It's November! That means it is getting close to Christmas. :) Okay, yes I hear you sighing. I know that first comes Thanksgiving, but I do love the stores at this time of the year. This year they seem extra fun... Maybe that's because I feel good & feeling good is a lot more special after having drug myself through a lot of the summer.
 Tomorrow is Ashlyn's birthday. She is so excited about turning 7! Its hard to keep up with how fast our children are growing up. When I asked her what she wants for her birthday, I was shocked to hear her say clothes for my doll! She has a american girl spin off... You know the kind you get at Target for a fraction of the cost of the real deal? Briana has lots of clothes for her doll but likes sharing them with little sister about as well as most big sister's do. :( I was fully expecting Ashlyn to tell me she wants something sports related, or maybe her own bb gun! I felt a breath of hope that maybe my little tom boy will grow out of it.

That dress, vest & shoes are some of her favorite clothes right now. :)

When did I blink & Briana became so grown up????

Shouldn't she still be this size?

Nope this is my baby girl! 

Sierra talks more & more. Some times its a whole row of jabber other times she comes up with cute one word answers that make me laugh. Like this... Who likes nippy's? She raises her hand and says ME! She has gone from belly sliding down the stairs to walking up & down the stairs. Please don't show her a fly or bug in the house! She is terrified of anything like that. She runs for the couch & quivers in fear till it leaves or I kill it!

These handsome dudes are our sons. :) The dirt bike has provided Micah with hours of enjoyment. 

Shane can ride it too, but its mainly Micah that fires the thing up & goes riding around in the adobe dirt.

Since baby dear isn't here yet to be in the photo shoot I got some bitty baby shoes to add to the line up. :)

On to our life in general...

Can you believe that on November 21 it will be 15 years since we said I do???

Wow, how life has changed since 1998! No, I am not talking about how we have aged. Lets not even go there! Of course my man just gets more handsome as the years go by. :)

Here we were in PA. Never dreaming that 15 years later we would be the parents of 7 children & living in the gorgeous state of CO!

We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon Dale always said we need to go back sometime. Back then 15 years looked way off in the future so we thought maybe we could go then. 

Not happening! But we are going off on a weekend trip to Mountain Village CO. Its a gorgeous place to visit & we haven't done anything special for our anniversary for years. Do not ever get married close to a family holiday... Like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Yes, we have spent many anniversaries eating turkey with family!

Its really getting late. I will regret staying up this late when I hear the children waking up at 7:00 tomorrow morning. Last Saturday it was only 6:30 when a light got turned on in the upstairs living room, which of course shined into our bedroom & woke me up. Shane must have thought that was a good chance to get in some quiet book reading time to himself!

He did it again...

As summer is in all its splendor here in CO, I feel like I am slowly climbing out of a big gray hole. 1st trimester pregnancy always is like a miserable cloud for me. The nausea, the constant fatigue, the emotions, the heightened sense of smell... Ugh, not pleasant... I do know that the nausea/ puking side of things have not been as acute this time as I have had it in some pregnancies. So there are definitely things to be thankful about! Thursday I was thinking how glad I did not have canning to do while I was in the worst of it. I am afraid there would have been very little canning done & I would have really regretted it later!
 Back to the splendors of CO, I really wish I would have pictures of the beautiful flowers on Main St. in Delta. The are gorgeous every year and this year is no different. :) My sister has gorgeous flowers at her store & at her house too. I try... But seemingly mine never get as pretty as hers.
 I have not taken the children to the lake in ages. I miss it, but for weeks it was exhausting to even think of trying it. Now I think it would be fun again, maybe one day this week when we are not doing corn, blackberries or tomatoes.

While I have been in the depths, God has been working out amazing things again! We have been praying for more accounts for the business. We got one or two every so often but just not the amount that we needed to fill in the two very short days that the guys have.
 One Monday morning Dale got a call from one of the other lawn guys asking if Dale would be interested in buying his business? He had heard that Dale needed more accounts & he really needed to sell because of him having another job. We were floored! Wow, first not enough now it would be way more then Dale & Micah could do one their own. We were really excited about it & prayed for direction about it. Everything seemed to be working out & we signed papers yesterday. :)

 The truck, trailer, mower & all other equipment came with the business. The name on the truck is soon to be changed too this. :)

 My two men that currently run our lawn route. :)

The guy that had been running the new lawn route has agreed to finish out the mowing season for us & Dale is taking a number of accounts from that route so that the old route has a full week too. 

Micah has been a huge help to Dale this summer, he started out going along 2 days a week & in July started going everyday. It has been a great experience for him & Dale was pleased with how it helps to have him along. So far Shane shows no interest in learning about lawn care, but I am sure he will get his turn in time! Briana would love to help out... Well she doesn't want to mow or trim, but that salary that Micah has earned looks great! :) 

So that's the latest scoop on our lives. Hope y'all have a blessed week!

Summer happenings

Summer is flying by & sadly my camera is not capturing very much of it.:( In fact for the past few weeks the camera has been AWOL. Today after searching in all the likely places that one of us would have stashed it I found it under the seat in the suburban! Miraculously it still works inspite of all the heat it has been exposed to out there.

 May 23rd was Briana's 11th birthday. It was also during a week of revival meetings & her party was delayed for a while. A couple days after her birthday her friend Abby & Abby's little brother Gabe were here for the day. I did a small party for her then, but no party is right unless Inez & Brit can be there. We did finally have a celebration for her at Brit's house.[I forgot to take the camera along :(]

 For about a month Briana went without glasses. Her eyes keep improving & the prescription from last August was just too strong. She was hoping he would tell her she doesn't need them anymore at all. But she still needs them just 4 steps of power less then they were 10 months ago! He said at the rate she is going she will not need them in a few more years. :) That will be different! She has had glasses since she was 2.

 Cole was delighted to have Gabe here for a whole day! He did not want to go take a nap because surely Gabe will go home while he sleeps. But Gabe was still here when he woke up much to his delight!

 Gabe playing with the John Deere toys. He loved anything John Deere. :)

Next Up.... Camping!
We rented a wonderful cabin up on the other side of the grand mesa for a weekend. It was wonderful to be up in the woods where everything is green. :) The mosquito's were plentiful which was nasty, but we enjoyed our weekend.

                                                       Outside the front door. :)

 The cabin was fully stocked, all we had to take was our food & clothes.

See that bob cat up there? There were lots of animal mounts in there & Sierra was not impressed!

 Look out he is armed & dangerous!

Sierra loved sitting in this box. I would toss all the shoes in there & soon she would toss them all back out & sit in it. :)

 Saturday we had grand plans to go fishing on the Vega Reservoir. Dale bought lures, new reels etc. and had the poles all ready to go. Well the tackle box was forgotten here at home. :( :( So much for that plan. He did take the canoe out & the children took turns riding in it.Cole was begging for a boat ride until he got in it & felt how tippy it was then he couldn't scramble out of there fast enough. :) Of course Ashlyn is still as fearless as ever & would probably have paddled the canoe around out there by herself is Dale would have let her.

The beginning of July Micah started going to work with Dale everyday. I miss not having him at home, but he is loving being able to work with his dad!
 Speaking of Micah, he is 13 now. On June 18 he became a teenager. :) Dale took him out to eat & shopping for his birthday. He was flying high by the time he got home. He got to choose what restaurant he wanted to go to. Naturally he wanted to go somewhere that served steak! He has loved steak ever since he was a little boy.:)

 On July 4th we found out we will be making a trip to Bonners Ferry ID this fall. Thanks to Sean & Kelly's engagement. :) We are all excited for them & can't wait for the wedding weekend to get here!

An evening at Confluence

I can't believe we have lived here for almost 2 years & I just this summer realized what a gem we have just 15 minutes away...
 I had been to the park several times but never paid much attention to the lake. Until I went walking  with some friends one Saturday & discovered how much I love this place!

 The geese didn't hang around very long when all the children showed up. :)

 Shane is a bit disheartened here. There just weren't quite enough "working" fishing poles to go around. And taking turns is not much fun.

 Working on poles again...

 This is also where I take the children swimming now. :)

No fish were caught that night. But it was still a fun evening. :)

Happy dance

He is home!!!!! All is well, our family is complete again because Daddy is home.
;)












!!!!

Last days of school

This post will be mostly pictures...

 Waiting till its time for the program to start...

 May I ride that when you are done? Ha, actually its more like the one that squeals the loudest wins.;)

                                                   Kindergarten class 2012-2013

                                                                     3rd -5th grades

                                                              6th - 8th grades.
Next is school picnic. They had a lot of fun even though it was a bit rainy & WINDY!

                                         Adrienne Kennell such a pretty little girl!

 Briana & Daphnee = double trouble!

An exhausted baby on the way home!