I'm sure anyone reading this now had already given up on me ever getting back on here to continue my blogging saga as the Miracle Lady! Well.... you were wrong...but not by much I'll have to admit. Life is too short and too full to keep up with everything and everyone but mind you I'm definitely NOT complaining one little whit!



KIDS BEING SILLY AT DINNER TIME


ME AND MY BEST FRIEND KIMM


WE CAN BE SILLY TOO


MIKE TRIES TO BLOW OUT TRICK BIRTHDAY CANDLES


MIKE READY FOR HIS REVENGE AT THE SUMMER CAMPING TRIP


UH, OH, JUST NOT QUITE HIS SIZE? "I WANT A REFUND..."


DAD WILL KEEP WARM WHILE HUNTING WITH HIS NEW BONNET? NO, HIS CABELA'S CAP


AS THE FAMOUS CHARLES SCHULTZ'S CHARACTER CHARLIE BROWN WAS QUOTED AS SAYING...."ALL
I GOT WAS A....ROCK!"


LOOK, I'M A MECHANICAL ENGINEER BUT I REALLY ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A SAND ARTIST.


MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE
BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW ONE OF OUR OWN BLOGGERS WAS RUDOLPHS STAND IN FOR SANTA DID YOU?

I love being ABLE to be busy and to have so much to do and so mamy people in my life that I can't even keep up with all of them the way I would like. My blogging friends are also important to me and I don't want to neglect visiting you all too. I have done some visiting inbetween posts, even when I didn't have time to post myself. I know some of you can identify with me and I know some of you have tried to keep tabs on me because I find such nice little notes or emails once in awhile. Thank you for that. :)\

Here is another fun little synopsis, not of everything we've been up to but just a few things.


The house projects have continued and I am ready to take a break until next year. 2011 that is. The new windows have already helped dramatically with out heating nill and that's wonderful. Being able to walk across our bedroom without loding my balance due to an unbalanced foundation is surprising. I think I automatically lean to one side trying to compensate for the uneven floor that I navigated for over 15 years. Wow, what a difference. Our next and last project until summber is our kitchen but that will have to wait until January.

Otherwise, inbetween things we, like everyone else, has been busy with the holidays and get togethers and food up to our ears. So much fun but alot of work. Party's, games, gifts along with families and friends have definitely kept us busy and happy. We also hope to visit more family here on Christmas Eve and then to travel to Pheonix to visit more and more family. (We have a very large and varied family tree). Brenda and family has graciously offered to watch our house and our bully dogge, Myrtle while we are gone. Myrtle will miss us but she loves Brenda, Sunny and Grace so whe won't be in too much agony. When she was younger we left her at a kennel for a week and she was so mad at us and I don't blame her.

Ok, I'm going to keep this short sweet and simple:


MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL AND DON'T FORGET TO...GIFT YOURSELVES TO OTHERS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. Oh, and Happy New Year too!!

House Projects Anyone?

Here's the reason I haven't been blogging as much as I would like. Hopefully things will slow down soon.

One of the first thiugs we did this summer in our back yard was to remove the shrubery against our house in preperation for the foundation to be leveled. We didn't want to waste one little evergreen tree so we transplanted it.

Here my dad and uncle are taking it out of it's original spot behind the house.


em>Here they transplanted it along the area we prepared to seperate the new driveway (parking lot) we were going to put in.

My dad and uncle moved our shed to make room for the driveway as well.

On the move...<


Some Nephews were delivered to help gather all the tree limbs after we had our huge cottonwood tree trimmed. Dad got alot of fire wood out of the large limbs.


Kids will be kids as one takes a break and a ride.


It takes a team to get the job done when you have a pile of interwoven branches.


Just a note: These boys were donating their time to help us because their parents are teaching them that it is a good thing to help others and not get paid for it. They are learning a sense of community and did a great job that day. Since they are all cousins it was a wonderful time for them to do something as a team and spend time and comradere with each other.


Whew, that load is done and we are all proud of our efforts.


Well, once in awhile we did take a break. Msriah loved riding grandpa's new 4 wheeler with him.


Ethan loves sitting on Grandpa's riding lawn mower.


Evan was 'king' of the pile. Get it? ha.


We created a rock and bush barrier between the new driveway and the rest of the yard. My dad, uncle and husband worked diligently to do MY bidding. :)


My uncle liked things to be just so.



My husband built a beautiful border around my wishing well. My uncle built that for me several years ago. Shortly after we planted flowers in the outer border and in some planters.



Greatgrandpa and Ethan ride the rented tractor. He rattled a continuous flow of questions about how it worked.


Greatgrandpa and Evan ride and Evan's rapt attention was unbroken as he watched the shovel go up and down.


My dad uses his own invented and self built tractor to smooth out the road base we had dumped in the new driveway.


Then, the much awaited major project, the foundation lifting began. After the trench was dug all the way around the house they began to drill down with the hellical piers to the depth that gave enough 'torque' to hold the weight of the house. It became a challange when they had to go deeper than the 10-11 feet they expected and had to go down 29 1/12 feet deep to create enough torque. We live on top of clay on a hill no less so the house was sliding down on one end.



Finally the trench was filled all around. And yeah, instead of sleeping with my head down like a bat and leaning to the side and losing my balance as I walk beside my bed I can walk straight and sleep upright.



Whew are you as tired of reading/seeing all of this as I was doing it? Guess what?: We're not done yet. Because of the raising of the foundation there is alot of spaces, etc. throughout the house that need to be mended. ie: we had to have the water heater replaced due to major leaking suddenly. The heater fan won't shut off now and we are getting a new one next week. The showers have spaces in the caulking and walss etc. Plumbing pipes (a few are stretched and need replaced) the downstairs fireplace mantel fell off with a few bricks to boot, and the front door kinked up and we had to straighted out the door frame and level it again and I had to repaint the trin, etc. Need I go on?

Well, what's been going on at your house this summer/fall?

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Do today whether you want to or not cause tomorrow will hold much more to do." RJM

Enjoy your gift of a day!

Uh, Oh, what a way to get initiated into coming back to blogging!


I've been tagged by my daughter, Amber at http://www.faithlovekidsandme.blogspot.com. Now I've got to tell some of my deep dark secrets (maybe). Guess I'll get started, but she says I then need to tag 8 friends to answer some of my own homegrown questions so watch out, heh, heh. After answering Amber's tag questions below I have a list of people I'm tagging and a list of the 8 questions I want them to answer. If you would like to get tagged just answer the questions in the comments box or add them to your blog and post for all of us to see.


1. *If you could do one thing over in life what would it be?
answer: saying the wrong things to people and hurting them with my words.

2. *If you could go back in time and live as someone else, who would it be?
answer: Eve, and I'd keep my hands away from that darned apple! :) Not really, I guess I'd like to have been Helen Keller's teacher. What a wonderful beginning to the worlds second language.

3. *Chocolate with nuts or not?
answer: nuts of course.

4. *What do you think is the most important character trait in a person?
answer: honesty!

5. *What book or movie could you read or watch over and over and why?
answer: The sound of music. Even though it's not a totally acurate portrayal of events, it has so much hope for the love and trust in families and the wonderful ability that the nun had to bring others together.

6. *Who do you admire and why?
answer: Two people. My dad for sharing his knowledge of anything and everything in daily life with us and never saying "You can't". Also, my daughter for being there for me and my husband (her stepdad) through all of the really tough times the last several years. I admire her as a daughter, a mother and a woman of faith, strength, hope and resolve. I am so very proud of her.

7. *Jeans or sweats?
answer: Jeans. I've never been 'comfortable' in sweats. I know that sounds like a misnomer but for me that's true.

8. *What is the one thing you would want others to remember about you?
answer: that I lived each day fully with anticipation and that I truly love being a mother, a grandmother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, an aunt and a cousin. I love being with the people I love and love sharing my life with others who haven't had the love in life that I've been fortunate to have. (Oops that's more than one thing so just keep the first one I mentioned).


If you are on my list as being tagged you will find your name and blog address below. If you don't you are still welcome to join in.

Now for my questions:

1. If you had to choose only one favorite sweet thing what would it be?
2. Which is most like you; Pastels, rich reds and blues, greens and oranges and browns, lavendars and pinks?
3. what is your favorite memory of a childhood game or activity you enjoyed? (younger than 12)
4. which would you have most enjoyed as a career other than what you have or are doing now and why?
5. What have you secretly felt you are very good at but usually don't talk about?
6. If you had a million dollars handed to you what is the first thing you would BUY?
7. Have you ever shot a gun and have you ever been hunting?
8. Which would you be most likely to adopt? a cat or dog, a zoo animal, a child relative, a special needs child, a baby, a grandma, a pet rock or a street to clean?

Are these tough? hope they are fun and maybe even thought provoking.

Friends I have tagged today:

Brenda at http://itswonderfullygood.blogspot.com
Putz at http://barlowputz.blogspot.com
Amber at http://faithlovekidsandme.blogspot.com
Keetha at http://keethastuff.blogspot.com
Chris at http://chrislivessimple.blogspot.com
Beverly at http://beverlywhitcomb.blogspot.com
Ashlee at http://claywoman.blogspot.com
susan at http://penlesswriter.blogspot.com

This month has been the busiest so far so hope to catch up on more later. In the meantime enjoy a couple of quick picks and hope to touch base with you all soon.

A day at the lake and a lucky boy catches a frog!
Ethan and his prize


A night at the lake
Full Moon rising


The next morning
What a full moon does to our Mrytle, she slept under cover


The End

Playing Catchup

I have obviously been off line for awhile now, just as I'm sure many others have been over the summer. What a busy time with family and household projects. Except for the 4 day stay in the hospital the first of June, I have been in pretty good shape and was able to do more at home. I have enjoyed it immensely, the staying well part and that has allowed me to enjoy the summer so much more.

I will mostly show in pictures what we've been up to. I hope you have all been busy having fun this summer and I will be checking to see what you've been up to also as soon as I finish this post.

I'll start with the July 4th camping trip that I couldn't attend so my sister Brenda took pictures for me. Here are some of my favorites.

While up there my Dad erected a zip line that stretched from up the hill on a tree down over creek and on to another upper bank.



of course some onery ones decided to use huge water cannons to douse the rider as they zipped through the thin mountain air. Even the younger set enjoyed flying through the air.




One 'nonconformist' brother of mine decided he could hang from the seat and ride over the creek while holding his legs in the air. He miscalculated his stretch and the stretch of the cable, and he ended up waterskiing and taking a dunking. Ha!



They added to the adventure with a huge group water fight, mostly kids against the adults. Each side said 'They' won.



Some of the older girls decided to build their own teepee with long poles and a sheet.



The finished product.



One night the kids performed skits and songs for the adults.



The boys had a log splitting contest but the 'men' followed with their prowess to show 'how it's done'!



Over the weekend there was plently of fishing going on and that was followed with some 'fish gutting' classes for the younger ones with Grandpa/Greatgrandpa.



Oh, and don't forget the wading in snow melt creek water to cool off in the warm mountain sunshine.


We got a new toy this summer for fishing and pleasure rides. It's a large pontoon boat that can hold up to 10 people. It is so much easier for me with all of my oxygen bottles and hoses and my balance issues and general comfort including a nice shade cover when the sun begins to beat down. I can just step onto the boat from the dock at the level rather than trying to climb up or down and tipping sideways like in our little alluminum boat we just sold. I've driven it on the lake and even onto the trailer when we were done.


Captn Rick and loyal dog Myrtle


Passengers enjoy the smooth ride and fresh air


Technology follows us everywhere


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
"It's not what the day holds for us but what we put into our day that determines how we feel about it in the end." RJM
Grpa Mac and granddaughter Jazzy who is almost completely blind but enjoying the ride immensely


Jazzy gets to drive the boat


Mac perched on an old drift tree fishing


Many water birds make their nests in old trees swallowed by the lake almost 30 years ago


Jazz plays in the water enjoying the coolness on a hot day