SPRING HAS SPRUNG . . . FINALLY!

Spring has finally arrived to Oregon. Many of you have already been enjoying spring and the onset of summer. It was just a month ago that my bulbs dared to breach the earth. Flowers are beginning to bloom. Sunny days come for more than 1 day in a row.

Air balloons venture the skies.

Turkeys hatch.

And other babies are born like this colt and calves and llamas. It is all so enjoyable to view.BUT, with all the splendor of spring comes the "to do" list of the spring and summer months. On Memorial Day weekend we dug some ditches and annihilated some blackberries. And here's Mr. Ditch Digger himself. The rental company accidentally rented out the riding ditch witch we reserved. So, as you can see, we got an upgrade -- Bobcat with a trencher. It's hard to tell in the picture, but Jim is grinning ear to ear. He was like a little boy on Christmas morning with a new toy or shall we say "tank".

He trenched for irrigation to go to the garden.
When we lived in the city, we had a garden most every year. Then we move onto 10 acres and it took 5 years to get one in. The main reason was the need for water and now we can grow a garden. We are getting it in a little late, but next year will be better. We still have to put up a fence to keep out the deer and bunnies and other "vege munchin' critters".He trenched for drainage pipes from the driveway and the gutter system. Last year, we did the curtain drains. When the house was built the builder put the pipes the permitted distance from the house. They came up in 3 places in our field. So we trenched them to the edge of the property into the drainage ditch.
Then Jim took the trencher back and had the rental people put on the brush hog, which they also gave us a good deal on. Then testosterone filled the air!

We affectionately called it the "blackberry annihilator". Oh, Yeah! This baby disinigrated blackberries and small scrubby trees. Jim cleared at least 2-3 acres of land that we have never walked on because of the wall of blackberries. The blackberries were easily over 10 feet tall and unpenitrible. Places like this . . .
soon looked like this.

Blackberries literally "knitted" together these rows of sugar pines, not anymore.

You can see on all 3 sides the undergrowth and now it is cleared Jim would start on one side of the blackberries . . .
. . . push his way through and . . . . . . come out on the other side. Well, I guess I've carried on enough about this "fun" we had.

THE END.

CRYSTAL'S TRIPLE PLAY

Crystal came to Oregon from May 8-18. Her purpose in coming was a "triple play"--Annie's 3rd birthday, Mother's Day, and Nicole's baby shower. She brought Payton and Owen. Alex had to stay home with Ryan because he couldn't miss school. But, Alex and Ryan had a good time at the "bachelor pad". They went golfing one weekend and camping the next weekend.
The first event on Crystal's trip was Annie's #3 birthday. Payton and Annie haven't missed each others birthdays yet. Annie's mom, Jessica has been Crystal's friend since they were young and Jessica used to come to Crystal's birthday parties. History lives on.
Brian, Annie and Jessica. Annie will be a big sister at the end of summer.
Annie's party was a carnival, under the big top, theme.

There was face painting, cotton candy, popcorn and all kinds of fun stuff.
Like a bounce house, bounce slide and

and a circus tent pinata.
Here's the 3 little buddies. Maddie, Payton and Annie, the birthday girl, acting silly.
The following day was Mother's day. Here we are dressed up and ready to go to church.
That evening we invited Darla, Crystal's mother-in-law to come for dessert.
On the Friday before Crystal left, I took the day off work. We went to Salem. But we took the back roads through North Albany and then took the Buena Vista Ferry across the River. We drove our car onto the ferry and were shuttled across. It was neat.
Here's Payton in the car crossing the river.

First stop in Salem was Jim's work. Crystal never saw where Jim worked and the country roads came out in Salem right next to Jim's work.
The lobby has the Titanic display, because Jim's work sponsored the exhibit. Jim and I went and saw it at the end of the day.
Pretty flowers, pretty girl. Rhodies outside Jim's work.
None of us had been to this carousel on the Salem riverfront. Beside the fun carousel, there is a huge beautiful park with a large play area for kids. I would definetly go back again.

At the end of our park time, Crystal dropped me off at the Titanic exhibit, where I met Jim. This exhibit travels all over the US and it was excellent. Stories and artifacts that were very interesting. The Titanic sunk in 1912. I have a special interest in this because I have a book written about the Titanic,the same year the ship sunk and it has my grandpa's signature in it. I also have a framed replica of a Titanic postage stamp. Needless to say, I was excited to go to the exhibit.

In the beginning, they issue a boarding pass, with the name of a real person that was on the Titanic. It tells the name, age, 1st, 2nd or 3rd class, reason for boarding and a passenger fact. At the end of the exhibit, there is a wall with the names off the 2,228 passengers and crew. It shows the ones that lived and died. So we checked to see if we "lived" through the voyage. The names Jim and I got were in 3rd class, so we figured they didn't make it, but they DID.

Pictured going into the dining room. This is taken in front of a backdrop.

Last of the triple play on Crystal's visit was Nicole's baby shower. This is little Lucy Jane, about 8 days old. Isn't she just the cutest little person? Payton sure thinks so.

It was a fast 10 days, but fun as fun could be. Here's some pictures of us enjoying Payton and Owen. Going on walks and on the patio, loving the blue sky. It rained about 1/2 the time Crystal was here.

Owen weighs only 4 lbs. less than Payton. Check out those "thunder thighs".

Silly faces.

Grandpa's favorite thing to do, belly buzzers.

2 BIRTHDAYS & 1 ANNIVERSARY

Over a 10 day period, Jim and I celebrate both our birthdays and our anniversary. You know you are old when 1/2 your childhood is taken in black and white photos and at least 1/2 those pictures show you wearing a dress with a fluffy petticoat (not Jim, just I was wearing the petticoats). I thought it would be fun to share a little of our lives. My 54th birthday was on April 21st. This is my dad, Malcolm McClure and tiny me.

Some of you may not know that my dad died when I was 19 months old.

My 2 year birthday.

My mom, Theresa married Thomas Williamson when I was 3. He treated me like his own daughter and we did lots of fun things, like getting in this freezing river at Yosemite. I am being goofy at about age 5.
At 4 years old, I am pictured with my mom's parents in New Jersey. Jim often teases me about how I am always barefoot. Check out this picture, maybe it is genetic.
A fond childhood memory, our pekingese named Muffin. She was a PATIENT dog! Yes, that is her dressed from head to toe, including the bonnet.

And in the baby carriage, laying on her back. I took her on many a stroll through the neighborhood.
When I was 6 1/2 year old, my parents had Loretta, my sister. Muffin got a bit of a break, while I played with Loretta.
I think about 10 years old
Fast forward, 1973, Senior Picture.

On May 1, 1953, Jim was born. He celebrates #56 this year. He was the first boy born to his family. He has 2 older sisters and 2 younger brothers.

One year, he's so CUTE! 4 years old.
1958 Lanar Coverstone Family.10 years old. Can you find Jim? Look for the catcher.

Mom and the boys, not sure on the ages. Check out the hair and tie. Believe it or not, Jim grew his hair longer than this.

1972

Senior picture, he graduated in 1971. Jim and I met at BYU in 1975 and got engaged 6 weeks later.

Married 6 months after that. We celebrated our 33rd anniversary on April 23rd.

Family came along in the first 7 years. This is 1985.

Then 6 precious grandchildren came along in the past 12 years.
And here we are now.
Thanks to our sisters for providing most of these childhood photos. Thanks Loretta for putting the photo albums together. Thanks Pat, for the pictures and being the Coverstone Family historian. We celebrate the month of April along with several other birthdays of family that has passed on. Kathy's mom 4/6; Jim's mom and Kathy's dad 4/14; Kathy's parents' anniversary 4/12; Kathy's grandpa 4/20. We keep you close to our heart and savor the memories.