Southern CA grandchildren enjoy winter in OR

Sarah looks the hill over, then starts down the hill followed by a crash.

Noah looks the hill over...

goes over the jump he and his dad constructed...then reaches the bottom safely.

Noah makes an ice fort.

Ice tastes so good, at least Sarah thinks so.

Winter continues

We are now experiencing the third snowiest winter in the recorded history of the state of Oregon. Eric gets involved in shoveling the sidewalk.

In order to get out, we need to have chains on our tires. Salem only has 30 trucks with snowplows and sand/gravel spreaders. Our road has not seen one of them for days. But our road leads to one that has been taken care of, so off we went to do some shopping.

Besides all the extra work snow brings, the beauty of the fresh snow is wonderful to observe.

And while ice is pretty treacherous, it coats the trees and allows them to glisten.

Winter comes to Salem

Snow is a rare thing here in Salem, so when it comes, there are a variety of responses. When we arrived at church yesterday, there was a group making a snowman that turned out to be at least 5 feet tall. The children in my preschool class at church kept bringing up the subject of going outside to play in it. Many stayed home from church because there are a lot of fears related to driving in the stuff. By evening, it was snowing at a good clip with the wind blowing, too. I went online to see if the schools had posted whether or not they would be closed on Monday and was pleased to see that there would be no school. But this morning I had to venture out to get the following photos to document what's happening here at our house.

This is what Molly does on a cold, winter day (or any other day for that matter).

Although it was cold (21 degrees), taking these pics, this shot makes it worth it.

It appears from the amount of snow on our deck railings that we got 2 inches.

Our neighbors are having fun on our hill (watch out for the shed at the bottom!).

The plow made it halfway up the hill but then turned around.

This is what happened when I took a photo with flash last night.

Mighty Mountain Maples

Today my husband and I drove up to the North Fork of the Santiam River to take a hike back to see a waterfall. The day was cool (about 60 degrees), but it was sunny which is a rare commodity around here this late in October. I'm including the following photos so you can appreciate what the northwest looks like in the fall. Hope you can come and enjoy it with us some day. When I saw the size of these maple leaves, I could hardly believe my eyes. Rather than trying to describe how big they were, I put my hand on it to make it more believable.

The moss on this branch created a perfect photo with Halloween next week.

The name of this waterfall is Little Falls.

This view made the hike all worth it. I took it at the same place the previous picture was taken. All I did was look downriver.

Even 3-year-olds can be a blessing

One of the things I wanted to do this school year was to have my 3-year-old preschoolers be involved in some sort of an outreach into the community. Our school is located across the street from an assisted living facility. I am quite familiar with it, because our neighbor spent the last few months of his life there, so I visited this place on a regular basis. So I contacted the office there and asked if my class could bring birthday cards at the beginning of each month that could be distributed to the residents on the appropriate dates. She told me how many to make, and at the end of September I delivered them.

Today, I got the following thank you:

"3-year-old class: thank you for the birthday card. That is so very thoughtful! I liked the decorations you added to the card. Have a wonderful life. Thank you again - you really brightened my day."

We bless many people every day and don't even know it. But today, God allowed this teacher and 16 boys and girls to find out that a simple act of kindness makes a difference. That's why I'm passing it along to you. And during this week and the next, we have 5 more cards to make so that the blessings will continue.

Yummy applesauce is a family affair

On Saturday morning, we headed out to Herb Doering's farm to purchase apples. He has been the source of all the apples we have used to make applesauce in the 16 years we have lived here. We chose a 20# box of golden delicious and a 20# box of Jonathans. Each box was $6 which is a great price seeing as how apples in the store run between $.89 and $1.50 this year. So armed with my applesauce maker, heavy duty aluminum dutch ovens and lots of plastic freezer boxes, we headed over to Andrew & Megan's to start the process of some of the best applesauce in the world (yes, that's right - in the world).

Andrew rotates the apples so they cook evenly.

Megan gets the first sample. With cinnamon and a scant amount of
sugar, the warm sauce was very tasty.

My applesauce maker attaches to the side of the table. Once the apples are quartered and cooked they are poured into the white hopper at the top. Using a wooden tool and cranking the handle, the apple skins/seeds/stems go straight and the sauce comes down to the left. Looks like Andrew is trying to get his first sample. Note Molly laying down by the front door. With all her fur, I think she was too warm laying on the carpet. Later in the day, I found her all by herself in a cool, back bedroom.

Lowest gas prices are here!

That's right, Costco started offering regular unleaded gas at $2.89 a gallon. We had bought it the day before at $3.03 and thought we were doing well. So hopefully the price will stay low so that I can make use of that good price. From the other side, who would have thought that we would be so happy to have gas at this price?

All I Need is a Good Contest

Andrew asked me recently what I had found to take my interest now that we have both a Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread in our area. I've decided after my shopping trip yesterday that I've found what it is. Let me tell you about it...

When I started teaching 3-year-olds at a new school, they told me about the Box Tops for Education program that they participate in each year. I knew about these box tops because they are on a lot of products that I buy such as cereal, cake mix, and other boxed products put out by General Mills. Each box top is worth 10 cents, and schools can use the money to purchase much needed supplies. But then my school threw in the bait: there will be a contest between the grades to see who can bring in the most box tops each month.

So I went onto the website, printed out a list of all the products (which now include Ziploc, Kleenex and a lot more), and I handed these lists out to the parents. I looked through my pantry and found close to 20 plus I raided Elie's, Andrew & Megan's and Jennifer found 23 in her stash!!!

But what got my adrenaline pumping was when I saw the Albertson's ad last week which featured many of these products on sale. Once you buy 10 participating brands, there was a bonus $5.00 taken off at the register. Great! Then in Sunday's paper there was a whole insert with coupons for these products. So I talked my husband into taking me there after we visited the Verizon store, and the two of us got to work. Armed with the ad, coupons, and determination, we got our cart and started cruising the aisles.

The first stop was cereal. I needed to find three General Mills brands so that I could use my $1.00 off coupon. No problem. Since we were in the cereal aisle, we also found fruit snacks on sale plus a coupon to buy 2 and get 50 cents off. I chose Batman and My Little Pony to share with my preschool class. This is fun! Now we have five items with five to go. Our search continued in the baking aisle, refrigerated biscuits, paper products and before we knew it, we had all we needed.

So now it was on to the checkout. I would NEVER shop at Albertson's and pay their full price for anything. $3.29 for the smallest box of Cheerios? Never! But $1.50 with a coupon? Now that's OK. So if I had bought these items at full price, the total would have been close to $40.00. But with the sale prices, the total was reduced by $16.00. Coupons took another $4.29 off, and the bonus of buying 10 participating items subtracted $5.00. So my total was $11.77 plus I have all those Box Tops for Education coupons to add to the contest for my class. Wow!

Now if I could just remember what our class will win.....oh well, it was lots of fun. By the way, do you have any box tops?

Try this recipe

I made this dish for dinner this week, and since it's not only delicious but quick, I thought I'd send it along in case you would want to try it.

Baked Potato Frittata

3 T. butter/margarine
1 large potato
1/4 cup chopped onion
8 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Optional: cooked Italian sausage or other meat

Bake the potato (microwave is quick); peel and dice into bite-sized pieces. In fry pan, saute onion and potato chunks til potato is lightly browned. Beat together eggs, sour cream and seasonings. Pour into the frying pan and cook til eggs are almost set (I keep moving cooked eggs to the top to move process along). Sprinkle with cheese. Broil about 6" from heat til cheese melts, but watch carefully.

Chocolate and Berries - Yum! Yum!

I got the following recipe off the internet and wanted to share it with everyone because it is delicious!!!

Chocolate Raspberry Cobbler Cake

3/4 cup butter or margarine (1 1/2 sticks)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
4 cups berries such as raspberries, marionberries or blackberries
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in 9x13 pan by placing it in the oven. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, milk, vanilla and brown sugar and pour half of batter directly in the hot melted butter in the pan. Top with 3 cups of berries plus the chocolate chips. Pour remaining batter over the top followed by the last cup of berries. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until the center is set. Use the toothpick method to test. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

If you don't have access to fresh berries, try the frozen mixed berries from Costco as I'm sure they will work too. There's something about the chocolate and berry combo that is so good.

Wildflowers abound on the mountain

The following pictures show why I love coming to Mt. Rainier in the summer. Normally, the flowers are at their peak earlier than this, but because of the tremendous amount of snow this year, we hit it just right. One hiker we met explained that some of the trails on the mountain won't ever open up this year, because the snow will start falling in a couple of weeks, and everything will be buried.

The visitor's center had a book all about Mt. Rainier's flowers, so I bought it. The purple ones are Lupine. The bright pink are magenta paintbrush. The white ones to the far left, with the large heads, are called pasqueflowers. The tall, yellow blooms are called Lousewort. I enjoyed finding out the names as some of them are so unusual.

Mt. Rainier: one of the most beautiful places around

On Labor Day weekend, Herm and I drove up to Mt. Rainier because we were hopeful that we could see the mountain and all of the wild flowers. Unknown to me, Herm made reservations at the historic lodge at Paradise. When we got there, it was raining, and there was no mountain in sight. When we woke up on Monday morning, the rain had stopped, but the clouds were around the inn. As I was sitting on the bed reading in our room, I glanced out the window, and this is what I saw. It gave me hope that we would have a great day on the mountain, and I was not disappointed as you will see in the following pictures.

What a handsome guy! Love that hat ;-)

Yes, my nose is red because it was only in the low 30's. B-r-r-r!

We heard a whistling in this area, and we found this marmot, the source of the sound.

I will do another blog with all of the wildflowers we saw, so be sure and check it out.

Aren't we a handsome family?

Back row right to left - Dave & Marcia Rundhaug, their 4 boys (Jeff, Mike & Amy, Dan & Melany, Todd & Kim), Don Sunman, Kim & Doug Porter & their 3 boys, Linda Porter & Mark Carpenter.

Second row from right to left: John (Karen's boyfriend), Karen (Brad Sunman's widow), Kristen (used to be Sunman & Martin & 2 girls), Dot, Ken, Avery (Mark's granddaughter), Mary, & Bob Porter.

Third row from right to left: Russ & Bethann (used to be Sunman & their 3 boys), Nadine Sunman holding 1 of Kristen's & 1 of Todd & Kim's girls), Sharon Sunman, Danny & Diane (used to be Carpenter), Josh & Kate (our kids), Carol & Gary.

Fourth row right to left: Ruth, Glad, Christopher (all in chairs)

on the grass in front right to left: Todd & Kim's boy & girl, and Mike & Amy's boy & girl

Matriarchs of the Carpenter Family

The Carpenter family had their annual reunion this past weekend at the home of my cousin, Dave Rundhaug. My cousin, Diane, was kind enough to send us some photos, and I wanted to share the following with you.On the left is Ruth Carpenter. I'm not certain of her age, but I know it's in her early 80's. Her husband was my Uncle Mayne. His name was George Maynard, and while my dad called him George, all of the rest of us called him Mayne. She just started having oxygen 24 hrs. a day due to breathing difficulties. She lives with her daughter, Diane, in Byron Center. (Previous reunions have met at Diane's home.) In the middle you see Dorothy, my mom, who turns 83 on September 14. The lady on the right is Gladys Porter. She is my dad's sister. In birth order, she is #3 and also in her 80's. She lives in a retirement home in a Detroit suburb. Her husband, Dick, passed away several years ago.

Final pics and reflections of Jordan G's visit

Jordan returned home very early on Sunday morning to be reunited with her mom and two pets. Here are three final pictures:

When we thought about what restaurant Jordan would enjoy on her final days with us, we thought that a carnivore like Jordan would most likely enjoy a place with steak. We went to the Sizzler where the meal was rounded out by their ice cream topped with chocolate AND caramel sauce.

Grandpa's motorcycle was a big success - they not only used it
for local trips but a half-day trip to Mary's Peak was fun, too.

Jordan and I went to see the movie "Kit Kitteredge" at Northern Lights dinner theatre. The neat thing about this place is you can eat and watch your movie. Jordan specifically asked that when I took this picture I was careful not to show the title of another movie that was showing at this theatre. She didn't want the word "sex" shown.

What a wonderful opportunity we had to enjoy this visit with Jordan. One of the meaningful things she said to me was: "Most grandmas are sweet to their grandchildren, but you are sweet to all of the children." Whenever I gave her something she asked for, there was always a "thank you". She didn't mind going to church for three hours even though it meant repeating the same kids' service while we served in one service and attended the other. We had opportunities to have some serious conversations about burdens she has on her mind, plus we had lots of fun. I trust she has lots of good memories of times spent together this summer. I know I sure will!!!

Motorcycling across Oregon, 8/08

Herm and I took a 4-day motorcycling vacation this month beginning in Salem, driving to Bend and calling it a day since it was 102 degrees. Next morning we continued on to Burns, then south to the Steens Mountains. During that leg of the trip we experienced driving with lightning flashing around us, rain, hail and then sun. We stayed in a historical hotel and had a pot roast dinner served family style with the other residents (plus a few folks that were camping nearby). The reason we chose this part of the state is because it is the only area where we have never travelled. We decided we won't be returning - it's dry and desolate.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was the trip between John Day and Prineville. We saw some majestic, rocky peaks. The two mountain pictures that follow are of the Blue Mountains just outside of John Day.



Our favorite town was discovered when we stopped for lunch in Vale where we noted all of the businesses that had murals painted on the buildings. The artistry was beautiful, and Herm and I have always enjoyed the history of the times that included the Oregon Trail.

The above mural was painted on the side of a church.

The following four murals were side by side, but due
to their length, I've broken them down into four individual photos.