Crazy-Busy-Happy-Life

Okay here is an update so that my two boys will know what is going on, sorry guys I've been a bit busy.

The 1st picture below is of Grammy's last harvest of carrots from her garden. She had Zuccini, cucumber, pole beans, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes etc. plus the back fence is covered in two types of grapes. Needles to say she has been busy freezing, canning and drying all that she can. The picture below only shows what was left of the carrot harvest. I wonder what it will be like when the fruit trees start producing in two years.

What's up Doc! Thanks Grammy!

The next picture is of Leo helping Grammy nail the bottom panels on the new 10x10 shed I built. I had some great helpers, Chance, Triniti, Leo, Sara, Martha and Grammy assisted at various times but in the end it was about 80% me and 20% a great family supporting an old guy. Truth be told the ladies were worried I'd kill myself or something. Leo loved to hammer and hammer and hammer.

Leo the Tool Guy!

The shed still needs a coat of paint and trim done but it will survive the weather now.

Now, I also started a shed (Covering) for the meat factory. Yep, Grammy wanted me to protect the Rabbits so I'm enclosing the existing framework and extending the roof. It will be painted a light blue/green (per Grammy) and have white plastic lattice for a fashion touch. I've been delayed on this project due to weather, a 10x10 shed, the demo of a garage and house painting in Casper and oh yes - "Work". Luckily I'm not on a time schedule here or else I'd get fired. The picture below shows what I've done and how much I have to go.



Now that Heather, Nathan and kiddo's are here let's say it's BUSY around here. I told her and everyone else it's like having 5 kids again but this time they are my grandkids and Grammy and I have 4 other adults to help us out. Oh I almost forgot the three dogs!

I love these two boys expressions. Heather and the boys were making family home evening treats and what do we get? Two totally opposite expressions! If only adults were like this at work I'd know from a distance who I would want to work with today. Gotta love kids! Expecially when they are your grandkids.

Then suddenly the curious one shows up! "Hey when do I get to try this?"

Utah to Texas to see Little Roger and family!

Ok, I know I could bore you with stories and little tidbits about our trip to Texas, suffice it to say that we really enjoyed ourselves. Being a part of Little Roger's blessing was very special for me. He has a great Mom and Dad and Madison will make a amazing big sister!

Enjoy the photo's and the video's at the end!

Well one of us isn't happy! Where is MOM!

Little Roger is in good hands! Very happy Grammy!

Who is that handsome boy with those men! Wow, three Roger's!

Amazing!

Sleeping boy! Remember the days when you could sleep all day and still have someone feed you and change your diaper!

Little Rogers impression of "Dr. Evil". Too funny!

Can't resist this photo of Maddie!

Caption: "Yes, I'm cute so get over it folks!"

Little Roger upset! I think he is hungry!

Just so you know, he is a really good baby! This is the way he is most of the time!

Texas Trip

Ok, lots of pictures and captions!

Grammie and Little Roger

Sparks Family

Great Family picture!

" Papa let's go for a walk!" Look at those shoes!


Maddie's Butterfly and Winnie the Pooh!

1st week of Sept

Chance "Arrow of Light"

On Wednesday September 2nd Chance and two other boys were awarded their Webelos Badges and their Arrow of Light awards. These are the highest award each young man can earn in Cub Scouts. We are very proud of him especially his mom. Scouting is never easy, if it was everyone would get their Eagle Scout Award! Now he has started on the path to earn his Eagle! Chance loves camping and being in the woods! Amazing how they grow up so fast! Of course he is a "Good Looking kid!" Girls better watch out when he gets older.

Chance with his "Arrow of Light" plaque

Golden Spike

Ok, remember where the first two major Railroads met in Utah! History folks, History! It's where they drove the Golden and Silver Spikes to join the first ever continental railroad. It's about 50 minutes away and it's historical! So I decided to take the kids there on Labor Day! The name is Promontory Summit not Point. Promontory Point has been used in history books for years but they were wrong. The point is south of the summit which is way out in the boonies! Of course back then it was all out in the boonies! Apparently the surveyors of the two railroads actually passed each other by many miles before they figures out where each one was. All in all it was a bit of history that the Grandkids can now say they has seen with their own eyes.

Promontory Summit

Sara and Kids at Golden Spike!

At the Lake!

Sara and I discovered that just 20 minutes north of us is a reservoir/lake that is huge! On Google Earth it looks like part of the great Salt Lake until you zoom in. It's called Willard Bay and it's fed by water from the mountains or so I've been told. There were alot of boats and Wave Runner of all types. 3 beaches with lots of picnic areas. Granted the sand wasn't the finest (a bit rocky) but nice place to take the family and it's close by!

Posing? Now I know where the kids get it!

Interesting! Triniti says the cold water didn't bother her!

Triniti pictures

Here is a picture and video of Triniti at the Gateway Mall fountain the kids had a blast.

I tried different settings on the camera but this one was interesting! I think you can tell she was having fun!

It wasn't as dark as the video shows. Hard to take pictures or video at night without an expensive camera.

Grandson Chance

Well today is Chance's Birthday! We celebrated with him getting his Webelos Rank in Cub Scouts and his Arrow of Light this week. This makes him an Eleven year old scout. We want him to do well in scouts, (perhaps he can get his eagle faster than his Uncles) he loves to camp out. Or maybe I should say he likes to play out in the woods! So I thought I would show two videos of him. One he is playing in Logan with his Football team. This is his first year playing full contact football so he is learning a lot. I've seen a lot of progress in his motivation and willingness to push himself instead of being worried about what the other boys are doing. He is the wide receiver closest to the camera. He doesn't play alot as most of the other boys have been doing this for three years! That's okay he is in 6th grade this year and in Jr. High he will get the chance to do better than this year.

Then last Saturday night Grammy and I were downtown on a date when we went to the Gateway mall for a walk after dinner. We saw a lot of kids running through the fountain and so we called Sara and found out they were just south of downtown. We told her about the fountain and so she brought the kids. The fountain is fun to watch but with kids it was a lot better. I never had such a thing when I was growing up. The best I could hope for was a drive out to the river and swimming with the turtles and snakes.

Time

I find that between my busy schedule at work and the things that must be done at home I forget a lot of the time what I should be doing next. I had a Pres. meeting scheduled last night and I remembered yesterday at work that I had the meeting but by the time I got home and I got busy taking care of taking the pool down I forgot my meeting. How can I keep doing this, I don't know. Thank heaven for MS Outlook at work or else I'd be a real mess. I've taken to using my cell phones (Yes both of them) to put calendar items on them to remind me that I have things to do. Sad! One day I may forget how to get home sometime soon, sure that there is something else I was supposed to do and I'll drive around trying to find out where I'm supposed to be. Scary? I've already caught myself walking into a room knowing I'm supposed to do something but forgetting and them turn around confused wondering "What was I about to do!" or "Why did I come in here!"

Waiting!

Well, waiting for what? Roger Jr. is waiting for the birth of his Son, Little Roger! Alyssa was supposed to go in on Tuesday to be induced but they postponed it until Wednesday last week. Then after they arrived on Wednesday morning they were told that they had no "Beds at the Inn!" The hospital has so only so many beds for this kind of thing so now they are to go in tomorrow! Interestingly, he will be born on August 24th, I was born on June 24th! I'm getting all emotional already! Really! Whew! I can't wait to see that little boy! Sept 10th Gammy and I fly to Texas. Can't wait! Apparently neither can Maddie!

As for Heather and Nate! They are headed here for sure but they are WAITING for the details of the position, like how much will they will pay him etc! Hopefully next week they may hear something. It will be awesome to have them close to us. TJ and Lee are such fun little men! Mom and Dad are pretty cool too!

Grammy has to move to another Walmart store since with Martha as an AP person they finally figured out it could be a conflict of interest for both of them to be at the same store. So Grammy will transfer to another store, hopefully closer. Should know something soon! Yep - Waiting!

I still don't know if the San Diego job will happen or not. The HR system is so buggered up I can't tell if they ever received my application and all my supporting documents. I've talked to the HR Help desk but all they can tell me is "Yes, I believe we have all of your application", however the online dashboard I'm supposed to be able to see any progress is blank! I now have 4 work order #'s trying to get some resolution. Yes I'm waiting!

We are trying to sell one of the rentals, yep! Waiting! Not sure if congress will approve HB 2200 that effects my job in a direct way, did I say I'm waiting for that to happen? Oh they may even approve HB 1881 some day in the future as well. Okay, okay I won't say it!

All in all other than feeling sick for the last three days I'm fine! I am waiting to get over this cold, chest congestion or whatever you want to call it! Can I just say I am grateful I woke up this morning to see my beautiful wife asleep beside me! At least I'm not waiting for her!

I'm such a Lucky man!

Motorcycle Mama!

We were at Sam's club and saw a scooter and a custom motorcycle sitting on the way out. We looked and were amazed at how cheap the scooters were running. $750 to $1,700. Grammy has always talked about how she would like to have a scooter to run around on and save on Gas, etc! Well we left not thinking much else about it and on the way home we see this other scooter store and so we turned around and went in. They were selling a 250 for $2025 out the door and a 150 for $1250 out the door. Plus 1/2 off dealer prep if purchased by Monday. So Grammy says she would like to have it and she has saved enough money to buy one so I want her to be happy and say Yes! It gets 90 mpg and can get up to 50 - 55 mph tops. So no Interstate but around here driving back and forth to work and quick trips to the store for a couple of items it makes sense. Plus if we get the job in San Diego it would come in real handy! At first Grammy was worried about driving it home, so I drove it home. Now after getting her helmet on and driving around the neighborhood she loves it! It has a storage area under the seat and hold just 1 1/2 gallons of gas. There also is two small compartments under the console near where your knee's are. Now, why the impulse? She has always wanted one and if gas prices go back up over $4 a gallon as many experts say it will, this will come in handy. I know what about winter? Well there are many days where the weather is nice and there is no snow or ice. Anyway you should have seen the grin on her face as she came back in from riding it around the area. Wow! Happy Lady! She deserves it!

What can I say it fits her! I have added a back cargo trunk!

Slow Week

Not much is going on, except that Micah is here visiting from Wyoming. Him and Jon S. came up last night from Jon's house and took me to go see "G.I. JOE". It was okay with the CGI graphics and all. It seemed like they used some lines and scenes from Star Wars a bit, like "I'm breaking Up! Agghhhh! CRASH!", Did you know that you can put two Samuri Swords together end to end! Amazing! We got home at 1220 am. Grammy had come home from work so we visited for a few minutes. Well like I said Slow Week! But that's okay!