November. 

 We moved.  

I feel like I belong  here, like I have always been here.  It is home.  

And yet, it is a complete feeling of awe at the same time.  I can not believe that this is my home, that I get to live here.  I walk from room to room checking it out over and over.  I don't think it will ever get old to me, this house, this place, the view.

  Even on the days when the mountain does not come out, it is amazing.  Even if it is foggy and I can't see the river below, I can still hear it.  And now, with all that rain, it is roaring and louder than I have heard it before. The leaves have all fallen from the trees and I can even see more of the river now.  

What a place to get to see such the magnificent handiwork of God who has given me so much.

Here is a shot that Cyndi and Dan took from their plane. Our house is the second from the left.

Here is the front view.  Mt. Hood is right behind there.

September and October

September still felt like summer.  The dry warm sunny weather stayed even though the leaves were beginning to change color.  Josiah and Arianna both started pre-school.  The first school event was the Teddy Bear Parade in Gresham.  Grandpa and I got to take them to it.  

One day, I even had Lina all to myself while the older two were in school.

My friends Maria and Alison, friends since we met at Outdoor School in the 6th grade, met up for a glass blowing class.  We all made pumpkins.  They made the traditional colors, but I decided I needed a purple one.

And then sometime in the month, the rain began.  It seemed as if all the rain had been storing up for a huge rainstorm.  It poured!!

I just happened to be at the park for my walk when it decided to dump down on me.

But the change of weather has also brought a few new birds to the park.  

Even though it has poured rain off and on in September and October, the lake is still dry enough to walk the full way around it.  Those logs are normally under water.

The park is starting to close up for the winter.  Sure it will be open to visitors, but they have everything all stored up and ready for the cold weather to start.

The sky is full of geese heading here and there.  Sometimes their sounds are so loud that is all you can hear.  

Emily had her district meet in cross country.  She helped her team to their school's first win in 12 years!  They came in 3rd and will be going to the State meet!

Josh competed in two meets a week later.  First was the Nike Elite Meet.  It poured rain, sideways rain with the wind blowing it so hard that you could not keep your umbrella straight up. He placed 45 and came away with a medal for finishing in the top 50.  Two days later he competed for his school team at district.

And then there is the time I get to spend with these 3...

And the reason I am so late in posting September and just added it to October?  

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!  

The last two months have been packed with looking at homes, deciding on which to buy, getting rid of the furniture that I have had forever and shopping for new things to make this place our own, then packing up the home we are living in.   Move in starts tomorrow with just a few things when we get the keys.  The actual moving day is Saturday when the movers arrive with the truck.  This house is on the Bluff in Sandy with the most amazing view of Mt. Hood and the Sandy River below.   

 I can not believe that I get to live there!!

  

We started the month of August with a wedding reception for my high school best friend, Terri's daughter.  I love that we have kept in touch through the years.  

 I always think it is hilarious how even birds know about personal space.  They space themselves out so perfectly with only gaps left by one who flew off.

There has been a wasp nest forming high in one of the trees by the sand pit where the kids play at the park. I have been watching it get bigger and bigger.  Unless it is a hazard, they leave nature to itself there at Blue Lake.  I like that.  

About 3 weeks ago, we had a wind storm and it broke off another tree's top in another area in the park.  When I walked through the park, there in the remaining branches of that broken tree was this huge huge swam of honey bees.  The inside of the broken part of the tree, that was laying on the ground was full of honeycomb, layers and layers of it all stacked up.  It ended up that the park had the whole tree removed because the core was full of bees and honeycomb.  With it broken like that and really close to some picnic tables it was not safe to be around it.  The park had an official bee keeper come and remove the bees.  I wish the photo showed how big it really was.  The bottom photo of the hole in the tree is another tree that they call the 'honey bee tree'  It is a huge old tree that they have built a little wooden fence around to keep people from it, but it allows the bees to carry on. Double click on the photo and you can see those bees a lot better.

 Josiah and Arianna are pretty excited that my little goose family has now begun to eat from their hands too!  

 Our Christmas gift last year from my parents was a family trip to the Alison Spa.  We enjoyed our time together as always, first with an awesome massage finished off with an amazing dinner.  It is the best of gifts to get time together.

 Emily and Joshua came for a couple of days for the annual school shopping trip. This year it turned out to be more of a shopping spree than the usual new school outfit.  So much fun to spoil them! One of the nights they were here we rounded up Josiah and Arianna and went to the old Hood Theater in Gresham and saw the movie 'Pixels'.  It is nice to be able to take the kids and not spend a fortune on tickets and popcorn.  A ticket is only $4 for adults and $3 for kids.  A huge popcorn is only $5. Sometimes you even get a double feature for that!

Gabe and Daniel are doing great with their brotherly bonding.  Abby sent me this one to my cell phone. What an age we live in! To be able to see photos in just minutes after they were taken.

John and Joshua were all signed up to do a run in Ashland.  The Mt. Ashland Hill Climb.  John has done it before, it is brutal.  13.5 straight up!  I don't know why they call it 'hill'.  Anyway, their whole family was down there for the run and a couple nights before John got painfully sick. He ended up in the hospital emergency room.  So the big decision...go home or let Joshua run alone.    I am so proud of him!  He finished the run straight up Mt. Ashland in good time.  He sent me this text when he was done.  Here is a photo of the final stretch with him almost crawling it was so steep.  Rachel took these three shots.

It blows me away to even think about how old she has become. Emily went on her first college tour!  I know she still has her junior and senior year to finish, but they are rolling around so fast!

We ended the month of August celebrating Arianna's 

 3rd birthday!  

 She did it in style with her favorite character, Minnie Mouse.  I have never seen a kid enjoy opening her gifts as much as she did.  Each gift, no matter how big or small, set off sequels of excitement. After looking it over, she stood up and walked it up to each person sitting in the room to take a closer look at what she had just received.