Just What I Need...

There are many things I could be/ should be doing Thursday night:


-cleaning the house
-working on the business
-doing paperwork
-sleeping

But what am I doing instead:


It is only here for 8 more performances and when you only need 1 ticket, you can sometimes get a decent seat. I have row C on the first teir up. I called my sister who has seen it a few times and asked her if she thought that was a good seat before buying it. She said she would perfer that over anywhere else in the theater! So I am excited! I have never seen Phantom, but have always wanted to! I know all the music, and have known it for a long time. I have seen the movie. It is high time I finally see it on the stage! I will let you know how it goes!

Setting up Shop!

So... now is when I work feverishly to make everything come together for my shop. The only problem is... my plans were wrong when it came to my electrical and plumbing, so we are a few days behind trying to remedy that stuff. And we are at the mercy of the inspectors... so PRAY that their hears will be softened! This whole process has been a pain in the batootie!

But here are a couple pictures of what I have so far!

This is the left side of the ice cream machine! It is where there will be toppings and hot fudge and caramel for Sundaes and we will make milkshakes and what-not!
This is to the right and this is where my sno machine and 50+ flavors and put together and served!

It is a really great set-up! If everything else will fall into place we can be in business!

Gotta Love Some Puppy Love!

Here is a post to make you say, "Awwww!"

Jovie and Jackson... they are good buddies!

The sad and sweet thing is, apparently she has been telling Levi "Jackson not at grandpa's farm. Jackson ran away!" and she was really upset about this. The whole thing is, he NEVER ran away! We have no clue where she had gotten her mid-informed train of thought. We told her Jackson was still there, but she refused to believe it! In her mind, her good buddy was gone!

We get to the mountains and she hops out of the van and as soon as she lays eyes on him she yells, "JACKSON! JACKSON! Daddy It's Jackson! Jackson is here! Jackson not run away!" She was so relieved! Poor kid really thought he was gone! I wonder if she had a really vivid dream or something!

She has always loved Jackson! He is her height and they literally see eye to eye! And he loves the attention and does not mind her hanging on him! He is a really good dog! Very smart, and very sweet!

Lettie and her Kanga! She loves her dogs! And Kanga loves her kids! And Kanga loves to go back to the mountains and be a mountain dog for a little while! She runs by the Kaboda, runs through the cows, and lays in the cool creek and I swear you can see a smile on her face the whole time!

Flea on the other hand does not love Jovie's attention, but he tolerates it! Poor dog! He used to be an "only child" and I swear I saw his eyes roll everytime we brought a baby home! He always knew I was pregnant even before I was! I wonder if he was confused when suddenly Callie showed up! He probably thought, "Man! I usually have time to mentally prepare for one of these things!" He and Yonas are very close! He is more of an older kid dog! But he is tolerant of the Jo-Lea!

The Very Best Fishing Pond!

We went to the mountains last week! Levi went up a day before me with the kids and then I joined them! The kids rode bikes with their cousins, damned up the creek, and built fires. We rode the Kaboda, went on a fun hike, and went fishing!



The best part is... my dad made his biggest pond even better! It was great before, but the cows could get all the way up to the water, so we were always dodging cow pies! Also, there were swampy spring heads that you could not cross so you had to walk around. Not a big deal if it is just me and Levi, but with kids all the way around the pond, it is nice to not have to walk all the way around the pond to get to the kids who is only 10 feet away... you just want get through the swamp!

Look...

Isn't it pretty?! There are rocks by the front you can sit on, it looks so pretty, there is penty of fish, no trees to get your line stuck in, and best of all... no poop!

The sitting rocks are basically where I park myself the entire time replacing worms, fixing snapped lines, and re-working bobbers! And I was on picture duty! We took pictures of almost every fish the kids caught! That was part of the fun... getting the trophy shot!

Ruby caught the first, and the biggest fish, of the entire trip!

This cat fish was HEAVY and was 25 inches long! Ruby was so proud!

Lettie's first catch!

Yonas' catch! But not his first! I accidentally killed his first... therefore a picture was not taken! I will not go into details... let's just say I feel really bad about it!

Dad and Silas!

Callie entertaining herself by climbing the fence and playing in the van and eating everyones snacks while they were not looking!

My silly girl! She thinks she is so funny! Lettie looking peaceful in her "lucky fishing hat"! She forgot it the 2nd day and was so dissapointed!

The guys across the way!

Nolan waiting for his dad to be done fixing his pole!

Silas... the cutie fisherman!

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn... the Ethiopian version!

Jovie's first catch with her daddy! She wanted to fish so bad, then Levi sat down with her and they were raking them in... like 5 in a row!

Jovie all snuggled in and ready to catch fish with daddy!

Levi coaxing the girls trying to get them to touch the fish! They would touch the fish and the SQUUUEEEEAAAL! I wish I had a video on it!

Nolan the nut showing off his fish!

Lettie flinching from the floppy fish!

The proud Ruby!

Silas' HUGE catfish! It was a little over 20 inches long!

Silas still did not want to touch it!

I NEVER got to fish! I just sat and did worms and hooks! Then I decided to try a lure for a little while. I ended up catching about 6 bass in a row! This was my biggest one! I am quite proud of it!

Nolan caught the only catfish in this pond (this is the smaller pond on my dad's Laurel Fork farm). The thing I am proud of is that he decided he would hold this catfish all by himself. Catfish are scary to hold... and this one was heavy! What a brave dude!
After Lettie saw Nolan's bravery she decided she wanted to hold a fish too! But we were packing up. And I could not catch a fish for her to save my life. But I kept trying and finally caught a bass (the best kind of fish for a kid to hold... does not sting and is not too pokey). She was so proud!
We are a fishing family!

Check out my 'stang...

I wanted to do at least one fun thing with some of the $ we made on our flip house! Nothing crazy... just something fun! We thought about putting some $ into getting the Bobcat working, but my sister really wants it back, I can not drive stick... and if I had a fixer-upper just-for-fun car I wanted it to be a CONVERTIBLE!

So... I searched Craigslist and was suprised how expensive a working Convertible beetle and what-not were. But I was telling Levi how I liked the boxy look of even the 80s & 90s Volkswagens. BUT... even those were not cheap. Like THOUSANDS... Then we found this:

A MUSTANG!!!

Even better! And basically the ad said "It runs" and that is about all they knew about it! Some guy needed the $, had this sitting around somewhere, brought it into a "recycling & car center" and we bought it for $600! Not bad for a running Mustang Convertible... even if it is from 1986!!!

Now... when it gets above 45 it keeps wanting to slow down and you can feel it hesitating. The top does not automatically go down without a little help. And when you roll the windows down you have to give the back windows a little jiggle. But it runs! And we got it for so little it is not too big of a deal to have the engine looked over and fixed up!

And the interior is not in bad shape at all! Sure it needs a little work, but nothing terrible! And the interior is white leather... how slick is that?! There is only 1 crack in the bottom of the drivers seat, but I am sure I can find a cheap replacement on-line!

Happy day! I think I will wash it tomorrow so it can shine a bit more! This is going to be my to-work-and-back car! With the top down on nice days... ahhh!!! I went for a little cruise around my neighborhood tonight with the top down! It ran like a champ, no hesitating, but then again I did not get over 30 mph!

Define Long-suffering!

Two different primary leaders came up to me and told me that they LOVE to hear Nolan's answers to their questions. #1 He is never shy about answering and #2 You never know what is going to come out of that boys mouth.

Apparently they were asking the kids if they knew what long-suffering meant. Nolan raises his hand and says:

"Long suffering is like when you are in the van and you are really hungry, but you don't say anything!"

Perfect example! Sometimes you just have to bear your trials and be long-suffering because complaining will not do you any good. Like being hungry on a van trip! Haha!

I love that boy! He has great "thinks" in his head!