Time Flies....

Summer always seems to be a time of stress, run, run, run & mass confusion! So much to do, so little time! We have managed to squeeze in pretty much all of it, somehow. We may not do anything to perfection, but we sure do a heck of a lot of stuff half assed :) (Is that considered foul language? sorry if it is)
Here's a few of our highlights since school got out a month ago....

Angelea got her learners permit... this will be the beauty she gets to drive.


Horses, horses, and more horses.

Tello gave a Personality Profiling class for RPAC

SCOUTING!!! Lots & lots of scouting since I was put in as the Webelo's leader. My faithful group of boys consists of Ben & Andy :)

We planted a garden consisting of 6 tomato plants, 4 onion plants, 3 bell pepper plants, 4 broccoli plants & 8 cucumber plants. A month into the garden project and all the plants are alive and growing minus 3. Not bad!

Of course we had to squeeze in some fishing time

We've spent countless hours at soccer practices, games and tournaments...

We've gone to birthday parties & bar-b-ques

Been bowling a few times. It amazes me with as many times as I've been bowling I can still be beat by a 2 year old!

The Zoo, which is exactly the same as it was last year. Glad I didn't splurge for the season pass

In fact the only difference I noticed at the zoo was that my kids were a year older. But the photo ops, the animals & even the conversation was dejavu from last year.

I'm sure glad I convinced myself to get that riding lawn mower finally! our 2 acre lawn only takes 1 kid half a day to mow now, compared to 2 kids taking a couple days to get it mowed.

Not to mention the fact that this has turned into Francines favorite ride!

Facebook

Facebook is not the devil, just a huge time waster! But I must admit that I love keeping up with so many people's lives that normally I would have no clue about. I've been chatting on line with buddies all day, which is why I haven't posted anything on my blog lately.

I got this really awesome book called "WHY? Powerful Answers & Practical Reasons for Living LDS Standards" Great book, I highly recommend it to everyone! One of the topics in there is "Why should I write in a journal?" Some of the answers are these:

One reason why we should keep a journal is because when we remember the things that the Lord has done for us, gratitude and contentment fill our hearts and we recognize more easily God's blessings to us in our daily lives.

Another reason why we should keep a journal has to do with the process of revelation. The Lord inspires us through his Spirit, and if we will write down those heaven-sent impressions, he will give us more inspiration.

In one study, researchers found that those who wrote daily about good experiences increased their positive outlook on life and decreased their chances for illness.

And my favorite note on this section was, "Why can't I have my blog, scrapbook, or video recordings count as my journal?" Easy - YOU CAN!

So while some might say I'm wasting time by scrap booking and blogging, I say "shut your pie hole, I'm following the prophets council" Only I wouldn't say "shut your pie hole" because that's not nice.

I've been busy scrap booking, oops I mean journaling lately, I recently went to a convention where I got a plethora of great new ideas. I just wish I had more time to scrapbook and less distractions

Should I Hug Her or Beat Her?

I told Nakia to head home from the Moreland Gravel Pits when I tracked her down earlier today. She has been riding her horse over there to go swimming every warm day we've had the past couple weeks, It's about 5 miles from our house and I just don't like her going there by her self. There's too many weirdo's out there and I'm a paranoid mom!

As I was on my way home from town I drove by again to see if she was there or if she had actually minded me and went home, well she wasn't there, but she wasn't home either. When the storm first started I thought it was just some stupid punk kids throwing rocks at my car. The first hit actually cracked my windshield. I was about to get out of my car and start yelling into the trees at those disrespectful little sh$%#@, when it hit hard! Within a couple minutes the ground was covered with marble sized ice chunks and cars were pulled over next to every tree or shelter of any sort there was. That's when I panicked!

I had all her friends called that I thought might know where she was. It only took a few minutes before the cops were out looking for her along with her friends & their parents.

About an hour after I first started searching for her I got a call from home that she was walking thru the field leading Brandy. Apparently she started home when the sky started to get ugly thinking she'd make it home before the storm hit but she got caught in the middle of it. Brandy was too scared to go anywhere so she found a tractor to hide under until the hail eased up but by then she was too cold to swing her self back onto Brandy so she had to lead her the rest of the way home. By the time I called off the search & got back home she was safely in the house. I didn't know if I should hug her or beat her, so I did both!
(The bruises are not from me beating her, they are from the hail storm)

Daisy

My sweet, loving, faithful, golden retriever, Daisy was put to sleep today. Bruce offered to do the deed for free but I just couldn't let her go out of the world in a brutal manner. She was the sweetest dog ever, she didn't have a mean bone in her. Not only did we love her but every cat for miles around loved her as well! I had Tello take her in to the vet this morning, I just couldn't bring myself to taking her in, and he left Daisy and $80 with them. We were given "options" when I took her in yesterday to find out what was wrong. She had a big hole in her back that was really big & yucky. If she were a young dog she could have the surgery and bounce back quite easily. But she's over 12 years old, she's deaf, going blind, has arthritis, and now with this wound she has alot of infection in her. So last night we had a family meeting and while a few of us spent the whole time crying, we decided it was best to put her out of her suffering. What a sad decision to make.....

Happy Mother's Day!

"She's Got Legs"

Obviously, Francine is not a fan of this song.

A Taste of Costa Rica

I was really glad I got the opportunity to go visit Linda & see for myself what it was that drew her to this drastic change of life. Although I, myself would not choose to live there, I can see why she is so in love with Costa Rica. It is such a simple, relaxed way of life, & the sunsets are to die for!
I have heard stories of 3rd world countries, but until one actually spends some quality time in one, nothing can prepare you for the extreme culture shock it entails.
We spent a full week traveling dirt roads, witnessing extreme poverty on levels I thought were a thing of the past, & I'm still in shock. I would love to take my kids there and volunteer at a school for a couple weeks, I think it would be a humbling, life changing experience for them.
My favorite part of our vacation was going to the school, meeting the kids, learning about their life and interacting with them. Kids are kids no matter where you go, and they all speak a universal love language, which is "WATCH WHAT I CAN DO"
They were all so excited to show off for us, & were proud of what they could do. We were told that there was only 12 kids in the grades 1st thru 6th with 2 teachers. Many of the kids walk 6 miles each way to school and they do it every day, once in a while they catch a ride with a local who has a delivery truck, but lately it's been broke down. The main form of transportation for the natives is there feet. Some have bicycles & we would see quite a few mothers carrying a baby or small child on the bicycle with her, and a few even have motorcycles. But I'm pretty sure all the vehicles we saw in the remote area we were at were all the tourists.
We all took turns introducing ourselves, they sang their national anthem to us and we sang ours to them, we played a game of soccer, then we had a photo shoot, they loved getting their pictures taken. I'm excited to send a box of pictures and school supplies to them, maybe even a few toys.

Here we got to swim with the turtles, way cool, something everyone should do sometime in their life

This is a giant jelly fish Angie the brave is holding, YUCK!

We went deep sea fishing one afternoon. Can you believe this was the first time Jared had ever been fishing anywhere besides a creek, about time he was initiated into manhood :) Too bad it wasn't a very successful fishing trip. The big fish were no where to be found. But he handled that fishing pole like there was a giant on the other end.

The fish that Jared was saying he was "blowing his mind out" is this one

The scenery here was amazing and this was their extremely dry season. I can only imagine how breathtakingly beautiful it is when it's all green and lush.


And for our viewing enjoyment, An intoxicated dancer.........