Wedded Bliss

We attended the wedding of Richard and Jennifer Carlson today. It feels like many moons since we were at the nuptials of anybody - seems like we go to too many funerals. It was festive and fun, the weather was beautiful - and we wish them all the best. You may recognize the official "officiator".

Maren's favorite part - the "wedding kiss"

A little tour . . .

While Milah was fancied up and having a night on the town, we went for a ride - shhh, don't tell her

Fancy Milah - Can u believe it?

I had to grab my camera for this occasion. I convinced Milah to get dressed up for dinner with Papa and Nana. This is WAY out of her comfort zone as she prefers jeans and t-shirts, with worn out tennis shoes. It was difficult to catch a grin, so the first picture shows her true feelings. Grrrr.

Friday Update

Sten has returned! This is half of the fish they caught.

I guess we'll be getting our daily dose of omega 3. Yummmm!

They caught 70 salmon and 18 halibut

If anyone has exceptional recipes for this fish, please pass them along

The kids competed in another swim meet.

Fun and games with the Johnson kids

It's a Guy Thing?!

Grandpa Lester's Old Farm Truck

Scott says this pic is a bit embarassing, as the air compressor is mere inches from the flat tire, hmmm

Bed 1

Scott has been waiting for months to tackle this "fun" project . . . it looks like a nightmare to me, but he is over the moon excited. He is going to cut the bed off truck 1, attach the longer frame of truck 3 (from an F550), and install the bed of truck 2 on top of it all. This will give him a complete service truck with the bucket, a space for tools and room for the generator and air compressor. Bed 1 will then be transferred to truck 2. All of this manuevering will retire Grandpa Lester's old farm truck, which is bittersweet, until you have to drive the beast. Stay tuned for updates - I'm sure that you're on the edge of your seat! Yeah - don't bother with any cracks about how it takes 3 trucks to make one decent Ford either. Sort of reminds me of an old Johnny Cash song (it was a '55, '56, 57) . . .

Truck 1

Truck 2

Truck 3

Does any of this make sense?

The Heart of the Home

This used to be the toy corner, and we are down to a small basket of toys - hooray! I was forever throwing things in this corner that had strayed to the far corners of the house. The girls love to sit here and color - something Sten always thought of as torture.

The great room - minus the scaffolding!

Someday we'll have a fireplace, but it hasn't been

at the top of the "to do" list or the "save for" list, I should say . . .

Since everything is cleaned up and looking sharp, I thought I would take a few pics. The kids have been gone for a few days, and it's amazing how clean (and quiet) the house stays. Aaahhhh.

The pantry

You guessed it, the dining area

It was THIS big!

WOW! It turns out that Sten has been quite the successful fisherman in Homer, Alaska. This is his prized catch - a 140 lb Halibut that's over 6 ft long!!!!!!! He brought it in on his own and they shot it and used gaffs to get it in the boat. I think the grin on his face says it all.

The more the merrier - HUH?!

Yesterday, we had 8 kids here - after we had a couple extra, a few more wasn't too bad. They played together well and we all piled in the jeep and headed to the pond . . .

Conner, with chocolate frosting facial hair

Macey

Kids and dogs go together, right?


This looks like it could be trouble


Yes, Levi still has his tonsils . . .

Do we have to?

Luke and Levi stayed with us for a couple days and they were thrilled to dress up and take pictures. It's a good thing these pics don't require bright and sunny smiles, because I don't think they had any in them after the dressing up part . . .

They are awesome little lads and the only child that we seem to have problems with is our own?!

The Myers Crew

Steve and Elena's Home

I attended Elena's baby shower today - it was fun to see the boys and, of course, catch up with my good buddy. Well . . . we did a quick catch up. I think we could've oiled our jaws and kept on chatting the rest of the night. She is going to have baby Elle on July 14th by c-section. Elle Tamsin will join two brothers, Levi and Luke.

A Weekend Project

On my drive from Redmond, I spotted this awesome entrance. Just in case Scott runs out of projects to do - I found one that would take a few days. Click on the picture to see it enlarged -

Each pickup bed was a "raised bed"

Hooray for Summer!

I thought this sign sums up our summer plans quite well . . . a little camping, a little boating, and a little picnic-ing. Oh, and a little lawn mowing, weeding, and wood stacking.

Summer is here

Milah and her buddy, Kylie. They were thrilled to be moving onto 4th grade today.

Our kids had an especially long school year because Colorado schools start early and Oregon schools go later - so they should be extra smart.

There's a High Schooler in our house!

Headed to Alaska - they are sleeping for a few hours in the Anchorage airport before catching a flight to Homer. When Willard S. picks them up at 7 am, they are immediately headed out to fish. I think they'll sleep good on Saturday night! They will spend 2 weeks up there - catching their limit but hopefully refrain from feeding any fish.

Sten officially graduated from the 8th grade last night - he's now a freshman, Class of 2013! He endured a few photos this morning - all with a big grin of course.