"You're off to great places today is your day, your mountain is waiting so get on your way." Dr. Seuss

Learning to climb a tree

Filling up St. Francis with a frog watering can

Pretty peonies

Braeden & Poppa standing on bridge watching the train go down the track.

Old quarry

Crying cause he can't climb anymore, he was getting too high.

If evolution really works, why do mothers still only have two hands?

  Happy Mother's Day Granny Bug & Great Grandma Jean!

"Who ran to help me when I fell, 

And would some pretty story tell,

Or kiss the place and make it well?

My mother."

Ann Taylor  

Here's the photo shoot we did just for y'all!

I cut his hair when we got home. Didn't realize it was this crazy.

Family Foto

  

Purple shirts in honor of Braeden's new favorite color. He's upset we won't paint his room purple.

Isn't Oregon pretty!?

"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we came from." Alex Haley

 JACOB BENJAMIN BERTEL, JR.

Brandon's Christmas present was the Weber genealogy line. I loved researching the history and uncovering his story. He knew nothing of his family history. It was a thrill to reveal to him that he is almost pure German. We knew the surname had it's roots in Germany, but how many of us Americans are close enough to those original countries to still have it running in our blood? I came across his Great Grandfather's death index and was ecstatic that he was buried in the Willamette National Cemetery for Veterans in Portland. This part of the PNW gets about 30 perfect days a year. Today was one of them. It was a delightful day to go in search of history. This cemetery is the most beautiful I have ever visited. Maybe y'all haven't been to many cemeteries, but I am here to tell you as a DAR member, granddaughter of a genealogist, and  visitor of many that this one is just stunning. It is on Mt. Scott, has hundreds of mature trees, and clear views of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood and Portland. What a beautiful and peaceful place to rest and honor those who have sacrificed.

See where the end of the field and road meet? That's where we found the grave site.  See where we are looking? Ian is standing in the middle of the field called Section K. We turned around to search back up the hill.  The information we had was Section K, Row zero, # 4441. The # is on the stone and we didn't discover that until we found our gravestone. The reason: overgrown grass and grass clippings completely covering the markers. We searched for half an hour and found no rhyme or reason for how the graves were placed. We are grateful to have found the needle in the haystack at all!

The boys had a fabulous time running around the hill.

Showing part of the vastness of Section K. The farthest trees mark the boundaries.

Brandon's Great Grandfather through his Mother's Maternal line. As a field Artillery PVT, he suffered  injuries from gas while fighting in WWI. He also worked in the same mines in Butte, MT that Kate's Great Grandfather worked AT THE SAME TIME! Do you think a 100% German miner and 100% Irish miner would have thought their great grandchildren would be married!?

It was a long walk back to our car.

Munchkin didn't want to leave.

"Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation." Joel 1:3

"In the Spring, by the end of the day you smell like dirt."

We need another lawn mower