Back to School....bummer!

Here are the teenagers! See how the teenagers dress. What is the deal with black being so cool for guys? Let's look at Tanner first...(he's on the right) Starting with the all important Skull Candy headphones around the neck, black shirt, black pants with so many pockets to hold all the contraband that shouldn't be aloud in school. And to finish off the "look" black Harley Davidson boots. Where's the imagination? Next, we'll take a look at Porter (who is in the middle) Yes, he too has the Skull Candy head crushers, black undershirt with a black button up shirt, black pants, and suede brown shoes...Did I say brown? Your not able to see the Skull Candy back pack with it's built in sound system on his back. ( just in case the Ipod and headphones aren't doing the trick.........Awwww, and then there's Juliann who has taken the time to match different pieces together. Did someone set out her clothes the night before? This year Juli bought some 3 inch high heels and tried them out the first day, when I saw her walking home after school she was holding them in her hand and trotting up the driveway bare foot. It's a hard lesson to learn Juli, but hang in there!

She's A Manly-Man

I forgot to add that along with the painting this week, I also had to remove this 30 year old dead tree from our ranch house. It's HUGE! My Dad used to take us kids out to cut wood for the winter. We'd cut enough in one day to last us through the cold months. Dad used to cut the logs and throw them in a heap and we kids had to pick up the logs and stack them into the truck or trailer. If we weren't quick enough and watch very carefully, Dad would throw the log and whack us with it, all in the effort to get it to the heap. (so he said ) I remembered it was hard work, now I remember it's hard, back breaking work! At the end of the day, I had cut down 9 or 10 trees, and cut them into logs. My arms and legs were cramping, I could barely walk. On one of my first large logs I would cut off all the shoots of smaller branches so the large logs would fall smoothly down the tree, for some reason unbeknown to me, I missed one and when the log fell, I got whipped in the back of the head and down my back with a branch. OUCH! That was the angels that were watching over me way of saying Be Careful! And, I was a lot more careful to get everyone off after that. Tanner and Juliann we're my little stacker's of the next generation of slave labor.

Before the day was completely over, I decided I MUST have a fire pit. Tanner and I went down to our "bone yard" (translation: farm junk, dead cows, broken down cars, trucks, and old tires.) And picked an old tractor tire that still had the wheel in it. I took it back to my ranch employees and we had a talk about how long we could burn in it before the tire would start to burn....we all thought it might last a year....the wheel was thick... So, we started up our bonfire and were enjoying the evening, when one ( 1 ) hour later my tire started burning! Very quickly and very smelly! I ran to the house for a small garbage can full of water to put out the fire. Next day, Tanner hauled off the cute tractor tire I picked out and brought me a very industrious tractor wheel that we'll now be using for the fire pit. I think I'll rock it......

I can't blog this week, I'm painting the house!

Dear family and friends,
I started a big project and it's gonna take forever.....
I started painting the kids swing set, then decided the deck needed to be painted, and now I've notice that the trim on the house needs painting too. Say your prayers that I'll get this done before it starts snowing again!

This Is Why I Love Small Towns

In small towns people talk to each other. Everyone knows your family (this could be good or bad). People know you for years and watch you grow up, graduate, go to school, and then come to celebrate your wedding. Small towns have parades where you know the kids in them. You can hear the new gossip at the grocery store, hair salon, or IFA. The hardware stores sell ducks and chickens. This picture above was taken in the small town of Farmington, Utah. I happened to drive up there this last Monday and when I saw the "Flower Bed" I laughed out loud and said "you'd see this only in a small town". I think my Brother and Sister who live in the small town of Rigby, Idaho should work at getting a "Flower Bed" in they're yard too!