Our Saturday

I started the day wallpapering at 8:00. Caulked the logs after that (inside the house this time... weird, but had to be done) and then we had another great meal of mac-n-cheese and corndogs for lunch. We've been having plenty of those lately. Last night we had scrambled eggs with ham because... well, you see... we got a can of ham in a pounding. Let me preface this by saying that we have the BEST pounders in this church that I ever remember having in my life--and I've been a pastor's kid or wife for most all of it. They are sooooo faithful to bring groceries to us and wonderful ones--fresh fruit, cereal, milk, eggs... It's always so exciting--like Christmas once a month! Ha! But somehow in the last pounding I also discovered a can of ham. I don't think I knew that ham came in a can. Anyway, in the midst of our working, we somehow ran out of anything to eat. We had eggs, though. Lots and lots of eggs. And a can of ham. So I diced up the ham and tried to fry it, but it never did seem to get the least bit brown. Added enough eggs to give the dish some hope (ha!) and called it a meal. James wrapped his in a tortilla with cheese and green chili and enjoyed it enough to have a second. The kids and I tried to be good sports, but there sure were a lot of left-overs! Ha! All I can say is that some things just should not come out of a can. Makes me think of Spam, Sister Tammi--which I still have never seen in real life. Only the picture on the can. Which is enough for me.

Wow, I got real distracted, hu?! Okay, let's jump to some pictures. I hate to do this because the camera that I love so much tends to exaggerate when aimed at fresh wallpaper! It catches every seam and highlights it as if there's a 1/4" gap or something! Ha! So I picked the blurriest picture I could find. :-) This is what I've been working on in the boys' room. Please tell me that it looks like BROWN leatherish stuff... and not PURPLE! I was doubly concerned when Joe walked in this morning and I gave him the eye and asked what color the wallpaper was. He got real nervous (nothing like getting "the eye" and knowing there is a wrong answer out there to try to avoid, but not knowing what it is) then said, "Uummm... burgundy???" Aaaaaauuuuuggggghhhhh!!!!

And look, Mom!!! I caulked the gaps between the logs and the trim today, so we were finally able to unwrap Grandmother's mantle for the first time in 15 months and get it set up! It needs oiled and cleaned, but I didn't want to do that until we stop the messy construction in the room. You can also see the little tile step James built for it. :-)

And look!!!!! I'm hoping by the style of the stool you all realize that this is going to be a soda fountain type bar... not the saloon style bar! (I know the barnwood might throw ya'! Ha!) I love it!!! James even built a cute little swinging door on the side. Eventually this little corner is going to be sooooo cool. I'll keep you updated as we keep working. :-)

Because of my wallpaper and caulk filled morning, we didn't start school until about 2:30 today. (More Saturday school--to make up for skipping Thursday.) I was able to get some housework done while the kids were working and came up with enough ingredients to make dinner tonight: Corn, Baked Potatoes, left-over mac-n-cheese, and Sweetish Meatballs. Really, they're rather sweet. Clever name, hu? ;-) Of course, it gets the whole family into doing their best Swedish Chef impersonations. "Oond now ve're going to make zee meaty-loafer. First, zou take zee meat, zen zou poot it een zhee loafer. See, the meaty-loafer! Shlorned, a beaned-a-borned, a marked a moo mork, mork, mork!" :-) Anyway...

A few days ago Katie picked up the Pink Princess Cookbook from the library and has been dying to make all manner of girly little treats to serve at girly little princess parties since then. Difficult to pull off when you have two brothers and no sisters. So tonight after dinner I helped her make the Perfect Princess Tea Cookies or whatever they were. Girly or not, no kid can pass up a good cookie decorating session, so the boys joined in.

This is Joe showcasing my favorite flower cookie and his remake of it. The kids all go a little sprinkle happy.
Since this was a special night for Katie I told the boys they would have to dress up and act like gentlemen if they wanted to attend... even though they'd all had their baths and were wearing blanket sleepers. Of course, Katie was thrilled. Ran and put on her fuzzy shawl and boa. Sam was game--went and donned a suit jacket and tie and was every bit the gentleman. "May I please have some more tea, Katie?" Joe was less enthusiastic. He finally did get a jacket and tie, but was less than gracious about it. He was being rather creepy about the whole "girly tea party" thing and ended up getting kicked out early. He certainly did NOT want me blogging his picture at the party, so I had to crop this one. Goofy kid.

And that was pretty much the end of our day. Now I'm blogging. Which is really just stalling. I'm supposed to be proofreading. HA! And I actually just looked it up to make sure it was one word and not two!!! I am the WRONG PERSON for this job, I tell ya'! Anyway, I'm going to go... play a game. Then proofread. ;-) Have a great Sunday, everybody!

Some People

...want things to happen.

Some people wish things would happen.

Some people make things happen.

I read that earlier today and it inspired me. Then I discovered that I am a fourth kind of person. The kind that starts making things happen, then runs out of steam and reverts back to being person 1 and person 2.

I am mostly done with the wallpaper in the boys' room, I just didn't have the oomph to stay out there and finish up tonight. (And we all know there's a big difference between being mostly done and all done.) ;-) A couple of hours tomorrow will bring a happy end to my wallpapering days... at least until time to do our bedroom. I was really excited about how the boys' room was turning out until James walked in and said, "It looks a little purple, hu?" ?!?!?!? Could there be anything more catastrophic than that?! A purple boys' room??? (Okay, pink would be more catastrophic...) It didn't look the least bit purple to me until he said so, but now I'm all panicky about it. We'd just better not mention it to Joe--he'd DIE! Ha! Surely it's not really purple... :-S

Okay, I was going to start writing about the crazy things my kids do... Well, they've been doing them. I remember laughing at them several times today, once especially hard... but I can't remember why!!! I can't even remember which kid had me cracking up. ~sigh~ I'm going to have to start keeping a blog journal in my pocket to write notes to myself.

Yesterday was a long and frustrating day. We cancelled school and headed to town to search for the perfect border to go with the boys wallpaper (purple! Ha!) and I had a couple in mind that I had found online but wanted to check the colors of in person. YEAH, RIGHT. I understand that wallpaper is "out" right now. It's no longer the cool or trendy thing (I don't mind being a dork--I still like it), but I really thought in a city of half a million people we'd have better luck. There was NOTHING out there. We found one western wallpaper book in the whole city. We're in New Mexico, for goodness' sake!!! The only thing we achieved was realizing that we're just going to have to find a border we like online and hope for the best. Didn't feel like a very fulfilling discovery.

We did stop by two thrift stores on our way home and found another gorgeous little dress for Katie as well as a new jumper, some new cowboy boots for Joe, a really fantastic long, loose, flowy denim skirt that flairs out at the bottom for me (yeah!), and two 7 slim jeans for Joe and a 6 slim in black (his preference) for Sam. I love it when we find like-new clothes for Goodwill prices! :-)

While I've been working on wallpaper, James has been working his magic out in the den. It's starting to get soooooo exciting out there!!! I'm so tempted to go take a picture of what he's built (I LOVE IT!!!), but I'm going to make myself hold off a little bit longer... ~sigh~ It's so hard! I wanna show! I wanna tell! Then I want you all to come visit so I can serve you a nice, fresh, cold Coke in our fantastical new den!!! :-)

That's it. Nothing new about the kids (I'll try to do better--for my own sake!), but at least it's not 8 pages long, right?!

25 Random Things

1. I used to be a good blogger

2. I am now a bad blogger

3. I am trying to become a good blogger once more.

4. This list is not helping my cause.

5. Thanks a lot, Shanna! ;-)

6. Okay, uummm... I have big feet. 9 and a half or 10.

7. I used to detest mustard and learned to love it spontaneously (really--woke up one morning and knew I had to have it) when I was 18 or 19 years old.

8. I took a solo trip at age 19 (perhaps the mustard experience emboldened me) flying from Denver to Salt Lake, sleeping in the airport there (cool, really--not scary), flying from there to Boise and going to Family Camp in Washington, then flying back to Salt Lake to Denver to Washington D.C. to Roanoke, Virginia to attend Camp and Convention and visit Amanda Newman... then flying back home. (That was a really long one. Can it count for 4 or 5?)

9. I broke my arm when I was two. Rumor has it I enjoyed having a cast and used it to obtain desired toys from my brother.

10. Am I half-way to 25 yet?

11. I have a history of loving little brown poodles way too much and taking it way too hard when I lose them. If twice can be considered "a history." ;-)

12. I have always lo-o-o-o-o-oved horses and still harbor a wee bit of resentment over the fact that both of my parents grew up with them, but I did not. So wrong.

13. Some of my favorite memories are of staying at "the cabin" with all the guys (Dad, Granddad, Jon, Uncle Colin...) during hunting season each year and the crazy stories and laughter and just enjoying their enthusiasm for the hunt. Crazy men.

14. I still remember my phone number from when I was 5 years old in Pueblo, Colorado: 544-1254, and the next one in Colorado Springs: 570-9683... but none of the other ones since then. I occasionally remember my current number, but refer to Katie if I happen to have a brain lapse.

15. I attended BTI 8 years in a row... and can't wait to go back when Katie turns 16!

16. The first meal I learned to make was enchilada casserole (when I was about 12)... and it's the only thing I knew how to make for years!

17. I fell off a skateboard and had 7 stitches in my chin when I was 8 years old.

18. I have a scar on my neck from being "clotheslined" by a kite string while riding a motorcycle (a little Honda 50) when I was 8 or 9 years old.

19. I have a scar on my finger from losing not-so-gracefully to my brother at chess and clearing, shall we say, the chessboard. There was a sharp metal edge just waiting for me. I think I was 8 or 9.

20. The ages 8 and 9 were apparently rough ones for me.

21. Ah, yes! When I was about the same age (8 or 9) I accidentally burned down a field with a neighbor kid. We were having a candlelight dinner (peanut butter sandwiches and Cheetos)... in the middle of the field... in the dead of summer... with those trick candles that don't blow out. Sma-a-a-a-art.

22. My life took a significant turn for the better once I made it to age 10!

23. I made the worst chocolate chip cookies in the history of the world tonight.

24. I hate English. My mother failed ENTIRELY in teaching me that subject. The only thing I ever remember learning from her about it is that "'OF' IS A PREPOSITION!!!!!!!" And I can only ever say it in that same loud, high-pitched scream (while pulling hair out for the full effect) that I was subjected to in the learning of it. ;-)

25. I made it to 25!!! And it actually got kind of fun as I went along. Especially more fun than the ironing I'm really supposed to be doing right now. ;-)

So now I tag:

EMILEE!!!

Because...

1. She's the only person honest enough to recognize my weakness of being way to long-winded ("only a true friend...!")

2. Nobody knows anything about Emilee... (ha!)

3. She has trouble blogging faithfully and maybe this will help???

4. I finally cracked and did one of these crazy list/survey/useless-information things and I really think she should, too. It's only fair.

5. And because everybody else out there has already done this. ;-)

I've Come to a Realization

I'm a very, very bad blogger. I discovered that a few minutes ago as I was scrolling through some of my posts from a few years ago. That's when I was a good blogger. Most of my posts were relatively short and were full of nothing but silly, nonsensical sorts of things about the kids. Now my posts are long, drawn-out affairs containing all of the details of our lives. I've done that because this is also my "diary," but really... I'd rather remember crazy things about the kids instead of the mundane details! Either my kids aren't as funny as they used to be or I'm just somehow letting those things slip by in the craziness of life. It's not the kids, so... ! ~sigh~ I need to refocus. But first, I'll do another boring post about what we've been up to. Ha! I'll make it short though. ;-)

Breakfast, devotions, kids play/Mom cleans house, school, lunch, horse riding lessons, library, read some books with the kids, great NAP (wa-hoo!), dinner (Papa Murphy's--thanks, James!), stain some of the wood in the DEN, kids finish school, watch Davy Crocket, clean up house, discover I'm a very bad blogger.

And that brings us to right now! As much as I hate to do it, I will post a few pictures of our progress out in the den. I hate showing it before it's FINISHED, you know?!

Okay, for starters, I always try to explain the faux painting technique that we like and use all the time (!), but I figured pictures would help those with trouble visualizing. ;-) Just remember when looking at these pictures that this is not HGTV, it's a true-blue construction zone!

First, you have to purchase the split rollers and tray. (Good luck finding them--the style has kind of come and gone and most places don't carry them anymore.) Choose your two colors wisely or you'll be sorry. I happen to know. ;-)

Then you just do this all over the wall...

Until it looks like this! :-) ~sigh~ I love it. It's just so nice and warm and homey looking, you know? About the rest of the picture... We decided to go with the Special Walnut stain for the logs, Mom. Why branch out to something you might regret when you know you've got a good thing?! I'm not sure why, but the trim on the sides of the logs looks much lighter in the picture than it really is. Weird. AND... that crazy outlet in the middle of the logs--see it? Dustin did it. The dork. Okay, okay, so we told him to. We have plans--and it will be hidden. :-)
And this wall we did solid Fig Cookie. I like it a lot better in person than in the picture, but you get the idea! This is going to be the focal point of the room, so we wanted to separate it a little bit. And don't worry about all those weird tiles in the middle of the wall. When we execute our plans on that wall, they're going to look terrific! :-)

And that's it for now. I'll keep you updated. But I'll try to be brief about it and include more of the truly important things in life: how fun and crazy and occasionally stupid my kids are. :-)

And in the spirit of using a blog for what it's really intended for, spreading laughter and cheer and remembering the worthwhile memories, I thought I'd post this again. Is it still as funny as it used to be? (Scroll down, please!)

It... Is... Finished!!!

~WHEW!~ What a day!!!

It started out normal enough. Breakfast, devotions, clean house while the kids play, then school with Katie and Joe. I was itchin' to get to work in the garage, so I told them we were going to have speed school today. ;-) I sat between the two of them and kept the whip crackin' and by the time it was said and done they had completed a full days' worth of school in just under 2 hours. Wa-Hoo! We scarfed down some left-overs for lunch, then I headed out to the garage.

Today was the fun day. The day that I got to do all of the pretty painting! I've been so excited today. We no longer have a nasty, smell garage... it's starting to look like my house out there!!! How cool is that?! I faux painted three of the walls in the den and then painted one solid wall. Then I faux painted the top half of the boys' room (wallpaper will go on the bottom) and painted the bottom part of their closet solid. That will make sense someday. ;-) It only look one little paragraph to say it, but it took a-a-a-a-a-a-all day to do it! I worked from about 1:00 until 10:30 or so, then took a shower and tried to scrub all the paint off of me. I feel so much better, but I am EXHAUSTED! I have a cousin who could have done what I did today in about half the time and it would have looked better. I envy you, Stacey! ;-) Still, I'm really happy with how things are turning out and so excited to think of actually being able to move in out there sometime in the next... ooooh, I'm still scared to say. Dare I??? MONTH! I want to move in in the next MONTH! That's setting a broad enough goal, isn't it?! I sure hope so. I'm so excited!!!

The other exciting event of the day was the arrival of James'... thing. I really don't know what it is, though he's told me several times. It's a piece of equipment that will go in the den in his soda bar area and it's going to be soooooo cool! I'll just wait until it's all done (in the next MONTH?!) and take pictures. That would be far better than trying to explain it. Besides, surprises are always more fun. ;-)

That's it for tonight. I'm bushed. James just asked what the plan is for tomorrow. I told him I didn't want to discuss it. I just finished this day and would like very much to NOT think about whatever may need to be done tomorrow! We've got to make a trip to town one of these days for supplies and to check on a few possibilities, but I'm not sure tomorrow is the day! I also have some wallpapering to do... Hhmmm. The only things I'm planning for tomorrow at this point are devotions and school. After that we'll just have to see. Maybe a nap! :-)

Recap of This Week

Let's see... Tuesday night we got home from Arizona and got mostly unpacked, then crashed.

Wednesday was the big Post Trip Recovery Day. You know, getting everything back in order and all of the laundry done and whatnot. We had a full day of school and I got the past week and a half (before AZ) of school work graded. Then I made a nice, hot dinner: meatloaf, baked potatoes, corn, peas, and buttered carrots. Had to do it 'cuz I don't know how much opportunity I'll have to cook in the coming days and weeks! We had a really, really good ABM service that night. I love those. :-) Afterward I stayed up until 2:00am finishing up on all of the ironing. I haven't decided if church trips double the amount of ironing to be done or actually triple it... Either way, it makes for a lot more work!

Thursday we did school. Just as I suspected, Sam has been doing great learning his letters by force. :-) He got "D" down and switched his badge to a "V" next, so we made an itty-bitty v-v-volcano... (Although Sam has always pronounced them "wackanoes," further confusing himself on the "V" vs. "W" issue! Ha!)




He now remembers "V" by sight and can tell me several things that start with that letter (even if several of them still SOUND like they start with a "W"!), so he is now Mr. T, sporting his new letter every day and having to rehearse things like t-t-t-train and t-t-t-turtle.

After school on Thursday I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the dirty, filthy, nasty, grotesque former garage. It was soooooooo gross!!!! And it took HOURS. But now the ceilings, walls, and skylight are free from the dirt, grime, spiderwebs, dead bugs, hornet nests, and all other manner of putrescence that formerly made their abode there. I don't have any "after" pictures, but here's one "before" shot.



James took care of the meals that day: chili dogs for lunch and fish sticks for dinner!

It was also a red letter day for Katie and Joe. James made them a one-time offer. If they would use their birthday money to start a savings account, he would match whatever amount they put in, therefore doubling their money! Wow!!! They're not allowed to touch any of it for at least 3 months, but they're cool with that. So Katie offered her $25 and now has a $50 savings account and Joe gave his $50 and now has $100! They're thrilled. Of course, Joe has already figured out what date in March will be the day he can get his money out and close his account--"I only did it for the $100!" Ha! Says the kid who will never be able to make himself SPEND any of it anyway!

Friday morning we had devotions, then the kids got the day off from school so I could go PAINT in the now cleaned up garage! Wa-Hoo!!! It took another hour or more to get everything properly taped off, then I fought with Maurice for an hour or two before finally determining that... ~sniffle~ Well, I think it's time he had a proper burial. ~sigh~ So sad. I did dearly love him. But he hasn't worked properly the past few times we've needed him and I'm afraid we'd have to get into ordering extra parts and other expensive things. So I called James (he was in town anyway) and he brought home extra rollers and such and he and I spent the rest of the day painting all of the ceilings and walls the old fashioned way. A paint sprayer is sooooo much faster... but only if it works! I finished up the last of the painting at about 9:00 that night, I think. Then I spent the rest of the night and most of the next morning looking online for the perfect wallpaper border (or other western something to use for a border) in the boys' room. Haven't found it yet.

Yesterday was good and productive. We had a good day of school (had to make up for Friday's school that we'd missed!) and I was able to get both bathrooms cleaned, the whole house vacuumed (thanks to Sam's help!), and the wood floors shined up. :-) I made fried chicken with rice for dinner. Always a big hit here. Then I stayed up until 2:30 working on my VLB service. It's not that I waited until the last minute (I've been working on it all week), but there was just so much to research! And it was stuff I really enjoy. :-)

We had good services today. Good Sunday School, good worship, and good message. Oh, and Aaron Placencio was at church with his family today for the first time in months! Praise the Lord!!! Keep praying for him, all of you Family Camp people. :-) He asked about Camp and acts excited about going again this year. That's sooooo good!

We went to lunch with Sister Galaviz and had a really nice visit, as always. She is such a neat lady--and she cracks me up! Ha! Gotta love her! :-)

We came home and had time for a nice afternoon nap while the kids ran wild outside for a couple of hours. Then we went to my LONGEST SERVICE EVER!!! It lasted a whole hour and a half!!! WHOA!!! Do I get a ribbon or a trophy or something?! I'm usually fighting hard to make a service last a whole 30 or 40 minutes. I covered a topic tonight though that has always been one of my favorites: Creation vs. Evolution. I talked minimally about that issue itself and more about the effects that accepting evolution has on the young people of our day. If evolution is true, then who cares what they do or how they lives their lives? They are just the product of chance random processes, originated from slime or a rock or aliens' "seeds" or whatever. The past and the future are unknown and unknowable, as well a irrelevent. Besides, if evolution is true, who makes the rules? Why not mutilate your body with piercings and tattoos? Why not destroy it with drugs and alcohol and cigarettes? And who says you have to obey the law? The people who made it came from the same primordial soup you did a billion years ago--what authority do they have? No wonder kids nowdays are such a mess and are involved in so many horrible things! It's so much simpler for those who just accept the fact that God created this world and everything in it. He's the Creator; He makes the rules; we are obligated to live by them. How comforting to KNOW that and have PURPOSE in this life! Anyway, I think the service went okay and there was lots of good input and discussion there at the end.

Anyway, now the week is over and a new one has begun. Tomorrow I start on the purty painting out in the garage. Won't it be cool when I stop calling it the garage and start calling it the den and the boys' room?! I'm soooooo excited!!! Once I get it all painted the way I like it I'll have a little bit of wallpapering to do, then I'm going to start the same thing in our bedroom while James builds doors and works on finishing out the garage. Then... (drumroll, please)... we'll be ready to have the carpet laid and MOVE IN! Wa-Hoo!!!! I have no idea how long it will take to get to that point and I'm scared to make any predictions, but it's thrilling to be as close as we are. :-)

Okay, that's it. But here are some random pictures of the kids from the past few days.

Katie playing with her Raggedy Ann that Grandma Vicki made for her...

Sam, Mr. Work-em, helping out with the vacuuming. He really gets into it! :-)

And Joe designing who-knows-what. And doing his very best not to smile.

Home From Arizona

We had such a great trip!!!

We drove 8 hours on Thursday, through snow in Flagstaff, but nothing but sunshine as we neared Phoenix.

We got to Grandma Bunny’s house in time to have dinner and watch Wheel of Fortune with her. It’s practically a law in Sun City: the world stops between 6:30 and 7:00 each night for Wheel of Fortune. Cool with me—I never get to watch it! Boy, Pat Sajak is getting OLD!

We got all the kids bathed and put to bed, then played I Buy with Grandma. I won. :-)

We had a nice breakfast Friday morning with fresh squeezed orange juice. It’s amazing how different juice tastes when it comes out of a carton from the store and when you pick the oranges off the tree in the backyard and juice them yourself! YUM. The kids think it is the coolest thing in the world to walk out the back door at Grandma Bunny’s house and pick grapefruit and tangelos off the trees.



Here we are (minus James) with Grandma Bunny.



It was the kids’ birthday (Katie’s & Joe’s) and we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Jacob and Philip were working and were more than happy to “refresh our beverages” and the kids even got some free birthday ice cream! (Thanks, Jake!)




We met up with the Shuler gang at the park so the kids could run and play for a little while before the cake and presents.



It was a little tricky because of the wind, but we (they) managed to build a pretty good human shield so the kids could blow their candles out.

Even with all the wind Katie had a hard time. She blows like her Grandma Vicki! Ha!
Here's Joe with his specially selected piece of cake...


They each had three gifts to open. One from us, one from my folks, and one from the Shulers.

A pop gun (very close range! Ha!) and a girly bath set.
New homemade pj's for Joe (in a picture later on, in use!) along with some miscellaneous toys, and new jean skirt and apron for Kate.
Joe was full of great facial expressions. Here he is trying to operate his new pop gun...
Katie trying on her new apron made from her Great-Grandmother Smith's curtains, and the heart is made out of her Grandma Vicki's curtains. (She LOVES it--AND the skirt, Mom. Thank you sooooo much!)
Here's Katie anticipating her present from her Mom and Dad...
"Shocked and slightly embarassed at the sight of..." it's meager size! Ha! (You can see it in James' hand.)
Thrilled with the outcome: a little camera.
The boys were excited to see Uncle Colin and Joe provoked him with his new dart shooter and was chased down and tickled to the ground a few times. Same thing with Sam, only he doesn’t need the aid of a dart gun to provoke anybody!





Friday night and all day Saturday we were in our Arizona District Convention. James thinks we had about 70 people there, which is fantastic! We had a great crowd come from Hatch and they were such a blessing. And we got to see Hector & Erika’s two month old little Amie! She is soooooo pretty. We had good preaching at the Convention and some really good prayer times in the altar. Ashley brought a friend with her on Saturday and she got saved! PRAISE THE LORD!!! Everybody pray for Nicole as she starts her new walk with the Lord! :-) Pictures are better than anything, so I’ll post some for you…

Not particularly spiritual, perhaps, but cute nonetheless. Tommy rode with us a few times. Seems he just could find enough seatbelts to suit him. ;-)

This is Brother Juan Carlos who pastors the new Spanish work in Phoenix.
Love seeing this!

James decided to join the Shuler Family Band...

And then the Hatch church... Ha!

This is Brother Banuelos' son (older brother to Luis and Hector) who just got saved this past year.
I love scenes like this--one brother praying with another.



And that's about it!
We had a nice, relaxing morning on Sunday since they don’t have church until 2:00. We had another good service and Brother Chris preached a really good message. Afterwards we shared a few laughs there at the building. Jake and Phil even put on a skit, of sorts, for us... but you would have had to have been there! ;-)

We even got to see Sister Shanda laugh herself to tears! It’s been years since we’ve been around to see that! HA! It was great. ;-)

Here are a few pictures we took after service. Sam modeling Jacob's shades...

And me with some mighty handsome young men! ;-)
LOOK AT THIS PICTURE!!! I must let it be known that I was wearing my boots with the big, tall heel. Look how tall that kid is getting!!! ~sigh~ Amazing.


We all went out to Wendy’s, then it was time for the Shuler Family Band to practice…

So we enjoyed a few songs...

RATS!!! Don't know what happened to the video clips. They used to work. Check back later--I'll see if I can get 'em up and running again sometime Wednesday. :-)




Then we headed over to visit with Chris & Shanda for a little while. I’m so glad we did! We hadn’t had much opportunity to spend time with them throughout the Convention and we so enjoyed the time with them. The kids played like a bunch of crazed Indians all night and had a blast with each other.



We enjoyed visiting with the adults in between all the chaos. Just like old times in Salida! It was great. :-)

When we got back to the Shuler’s house just after 10:00 Aunt Kay & Uncle Colin had just gone to bed. We were able to obtain special permission for the kids to stay up late and party since it was our last night there. If it can be considered a “party” when you’re only allowed to whisper! Ha! We played some game that was fun, but took a very, very long time. Until nearly 2:00am, I believe! But it was so great to have some time with all the kids. We love them so much and don’t get to see them nearly enough. The little boys petered out way before the game ended--thank goodness!



The next morning Katie just had to try out the straw/glasses. Not sure what Megan's doing, but I have no question where she gets her animation from! Ha!



The boys (big boys, that is--I can't bring myself to call them men, although they are much more that than boys anymore!) had to work on Monday and Aunt Kay took Sara to a dentist appointment, so we took Megan and Tommy with us to Jack in the Box for lunch. Then we just had a nice, leisurely afternoon visiting back at the house… while the kids dug holes in the backyard with golf clubs, made mud patties, slammed each other in the jaw with a tennis ball (accident that time) and who knows what all! They also created their own band. Megan, Katie, Joe and Tommy practiced a few songs and then performed them for us. They introduced their band as “Dos Guitars, Drum & Fiddle,” and Joe had to translate each time, “TWO guitars, Drum & a Fiddle.”



We had a big family dinner that night with 30+ people, half of which I didn’t know. The kids thought it was pretty cool that they have a Great-Great-Great-Uncle Harry. It was cool enough to have a Great-Great-Grandma Bunny, but a triple great was truly wowing. ;-) We had a nice time visiting and toward the end Great-Great-Great Aunt Ruby (only two greats to me; three to the kids)—the musical one—insisted we hear some singing before we leave. Megan, Katie, and Tommy sang "Jesus Did it For Me" together, then Philip treated us to "My Friend, Bill"… which was a little disturbing when he couldn’t remember the third and final verse—the one that clarifies the confusion that the first two verses had induced! He came through for us though and everyone got a real bang out of it. Who wouldn’t?! It was PHILIP! That kid is so stinkin’ cute!!! After his solo we were treated to a trio…



We left the dinner and went to spend one last night at Grandma Bunny’s house. We put the kids to bed shortly after we got there, then my 91 year old Great-Great-Grandmother kept us up until after midnight playing I Buy! For real!!! Is that not the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?! (James is determined that people in my family just... never... die! Ha!) We played one game, then James suggested a second. It was about 10:30 when that one ended and Grandma asked about another. After that she wanted to go ahead and finish out the scorecard (you’d have to know her to appreciate that!), so we played a fourth. Crazy! But it really was a lot of fun. She’s an amazing lady, that’s for sure. We really enjoyed our time with her and are so thankful we were able to be there. We enjoyed our time with everybody! All of the folks at the Convention, the Clarksons, the Shulers… it was all so great!

This morning we enjoyed another nice breakfast with Grandma, then went back to the Shulers house to retrieve all of the things we’d forgotten the night before (!) before hitting the road. And now we’re home! Wa-Hoo!!! I love to go on trips like this. And then I love to come home!!! :-)