FORTY YEARS!!!!!

Yesterday Rod and I celebrated 40 years together!

Can you believe it????

We went to Las Vegas the month before to pick out

a wedding venue.

We decided on The Little Church of the West.

Yes, I was 12.

Scott (Rod's older brother) was his Best Man.

Sondra (my oldest sister) was my Matron of Honor.

They were also 12.

We were NOT married by Elvis.

A nice looking young pastor married us.

It was a bit breezy.

You can't see him, but Gary was my "train guy".

He's under there somewhere.....

See?

Both families came.

From Canada, Florida and Utah!

(Several were younger than 12...)

Happily married!

STILL happily married!

It has been a wonderful 40 years.

And we are looking forward to 40+ more.

(Our cute cake!)

High School Math / Science

 WHY do I have to learn this???????

I'll NEVER use this in my life!!!!!

(in a whiny, sing-song adolescent voice...)

So.

We have a dog yard, right off the patio in the backyard.

But apparently I never take pictures of it.

Anyhow.

This weekend the guys took down the fence.

And then got out the BIG guns and moved the dog's

patio / shade / thing.

As always, it was WAY overbuilt.

Kyle lifted it with his Cat and Rod put a cinder block

under each support.

But it was still buried DEEEEP in the ground.

So Kyle lifted it higher and it was STILL in the ground,

And sagging.

And looking like it might fall apart.

So out comes the old high school math / science.

They put ratchet straps from the off side poles

and connected them to the bar on the Cat.

Tightened 'em up and L I F T.....

And L I F T more...

Got it!

It's clear of the ground!

Whew!

Now back it into the yard.

Then lift it and carry it AROUND the giant holes the 

dogs dug UNDER the patio / shade / thing.

Then DON'T HIT THE HOUSE!

And put it in the little corner between the tack room and our bedroom...

Then dig NEW holes to sink it into the ground.

NOT SO DEEP THIS TIME, EH?????

Whew!

Are we done?

Ha!

Now use the Cat and smooth all that mess out!

NOW, are we done?

HA!

I'm going inside to teach.

But you guys keep going.... (actually I did help with this

next part, but then I had to run inside...)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

It's the world's smallest above ground pool!

But it's PERFECT for us.

15 feet across and only 42 inches deep.

It's just a big liner with steel upright poles

and a circular top frame made of the same poles...

The sides are just vinyl... NOT cool stone.

But its just right for 3 adults on floaties.

It's been upgraded now, Kyle put down 4 big patio

stones between the patio and the pool so we don't

have to walk in the dirt (or on little wood pieces)

when we get in/out.

And I put up a small shelf for drinks and phones and such...

But it's AWESOME!

There isn't an above ground pool to be had.

IF you can find one, they are ridiculously expensive!

Amazon had one.

They sold it for $100 in 2019.

Now it is $1359!!!!!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

But the other day at work one of the ladies mentioned

she just bought a small pool at Academy Sports.

I GRABBED the next to last one!

It's cheap.

It's cheaply made.

It might last the year.

But I'll take it!!!!!

It's been so nice to sit out there and relax in the

nice cool water.

(Although I FRIED my upper thighs... oops...)

Anyhow.

SEE?

Math and Science ARE useful!

Also... I had to go buy a bathing suit.

I wear a tank top and board shorts to the beach,

see above note about upper thighs... hahahahahahaha.

Playing Around

 So the other night I showed Kyle the app

I put on my iPad that made my cartoon picture.

And we started goofing around.

This was his favorite...

But this one cracked me up!

This one kind of looks like him.

But so does this one!

Then I found a picture of Rod....

Pretty good!

What he might have looked like if he were a young missionary?

But these two took the cake!

What Kyle would look like if he was... Moagli?

And Moagli grown up?

(He puffed his cheeks all up his face was in shadow...)

We laughed and laughed!

And then I went to bed.

And he went to his room and played some MORE!

(But refused to show me...)

It's a fun app!

Try it out!

Voila AI Artist.

(It wouldn't do Beau... darn.)

Happy Birthday Rozann!

 Today is Rozann's birthday!

It's a momentous one.

Because it's the end of an era.

A decade.

(If you will...)

You'd never guess to look at her.

She's the "little" sister.

Youngest of the female contingent.

And blond.

With blue eyes.

REALLY????

(She was explaining the workings of the eyeball...)

She's knowledgeable.

Successful.

Caring.

And doesn't take No for an answer...

(Dad needed eyedrops and she's the expert!)

These are some of her favorite things.

Her in-home workout studio.

And her dogs.

And, of course, there is GREG!

He TOPS the list...

She is WISE.

She is FUNNY!

She is TOUGH.

She is STRONG.

She is GENTLE.

She is LOVING.

And she is MY SISTER.

Happy Birthday!!!!

I love you!

"New" Me

 So...

Did you see the "cartoon" pictures of the 

Twelve and First Presidency?

I saw it on Facebook and liked it.

But of course I can't find it again...

But I did take note of the app they used.

And tried it out.

Hahahahaha!

It comes from this photo.

Pretty funny, eh?

(I promise... I'll have a better post tomorrow. Maybe. 

My brain is tired tonight...)

Running Late

 I had a busy day yesterday

(and a busy weekend!)

Taught a good class of 24 last night until 10.

This morning I got an email that my chickens

were out and heading into the preserve.

I was pretty sure that wasn't accurate...

and it wasn't.

Don't know who they belong to,

but they're not mine.

Anyhow.

Got everybody fed and then came in

and updated my roster for last night's class,

sent an email to each of the students 

and got a PASS notice from one of them.

(I had texted her earlier this morning wishing

her good luck on her exam... she's been in

my class for a couple of weeks...)

And now I need to grab some breakfast and

head out the door for the Town Hall.

A random picture to show you how BIG the

sand dune "cliff" was on Friday!

So much for the $3million worth of sand

they brought in.........

Kyle

 Yesterday Kyle turned THIRTY!!!!

He doesn't like cake, so every year

I draw a cake on the patio 

with sidewalk chalk.

It's a tradition.

And then we all drove over beachside to the

local Lowe's where they had a GREAT sale

on a new smoker.

We've been trying to buy him one for a

couple of years but couldn't find the

"right" one for the "right" price.

But this time we DID!

Terrible picture.

But a great smoker.

We had bought a couple of racks of

baby back ribs at Sam's on Friday

and were just going to do them on the

grill, but it was the perfect thing to

try out the new smoker with.

They turned out yummy.

Jim and Sabrina came over and shared them with us.

We spent the ENTIRE day making these ribs,

between buying the smoker,

putting it all together,

reading recipes, etc.,

and then it took about an hour for it to

come to the automatic 350 and burn off all

the factory gunk for half an hour and then

cool off and then come back up to temp for

the ribs and then COOK the ribs...

When we heard Jim and Sabrina were on their

way, I suddenly realized I had ONLY been

thinking about ribs.

I had NO sides planned!

So I opened the pantry and discovered a big

can of baked beans and a box of Kraft dinner.

Hahahahaha.

I doctored the beans (not as well as Mom's though!)

and made a pot of mac and cheese and called it dinner.

With fresh peaches for desert for any who wanted.

It was delicious

and we had a good time visiting!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Kabobs

 Kyle and I were at Sam's yesterday where we saw

a plate of kabobs and realized neither of us have

ever eaten those!

And they were EXPENSIVE!

So we bought the stuff and made them ourselves.

They turned out nicely, if I do say so myself!

(Steak, onion, orange bell pepper, baby bella caps)

He put them on the grill 

and they were DELICIOUS!

We also bought two racks of baby back ribs.

We've never cooked those either.

But he LOVES to eat them.

And since tomorrow is his birthday...

(And he doesn't like going "out" to eat...)

We are going to give them a try.

The garden was full of roses this morning.

Two reds and another little bud,

a white peace rose

and a couple purple ones on the other plant.

And a nice BIG rosemary plant.

(He put a sprig on the BBQ while we were cooking

the kabobs and BOY it smelled awesome!)

We finally got a couple red tomatoes too!

The yellow tomato plant has been super

prolific this season, but the reds have been

a bit behind...

Glad to see them finally ripening up!

Randomness

 It was a busy weekend!

Kyle brought us a load of hay on Friday afternoon.

It was a nice big, fresh roll, 

and wrapped in netting in the colors of the flag!

I thought that was cool!

Unfortunately, it exploded before it made it into the

cradle, and now there is hay EVERYWHERE.

The horses and cows are eating it up anyway though.

These are the noisy ducks.

I was on the phone with Mom and they were

making a LOT of racket!

We weighed the cows again, but first had to put one more

row of boards across the top because Baldy was thinking

he might like to jump out last time.

Rod is putting up a board and Kyle is messing with Beau.

I harvested my okra.

Guess I missed this one earlier...

He's a GIANT!

This is the size they are supposed to be picked!

I'm freezing the giant (I get a couple of those now

and again - okra are hard to find! they hide well...)

and one of these days I'll put them in a stew or something

to cook low and slow.

Should soften them up.

Today I don't have to work!

(Well, I did an hour this morning closing out last

week's classes, but that was it...)

So Kyle and I are going to the store to get

dog food and then we might hit the beach.

If it doesn't rain.

Which we are hoping it will because the pastures

could DEFINITELY use it!