Christmas Lights

Here are some of the Christmas lights that Bob (Corey's Dad) has put in a Christmas light show. He has the music broadcasted to a radio channel, and the music coordinates to the light show. It is really neat, and he has even been in the local Walla Walla magazine for his Christmas dedication. When he's home, he hands out candy canes for the kids. Buses and cars line the street to see the show, and people come from far distances too.

From Eugene, to Madres, to Milton-Freewater

On our way to Corey's aunt and uncle in Madras, OR we passed some beautiful country. Here, along the MacKinsey River is a neat bridge. It reminded me of that movie with Meryl Streep, with the bridge (I can't remember the name). Anyhoo, it was beautiful.

Then we made it to Merlin and Kay's early afternoon on Sunday. They have a very nice home on the top of the hill, with 10 acres and an incredible view. You can see all of the mountian ranges near by, like the Sisters and Mt. Hood. We had a great time visiting, and are looking forward to seeing them again in July.


Here is a another picture of the roads we encountered as we traveled to Madras. We were lucky not to have encountered bad weather as we passed through these mountians.

This was another picture I took as we were headed to Madras. It is the kind of town we would like to live in someday. A town with a little bit country, and yet have the conveniences of a city.

Our trip to Oregon

Here is Cassidy and Belle enjoying the beautiful scenery off the I-80 between North Lake Tahoe and Truckee, CA. They had been in the car since Friday afternoon, when we arrived in Reno, NV. This picture was taken Saturday morning on our way to Heather (my cousin) who lives in Eugene, OR. We let them run and play in the ample amounts of snow. It is always beautiful here.


Here is Heather's new baby Joshua Matthew who was about a week and a half old. He was healthy and beautiful. Heather is taking to motherhood as a fish to water. What a blessing he will be to their lives.

Doesn't Corey look so natural with a baby in his arms. Soon it will be his own baby he'll be holding.

Me and the Pups

My friend Tre came over to help me make some cookies for the holidays and she took some pictures of me and the pups. Belle is getting so big. She is 52 lbs and on the 13th she'll be 6 months. She is nearly as big as Cassidy.

The Melting Pot

Sunday 12/9 my parents, Corey and I went to The Melting Pot for Christmas and my birthday. This was my parents first time there, and it is a bit of a concept thing. My Dad ended up eating some of the food raw until he realized it was all raw and the fondue pot is there to cook it. We all had a great time, and I recommend it for a nice couples evening. The staff is patient and friendly. I don't recommend small children since the cook top is right there.

Construction Zone - The Roof

Here is the roof and Corey and Luke had been working on the blocks and sheeting for weeks. Boy was I glad when they were done with all of that.









Then, of course, we had rain for two weekends in a row. Of all the times to get rain while living in the desert, we get rain while the roof was open and could ruin the living room dry wall. So, here is the tarp that did it's best, but we ended up having two leaks. The first week we had no wind, and then the second weekend we had 50 mph gusts. It was tearing and flapping in the wind like a flag. Thank God for protecting the men as they worked and saving our living room from complete destruction.


Here is the latest from last night. Luke came over and they put up the TYVAC plastic and some of the windows. Yeah, it is starting to look like a house again. What a difference the house looks already. It will be like we moved into another house.

Construction Zone - Yeah... Bob is here!

This week Bob drove down to help Corey with the house. It was such a productive week. They pretty much framed in the entire front of the house addition. Other than a trip to roller skate and a trip to a concert, they worked nearly 10 + hours a day.

Thank you Bob for everything, you were awesome!

3rd Month

Holy Cow!! It just keeps getting bigger. I am finally feeling better now. My nausea is nearly gone and I am getting back my energy. I can't quite feel any movements yet. However, it would be early if I did.

Construction Zone - The concrete cont.

Here is Tracker, smoothing out the new concrete.



They are now ready to pour the front.


The back is just getting some finishing touches.


And from start to finish in about 7 hours, they can remove the forms and smooth out the concrete. It is amazing how fast is it, and how long it took us to get to this point. We saved alot by having Corey and friends do half of the prep work, but it took time. He worked nearly every night after work and every day off. What a trooper. Now we will be ready to see Bob and Jan next week to start building. This is where you drive by a construction site and see nothing for a month or two, but see people working everyday, and then all of a sudden, a building is there. It really seems like the concrete is half the battle.

Construction Zone - The Concrete! Yeah!

They started today 11/3 at 5:30 am. I was waiting for the complaints from the neighbors. The sun wasn't even up, and as you can see, the moon was still out. The pump truck arrived frist, then the crew, and then the concrete truck. Before I knew it the work had begun and I had pillows over my head trying to sleep. Corey, last night, got called out to a call and didn't get to bed until after 12. Then he was so excited about today, like it was Christmas and he was 10, that he was already away by 430am. Yeah, I was awake at that time, since I have to get up two times a night to visit the water closet.


This is inside of what was the master bedroom bathroom. Corey had a sunkin in tub/shower, and had some plumming work done in there, so they needed to fill it in with some concrete.




Isn't it amazing the way they pumped it over. I didn't even see this until just now, since I was still nesseled in my warm covers. It was a cold 55-60 degrees this morning. Even Corey put a coat on.

Construction Zone - Rebar time.

Now it's Oct. 29th (everythings been going through Oct) and the concrete people we hired are doing their part. Corey still helped out, but what a difference. Within three days the back and the front had their forms and the rebar. It was amazing to see it go up so quickly. We still had to wait until the next Saturday before the concrete would be poured since we had to get this stuff all inspected. However, that week went by so quick, that we hardly felt the time pass.

Construction Zone - the slab cont.

Now that the footings were done, they needed to lay out plastic to keep any dangerous gases from seaping up into the house. On top of that they had to lay out 2" of sand. Luckly, Luke came over and helped Corey out. Without his help, Corey wouldn't have been ready for the concrete guys to show up the next day to put in the rebar. By the way, this entire week, Corey had been nursing a bad back, when he tripped over the doggie gate and did something to two of his lower vertebrae. So the digging and pushing out the sand didn't help any.