My favorite video this week

Hilarious

Hey Guys, Check this out! It is the funniest thing I have seen this week.

99 and Counting

Today it is official, I have less than One-Hundred days until my due date! It always feels so good to get out of the three digit range.

Heavy lifter

Princess grunts when she lifts things, whether they are heavy or not. Here she is lifting water bottles. We think she is super cute... but we are biased!

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And now the jeep is having other problems and is out of commission again. I should have known it was too good to be true!

My love/hate relationship with cars

I love cars. I appreciate what they enable us to do, some of them are really cool looking, etc. But gosh do they drive me crazy sometimes. 1- Our neon is still out of commission (now the battery is dead) but that is our fault for not dealing with it sooner- we have not had the time or means to take care of it. 2- Our jeep has been stalling lately- and stalling often. It was getting frustrating, because it would do it as I was going 60 down the road... not to safe! Especially when Nancy and Princess were in the car. So, I took it to a mechanic. He plugged in his nifty car-computer reader thingy and said it was a faulty distributor (he used more high tech words- but I can't remember them). He also said there were other problems with the car, but that is what was probably causing the stalling. After 2 weeks of dealing with it, I was glad to have an answer. So we had it fixed, paid the sum, and went on our way. Then it happened again! But that supposed-to-be-car-expert-man said that was the problem... well... he said the computer said (remember they rule our lives!) that that was the problem. So.... I did not want to spend more money if it was not going to solve it. So I went online. And boy is the internet great. I found an online forum where there were at least a dozen other jeep owners who were having or had the same problem. It came down to loosening 2 screws on the PCM (I feel smart using that acronym)- that's the powerterrain control module (but I have no idea what it does). So I located it, moved the coolant container that was in the way, and voila! the jeep has not stalled....yet! So... thank you internet! (And the air force mechanic that solved the problem for all of us jeep drivers).

Family Pictures

I know these pictures are a little bit out dated and I probably should have posted them an eternity ago. I just never got around to doing it and am doing so now because my sister-in-law, Shannon, wants pictures of all of my family. You see my brother Daren and his wife, Shannon recently found out that they are unable to have children of their own. They are two of the most wonderful people I know and would make the most awesome parents. Because they are unable to have there own children they are turning to adoption so that they can start their eternal family. If you want to see their adoption blog click here. It tells you a little bit about them and their story. It also features our family, hence the pictures. We hope and pray that soon they may have a very lucky child or children ;) of their own. If you know of anyone who is looking for adopting couples I know that Daren and Shannon would be grateful if you kept them in mind.

The Long Haul Has Started

About a month ago I was talking on the phone with Reyna, my sister, and she told me to come pick some cherries off of her tree. Over the course of the next couple of days we picked and picked and still didn't get close to emptying the tree. After all of that picking it was time to bottle them. Over the course of the next three days I leisurely did my bottling while Princess was napping. If I tried to bottle with her awake she would get into the cherries and eat them whole, pit and all. They turned out beautifully and are yummy. Larry also decided to make some jam which was a fun adventure, I had never had cherry jam before. As I was bottling the cherries I realized that this was the beginning of my bottling season and that there is still a lot to do before it is over. Even though it is just the beginning of a lot of work I am really excited, especially for the apricots, peaches and pears! Yum!

Our Garden

Last year I had a enrichment night that was about gardening in pots. We had a Master Gardner teach us how to successfully achieve this. So this is our second year of a potted garden and I am so pleased at how it is doing. Not having a plot of ground available to us, it truly has been a blessing to have a way to start trying to become self efficient now instead of having to wait until we had a place of our own. This year we are growing snap peas, two cucumber plants, four tomato plants, zucchini, summer squash, three different peppers, okra and lettuce. We also have a variety of herbs but we grow these year round. Needless to say we are thrilled.

Princess's Birthday

Last week was Princess's birthday. It is hard for me to believe that I now have a one year old. Larry's parents and his brother Jordan came up to spend this special day with us. Princess had so much fun with them. Grandpa and Jordan got this hat for her. It didn't stay on very long, maybe 40 seconds. Once we got the pictures of it on she proceeded to rip it off and eat it. The feathers were her favorite. After dinner she opened her gifts. Thanks to everyone who thought of her on her birthday. Then it was time for birthday cake. I made her own personal birthday cake so that she could delve right in. It was fun to watch her. First, she stuck one finger in to the frosting. Tasting it she realized that it was very good and gave me a look that said "are you going to stop me" as she reached in with both hands, getting more frosting. When she realized that I wasn't going to stop her she dived face first into it and demolished it. We had a lot of fun watching her. It was a great day!

Here's a Good Laugh

Tonight Larry and I were looking at a book that was recently given to us and in the back of it were advertisements of other books by the same publisher. These advertisements had a synopsis of the book and then a section about the author. One in particular gave us a really good laugh so I thought I would share it. Author (I am not going to give his name) has spent fifty years in the Detroit area of Michigan. He works there, but his mind lives in other times and spaces. His profession is a technical position in a major health care facility. There are gaps in time between jobs being processed that allow his mind to wander (just don't tell his boss that). He believes that he has lived in the past and is still thrilled with the experience of living in the forest. He loves camping and being outdoors when possible, this love reflecting in some of the stories he has written. He has been writing since he was about fifteen years old. I hope it gives you as good of a laugh as it gave us.