A Day Away

Thursday evening, we took a quick trip to the cabin. Clay & Chandler really wanted to hunt, so we loaded up the car & drove up. When we pulled onto our property, there were 8 deer grazing beside our pond. We got everything unloaded & headed to bed. The boys played around with the video camera. They created funny hunting videos. It was really funny. They were whispering like they do on those videos & said things like...we're on day 3 of our 2 day hunt. We laughed & laughed. Tom & the boys got up early Friday morning to hunt & hunted again Friday evening but there was no hunting success. They had a great time. I lounged on the sofa & read a book until time to load up to head home. It was a nice day away. It's really a blessing to have a place to just get away or escape to! ~st

Did you ever think of it this way?

....from "once upon a time" to "kingdom come"—you are God. Psalm 90:1b The Message

I found this scripture the other day while reading...it has stuck with me for days.
What an interesting way to put that God has been and will be. ~st

Cross-Country

Early this morning...like 7ish, we drove to Beaverfork in Conway for the boy's first Cross-Country meet. The weather was cool & thunder & rain threatened but amazingly held off until the meet was over. The boys did really well & had a great time.


I thought this was really a neat picture. Clay went right up to Chandler after he finished his race. Not sure what he said, but he couldn't wait to get to Chandler.

Chandler on his final stretch. He ran his 5000m race in 11:17. He came in 2nd place.

Clay on his final stretch. I love the smile. He finished his 1-mile race in 11 minutes 4 seconds. He did really good for his first race. While the boys were running, Tom was in St. George, Utah running his first marathon from his report, he did well. So everyone was running today. I'm glad the boys decided to participate in cross-country. They've really enjoyed practices, and the meet today was cool. They've met some new friends in the process too.

Way to go guys! I'm proud of you! ~Mom

Cruisin'

We were cruisin' on a Wednesday afternoon. We all had fun while Tom worked just riding around. Graeson spent the night, & we went to the Children's Theatre to see Treasure Island. It was about 30 minutes too long, but all in all a good production. Is Graeson not the cutest thing you've ever seen? Well, Chandler & Clay are cute too, but Graeson takes the cake...'cause he's only 2! And besides Steppie is his favorite...right Tom?

Cross Country

Chandler is on our area homeschool Jr. High cross-country team. His first practice was yesterday in LR. Yes, to those of you who are wondering how a homeschooler can be on the track team. We do have those things. Socialization is definitely not an issue. In fact we have baseball, basketball, volleyball, yearbook clubs, drama, and lots of other "stuff". We have 3 scheduled meets this fall one in LR and the other two possibly in Conway. One he will miss due to Grandpawpaw's 100th birthday, but he'll make the other 2. He's excited, ran well, & had lots of fun. Chandler likes to stay busy...not sure which parent he got that from! ;o) As usual, Chandler gives 100%. He was raring to go and made sure he had all of his equipment with him. He wore his Garmin which lets him know how fast he runs and exactly how far. One of the kids said, "hey, cool" Then he wanted to know if Chandler was afraid he was going to get lost in the church parking lot thus needing the Garmin. We laughed & laughed. Of course he wasn't serious, but it was cute.

Clay could run on the elementary team, but not sure he's that in to it at this point. I'm sure once he sees Chandler and the other kids out there, he'll want to run. Of course Clay is Clay, he does his own thing and really doesn't care about competition the way Chandler does. We encourage both of the boys to try new things & see exactly what they are interested in.

We've started a new 4H club with other homeschoolers, and the boys are going to be involved in that. Chandler has also joined the Shooting Club which has competitions in rifle, pistol, shotgun, muzzle loader, and archery. He and a friend from church are going to do that together. Another of Chandler's friends, who is 13 & lives behind us, just won the state competition in the long bow competition over-all. He beat out even the adults. What an accomplishment! Clay wants to join the shooting club, but isn't old enough yet. He can still practice though so he'll be ready when he's old enough.

So...this week we're running, shooting, and homeschooling!

Holiday Weekend!

As soon as I got off work Friday we hitched up the tractor and headed up to the cabin. It seemed like it took forever to get there but we finally made it. As soon as we arrived I did my final inspection of the "indoor" plumbing and then turned on the water!!!!! That's right, we now have water. I have contracted a local man to dig our water lines and put the septic tank in place. Well, we now have water and the septic tank will be put in it's place this week. (hopefully the rain from Gustav will hold off for him!) I can not tell you how great it feels to have hot water to take a shower in!!!! Oh yeah!!!!

I mowed the property again and burned off some of the debris that was left around. I must say it is slowly but surely getting there. During my cleaning and mowing, I came across two "yellowjacket" nest and I got a little too close!!! I was running around the property like a mad man. Stephanie and the boys were looking at me like I was crazy and later she told me that she and Chandler were saying..." he better not run toward us bringing those things with him"!!!! It wasn't funny at the time, but I wish they would have had a video on me... we might be ten thousand dollars richer!!!!

My next trip will be to complete the plumbing under the cabin as it drains into the septic. Indoor plumbing is a glorious thing.

These pictures are a progression of the land as we have been working on it!!

Cabin Work...

Yesterday it was the "boys night out" at the cabin. On our way up there we stopped at a store in Clinton, AR that I have been dying to see. Needless to say their idea and my idea of bargains were worlds apart. We didn't leave empty handed though, we bought a sign to hang at the cabin and Clay got to pet and feed a fawn!!! We arrived late afternoon and installed the kitchen sink and new cabinets. Stephanie and I found the antique sink at a "used furniture" store. It took some work but I think it paid off!! After a few quick odds and ends we headed into town for dinner at Pizza Hut! Needless to say the boys had pizza for dinner and a "midnight" snack! Once we got back I unpacked the new toilet and put it in it's place. It will be ready to hook up as soon as the water is turned on. The rest of the evening I worked on our upstairs rails. I have been needing to do this for awhile, I have just never got to it until this weekend. I finished around one am and finally got into bed and watched the ending of a movie with Clay. The last I looked at the clock it was 2:15!!!! Thank God Steph called and woke me up this morning otherwise I wouldn't have made it to the lumber store!! After I got dressed I made myself a few notes and heading into town.

After my "quick" trip to the lumber and grocery" store I was back at it. I bought some wood to put under the stair so it will enclose the bathroom. I finished that rather quickly, then it was on to my next project of completing the interior and exterior plumbing. I now have everything ready to hook my lines up to the water meter. I will have a local man come out this week to dig my water line trenches and a hole for the septic tank and field lines. We are so close I can taste it!!!!