Catchin Up

Just trying to catch up on some misc photos of stuff going on in our lives!

Here are my girls and me relaxin on Sabbath afternoon at a friends house.









This week is the girl's fall break from school. So Monday night they had a movie night where they got to stay up late with the big people watchin the Parent Trap - the original one. I guess Joelle really got a kick out of it and the adults loved to laugh at Joelle laughing. Natalie just loved the girls in it.







My little pirate, with her do-rag she's been wearing constantly lately, is showing some of her abilities. She made this pyramid out of legos all by herself. It is actually very well done!


















Since the girls had today off and so did I, after the kids we were watching left, we started a project. I saw a post from Doreen's cousin-in-law on how to make super simple bread. So we made some. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out after we bake it tomorrow!








All Natalie's mixing is flour, water, salt and yeast.












For years my grandma, Bubbie, has been sending boxes full of clothes for the girls. We call them, "Bubbie Boxes." We have always appreciate them and enjoy some of the stuff out of them. Recently I got an idea to send her a Granddaughter box. We're sending a couple of boxes of her favorite Little Debbies and some cards the girls created and this pic of the girls - growing up SO very fast - in some of the very dresses she sent. Aren't they so precious?!!!!










Today we went to a park to play and Jannah, Joelle & Natalie got a big spin on the tire. What fun!

Pickup truck problems

Last week the engine in our pickup truck had a wicked knock in it. I figured it might be a problem with the oil pump or something wrong with the top half of the motor. It had me freaked out.

So we had it looked at today and all it turned out to be was the surpentine belt tensioner (and a new belt) and a drive belt idler pulley.

GLAD to have it back and running properly.

Wheew - I feel like we dodged a bullet!

Hate it when vehicles break down!

Fallin the Smokies

Found this beautiful tree recently. It's a sign, that fall is pretty much here. I loved it cuz the bottom part is green and the top is flaming red. AWESOME! It's kind of a toss up between Spring and Fall of which season I enjoy more, I just know I love both of them.

Right now though, seein' that tree, Fall is my fav.

Have an Awesome Autumn!!! :)

FORE...

Did something today I haven't had time to do in almost two years. I played golf at a little par 3 golf course I found recently. Tell ya about findin' it in a sec.









Here, I'm'a plannin on wackin that little white ball pretty hard in a sec... right in to that group of trees on the left you see there! Waaa ha, ha, ha, ha! Man, I had a FUN time. Gotta go do that again soon!









Had to take this pic. I really like being near the Smoky Mountains. (That is if I can't be near the Rocky Mountains!!!) It was still pretty early in the morning and the "smoke/clouds" were still hanging low over the mountains. NICE!!!

About finding this course. I've tried a couple of times to try and find a par 3 course - cuz they are just so fun to play. The only one around, according to a friend, closed up years ago, so I quit looking. Last Friday I had to go out to our freinds place to help put up some tents for the Adventurer campout. On the way up, I was gonna take the interstate, but couldn't cuz of a HUGE semi-truck accident. So I took a frontage road trying to get there another way and missed a turn. I ended up 14 miles away from where I needed to be. Along the way however, I happened to see a sign for this golf course. Dude, I was stoked and took the first opportunity I had to go play it! What an awesome mistake!

Adventurer Campout

This weekend, Doreen and the girls went to the Adventurer campout. They had a ball. Here's Natalie drinking some warm hot chocolate on a chilly Sunday morning.









Saturday night the kids played capture the flag and Joelle was stoked cuz she grabbed the flag the first time they played. Good for her! That is a ball to be the one who actually gets the flag and makes it back to your team's side!







Joelle this campout also learned to roast the perfect marshmallow. Before this she would just burn them. Eewwww! At the campout she roasted about 6 perfectly golden marshmallows in a row and shared them with everyone.

I Love my girls!!!

Deja Vu to 1977 - Gas Shortage

Here in SE Tennessee and N Georgia, we've had a bit of a shortage of gas since Hurricane Ike hit the coast of Texas shutting down the refineries.

It was kinda erie, a couple of weeks ago I was actually in Atlanta, GA on a trip for work and had to go to 3 different suburbs - practically every gas station had bags over the handles of their pumps to show they were closed. Some stations were completely closed and some still kept the convenience stores open. Still, it was weird.

Last Friday, we had someplace to be and decided to get gas on the way to it, we left home about 4pm. The first gas station we tried was closed, no gas. The second one we looked at only had the 'low grade' fuel. So we stopped in their - even though it was a nut-house and filled up.

We drove by 2 other stations along our journey and they were both closed, another was still open but with quite a wait to get to a pump. Wild - cuz it took me back to 1977, when we were visiting my grandparents in Maryland. I remember sitting in a long line, that extended out to the road with my Papaw as we waited to get gas.

All that made me thankful for the practial theory my father taught me. "It costs the same to run on the top half of a gas tank as it does the bottom half." So we rarely let a gas tank get below half way. It has served us well over the years and even more so now since gas has been not the easiest thing to obtain as of late! :)

Thanks Pop! Never even thought that would come in as handy as it has. We've had friends running from station to station around on E trying to find some gas. Ewww! I don't like that thought at all!

Well - it should be interesting as we get closer to the time of the end to see how things transpire as the world grows older, worse and more sinful!

This is just a taste I believe.

A Taste of the Life to Come?

Looking through some old photos, I found this one. In 1973, when I was 3, we were visiting family in Texas I believe. I got a chance to climb up into my Uncle Maurice's truck, who was working for McKee deliverin' Amercia's Number 1 snack cakes.












Who would have guessed that 32 years later I would be driving for the same company doing the same thing. When I was three, I wanted to be an astronat or a police officer! :) My how things change. I went to school to be in radio, and did that a few years and now I drive a semi truck. The nice thing is I am content where I am! That is what is important!

I'll tell you one thing though. I am SO thankful to be driving a rig from this era. Just look at the difference! More room, more comfortable, better ride. Oh yeah!!!

The Pesters 3

Feelin' a bit nostalgic, lookin' through old photos I ran across this one of my sisters and me just after they were brought home from the hospital. We had some times when we got along great, and other times - not so good. But they're my sisters and I will always love them just like I did on this day when we were laying in the sun, just the 3 of us! :)

Parvovirus B19

The last week Natalie has had a little rash on her arms and legs. The funny thing is, it would come and go. One moment it would be really bad, the next nothing.

Well, Thur evening, it was bad. Not itchy or anything else, just a red rash.

So this morning we called her Pediatrician and took her in for a visit to see what it was and if we should be concerned. The Dr took one look at it and knew exactly what it was Parvovirus B19.

It usually starts with redness in the cheeks then may spread to arms and legs with a 'lacy, pink to dull red eruptions,' which she had. Some kids, like Natalie, have a very low grade fever at the beginning.

The funny thing is that with this virus arthritis of the joints could also occur.

So guess what Natalie and I both had/have the Parvovirus B19 bug. The nice thing is that neither of us are contagious.

It physical symptoms could be gone in days or even a couple of months.

I'm just thankful it's not anything dangerous, to us or anyone else!

Weird stuff man!! Weird!

Driver Safety Meeting Suggestion

Today I'm headed to a Driver's Safety Meeting. I'm thinkin' about suggesting they get these stickers for us to post on our trucks. He, he, he!!!

A Day with My Daughter (Youngest)

Today Natalie had a cool day at school. A local kids museum came in to put on a special day for them, talking about the body.

So I joined them as an extra set of hands to help out where ever needed. I got there early enough to have lunch with them!






After lunch we went out to recess to play - what fun. Natalie showed me she could go across these.
















After recess they started the program and one of Natalie's classmates put her insides back inside! :)
















Natalie got to practice brushing teeth, learning to do it properly.













'Course, I took a chance to mess with those huge 'dentures' myself! What a fun day!

Natalie Riding Free

Doreen has been really faithful lately trying to help Natalie learn to ride a bike without training wheels. Lately she's been close to getting it.







Well, this weekend at our church campout we took her bike and she finally got it! It was so very cute!!!

Polo

Who knew they played Polo in SE Tennessee? In fact they play just not too far from our house. Doreen and her folks went out a couple weeks ago to watch a game.







They had a lot of fun watching the horses and players hit that ball around.








They had a lot of fun stomping the divots between breaks.










Here's Larry and Natalie stomping divots together!

What an awesome experience for them!

Time Together!

Well, Doreen and I finally had some time together today. The first time in about 2 1/2 weeks. We've all been so busy lately and then I was sick last week, so I was avoiding family trying not to get 'em sick.

So, I was home today - Doreen was home today - so we made the best of it. We worked on a brochure for her class, then a flyer trying to drum up some patients. Then she made some yummy pizza and salads for lunch.

She did some more studying and I did some things I had to catch up on. Then she asked for some help. We spent about 45 minutes with me quizzing her on her study guides for a test she's got coming up tomorrow. I intended to put some of the terminology in this post - but the papers are upstairs and I'm downstairs and too lazy to go up and get them! :)

We took some time afte the kids got home to try and teach Natalie how to ride a bike - and I guess she came a close - soon we hope!

Then I got to go play some racquetball. Fun fun fun!

Turned out to be a really good day!

Diagnosis

Called my Dr's office this AM. Tired of feeling bad.

Got the answering service of course, and left a message for the Dr. on call.

He called me back 20 minutes later. Told him my symptoms.

He told me I had had a viral infection with the nice side effect of vertigo. It should go away soon and if not then their is a medication I can take and to see my Dr.

Wheew. Glad to know that - can't wait for it to go away permanently!

Helps to know what's going on though!

God's Country

My sis passed this on to me. Enjoy

A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco and started working east from there. Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and making notes. He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with a sign, which read 'Calls: $10,000 a minute...' Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The pastor answered that this golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to heaven and if he pays the price he can talk directly to GOD. The man thanked the pastor and continued on his way. As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, Dallas, Fargo, Chicago, Milwaukee, and around the United States, he found more phones, with the same sign, and the same answer from each pastor.

Finally, he arrived in Colorado, upon entering a church in Montrose, Colorado behold - he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read, 'Calls: 35 cents.'

Fascinated, he asked to talk to the pastor, 'Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to GOD, but in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads only 35 cents a call. Why?'

The pastor, smiling benignly, replied, 'Son, you're in Colorado now - You're in God's Country; it's a local call.'


I thoroughly enjoy where I'm living but... :)

Got a Good Grip

On the front page of Doreen's DH school's website is this photo, just put up there today.

This is the hands of my precious wife!

She was doing some work and an instructor came over to watch for a moment and said, I've gotta take a picture of your hands. Your grip - on the scrapy thingy (highly technical dental tool term provided by me. LOL) - is perfect, not to tight, not to loose - perfect!

Yup, that's my girl! :) Doing her best and doing it right like she usually does!

I'm so proud of her the way she juggles all she's got going right now. Especially with me gone from home a couple days a week.

Anyway, just wanted to share that with y'all!

I'm SICK of being sick!!!

At the end of my last trip on Tuesday, I am typically in the bunk and will grab about 3 hours of sleep, after being up all night and working all morning. That way I'll be able to sleep, in my own bed, Tuesday night.

Well, this last week, I got NO sleep. I couldn't get comfortable. My head ached, my back ached and I just ached everywhere. I couldn't figure out why. Then a quarter of the way home, I started getting hot and cold chills and couldn't get comfortable. One moment, I was too hot, the next shivering because I was cold.

Ahhh - I'm sick! DRAT! *&&%#@@$%*(*&!!!!

Sure enough, temps between 99 and 101.7. Achy all over and almost light-headedness when I get up to do almost anything.

For the last 3 days, I've been laying around the house doing nothing, sleeping, watching TV and that's it. I feel so useless and like I've wasted 3 good days off. I have, but Doreen so logically points out that "at least you haven't had to be at work and I didn't have a test to study for so I could pick up the slack." That is so true, but still my mind doesn't want to accept that argument! Maybe because It's been overheated with my fever and not accepting simple logic! He, he, he!

Anyway, I've also spent the last 3 days avoiding my famliy as much as possible because Doreen cannot afford to be sick this semester with all she has to do and learn and of course she can't stay home to take a care of a sick kiddo either, so I'm praying that I'm the only one who gets this mess!

Well, we'll just wait to see if I get this out of my system before I have to leave for PA tomorrow night, cuz if I still feel light headed after being up for only 5 min, then taking a trip in a big truck is NOT a smart move! :)

Oh well, (Boy I wish I were he, he, he) have a good weekend y'all!

Bathtubs, Apple Pies, Light Bulbs & Batteries

It has been a full day! It's been a tiring one too.

My latest trip, an extra trip, wore me out because the guy I was running with, is a lazy good for nothing complainer.

For starters, he's a smoker and so you know what that means! Oy vai! At one point he sat up in the passenger's seat and smoked half a pack in two hours. That means I smoked at least a quarter of a pack!

Plus, he complained constantly about our job - Dude, if you hate it that much, QUIT! Go do something else. Not to mention he flat out lies to me and says it's 9 hours of driving to our 1st drop. It was only 400 miles, even at 60 mph that's 7 hours - and we could do 70 mph most of the way. (He was wanting it to seem longer so he could get more of a nap in the bunk - man, if you wanna sleep, just say so - don't treat me like an ignorant moron!)

On top of all that, the way we ran the trip, I did most all of the driving and many of the extras. That one wore me out.

So today, the girls had school and Doren had an exam plus "Rad Lab" responsibilities. That left me at home, with plenty to do.

I dropped the kids off at school and cleaned our bath-tub. Amazing that something people get into to get clean needs to be cleaned. We'd let it go for a while, so I was able to fix that today!

Then I did a couple of things on the computer for the parenting course we have coming up tomorrow and then went upstairs and made the crust for an apple pie. Yummy!

My mom already made the filling for us, so I whipped up the crust and filled it then threw it in the oven. LOVE that smell!

After that I ate lunch and worked on the tail-lights of our car. I'd noticed recently that some bulbs had gone out, and I'd just procrastinated on replacing them. So I did that.

While I was doing that the car made a funny clicking noise as I was testing the new bulbs to make sure all was correct. I went to start it up - NOTHING. The battery was dead.

Then I got our little battery charger out and tested it - yup, dead as a doornail. So I charged it enough to go get a new one and pick the kids up from school and swapped that out. I figured that since I'm gone on trips and Doreen's gotta get to school and tardies aren't an option and we gotta drive the kids school carpool regularly to bite the bullet and just replace the battery. With that and the fact the old battery had been installed in Jan of 02, well - it was time.

Wheew that was a full day!

Then we went over to some good friends of ours for supper and to talk about our upcoming Sabbath School campout and make some plans for that - well that just made for a full day!

Gonna sign off now - have a great weekend!

School Photos 2008

Here are my precious girls and their school phtos from this year.


Joelle


















Natalie

Extra Holes in Joelle's Head

Monday evening we put the kids to bed, then I lay down for a little bit before heading to the work to drive to Missouri, all night long.

5 mintues later we hear a yell, "I got it out. Aaaahhhhhh, I got it out."

Joelle came bursting through our bedroom door with some kleenex in her mouth and a little white thing in her hands. She had finally worked a loose tooth enough to come out.

Well - then yesterday - she took a drink at lunch-time from her waterbottle and knocked her other front tooth and it was pretty loose. She had it out by the evening.

Two teeth in two days. Hope she doesn't keep this pace up cuz she'll break the tooth-fairy's bank! :) LOL! Teeth are worth a lot more today than when I was loosing them! :)

My little girl is growing up!

Oh yeah - isn't Natalie cute giving her sister rabbit ears? Tee he, he, he!

Overwhelmed?

Our church is once again having a parenting seminar this school year. They asked me to head it up again. Last year we had maybe 20 people signed up and 14 to 18 show regularly.

This year we have 29 families signed up, and we're having a group take care of the kids while the parents are in the meeting. We've got the potential of almost 50 kids showing. Oh my word!

I've been scrambling trying to find the extra help to try and keep all these kiddos in line. Wow!

Pray for us! :)

Sabbath School Social

This past weekend, our Sabbath School class had a biking social. We got together and went biking, then over to the campsite of one of our classmates and had some great time to fellowship and roast some weenies for supper! Yummy!











Their is a 4.5 mile loop around Harrison bay that is fun to bike. It's smooth in places, flat in others, extremely bumpy in some and it has a couple of steep climbs. What a great way to spend a Sabbath afternoon.












Natalie followed me around the loop on her 'trail-a-bike.' But after we got back, Joelle wanted a ride - so we went around the parking lot a bit. Fun fun!

Plumbers Part 2

SUCCESS!!!

Had to get one final piece yesterday afternoon to completely finish the project.

Got it all done and all functional.

We now have an additional water faucet at the back of our house and we have water to our refrigerator for the in-door filtered water and ice maker!

I love it when a plan comes together! :)

My Family - Through the Years

Here's some family portaits of me, my folks and sisters through the years.

Here we are in 1974. I'm 4 and my sisters are 1. Not gonna get in trouble by telling my folks age! :)















Jump forward to 1978 when we're visiting family in Maryland. I'm 8, the girls are 5.

















Run the clock forward 5 years and you've got me at 18, my sisters and 15 and my dad hiding! :)
















Then, just this last summer we grabbed another photo of the 5 of us visiting Mesa Verde.

Plumbers

We've lived in this house for almost 3 years and haven't had a spiget out back. We've had to run a hose from the front around to the back to water our plants. What a pain. Then we haven't had any water to our refrigerator for the ice-maker. Well, my father-in-law volunteered to help me do some plumbing to fix these two problems. My mother-in-law got in on this part in running the water line for the refer.









I'm busting a hole in our concrete blocks to run the outside faucet through.















Larry's gluing our series of pipes together. Awesome!

Don't have it quite finished yet, but I have to buy one other piece and get a pipe cut and re-threaded to get it all done. Their's always something! :)

THANKS Larry & Sandra!

A Few of My Favorite Things... from the Past

1974, still living in Englewood, CO where I became a Bronco fan. Yup, this is the first football shirt I owned and it is orange & blue - Um Bronco colors! :)







When we moved back to Colorado in 1983, my folks bought me a Hodaka 100cc dirtbike. I liked the bike, but it was a bit big and we had a hard time finding parts for it. So I sold it and bought a 80cc Honda. I rode this dirtbike like crazy for hours! Loved it! Still have a scar on my leg from it when I disobeyed my folks and rode it with shorts. Taught one of my sisters how to shift a vehicle by riding the bike with them.

Dad & Papaw

Me and my dad at the Denver Airport in 1972 getting a kick out of watching planes take off and land.














1971, me and my Papaw!

Gustav has Left the Building

So, on my trip, I got to S. Mississippi. On the way down I only had a section of about 10 minutes of rain - that was it!

It was extremely HUMID there and their was lots of water on the ground. Other than the canvas being blown off most all the billboards - that was the only signs that a hurricane passed by.

Boy - was I thankful! :)

A Stroll Down Memory Lane Pt 3

Here I am at one years old.



















Love this pic. It was Halloween 1972. My mom dressed me up in my dad's old military garb. Plenty big to keep me warm as we wandered around Denver's street at night beggin' for candy. Got 2 bags full as I remember. Yummy!














Here I am in 1971 in a little Zoot Suit. Kinda look like a tiny mobster if you ask me.















Early 1971, I found a perfect place to hide. Course I got "carried away!" Waa ha, ha, ha!















Of course I attribute many of my mental problems to this exact moment in time - my mom put me in a dress. Ayi, aye aye! It was her dress when she was a little girl and wasn't sure if she'd ever have a little girl, so just for laughs I guess put me in it and then of all things took a picture, saving the embarassment for me for years to come! :)

A Stroll Down Memory Lane Pt 2

Here's little 'ole me not old at all.

Aaawwwwww.

Circa 1970

An Appointment with Hurricane Gustav

So I have an appointment to visit the left-overs of Hurricane Gustav tonight. My co-driver had to change our second trip this week. So instead of going to central Illinois, we have to go to Gulfport, Mississippi. Just checked weather.com and it still looks like it's raining cats, dogs and a couple of SUV's down there. I'm thinking we're gonna get wet as we unload America's number one snack cake for distributors there.

Just hoping we can get to all the drops with little or no problems with obstructions over the road or flooding or what-have-you.

Guess we'll see. I'll let ya know how it went when I get home!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane Pt 1

Just went through a bunch of pictures from years gone by from my folks. I scanned 'em all in and will be sharing some of them with you.

Aug 1964 - without this event, their would be no me, no Joelle & Natalie, so here are my folks on their wedding day!

They just celebrated another anniversary last week. Congrats mom and dad! You guys are a great role model for our family.

Piano Lesson

Natalie has been asking her Papa to give her piano lessons. On occassion, when we're over there he'll teach her a thing or two.

It is extremely precious.

Sabbath, at church, one of the youth got up front and made a request for people to put their talents out there a perform special music for church. So Natalie turns to me and says, "I'm going to get Papa to teach me a song so I can play special music."

Aaawwwww!

So we're looking for a 'keyboard' to get her for Christmas to get her started on lessons. If she wants to learn - then now's the time to get her going!!!

On the same vein, we've got some friends visitng in the area, who used to be Doreen's band teacher. We took Joelle and her trumpet, she got from Poppie, over to him to check it out and give her a little lesson. He mentioned that trumpet she had was not a good one for a beginner - so were gonna look for a cornet that would be easier for her to blow and hold up properly. I guess she's got excellent ambishure (sp?) to play a horn - so that's extremely encouraging, since she really wants to.

My precious little girlies!

How much have you changed in eight years?

8 years ago.....2000


1) How old were you? 30

2) Where did you go to school? OUT! (Graduated from Southwestern 7 years previous)

3) Where did you work? LifeTalk Radio

4) Where did you live? Just moved to Vonore, TN

5) Where did you hang out? Church

6) Did you wear contacts? Glasses

8) How many tattoos did you have? 0

9) How many piercings did you have? 0

10) What car did you drive? 1981 Ford Crown Victoria

11) Had you been to a real party? Yes

12) Had you had your heart broken? No

13) Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorce? Married (for 7 years)


***4 YEARS AGO (2004)***


1) How old were you? 34

2) Where did you go to school? Out

3) Where did you work? LifeTalk

4) Where did you live? Madisonville, TN

5) Where did you hang out? Home

6) Did you wear glasses? No - had lasik in '01

8) How many tattoos did you have? 0

9) How many piercings did you have? 0

10) What car did you drive? Pontiac Grand Am

11) Had your heart broken? Nope

12) Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorce? Married

13) Any Kids? 2


****TODAY (2008)****


1) How old are you? 38

2) Where do you work? McKee Foods

3) Where do you live? Ooltewah, TN

4) Do you wear glasses? No

5) Who is/are your closest friend(s)? Tracy A & Derrick B

6) Do u talk to your old friends? Occassional E-mails mostly

7) How many piercings do you have? 0

8) How many tattoos? 0

9) What kind of car do you have? Pontiac Grand Am & Ford Ranger

10) Has your heart been broken? Nope!

11) Single/taken/married/divorced/Engaged? Very Happily Married

12) How many kids do you have? 2 (And that's all we're gonna have!)