Job Update

Damon survived the first round of lay offs. So as of right now he still has a job. They keep moving the date around as to when they are going to shut the whole place down, so we don't know when his last day will be. I'm so thankful he still has it. At least it gives us a little more time to prepare.

A Life Change

I couldn't ever imagine it happening but it is. My husband is losing his job. He's been with the company for almost 20 years. I just have always thought that it would be the place he would retire from. We've talked a lot about what we're going to do & it seems we have a pretty good plan but who know if it will work out as well as it sounds. I feel quite helpless with not being back to 100% yet & not able to work. I know that God is in control & that He will work all things out for us. It's still just a little scary looking at the bills & knowing that soon we won't have an income.

Has it been THAT long???

It has been THAT long, let's see if I remember how to do this.

Hi again to everyone in bloggerland. Thank you all for your prayers. I certainly did & still do need them.

God truly has heard my prayers & I'm so thankful for what He has done for me. I'm not by any means back 100%, I'm afraid that's going to be a long road to haul for me, but I know God will be by my side, helping me along.

I don't want to go on & on about what's happened in the last 4 month (that would bore anyone to tears). I will just let you all know that I'm doing better on walking. I was on crutches for awhile. My goal was to be able to walk with just a cane by February. I was able to do that, so now I need to get stronger so I can ditch the cane. My strength is next to nothing. It's depressing when I have to ask my 10 year old to open something for me. While I was down my body just ate up all of my muscle so I need to reclaim that!! I've been going to the gym & trying to work out on a few machines. Whew, it really knocks me back too!!! It will get better I know. I've lost about 50 pounds (not a diet I would recommend).

Well that kinda gets you all updated. I do want to thank you all again for your prayers. It's good to be back & hopefully I can get back into a "normal" life again.

Riding the Greenbelt

This summer we have been taking our bikes to Boise to ride the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt is a walking/jogging/biking path that winds it's way across Boise. It goes under major roads in Boise & has bridges that cross over the Boise River. It runs along the river, in some areas on both sides. You can ride the Greenbelt from some of the city's major parks, through a beautiful golf course, & all the way out to Lucky Peak DamThis was taken at the golf course. This is one of the places we stop for water breaks. The first time we took the boys there this year, Casey had a terrible time keeping up with us. His bike was just a one speed bike. We found a great deal on a smaller mountain bike for him & now we have to constantly tell him to stop following us so close.

This bridge is by the golf course.

The boys just can't resist checking out the water each time we go. On a hot day it's nice to jump in after a long bike ride.

This bridge looks & sounds like it could fall apart any minute. David wasn't fond of the idea of going back over it then riding slowly towards me so I could get this picture.

This is under one the major roads that goes through Boise. When it gets hot out, it's nice to take a break under one of these bridges by the river.

Here's a peaceful place that we stopped for our picnic lunch.

This particular day we rode on part of the Greenbelt that we don't usually go on. I'm not very fond of that part of the path because it doesn't have all of the trees for shade & you're not by the water very much. But there was a reason we took it. We had heard that there was a elk living out in the area. So we set out to find him. And we did.

He was only about a 100 yards off of the trail. He lives out here with a small herd of cattle. That's one of the white face bulls behind him. He's a 5 by 6 point elk. It was awesome to see him.

Coffee

So, I've noticed that on some of the sister's blogs they have the "I love coffee" blinkies. I've been curious to know what kind of coffee is everyone enjoying in the morning?

Here, coffee is golden.



About a year ago we bought this espresso maker after figuring out what we were spending on coffee almost every day.








I like black coffee. Then there's times I like my extra special coffee. Steamed chocolate milk, a shot of espresso, & English toffee & Carmel for flavoring. My hubby likes white milk steamed with a double shot espresso & English toffee.







So, tell me, what's your java of choice??

The BIG 1-0

My little boy is growing so fast. A few weeks back Casey turned 10. Yep he finally reached the double digits. We wanted to do something fun for his big day so we invited a few cousins, a couple of neighbor kids & the entire football team!! What was I thinking??? It really wasn't that bad, we all had a good time.

We have a huge yard so the boys strapped on some flags & went back to their roots & played some flag football. They wanted to play tackle but I was the party pooper & said no.

We also rented one of these monstrosities. A jump house with a slide. It really was a lot of fun. We got to keep it over the entire weekend.

This is what it's suppose to look like.

But when the fun got started this is what it would look like this. Hmmm. Maybe there were one or two adults too many????
What a ham!!! Happy Birthday Casey. We love you!!!!

Internet troubles

What a week it's been for me & my computer. Last week it started having problems signing onto the Internet. I called tech support. They had me do this & that, & still nothing worked. So they had me call a different tech support. They tried that & this, & still nothing. I made about 10 phone calls & each time I was on the phone for about an hour with the exception with 2 of the calls that took about 2 hours each. Finally yesterday a guy at one of the tech support places knew what to do. If I could have crawled through the phone I would have given the guy a huge hug. I felt so cut off from the world. The computer seemed worthless to me since I couldn't "go anywhere" on it. But, it's up & running now. Thank you Dell tech support!!

Memorial Day Drive

On memorial day we took a drive to Damon's parents place. They live (or used to) in a small town north of here about 150 miles or so. Some of the drive there is beautiful, as you can see.

Between both of the boys, the dog didn't have a chance to hang his head out of the window.

This is one of the views from their place. They also built this deck secluded in some trees. I used to love just sitting there & enjoying the sounds of nature.

We roasted a lot of hot dogs & marshmallows in this fire pit. They built this place in the mid-80's to be a vacation home. It then turned into their retirement home. Then it became to be too much for them to maintain. They sold it last year & are now moving out. We went up there to pick up a trailer & to haul a few things to their new place. But there was one more thing to do before we left . . . hit some golf balls.

It's strange I know but it's something they started doing several years ago. They hit golf balls that aren't any good to golf with into a ravine. Some traditions are weird but they enjoy it so it was one last hit before we left.

Yard sale success

Yes the yard sale was a success. I made almost $400.00. Which is exactly what we have left to pay on a bill that we need to pay off.

Earlier this month I wanted to take my Durango in to have everything looked at. We knew there was a transmission leak. Anyway, with the trany fix & a few other little things it added up to over $800.00. We know the GM of the place we take our vehicles to & he is so nice to let us stretch bills out that are high like that. So I paid a little over half at the time & now need to finish paying it.

So now I get to clean up. YUK. I've already taken 6 very full boxed to the goodwill but there is still so much more to go. Not only is this some of my stuff, some of it is from my grandparents, some from my parents & some of it is from my step dads parents. It's a lot of stuff!!! There are a few items that are vintage that I may try to sell on ebay. So I guess I should quit stalling & get to work. It's not going to jump into those boxed by itself.

School is OUT!!!

I am so glad that school is done. I have been looking forward to it for a couple of months now. I'm looking forward to spending the summers with my boys. We haven't completely decided what all we are going to do this summer, but we have a few things in mind & Lord willing they will work out, & if they don't, eh that's ok too. We can just enjoy the days together.

I've been working feverishly these last couple of weeks to get ready for what is being said as my last garage sale EVER. I really don't like having them, but I do have a lot of stuff that I know I'm not ever going to use. When we cleaned out my grandparents house there was a lot of things I took because I thought I just had to have it to remember them by. I've come to realize that it's not the stuff that helps me remember them. So as I go through all of these boxes I'm trying to use my head, not my heart. Wow have I got a stock pile going!! I do hope it's a success.