Christmas Snow Pile-up

Yes, we've had a few snowflakes this year. It's pretty, but it can go away now :-)

We've had a white Christmas, for sure! I've never seen this much snow in Oregon unless you are up on Mt. Hood, for heaven's sake.... And we haven't had power for almost a week, except for a short time the day before Christmas Eve. Evil Western Oregon Electrical Co-op just wanted to tease us into putting away our generator! Here's the latest pictures of the snow drifts at our house. Danny and his trusty tractor plowed the driveway so we could get out. We've measured about 30+ inches out here.

Our phones and internet cell service were down for a while as well...I was going nuts not being able to check my email! But we just discovered that the cell tower is up and running again, so I thought I'd get on here and write a few things before it all goes away.... We had a great Christmas Eve celebration with all the kids and grandkids. That's what we usually do - have dinner at our house so the kids can enjoy their Christmas morning and day with their little fam's. Here's a few shots of our "generator-fueled" fun.

Sera, Eli and Emily behind the "grazing" area. Rebecca, Kim and Brooklyn in the kitchen. And all of Danny's bunch posing with their T-shirts that I did WRONG for Emily. (the numbering was supposed to be in birth order, not the other way around.) Randy and Tanya at the end of the table with Blair. Chad and Logan enjoying dinner. Do you see the Christmas jello salad on the table? Oh yeah..got to have that red, white and green layered jello or it isn't a real Jordan Christmas. I started a hideous tradition of making bean bag chairs for the kids the Christmas after they turn 8 - so here's Kim and Brooklyn enjoying their new puffy chairs. What was I thinking? Oh well, at least the grandkids will have something they can remember me by! We hope all of you have had a great Christmas with your lights all on, and your furnace working...sigh....

It's not Stopping!

I think we are up to 18 inches of snow...with another foot or so coming on Saturday. It's looking like Christmas is going to be a white one this year! School has been out all week, and all of our church events have been cancelled. Who wants to take bets on cancelling church on Sunday???

Snow is Falling

Da' Big Barn.

The snow started this week...Here's the first dusting. Our power went out AGAIN last Saturday, so Dan is standing by our good 'ol generator. Thank goodness we are prepared for things like this. I really don't mind it...the generator powers up the really important things and a few lights, our bedroom and the big screen TV upstairs. What else do you need, eh?
The snow picture below is from yesterday before I went to work. It's snowing like crazy today..so we'll probably get 4 or 5 more inches before it's all over with.

Decking the Halls

There's nothing like a party to get you whipped into shape with the Christmas decorations... We had a big shin-dig with 40+ people at our house last Saturday night for the HP Group at our church. 20 minutes before the party started - our power went out! But, being that we know the drill with that situation out here, Dan hooked up the generator and we lit candles like crazy. Everyone loved it - the only hard part was seeing where to park at our house! Thank goodness the meat was pretty much cooked and ready. Dan finished it off on the barbeque. We ran extension cords so we could light up the tree and a few other well placed lamps. It actually was very fun and cozy. And no one could see my dirty carpet!!! Ah yes...there is a silver lining. Here's what our house looks like with the lights ON.

I saw a 12.5 foot fake pre-lit tree at JoAnn's Fabric that I SO want to get....but Dan want's nothing of it, as long as we can cut the top 15ft off of the overgrown nobles out here on the property. Why do we cut off the top 15 feet? Our 13 acres of noble firs are harvested for their boughs to make wreaths. So...the only decent part of these trees that actually look like a tree is the tippy top. (where it's too tall for the harvesters to cut) Every year it's getting harder and harder to find something that looks half way decent. But until then, we'll get our binoculars out and start scanning the treetops for next years victim.
Welcome to our country Christmas House!









Here's the dining room to the right of the front door.
This tree I always use for the church "giving tree". As soon as the ornaments are gone, it comes back to our house in the entry way. Last Saturday it started snowing out here. Kimmy, our granddaughter couldn't resist getting out the 4-wheeler and pulling someone on the sled.

Mean Piano Teacher?

Well....I'm really not THAT mean. But here's my granddaughter Brooklyn (Emily's oldest)recoiling in mock fear before giving her first piano recital this week I've been teaching her for almost a year now - going over to their house after work every Monday and I've had fun. She's a quick study, and usually has each song memorized after a week! She's definately broken through the pain barrier - unlike her mother who took lessons for 5 years and didn't enjoy it too much. Brooklyn and I decided that every piano student deserves a holiday recital, so she invited some of her friends and their mom's to come over to her house for a fancy recital for one! Would you believe that the dress Brooklyn is wearing is the same dress her I made for her mother 20-some years ago? It's pretty fun to see it still being used by another generation.

Brooklyn played four songs and then everyone sang along to her playing "Jingle Bells". We drank hot chocolate and ate a yummy array of cookies and treats. A very "girly" party, to be sure. Brooklyn's daddy and brothers had to stay upstairs for the whole thing - so it was a good thing that it was only a "one student" Christmas recital!

You might be a redneck....

...If you find your husband and oldest grandchild trying to fix a bad satellite dish reception with guns and ammo!

Yep, after the Dish Network people told us we needed to cut down the two trees Dan is standing in front of, we tried everything BUT. First we rented an expensive "bucket" that lifts you way up high to trim limbs...Nope. Our son Danny sawed off lots of limbs and got a clearer view of the property, but it didn't help the reception. We found that when it rained the limbs hung down just enough to keep our TV happy, but it didn't last too long. Dan finally came up with a bang-up idea, literally. Let's just shoot the branches off! And darn if it didn't work. Dan and Daniel had way too much fun blasting buckshot and 22 shells. Yep, on one of the rainiest Saturday's since the Vernonia flood, those Jordans "Get 'ur done!" Double click on the picture to see their wet, testosterone-giddy faces.

Why do I even decorate for Halloween?

Well... because I just can't help myself, obviously! Dan's standing on our front porch with a bag full of candy in his hand. Living where we do, we never get a single Trick-or-Treater coming by. Kids get much more candy in a subdivision than driving down dark dirt roads, and walking down creepy driveways with unknown dogs or a random elk in the yard - so I can't blame them. (At least we were able to give away some of the candy at a Trunk-or-Treat our ward had Halloween night.) I've given away some of my decorations to the kids - but I still feel the irresistable need to decorate for Halloween. Some of the grandkids came down and made ghost suckers with me! That's always a good time.

Mother Goose

Those of you who know me - know that I would never pass up an opportunity to be a "ham". So here I am at my Visiting Teaching Conference last week playing Mother Goose to the ladies in our church. We did a fun skit using nursery rhymes to teach how to approach different situations we might find as we visit. It was pretty fun....I needed a Halloween costume anyway - so this 'oughta do!

Farm Life

Here's the big new barn that our son Danny is building. Its replacing the ramshackle garage and barn that used to stand here. Inside the barn will be a shop in the foreground and stalls and food storage rooms in the back. Upstairs is the hayloft and a bathroom/shower/work-out room. You'll notice that Nikki, Dan's lab does not venture far from his side wherever he goes. Chewie, on the other hand usually likes to torment and bark at the animals. He's the ghostly white dog shape inside the barn.

Here's farmer Dan feeding the animals. We are taking care of 4 Black Angus steers that will soon be made into hamburger. Down behind our house are the horses right now. Easy is the mare that is eating the hay. Her baby (I call Jasper, after a character in Twilight that likes to bite..hehehe..) is next to her and looks just like her. We also have a black horse and a mini horse named T-Rex. Most of the horses belong to Jana's mother.

Last Sunday was gorgeous here...

Time Out For Women

I had a great time this weekend going to this fun event in Portland. A lot of the ladies in my ward came along too. It was great to hear some of the best LDS writers, speakers and musicians do their thing. Cherie Call and Kenneth Cope singing live was so cool! Guess who's mom that is standing behind me? Napoleon Dynamites'!!! Yep, his sister Rachel is in my ward and teaches Relief Society. She's on the far left of the picture. The other gal on my right is Amy Updike who is a little firecracker and is having a ball in the Young Women's program right now. In the other picture I'm showing off the neat bag they gave out to all the attendees. Tina Lyon is standing behind me. I have some great ladies in my ward. Maybe because I'm the Relief Society president, I just am IN LOVE with them all!

Grandkids Galore

Here they are...all 15 and counting.

Giving this a try

Ok people.....here I go. I am joining the throng of bloggers out there. Now you will be forced to see many pictures of my grandchildren, farm animals, trees, dogs (ugh) and my cute husband. I hope this will be a fun place to come and see what's up out on the "farm" in Buxton-land.