June 28 - Gil and Laura celebrate 34 years of Marriage

We are showing our age. We didn't do much, just a nice quiet day.

Gil in the mostly finished front yard. Still a pile of rocks to be arranged. Garden boxes partially planted. GrandKids toys scattered around.

I'm making some progress on the diet. It's been a couple of weeks, and the pants are not as tight. My belly bulge is a little less.

June - Dino painting at grandma's

Art projects have been a great part of this summer.

June - J & J's new house & William on Patio

Jacob and Jenn were successful in selling their house and found this one to buy in NW Hillsboro.

William in his bumblebee shorties flitting around the patio and exploring the new garden boxes. (lettuce growing in one!)

June - Patio work continues

Chris moved the rocks one more time. He organized them on the patio so we could decide where to use them in the landscaping. We started the project not knowing what all we were going to do, so he first collected all the rocks under this window, then moved them so we could put bricks there, then moved them again as we expanded. He was a very good sport about our lack of planning.

Grass is mowed short and ready for rearranging the dirt and filling in low spots and edges. The pile of dirt will be spread some and used to fill garden boxes.

Gil built the first grow box, then Chris built the next 2 and positioned them around the dirt.

2 of the 3 boxes in position and lots of dirt spread covering up the grass.

June - Tualatin River Wildlife Preserve

Gil and I found another place to go walking. It's just off of highway 99W East of Sherwood. During the winter months, a lot of it is under water. Many migratory birds use this as a resting area. Some very dedicated preservationists have worked hard to connect all the plots of land to create this and a very nice visitors center.

June - Family at Naomi's

My niece, Jessica Noel Lee came from Utah to visit her sister, Teresa Lee Petrin. During her visit, they brought Teresa's boys, Jerome and Nolan to visit at Naomi's house with Nancy and I.
Second Cousins - The kids really liked playing video games together. Karissa is standing in the back. Jerome, Nolan and Alexis are in front.

Jessica, Naomi, Me, Teresa

Jessica, Naomi, Nancy, Teresa

The cousins - Naomi with Teresa and Jessica (my brother, Melvin's girls)

June - the diet begins

Our garden just getting started.....as is a new diet.



I have been very frustrated with my weight and inability to manage it. The joint issues and general health issues are at a critical stage I believe. If I don't do something, I can imagine myself almost immobile before too much longer. Not good. I joined a weight study through Kaiser a year ago. The first 6 months they taught us their basic weight loss program of recording and measuring and awareness. The second 6 months we were split into 2 groups, one learned an accupressure technique and the group I was in did the basic social support meetings once a month. I lost the 10 pounds required in the first 6 months, and then proceeded to gain it back in the next 6 months. My sister JoAnn went on the Medifast diet and had successfully lost quite a bit of weight. When I went to my Aunt Gladys funeral in May, I found that several of my cousins had also done or were doing Medifast and having a lot of success. I learned that Cindy was working as a consultant for the company, so I contacted her to help me get started and to provide support through the program. I received the first order of food in mid-June and took these pictures as I started the diet.

Josef's 28th Birthday

Michael & I celebrated Josef's birthday with him at Chevy's in Lake Oswego. He was just thrilled that he got the hat to go with the singing.

June at Ecola

Gil and I took a trip to Ecola State Park on the Free State Park Visit day. (we didn't know it was free until we got to the toll booth and they wouldn't take our money).

Our very first planned outing together in April of 1975 was to Ecola just after a major windstorm had done major damage. We parked by a downed tree that blocked access to the parking areas and hiked in the rest of the way. We had lots of fun jumping up and seeing how far the wind blew us.

The park has changed in the past 35 years. The access to the beach was washed away but they have improved trail access around the top to a view point behind this hill. Gil is returning from checking it out. My knees weren't up to the trip.

The wind was amazingly strong right at this view point.

June

We continued to make progress on the patio. It was quite messy at different stages. We really liked the 9-patch pattern Chris designed and how well he used the different sizes of patio squares that we already had mixed with the ones we bought just for the project. Kevan and William were good at exploring as the project progessed.

Later in May

Chris Bramel working on our new front yard patio.













































Rocks and stepping stones in piles and piles waiting for placement. Chris had to move them over and over to get them out of the way until he laid them into the nine-patch pattern.












































Drive Nancy and I took through North Eastern Oregon. Hell's Canyon Scenic Drive and then Wallala Lake near the Down of Joseph, Oregon.

Lots of cool metal sculptures decorate the streets of Joseph.