Out Front

I enjoy our backyard. There are a lot of different flowers, shrubs and trees to enjoy. I feel at peace going out in the back yard. Its been fun watching the chicks grow older, which I have out back in the old dog kennel. We have been getting warmer weather, I think has been helping in their growth. We have been busy in the backyard fighting a losing battle with the weeds. Our garden is growing but not as fast as the weeds. After working out back I took these pictures of Ainsley and McKay playing out front.

Cassie was asking me to buy something for her here. She wasn't liking the answers she was getting, can you tell? She recently got this cute haircut. I think pink becomes her.

What's In a Name?

Typically, I'm not into these tag, type of blogging activities, but I thought it would be hilarious to give this a go. Since you are on my blog, before you start reading the list below, go over to my music playlist and pause the music. Now if you have the music paused, click on the link below to play an appropriate song for what you are about to read "The Name Game":




1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: TIMO CIVIC (first pet & current car) Sounds like a character from Disney's Zenon, Girl of the The 21st Century...
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: ROCKY ROAD CLOUD (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) I'm sure you're shivering in your boots
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: J SAN (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) Sounds like I'm from the far East...
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: SAPPHIRE PANTHER (favorite color, favorite animal) Should make lots of money with this name.
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: P WACO (middle name, city where you were born) That's hilarious!
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: SANJA (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Reminds me of an American Idol name last season...
7. SUPERHERO NAME: THE INDIGO FRUIT SMOOTHIE ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) It's a car, a plane, no it's "The Indigo Fruit Smoothie" ...:)
8. NASCAR NAME: LOWELL WILLIAM (the first names of your grandfathers) On his last lap is Lowell...Get 'er done..
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: PLOWMAN DEXTER (mother's & father's middle names ) Just escaped from Quaker country in Pennsylvania
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: FELKER FRANKFURT (Your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Makes me laugh..say that name seven times fast...
12. SPY NAME: CHRISTMAS DAHLIA (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Better hide all your valuable information now ...
13. CARTOON NAME: PEACH TROUSERY (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now + "ie" or "y") Next up on Nickelodeon, the wily adventures of Peach Trousery.
14. HIPPIE NAME: RAISIN BRAN REDWOOD (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Now that could really be a hippie name... :)
15. YOUR ROCK STAR TOUR NAME: THE DJ SUNSHINE TOUR ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + "Tour") I'd book 'em, but only if they have more cowbell...

Thanks goes to my sister-in-law Maria for this!

How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds

How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds - Explained

This video should definitely help me out. When I fold t-shirts now they don't turn out so well. If you get this technique down perhaps it would help you find employment at Old Navy, Gap, Bennetton, Polo, Hollister, American Eagle or other clothing store where you will be required to fold clothes a lot of the time.

For The Birds....

A Pixar short video to help us get prepared for Wall-E. The animators at Pixar have quite the sense of humor.

How To Be The Best Dad In The Galaxy

How To Be The Best Dad In The Galaxy

Clever video on how to be a great father. I thought this was a clever video. We like Star Wars and like this video.

Drawing Jack Sparrow!

Learn how to draw at 5min.com

We are fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean series of movies done by Disney. Here you can learn how to paint a picture of Jack Sparrow on your computer.

Father's Day Re-Visited!

We went over to Oma's and Grandpa's to celebrate Father's day. My father-in-law barbequed some tri-tip steaks with some Schneider's seasoning. I haven't ever tried that type seasoning before, but it was good. I usually use the Montreal Steak seasoning. The steak was good, I had more than one. Along with the tri-tip we had baked potatoes, green salad, watermelon, bow-tie pasta salad and some of Julie's famous homemade rolls. I believe these are the Lion House recipe?! Any way the rolls are my brother-in-laws favorite. Now for dessert you can see some of the chocolate cake that Oma made. She put a layer of vanilla ice cream in the middle of it. You can see that Bailey and Garrett don't need to be forced to eat the chocolate cake. Also, Julie made some Angel food cake and put rasberry and peach sherbet layers in it.

We spent a little time on the front porch picking out some roses. Hannah thought it was hot, which it was and McKay was looking closely at the roses because someone said they saw a snail.

Cassie and Justine gave me a hug. I thought I'd make a funny face. I got Oma and Grandpa to pose so I could take their picture.

Justine and Sydney popped of a few shots of themselves, I liked this one the best. My favorite picture that was taken on Sunday was this one of Cassie. We did a lot of visiting on Sunday. On Sunday evening when we finally got the kids to go to into their beds. I started to watch the series on John Adams, the HBO series. (Based on the books by David McCullough.)

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

James Agee

Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.
The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through
his great power from the beginning.
There be of them, that have left a name behind them,
that their praises might be reported.
And some there be which have no memorial; who perished,
as though they had never been born; and are become as
though they had never been born; and their children after them.
But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten.
With their seed shall continually remain a good inheritance,
and their children are within the covenant.
Their seed standeth fast, and their children for their sakes.
Their seed shall remain forever, and their glory shall not be blotted out.
Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth
for evermore.

At the Peaks on Saturday....

McKay and Carter were splitting an order of fries. While Bailey and Hannah grabbed a few. Saturday it was hotter than what we have been experiencing in Happy Valley. I'm afraid we all got too much sun. McKay and Cassie were least affected.

At the entrance of the Peaks there was some time share company there with a wheel to spin. I won a box of candy while McKay won a free tube rental and a box of candy for Carter and himself. We shared our spoils inside the water park.

Cassie brought a friend, Alyssa, who she had fun eating dippin' dots with. We brought some gummy bears, and they were more like a gummy blog by the time we tried to eat them. The girls like to hit the slides, while I took the boys into the Lazy River, and the Wave pool. We also hit the body slides that were on the island that is surrounded by the Lazy River. I know it's not called the Lazy River anymore, but that's what I still call it any way.

Happy Father's Day

Only a Dad, But the Best of Men

Only A Dad

By Edgar Albert Guest

Only a dad with a tired face,
Coming home from the daily race,
Bringing little of gold or fame
To show how well he has played the game;
But glad in his heart that his own rejoice
To see him come and to hear his voice.

Only a dad with a brood of four,
One of ten million men or more
Plodding along in the daily strife,
Bearing the whips and the scorns of life,
With never a whimper of pain or hate,
For the sake of those who at home await.

Only a dad, neither rich nor proud,
Merely one of the surging crowd,
Toiling, striving from day to day,
Facing whatever may come his way,
Silent whenever the harsh condemn,
And bearing it all for the love of them.

Only a dad but he gives his all,
To smooth the way for his children small,
Doing with courage stern and grim
The deeds that his father did for him.
This is the line that for him I pen:
Only a dad, but the best of men.

Hope you all have a wonderful Father's Day, this is our tribute to our Fathers!

What's Been Happening?!

On Monday night we had a fire out in the back of our yard in the fire pit. We invited a neighbor family over and enjoyed their kids company. (Only their two youngest could make it over.) We roasted marshmellows and made some S'Mores. Also the kids roasted starburst candies. If we could have a fire everyday McKay would not complain.

Thanks to our brilliant daughter Cassie we were able to go out to eat for dinner on Tues. at Cafe Rio. Cassie earned some free dinner cards from school. We had a neighbor kid with us that night as well. Julie and I switched vehicles after we ate because it was date night for Julie and Sydney.

On Wed. the big event in the evening was Fugitive for YM/YW. We dropped our youth off at a bldg. not too far from ours and gave them a head start to get to our bldg. without being detected. I think the youth did pretty good at this game. I only caught a couple of them this year. In the past I caught many more.

Thursday, while I was hoping that Julie wasn't going to have to work, she had to work. McKay an I went up with our scooters to a rock pile we had been up to on Wed. night. We were shooting McKay's air rocket off at the park in the Ivory homes neighborhood. McKay was interested in making sparks with the rock in the rock pile. We couldn't get any rocks to spark so we instead road our scooters in the Stk. Center parking lot.