See ya...Wouldn't want to be ya...

I feel like I ought to love it. I feel like I ought to enjoy it. I feel like I may be on the verge of treason because of my Idaho blood. TOO BAD! I don't like camping. I don't mind going up to the mountains and taking in the gorgeous views and breathing the fresh, pine air. I don't even mind if we stay for supper, but can we please go home to sleep in our beds and shower in our showers? My husband and children love camping, and so does my husband's family. So when we are in Idaho, during the summer, we usually end up in the beautiful Rocky Mountains for a couple days. While we are up in the Rocky's the kids are on cloud nine and my husband proudly brings back a string of fish to show me how manly he really is. I figure it is good for me do these things, now and then, for my kids.

Why am I talking about camping? Josie is leaving for Girls Camp tomorrow morning and she is so excited. She has been packed and ready to go for two weeks. She is going to have so much fun. I'm excited for her. The Girls Camp Program is a little different than it was 'back then', when I was in YW, and here we don't have mountains to trek into. They do have cabins, bunks, and a swimming pool to cool off in though. So maybe I ought not slam the whole camping thing till I try it the Ohio way first. Or maybe not.

I'm so happy that there are adults that love teenagers and camping and willingly accept the challenge of combining the two. Josie's leaders are a lot of fun and will make her first Girls Camp experience a wonderful one, I'm sure of it.

Have a fun time Josie! We can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

Growing Pains

Do you remember wanting something but the fear of doing or getting it was just too much? Mine was getting my ears pierced. I wanted to get earrings so badly, and yet, the fear of pain was too much for me to do it. I remember my dad and I in the mall one night before Christmas and he was all ready to take me to get them done. I still chickened out.

Well, something similar is going on in our house right now. We have four bedrooms, but up till now only three have been used regularly. The one in the basement has always been used for a toy room/guest bedroom. Todd declared that he was sick of the messes that Mitch & Justin make in the boys room and that as soon as Grandpa & Grandma left from their visit he was moving down to that room. And he did. His dresser is down there. His PlayStation thing (and all the crap that goes with it) is down there. All his stuff is down there.

And this is how we find him each night when we check on the kids before we go to bed....

I'm sure they ask (and maybe beg) him to let them sleep down there, but I have never heard him say no or complain. I've also heard him announce that he was getting ready to go down to bed. Almost like a call to anyone interested to join him. I shouldn't get a kick out of this, but he was so 'out of there' that it makes me giggle.

I remember when Toby moved to the basement in out house when we were little. I slept down there in the bottom bunk quite a bit myself. So it is a normal concern/fear, I'm sure.

We all have fears, but we grow up, mature, and get over them. My ears have been pierced for years now and since then I've done several things that hurt MUCH worse. So, till Todd gets over this fear I think we'll just let the boys stick together. And yes, his room is always clean.

My Favorite Month

I love July. Who doesn't? There is sun, swimming, picnics, & fireworks. Not to mention homemade ice cream, snow cones, and of course watermelon.

One reason I love July so much is my own selfish, personal reason...

Here is what my calendar looks like every May & June:

And then this is how July looks:

Ahhhh, doesn't that just look heavenly? Not much of anything that we have to do. We can mostly just do what we want, when we want.

Another fun thing about this month is that Layne always takes vacation. Honda shuts down for the week of the 4th of July and Layne usually adds on some of his vacation too to make it a nice long break. But this year he is taking a week here and a week there all summer long. It has been fun so far, but I do have to say, when he is home from work it gets expensive. I swear he is at Lowe's everyday. Today the boys came home from Lowe's and pulled the truck out into the backyard. When I went to see what was going on this is what I found...

...a new fire pit. For 13 years we have had a fire pit that was just big rocks found on our property and a shallow hole. We've had many good cook outs with friends and family out there. Now we have a very pretty block fire pit. Good job Layne & boys!









And one more thing I love about July is celebrating our country, The United States of America. I am so grateful to all the men and women that have and currently are keeping us safe and providing us with the freedoms that we hold so dear. We have friends and family that are currently in Iraq and we couldn't be more proud of them and all those that work with them. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!


Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone!

Please Come Again

(just a pic of some of mom's favorite flowers)

We had such a fun time with Grandma Lucy & Grandpa Jay. It seems like we spent a good amount of time in the van, but I guess that was because we had fun places to get to. They came to see the boys play ball. Their timing was perfect. It is the end of the season tournaments for both boys! So they got to see them play several times. The only problem was that they had to leave before the tournaments ended and dad was bummed he couldn't finish it out with them. We'll keep them updated.

If we weren't at the ball park we were at home playing ball. Morning till night for our boys.

Even Grandma got in on the action.

Here we are playing mini golf. I'm pretty sure we didn't break any records, but we had a good time.

The time went by too quickly, but I think we got most of what we like to do done. Dad got to go antiquing and mom and Josie got to go to the mall shopping. We got to stay up late, sleep in, eat lots of candy & pop, and visit. Can't wait to do it all over again next time.

We love you both!!

Chicken Alfredo Recipe .... this is your copy Geri & Jason

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 t. garlic salt

1/4-1/2 cup milk (thin to desired consistency)

Heat ingredients in a small sauce pan till hot & bubbly. Pour over pasta, chicken, & vegetables.

For everyone that is wondering why I am posting this recipe......

#1 - Audrey called tonight and asked why I haven't posted in a while.

#2 - I saw this pic and wanted some.

#3 - Geri & Jason have called me for the recipe 5 times in the past six months and I decided to help save time and cell minutes.

We Got Him!

Around 11:30 Layne and I heard what sounded like something in the garage. When I closed the garage door, before I went to bed, I locked in a momma raccoon and four babies. Todd and Mitch were still up (they napped too long after church) and came in and asked what was on the front porch. We didn't realize that anything was going on out there so after we got everyone out of the garage we went and looked. Here is what we found. We have been trying to catch these little rascals for a month now. So, Layne and I headed out for a drive at 11:30 p.m. and dumped out the raccoon, who peed his pants in the back of the truck.

We got home at midnight and went to bed. At 1:00 a.m. Todd woke us up and said that he heard something on the front porch. So Layne got up and low and behold, raccoon #2. I want to point out that for a month we have tried our hardest to catch these raccoons that have been driving us crazy and instead, the only thing we've caught has been two (2) cats. Now, in the space of two hours we've caught two of the raccoons. At this point we were too tired to care so we left him there till morning and Layne took him to work in the back of the truck and dumped him out somewhere.

Last night I got home from Wal-Mart at 10:30 p.m. and when I pulled in what did I see on the porch? You guessed it, another dang raccoon! I couldn't tell if it was the momma that we still haven't caught, but it was too big to be one of the babies. The trap wasn't set last night so they got to roam around without worry.

Here is something funnier than raccoons.

I went out to check on Justin. When I opened the door I saw this.....

Here is the view from the other side....


He is the type to go and go and go and then crash wherever he is. I guess taking one more step to get into the cool house was just too much for the little guy.