Cartoon & Computer Zombies

We were busy today.

Gage and Luke came over while mom worked and dad slept after working the night shift. Baby Kyle stayed closer in town so mom could visit him several times during the day.

They rode their bikes and ran around the yard and asked gramps a 1002 questions about everything. Grandma took Odie to the vet to have an ugly wart taken off the top of his head (another $138 invested in our million dollar dog) and then we had lunch.

More bike riding, wearing gramps old army dress hat. And then something weird happened......

Everyone was tired and the three guys went into the cougar room and turned into ZOMBIES!

Lifeless, eyes focused only on one thing, the screen in front of them, unhearing and non-responsive to anything.

The living breathing ZOMBIES!!!!!!!

Game Ideas

Well things are back to normal here on 4 acres. I finally feel rested and the house is clean and the yard is all picked up. I miss everyone already, in fact I started missing them Saturday afternoon. The house was too quiet.
I thought I would share some of the games we had for the kids.
Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the kids playing these games as I was busy helping them play.
Obstacle Race- The kids had to walk across a 2/4 about 12 feet long that had balloons tied on it about every 3 feet. When they reached a balloon they had to spell their name. Then they had to grab a squirt bottle and spray a cardboard picture of a giant with water. Next was a water balloon toss and catch. A run through the sprinkler to a frisbee toss. Next was sit on a big balloon and pop it, climb a step ladder and then the popcorn race. We made small drink cups with rubber bands on the bottom. The child put the rubber band on over his shoe and we put popcorn in the cup and they had to walk to a bin and dump the popcorn in. The kids played this over and over until all the balloons and popcorn were gone.
Photo Hunt - About a week before I took pictures of things around the yard. Everyday objects like a faucet handle, a fence post, bird house, wind chimes, door knobs, sprinkler, etc up close look different when viewed in black and white. I downloaded the pictures on my pc and printed them in black and white and cut them out. I put a short clue on the back of each picture (birdies live here, turn this for wet stuff, etc).
The kids loved this one too, even the older 3 grandkids had a hard time with a few items. I showed them the pictures one at a time and they had to run and touch the item and then run back. Great exercise!!

Catching the Sun & other Joys in Life

Here is Joseph trying to catch the sun and almost succeeding!
The gathering of family is over and the house is back to its quiet, just the two of us and after a little nap, I feel restored to my usual tried ol' self.
It was unbelievably chaotic, fun and noisy but oh so rewarding to have the whole family all gathered together again.
JUST LIKE CATCHING THE SUN AND HOLDING IT CLOSE, Burning it all into my heart to hold it forever in my memories.

This is the purpose of life, family. This is eternity. This is Joy.

Shhhhhh, it's a semi-quiet moment.....

Here are some random pictures of our adventures with cousin camp so far. Happy little Kyle, the paper plate mask gang, Gage as Harry Potter, popsicle kids, cupcake face Ava, and crazy "evil" Emily.
It has been heavenly to have them all here playing, laughing, fighting, and keeping me awake most of the night, but still oh so heavenly.

Ah the Miracle of Life

I said I wasn't going to blog for a week, but then this little miracle occurred yesterday so I had to tell you.

Odie brought home a partially hatched egg and I, being the optimist that I am, thought whatever it was would promptly die.

Instead it was breathing and wiggling so Emily, Joe and Mason immediately took it under their collective wings and watched over it all night, making sure it was safe from Odie and warm.

And then this morning I found them with a cute baby mallard all hatched and fluffy. It had mostly "imprinted" on Emily. I know she lost the most sleep over it because she later took a nap.

A few hours later they had "Rudy" swimming in the tank with them. And even later, they were feeding him tiny grasshoppers.

Each day brings new surprises on these happy 4 acres!

The fun and chaos begins!

We pick up 2 of our grandkids this afternoon who will spend the next 3 days here and then Saturday we go get our daughter-in-law and her 3 kids to stay for a week, which means that the other 6 will be here also, along with their moms and dads.
So I will probably not post for a week or so.
I can't wait!! What fun, noise, giggles, fights, running feet, swords clashing, water splashing, crying, and laughter. Sounds like heaven on earth to me!!

Working Ahead

We have been working like crazy for the last month to get our house and property all ready for a family reunion which was going to take place in 2 weeks.
We have and still are painting our old weathered barn and sheds a lovely "barn red" and we have moved plants, planted grass and potted flowers.
We have painted inside, 2 bedrooms, one "Cougar" room and cleaned carpets and organized closets and shelves.
I have also been cooking ahead. At least 20 dozen cookies, 2 batches of brownies, cupcakes, enchiladas, lasagna, and other casseroles.
We have bought packaged snacks and game prizes and fun stuff for the grandkids.
These are all things that have needed doing regardless of any gathering of family and/or friends so I am very glad they are done, even though I am pretty much exhausted every night and my sweet hubby looks worn out all the time.
Then on Sunday, we found out that the "big" reunion was a wash-out. None of Gary's brothers or sister would be coming for a number of reasons. Sadness? Relief? Disappointment? I guess all of the above. I had been really looking forward to seeing everyone and have them all see where and how we live, but boy what a lot of work and preparation for one day of visiting!!
Our son and his family will be coming anyway, in fact our daughter-in-law and the grandkids will be here for a week ahead of our son coming and so all of the advance planning will make it much more fun as I will be able to relax and play with the kids instead of slaving in the kitchen.
I have found out that cooking two meals at once and freezing one for later is just as easy as cooking one meal.
I have found out that the yard looks much nicer and is far easier to maintain now that the work is done. I love the paint jobs inside the house and boy did those rooms need it!!
So nothing was wasted time or effort.
We should not be prideful of our homes and possessions. We should keep what we have in good repair and looking nice, but we shouldn't ever want to "show off" what we have. Our home is nice and very comfortable but it is not a mansion or fancy. Our home is livable, a place to relax and enjoy each others company. It is and always will be a place where our family can come and feel "at home"

Crepe & Wattles

This morning as I was putting my make-up on to get ready for church I moved my eyes down to my neck. No one likes to see that make-up line at your jaw and I like to make sure everything is smoothed out and flawless..... Instead I really noticed the crepey skin and wattle!!
I have noticed this before and not really thought about it but today in the magnifying mirror I have to use to put mascara on so I don't jab myself in the eye, the wattle was waving in the breeze and I was mortified.
Old people have wattles.........oh yeah, I'm an old people!
So I take my hands on either side of my neck and gently pull the skin back. There, nice smooth neck, but what is all that puffy skin just under my ear lobes?? Yep, neck skin re-positioned!
So I try again, and again and finally find a method that works, now if I just had clear duct tape to make it stay!!
This will never work, because I realize that all the excess skin is now at the back of my neck and I will have to grow my hair 4 inches longer to cover the pleats in the back!
Oh well, now I know why some older women look kind of snobby. It's because they hold their head up so high and look down their noses at you because it's the only way to get rid of the dreaded WATTLE!

point and click

See the little map in the right as you are looking at the screen? Those little red dots are people who are looking at my blog and each time you click on my page it adds to the size of the red dot!
Also wanted to point out the blogs I visit which are listed on the right also. There are cute kids (my grandkids of course) on the two Andreasen sites and my "babysis" is "My Threads of Life".
Nature for Kids is almost worldwide and a great source of fun things for kids to do OUTSIDE!!
I visit all of them whenever they update and enjoy them all.
I have fun writing my thoughts, however dumb they may be. It lets me vent, hopefully provides some humor and is a link with my loved ones.
Today was lovely. I played an online game, babysat my newest grandson (5 mo. old and the cutest guy on the face of the earth) and sat outside alot in th beautiful sunshine.
And we had pancakes for dinner!!!!
Now I'm going to go watch the sunset with my wonderful hubby.
Sleep well.

High Weeds and Goats

We have about 3 acres of land besides the 3/4 acre that our home and lawns sit on.
Unfortunately, we do not have water rights to our land and we only have a well big enough to water our yard and supply our home with the water that we need.
The result of this is that we can sprinkle small areas of our field that are close to the yard and the rest grows on it's own. We have planted pasture grass seed, a disaster filled experience on the back of a 4 wheeler that I do not want to try again. Anyway, some of the grass has come up but mostly weeds have filled the field.
Waist high weeds have filled the field. Lots of weeds have filled the field.
We are boarding 2 beautiful horses who eat the grass. But not the weeds that fill the field.
So, we are going to borrow about 15 goats. We have done this in the past and it was very successful until we realized that the goats poop what they eat.......including the seeds of the weeds that fill the field!!
Anyway the weeds are high and the goats will come and eat the weeds and then they will poop the seeds and next spring the weeds will fill the field again.
Ah, the circle of life goes on.

Reasons for Joy!

Just a few of the things that make me proud, happy, laugh and remember that there is great joy to be found in the little things of life!

Have a great day!

Independence Day???

Today is the 4th of July. All our kids went to the big parade in Rexburg and the kids got candy and had fun watching Tyler in the "Car Wash" drill team march.

Gary and I stayed home, we don't enjoy the madhouse of traffic and the hot sun beating on our heads.

Carls family came over and fixed us really great bacon, turkey, provolone, avacado, tomato and lettuce hoagies. Better than Quizno's anyday.

We've been watching Spideyman 2 and lazing around and will go to Eric's for a BBQ and then maybe to Dirks for fireworks and then the rest of the fam will go to watch the big fireworks in town. We will come home because Odie freaks out when the locals fire up the big noisy stuff.

I'm wondering all day if this wonderful country we live in is still Independent or if we are slowly (rapidly??) becoming secular socialist instead?

The party in control of the government is pushing through so many new bills and rules and taxes so fast that no-one can even read what they are voting on and if the new so called health deals go through I feel like they will be "editing the population". Abortion at any stage will be legal, old people will die of common, easily cured ills and the poor will still not get the health care they need. Small businesses will be gone and everything will be run by and for the government.

I truly feel that we as individuals will be fine if we have faith and confidence that Heavenly Father is watching over us. It may be that our faith and souls will be all that we have under our own control in the future. I think that is what will let us celebrate Independence Day.

Early Riser

I like to sleep in now that I am retired and sometimes don't get up until around 8:30 or 9 a.m. but this morning I woke up at 6a.m. and felt rested and ready to get up. Amazing since I was so tired last night that I could hardly walk to bed!
It is nice and cool and a light cloud dusting in the sky with a nice soft breeze. I can hear the local crop duster buzzing right over our house every half hour or so when he goes back to the airport to refill his chemical bin and then back again to what ever field he is spraying.
We have a bazillion birds living in our trees, so there is the usual chorus of bird chatter, an occasional dog barking and car whizzing past on the road in front of our house.
Ah the quiet of country life.
We've been working in the yard alot lately, moving flowers and bushes and re-seeding the lawn, making it all easier to take care of for us old people with bad knees and backs. I think we are done with the major stuff out there now and we have moved into the house.
We've been in this house for about 4 years now and we re-did the kitchen, living and family room fairly quickly, but we finally got around to the bedrooms and "Cougar" room this summer.
The cougar room is Gary's domain dedicated to the BYU Cougar football team. The colors are navy blue and white (blue on the lower part of the walls and white above with a BYU boarder separating the two colors. There are posters and pictures of various pictures of the players and one wall dedicated to our sons sports pictures and awards. There is also an American flag that was flown in Afganistan, where our nephew served in the military, on the main wall of the room.
And now the crowning glory! A 47" flat screen high def TV in the place of honor! And then we found out we have to spend $200 more to get the special high def Direct TV box so that we can actually see the high def!!!!!!!!!!!!!!