Guys

Just some shots around the house....

You can tell the guy that technicians are a thing of the past....

But you can't take the technician out of the guy.....in his natural habitat.

These guys are serious about the issue they are working on...

The perfect ring tone....amazing!

Happenings around Sweet Home

Monday & Tuesday found us at Grandma Alice's doing some work for her. She has some repairs & upkeep to do, and since Bill has been out of work, she's been gracious enough to pay us instead of someone else. The kids helped us on Monday, as we pressure washed the house, moved some bark and did some clean up in preparation for staining the house. On Tuesday, just Bill & I went, as the kids had some school to catch up on. It was really fun working together, although it was a long day, and pretty warm. We got the house stained in about 7 hours, and then came home to shower, and get some things done around here.

Wednesday Bill had a dentist appointment, and we had errands to run, so we headed to Eugene together (thank heavens I have a great dental plan through my job with Joe!), and after Bill's appointment, we got our things done, and headed home. With the heat, we had lots of watering to do outside, and we needed to get Kristin's rocks sorted and moved to another phase. I had picked up some small rocks at the river last week for my project house (a small log cabin I am working on), and tumbled those for the chimney, so had to pick those out of Kristin's rocks in progress.

This is the "UCK" the rocks tumble in....

Some of Kristin's "treasures"....

Kristin has been tumbling rocks in her tumbler for about 3 weeks now. We are on phase two of some of them, which is the 2nd of 4 steps. The first was the rough tumbling, which is the longest, and takes all the "rough" off the rock. The 2nd phase she's working on now is 1st step in polishing. They are looking great!! We will check them out as she goes along. We have a broken or slipping belt issue, but have a spare, so should be back in business soon!

Thursday Kristin went to "Fun in the Parks" put on by the Sweet Home Parks & Rec. They have tons of fun things lined up for the summer for the kids. It amazes me that for $20.00 she can attend 9 events. This week was Tye Dye shirts & BBQ, next week is rafting, there is a nature hike with survival training, a Covered Wagon Expedition, and a few more that sound SO fun. I worked, so Bill took her, and like a good Daddy, he took a book, and sat on the bench off in the distance, just to make sure she would be OK, since Ryan did not want to attend, and she didn't know anyone. She made a great shirt (will post a picture when she wears it) and although Bill was a good Dad and took the camera, he didn't use it. Oh well, it was the thought that counts :)

Thursday afternoon, Bill got some drywall hung, but because he was at the park all day--he didn't get as much as he anticipated. Since we are on for deck staining at Grandma Alices for Friday, it waited until Saturday for work to resume.

Friday brought HOT temps. Bill & I started at Alices early in the AM, and got her back deck stained and then moved 5 yards of bark dust. By 2pm it was pretty hot, so we decided not to do the front deck and by the time we got home, it was 98 on the back porch (which gets the heat of the day), and thankfully, the misters helped bring it down by dinner to around 80 as the evening started to cool off. Robert cooked supper for us, as he brought Missy home to have dinner with us. We got to know her better and enjoyed our time with her. It was a fun evening, and the temps for sleeping were a great 70 degrees, and down to 60 by this morning.

Saturday was another hot day, but the guys got working early in the basement. Bill had to change the location of some electrical prior to them doing more work. They got the ceilings in both the storage room and the bathroom up, and were working on starting the walls, when they decided it would be easier to tile first, and then put up the drywall. So..off to Home Depot we went. We picked out tile and supplies, and then headed for lunch.

Bill came home with a crummy headache, and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in bed...so we cancelled plans to head to the church property for BBQ and fireworks. It worked out OK as the neighbors grandkids are here from Washington, and the spent the day with them in the pool. Great place to be, as it hit 98 again, although official Sweet Home temp showed only 95.

Bill & I spent the rest of the evening on the couch watching Top Gun (we missed you Tam!) and then headed to bed. Great 4th, huh? Anyplace spent with Bill (and the bonus that we had the house to ourselves) is a good day!

Work on the Bathroom Resumes

Bill under the shower.....

Finally have resumed work on the bathroom. When funds run low...work stops! Thankfully, we had some gifts sent to Bill for his birthday...poor guy used them on the bathroom, but he was happy to do so.

Robert cutting the cold water line...it's OK, it's a new blade!

Robert & Bill putting in the drain for the shower...

Robert & Bill got the shower drain hooked up, the shower set, and the water checked for leaks. Now Bill can work this week on getting green board put up in the bathroom, and we can start finish work! It's getting to the fun part now. Think we have enough funds to finish up, and get it operating now!

Ashley says " Hmmm...no water here......looks like a fun place to play"

Waterloo Camping June 19th-June 22, 2009

We came home from Youth Camp on Thursday afternoon. We spent a few hours unpacking, doing laundry, doing a few repairs to the 5th wheel (maintenence things), and then showering. Bill & I decided that we needed to get out for some time alone, since we'd been with kids for three days straight. Not a huge thing for us...but we needed to deprogram, and pick up a few groceries for the weekend of camping. Now it was OUR Weekend!! Time to relax, visit with longtime friends (more like family) and enjoy the weather.

We headed back over to the church to drop off the tables, chairs, and drink containers that we borrowed, and found our pastor & his wife Sherry working on a fence to use as a backdrop for our outdoor services. So, being it was getting late, and they seemed to have a ways to go, we hung around and helped out (Bill helped...I visited with Sherry, and we were tool gophers!)

We left the church property around 9, and headed for dinner. We had a quick bite, and then headed to Walmart and do our shopping. We got home around 11:30, and headed to bed.

On Friday morning, our intent was to get up & head out around 10am. We were so exhausted from the weeks activites at camp, and the long day prior, we decided to hang out, get some things done, have a nap, and then head to camp. Being it was so far away (About 10 minutes!), we enjoyed a nap, lunch, and then headed off to Waterloo.

It was a nice afternoon & evening, with no rain. We had a great night of visiting with friends and catching up. Poor Melissa came down with the stomach flu and spent the night in a tent with a bucket....thankfully, no one else got it.

Saturday, it was a great lazy day. Some of the guys went fishing (Ryan was in heaven as we aren't fishermen) and Kristin was able to join Jen & Eric to see Eric's girlfriends daughter perform in her recital for dance. Kristin was thrilled!

We had a great stew dinner, stone soup style! Whatever we had, we threw in! It was great...along with another great fire, great stories and even Melissa felt good enough to join us for the fire, and even dinner!

Sunday, most everyone packed up & headed home. We decided to hang out another day with Mike and Kathy....we had a great visit and did a lot of catching up. It was great! Bill & Mike chatted a lot about Bill's possiblilty of applying for dispatch like Mike did....for some reason it seems like it would be a good fit for Bill. Pray that there is an opening for him to give it a try. I really feel like this is something that Bill would be great at....and the benefits are great. Being we have a flexible school schedule with the kids...shift work would not be an issue, as each week the days off are different...yet every other weekend is off. Keep him in prayer as he researches this possibility...and if it's God's will, there will be an opening!

Youth Camp for Calvary Chapel June 16-June 18, 2009

Bill & I volunteered a few months back to do the cooking for our Youth Group's summer camp trip. When we volunteered, we thought it was strictly camping...but what it turned out to be was a paintball camp...and so much more. We had a great time getting to know the kids, as well as some of the youth leaders. God was certainly present.

Day one: We headed out around 9AM to beat everyone up to camp. We arrived around 10:30, and were set up about 12:00, just in time for everyone to roll in around 12:30, get their gear stored & join us for lunch.

Kristin did not play paintball...instead, she opted to pan for Gold a few more times. She found LOTS of interesting things, including a lot of fools gold, and an obsidian arrow head...she had a BLAST! She was SO serious about the whole thing.

The afternoon was a leisurely time for all, with everyone doing whatever activity they wanted. They all had a credit at the store, along with one round of gold panning, two rounds of racing the electric cars, and tons of other things they could do...frisbee golf, hanging out, ping pong, and enjoying the camp fire. It was a fun afternoon for all, with dinner of Chili over the fire. Chad had a great message, and Troy was awesome, as always on the guitar. We enjoyed a fire, smores, and rootbeer floats for dessert.

Day Two:

We had fresh donuts for breakfast, a lazy morning and then everyone headed to the paintball area for a fun morning/afternoon of fun. There were many tired campers after lunch! Mid afternoon, everyone headed out to play a game that Troy organized. We had supper, another great message from Chad, and great music from Troy. Another fun evening by the fire.

Day Three; Our final day....it began with a quiet bunch around the fire, and then after the sponsors got up, it was RISE & SHINE with pots & pans! We enjoyed one last message, and another great round of praise songs. God was present...and we all had a great time. We came home tired, but refreshed.

Youth Camp--Day One

Bill & I volunteered to do the cooking for Youth Camp this year. We spent last week getting ready to head out, and the weekend shopping & putting together items to go. I worked on Monday, then we headed to the church softball game in the evening. Tuesday AM we got up and headed off to camp. Hunter came along with us as Ryan wanted to be able to have a friend there...and they are great buddies.

We arrived around 10:30, just in time to set up, get out lunch things, and have about 30 minutes to relax before the Youth Leaders & kids arrived. Once they did, there wasn't too much down time for us...but it was a great event! Check out the first day's events here!

The kids spent some time Gold Panning, Racing Remote Cars, and we even had Worship & Bible Study...it was great!

Check out our Church Blog

Hi..

Have been working this week on our church blog. You can visit it here at www.lccevents.blogspot.com or connect from the link on the sidebar to the right!

Off to Youth camp for a few days....lots to post when we get back for one day before we take off again!

LCC's 2nd Softball Game June 8th,2009

This was LCC's second game.Here is a pic of some of our team. We will attempt for a group picture at the next game. The game started off great...and then the injuries started. Even though there was nothing serious...we were almost out of players. Everyone had a good time, and the spectators seemed to have as much (or more) fun as the players. Some were accused of "heckling", but it was all in fun, and the Christian Love was flowing heavily.

There was an awesome Osprey nest on top of one of the field lights. While trying to catch a picture of just some birds in the nest...this was caught:

While watching these birds, we saw Dad bring several fish (most were smaller than this one), a snake, and one of the kids said they saw him bring a rat. We were discussing what Mom was telling the kids "Here kids...fish sticks...." That then escalated to "Oh, fish sticks and garter"....one step more...to "fish sticks and garter sauce"...we were killing ourselves with laughter. We cheered on our team as well as prodded some more than others....it was great! One spectator for the other team asked where we were playing next week...as she wanted to be sure to sit with us. SO...if you need a good time...next Monday at 8:00PM, at Bryant park is the place to be to cheer on our church softball team. Following are all of the pictures.

Catching Up

It's been a whirlwind around here the last few days. Friday, we took charge of Alyona for a week while Sean & Tracey are in Montana for a graduation and some much needed family time! We headed to the school on Friday morning for Alyona's talent show. There were 24 acts, and tons of talent there! I was amazed at how good the audience of Jr High kids were, as we sat for over 2 hours for the whole talent show.

Alyona sang some hip pop song...(don't recall the name) and she was in her element! Most kids got up and sang, hands at their sides, scared to death...not Alyona...hands in the air, dancing...she had a blast! We enjoyed all the other act, but were a bit partial to Alyonas!

Here is a quick picture of Ashley, checking out Kristin's rats...or should I say, Mary Mae, checking out Ashley the cat! It was very funny....yet, when Mary Mae is loose, and approaches Ashley, Ashley runs!

Next was the weekend....Ryan went to Hunters for the weekend, and ended up marching the Lebanon Strawberry Parade...had we known, we would have gone up to cheer him on. Bill spent most of the day at the church property cutting the grass....I spent the day going through and scanning pictures for the scrap book for Char & Al that the church is putting together. It was so fun to see some of the old pictures of us...check this out!!

We put together dinner on Saturday night, and realized we were out of soy sauce....so, Robert & Bill cut open all the little packets of soy sauce that we got from all the take out....we had a full bottle when they were done....good job guys!

On Sunday morning, we got up and headed for Portland. Al has taken a call at a church in AZ. ( For those of you that don't know...Char & Al were our first friends here in OR, and our life long friends. We were here for each other when it seemed there were no other young couples in Sweet Home. We both had no family, and it took 4 of us to get through a few months with Kimberlee, who was a very colicky baby! We all adored here, and she is the reason that we have two great kids of our own. ) We arrived in Portland 15 minutes before the service, and Ben (a friend who arranged us being a surprise) met us there, and followed us inside to get pictures of the surprise. They were surprised. We asked Ben to take a few pictures for us...he did a great job!

We spent a great afternoon together, and then headed out for dinner together before parting. We know they are moving a long way, but know that we have deep ties (we are God parents to 2 or 3, and have adopted the 3rd!) and they are Ryan's God parents....so we will always be in touch, and know Char will always come home to Mom's eventually!! (Which is driveable for us!---although, you know us...we've made some pretty long road trips!)

Today was Bill's birthday. What a crummy day it was for him. No Cakes, No Presents....(other than what Mom Richards sent...and the gift card from Tam & Eric--I just meant here at home). Robert was kind enough to buy him a nice set of Jack Stands for his birthday...but they were given early. What a great guy! Alyona & I took off shortly after 7am this morning, she to school, I to work, along with Robert who headed in a different direction for work. I worked until 6pm, and Bill had to get supper for all of us if we were going to make it to the church softball game. It was a great time, and I've never had so much fun. We had SO much fun sitting in the stands, cheering on our team. While at the game, there was a huge Osprey nest on the light pole. I was trying to get a good shot of Mom & babies, when Dad flew in with this huge fish! He later came in with a snake. A few of us in the stands were killing ourselves with our own jokes. "Here kids...fish sticks for dinner--with a side of garter sauce"!!! Ah...guess you had to be there. It's funny to some of us!

Here are the big hecklers--oh, I mean supporting fans.....Bill & Pastor Tom....they were a crack up...between the two of them, there was never a dull comment.

Here's a picture of our own Robert....we won't bore you with the other team picture...unless of course you want to see them, in which case, I'll add a link to here later, after I put up the church pictures on that blog...maybe tomorrow. I have to work tomorrow, and it's already 12:20...so need to call it a night.