Father & Son....

Well this is what has been going on at our house.....

With having a teenage driver comes an old car. With old cars comes rust. With rust comes rusty parts. With rusty parts comes rusty brake lines. Are you seeing a theme here?

Okay, so I'm assuming you are all quick and understand that we have had a major car project going on in our garage!

What started out as a rear brake line leak, quickly turned into a TOTAL brake line job!

We had broken bolts, leaking this and that, twisted parts.....you name it, we had it!

But tonight they had a break through...they started to put NEW parts back on. WOW...I didn't think it would happen!

It has been a great leaning experience for Tyler..he has worked right along side Steve! No free rides here. Steve would tell him to go out and start removing parts till he got to a solid one. Tyler would often come in to get his next assignment from Steve and for the most part has been diligent in working on it.

Steve has done a great job at being a patient teacher! His desire is to teach his boys to be men...this is one step, that he feels is way to important to skip over...car repair! No seriously, it's so much more than that! Tyler has learned sooo much from this experience. Things that will be a benefit to him, for years to come!

Steve would have just as soon taken this to a garage to have it done by someone else but would it have been this much fun?? Would Tyler have learned what he did and more importantly spent time with his dad in the garage? Thank you Steve for being diligent in helping your boys grow to be men! The reward will be worth all the back ache, dirty grease hands and pain of it all! Your Awesome Honey!

Dinner Discussion.....

Last night out dinner discussion went something like this......

We started talking about what would happen if Steve had died. We talked about who would do the work.... But these are the three main questions that were posed by the kids.....(here they are, in no particular order)

1) Where would we get our food?..seems like a logical question, from a bunch of boys!
2) Who would get his iPhone?
3) Who would get his laptop?

I know, you can almost feel the love from there! I mean what have we raised? Steve, we would really miss you if anything happened to you! Don't you be fooled to think we would be fighting over your iPhone!

Euchre...

We went to a Euchre tournament Saturday Night.

Good Friends+Good Food+Good Game= FUN!

There were 30 or so in attendance. 24 of us played, while we had some spectators.

It was extra special as it was Caryn's Birthday...so we surprised her with a cake. We are saving the Nerd Gram for her 40th!

Oh and in case you are wondering, I took home the 3rd place winnings!

Soccer Anyone?....

Trent had his first Soccer game today. He was so pumped. They have been practicing for a couple weeks now. He has a little bit of a competitive spirit about him.

He did a great job! It so fun to watch him play! Dad and Linda came to cheer him on.

It was a beautiful day to watch a game...finally! I'm sure we will be sitting through some rainy ones soon....lets hope not! Trent is #7, to the left of the kid in the maroon shirt. Isn't he adorable!

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SIGNS OF SPRING

Easter Week-end.....

The Start of it all.....Saturday Morning we took Trent to an area church, that held an Easter Egg Hunt. They did some crafts...played some games...and of course....had an Easter Egg Hunt.


Here Trent is making a egg something....with glue and jello

The hunt was held in the sanctuary...here he is under the pews!









checking his eggs








Then we came home to color Eggs. I think they look Eggsta-special!





After that, we headed up to Grandpa and Grandma's house for an early Easter Dinner! It was so delicious! We had Ham, Potato Salad, Sweet Potatoes, Rolls, Broccoli and fruit salad. We topped it off with Banana Cream Pie.
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On Sunday, we were up early and attended the 8:30 service. We held two services this year to accommodate all the Easter attenders. Steve just told me, we had over 900 in attendance! We had a wonderful Service and Pastor Chris did a great job, as usual!




Our family enjoyed a roast dinner, mashed potatoes, corn and rolls! After that, I put the 'Easter Bunnies' to work....here they are filling eggs. I asked them to fill 10 eggs each and hide them in the back yard for Trent to find...they each filled 20! Okay, that's 40 eggs filled with candy, for you not so mathy people!

I have to brag a little...Tyler and Troy made it so fun for Trent. They took a lot of time to hide the eggs and encouraged him while hunting for them. One of the sweetest parts, was when Tyler got out his wallet and proceeded to fill an egg with a dollar...his money..with no prompting??? Then, he came and asked me for ones for a $5 (he wanted to fill 5 eggs with $1)...he was gonna give his little brother 5 bucks!??....I know, fight back the tears...is that not so sweet of him! Tyler, I do believe you are growing up!




Trent absolutely loved collecting the eggs...all 40 of them! He was so much fun to watch!







As a mater of fact, we spent the rest of the afternoon re-hiding the eggs! Again for Trent...Trent for Tyler...Trent for Steve...Steve and Joanne for Trent...Trent for Tyler again...Tyler and Troy for Trent. Wow....that's a lot of millage on those eggs!






This was just a cute picture I took of Trent. I thought it was so sweet of him.










Here is that nice boy I spoke of earlier! He is sporting his Easter shirt.



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Easter with a teenager...you just never know what you are gonna get!






Niiiiccceeee!










Cute!

Couldn't Resist....

Ever find something that is so perfect for you.....you think they must have made it for you! Well, that is this card! I couldn't resist getting it for Steve, for his Birthday. I've been saving it for almost a year for him.

Steve has been a wonderful husband..I am soooo blessed. He was made for me! Thank you God for bringing him in to my life many many years ago! Thank you Steve for not getting tired of waiting for me!

Happy Birthday Steve!







Okay, I can't resist telling you the 'rest of the story'....I actually found this card at Goodwill! TOOO Stinking Funny! They had totes of new cards from, apparently, a store that had closed down. Is that not hilarious! I have no shame!

Canadian Fun.....

On Saturday, we headed off for the Canadian Border. Here are some highlights from our trip. We went to visit Steve's oldest brother Craig and his family. He is married to Kristi and they have two sons Florin and Nic.

We couldn't resist stopping to get a family pic by the Mighty Mac....okay, I couldn't and the rest just amused me!

I shot from the bridge...looking a little fridged...burhhhh!

We went to the John Rhodes Center to swim. They have a wonderful swimming area....it has 3 pools, a water slide, kids area, play toys, rafts, diving boards, rope swing and a hot tub area.

Tyler playing with a boat and Trent thinking he has gone crazy!

A special part of our trip was to see Craig and Kristi's Church, Bible Fellowship. They purchased an old lodge and converted it into a church...not the traditional Baptist Church Building. In the lodges time it had skiing, held dances, had two bars, apartments, gun range...it was quite a happening place. It has 25,000 sq feet of space and they were able to pick it up for a meir 250,000! They had to put tons and tons of work into it, to make it what they needed. Kristi said they have used 135 gallons of paint thus far!

This is a picture of their sanctuary. It's a terrible picture..but it is sooo brite, I couldn't get a better one! In the center of the picture is a post with a cross...that is where Craig preaches at. Behind him are 6 huge picture windows that over look the valley.

This is a view from the parking lot side.

Here is the Buckner Family I speak of! They are a nice group of people.

We couldn't leave with out an 'Adults Only' meal! We loved the visit with C&K. We love to hear how God is using them in Canada to reach the the lost. All of our lives get so busy, we have a hard time keeping up! So it was all good.

And a special highlight....a Tim Horton Muffin....oh, not just any muffin...a Fruit Explosion. It's sitting there in all it's grandeur! Steve, you treat me like a queen!






Here is a potty stop on the way home...too much drinking.

We enjoyed a wonderful visit with one of the other Buckner families. They are great hosts and that Kristi!....is a hostess they never rests. Florin even gave us his room....thanks Florin.

And How Come?....

How come.....you can stand in line for 10 minutes at a fast food restaurant and when they are ready to take your order, you can't decide what you want? It's like we have brain freeze. It's like ohhhhh...what sounds good?

Hey, I'm just as guilty as the next guy...but it does bug me more when the guy in front of me can't make up his mind!

Weird!....

Doesn't It Just Tick Ya Off!....

I mean really, doesn't it just tick you off when you try to go buy your favorite underwear...and they quit making it. I mean like, done....like no more...like factory shut down! Seriously, doesn't it just make ya mad! When you find some you like, they should have to honor your faithfulness by continuing to sell it. What am I gonna do now???

Now, this is what I call a crisis....who cares if the world is going down, I need new underwear!

On top of all that..I tried on some swimming suits....just to torture myself....how come they all make me look fat?..okay, don't answer that!? I immediately ran...I mean sprinted....to the "makes you look 10 pounds slimmer in 2 seconds" rack...btw it's not true!