Winter in Portland

taken March 7 at Forest Park in Portland OR. Yep, it's "winter". This is Miles and Kate climbing a fallen tree that crosses a small stream during one of our family hikes.

Schettler Family Reunion - July 18

Hi family,
We origionally thought we would have the get together in June but we are having trouble getting a date when our kids could be here to attend and help us host the event....so we will be having the Schettlers at the farm get together on July 18th, a Sunday and we will try to eat about 1 o'clock on that day....would you spread the word on the blog, facebook or any other way you communicate to the troops for me. I am not on high speed internet so I don't do facebook well but I know lots of nieces and nephews are on it so that would be helpful if you could let all the family know...Kathy(Daves wife ) was here with their family during a town celebration with a BEER PARADE and if we don't have a town with one while they are here we will get a hay rack and a keg and make our own beer parade so be sure to join the fun..It's still so cold here it is hard to imagine it will be hot in July, I think we may still have snow in the ditch even then , but we will deal with weather when it comes...hope you can all join us, we will try to roast hog if we get enough people coming so let us know if you and your families will be able to attend.
Thanks,
Norm & Diane

MS Walk

Hey Schettler Family!

I just signed up to do the MS walk here in Omaha this April 24th. I'm not very good at fundraising and have come here to ask for pledges. I joined a dear friend of mine's group and we're specifically walking for her Mom whom I've known since junior high and have personally witnessed the everyday struggles she's gone through. She's unable to work and has been denied assistance so if there's anything I can do to help the cause I will certainly try!

I know times are tough but if you can spare even just $5 it'll help!

Here's my pledge site: MS Walk - Walking for Patty

Also - if you're in the area and want to walk with us, let me know and I'll pass along the group info!

Thank you in advance and I hope you'll pass it along!

Taryn

Happy 70th, Mom!

 
 
 
Yup, Fran turns 70 today and I thought I would post a few pictures in her honor. These are taken at the Oregon coast when they visited last July and we made mom climb to the top of the dune. She wasn't quite sure she could still do it, but I knew she had it in her. Congratulations, Mom!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Emily (9) and Nick (6)

Happy Halloween
Fran, Emily, Marv, Karla and Nick
pumpkin carving

Fall???

This is what we woke up to on October 9th, 2009. We keep wondering when did we have fall?

Kathy's "Cottage" Garden

Don't know if all of you are on Leo's "Support Group" list to receive his email updates but I had to share this gorgeous picture of their gardens that he shared in his latest email. Leo and Kathy were chosen to have their gardens in the recent garden walk so Kathy has been busy all summer "getting it ready". It looks just like a storybook cottage to me so just had to share with everyone.

A Toast From The Great Iowa State Fair

Bob and I made a visit to the Iowa State Fair, along with 105,000 other fun seekers! It's always a great time and we were very happy to have wonderful weather this year.

At the cultural center, this talented painter was creating a patriotic piece of art on this giant boulder. I guess he has done several of these Freedom Rock paintings in support of our troops and they are located throughout Iowa.

First day of School

Today was Emily-4th grade (9 yrs) and Nick's-1st grade (6 yrs) first day of school.
The top picture is outside their school, middle picture is in front of our house and the bottom picture are with just a few of the neighborhood kids wating for school to start.
Hard to believe summer is over!

Tom, Karla, Emily (9), Nick (6)

We went to the Omaha zoo this summer, it was a great day weathter wise and we think everbody else thought the same thing.
Had a good time, have not been there since Emily was 2, she is 9 now.

Kate's 6th Birthday

Here is a photo of my daughter Kate's 6th birthday party. (Is she really 6 already?!)

Summer Vacation with Marv, Fran, and Dawn & family

This was taken last weekend at the beach house we stayed at when mom & dad were here in Oregon visiting. We probably won't make it back to Iowa this year, so it was great to have that time with them here!

What's Happened To Summer?

Hope it's been a good summer for everyone. Seeing how quiet the blog has been, I'm guessing that it's been a busy one too. Bob and I are the proud owners of a new boat this year so we've been having fun exploring the lakes around the area and are hoping to plan a trip to Minnesota in August to visit Nancy, Mike and Jordan.

Shane's summer has mostly been spent working but he and some friends did find time to make a short trip to Kansas City last month. Hard to believe but he will be heading back to school in just four weeks. This year he is also changing apartments...actually moving next door to his current apartment...so is heading to Ames on Friday so he can do his share of the clean-up of their current place before they must be all moved out next week. He'll also have three new roommates, so that will be a change for him.

Got to see Dan and Sherri a couple of weeks ago when they came to town for a quick visit and the Langel family reunion.

Our gardens and flowers are growing very well with all of the rain we've had this summer. Earlier this spring I rescued this old wagon wheel/mailbox from a junk pile and did a little painting to give it a new life in my flower bed. Instead of mail, it now holds my garden gloves and tools so they are handy when I'm out working in the yard!

Hope everyone is doing well -- our prayers are always with the Kraus family and for Kathy and her family this summer.

Barb's memorial page

http://web.mac.com/annette16/iWeb/BarbDierks/Home.html

Check out the web page that Annette created for Barb - it's sweet. We'll miss her so much.

Barb is with the Lord

Passing along the message posted by Barb's husband Duke last night as well as the link to her obituary. The funeral is Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Good evening everyone,

Barb peacefully passed away at 11:40pm on 5/31. Services will be at Orchard Hill Church in Cedar Falls, IA. The date and time of the service will be determined shortly. I will keep you posted on this information as soon as it is set.

Love
Duke

http://www.dahlfuneralhome.com/obit/obitlist.php

Our hearts are filled with sadness for Duke and the kids as well as the entire Kraus family. We've been touched by the grace and inspiration that Barb showed during her courageous battle with cancer these past 2-1/2 years. She grew into a remarkable woman!

Personally I just remember many get togethers at the Kraus farm, playing in the grove, hanging out with the girls, and always lots of laughter!

baby chicks

ok, all you Iowa farm kids...who remembers raising baby chicks? Kate's kindergarten class hatched some this year. The kids LOVE those chicks. Matt, my husband, also grew up on a farm and has fond memories of bringing baby chicks home in a box each year. We babysat the chicks one weekend. Matt tried to sign us up for adopting them, but we were too late. (yes, in Portland you can have some chickens, but no roosters.)

It's Nearly the End of Another School Year!

Nathan receiving $2000 scholarship
High School Musical "Back to the 80's"


This is the last week of school for the kids here. This last month has been a busy one . . . a high school play and a luncheon for scholarship receipients. Nathan starts working at the Boy Scout camp for the second year on May the 27th for eight weeks, returning home in time to start school next August.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Emily (9) and Nick (5) decorating Easter eggs in the back yard. It was a great day! Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

Spring....maybe not!

Yes, it is snow on Sunday April 6, 2009. Emily-9, Nick-5 (Karla/Marv)

"Spring" Baseball

Here are Kate and Miles again after a very chilly baseball game last weekend. It was 45 degrees! BRRRRRR The picture above shows the back side of the old fashioned scoreboard that Portland's PGE park has. A couple guys stand behind the board and remove the numbers by hand and re-hang new numbers after each run, strike, whatever. It's actually kind of quaint.

Look Ma, No Teeth!

I decided to jump on the picture posting bandwagon. Here is one of my 2 kids. Kate had just lost her 2 front teeth.

Kite flying part 2

Emily (Karla/Marv)

Has Spring sprung?

Nick flying kites.... (Karla/Marv)

It's a Snow Day in Tennessee

Tennesseans received their wish today. About 2 1/2 hours into the school day school was closed for the remainder of the day. As you can see from the photo it doesn't take much for school's to close down here. Northerners would scoff at this little bit of accumulation. Although it is sure pretty when it comes down it doesn't last very long. This is a wet, sloshy snow coming down today.

This has been a winter of such extremes. Yesterday we were splitting wood with 60 degree temps, sunshine and no coats and today it's snowing. I'm ready for spring!

Schettler Coat of Arms

I came across this one day, kind of by accident. Don't remember where I found it, but did retrieve this image of our Coat of Arms. I have been meaning to post this for a while and forgot about it.

Has anybody else seen this before?

what iowans do when it snows in Portland...

We had an atypical snow storm around Christmas this year which I am sure you all heard about. 14 or so inches and an actual white Christmas! When it first started to snow my husband decided we should throw as much as possible on our somewhat steep driveway so the kids could sled while it lasted. Little did we know it was going to keep snowing for a while...

Happy Holidays everyone! My best gift of the season is sitting in the center of this photo. With some frequent flyer miles we were able to get Aaron home after 5 years. It was a wonderful visit with him, but all too short. It was the first time he has been in our home in Tennessee. He and his brothers laughed and joked around. All three talk and sounded so much alike that I had to check to see who was actually talking. Nathan and Ryan are not such "little" brothers any longer. It was great seeing all three interacting together with common interests. Wish we could of kept Aaron through Christmas . . . maybe another year.

christmas fun!

I wasn't even there - Karla emailed this picture to me - but I couldn't resist posting a picture of Grandpa Marv playing Guitar Hero with his grandaughter Emily...

Leo Kathy Aaron Kelly Pablo/Martin Maggie Nico Bridget John-Christmas 08

Hi Everyone...Merry Christmas!  One of my New Years Resolutions is going to be visiting and contributing to this blog.  It is so great that we have it; such an easy way to stay in touch with each other. This photo was taken at Aaron and Kellys place on Nov 30 when we were celebrating Aarons birthday.

Last night we had our 20th annual Christmas Caroling party. Between 40 and 60 of us go around to different people who don't get out much anymore and sing carols on their front lawns.  We also sang to Sister Muriel on the phone.  Always fun. Kathy makes a big pot of chili and hot spiced wine for when we get back to the house. 

Wishing everyone out there a great Christmas and a Happy 2009! Stay well and lets stay connected.  Leo

happy holidays!

We're staying in Portland again this year which means our chances of a white Christmas are pretty much nil - unless we decide to drive to Mt. Hood...

Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

Kate and Miles

Kate and Miles with suckers compliments of the hair salon. Miles just got a hair cut.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family too Debbie! I check this site every once in a while for any interesting news from the family but it just doesn't seem to be the news hub to keep everyone up-to-date about the family. My family is just as bad about posting news as everyone else so no room to talk there. I'm not sure what the solution is to get it more active! I don't hear a lot about the relatives though so I would love to see more postings and stay in touch.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with Bob's side of the family this year and nice weather. We were remembering yesterday that last year, it was shortly after Thanksgiving that our snow started and never left the ground until March. We're hoping we don't have a repeat of that experience! We are also now decorated for Christmas which will hopefully get me in the mood for shopping. I don't have a lot to do though which is nice but it also means that I am good about procrastinating!

This picture is from my birthday earlier this month. Bob and I and some friends went on a tour of several of the Iowa wineries in southwest Iowa. They were having a holiday tour and gave out small samples at each stop. It was a lovely day with great weather for November 1st!

Shane heads back to Iowa State tomorrow for 3 weeks and then first semester is already over. He is on schedule to be a 2 year senior so has another year and a half before he is finished.

I liked your float picture and remember those high school days of Shane so fondly. Sounds like you stay involved with all of the activities which helps to make it fun for the whole family.

Hopefully we will hear from more of our relatives soon !