Bzzzzzzzz

This is aptly titled because we have been busier than bees lately. It seems our entire summer has been devoted to going somewhere. Really, there shouldn't be any complaints because we have chosen to make our lives crazy. As you can see the red truck has been put to good use already this summer. Mark has it set up so we can easily transport the kayaks and still have plenty of room to stow other gear. It's also been to girls' camp, hauling girls and gear, camping and boating at Jordanelle, boating at Willard and an upcoming trip to Wyoming and the Jackson Hole area for Youth Conference. And everytime it goes out, Mark has a smile on his face! We spent the 4th at Utah Lake BBQing and kayaking with family. How unbelievable that it chose to be cloudy the entire day!Tayson and Pate.....Tianna and Shadow...
Capt'n Mark took the helm as the boys did some wakeboarding at Jordanelle. This is one of the best things about summer in Utah that I love...the gorgeous weather and scenery. Dan showing his skills on the water. Good for him. I'm too chicken--I'm fearful of how my neck and back would feel once I got done...if I survived. Even our little Buddah Wuddah Cohen and Maisey went on the boat with us, since they accompanied us on the campout. All in all, they did well.

Each of the boys have taken their turn in learning how to drive the boat under Mark's close tutelage. It must be a guy thing because Becki and I really don't care if we drive it or not but the boys, well that's a different story.

Mark was gone for one week to Las Vegas for a Cisco convention. As fun as that may sound, he couldn't wait to get home. It's hot enough here...who needs to be someplace where it is 5 degrees hotter? YW's camp was 3 days of food, friendship and fun. The girls are so awesome. And it gives me a chance to be immature and not be reprimanded for it. :)

Meagan...Meagan...Meagan....

I was going to photo bomb these girls and this is what happened. Good times!

Better Late Than Never

I never intended to delay my update this long but when life comes at you so fast, there's not too much of a choice. So now I am playing catch-up. Our summer took a while before it truly decided to act like summer. Last year I had never seen snow on my birthday. Well, this year that got beat by snowing on Memorial Day. Here is my proof. This is my patio--definitely not a day for a BBQ.
In mid June we drove back to see Mom and family. We've driven this road many a time in the past 28 years. It was fun to see the changes along the way. And, of course, the amusing antics of people in general. For instance, this is Omaha's solution to end filling the land fill with grass clippings. Just load it on your flat bed trailer and take a drive down the freeway until it all blows away. We thought it was funny how the kid in the back seat kept looking back at it, like he was telling his dad when it was empty.

I managed to have us stray off the path a bit in Omaha but we finally got to Winters Quarters. Jordan hadn't seen it since he was just a little shaver.

Jord and Mark near the Winters Quarters temple.

I'm not sure what this is but I think it is Omaha's tribute to Edward Scissorshand.

This drive was so different from the ones we made with all the kids. It was pretty quiet and peaceful. Jord didn't have anyone to argue with so it was very nice. This is how Jordan spent a lot of the trip.

Grandma had a list of things she wanted done. The rest of my army flew out. We attacked the list with a vengeance and got everything done we wanted to. One of the big jobs was washing the windows outside and cleaning the siding.

Repairing a hole in the wall.

Repainting the kitchen.

We came out for 2 things specifically--to get the buffet and to see lightning bugs. We found a trunk in her basement filled with a treasure trove of family history--old photographs and hundreds of old postcards. It was quite interesting to look at them.

Before we knew it, the time had come to take our farewell picture.

We rented a U-haul to bring back all of our treasures from Grandmas. The buffet, the old trunk, old guns, cookies, cookies and more cookies, 3M stuff and of course, cheese.

Both going out and coming back home we met up with Jim, Mark's cousin in Cheyenne. It was so wonderful to see him.

Here was our welcoming home committee. Very excited to see us all and have things back to normal.

Spring Cleaning

I don't know if anyone really does spring cleaning anymore. I have always figured I do deep cleaning when I get a chance. But thanks to our remodeling project, I was given EXTRA incentive to do some. We ripped out the carpet from the living room and family room; tore out the old laminate from our dining area and kitchen. Most of our furniture got moved out into the garage. So I didn't cover things up. Oh....my. It was so amazing first of all, to see all the dirt that filtered thru the carpet and pad--15 years worth. Then they had a layer of subflooring to remove when they pulled up the laminate. That made for even more dusty, dirty mess. By the time the first day of work was done I had a fine layer of dust and dirt on every single square inch of the main level of the house. Thus, spring cleaning was quickly put on my to-do list.

See that darker area on the floor near the piano below?? That's the dirt that was swept up from the carpet. Yuck.! Well, I didn't have to cook dinner for 2 days. That was nice. But the next few days were spent wiping down every wall, cupboard, wall hanging, door, etc.

The installers were great. They had the floor done by the end of the 2nd day. We installed our first laminate floor almost 15 years ago and we know we couldn't have done it as fast or as well as they did it. Now that I've got the new patio door and new floor I need to touch up paint and repaint a few other places. Home improvement projects are never done.

Jordan decided to participate in track this year. At first he wasn't sure he would like it but once he started competing he loves it and can't wait for the next track meet. Below he ran the mile.

He ran it in 5:48. Oh, how would love to do that! He has found out he's not very far behind the 9th graders. His coach convinced him to run the medley relay. Here he is waiting for his team mate to meet up with him and run the last 2 laps. I'm so glad he decided to run track. Hopefully, he'll grow to love it the way I did.

What a Lovely Spring!

I'll bet you are thinking I posted the wrong picture. Nope! This is what spring looks like at my house about once a week since March 1. The daffodils have bloomed and my apricot tree has blossomed despite being tricked by Mother Nature. Fortunately, it melts by the next day. I really should just enjoy these days for soon it will be summer and I'll be wishing for cooler weather like this. Ever since I've gone back to work I seem to be busier than ever. There's so many things that I don't get done like I used to like housecleaning, shopping, organizing, exercising, etc. All you working people probably are thinking, "Duh, welcome to the real world!" All right, all right--I get it! Anyway, besides the benefit of a paycheck, it has been rewarding to be employed. Despite having a brain that doesn't work as fast as my co-workers, they still put up with me. Maybe they are just hard up. Onto to other things. See that kid making the shot...that's Jordan, or JJ as his coach calls him. He's a good basketball player. The older he gets the more fun the games are to attend. Especially if the score is close. I hated to see the season end.

One Sunday we had nice weather so Jord and Ben played a little one-on-one. If I were rich, I'd tear out most of the yard and put a basketball court in. However, since I'm NOT, it will stay the way it is.

For the past 5 years I've been saying I was going to replace the carpet on the main level. Finally the time has come. I've paid attention to what others have in their homes and decided to go with laminate flooring instead of carpeting. Some people have asked why. Well, because #1) Maisey and Cohen; #2) Easier to clean up mud, grease, etc., that gets tracked into the house since I haven't done a very good job of training my family to remove their shoes before entering (that includes me.) Thanks to the magic of photoshop, I was able to use pictures of the samples to give me a better idea of what it will look like:

And here's the same flooring in the kitchen. In a couple of weeks I'll be able to post pictures of the real thing!

Here's my little angel and little devil. Yes, the one with glowing eyes is our devil-dog; son of Satan, Cohen. He appears to be so cute and cuddly but looks are deceiving. I have lots of stories to back me up.

This is what happens when you fall asleep with your big sister around. Ah, love at home!

Good Bye February!

I must say I'm glad for February to be over with. Winter has been long enough. I'm ready for spring. We consider ourselves lucky, blessed, whatever you want to call it. In the first part of Feb. our water pipes completely froze. As soon as I noticed it I got heat on the pipes by running space heaters and our fireplace in the basement. After about 6 hours the water finally flowed. Thank goodness no burst pipes.

In the beginning of the month I was hired as a part-time temporary office worker. I had been applying for some jobs here and there and was pleasantly surprised when I got called for this one. After all, I haven't worked in an office for 25 years or so. I work for an HR company. Right now I am mostly reconciling bills and getting a lot of computer experience, which is very good. I'm just glad they felt like they would give this old lady a chance!

Mark got out a couple of times to go ice fishing. He and the boys had some "guy time." One day they all came home looking like they'd spent the day at the beach. Each one of them said it was too nice out to put sunscreen. Yes, you can get a sunburn in the winter!

One project that needed to get done was replacing our patio door. The old one was giving us problems. We thought a repairman could fix it but after he looked at the door he discovered it was rotting away on the bottom of the door frame. And we thought the house was settling! It was determined our best course of action was to replace the door. So here it is...the before...

and the after. We decided to go with a swinging door instead of a slider. Ahhh, it's nice to have it done. Of course, this gets the wheels in motion to continue replacing other things in the house that are wearing out...carpeting, flooring, etc. Ka-ching, Ka-ching! I can already hear my hard earned money being spent!

Greatest Snow on Earth

Winter is here whether we like it or not. Our mountains have gotten lots of that fluffy, white stuff. It's very pretty--prettier than the gunky inversion that hangs out in the valley. Our church group took a bunch of the youth into the mountains for a day of sledding. They were able to sled down a
1 -1/2 mile snow packed road, which was like a luge track. One of the kids got clocked at 35 mph!! They all had a great time.

Mark was able to play in the snow with his new truck. I guess boys like to play in the snow!

Best of all, we had a day full of sunshine. It was absolutely gorgeous! And if you kept moving you actually got warm enough to take off your coat.

Jordan had a wonderful day with his buddies.

Zoom, zoom!

Mark and I brushed off the dust from our snow shoes and trekked around for a while in the pristine wilderness. This was so much better than sitting in the house. Which reminds us...why don't we do this more often?