~i think this is the cutest fight i've ever seen~(i mean not that fights are cute but...)

(i love how the moms are in the other room just talking like nothings going on) :)

~letter from my japanese friend at work stating he's going to be on vacation~

thought this was the cutest i'm-going-on-vacation-email ever!

"Hello all,

We are going to leave on the 25th afternoon from Ogallala for our summer vacation. \ (^o^) /　Wow!

We will return to Ogallala July 11th.

Japanese young people write this in their e-mails, when they are happy!

You have a nice summer vacation, too! \ (^o^) /　Wow!

See you next month!"

they left a little early since traveling back to japan. my vacation starts in a day and a half.

WOW!
(even though i still have lots with moving going on so i'll still be working. if you know what i mean.)

~the kids and i are hooked~

on america's got talent show. some are good. some scary. some hilarious like this guy. he had me laughing the whole time. Howie was right that they'd be doing this dance everywhere and selling shirts. my kids were doing the dance over and over last night and requesting shirts.

~as for me and my house we will serve the Lord!~

otis spending time with God!

~a wonderful read~

just finishing a wonderful book. i love it. and think you will too. Sophie's heart  is a book that is hard to put down. (at least it was for me) this is my first book i've read written by lori wick but it makes me wonder what other good books she has written that i'm missing. on a mission to find something new to read now. (if i can fit it into my packing the house schedule)

~brady's acting debut at camp this week.....~

~weekend preview~

pretty excited about the weekend.....

this week was long for me. way too LOOONNNGG!

 chuck will be done with his 2 week guard drill tomorrow. i will be leaving tomorrow morning to go retrieve my boy from church camp. he's been gone since monday and i haven't heard from him since then

(yes he's in trouble for not calling home.)

 it will be interesting hearing about all the fun things they did.

we finished all the paper work/inspections/appraisals on the homes

(the one we are selling and the one we are buying)

that is exhausting.

so let the "real packing" begin.

we are to close on our current home august 1st and close on the one we will move to august 2nd.

boy am i looking forward to that day. to be finished and be able to put my feet up and breathe for a minute.

maybe make fresh baked something to smell up our new house with goodness.

Happy Weekend! 

~at 5 months old we learned......

that licking one of these is not a good idea.

or you will have extreme foaming of the mouth.

~i stop at starbuck. usually for a drink but sometimes a scone!!~

i don't live by a starbucks. YET! but within a month or so i will have one in my home town.

this excites me.

i usually just purchase a drink when i'm there but if i happen to see they have

pumpkin scones....i buy one! or two...so i can have one later.

they are so good.

i found the recipe for them here and think i should make them sometime.

i think you should make them sometime too.

and maybe invite me over.

~bittersweet~

my baby left for camp today.

 he will be gone until saturday. (5 days, but who's counting. actually i'm counting)

he left a 11:00 a.m. and missing him already. he was really, really, excited to go!
and i'm feeling a little bittersweet about sending him.

P.S. you'll have to excuse the snow man decor behind brady and the boxes. we are still in packing mode.

~happy father's day~

watched this video this morning and thought it was perfect for father's day.

i'm feeling bad because my husband is away this father's day sleeping in a cot under a tent in the wilderness (guess that's part of being a soldier) but we sure do plan to wish he a happy father's day and celebrate when he gets back saturday.

i was reading in my bible study last night

"song of songs implies that Christ will long to see the lovely face of His bride. His beloved. And He will not be disappointed. You will be a beautiful bride." Song of Songs 2:14

"being beautiful to Christ does not make me want to be less attractive for my husband."

"married woman with common frustrations: give your spouse room to be human. Forgive him for not being God. Forgive him for not always saying what you need to hear."

this is from beth moore's breaking free.

it was a good read for me last night. Too often I get frustrated with my husband for sometimes

 "petty reasons"

i need to stop and  remember he's NOT God he's human and he will disappoint.

and i will disappoint him in return.

anyway wanted to share this part of my bible study in hopes it would touch you like it did me.

Happy Father's Day, Men!

and to chuck you are an amazing husband, father, friend!!

~Sandbagging and photos of why it's needed...(photo credit to chad mentzer)

~office space~

our new home that we are looking seriously at has all white wall

(in every room)

it will need some color in some areas.

one of the rooms i'm excited to decorate is the office or computer room

found these lovely ideas for office space.

LOVE THE WALLS AND WOOD FLOOR

I LOVE THIS DESK!!!!

GOES REALLY WELL WITH THE WALLS IN THE PICTURE.

traditional home office design by vancouver general contractor Capstone Dwellings, Design-Build

THIS ONES CUTE ALL AROUND!

~he has learned.....~

1. to unpack faster than i pack (he must not be a fan of the move) i put some in the box and he takes some out. trust me he's a hard one to catch too. he makes me look silly chasing him around the house trying to grab the bubble wrap.
2. that when we go to the bank the nice lady at the window will give him a dog bone with my receipt. so he comes over in my lap when i'm driving to make sure she knows he's in there. smart for 5 months
3. to set his own alarm for 5:30 am every morning. not sure how he does it but this IS the time he rises in the morning. way to early on a saturday and sunday, but for the rest of the week i have to be up anyway.
4. to carry his drinking bowl to us when he wants it filled or carrying it when he wants to empty it.
5. when we get ice water from the frig we usually lose a piece of ice on the kitchen floor so he will come running to grab it. HE LOVES ICE CUBES.
6. how to chase birds. he hasn't caught one but tries his best.
7. that when i get my sneakers on we are going on a walk (ex specially when i grab the leash. he goes crazy)
8. he has learned to get away with a lot just because of his eyes. and of course being too cute.

~more....(from the 8th grade trip to washington, dc and kids)

 notice how my princess is the only one laying down. probably because she wasn't listening AGAIN! or maybe it was from lack of exercise she's not use to all the walking they did.or just maybe it was from the heat. on their trip it was in the 90's most days and very humid.

way more humid then she was used too.

 i warned her to drink plenty of fluids.(as in water, not soda)

to which she said her famous line "i know, MOM"(of course always with more attitude then i like)

but hey we are working through these teenage years.

 (one glass of wine at a time, for me at least)

they were not a kidding when they said teenagers are hard to raise, ex specially the princesses!

don't get me wrong brooke is a good kid A GREAT KID. and for the most part respects her teachers and adults but has had trouble in school with staying focused and not chatting to her BFF's

(once i was called in by a teacher who wanted to put brooke on the drug for staying focused to which i said absolutely not!)  she was in first grade. and to tell you the truth if my daughter wasn't showing signs of having TOO MUCH energy at that age then i would be worried.

i'm so glad as her mother, i stuck up for her!

i'm just going to say it, i think we are Over-Prescribing ADHD Drugs!

it's been on my mind a lot and it worries me.

feel free to give you options on it as well, but am i alone in this??

the whole gang!

wouldn’t you know it~

 only a couple days of chuck being gone and a flat tire.

always something happens when he leaves that i need him around to help with.

i guess after talking to him last night i shouldn't feel sorry for myself

he was up late putting tents and cots up in the hail and rain in South Dakota to sleep in.

and already having a hectic day. not to mention he step in a fresh patch of buffalo poop:)

so he's already having a eventful drill.

Happy Monday! ( huge sigh., really monday)

p.s. otis is missing him too.

another cute note:

we were driving home from church and i asked brooke if she wanted to go "practice" driving on the dirt roads
. she says "sure"
 brady says "i'm dead. i might as well jump out of the car now"

so thankful God gave me a son with a sense of humor.

~dad's day~

while chuck is out of town the kids and i well mainly me are hunting for ideas.

he won't be home this father's day.

but when he arrives i want the kids ready with something.

found this cute idea here.

the weekend thus far......

1. chuck leaves today for 2 weeks. duty calls.
2. it's just me and otis today and i'm failing to keep him entertained. (he's not a fan of packing nor a fan of the kids spending the night with their friends.) complete boredom has set in.
3. what i've packed so far this morning and still so much more to do. (big sigh)
4. otis watching chuck finish some last minute honey dos (i mean last minute) before he leaves us for few weeks.

~in cherry red~

last week when my mom was here and brooke was headed to DC for the week, my dryer went out.

(who says they last 20 something years, my mom had one that long but seems like they don't last long anymore)

i had tons of laundry and no dryer.

we also were showing the house that week so it made it stressful not to be able to finish laundry that was lying around. good thing we have lots of hampers with lids to hide the mess.

the following week we had to take my mom back and pick up my daughter so we decided to go to home depot. when we finally pick out the dryer we wanted (2hours later) the guy told us it would be in on friday(a week later) chuck and i was like what?? we can't make a trip back to denver to pick it up. ex specially since we've been there the past two weekends in a row. and ex specially since my husband is leaving on Saturday for two weeks. we were angry. what happened to going in and picking what you like and taking it home the same day. well they don't carry inventory. our closest home depot is 2 hours away since we live in the middle of no where, which they said they could have it shipped there. still didn't help us.

the next day before leaving denver i told chuck lets try this other home depot before we leave, just in case.

we walked in and asked the guy if they carried this washer and dryer(because we decided to get both a washer and dryer now) he said they didn't carry it but could order it.

WE WERE MAD AGAIN.

we started to leave and we were almost out the door when the guy said i think we have one set that came in my mistake back there and you can have it if you'd like. we decided to take a look.

he showed us on the showroom floor "it's this one in the cherry red."

IT WAS THE EXACT ONE WE WANTED!

~an offer~

well the good news is we received an offer on our home. and after the first showing!!

we've had several calls, but just one looker. sometimes that is all it takes.

anyway the bad news is here we I go packing up the house again one more time(with fingers crossed)

we bought the house we are in only a year ago, and then my hubby surprised me by starting his new company
so here we are a year later moving again.
i guess i shouldn't complain to much since in the 15 years we've been married,we are currently in our second home. (soon to be third) i was 19 when we bought our first one that we sold last year.
so in the coming weeks we will be house hunting and packing, quickly.


P.S. my mom emailed be today with great news.  the last looker at her house (for sale in Maine) is interested in hers too. so maybe she will be headed west in few months closer to us and her grandchildren.

~she did it!~

destiny rae therrien.

my niece's graduation was beautiful. the day. the friends. family. the food. the speakers. the song choice by the choir (which was so, so perfect) they sang amazing grace. at a school! in public! with

NO APOLOGIES!

i find in odd that we have freedom of speech but yet not if your speech is about prayer or God.

After all we should be able to WITHOUT APOLOGY, THANK GOD!  

it is through Him all things are possible. even in school.

so happy and proud of destiny for all she has accomplished so far.

~love this guy!!!! (and my husbands OK with it)

if ever given the chance to attend a marriage seminar by MARK GUNGOR
i'd say do it. DO IT! DO IT!
he helps marriages
(and every marriage needs help. i don't care who you are. at one point or another it will need some attention)
he helps it with humor and with truth about situations that you WILL and can relate too.
it's so funny. lol funny(my daughter says old people shouldn't use LOL). hubby's belly rolling funny. crying together funny. knee slapping funny. your face will be stiff from smiling funny.
the husband and i first saw him with the national guards marriage enrichment class we attended here

huge pat on the back for the national guards and these classes they travel to provide
it's hard to adjust to life with you husband leaving for 15 months than coming home then leaving again for awhile than coming home all over again. you have to suck it up and be strong for the whole family
and lots of days i failed to be strong. and would show my tears.

P.S. if you're not interested in going to a seminar than order the video's by clicking on his name above
we came back and ordered some videos. have watched with other married couples and had a ball.

~SUMMER....oVeR 90 DeGrEeS hErE tOdAY.

 reasons to love summer

• no school. by the pool
• bare foot. flip flops
• lemonade,in the shade
• blue skies. hot sun.
• bathing suits. shooting hoops
• sleepovers. amazing friends
• good food. BARBECUED
• family comes. lake fun.

today we are feeling the first REAL heat of summer.

she back...(a little cranky)

we picked brooke up in denver late friday night and boy did she need sleep!

CRANKY!

on the ride home she started improving her attitude and began talking more about her trip.

excuse the large amount of pictures, but here are a few of what she captured while away.

~brady's point of view...



brooke and brady couple years back sharing pillow on one of our road trips



.

i asked brady this am if he was excited to go pick up his sister with me at the airport today

he said:

"yeah, i'm going to beat her up"

then said

"no, i'm going to put her back on the plane to go back to DC"

p.s. brady really does love his sister and is SO excited, but being the kid brother he can't let it be shown

my point of view on picking her up today.....

I'M ECSTATIC!!

~our first showing~

we had our first showing yesterday. i believe it went well. so keep your fingers crossed.

if it sells then we need to start SERIOUSLY looking for a new home

we've been looking but not to seriously until we started seeing action on ours.

our goal is to make the move this summer so the kids can start fresh at a new school.

(mixed feelings about the move, new schools, new church, new location)

~i noticed....

my dad 1967

monday may 30th (memorial day) was a year that my dad has been gone. it's hard to believe he's been gone a year. this weekend on the year anniversary of his death i was reminded of him over and over again.

(thank God, my mom was with family when this day came around)

anyway monday morning we woke at the hotel in denver and was headed out to the car to start our day, when i heard music playing in the hotel parking lot.

first thing you don't usually hear music being played in the parking lot of a hotel

second thing the music wasn't just any music it was my dad's favorite band

THE EAGLES!

i noticed him then with me. looking down on us. his family.

that night we decided to eat at old chicago

when we went in the restaurant i noticed music playing. music i was unfamiliar with.

but when we sat down to open our menu it changed.

ANOTHER EAGLES SONG!

i didn't say a word, but I NOTICED.

my mom never said a word either, but SHE NOTICED.

i think we both knew if we said a word about the music choices that changed at the right moments

we would of been in tears. so we noticed quietly in our hearts. we noticed him there.

my mom and i talked about it the NEXT DAY because the next day WE COULD.

the day of we would've only been able to talk through tears. so we stayed silent and noticed.