2011 Heritage dance

 This last weekend was our annual heritage weekend conference. We had the great joy and privilege of having Pastor Tim Bayly preach for us. He is one of the most gifted preachers I've heard. The last day of the conference we had a dance! (ooohhh, I love dances!) And I was SO excited that my cousins and Grandma Koch were able to join us! Enjoy the few photos I was able to take-

 Trinh! -She had a lot of fun, and would love to come back next year, or to any other dance we have! *cheer*

 Anthony had a lot of fun with the boys. He also enjoyed the dancing.

 These last 3 photos my Grandma took. (thanx Grandma!)

 Anthony danced the "physical snob" with me. Wow-was that an experience!

All us cousins! We had an absolute b.l.a.s.t. dancing together, and listening to the amazing preacher. Thank GOD for family!

Please pray-

Hello everybody. Sorry I've not been posting a whole bunch.

My Papa just left for his surgery an hour or so ago. I know that this is not a serious surgery or anything, but I would still ask that you pray for him during the operation and for a quick recovery.
Thank you all.
-the Koch children-

p.u.m.k.i.n. p.a.t.c.h. 10.26.2011

 Yes, I know, it's been a long time since I've made a post. Truth to be told, I've been super busy. With what? Well, let me fill you in with the next couple posts-
* We went to Sauvie Island again today. Except this time we went with my cousins and Grandmother. It was really cold, but I think we all had fun anyways. *smile* Enjoy the photos!
(above) Anthony, being....well.....Anthony.

 Papa dared Anthony to eat this...pepper of some sort. ( I don't know what it is) I ended up eating the other half, which was twice as hot, I'll have you know!

 What a country boy!

 *grin* He gave me this weird look after he tried the pepper. :)

 J.Q. is adorable!!

 Everyone is eating peppers!

 And this is all the pumpkins! (since we already got big ones a couple weeks ago, we all just got small ones this time.) Mine is the one on the very bottom, and that big, huge one is Trinh's.

Nickolas had a bast too. :)

Fish from the fishermen

 Papa and Marcus went fishing with Mr.Bradley and Dylan last week, and this is what they brought home for us! (If you're wondering who caught the big daddy one...well, I should think you a simpleton. My Papa always catches the best fish, because he is....the best fisher. )

 Marcus is learning quickly from his Papa.

This and that of recent life

 I am more than super excited to announce that I have roofed my very first roof this last week! *cheer* I actually really liked doing it. I had a difficult time keeping the lines strait, but my wise father helped me by giving me some of his roofing tips. In the end, I was pretty satisfied with the lines.

 I did both. The short AND tall one. Yes. Yes, I did. I got over some of my fear of heights for a moment, and accomplished the job. That was definitely one of my "highlights" of the month.

 Cassandra helped us Koch gals peel, core, and slice our orchard apples last week, too. We canned a couple big batches of home-made apple sauce, then froze 8 pies worth of filling for the winter.

 Like I've said before....Music helps tremendously!

 Apple sauce!

Though the dishes from the day were more than just mounding, I thought that the cider, pie filling, and apple sauce were definitely worth it!

That's just a few snippets of what we've been up to lately.

Organizing for winter (for girls)

 Girls have Lots of clothes. (at least most of them do) So they need winter clothes, and summer clothes separate. (so they can actually fit everything into the closet) That's what I did tonight, while my parents where going out to dinner. All of those summer clothes are packed away and I got to go through two whole bins of winter clothes! *cheer* It's like getting a whole bunch of new clothes that you forgot about! That also means getting rid of clothes. Yes. That's the sad part. I got rid of lots of clothes that I simply didn't like anymore, and because I have way too many of them. Can any of you girls relate?

 (pardon my lame handwriting.)

 There my summer bucket is. All those bright spring-y colors are being packed away!

 ....I think I have way to many tops.....what say you?

(and by the way, don't count the hangers. It's embarrassing.)

 SHOES! -my one weakness. This box is all of my "warmer days" shoes.

 And this box is all of my "colder days" shoes. (well...except for the yellow ones.)

 I put all of my shorts for winter in this shoe hanger. It was super handy, and easy to pick out some shorts without totally destroying my organized drawers. Now, I've replaced the shorts with scarves and hats, etc. You should try it, it's really nice. You can use it for everything but....*smile* shoes.

 

All of my tanks are now in the drawers, rolled up so that I don't have to rummage. 

Well, I hope this wasn't boring. To me, organizing is never boring. Especially if you're listening to fun music while you're working. :) Now....who to give my 'get rid of' clothes to......

Koch family photo

A few edited-

 I didn't get really creative with my photos on this trip. I think it was mostly my fault, because I was simply lazy.  I do, however, like this photo. I just think it's calming.

 This one was too dark, and not very clear, but I still think it's nice.

 Remember that shot of the views when we went on our little adventure through the woods? Well, off in the distance you could see this light house, and I was pretty happy with my camera for capturing it from that far away.

 I loved these weeds! (or, whatever they are) I think that they are very artistic.

 I like the out and in of the focusing here.

And, the last photo, which I really like. It's just so bright, and sunny looking.


I'm sorry for the lack of creativity here. I promise to try harder, next year. :-)

Us Koch Kids

Papa took this photo of us kiddos while we were tromping through the woods. I love my siblings!

My family at Mo's

This was my favorite restaurant I was talking about. The clam chowder was heavenly. Absolutely delicious.