30th Anniversary party

Thanks to all the people that came to our 30th anniversary party. The weather was very cooperative and there was lots and lots of food to eat. Special thanks to my children who put it all together and my family for also adding the special touches. We had many friends from out of town that made it over...gracias! Terry is giving his two cents before we eat....Must be very very beleivable, hence the look!!
We had a great day of visiting, playing horseshoes and blongo....and the party even got crashed!! What a special day indeed.

OMG Bikers!

Late Saturday evening I heard a couple of bikes (duo-sports) pull into the drive way. A couple of riders said that they had been up and down the river and couldn't find even a wide spot in the road to camp and could they please pitch their tents in the yard (our lower pasture yard) so I said "Sure, go ahead" Next thing I know there are 15 bikes in the yard! It was an impromtu ride organized over an internet forum and most of the riders didn't even know each other yet. We built a fire and exchanged stories until late in the night. A good group of riders and new friends!! The duo sport is a bike that can drive roads and dirt. Many of the riders told stories of the dirt roads they had traveled all over Oregon and Idaho. Sounds like lots of fun to me!

The view from inside

For many of you who have not been to visit us yet......I thought I would take a picture from inside the tunnel. Homestead Road (the road we live on) is an old rail bed and the trains had to pass through several tunnels in our area as they hauled the ore from the mine. This is the only one of the tunnels left standing and we drive through it to go to my Mom and Grannys house and my sisters house. In the winter the floor gets covered with large ice stalagmites, which is very freaky. In the summer the bats live in there and you can watch them come flying out at dusk.

Oh, Hail!!

We had a huge hail storm come through our area last Wednesday. I know that all you from the midwest have seen hail bigger and better, but this, at least for us, was an unusual occurance. I took a very ugly picture of my foot next to some very large hailstones. Good thing I don't have neighbors or else they would have thought I was a looney running around in the yard during a hail storm collecting peices of ice!! (I put them in my freezer so I could show people how big they were. I may use them for my ice tea one of these hot summer days to come!!)

We have Pigs!!

We decided to be small time pig ranchers!! The picture shows three generations in the pig pen feeding the pigs! Me, My Mom and My Grandmother. We had fun feeding the pigs but phewweeee it was stinky!!

Sunrise Service on the Deck

It seems to becoming a tradition at our little Church to have our Easter morning sunrise service on the deck. I think we figured that is must be the 8th or 9th year that we have done this. We skipped one year because it was an early easter and the weather reports said it was going to be cold...but it was a beautiful day so from now on...despite the weather you'll find us all on the deck Easter morning. We had a good crowd of 78 people attend (our record attendance was 89). We have a potluck brunch after
the services. You just can't beat it. One of the best parts
is the fact that we get people from all over who attend. This year
we had a family from Wisconsin who were staying in the area.
We always enjoy seeing our friends from out of town. We have
one couple who comes from LaGrande each year (Hi Cliff and Dorothy). And church friends who have moved away (good to see you Pam and Ryan).
If you are ever in the area this time of year you are welcome to join us!

Easter Preparation

It is amazing that we only have one small boy to hunt eggs this year, yet we colored and decorated over 70 eggs!! I would suspect that maybe we have too much fun! Lisa brought mimosas and we stained our fingers blue!!

The weather was perfect, we did the dirty work out side. We had so many eggs left over that I had to make a jar of pickled eggs. Not actually my favorite but I thought I would give it a try.