Summer 2009

It has been a long while since I last posted. I had a good summer with the kids. It was the first time that I enjoyed each day instead of hoping that it would just hurry up. When I finally realized that my children were growning into teenagers and that I didn't have much more time with them. By next summer I will have a seventeen, thirteen, eleven and five year old. My how time quickly blows bye. A season gone before I even know it was here. I never thought in my wildest dreams that the day would come that Ashley would rather hang out with her friends than me.



The boys and I frequented the river this summer. We also, went camping twice. We first camped at Spicer up by Big Trees with my friend, Cecilia. Then last weekend we hit Clarks Fork.


Our camping trip last weekend was a blast. It was a memorial to my Nanny who passed away two and a half years ago. My whole family got together. We hadn't done that in many years. That is what my Nanny asked for us to do. I would say it was a special time of reuniting.




I am ready for Autumn. A time of change and relaxation. There will be more inside time with the kids for us to read and play together.

Autumn reminds me of homemade applesauce, apple pies, pumpkin pies and pumpkin seeds. I really like to decorate my house with a haystack, scarecrows, pumpkins, and orange lights.

Camping Trip at the Lake

Last weekend we set off to go camping at the lake. Even though I enjoy camping sometimes, I had not felt much like doing it this year. The boys had really been wanting to go fishing and camping, and the reality of summer coming to an end made me well aware that we were running out of time. So, with that in mind we ventured out. But if the truth be known, I was counting the minutes until I could be back home. On our camping trip adventure I acquired a flat tire and the car battery went dead when we tried to go home...to top it off, the following day my license plate fell off. Wow!

But, with all that said it was beautiful watching Samuel play in the sand, daring to wade out into the water and watching his little feet pitter patter away. Ashley, the little social bug that she is, sought out friends speedily and attained a better tan. My two older boys, Joshua and Ronnie, enjoyed themselves more that words could say. They reminded me of "The Survivor", as they paddled along on their raft. To everyones astonishment we glanced up and noticed Joshua approaching shore with an enormous catfish. He was holding it up like an esteemed winner...only for us to find out that he had not caught the fish, but had discovered its lifeless body over in the swamp.

Memories cannot be lived again...Yeah, I may have been uncomfortable and daydreaming of home, but the sweet thoughts of my children will always be remembered, not my sweaty body or my dirty feet!

Setting up Our "Quick Set Pool"

What a wasted Saturday! We bought a three and a half inch "Quick Set Pool" that became a huge challenge to put up. First, we could not get the ground leveled. Our back yard is so crappy. No one has worked on it since the early 1930’s in my opinion and the gophers and cats call it "home". We worked several long hours leveling the ground. Then we laid the pool out on the ground and stretched it out just so. I filled it up with water overnight and Sunday it went lopsided. Needless to say it was a frustrating!

We ended up having to empty the whole pool...It is a very stressful thing to do because the water is not easy to get out and there is dirt everywhere in the backyard. We did not want to get it all filled up with items from the earth. Joshua and I then went to the Home Depot and bought fifty dollars worth of sand. The bags were so heavy to load into the cart and into the van, then back out again. We took them to the backyard and we spread out a total of fifteen bags. We used a 12 ft. board, tying a string around it and then we placed a level on top of the board. We spun it around for several hours. We then attempted to set this “Quick Set Pool” back up again and thanks to God it came out just perfect! I then sprinkled bark around the pool to help with the dirt. I have been working on this yard for a while now and I hope to get it all looking good soon.