Grammy, Poppy, and Fair Oaks Dairy Farm

After seeing this on Youtube my parents insisted on driving up here in their motor home for the sole purpose of taking us there to see it in person. I guess it's the Texas in me, but I was definitely willing to go.


It's amazing the system they have going for milking the cows. You really do have to see it to get the full "wow" of it all.


The viewing of the cows giving birth was seriously painful. I guess I've never been a fan of any type of live birth viewing... Especially the part when they v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y eat their after birth.


Speaking of eating, the dairy stuff at the cafe was fantastic. Cheese, yogurt, ice cream, heaven.




Camping. Or at least that's what we called it. However, growing up the words camping and luxury motorhomes never went together. Just the same I was glad to have it when it's still hitting 35 degrees at night time, and the kids had a blast.

They even kind of enjoyed emptying the sewage tank.

Then Poppy took the kids fishing where they had to watch him rip apart a worm and shove it on a hook. Poor kids. Next time I think we'll go for the kind of bate that's not actually living and moving around.

We always love it when Gammy and Poppy come for a visit.

Molly's 8

Molly had her 8 closest girlfriends over to celebrate 8 great years. I would tell you it was a sleepover, but they didn't do much sleeping. Around 3:30am I finally had to shut off every source of light I possibly could to force their weary bodies into dreamland.



Molly wanted a colorful fun cake (cause she's a colorful fun girl) and I think this one delivered pretty well. 8 layers of rainbow goodness with vanilla custard between each layer.




Goody bags consisted of...
A journal
A pen
Stickers
Candy (concessions for the late night movie)
A big first letter of their name to decorate
A little glass bottle with cork to stuff some letters to self in... only to be opened in 5 years.



Most of the evening the girls hung out upstairs making videos (one of the girls brought her digital camera w/ video) and they were all pretty creative. I would know this since I was listening at the door for a period of time. I later had her friend let me upload her memory card to my computer before she left... that is why I am happy to be able to share this bit with you.
(Disclaimer: The farting sounds were made by a remote controlled speaker that was brought by one of the guests. If you are easily offended by sounds of flatulence then the following clip is not for you.)



Note to Molly,

It blows my mind how quickly you've grown, and I couldn't be prouder of the person you're growing into. You are a sweet, responsible, compassionate little girl who makes everyone around her feel good. You have an amazing innocence about you that allows you to be creative and funny without the distractions of the world to hold you back. You're an incredible artist, sister, daughter, and friend and the world just wouldn't be the same without you in it. You have a wonderful relationship with your Father in Heaven and through your example of spirituality we all are influenced for the better. I love you Molly.

Love, Mom

A Few Things

Just thought I'd get these things down so someday, far in the future, my children will be able to look back and see that I really did allow them to enjoy life.

Ice skating at the Cleveland Heights Community Center. They all started out on walkers, but got a little braver towards the end. I, however, was on a walker almost the whole time. Whatever happened to those days when I used to skate circles around the rink...




The annual building of the snowman/woman.




Dillon constructs a camp fire... at the local park.
Meanwhile Charlee and Jack chill in the tubes.

What are you doing this winter?

Making a blimp?



Or perhaps a submarine?

snowshoing

This was a first for us. Not exactly what I expected, but still fun and it was certainly effective in exhausting the kids.


Then afterwards... roasting hotdogs and marshmallows in my friends backyard. What, you don't do that in the snowy 30 degree weather too?


(Um, yea, that trampoline wasn't going anywhere. The kids were basically just jumping on a big slab of ice.)

Stripping Completed

You can go HERE to see it before.

So what do you think?

There's a lot of primer and paint left if anyone's interested.
However, I wouldn't recommend the stripping part (after many hours I ended up hiring my neighbor to finish the job with his sander, best money I ever spent).
Just paint over the old stuff.

The Guys

While we were in TX I got to hook up with some of my old friends. It always makes me feel young again to get together with these guys and reminisce the good times. Maybe it's because I'm the youngest one of the bunch, or maybe it's just that things were so much more care free and fun back then. I'm not saying I don't love my life now, I do, but do you ever wish you could have those crazy, all night, anything goes, and all kinds of things you would never anticipate end up happening kind of nights. I think that was one of the best things about having the majority of friends being guys, it just makes for more fun and less drama.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that some of them are now starting to settle down, get married, and even have kids. They have all turned out to be very successful, wonderful men and I like to think that maybe I had something to do with that... but probably not, I know they had a lot to do with how I turned out. So for those of you who couldn't be there, you were missed, and as for the rest of you, I look forward to the next time.


My best friend for a lot of years.

Now he has a wife and a brand new sweet baby boy.

Miss you guys.


I just had to post this picture that my friend PJ took of Dillon.

I love it!