Update: Janell, Glass, Bees

First an update on Janell. She is doing good, in fact today she is very happy because she passed

her glucose test. Here is a picture of a similar drink she had to drink for the test. UMMM.... flat syrupy soda....

Today Janell's mother took Janell's nephew Nate to OMSI where they went and saw how big the baby is right now at one of the exhibits. Nate thought it was gross. We met them for dinner where Nate preceded to tell us that the baby isn't ready to come out but he wants to.

Janell "why does he want to come out"

Nate "To see what his mommy looks like and not just the inside of her tummy"

Janell "Just her face?"

Nate "No, her whole body"

Janell "Does he want to see his daddy"

Nate "He doesn't want to see him at all"

Soon after that we found out the baby also wants to see his cousin Nate but not his grandmother.

Lately, several people have been asking me what I do. So here is the answer. As much as I can, I do my art. I work in cast glass. I don't want to write a novel to explain it, but if you are curious just ask me about it. I can talk about it for hours. I love it! here are a couple of pictures of some recent work.

The first one is a piece I put in on Monday. Hopefully it looks a blue cross with a paw on it, otherwise the vet clinic it is for isn't going to be happy.

This piece is one that I installed last week at a newer campus of Pacific University in Hillsboro.

This piece is a bench that is still for sell. It was in an alumni group show at Pacific University. The first person to call and pay $3000 gets it...... so call quick!!

Well, unfortunately in this slump I can't only do art. Fortunately, I have awesome parents-in-law. They hire me to help with the 1500 or so beehives they own. Again I could write and talk about the bees forever. They are truly amazing and working with them has taught me many things. Right now most of our time is spent making sure the hives are healthy and have a good egg laying queen. Janell's dad spends many nights taking them out to the orchards and fields where they will be pollinating the cherries, berries, etc. Here is a video of what it is like right now to be working with the bees. This video was taken when all the bees were in one place after coming back from pollinating the almonds in California. (and yes I do get stung on a regular basis but this day I did not)

The Most Amazing Moment!!!

Today Sunday the 17th of April 2011 I experienced the most amazing thing. I realize I am not in any way unique in what I experienced, but to me it was a moment I will never forget. I know the blog has not been updated in long time and so many of you know this all ready but Janell and I are pregnant. Okay actually she is pregnant and/but we are expecting our first child. A boy to be exact!!! Janell is due July 27th. We are very excited. Now back to the most amazing moment ever.... for the first time I felt my little boy kick. I know a lot of you know how that feels and I am sure a lot of you dads know how I feel right now. It truly is an amazing and wonderful thing. It is getting late so I am off to bed. If anyone actually still looks at this blog check back soon because I have set a goal to blog more often. I can blog from my phone so they might be short ones but updates to come.

Black Friday!

So after scouring the ads on Thursday, Tom and I headed out at 6 this morning. Okay, not really. The alarm went off at 6 and we debated for about two snooze pushes and then we rolled out of bed.

After two quick returns for forgotten items, we made our way to Sears. The store had opened at 4! For the truly crazy ones I guess!!

We then purchased this--


Pretty cool, huh?

While Tom and a friend installed it...I took a nap. Go Hubby!!

Oh...and we did make it to Fred Meyer for socks...of course!

Home

So that last blog just posted because for some reason it wouldn't load earlier. I am at the Portland airport right now waiting for my wonderful wife.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Still in Chicago

Well my trip is coming to an end. I am excited to see my wife tomorrow. I have had a lot of fun in part to our friend Bret whose house I stayed at and who took me around the city. Thank you Bret. Below are some pictures of the stuff we say and did.


















So below is the reason I came here. Some pictures of the glass install but also because it was amazing the view from the house.



















Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chicago

Here I am in Chicago for an art install. But I came a little early so I could hang out with my friend Bret. We went out last night to see a view of the city check it out.


Today we went to the museum of contemporary art. Mostly wasn't to impressed. But there were a few cool pieces.



I will write more as it happens.

Have you missed us?

We could take a few minutes and give lots of excuses for not having posted for a while, but they all would be lame.

So, instead we thought we would post some pictures of what we have been up to. Enjoy!!

This is the old shed at the back of our house. It held important things like the lawn mower, but the floor was less than satisfactory (read: non-existent in parts) and it was honestly not large enough for what we needed.

So, Tom had a plan...notice that there is no longer a shed attached to the house...

And this is the new shed in progress...

Please note the MUCH larger size of the new shed...and here it is...almost completely done...

Pretty amazing, huh? My husband is incredible!!! Thanks to loads of help from fantastic friends and Tom's parents, it is awesome! It is so great...we are now able to store many more things (like the camping gear) out there which means that the back bedroom is now available for cool things like the treadmill we recently moved in. Now, we just need to conquer the office space so we aren't climbing over boxes just to get an envelope off the desk. Hmmm...we will keep you posted.

Tom's friend, Mafalda, and her husband, Claudio, came and visited us from Italy.

Here we are sampling fine American cuisine -- wings and tater tots!

We had the chance to go to the county fair with my parents, my nieces, and my nephew.

This is Nate finding out that this is the animal that the turkey you eat is made of. Wow!

This is our new vehicle! We had been having a bit of car trouble, so we decided to act now.

We love it! 2008 Toyota Highlander!

So long since we had purchased a car -- amazing what comes standard now --

Remote Entry Rocks!

My husband loves me!

Tom tried his hand at gardening this summer, and the tomatoes have been the most successful. He does not like fresh tomatoes so I get to eat them all. YUM!

The corn was finally looking good, and a raccoon ate it all over 2 nights.

Guess he thought it was ready. :-)

Tom wants to make sure you know that this is at least a $20 tomato.

That's all for now. We are very blessed and very grateful for all we have. Love you all!