of squash growing, beans, even a few cucumbers not to mention lots of herbs.

Lee's tomatoes are already looking like a jungle. We now have several green ones.  I hope they start to ripen soon.  Fair is in 3 weeks and we hope to enter some vegetables and herbs.

Two weeks ago Shannon brought the boys to the reservoir and we had such a good time. They both liked the same chair.

 The boys spent several hours playing in the water, building sand castles and doing what little boys do. (throwing water a papa and rocks in the water)

 When we were in Montana we went fishing twice to Holter Reservoir.  What a beautiful place.  We caught several large trout on the first trip and of course I can't get the picture to print so you will have to believe me.
They were 3 and 4 lbs much bigger than the ones we get in Oregon.

 On our second trip out to fish, We didn't catch any trout,  Dane caught this Perch and we also caught several  Walleye.  We had wonderful fish tacos!!!!

 Kimber also had her 1st Birthday while we were there.  I can't believe that she is a year old and already walking and wanting to do everything that Dane does.  Dane is such a good big brother and is very gentle
with her.

 Tanya got the kids each a chair. Pink for Kimber and Blue for Dane.  Kimber really likes the blue one.  We helped the kids paint the outside of their house while we were there.  We had to do something to work off all the wonderful meals Tanya and Clint fed us. They put up with us for 10 days and we want to thank them for a wonderful visit.
That's about it for now.  I will post again after the fair in August.