Odds and Ends 2

The month of June ended with a much needed visit with a college friend who finally joined us back on this side of the country again.  I had been meaning to drive up and visit her in Washington at her new home, but... just hadn't had the time or money.  So, when it all fell together and Charles said it would be a great idea, the boys and I drove up to Washington on an early-ish Monday morning and stayed through LATE Wednesday night.

It was such a joy to see Jamie and the family again!  Here are all our kids roasting marshmallows at the special treat of a campfire on our last afternoon there.  Aren't they all just adorable?

And though Jamie won't love me for it, I had to get her in here as well.  She stuck with me even when there was no earthly reason to remain my friend, may the Lord truly bless her for that!  And see, we both have little red-heads that steal the show!

Then almost as soon as we got back from the Washington trip and got our laundry finished, we made an impromptu trip to our house in Southern Oregon to tear off the old roof so it would be ready for the new one (red metal) on Tuesday, the 5th of July.

So, off we went on Saturday night at 11:30 pm, pulling it at 5 am and getting a bit of sleep before we got on the roof.  Charles and I did the main tear-off (he did a ton of work while I went to the local hardware store for wasp and bee spray) and Nathanael got to help on the back side.

 While we worked on the east side of the roof, the boys hauled off the shakes and paper to the big burn-pile, and they mowed the waist-high grass around the house.  Nathanael did the first rough pass and then Mikael finished off, cleaning it up.

 Did I mention that it was Southern Oregon and July?  For those who may not know, that translates as HOT!  Especially since our definition of hot at home is somewhere near 80 degrees and we were in the mid-90's!  And hot summer weather calls for nice cold watermelon.  What you can't see in this picture is what the guys are sitting on - it's a chunk of old cedar log with the top side cut off to make a table (or in this case, bench) of sorts.  Ever since I can remember as a kid, that's where we ate watermelon in the summer heat at Grandma and Grandpa's house - this summer is no exception!

Yes, we did tie ourselves off (to the suburban parked in the front yard) and Nathanael worked on the section that was over the back porch, allowing for greater safety and confidence.

And of course Mikael had to get on the roof once too, so here is the tear-off crew at the completion of the job!

But once the job was done, then we had a chance to play a bit.  We had a barbecue at my father's house where we also made homemade icecream (which turned out to be very salty and given to the to dog because our canister rusted through at a bottom seem) with the boys (Justin, Sydney, and Nathanael) cranking last since they were the strong young men.

Since we had not been originally planning on heading south for the 4th of July, I had already made two large desserts to take to the 4th of July party after church on Sunday.  Well, they came in handy for when the icecream was a flop - it was All American Dream Cake - Yummy!

After arriving back home here in Sandy, we were pretty busy, but not as stuff you can really take pictures of.  We switched cell-phone providers, home-phone providers, internet providers, got sick and then well, and sorted through all our paperwork piles, filer drawers and book shelves to clean out the clutter and make room for the necessary things and school books.

Now it's time for a little bit of this! 
(if only it will stop raining!)