Can you get into the blog?

Mom, I'm sorry I wore you out with stupid computer work on Saturday! Please let me know if the new system is working for you! You can try to post a comment below (you may have to click on "post" more than once - not sure why - or you could send an email.

We had a nice day today. Church, of course, in the morning. In the afternoon I did some family history research on the computer, and now I'm getting lesson materials ready for tomorrow.

That was nice to hear that Dave Jenkins has some old documents. I probably have the info already, but it will be good to see what he has. Mark and I are going to do the temple work in December for Uncle Bill & Aunt Pam Jenkins, and for Uncle Charlie Jenkins. I don't know why I've waited so long. I'll wait to do the work for Uncle Bill & Aunt Mary Anne Kenny until next spring, because we have to wait for at least one year after the death, and I want to do them together. We'll do Mike's work then, too. It will be nice to have all those wonderful people "hooked up" in heaven.  (Polly & Eric did Grandma & Grandpa Jenkins' work a little while ago - Grandpa Jenkins made me promise never to do his work, and I never did...but my kids did. :) Someday he'll thank me. )

I don't even want to think about this next week. It's going to just be crazy-busy. At least it's not supposed to rain on Tuesday and Saturday when we take the cub scouts out for the annual "Scouting for Food" service project - a door-to-door food drive in our neighborhood. I'll post again during the week to let you know how I'm surviving.

Thank you again for coming all the way to visit us! Won't be long until we're visiting YOU!

Sure is fun to have you here!

Plans for Friday

David, Holly, Arora, and Nate, Ashley, & Blake will all be able to come over on Friday evening. I've invited them for leftovers. I think I'll cook a pot of rice and make some cream of chicken gravy, and we'll have Hawaiian Haystack - very easy.

Do you have any ideas of something you would like to do on Saturday? Mark and I have thought of going into Portland to wander around Saturday Market, but are there things you would like to do? Please be thinking about it. We are flexible. Looking forward to seeing you!

A Good Hike

Mark and I went hiking in the Columbia Gorge today. It was his idea to go - perhaps the first time in my marriage to Mark that HE has been the one to invite ME on a hike! Usually it's the other way around. It was supposed to be rainy, but the weather turned out perfect. It drizzled for maybe the first 1/2 hour, but after that we had overcast and cool, beautiful hiking weather. The fall colors were breathtaking, and we saw creeks and waterfalls everywhere we looked. What a glorious day! Here are a few photos.

A beautiful day in the Gorge.

At the viewpoint - top of Multnomah Falls.
(You can click on the photos to make them bigger, so you can see more details.)

One of the many waterfalls on Multnomah Creek - above Multnomah Falls.

It was THIS big. Wonderful scenery, including the big old Doug fir trees. We hiked about 5 miles, from Multnomah Falls to upper Multnomah Creek, then west to upper Wahkeena Creek, down to Wahkeena Falls, and then east back to the Multnomah Lodge.

Mark crossing a small bridge on upper Wahkeena Creek.

Back in the parking lot - Wahkeena Falls in the background. Just 1/2 mile left to hike back to Multnomah Falls. We had such a wonderful day!

Good books

My friend Dorothy Jenson mentioned a series of books on her blog today that I think you would enjoy. (I think I would enjoy them, too, if I had more leisure time to read!) If you click here, it will take you to her post. It starts out about how she's trying to choose colors for painting her house, and then she talks about the books she's been reading.

Standing Up

Maddy is doing more and more big-girl tricks. This evening she was standing by herself at the coffee table. She has such a lot of personality - I know you will really enjoy her when you come down for Thanksgiving.

And did you know that David and Holly will be here then, too? They are coming to town to take care of Holly's step-brother's kids while he and his wife go on a cruise.

One more bit of news -Mike Koponick has had TWO job interviews this week, and it looks like he'll have offers from both companies. We'll keep you posted on how that is going.

Making You Laugh

I posted a funny story on my other blog today. And be sure to check out the Do-Re-Mi video on David's blog - it's really fun to watch.

Puttered on projects today

Today was a good day for puttering. I got the checkbook balanced this morning, then graded some papers. After lunch I went over to Sheila's house so we could plan our lessons for next week. Then I went out to the high school for the Christmas bazaar - I almost have the Christmas shopping finished! Went to the grocery store, and did a couple of sewing projects this evening.

I hemmed up some jeans for Kat and Sarah, and with the parts I cut off I made little denim purses for them.

Then I made a Thanksgiving table runner for LaVerne for Christmas - a lot like the one I made for you last year with the cat fabric. This one is some nice Thanksgiving fabric I picked up last year after the holidays, when it was on sale. I'll put a note in for her to open it before Thanksgiving. She has Angela & Tim and the kids coming this year.

Here's a cute photo of Maddie, feeding herself her bottle. She is sitting up really well, and trying to figure out how to crawl. She is such a little dolly!

Remember, if you want to see the photos bigger, you can just click on them. Love you!

Thanks to a Vet

We had the wonderful Veterans Day assembly at OCHS again today. It really is magical to experience an event where 2000+ kids are quiet, respectful, even reverent for over an hour. I would so love to be able to host Dad, Maury, and Michael (Koponick)--the three family vets--at that event some year.

Today for cub scouts we practiced how to do an outdoor flag ceremony. First we had to make a flag pole - out of an 8' branch we cut from the maple tree last summer. Mark put a screw eye at the top, and I ran a long loop of twine through the eye. Then I put the pole up using 4 tent stakes w/ 4 twine guy wires. I use a taut-line hitch to keep the guy wires snug.

Next I have to teach the boys how to carry the folded flag tucked under their arm, how to attach it to the twine loop hanging from the pole, and how to raise it by pulling on the twine loop. Then we practice taking it down and folding it up by triangles so they can tuck it under their arm again. We do the whole thing a couple of times through before we do it for real and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Speaking of the Pledge of Allegiance, we say it once a week at the high school, during morning announcements. On Monday I was in my classroom alone during announcements, when the prompt came for everyone to stand and say the Pledge. I felt a little self-conscious standing to say the pledge by myself (would someone look through the window and see me?) but I stood and said the Pledge. It was more personal and meaningful to say it by myself like that. When I say it with a group of cub scouts, or a classroom full of students, I always have the sense that I am setting the example for them. But this time, with no one watching, I was doing it just for me.

Thank you, Dad, and Maury, and Michael for your service to the United States of America. Thank you for what the flag and citizenship mean to me. Thank you for being who you are. I love you.

(This is an old photo of me helping the boys with an outdoor flag ceremony over a year ago. We didn't have a pole that day, so we used a twine loop hanging from the upstairs window of the garage. I prefer the pole, but this worked. )

Outstanding!

Oregon City High School just got the news on our state report card - we achieved "outstanding" status! Before this, the best we ever accomplished was "satisfactory." The report card is based on our state test scores, dropout rate, attendance, etc. Woo hoo! This evening I went to the board meeting with the principal and other administrators to deliver the "outstanding" news.

This is the team that made the presentation: Sheila Zachry, my wonderful English department chair and close teaching friend, me, and Jen Crutcher, the young math teacher who is the new math coach this year. Each of us made a presentation to the board about the scores (Sheila-writing, me-reading, Jen-math).

The principal had t-shirts made up for everyone on the staff. They say, "Oregon City High School is Outstanding!" (You can click on the picture to make it bigger if you want to.)

Baby News

Nate told us that he and Ashley are expecting another baby! Due at the end of June - Blake will be about 13 or 14 months old. The pregnancy wasn't planned, but they are happy about it. Ashley will be a busy mama! That will make 18 grandchildren for Mark and me. Yikes!

Our Play Day

Mark and I played at home today. I posted some photos and what we did at my main blog. I sure hope the links are working for you!

Other Blogs

I've added a new feature to the blog - a list of family blogs on the right side. You can click on the links and see what some of the kids are up to. Unfortunately, the family blog for Katie and Hillary's blog are private - they don't want photos of their babies showing up on the internet. It's possible to get permission to see their blogs, but you have to email them and ask to be invited. If you don't have Hillary's email, and you want access to her blog, let me know and I'll send it to you.

There is one blog that isn't family, but I thought Dad would enjoy it. I've been following the blog of a 16-year-old girl from Australia. Her name is Jessica Watson and she is sailing alone around the world. She's doing it "unassisted," which means she can't stop in any ports to take on food or water or get any kind of help. It's labeled as "sailing alone around the world" in the blog list.

Polly's craft blog is funny, and so is Katie's poetry blog. The list will change as the kids update their blogs. The most recently updated blogs will appear at the top of the list, so you can tell pretty easily if you've already seen their latest post. Kendra doesn't post very often. Angela posts once in a while, and when she does, she always has lots of photos. David posts funny clean videos from the internet for a class project at college - not sure if he will keep it up after he graduates.

Back home, safe and sound

We had a good flight home yesterday evening. A little bumpy, but it is so good to be home and settling back into the routine.

Little Miss O's blessing was very sweet. Here are a few photos:

In the blessing dress and bonnet Katie made for her. Soon after this photo was taken, she fell asleep and then slept all through her blessing.

Miss O keeping track of things with her laser-beam eyes.

Snuggled with Grandma.

Reading a book with Grandpa.

Yesterday (Monday) we went bowling with Abbi and Charley. Here are a few photos from that adventure:

They had this little metal stand for the kids to launch their bowling balls from. Abbi sends her pink ball flying.

Even if the balls went crooked, the lanes had bumpers set up to keep the balls from going into the gutters. It's a pretty kid-friendly way to bowl.

Charlie lines up his ball.

Hooray! We knocked down some more pins!
Well, it's nice to know that life can be so exciting.

Today, though, at work, it was nice to NOT have any excitement. Things are settling into some kind of "normal" after losing Scott (the counselor). His service will be Saturday. I think it helped to have a weekend with a goofy holiday after the news on Friday.

We had a beautiful autumn day today, but rain is in the forecast. Hope all is well with you. Sending love! Kathy Lou

Halloween Fun

We're having such a nice time here in Provo. Easy flight; arrived 20 minutes early! When Katie and Bryan picked us up yesterday, we went for a visit to the amazing Salt Lake City Public Library before driving to Provo. Here are a couple of photos:

It has a glass elevator - four floors of books!

As you enter the library, there are little shops all along one side. The rent goes to help support the library - I think that is such a good idea. I bought your Christmas gift in one of the shops yesterday.

This last photo is from the roof of the library, where they have an amazing rooftop garden. Gorgeous view of the Wasatch Front to the east of Salt Lake City.

After we got to Provo, the fun began for Halloween. If you click HERE, you can see more photos of the grandkids on my family blog. I tell about the dinner party there, and there are photos of Abbi, Charley, and the Palshikar kids back home. The Halloween dinner party that Kendra and Katie hosted was fun - the kids were so excited and the grownups were in costume, too. I wish my camera hadn't run out of batteries - I would have taken more photos of the adults and the food. But here's one photo of Kendra and Katie (Fred Meyer employee and cowgirl).

Mark had lots of fun making his fish hat peek up above the sheet for the "fishing game." Here's a photo of him enjoying a few moments with Olivia.

OK, I think that's enough for now. I'll post more photos later, after Olivia's blessing.