ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We're sitting in Coeur d' alene ID headed toward WY for Carol's 50th class reunion, the Cozzens reunion and to see my aunt Betty in the cody parade (she will be grand marshall - was a WASP in WWII - yeah Aunt Betty. other than weather we've had an uneventful trip (left Mon). Had an amazing dinner lakeside at a floating restaurant by our RV site.

Left Portland after a whirlwind week.

New baby - Amy/Matt had Demi Lynn on 6/18 - soooo sweet (6#13oz) (Demi is #4 great granchild for us:)

New baby - Karissa/Alex Berndt (my niece) Max Alexander on 6/19 (8# 2 oz?)

Ryan O came home from Dominic Republic 6/19 - will head for Africa 7/26

Attended 2 special events at Good Sheppherd Church hearing about Freedom Congress (ck it out at http://www.freedomcongress.org/)

Joined all of Tanya/Bob's family for lunch on Father's Day (including Ryan/Kealy with twins). Attended service at a SE Portland church where grand son-in-law was a guest preacher - he gave a great sermon.

Celebrated 52 years with hubby dorn (6/20)

We are so blessed - and so - we're on the road again.

Amazing children!

Jadyn - a day at the bookstore with Gr Gma and Nana Terri. Gpa and her making faces for the camera

Playing hide-seek under the rhodendendron bushes - "I see you'

Great grandkids everywhere!

What a wonderful thing it is to be able to watch them grow, learn new things every day. Annabelle & Levi now eating 'food':) Bella just got her first tooth Sunday. Uncle Casey helping feed Levi. We enjoyed a nice sermon by Ryan T where he was guest preacher last Sunday. Twins were welcomed by all and smiled at everyone.

A day with Jadyn (now 2) helping Gr Gma weed in the yard - well she sort of helped (doesn't like to get her hands dirty). I think she was in charge. Gpa and Nana spent am putting a new crib up for her (so soon-to-deliver-sister-Demi will have a place to sleep too). Jadyn/Gma had great fun going for a walk, blowing bubbles, pulling weeds and watching crickets and ants. J now talking in sentences and can pretty much carry on a good conversation - actaully she talks mostly non-stop now.

HAPPY HAPPY Gr Gma

View from our bedroom window - rhododendrons - what an amazing flowering tree. We drove to coast (pacific city) Saturday (followed Terri/and thousands of bikers as they biked there way to the beach). Along the way - we marveled at the wild rhode's in the forest. Oregon is an amazing state at this time of the year with everything covered in bright green spring foliage and trees/bushes blooming everywhere. And then, we appreciate the rain (a bit) that makes all this possible. In the meantime....our days are filled getting RV ready to hit the road when the mood is right AND we're researching/changing insurance companies - now that's a challenge!

later

Life back home

Life is settling a bit now that we're 'home' - The weeds continue to grow but with a few days of sunshine I'm hoping to get rid of them. Back yard is full of blooming bushes/trees - it is good to be in green Oregon. And, on this Mother's Day the sun is shining and life is GOOD. Wishing our daughters and granddaughters a happy Mother's Day. We enjoyed seeing new mommy Kealy (her 1st Mother's Day) and the babies yesterday. Mommy of 2-yr old Jadyn is anxiously waiting birth of Demi Lynn (due June 19).

Arizona carvings

Dorn carved the polar bear and cougar - Gma did the squirrel and flower basket (box) yet to be painted. Gma painted the projects

A few special days with Scout & Tahoe. Scout has a constant shadow companion in Tahoe. She has taught her well! Scout has slowed down while puppy is full of energy and can run as fast to get the frisbee. Puppy hasn't learned to bring it back yet - just play tug-of-war bringing it back. Scout is VERY patient. We'll say goodby to them on Tuesday as their 'parents' come pick them up. Casey has also enjoyed having them here for the 9 days. Scout enjoyed protecting the backyard from squirrels, cats and possums tho she now prefers to monitor it all from the deck rather than chasing them at the back fence.

Enjoying Scout again

HOME - since April 27 and still settling in. And then.....Scout and her new charge Tahoe arrived for a 9-day visit on May 3. She was glad to be here and follows Gpa everywhere! Puppy Tahoe has grown to full-size dog now and they have great fun together.

Now that we've unpacked, washed RV, organized paper work, opened 4 mos of mail----we're ready to hit the road again. Headed for WY mid-June and thankful Casey is willing/able to housesit.

Enjoyed stopping to see Jadyn and twins on our way into town. What treasures!!!

more later.

AZ desert in bloom

virgin River in UT after heavy rains (thunderstorm complete with thunder/lightning/hail

flowers growing out side of Mt in Zion Ntnl Park

The desert was amazing this year. We enjoyed hiking in Sabino Canyon in tucson AZ - tho a bit challenging as we had to wade through the RIVER as it was flowing over the path way at every dip in the road.

more later

carol

Life on the road w/o Scout

Well it's been a while since we've posted any news. Life got a little crazy this past year - Scout went to live with Ryan's friends Dom/Shayda (she comes to visit us once in a while). We missed her terribly while in Az this year and had good memories of our time with her on the road.

Hmmmm. now we'll yak about 'us' I guess. After a whirlwind year with some remodeling, granddaughter Carly getting married, and Kealy/Ryan having twins during Dec 2009 - we hit the road for AZ. At this writing we have been on the road 119 days and on the last stretch home. Our trip 'south' for the winter took us to Salem to hold those babies one more time and give great grandchild jadyn an extra hug, then....Corning CA, Bakersfield CA, Hemet CA, GoodYear AZ and end destination Tucson AZ for 3 mos. Coming home we relaxed at parker Dam AZ, met new friends George and Sandy and enjoyed 8 days by the Colorado River taking in a high speed boat race. The final leg home found us at Virgin UT (Zion), Wells NV where we had snow/ice and now Susanville CA. We've put 2915 miles on our new rig and it feels 'just like home' now.

We enjoyed more wood carving while in Tucson Dorn carved a polar bear and cougar (don't have a photo of the finished cougar yet - will post it later). Carol carved the squirrel (and the rock).

We enjoyed some hiking and seeing the desert IN BLOOM since AZ had more than its fair share of rain this year - will post photos in separate blog.

when we get home we'll have Scout and puppy Taho for a week and sure looking forward to that.

on the road again.

carol