Sugar and Spice

You got it! Charlotte is "sugar and spice and everything nice!"

Jesse's Nap

It's nap time for Jesse, but he is having difficulty going to sleep. It helps to have a frog buddy!


Jesse loves his little friend.




Hmmmmm...thinking about going to sleep.

So sweet and innocent!

Merlin

It's always a thrill to see a hawk in our yard...even if they do scare all of the birds away.

This is a little Merlin. It's not much bigger than a scrub jay, but it preys on all of our song birds!

I made another trip recently to the Portland Temple and captured this beautiful fall shot!

Meet my Family

I made another visit to my cousin Dan Reber's in Sherwood, and he dug out his dusty old boxes of pictures and albums for us to go through. He inherited them from his mom, Topy Shaffer Reber, who inherited them from her mom, Lola Smith Shaffer. Some of them must have been Lola's mother's pictures (Margaret Clear Smith).


I cannot describe how thrilled I was to enjoy pictures I had never seen of my grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents, and even great great great grandparents! If you know anyone in your family with old pictures, make a visit and take your camera. There is nothing easier than taking digital pictures to share!

In the picture above my Great Aunt Grace Smith, is on the steps of the Cape Meares Light House near Tillamook, Oregon. She is my Grandfather Lester Smith's sister (taken in the very early 1900's).


This is my Great Aunt Lola Shaffer ( sister to Lester) and my Grandmother Pearl Smith (wife of Lester).
This is my Grandfather Lester Smith in his fishing boat with his brother in law Carl Shaffer (Lola's husband). Lester fished for a living in the Alsea River and Waldport Bay on the Oregon coast. Look at that catch!











This is Lester's mother, Margaret Clear Smith.
This is Margaret's father, John Harrison Clear. I photographed almost 200 pictures, and you can see why it was such a special day for me!!!

Our Furry Friends!

How can anyone live without a cat?

This is Lennon enjoying a little nap.



This is Penny under the coffee table.
This is our beautiful (but timid) Dante

Halloween Tradition

Anne and Matt joined us one evening to carve pumpkins. You are NEVER too old to carve a pumpkin!

Anne and Matt
Kristin's creation! Pretty impressive, huh?

Charlotte and Jesse

Megan and Andy's little Charlotte is growing and changing! Here she is actually chuckling in her sleep :-).











It is not difficult to see that she is loved. Her "Papa" enjoys a minute with her.
It was fun to see Jesse's cute Halloween costume that Megan made for him. He is eating "pop rocks" for the first time. Can you tell what he is? :-)

Birds

I continue to feed the wild birds in our yard, and they are a constant source of joy to watch. The bird above is our common junko.


This little finch is kind of unusual in that it has some yellow feathers instead of the red or orange ones that are typical of this species.




This is the "purple" finch.

Deer

I never grow tired of watching the deer that come into our yard. We have enjoyed this doe and her twins all summer. These little ones have finally lost their spots.

You can see the difference in light as the morning progresses.