New Valentine's Day Quilt

Haylee and I made little Valentine's Day Wall hangings.  I don't think she got hers finished yet.  Something about having two little girls makes it hard to find time to sew.  Anyway, we had fun working on them, and I think it is quite cute.

Bird troubles

 

This is a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.  We noticed him hanging around starting in December.  At first I thought a hawk might be a useful bird to have around since they eat rodents, and we get mice and voles in the field by us.  Then Ethan saw it swoop down one day and catch a sparrow in our yard.  Kurt also saw it go after a bird one day.  Now we rarely see any sparrows or finches.  I guess they don't feel safe.  No wonder. The hawk is perched directly above the bird feeders.  Kurt hasn't had to worry about keeping the feeders full anymore, and he used to refill them every other day.  I will be so sad if we don't get any gold finches this spring!

Mule Deer

There have been lots of deer all around our area the last few winters.  We have had one or two in the yard this winter, but the other day we had 8.  They were nibbling on dried flower leaves around the deck.  Then they all moved over to the south border of the yard and curled up for an afternoon rest under the trees.  I just watched them for quite awhile and took some pictures.  I love being out in the country.

Happy New Year

I regret not keeping up the blog after we returned from our mission.  I finally got the mission blog published into a book that we could look at and enjoy.  Since I am not a good journal keeper, I realize that more than a year's activities have elapsed with no record kept, other than my memory.  That means that basically there is no record kept!  

I guess the debate going on in my brain is not whether or not to continue with the blog, but do I go back and try and catch up last year's activities or just start with this past Christmas and more forward?  For today I will at least  do this post and change my background.  Maybe that's enough action in the day for me.  I don't want to go overboard and burn myself out!

Butchart Gardens

Mary, Sandy and I took off early in the morning and drove to Anacortes, Washington, to catch the ferry going to Victoria.  It was a fun ride over with a beautiful view of the San Juan Islands.  The ferry docks at Sidney.  We then drove down to Butchart Gardens that evening and toured the gardens for a few hours.  We got an inexpensive 2nd-day pass and spent more time there the next day.  We drove down to Victoria and spent the night in a fancy Marriott Hotel.  We walked about some the next morning.  I'm sure we could have spent a whole day just checking out Victoria, but that wasn't on our agenda.  We went back to Butchart Gardens to get our fill of flowers.  I wish I could go there 3 or 4 times a year so I could see every different type of flower they have there.  It is such an amazing place.

Kurt's Family

Randy, Heather, Kaitlin & Elysha Krupp

Lucy & Richard Stevens

Roger & MarJean Krupp

Allan & Susan Anderson

Mary & Angela Gilmore (David got left out because he was also taking pictures)

Eric & Angela

Jason & Story

Tim & Yvonne Krupp

Kurt & Linda Krupp

 Of course, Irma Krupp is the center and focal point of all these photos.  She is a great lady, and her children love and appreciate her.

Those cute Krupp brothers

Kurt, Susan, Roger, Mary, Tim and Lucy

Kurt, Sandy and I drove up through Oregon and met my Uncle Gary Fordyce, cousins Jen & Denny Mansell, Laura & Walt Kastner for dinner at The Spaghetti Factory in Beaver.  It was nice to get to see them all for a short time.  I sure wish I had taken a picture!  We then spent the night in Portland and drove the rest of the way the next day.  Mary was so good to organize a get-together with all the siblings, and I took lots of pictures this time.  We took Sandy to visit some neat gardens and had lunch there one day.  She and I went up to Seattle one day and went through the aquarium and shopped around Pike St. Market.

Sacramento Trip

Kurt and I left for a road trip after Alicia and her children left.  First we went to Dublin to see Adam and Eileen and their cute apartment.  We spent Friday night with them, and they cooked us a yummy dinner.  On Saturday morning they took us to a nice park that had hiking and bike trails that went around a small lake.  We walked and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and warm weather.  Afterwards we went out for lunch to an all-you-can-eat salad bar.  It was great, and I stuffed myself totally full.

Then we headed back to Sacramento for a few days.  We got to visit with my mom, brother Fred and sister-in-law Ingrid, along with cousins Johnnie and Leora Matranga.  Sandra came to join us, also.  She then traveled up through Oregon and Washington for a stay with Kurt's family and a trip up to Buchart Gardens in Victoria.  I only have one picture from Sacramento, and it isn't a very good one because it cuts people out. Sandra was left out.  But I'll post it anyway.  We all went to Buggy Whip for dinner, and that is where the picture was taken.