Drive in the woods

Monday we decided to head out in search of some new camping spots.  Our destination was Olive Lake, near Ukiah/Granite area. After 30 miles down a gravel road....we found it.  The temperature in Pendleton was 70, but when we reached the lake it was a chilly 48. I'm sure glad that I didn't leave the house wearing a tank top and shorts. Chris tried to build a fire, but the wood was too wet.  The guys fished a little, Evan threw rocks in the water and we had an enjoyable day!

a few elk we saw on the drive

If you've never been to Granite, its quite the experience.  The roads are dirt, the houses look like they all would blow down in a strong wind, and it is in the middle of no where.

town church

Chris's dream home :)

wood steel banded pipe used to transport water from Olive lake to the Fremont Powerhouse. 

The Powerhouse produced electricity for the miners & was built 106 years ago. That was your history lesson for the day :)

click to enlarge.  You can read a little more about the pipe.

Boys on the dock at Olive lake.

I know this one is sideways, but here's Evan playing in the snow.

Crafts and RV update

The kids ran out of play dough and instead of running to the store to buy some more, I thought "lets make it"  I am so glad we did.  It was super easy & came out really soft. The recipe made a lot too!

 Homemade Play dough Recipe

1 c. flour

1 cup water

2 tsp cream of tartar

1/3 c salt

1 T. Vegetable oil

food coloring

mix together all the ingredients except the food coloring.  Cook over low/med heat, stirring constantly.  Once it begins to thicken, add food coloring. The more you add, the brighter the color. Continue to stir until the mixture is thick and begins to stick together.  Remove dough to wax paper and allow to cool.  Once cool to the touch, knead until smooth.

After 7 years we have decided to upgrade our R.V.  Yesterday we cleaned out the old trailer to get it ready to put up for sale.  It's bitter sweet, because we have a lot of fun memories camping and living in it. Okay maybe Chris didn't have a great time living in it for a year, but it has definitely paid for itself.

FOR SALE!

We won't take possession of our new (to us) trailer until the current owners pick up their new one and clean it out.  Just for fun, I'll post the same make and model from pictures I found on-line.

double set of bunks for the kids and all their friends :)

kitchen

Spirit Week and an ugly bug!

Austin's school has been doing spirit week, today is green hair day.  Since stores only sell the green hairspray during Halloween, I had to figure out a way to color his hair without it. Food coloring works!

On a totally different subject.....Chris came home late from work last night and found this crawling on him! We put it in rubbing alcohol and the little bugger kept moving for more than 10 minutes! I'm headed out today to get the pets flea and tick repellent and will think twice before walking through tall grass.  Out of all the bugs in the world, these have to be my least favorite.

Nightly devotional

Austin has a daily devotional book that we read to him every night.  This one I thought was a great reminder so I wanted to share it.

Don't Get Stuck

Jesus answered, "l am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me ."
-John 14:6

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But sometimes it can be hard for you to understand My way of doing things in this life. lt's easy to get your mind stuck on your own idea of how things should go. Just don't get so stuck on your idea that you forget to look for My way.

When things are not going your way, don't panic-accept the situation. Feeling sorry for yourself can easily spill over into feelings of resentment and anger. That can cause you to push away from Me.

Remember that I use all things to work together for good in your life-even the things you wish were different. So accept your situation, and then look around you for what I am doing. Keep your eyes on Me-no matter what is happening around you. When you keep Me in the center of your thinking, I help you make good choices.

First Missing tooth!

Austin lost his first tooth last night at dinner. After all his anxiety about if it will hurt or not, he bit into a sandwich and didn't even feel it come out!  The tooth fairy came last night and exchanged his tooth for a $1.00.  There were tears shed this morning over the fact that the tooth was gone.....so the tooth fairy gave it back. 

Mother's day Fishing trip

We took a drive through the Umatilla National Forest & stopped at Goldfish pond to fish.

It is true to it's name all right.

A school of Goldfish

There must have been 100's swimming around

Evan reeling in a fish. He was so excited.

We fished for about 3 hrs and Chris couldn't keep bait on our hooks.

The fish were biting like crazy! Now that's the way I like to fish.

The forest was full of wild flowers just like these.

Perfect spot for lunch, this was a different pond.

more wildflowers

Our catch!  Or shall I say what we kept.  We caught more but released them.

The boys and their fish.

                                            

Mother's Day program

Austin's school, Harris Junior Academy put on a wonderful Mother's day program today.  Kids of all grades, sang songs and played instruments.  Here's a few pictures of Austin and his classmates.

Peeking over to see Mom & Dad

left of Austin is Kenny, to the right is Micah and in front-Solomon.

All 3 boys are really good friends of his & both Micah and Solomon's Mom's are

good friends of mine as well.

Kenny, Austin and Micah. These 3 are all on the same Whiffle ball team. Scheduled to start this month.

Blogger wouldn't allow a video to be loaded directly, so Austin's solo is in the smile box below.

He did such a great job!

This free digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Dancing in Heaven

Grandma Cook left this world Wednesday May 9th to be with the Lord Jesus & her beloved husband Jim in heaven.  I praise and thank God for the time that he gave us with her.  She loved her family dearly & also the Lord.  We will see you again in Heaven Grandma, give Grandpa a great big hug from us too!

Fun with friends

Meredith, Ava and Garrett came for a few nights to visit us.  It had been 6 months since we'd seen each other....I think the longest we'd ever went without a visit since I met her 10 years ago!

Ava, Garrett & Evan

Garrett-2, Ava-4, Austin-6, Evan-1

Story time before bed.

Austin was reading a book to Ava.

We stopped by the tribal museum and to our surprise the wild birds were there too.

After naps, we checked out the Farmer's Market downtown.

Cake Pops!!!!

We were up late decorating 50+ of these things!