Ride with us video

Some movies and stills of us out playing  on Friday morning.  Starring the Guy, the Girl, Gramps and Friend.  {The Girl is not the one doing the double tricks, she needs a little more gumption for that ..... maybe next time!}

Sorry about the quality, when compressed into a quicktime video, it lost quality.  In iMovie it is crystal clear.

Foto-story Friday #13-- another Guy and Girl story

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

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Back in April I told you a story.   This will have to be considered another chapter in the "those who have" story......  
The Guy and the Girl have taken friends out for some fun on the trails.  Both bikes are being ridden double and seeing as they are the courteous type, they give the friends the big one and take the little one for themselves.  All goes well, they ride all over, up and down hill and dale.  There are some great hills {like the above pictured} in their normal stomping, er, riding grounds.  The Girl and the Guy have taken this trail many times both alone and double on the big machine.  The Girl hesitates and asks:  "Do you really think we can take this hill double on this bike?"  The Guy assures her they will make it.  She is still not sure but gets a nice tight grip on the bars and squeezes her eyes shut.  They make it quite a ways up when it starts to bog down, no problem, the Guys down shifts and keeps her running.  Soon she feels them slipping and sliding down!  The Girl's eyes fly opens in time to hear:  "I've got to stand up, our front wheels are not on the ground!"  Like she has a choice!  He stands and she flings off the back end!  The Girl makes a few summersaults, her glasses become air-born and her biggest worry is weather or not the machine is rolling after and how to find the much needed glasses before getting smunched!  The Guy calls out: "Are you OK?"  She thinks, 'He must be OK and he must have the bike under control...'  "Yeah, I'm alright, a little dirty," she hollers back as she dusts off and gets back to her feet.  The friends?  Um, yeah, they are waiting at the bottom watching in shock!  The Guy laid it over on its side to avoid the bike chasing the Girl down.  The couple right the machine and walk it {.... well, there might have been some pushing too ....} up the rest of the hill.  The friends, they chicken and don't take it double!  The friends doubled back up, upon reaching the summit and the group rides off to conquer another trail.  

There were bruises that the Girl sustained, as well as this pictured scrapped up elbow. How does it look today?  

Not too bad, still a little pink. Think it may just be a badge of honor for the Girl!

Happy 4-wheeling to you all!

Weekly photo challenge-- research and re-creations

This week's challenge sure made me work! I took the girls out to re-create some of my favorite pix ... and the camera didn't play fair! I had taken some good pix and when I got home to download them, yup the camera and the card were not on the same page! It decided that the card had to be reformatted! I was nearly in tears, I was so mad! So here are, yet again my attempt to re-create some photos I've seen and loved!

First this one here I loved from the time I first saw it and have wanted to get a similar shot.

We haven't really got a good country tree lined road, but we do have this cool bridge.




Shantel took this one of the two of us.
And when I saw these photos, I also wanted badly to get some like them.

We have a BNSF depot here, but they are all over ya if ya get near the tracks and trains, so we went to a side track a little out of the way for these shots.

Go here for more weekly photo challenges.

I've been honored!

A HUGE thanks to David McMahon for his post of the day he picked my tornado foto-story post along with a few others to recognize and feature.  Can I just tell you HOW stinking excited I am about that?!  Had I not been seated, when I checked in with him and saw that, I think I would have fallen over! If you've never dropped in on David, I strongly suggest it!  

As well as his Post of the day, he takes great pictures of ordinary things and some not so ordinary, things that you would normally walk right by with out a pause.  They normally give me pause when I lay my eyes on them!  Also you will find his Verse and Word posts to be entertaining.  I really enjoy his random short news article posts.  On Sunday he roasts a blogger.  Do stop by, and visit his part of the world, you won't be sorry!

52 Weeks of Blessings- week 34--strong marriages

My blessing this week is a strong happy marriage!  It's not perfect but it's ours and it healthy and strong.  We both come from long marriage lines.  This year marks my parent's 50th and my in-laws 40th!  Here's to the blessing of healthy, strong happy marriages! 

Contest for a book

Head over to Anne Bradshaw's blog for a chance to win this book, A Room for Two by Able Keogh.

Foto-story Friday #12-- tornado adventures

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

No one told us when we moved to this map dot in Eastern MT that we had moved to tornado ally. OK, so it's not Kansas, but surprisingly enough {to us} this area receives its fair share of the twisters!  The above picture is of the trailer we lived in when Troy was working on the farm.  It is how it looked after our first tornado experience.  {July 2001} 

Let me first say, that out on the farm If you don't have dish network or direct TV, you don't have TV! And the radio, yeah, it only comes in if you hold your tongue just right and stand in such a way that you are the anteane!  {on with the story...}   The day seemed pretty normal we went about life as usual and fed the sister missionaries that night.  Troy observed the sky, that it looked like a storm was brewing and told them they should head on back to town.  The sky looked nasty, nearly black off in the distance and it was only around 7-ish.  We got the kids ready for bed, took another look outside. I remember thinking "Humm, that's strange, there's no wind." Now, there seems to always be wind in Eastern MT.  All of the sudden, the wind hit! We were sure that it would rip the A/C unit out of the window, so we quick worked to get it in the house.  Our table still bears the marks of our hasty drop onto it.  I looked out the window,saw stuff all over the yard and remarked, "The wind is sure strong, it has already destroyed something and strewn it all over the yard."  The wind was shaking the trailer, but you know how unsteady a trailer house can be.  The phone rang at that moment and it was the farmer's wife, "Get up here, it's a tornado.  You need to get in the basement!"  My mind was reeling!  A tornado?  Did I really hear that right?!  So we gathered the kids and ran for the suburban.

See the two vehicles in this picture? We mostly parked them like this, close together and usually headed in the same direction. {All pictures were taken the day after the excitement.} We raced out to the sub and the wind picked up Shantel, who at that time, was only 5, and slammed her into the pick-up.  I was starting to panic thinking something worse would happen in the short drive up to the main farmhouse.  We all crammed into the basement bedroom to wait out the storm.  Shortly it passed on, and the guys went out to check the damage.  We stayed that night at the farmhouse. I was scared. That stuff all over the yard? That was the roof of the trailer! A few years before they had a new roof built over the trailer and the tornado had removed it in a matter of seconds!  That's right we were in the house as the tornado passed over us!  I've seen the pictures of whole trailer parks being leveled in tornados!  The Lord was for sure watching over us.  We were all fine, our puppy was fine, he'd hid under the porch and our horse was also alright.  The gate to her pasture was open, but she was fine.  This is some of the damage incurred at the farm.  The 5th wheel trailer was on the other side of the car!  The swing-set was in the grass and closer to the clothes line and the windows of the garage.  The riding mower was also in the grass upright.  The grain trailer had been freshly painted and now was in need of a new paint job.  The garage door had been tweaked.
The power went out right after the phone call.  We were without power for nearly 24 hours.  
The above picture is of the grain elevators in Circle.   A farm in the area lost a whole quonset -- all that was left was the concrete slab!
The farmer's wife then told us that it seemed every time there was a tornado watch or warning in the area, they had been hit.  I think this was important information!  Why did she not tell us this before?!  We spent the next day cleaning up the mess.  We learned that our new trampoline had rolled down the street and then came all apart-- the pieces parts never to be all recovered.  A few days later I was chatting with my mom online when I looked out the window to see three funnel clouds off in the distance!  

I could have gone my whole life without ever experiencing another one of those storms.  It was not to be.  In June 2006, I went out to take pictures of the storm clouds.  They were very cool looking.  Kind of menacing 
and a little eerie...
I took this below picture just before the wind kicked in.

Do you see that cloud coming down the road?  I got inside and got the door closed just before the wind roared past the house.  I can not even describe how it sounded.  The power went out, the rain followed.  Shantel started to panic reliving our previous experience.  Whether it was a tornado that twisted down our street or just the wind, I'm not sure.  There were sightings of twisters on the ground in town that day.  

My mother-in-law came over right after the storm and we drove around to survey the damage.
The next day I did some more looking.
Nearly every area of town had sustained some damage.  Huge trees came crashing down causing the most damage.

Beware the weather and always take your camera!  Be wary of green skies and the clam before the storm.

Close the door, please!

OK, so yesterday was the first day of school.  The kids got off with out a hitch and they all survived the first day.  Here they are all ready to walk out the door.Of course I still have the twins and the one I babysit running around.  

We have a door in our house that sees frequent use.... it slides open and close more times than I can count in any one 24 hour period.... All summer long I got spoiled and could enter this room and close the door, enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet.  But when I entered and closed this door yesterday, I was rudely disturbed by 3 sets of smallish feet accompanied by 3 sets of smallish hands and 3 loud voices and 3 sets of prying eyes!  "Get out, and close the door please!" was repeatedly asked only to be followed by:  "I have to go! I have to go!  Me first!"  Um, hello! It's MY turn!  Get out and close the door PLEASE!"  Is it really too much to ask?  That I be afforded the right to enter this room alone?  I guess, we will work on privacy this year!  :)

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On another note, with the start of school, the twins and I started pre-school.  We checked out some take home bags from the library:  Music, What Lives in a Shell and Lacing.  First off we read the lacing story about Corduroy and laced the buttons and the spools.  We worked on patterns too.  After that we had gym class, which consisted of me using the Wii Fit and the kids following along.  Then we read the music story called Abiyoyo and played with the maracas, triangle, a recorder and a practice pad. We took a break and had lunch, after which my charge went down for his nap.  The twins and I got out the pre-school workbooks and set to learning.
At first Scott was very careful about staying in the lines, then he just wanted to get on to the next page.  I think he didn't want to color, he wanted to write.  EmmaLece was quick and somewhat careful, but mostly she wanted to be done first.  When they finished their pages they wrote their names.  They are getting good.   We'll just take it one day at a time.  Today we will read the shell book What Comes in a Shell and look at, touch and feel the shells that came in the bag.

Weekly photo challenge-- light

Lightening by Cody from a moving vehicle.
light rays through the clouds.
A light pole.
Evening light.
This weeks challenge is light. Go here to see more. For some photos I took with changes in the settings, thus changing the light-ing, click here.

52 Weeks of Blessings- week 33-- grandparents

I'm gonna cheat this week!  Did you read my last post on Grandparents?  Well, I would have to say that Grandparents are a great blessing!  For my week 33 blessing I choose Grandparents!  We spent a lot of time with my mom's parents.  Gramma drove and Grampa didn't.  He would get in a mood and they would hop in the car and come on over.  They lived 3 hours and 2 states away. {back then it was probably more like a 4 hour drive, but then again Gramma did tend to have a lead foot!}Here they are on their 50th wedding anniversary.
We didn't spend as much time with my dad's parents.  I actually never met my Grandpa Flynn here on earth.  He died a few years before I was born.  My Gramma Grace didn't drive.  I do remember spending a few weeks with her.  She had beautiful rose bushes and a back porch swing.Gramma Grace was always the last to eat when it was meal time, because she wanted to make sure everyone was cared for first.  Her house was always neat and tidy.  I think it was a generation thing, they waited hand and foot on their families.  They had 3 sons, of which my dad is the oldest.  Gramma Grace was very quiet and composed.  One summer Gramma took us for a visit to Gramma Grace's.  She dropped us off and came back a few days later.  I am grateful for that visit as it is one of only a few I had there.When Cody was a baby, we went down to visit Gramma Grace.  Pictured here are:  Me, Gramma Grace, Cody and my Dad. .. A 4 generation picture!
My Grandpa Flynn was a mechanic by trade, but a musician at heart.  He played the fiddle.

He was in many contests.  Here is an article about him around the time of his death in a fiddling newsletter for a group he was a member of.

On the few occasions that we went to Gramma Grace's, I remember sneaking into her room to look at the pictures on her dresser.  They were of her and grandpa.  Since we didn't know him, he was a major  curiosity.  I think the older kids spent more time with them than us younger ones.

I never met my great grandparents here on earth either.  I can't wait to know them on the other side.  I love this picture of my Gramma's parents: 

Isn't it just great?  Don't ya want to know what was SO funny?!  I do and one day I'm going to ask them.
My kids are getting the chance to spend time with their Nana {great grandma on dad's side}, since she recently transplanted up here.  I hope that they cherish this time with her.Savanna and Nana.
Scott and EmmaLece with Nana.
And of course, I think my kids have 2 setsof wonderful grandparents.  For more on my in-laws go here.  Troy parents:Grandma and Em.
Grandpa and Scott.

My parentsHere they are in 2000 when they came to see us in Vegas.  Here we are in Dec 07, everyone except Cody who had already left for young mens.
Go here for a post about my dad and here for a post about my parents.