Anyone remember this????
We were so grateful he wasn't hurt....
But the truck was....badly.
Now look at her!!
Back on the road again!
You should feel the paint. It feels just like SATIN!!!
Thanks to my in-laws.....
particularly my father-in-law, who "knows a guy" for nearly everything.
It took nearly 5 months, but boy was it worth it.
Thanks Dad.
My very generous in-laws treated us all to dinner after church on Sunday! We had such a good time. We have a neighborhood type restaurant, kind of an "our place", called Shorty Smalls. The food is good, you can get a table fairly quickly, and it has a wide variety for the selective palates (picky eaters) in the family.
But on this particular day, the company was just a tad special.
This is my neice, Megan. Isn't she adorable??
What I wouldn't give for one of my own.......not MY own, but to spoil and send home.
Uh.......
Aunt Jodi forgot how hard it is to take a picture with one hand and hold a squirmy baby with the other.......
Mmmmmmm. the nachos are really good....
She charmed everyone at the table.
BTW - Chad, I noticed that you "hid" from the camera on the family picture??
So I put this one in so everyone could see your happy face!
Ha!
For no other reason....than I need a smile. Riley - Remember this???
It is.......
the "butt potato".
A treasure Riley and I found when digging potatoes last week. Did it make you smile too??
What I want to know is.......why don't MEN have a plague like this??!!? Where is the justice in that?????
This is dedicated to.......well, you know who you are..........
Thanks to Megan at "whatever". She has the cutest blog!
This is why I LOVE the Fourth of July..........
Lots of family..............
Sharing and being together.........
something cold to eat............
Riley and Kendell had a lot of fun exploring the apple tree and picking apples (hey - it's fewer for me to pick up before I mow!)
and I showed Kendell how to pick green beans! They are so eager to learn new things and where different things come from.
and picking green beans is one of the coolest things on earth!
Then it's always nice to cool off with a little water fun........
And Chad very graciously helped Andy make sure everyone played safely........
Oh no.......
Look out Chad...... you're getting a little wet..........
Wait......who is that big kid???
It's my favorite son-in-law giving me blog material!!!
I love this picture...........
and this one:
and........
all of them actually. It was a really good day. The fireworks were the best! I loved hearing Riley exclaim over each of the really big ones. And the occasional "that was a dud" also. He was so enthusiastic!
This is my all time favorite picture. My daughters pretty little face illuminated by the fireworks display.
Thank you God for all the wonderful things in life.
I really want to take just two minutes and ask you to watch this.................
Okay.......Friday morning started out innocently enough. It was a bit of a rough night because of the storm that moved through. Riley wanted to sleep downstairs in this air-bed that I bought for each of the kids, and so I put Maddie down there too. With a baby monitor (of course!). Well, the lightening detector went off about 2:30 a.m........
Meet the lightening detector. Detects thunder and fireworks also. Must be a bit faulty though because it shakes like it's running on 3 cylinders when it detects.
Anyway, the lightening detector went off and woke me up and about five minutes later I heard Maddie cry. I met Riley on the stairs coming up to get me on my way down. Got Maddie a dry diaper and Riley, Maddie, Ralph the lightening detector and I all crawled into bed.
I snuck out about 6:45 to go up and make coffee. I LOVE summer mornings, and my usual routine is to make coffee and read the paper while watching Good Morning America. So I sneak out to get the paper.....and when I turn around:
Uhhhhhhh.....
That isn't supposed to look like that..
What you can't see is the five year old oak tree under the fence, and at this point in the picture ray has moved the swing, smoker and trash can back. It was all in a great big pile. With snapped off 4x4 posts still attached. Except at the ground...
At this point I'm pretty grateful because had it been one day later, and our company and their dog been here, we would have gotten up and let Maya out and not thought a thing about it. She would be somewhere in Nebraska at this point....
So I go deliver the good news to Ray. He jumps out of bed and says "hooray! I needed something to do today!". HA! Just the opposite.
Now........we need to haul cement bags, fence posts, pickets and stuff from the lumber yard and the last time I checked on our pickup it looked like this:
My patience is shot. Don't have a truck. Chad is at work. Hoyt is in Oklahoma. No way to get the stuff we need to repair the fence. Crap. So we call Paul. Thank you God for friends.
Paul was very kind and drove over and picked Ray up and they went and bought the stuff to fix the fence. Fortunately for us, the gate part fell in one piece and could be reused. Most of the pickets could, too but the supporting structure had to be completely redone. Meaning digging post holes and a lot of other stuff.
Paul is like a jack of all trades. And he's helped us out a LOT. He and Sandy are like substitute parents to us. We've just known them forever and they're always happy to help us.
And he was so kind about it. He just said "hey, Ray's helped me out plenty!".
Then the inspector showed up......oh no!
But it didn't phase Paul. He knows how to handle these guys.
And now we have a great fence, just the way it was.
Thank you Paul for helping us out!!!
I had special company this week. Well, actually it starts earlier in the week. I went to Kansas City to help Tera. We cleaned, then we shopped (of course!).
We ate at "T-Rex", which is apparently the coolest place on earth.
And we discovered the Yellow Brick Road!!
That is one neat outdoor mall....
I was really surprised when Riley asked about going home with me. Usually the ONLY person he will choose to go home with is his Grandma. He LOVES his Grandma. And Grandpa. I just kind of assumed he was trying it out but would never really do it. So I was getting ready to leave and he said "hey Jodi! Are you leaving?" I told him yes, and he said "wait! I'm going with you!!". Wow. I was SHOCKED but happy to wait. So we threw some clothes in the car, at which point Maddie had a meltdown. She was going, too, come heck or high water. So I said yes........and away we went!
What a great visit. The first morning I asked Riley if he wanted to go dig potatoes. "Nah. I don't think I want to." I convinced him that it can be fun. So we went to "Hoyt's Farm" as he calls it. Now.......Hoyt and Evelyn by no means live on a "farm", but they do have a HUGE garden.
So away we went.
We had been digging potatoes for about five minutes and Riley said
"this is a good day, isn't it Jodi?".
"Jodi?"
"yes, Riley?"
"This is the best day of my whole life."
"Me, too, Riley."
And then we found the "butt potato". See for yourself.
And the magic moment was turned into a laugh-fest.
Good times.
We went swimming. And he rode his bike for hours. Then he discovered climbing the apple tree...
I am appreciating not having to pick up all those stupid green apples when we mow.
Riley thinks this is the coolest place in the world.
Kind of works for both of us.
And here is Maddie playing with Ralph.
Poor Ralph. He never knew kids could be so exhausting!
(It's blurry because EVERYONE is in motion...)
But then Ralph forgave her because.......
Well, because Ralph eats GOOOOD while she's here!!!!!!
Yum!
Thanks for visiting me, guys. And, yes Riley, it was a VERY good day..........
Laspberry is one of my favorite flavors........ right behind remon-rime.......
Not later....NOW! Be sad NOW!
The very next time Ray says he doesn't care what's for dinner............ it's coming with a Spicy Sauce......
With a side of roquefart.
I don't even know where to start with this one........... Foniks definittly werked fer himm!! Long live the expensive qeen!
Yes, I have lost some mental parts when disemble-ing my yo-yo.....
Even more pictures..........
Grandma and Kendell (wearing her REAL diamond earrings. Pink of course)
Maddie and Tera...........
Hey......... I have a dressing room stalker!!
No fair peeking!
My favorite shopping buddy. She isn't happy that I had her sniff something. I didn't tell her it was HORRID before she smelled it......
is that bad??!!
