A Summer Morning in Colorado

Our summer mornings are sweet to me. The birds sing, the breeze is gentle, the smell of the rain from the night before still lingers. It's magical. We have had such wonderful thunderstorms this month; a much needed rain for our state. The clouds begin to roll in early afternoon and by dinnertime the rain is falling and the lightning is booming. It comes and goes as the clouds move by. Some storms are longer than others but what is left behind is wonderful... sweet air, cool nights, and a feeling of simplicity. It's hard for me to do anything in the mornings cause all I want to do is sit outside and soak up the air and sounds. The squirrels are talking to each other and our dog Charley, the MagPies are mad at something and sharing it with the world, and the doves are farther in the background cooing. I have about 8 more weeks before we our weather turns cooler. I'm lovin' me some Colorado Summertime!

Tea anyone?

Suze to the Rescue

We read her books, listen to her show, and search her website. Suze just came out with a new book since America's economy took a bad turn. Along with the book, The Money Class, is a series of videos of which I did not purchase but watched a bit on PBS. I can't wait to read her new book. All the rules have changed and leaving a financial legacy of hope is important to us for our children. The second book is for my kids. It is for the new generation of spenders we are seeing all around us. We have always talked money with our kids and a few of them "get it", and a few.... well, are learning. This book walks them through educational debt, buying a car, starting retirement savings, defines all the financial terms they will ever need to know so they can start NOW saving for THEN. We want our kids to walk in freedom financially so they can be used however, whenever, and do whatever God asks. Let the Saving begin!

There Are Some things You Just Hafta Have!

Pappy's Seasoning has been a part of this family since we married. We always have it in our cupboard, always will. We first discovered it when my sister found it at our local meat market in Fresno. Yes, we went to an actual meat market called The Fresno Meat Market. How's that for creativity? Anyhew.. we ran out. We searched here in Colorado. No luck. Amazon sold it but for 3x's the price in Fresno. Although I wish my sister to be HERE not THERE, this one time I will be thankful for her THERE. She went down and mailed our stash to us. We're stocked up for a while now. Thanks Reg!

So what per-say do we use this amazing seasoning for? Well let me tell you...

1. Hamburgers
2. Tri-Tip (only thing we love on it)
3. Any other meat you want!

Pappy's and nothing else!

Small Town USA 4th of July Parade

Happy Independance Day America!

Summer Project Number 2: Deck Redo-Addition

The Summer 2011 Deck Project begins! After months of evaluating, measuring,discussing, drawing plans, getting permits, and doing a little more planning, we were off and running. Okay not so much running. It's a slow tedious process. More so than we anticipated. Let me just say, AGAIN, Terrell has taught his children well and they are so capable! We are blessed by their helpful ways and time given towards the family projects this summer.

Gabe is taking off the railing so we can get to diggin'.

And digging and digging and digging.

So this was a very SAD discovery when we took off the railing. Rot. An extra little step will be happening now that this has been discovered.

T is teaching the girls about this new tool. New to them at least. Such good learners!

DAY 2: Digging the Big Holes.

We rented this big ol' machine to dig 8 holes at 30 inches each. It took some work and all the kids to get this done. I am so glad we had this handy dandy thing instead of Buffy, Jody and a shovel. That would have taken for-ever!

I made them stop and pose... I just had to!

A little playtime added in to the hard work. :) Oh sister love.

When he's busy, forget getting him to smile. He's focused.

And yet another hole.

By the end of the day, we needed these holes cleaned out to make correct measurements. Well, shop vacs do all things.. even suck out holes.

And lastly, while digging all these holes we ran into our sprinkler lines. Well, we either delayed the project or re-did the lines. Re-doing the lines was a better choice. We only had the hole digger for four hours. Time was tickin' away.. tick, tick, tickin away. And yet another part to the project not planned.

Shoo. We are a tired crew. T is out there still pounding away. This deck will be splendid and a very nice addition to our home. Come August 1st, we'd like you to come over for some ice tea and take a sit with us. We will be ready by then to sit.