FUN, FAST, WEEKEND

We had a great weekend. Ryan had to come up for work, so we had a fun and fast weekend with them. They arrived Th. night and stayed at Ryan's mom's house.
Friday night, we all met at Ciddici's Pizza (Ryan's favorite). There was a big group of friends and family. Alex and Grandpa Jim are talking over phone technology. Jim just got the Droid X. He loves discovering all the "cool" things that it can do. Alex has the ipod in his hand.

Payton is here with BFF's Annie and Maddie. When she is with her friends, everyone else is "chopped liver".

Grandpa tries to make conversation here and you can just see Payton's expression---"Grandpa, can't you see I am busy with my girlfriends right now."

Owen however was Mr. Friendly. Here he is with Grandma Darla. When he first saw me, he let out a high pitched scream of delight and came running towards me, full steam ahead and yelled, "Grraannddmaaaaaa!!!!"

Cute mom and son pic

On Sat. afternoon, the Smith's moved their gear to our house. We were lucky to have no rain. The trampoline was on Payton's to do list.

Jim and Ryan went on a walk.

Owen went down for a nap and Payton and Grandpa went for a ride on the lawnmower.
Then played "Angry birds" on his new phone.

After Owen woke up, we walked down to the neighbor, about 1/2 mile away. This is Percy, the boar. He's a big boy.

and Sally his mate and their cute offspring. They are about 6 weeks old.

Here's a cute one "hamming it up" for the camera.

Owen liked the baby chicks.

This baby goat wanted a kiss.

This one was cuddly.

and photogenic.

These ones are waiting for Owen to feed them bread (we went through a whole loaf)

This one is named "Spring". They think she is pregnant with triplets. As you probably know, she's only equipped to feed 2 kids. I am trying to talk Jim into letting me have the 3rd baby that will need to be bottle fed, but we don't have a fence or small shed. I told him it could stay in the house, like a puppy, but he didn't buy it.

On Sat. evening Crystal and Ryan went on a date with their local friends. We grandkidsat.

After dinner, we had dessert.

Played hide and seek.

Watched kid shows and had a very happy time as you can see by the smile.

Here's some videos. This is kind of dark, but you can sort of make out the piglets.


At the end of this video, you'll see what Owen thinks of feeding the goats.

This is the baby goat crying for it's mom. After hearing it, you'll discover why baby goats are called "kids".

We had a tramp at our house while the kids were growing up. So Crystal got on it and tried a few of her tricks. She discovered she still has "it"

Payton just jumped and jumped with Crystal and I. I think we will nickname her "kangaroo".

Thanks for the super weekend!!!

YA KNOW, THERE'S SNOW

We woke up to snow this morning. The weatherman actually got it right. Historically, February is consistently our "weird weather month". We can have really warm days, hail, snow, mega rainy or super cold clear days. I took the first 3 pictures at 7:30 am.

The berry net.

Our new baby trees are probably thinking, "Where's the nursery greenhouse? IT'S COLD OUT HERE!!"

Then I took the next 2 pictures at 8am. You can see there quite a bit more snow just 1/2 an hour later.

I had a feeling the snow was going to be too heavy for the anti deer netting for the berries. Guess we'll be repairing that this weekend.

Although, I can't be too upset. It rarely snows this hard and it is so beautiful.

SWEET LITTLE SEEDLINGS

Jim, Kevin and I planted 40 little Douglas Fir seedlings on Saturday. We ordered them about a month ago, then went to the fairgrounds and picked them up on Saturday morning. We rented a gas powered auger with a 10" drill bit. Jim and Kevin dug 40 holes in less than 2 hours.

I got the seedlings planted in 3 hours.

Here's our "firstborn".

Here's about 30 of the 40 little guys. You have to look hard to see them. Kevin mowed this portion of the field, so the grass wouldn't be higher than the baby trees. As you can see, we are continuing a tree line that goes to the main road. There are about 80 of the full grown trees.

A video of this nifty hole digger. It was awesome!!

I'm sure there a mortality rate for these little seedlings, but I don't know what it is. If all 40 live more than 2 years, I'm going to change my e-mail address to kathypaulbunyuncoverstone@comcast.net

SPRINGING FORTH

As Kevin has been clearing brush, blackberries, limbing and cutting trees, he has found about a dozen springs. This one is the most active. Last summer we trenched a path to the pond. You can see the spring in the foreground, trenches on both sides and the pond in the upper left, just beyond the trees.

It just amazes me that it can just come up out of the ground, with such force.

This weekend, Jim and I went to a 2-hour outdoor class in the rain. It was in Eugene at Thistledown Farms. It was on pruning fruit trees and blueberries. The information and handout were very good and we learned a lot standing in the rain and mud with our umbrellas.
I forgot to bring my camera to Thistledown Farms, but I want to go back in the spring. The place had a big country barn store and in Fall they have a pumpkin patch event.

METAMORPHOSIS

Kevin's face has gone through some big changes. This was his face 2 years ago.

This has been his face for the last year.

He decided to get rid of the facial hair. This was the beginning.

And this is what he looks like now. He such a handsome guy.

Metamorphosis!

HAPPY DOUBLE DIGIT BIRTHDAY, SOPHIA

Sophie turned 10 years old on Jan. 8th. We stole the 3 grandkids from their dads on Tues., the 4th to celebrate Sophie's birthday. We went to the bowling alley and bowled a few games, ate dinner and played in the video game room.

Addy brought along her new Christmas present, the I-touch. As you can see Alex and even grandpa had to play with it while waiting their turn to bowl.
We had fun in the video game room.

We had cupcakes and

presents. Sophie got an American Doll for Christmas and this present is for the doll.

Afterward, the girls' dad wasn't home yet, so we dropped in on Penny. She used to be Sophie's daycare provider. Sophie loves to go visit her when Sophie comes to Oregon. We had a nice visit with Penny, catching up on old times.

Happy Birthday double digit girl. At 10 years old, you passed me up in height, but I still love you, grandma.

Sophie playing Sophie almost getting a spare.

Sophie scores on grandpa.

CHRISTMAS DAY! HOORAY!

We woke up Christmas morning at Ryan and Crystal's house.

Then went to Chris and Kelly's house for about an hour, to see what Santa brought them and their other gifts.

Some of the grandkids goodies.

Christmas afternoon, we went with Crystal's family to Ryan's parents house for a yummy Christmas feast.

and then relaxed

and watched "Despicable Me".

It was a wonderful Christmas week in CA. Thank you to the Smiths and Burks for putting us up. On the 26th we headed back to OR with the 3 oldest grandkids so they could spend the next 2 weeks with their dads.

Hope your Christmas was good and as fun as ours. Happy New Year!!!