Life is Good!

I have been looking for a shower curtain for my master bathroom for quite a while now. I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted and was just starting to realize that I was probably going to have to find the fabric and sew my own. But today while shopping with my sister, I found pretty much what I was looking for. The tag said 50 dollars. That is a little much for a shower curtain, but because I have been searching for so long, I was ready to get it anyway. That's when the magic happened. The tag flipped over and on the other side, was a clearance price of 15 dollars. Woohoo!!

Little did I know, that at that moment, Mark was also experiencing some good fortune. He went fishing for the day, with our friend Alan and Alyssa. They were looking for some landscape rocks to bring home and Mark stepped on what looked like a rock. It was a huge, coiled up rattlesnake. He jumped back. It struck twice, but Mark was able to get out of the way in the nick of time. It was the biggest rattler he had ever seen. Who can step right on a snake, without being bit??? We must be living right.

Ruby River Closes, Lets Go Camping!

Well, the days of Mark working at Ruby River are over. It is pretty sad. The combination of the economy being the way that it is, and Ruby River being on the expensive side, was not good. We were happy about the job because it was close to our house and easy for Mark have a job after quitting Rhodehouse Construction. Luckily, he isn't out of a job though. After firing all the managers at the Sizzler in Pokey, they transferred him to that store. So in the meantime, his resume is being sent out and we are trying to decide what to do. They wanted us to take over a store in Utah. I am totally cool about moving (I am not wild about Utah though), but I really don't want to sell our house until we get it finished. We just got Mark's transcripts from ISU, so maybe Mark will go back to school. I feel bad for all the other employees at Ruby River who lost their jobs and feel grateful that we still have one. There are rumors that they may turn the building into a Sizzler, if they can't lease it to another restaurant, so that is a job possibility too. Since the store closed on Wednesday, that meant that we got a unexpected paid vacation. We were pretty happy about that, so we hooked up to the fifth wheel and went camping! Mark's parents and bro and sis-in-law joined us. On Friday, before we left, Ryan and Britton took us out for a ride on their new boat. It was so much fun. I even climbed in the tube, clothes and all. I hated having a wet butt in jeans, but it was worth it.

Ryan found this butterfly and brought it to us. We had fun playing with it. Can you believe that Elly was scared to hold it??? She will play with a worm, but not a butterfly. Funny kid.

Sweet Baby Paige
Cole just wanted to stomp on the butterfly, while I was trying to take pictures of it. What a BOY!

All the kids enjoyed making smores. Cole loved the fire and kept saying, fire, fire, fire. He learned that it is hot, by picking up a hot rock. Yikes! Good thing I had my lavendar essentail oil. It worked great on his little hand.
mmmmmm
Cole and Elly
Where are my pictures of Dean, Sherrey, Ryan and Britton??? They were really there, I promise!!
Jordan is Cole's Hero! (Other than his Dad, of coarse!)
Alyssa is always happy to get to ride her PINK four wheeler! What a fun weekend!!

Run Forrest, Run!

This is our puppy, Forrest. We got him the day before we left for Tennessee, but didn't name him until we got home. He seemed just fine when we got him, but then he started having trouble walking. He was so sad to watch because his front legs were so weak, he would take a couple steps and then fall on his face. His legs weren't broken or anything, just bowlegged and weak. We splint his front legs and he loved it. It gave him the strength that he needed to walk and run. When we took the splints off, he was doing much better too. The name Forrest seemed fitting, because we kept encouraging him to walk, saying "Run Forrest, Run!" He is doing great now, and the kids are enjoying him.

Tennessee

I have lots more Tennessee pics, but I'll never be able to post them all so this concludes our trip. As we were headed to the airport. We saw this. Some people collect stamps....Some people collect washing machines. There were more appliances in this guy's yard than at Sear's!
The kids did great on the plane. Alyssa was helping Cole with flash cards. Cole's favorite thing to do on the plane was to smash silly putty on the tray table with his tractors. I also showed the kids how to blow bubbles with the silly putty, they thought that was pretty cool.
Alyssa loved her window seat and kept herself busy with her coloring.
Mark was so cute when he picked us up from the airport. After getting a big smooch, he handed me a bunch of roses. He had some set aside for Alyssa too. We missed him so much!