A Man Blessed Beyond Belief

Anybody home? D day for pigs...

2009-09-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot I had a blog. I should update this regularly and not do facebook. I haven't really been on there anyway.
So I am working hard to grow the biz with advice from Dad and Joe. Feeling very encouraged and trying to motivate myself to read the Bible, pray and rely on God every day. Not doing too well yet but still need to stay positive and ask for encouragement.
Today, Tara and I took our pig and the last one of Diana's (our friend who rents the barn) to the butcher house. I borrowed a small livestock trailer from our 4H leader and we drove into the yard behind the bard. This way we could let the pigs out and try to get them into the trailer with out them getting away into the street. I thought of this because Diana said she had a hard time with her first 3 pigs when she and her kids tried to take them out the front of the barn. So I drive back there, put the fence back up and open the trailer door. I open the pig pen and herd them out the back door. They ran around for about a minute and then saw the trailer. They went up and looked at it and then jumped in! I ran to shut the door and voila! Pigs were loaded. Yah hoo!
So we headed off to Northwest premium meats. There are a few places around to take them and the most popular one is book for months right now because they book heavy after the fair. So we go in and do the paper work and stuff, that took a while. Tara and I both had to use the bathroom so one at a time they led us to their bathroom and we had to walk through the butchering rooms! In the first room, we had to duck around a hanging carcass that may have been a lamb, and saw them cutting and wrapping. Then toward the back on the other side of the bathroom, I saw the room where they were cleaning the animals who had been killed and drained. Very strange to see that for the first time. Just a quick glance and I did not see a lot of blood or gory stuff. Unless you consider walking past ready to cut, whole animal carcass and meat bits on the floor gory.
They do Buffalo there that a group of ranchers raise in Oregon. So we bought some ground bison and jerky and some dog bones, finished our paperwork and drove the pigs around back to unload. We saw 4 buffalo in a trailer waiting to be unloaded and they were awesome looking up close! We saw some elk, cows and sheep in the waiting area already. So we drove the trailer into the corral and the guy opened the gate. I opened the trailer and Tibby jumped right out and went into the building with no real effort. Babe did not want to get out so I had to get into the trailer and push her out but they both went in with no problems. We said goodbye to our good girls and were off. Tara took many pics and some vids so we will get those up.
Tara remembered that she wanted to get some beef liver, so we went back into the front and asked about it. The guy was not sure if he had any so he went into the cooler to look. He came back out with bison liver and said it was on the house since we just dropped off the pigs. Cool!
The whole experience was very cool actually. I was not too sad about the pigs because I know they were raised lovingly and will be killed mercifully. God gave them to us to treat right and sustain us. None of the animals there seemed scared or anything and the whole operation seemed very humane to me. I'm so glad to have these new experiences and it is helping us to plan and decide what we want for the future as far as property and raising animals and such.
OK, I hope this all made sense.

US and AJ in Idaho

2009-07-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

Uncle Steve and Aunt Joan left us this morning after a 2 night stay. I am so happy they came to see us on their Retirement Tour 2009! haha I just made that up.
Anyway, on Tuesday we visited and I took them to see the pizza kitchen and a brief drive around Kuna main street. Then we too them to the see the barn and all the animals before heading over to El Gallo Giro for dinner of course! They got to meet Enrique and we enjoyed a great dinner together. Good times, good food.
On Wednesday, we all got up and went to drop William off at camp Kristie at 9am. Then we went over to Sunrise Cafe for breakfast. Now Dad and US can talk about the sausage patties haha! Then we went over to the Harley dealer to gawk for a few before time to pick up Will. They came in and sat with us in the debriefing circle with Kristie so they could hear how the day at camp Kristie went. I'm glad they got to see that.
So then we all headed out to Emmett to pick up our milk. Will was saying he was hungry (as always) so he wanted Subway. So we stopped to get him his favorite $5 footlong which he eats in about 3 1/2 minutes! When we got to Emmett we decided to pick some blueberries first but the place we had found before was closed so we went back to Tylers to get some cherries and apricots. The cherries were much riper and it was harder to pick out good ones. US and AJ were blown away but the beauty and peaceful wonderfulness of it all. So then we went and got our milk and I took a scenic route home: East on Beacon Light from Highway 16 over to Eagle road and then south on Eagle to the 84. (those specifics are for Dad so he can look it up on Google Maps) LOL.
So we came home and sat around chattin, looking at some old pics and stuff. I took Uncle Steve with me to run a shipment over to UPS. Tara was making dinner so she asked us to pick up some worchester sauce and tabasco. She made great steak sandwiches and fresh cobbler with homemade ice cream from the milk. YUM!
After dinner we drove out to dedication point to the scenic overlook of the Snake river canyon. Very cool! Then a stop at the Pioneer cemetery on the way home for more Kuna history. Home, cobbler and ice cream and then to bed. What a busy fun day!
This morning Tara made a quiche with our fresh eggs and we had that for breakfast with coffee and fruit. Then we said our goodbyes as they left when we did at 8:30 to take Will to his last day of camp Kristie.
Thanks US and AJ for a great visit! You made you Nephew very happy and we all enjoyed your company! I hope you enjoy the rest of your "Retirement Tour 2009" across this beautiful country, and have a great visit with Bill, Jen and Tyler!

Watch Tara blog and you tube for vids and pics.....

Model T tour

2009-07-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

There was a cross country race reenactment that stopped in town today. Read about it here. It was cool to see.

There were several local folks who brought their cars down to show, only 3 of the cars in this video were part of the trip. I didn't catch it all on the video but as a local guy was telling us about how he bought his car for $50 when he was 18, Will pulled out his play money and tried to buy it from the guy for $50 in toy money! lol

Side note: I don't spend a lot of time editing my videos. I try to cut out some of the excess so they are not too long, but since I am posting them just for family I don't spend a whole lot of time. Plus I know some of you who don't mind seeing so much "extra" stuff!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

A very Happy Mother's Day to the all the mothers in my life. Thank you for all you have done for us kids and husbands! We took Tara out for Japanese food and sat at the teppan tables when they cook in front of you. The cook was really good! When he did the part where he tosses a piece of shrimp in your mouth, Autumn missed hers. So he came back around to her and told her to open mouth and hold still. Then he quickly shot it into her mouth like a Wayne Gretzky slap shot! It was too funny! Then we got Tara her fave drink at Dutch Brothers...all Mom's get any size any kind for $1! Such a deal. Here is my girl with my kiddies before we left:

On a separate note, please pray for me as I now have my motorcycle endorsement and am officially comsumed with Harley fever! I caught Jeff with his bike out today and he let me crisue it around the block. 2003 100th anniversary Softail Night Train. oh man was it smooth and comfy! It just about rode itself! Oh what is a man to do without a Harley Davidson......

Tis plowin time again...

2009-04-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all, we have been working a lot to get a garden spot order ready and hope to ship it next week. In the meantime, the sun is shinin and the birds are chirpin! Neighbors rented a rototiller today and let me get in on it so I tilled up the garden area today. Added a bunch of steer manure bags and I think the soil will be much better this year. We had started a compost pile about 6 weeks ago too and that got tilled in also. I think we may be done with freezing temperatures soon so we can plant. Yesterday we all went out and pulled weeds, trimmed trees and mulched around plants in the back yard so everyone can get water and be happy! Now I need to mow and feed the lawn as the irrigation water got turned on this week. Gotta love that yard work. I miss winter already.....

STAR couse day 1

2009-03-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

For my b day Tara enrolled me in the STAR course so I can get my motorcycle endorsement. I don't plan on buying a bike anytime soon, but then we can rent or borrow friends bike and its fun any way! Basically they put you through training and then test you and you can use their certificate in lieu of taking the skills (riding) test at the DMV. You still have to pass the written test to get your permit at the DMV first which I have not done yet. The only helmet they had that fit me was an XXL (there were only 2 of them and one did not fit) with a full face shield that did not pull down to my chin. I felt like a fool wearing the thing all day! LOL But it worked. Here is 82 seconds of your life that you will wish you had back. I'm in front in the tan jacket. It was breezy and about 45 out but mostly sunny. Just a bunch of idiots riding in a circle playing "don't hit the cones".

A Happy Birthday Indeed!

2009-03-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

Last night Tara set up a time for Bob to take me shooting. I have been interested in learning to shoot and do it safely for a while now and after we visited Impact Guns the other week I decided it was time to take a class and get my CCW permit even if I never carry a weapon. So Bob came and picked me up and we went to impact to shoot a couple of his pistols. He brought a S&W 40 cal semi auto and a 357 revolver. Wow! Very cool and powerful feeling. Kind of a healthy nervousness in there for me, you really feel the respect for the weapon. Some guys were in there shooting some type of military assault rifle and each time they started firing it we jumped. It was 10x louder than all the other guns! But I had fun and look forward to starting this new hobby. Here we are at home with our targets. No the guns were not loaded at this point!

So this morning Tara takes me to Sunrise Cafe for a breakfast out with corned beef hash. Yum! Then we went to the Tilted Halo salon which is a new place over by the Harley dealer. They were advertising a bunch of Friday the 13th $13 specials so we went to check it out and wound up getting tattoos! I will be going back to get my old one touched up so the whole thing looks new:

We have so much fun! I love my wife! So then she made me a lasagna for dinner with a very decadent cake for desert! OH YA! I been eating big today! I got some nice gifts too. Tara enrolled me in a class to get my motorcycle endorsement so we can buy a Harley!!! ..... in ...about....10 or 15 years... but hey! Its something to look forward to! Also got some cool gifts from CA folks! THANKS ALL!

Sunday Morning

2009-03-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

Just sitting here gearing up to go and cook this morning. 200 crusts that will all ship tomorrow, praise God! Cloudy with some rain off and on for the next few days. I feel gyped by winter. December was great but after that we really didn't get much snow. Soon it will be daylight savings time and people will be out in the streets making noise until 10 pm every night. I love my house and will remain greatful for our blessings, but I can't wait until we can live on a little farm. We are starting to plan our garden which is really the only thing to enjoy about summer. I'm not looking forward to the heat. I am much different from my Dad in that respect.

Have a great day!

Fairness doctrine

2009-02-27T17:25:00.000-08:00

Please follow this link to worldnetdaily.com page and sign a petition to convince our Federal govt not to bring back the fairness doctrine. If you believe in free speech, you should not be looking to silence someone who does not agree with you.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=87882&rnd=1235668987#total

Now go learn how to use a gun safely. I am.

Walking with Dinosaurs!

2009-01-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Grandpa Russ and Grandma Ann, we were able to buy tickets to Walking with Dinosaurs! It was a the Idaho Center in Nampa and it is about as big as the LA Forum. I had looked up on the website and it said you could bring cameras but no "professional" cameras. So, we thinks that Tara's camera will be no problem. Russell was not really interested so we did not buy him a ticket. William has been very excited about it and we used it as motivation to get him to school all week.

So we get there and as we go through the ticket gate, security informs us "no cameras with detachable lenses". Aw, frick, frack and frohaw! So they wait inside the gate while I run back to put the camera in the car. Shucks! I did take some pics with my phone but from the top row they are not real good. It was a really cool show! The trex was huge, and they all looked very real. Was certainly worth it and a good time. Of course Will wanted to buy an "item" and he picked out a tail. He put in on and proceded to prowl the hallway like a trex. Autumn was so embarrassed that he would act like that in front of all these strangers. How Embare!!!

Here are the pics. Hope you can get a sense of it.

Memory Lane

2008-12-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

Not sure what years these are. I'll guess..

88 maybe? snow in Simi. Kim is dancing in the snow...lol Damn I was thin!

2001 maybe? Barnard obviously. Miss you Bill!
95? Tara thinks is Russ 2 year old pic. Harry and the hendersons eh?
Having fun at a party. probably late 94. What a couple of Babes eh?

Good times, noodle salad!

William stayed home sick all week....

2008-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

Sunday he seemed not to feel well. Kinda low energy but not bad. Well Monday morning he was hot and he had 100.7 fever. So he spent the next three days like that. Low grade fever and no energy, just kinda spacey and lethargic. No runny nose or anything else though. Thursday a cough showed up with some goopy sounding congestion but he seemed not to have the fever and feel better with more energy. I did not take his temp yesterday and he seemed OK so we told him he was going to school tomorrow (today - Friday). He said OK which was kind of surprising since he constantly tells us lately that he is not going to school. He really does not like going lately.

Anyhow, we got him up today and he seemed fine except for the cough still. He willingly got ready and got on the bus. Well about 11 am the nurse calls and says "Mr Oliver sent William to me because he did not look good and his temp is 100.7" OK, so I drive to pick him up. I did not want him to have to walk home since it was cold today (40 degrees. That is cold right?) When I walk into the school he was coming back from gathering all his stuff and he looked so spacey and sad. Eyes kind of swollen and dark again and he was very quiet. So I brought him home to the couch and here we are again. I got him all ready for bed a bit ago. Potty, Jammie's, teeth and all. Then I put him in our bed to watch TV for a bit and his breathing sounded a little off. So I gave him a nebulizer in hopes that his asthma wont flare up tonight. It has been OK for a while now actually but the coughing can do him in and make it flare sometimes. He is asleep now. Pray that he gets better this weekend. He needs to be in school this next week before Christmas break.

It snowed for a few minutes about an hour ago. They say it will be on and off through Monday. maybe 1 to 3 inches in the valley and a foot possible in the mountains. It is so cool! I love winter. Tara and I are going to walk the Dogs around the block right now for some fresh air. 8pm and about 30 degrees outside. I think we might see an overnight low to the teems sometime this weekend. I love it here but miss you all. Come see us in the snow in February! Peace and Love to all!

I should be working.....

2008-11-29T10:58:00.000-08:00

But I am spending much time putting together and uploading these videos to mine and William's You Tube pages (see links on the side of blog page). Leave a comment now and then on the videos to let me know who is watching them and what you think. I enjoy it but I am also doing it for those of you who want to see what we are up to. OK Now I have to go to work, I'll post more later! Hope all had a good Thanksgiving!!!

Hey All

2008-11-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

Well it is nice and cold here now and I love it. Just be careful of all the ice in the morning. We got our first snow flakes last Saturday. I have uploaded some videos to Williams you tube page. I'll try and post more of the funny videos he does on his page when I have time. Subscribe to his, mine and Tara pages if you have not yet. Here is Wills link and Tara has all the links on her blog.

http://www.youtube.com/wonderboy892000

Sorry I have not been posting but have been VERY busy. I will try to do more. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Bouncing fun!

2008-09-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks Grandma Pam for William's bday present. Not for the faint of heart and pray no kids (or Dad's) bounce off the side or knock heads! Oh and don't be jealous of my awesome karate moves. They take years of training to perfect!

Walk along the Boise River Green Belt

2008-09-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of Fridays ago, Tara and I decided to go down to the Boise Greenbelt for a walk. It really is so nice and beautiful and peaceful in many spots along there. We will be taking several more into the fall and hope to get many nice pics as the trees turn colors. A nice benefit of my strange self employed work schedule, we get to do things while the kids are in school and regular folk are at work. Sorry Dad, but I had my North/South orientation wrong until we looked at the sign. Very unusual for me!

So after that bit we crossed over a bridge to BSU campus to walk back to our car on the other side. I wanted to take a video of Bronco Stadium and the blue turn since this was the closest I had been to it. Tara hates it when I film meaningless landscape that it better suited for a still picture. Listed to her admonish me....

What fun! My wife and I have a good time together and we love it here in Idaho!

About the river rafting....

2008-08-18T22:49:00.000-07:00

After watching the rafting video again I felt I needed to explain the situation a little. LOL It was a fun time.
If the videos look blurry, click on the youtube logo on the video and it should take you to the video on the youtube page and then you can click"watch in high quality" or something like that for a better picture.

PS, isn't that a cool song Tara found for the video?

Garden Update!

2008-08-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

My favorite cameraman helped me make this video about our garden today.

Home from CA!

2008-08-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

Monday morning and we are home from CA. Tara got me up at 4:30 so we got an eary start on packing. We left Sylmar @ Moe's concrete yard at 8 am and got home here @ 11:30 with the hour jump ahead. So it was about 14.5 hours. The longest stop was in Fallon for a Taco Bell lunch @ about 3:15. We got gas and were there for about 45 minutes or so. But we made great time. I must confess I speed when ever possible but I'm only keeping up with traffic so its OK right? ; ) Kids did well with sleeping, reading, ipods and such. Dogs keep quiet and are happy to get out to pee.

We didn't make Schatts bakery in Bishop this time. We were full of snacks by the time we got there. I was going to pick up some sandwiches for later but it was so crowded looking that I did not want to stop. maybe next time. Bishop overall was very crowded looking this time.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Pam and Moe for putting on William's birthday party. It was such a special day for him and a great memory. Thank you to all the rest of the family for coming and giving such great gifts! He loves his new toys and several are things he has been wanting! You all scored home runs! He is chipping away at his dinosaur fossil dig with Autumn right now. We really had to stretch to make it down there after the transmission blew so I am SO grateful and my heart is overflowing with joy that you all helped make it such a special day and a great visit.

Thanks to Kris and Christian for having us on Friday, that was a great visit too and I am so happy to have met Hudson and see Braden. What cute little guys. I hope they start begging you to bring them to Idaho soon. Keep up the hard work on the business Christian. Some day our hard work, stress, mistakes and perseverance will pay off for us both.

Congratulations Jacob and Jenny on new baby Stella! Your family seems complete now and I look forward to seeing you all grow together. We were very happy to be there to meet Stella and be around for her birth. We are all glad that things went smoothly!

Mom and Dad I love you very much! I was happy to see you in my old home. You asked me if it was strange to come back to see the house where I grew up. Well, was it strange to have me standing there? I'm sorry you didn't get to make the trip to the tar pits Mom. Thanks for lunch at Phillipe's Dad. Also, that was a great breakfast at the cafe.

To all the other friends and family we saw in this very short trip, thanks so much for making the time to see us! Please know that it means so much to this ol' boy and his family when you come around to see us. I'm happy to be home but will cherish the memories of this past week and the time with family.

More later and God bless......

snow and stuff....

2008-01-16T18:00:00.000-08:00

I am posting this after the snow has melted in most spots but oh well...

Sunday Jan 6th we woke up to about 2 inches of powder that had just fallen. It was beautiful! I was going down to the kitchen to set up for cooking (hence the shorts) but I decided to use my new snow shovel for the first time. WOW! You start pushing that stuff and it builds up and gets heavy fast! but it was like baby powder! freaking amazing and beautiful! So i told Tara to take some pics because it seemed like the most we had fall at once so far.

Fun huh? Sure, when it is only 2 inches every 3 months... I understand now why people talk about winters where it snows alot. it can be tough. That Tuesday it snowed about 3 or 4 inches all day while I was at work. it was beautiful and difficult all at once. Forklift sliding, frozen nose, snow stinging your face while driving, powder blowing off roofs, seeing how it collects and behaves....quite an experience. That day, most of the natives said it was the most they had seen in a long time. So much in fact that the kids got to stay home for a snow day the next day! They went sledding in the afternoon...see Tara's blog if you haven't already.

Does anyone know how in the heck John Bonham can play Black Dog? Or levee? Freakin amazing...

Watching the snow for the rest of the week was cool. when it turns to slush and you have to slog around in it...that is not cool. and it all turns to ice as soon as it is stepped on almost. But seeing it slowly melt off roofs and hang down off icicles and all the cool formations and things that happen....i feel very fortunate to have witnessed that part of Gods creation in the last two weeks.

here is another pic Tara took over our back fence that morning I was shoveling the drive way. A strange light fog came out of nowhere for about a half hour. She got a lot of cool pics and I really liked this one.

OK. I'm tired.... more later.

Christmas Eve....

2007-12-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

It is Christmas eve morning and we are just hanging around. Pam and Moe got here Friday about 6pm and unloaded their car with food and gifts! We have had lots of good stuff to eat that we don't get too often here because its hard to find the Persian food. We went to gallo giro for dinner that night and just spent time visiting. Moe was freezing cold but Pam loves it!

Will is having a very hard time with the presents under the tree and not understanding why he can not open them. He was telling us "I want to open my presents" when Pam brought some in. He can not stop himself you know. He gets obsessed with something and there is no stopping him. So after a while of us saying no and ignoring them he went and made one of his signs:

How cute huh? Poor kid. He makes these signs when we don't give him what he wants. This is the first one that has been addresses to anyone or had a PS on it. At least he is expressing himself. But he managed to let it go after that.

Saturday Girls went shopping and boys went to lunch at RAM. Actually phones were not working so I had to call phone company and the guy came out to discover that there was water leaking into my media panel (where all phone and data connections are). Water is slowly leaking from an empty conduit that is in there and it was leaking onto the phone punch block and right into an electrical outlet!! WTF!? So he was able to hard wire all the phone lines and I have a call into my builder to see what they are going to do about this.

Saturday night Pam and Tara made dinner and we played Uno while waiting and it snowed for a while. So we went for a walk in the snow after dinner. When we got back, kids started sledding down the driveway and that has been going on for the last few days now.

Sunday was football morning and dinner preparation before we went out to Old Idaho State Penitentiary as it was snowing on us again. And then we saw Winter Garden Aglow at the Botanic Gardens which is right next door. So we got home and kids sledding in the fresh snow again for a while.

Pam was up way early and said she watched the rain wash away all the snow and then it snowed really hard for about 1/2 hour and dropped a fresh inch! So cool! This is most snow we have had in a 3 day period since we got here.

Now we are doing last minute Christmas eve stuff. I'm about to take Moe to Costco for his infamous last minute shopping. Casey and Snoopy are playing together real well. They are so fun to watch. Weather is beautiful! Wish you were here having a white Christmas with us!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Still here (and still crazy)

2007-12-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

How easy it is to forget that those far away look forward to bolg posts (hint hint Bill!) haha

We are still here and healthy in beautiful Idaho. Very cold now and some snow on the ground. It snowed an inch or so last Monday morning and has been below freezing mostly since then so there is still some around. Looks like we have a good chance for some more in this next week.

Working every Sunday and late Monday night after day job doing pizzas. Looks like I am maybe on the track for it to take off this year possibly and go full time. Will need Gods blessing with a business loan but he is already bringing the customers.

Day job is ok. i stay warm with my insulated coveralls over my clothes and ski mask and head dressings but my nose and toes get cold. sometimes my fingers get cold through my snow gloves but we come in now and then to warm up. it is the wind chill when driving around in the forklift that gets you. but i still like it and it fits my schedule so its good. the new owners are pushing to be busy so that is good for all of us who work there. i was happy to not see any of the good hard working folks that i have me there lose their jobs. a lot of really nice and interesting people there.

ok more later i guess. merry Christmas!

8 days a week!

2007-10-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hello! Congratulations to my sister Kris and bro Christian on another baby Boy! I wish we could be there to see Hudson Michael but thanks to Dads love of email attachments I'm sure will can watch him grow up digitally LOL.

I have still been working 7 days a week mostly keeping up with pizza orders and that is good. I would like to relax sometimes but I have prayed for God to bless the business and give me a chance to work hard and he is keeping it steady. Pray that we keep the energy up and all the logistics of our kitchen stay intact. If we get some more large accounts then we look at a loan to get our own kitchen and take it full time baby!

We are welcoming Marshall and Catalina for a visit this week. Tara and I finally get to meet Jeremy! We are looking forward to that very much. Also when Jacob and Jenny come for Thanksgiving and Pam and Moe for Christmas. Yes, that is correct. We will be staying in ID for the holidays. Hope to get down to CA for a visit before 2008 is too old.

Anyone wants to come and visit, just drop a line and let us know when. Weather is getting cold and we are loving the season change. The colors in the trees are amazing. I am beautiful and wish you were here!

Adults with Autism

2007-09-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

Check out this article if you have not already. I wonder what the future might be like for Wiliam.

http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_6932193?IADID

Fun with Boogers!

2007-09-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

So Will has always had the biggest boogers. Even when he was a baby. Nowadays, he likes to pick them and hand them to you or something because he doesn't know what to do with them. One time we were riding in the car and we hear him exclaim happily "look at this booger guys!" and we turn to see him holding it up on his finger. Another time it was him in the car with Tara and I and we here him say "hold this!" and I turn to see him trying to hand me one on his finger. Pretty funny stuff.
So today we were out running errands and we were in my van with all 3 kids behind us all on the bench seat. Suddenly Autumn says sternly "No! Put it back in your nose!" and I'm thinking "what the heck does that mean?". So I turn to see them giggling about Will having another booger on his finger again. Autumn saw him about to wipe it on the seat and just said the first thing that came to mind and it happened to be "put it back in your nose!" LOL we all were dying over that one once we realized what was happening and why she said that.
We were just driving along quietly and then "No! Put it back in your nose"! And she was dead serious! Has anyone ever even put one back in their nose? I have never even considered that a possibility! Well she explained that "there was nowhere else to put it! He was either going to put it on the seat or his clothes so I told him to put it back in his nose!"
This will go down as one of the best Autumn quotes ever. Right up there with when she puked in the box of crayons and markers and as she is sitting there with her face inches from it and I asked her "are you OK Autumn?" and she said "yeah, but I'm not gonna be if I keep looking at this!"

So next time you wind up with a booger and nowhere to put it, just PUT IT BACK IN YOUR NOSE!

A New Pair of Glasses

2007-09-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I picked up my glasses today. I can see just fine for getting around and safe driving and all that, but distance is fuzzy some days. It just depends on the day or what not so I figured I would get my eyes checked back in March and they recommended a slight script to help focus. So with this new ins. I went last week and picked out frames and all that. BTW, I went by myself and as I was trying on frames, I tried on a pair of the bigger round ones. I was looking in the mirror as I put them on and I saw my face change as soon as I got them on. Only I couldn’t figure out if I looked more like Dad or Uncle Steve and I started laughing out loud to myself. The other folks in the office didn’t pay much attention but I felt kind of silly. Anyway it took me about 3 minutes to get that giggle out of my system.
I was kind of worried that they might not really do anything and when should I wear them and whatever. I don’t NEED glasses but I thought they might come in handy for driving sometimes and football games etc. As soon as I put them on I was shocked. I could see things much clearer just 10 feet away! Amazing. I am quite happy with them but I’m still not sure how often I will wear them. I’m not vain about them at all, but I probably won’t wear them when I don’t need them. They’ll take some getting used too.
So that is my spectacles story. Probably pretty boring for all you who have been wearing glasses and contacts all your lives eh? But it was a new experience for me! How do they look?
Finally finished the garden spot order this weekend. The pallet is at Boise cold storage waiting to be picked up. Anyone with a freezer truck going to PA?

still here

2007-09-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

We are still here and going forward. The buyout at my company looks like it is going to happen and they are keeping everyone around so far. They are talking about increasing production dramatically so there will be lots to do.
Garden spot order is late and we are working like crazy to get that done. The kitchen situation is tough because now that they are making food in the kitchen we used to be in, there is very little room in the walk in cooler. So we have to do most of our cooking on Sunday when the bar is closed and mist of the beer has been cleared out of the cooler. So then I have to go in there on Monday after work and vacuum seal late. But it is still manageable so its ok.
School is going well for the kids so far. Cant believe Russell is playing football and that is fun. I think it is helping him meet a lot of new friends and he is enjoying school for the most part.
Just wanted to drop a note and say hello. More later.
Had a great visit when dad and Jordan were her. Looking forward to Jacob and family her on thanksgiving!

New employer?

2007-07-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday we got the announcement that another company has signed a letter of intent to purchase LP decking in meridian. They are purchasing the Weatherbest brand name so hopefully they will keep most of the employees that know how to make the stuff. I am starting to look for something better just to be sure because of course I need to make more money and ensure that we continue to have good medical coverage.

Pizza orders are coming in good this week. We still continue to do what we can to spread the word and keep them moving. It is still hot here and I am looking forward to the cold weather coming back!

A Nice Day

2007-07-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to skip pizza making this weekend and put it off until next week. Hopefully this will bring in some orders as they seem to flood in when I have no crusts in the freezer.

Today I had to get up early and pull the trailer to church to set up. This was actually the first time I had pulled for set up and it went quite well seeing as how everyone showed up to help. The hardest part was waking up Russell. Yep, I got Russ and Conner up to come with me. We left at 7am, helped set up and stayed for first service. They did a good getting up after staying up until 1 am so I got them some Egg McMuffins on the way there.

After church we went fishing down at Swan Falls dam with some friends from church. Russ did not want to go so we took him and Conner to the mall to hang out so they could walk to Pursuit headquarters to attend the high school group meeting @ 4 which is across the street from the mall. So we drove back to Boise to drop them for that and then headed all the way back out past Kuna to swan falls.

It was quite hot and LOTS of bugs down there. Luckily, Alma had bug spray in their car so we kept them off of us at least. Will did not get out of his chair much after the first 10 minutes but we had a good time. No one got any fish bites but we saw some jumpin. I think we were just in the wrong spot. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to fishing a lot more. Casey had a good time walking out into the water with me and Autumn and Caitlin fished the whole time too. Steve has several poles and lots of gear so he hooked the kids up to stay busy. Thanks Steve! We had a good time and I can't wait until the next time.

So back to work tomorrow and look forward to pizza making next weekend. Tomorrow our small group will meet here again for the first time in a month. Will was sick one week and then we cancelled a week and last week we met at Kay's house. Russell will be our childcare supervisor and he is very excited about it!

BTW, MAN ITS FRICKIN HOT HERE! Thank the good Lord for our A/C.

Love ya!
Sassy

Fun on the Fourth

2007-07-06T05:41:00.000-07:00

Tara took this picture of me when it was dark outside and we were doing fireworks. Cool huh?

We had BBQ with the neighbors at John and Lori's house across the street. Both our neighbors on both sides came over also and we had lots of food and deserts. John and Jeff had both gone out and got big boxes of fireworks with about 3 dozen that were the big kind that shoot up in the sky. So we all sat at the end of the street and watched them light those and we lit off a whole bunch ground stuff too. It was a lot of fun but too bad I had to go back to work the next day. It does not get dark here until after 10 so it was almost 1130 before we came in. I was quite tired the next day.

It has been very hot here this week with record high of 104 for yesterday and today was supposedly 107. Today I did something different at work. The plant is shut down for a week so maintenance is doing some stuff and today we had to help them with changing filters in a bag house. Basically I was on the ground cutting these thick filters off of these wire cages (about 10 feet long and 8 inches diameter. Kind of like a big tomato cage) and they are caked with very fine sawdust. I was in the sun and caked with sawdust from head to foot. Was a huge mess but something different so the morning went by pretty quick but it was hot!

Tonight I bought a fishing pole and permit so soon I'll be an expert angler! NOT

No time....

2007-07-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

A typical day the last month:

Wake up at 4:30, hit szoone until 4:50 and then decide that I am destined to get up. Come down and pour coffee that is waiting thanks to coffee maker that is smarter than I am. Sit on couch and watch news while guzzling coffee trying to stay awake and see how hot it will be to know how sweaty, smelly and sunburnt I will be at 2 pm. 5:15: decide if there is time to take a shower or eat breakfast. Take a shower because there is nothing for breakfast. 5:40 realize that I should have left 5 minutes ago and rush to car and drive speed limit to work while enjoying sunrise and thanking God for the chance to go to work.

Hopefully leave work by 3pm to beat traffic. Rush home to check emails and voice mails for Dad's GF Pizza Crust. Oops, go say hi to Tara and Will. Discover that there is another order for 13 more pizzas that I do not have, or a voice mail from someone wanting information. Tell Tara the bad news that I have to take over her kitchen again to make pizzas and maybe before the kids come back we will eat a meal at our kitchen table. Wait, first make shipment to rush to post office or UPS store.

Acquire dinner from somewhere other than kitchen pantry and then rush home to get started cooking. Fix pizzas in kitchen trying not to make too much mess and hurt back bending over to take out or rotate pizzas from oven every 4 minutes. 9:30pm clean what I can and wonder where the hell my evening has gone, why I am so tired and not in bed yet. Get Tara and Will upstairs so we can get Will to bed. Get in bed with lovely wife and try to read. 5 min later, kiss wife goodnight, roll over, die!

HAHA That is how 4 out of five days a week have gone since kids left. We went back into Sandstone kitchen this weekend and it went well. Tara, Will and I did 4 batches between 4 pm Sat and 6 pm Sunday. Was a lot of work but finally have some in freezer and do not need to make at home any more! YAY! Then we took Will to see Ratataoullie (SP?) Sunday night. That was nice.

Things are going well and I will try to post more now that evenings should slow a little. Of course the kids come home in a week and then what? We will have to become reacquainted again! They have been gone so long it seems like they don't live here anymore.

Also, job is going good and our new insurance started Sunday. I just hope we can keep it for a while before the company sells.

Anyway, come and visit soon!

Sassy

Whew!

2007-06-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well tonight I finally get to relax. Yes the weekend trip was very relaxing but it was quite a whirlwind! We have had about $1000 in Pizza sales since I started my job and we have made them all here at home. A good problem to have but it is exhausting. I called the kitchen guy and we can get back in there now to see how it will work out so that should help.

I am getting into a routine now with work and I still enjoy it for the most part. Yep it is still a job with all the frustrations that come with it (surprise!) but I am still very grateful and blessed to have such a perfect fit for my life right now. I don't know if I will ever get used to getting up at 4:30! i just set the timer on the coffee so it is ready when I wake up and I get a cup, turn on the news, sit on the couch and try not to fall back asleep while I chug a cup of coffee! HA! It is making me feel pretty good about myself but I get real tired if I stay up past 10:30 for more than 3 nights which is hard for me cause I am used to staying up late. That said, I found out that LP is selling the decking business (the division that I work for). So hopefully I can keep my job and still have good benefits but if God has other plans then we will do that!

Stanley and the drive up there is so beautiful I just love it. I have a new favorite place in Stanley Lake. We just stopped by but I want to return to camp. It looked like a small version of Payette lake in McCall but with one of the Sawtooth mountains towering over the south shore. (another internet order just came in as I'm typing this. Keep em coming Lord!) The Scenic Byways of Idaho are just so beautiful I don't know what to say. We will explore some more of them while the kids are in CA so we don't have to drag them on too many when they get back!

Pier 49 in SLC is serving about a dozen pizzas a week now using our crusts. It does not get dark until after 10 pm and it is light out when I leave at 5:30am. My car is running great, such a blessing! I am so glad to not have to make pizzas tonight but I will probably be making them on fathers day! All is well and I love it here. I will get my fishing license and a pole this week. My friend Steve will take me fishing and remind me how to cast and catch. Sure seems to be a lot to know about fishing!

I feel so different when all these Idaho guys at work talk about about hunting and fishing and sitting up 'ere on the crick with the fellers! HA but I really like the attitude most of them have and the way they talk. They are not all like that but there are several and I find them very likeable. Only a few razzles about being from CA now and then but i don't make that common knowledge anyway. But many of these guys live in outer small towns like Wilder, Marsing, Homedale and Sand Hollow. its just how they grew up and I find it interesting to see the differences. Most of them are very friendly.

I wish i had a travel trailer and a boat and a 4 wheeler and a big truck. But I am very happy with my family and house. Along some of these byways that follow the rivers, there are tons of little campgrounds. I could not believe how many of them we saw this past weekend. And in Garden Valley we drove past this little airstrip with all these people out camping right next to there little planes! How cool to camp and be able to fly your little plane around that amazing scenery!

OK, enough rambling. Hope it makes sense, just trying to update on life. Miss you all but really do love it here. Now get up here to visit!

TORTURE!!!

2007-06-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well, since the kids are leaving on Tuesday for what seems like forever, I decided that we should go out to lunch and a nice drive together. Great idea since Russell has a cold, Autumn is very bratty for some reason and Will is way out of whack lately. Perfect time to crowd us all together with no real answer to that age old question "where are we going?". So we took the dog and after we ate at a nice restaraunt in Boise (Romio's; Greek/Italian) I headed us off toward Lucky Peak Lake. We got up there and looked around at all the boats and I pretty much convinced Tara that having a boat would be fun and good for all of us.
So after about an hour of driving around the lake and drooling over boats I realized we were about to run out of gas. So I figured we could stop at Sandy Point there down under the dam and take everyone down to the water for a while before we headed back. But there is a sign there that says "No Dogs! Not even in cars!" So there went that idea and now Will is really not understanding why I am not stopping and everyone is getting very restless. So to distract them I told them to pray that we dont run out of gas before we get back to the freeway and a gas station. But we made it ok and filled up.
So now I had the luxury of cruising aroud the outlet mall without stopping just to see what stores they had there and further torture everyone. Then i decided that we would go down to Julia Davis park and walk the dog a little down by the river greenbelt. So once we got there I made a few wrong turns and it took a while to get us to a parking spot. Everyone was very happy to get out of the car and walk. So I said lets walk over to the Anne Frank memorial about 150 yards away. After about 30 feet we remembered that it was 97 degrees out and very humid. So when we got to the memorial everyone was sweating profusely and ready to go back to the car. Will was especially crying that he needed to go home. So I had to carry him back most of the way and we were all tired and wet and not ready to get back into the hot car. As we are driving away trying to get the A/C cold Tara says we have to stop and get something to drink at the first place we come to. So I stop and get a vcold water bottle and a green tea. Then 2 seconds down the road we saw a Sonic so i had to puill into there so everyone could get there favorite fruit flavored soda or whatever. Then it was finally off to the freeway to head home.
The whole adventure took about 5 hours and all in all it was a good time. I know the kids think I love torturing them so they get back at me by bugging each other and not stopping when we yell at them and taking turns being the one who is doing the touching or being mad about being touched (Autumn) or laughing because they just made someone cry (Russell) or making comments about everything going on around them (William). Now I know I never acted up or bugged my parents or sisters on our car drives right? I just enjoyed the scenery!
I'm not doing it to torture them, I am trying to enjoy myself and show them some relaxing fun. How can I be torturing them when I am trying to smile and act like I am enjoying myself all while not pulling over every two minutes for a head ripping butt kicking contest? SSSoooo I think I provided the kids with a great memory to head to CA with. Maybe I will rent a boat and drive to McCall while they are gone. Hmmmmmm.....
Out!

First update

2007-05-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, Tara set this up for me so I guess I should start using it. The Job is good so far. It really is just what I was looking for except the waking up before 5 am part! But I am enjoying that even. I get to ride to work with no one around and see the sun start to come over the mountains and I am home eary in the day, usually by 4 pm. But yesterday I worked from 6 until 8pm with no real breaks or lunch. Long day but hey, I get paid by the hour! I really do love here as much as we miss all the family, it is just so dang peaceful out here. Work is only 10 miles from home and I don't have to get into the places where the traffic is bad!
Seriously, God has really blessed me with this job and I am seeking his help in keeping the right attitude about it. I feel really good so far. I have time to deal with pizza business in the afternoon when I get home and still have the whole evening left. Now I just need to learn to go to sleep by 10 each night.
The pizza kitchen is still unavalable for us so that has been a struggle but hopefully they will be done remodeling soon and we can get back in there in the coming weeks. We got about 600 in orders in the last 2 plus weeks and it has been a struggle to fill them but that is a good problem to have.
So today I am installing a ceiling fan in our bedroom. How do you shut off the electricity again? I should be safe just turning off the light switch and hoping no one turns it on right? Just kidding, I will be safe and I will not be zapped! Unless I fall off the ladder from aching bones! I cant work 14 hours as easy as I used to be able too. Man, I'm gettin old.
Peace and God bless!

Bob's race car sportin the Gluten Free sticker

2007-05-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

What I like to do in my spare time.

2007-05-05T13:18:00.000-07:00