OTHER OCTOBER OCCASIONS

Every year, at Bishop's Pumpkin Farm, Kelly has the kids stand and get measured. Addy, at 16, 5' 11"

 Sophie, at 11 1/2, 5' 10"

 Dylan, at 4, 3' 6"

 So what do you do with such a tall girl like Sophie?  She can run fast on the soccer field.

 She is just getting started with a Volleyball club. She has tryouts on the 11th.

 Here are her 3 friends that are also starting Volleyball and yes, they are all the same age.   YIKES!

 These 2 mamas and their babies think they own the backyard. But we are making some changes to the yard.  We added 85 yards of dirt to help raise up the sloping backyard.  We hope the deer will stay on the grass and not the soft dirt after the rains.

We loved unloading it like this.  Those dirt clods were huge and hard as rock. I could stand on top of them and they wouldn't even loose a little dirt on the edges.

At the end of the day, we had 23 piles of dirt. While we were at work for the next few days, Kevin took the tractor and smashed most of the huge dirt clods. They were like cement almost. I was amazed he could get it this smooth, but still not smooth enough for grass seed.

Our friends let us use their box scraper. It really helped smash some clods and level high and low spots.

This is as good as it gets, ready for grass seed.

 Kevin turned THIRTY on Oct. 21st.  On his last day of being 29, he and Jim went fishing at a private 12 acre lake.

 They caught 2 trout and 3 bass. 

 The big boy bass, 16" and 4 lbs.  No fish stories here.

 On his birthday, I made one of his favorites--ribs.  Sorry these 2 pics are out of focus.

 His new slippers.

 So the "old man" is 30 now. This past summer, in his younger years, he worked on a farm.  He drove this truck back and forth from the field to the warehouse.  It was filled with wheat, or ryegrass, or radish seed.

 In the early Fall, he drove this tractor with a harrow and roller.  Brought back good memories for me.  I drove this same setup when I was working for a farmer about 19 years ago.

Last few October occasions, Addy #10, played her first powderpuff game.

 She's on the left in center field.

 Payton got the Panther Pursuit of Excellence Award at an award assembly. We always knew she was a good smart and nice girl.

Wow, well that's a mod podge of Fall events and Halloween is just around the corner.

OWEN TURNS 4 ON OCT. 1ST

Sweet little 4 year old face getting ready to blow out the candle.

 Had his birthday at Bishop's Pumpkin Farm.  Great place! Lots of room to run, climb and play.

 His party theme was monster truck.

 His cake pop.

 Crystal made TIME CONSUMING cake pops for the party guests.

 Thanks mom!!

 Favorite part of the pumpkin farm, the train ride.  Owen is a train lover!

 Cousins, brother and friend party goers.

 Dylan gave Owen a matching backpack for preschool, name sewn on it.

 Day to day activity for Owen is preschool.  This field trip to the fire station was a favorite.  As you see in the picture, he can hardly contain his ENTHUSIASM.


 He also take gymnastics. This is a zipline in his class.

He continues to love Thomas the Train, his dog Coda, and his family. Happy Birthday!

MORE OF OUR STUPENDOUS SEPTEMBER

While on our September trip to CA for Dylan's birthday we did some other fun things also.  We gave Owen his birthday presents, since we weren't coming back for his birthday. His birthday is Oct. 1st.  He will also be 4.  I think it is so fun to have the 2 boy cousins only 19 days apart. 



 We judged headstand contests. Kelly won every time!

 We had R & R with the grand kids.

 We "spoke their language".

 We visited Kelly's new office.  Her building is brand new.  She helped design the building, worked with the contractor and remodeled another building across the parking lot.  They really work her to the bone.  I guess that's what happens when you're so responsible.

We went to Payton's soccer practice in 99 degree heat.

 And her gymnastics class.

 It's no wonder the grand kids love this guy so much!

 We visited Payton's Kindergarten class one day.

 Very studious.

Here's Sophie and Ronnie. Ronnie lives are the Burks home and they dress her for all the holidays.  Sophie and Addy were very busy with school and other activities.

 Before we left for CA, we painted the trim on our house on Labor Day weekend.  It was quite the "labor".  There was lots of puddy and primer "prework" to do.

 Took 3 long days and lots of ladder climbing.

 This is the tallest ladder I climbed.  I have a big case of acrophobia.  But there was plenty of low trim to do.

 After getting back from CA, we had produce producing and gardening to do.  This is the first year our little pear tree produced fruit. 

 We laughed because of the "crude" shape of this watermelon.  It was so yummy sweet.  We got quite a few of them.

 And you know what Roma tomatoes mean  . . .

 SALSA.  We also planted the jalapenos and onions. Over a month we made about 100 pints.  Our kids always "collect" a few jars every time they come up.  Last year we made 82 pints and only had 3 jars left.

 Finally in September, Jim and I took a 3-day trip to Lake Billy Chinook. On our way there, a stop in Sweet Home at Jim's favorite place.

 It's one of the few places that you can order from the car and they bring it on a tray and you can eat from the car.

 This was our cute little cabin that overlooked the lake. AC and indoor plumbing. We loved it.

 This is where Jim spent quite a bit of his time. It was so peaceful.

 One day we rented a boat. I reserved a fishing boat and we were surprised at this cute little boat with the steering wheel at the helm and an open bow.  12' long and 25 horsepower, her name, the Calabogie.

 The captain.

 The fisherwoman/sunbather.

 We went up every arm of Lake Billy Chinook.  Three rivers come into it, the Deschutes, Crooked and Metolius.

 This is where the Crooked River comes into the lake. Fish were jumping out of the water, but we didn't catch any. Our bait had a nice bath though.

So now you see why I called September a stupendous month.