A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent

Summer time is coming, here....wait I mean almost over. We had a slow start to summer with it actually raining in Gillette this year. It was cool, but nice to see green grass. We had a couple of warm spells, but yesterday the high was 60 (degrees Fahrenheit). We should be sitting pretty close to the hundreds by now. Whatever, my strawberries I tried to save from my yard didn't die because the sun fried them. No, I watered them everyday and then realized we had no sun (and or warmth) to keep them alive. Crazy.

The deck is going great! Nearly all framed up. Don't step out there yet, it'll be a while before it is finished, but going well. Chris bought a new Dodge Ram. I totally love it and hope he does too. The other one--well it was really time to say good-by.

Isaac has just finished up his t-ball season. He did so well this season. But just to clarify he played t-ball on an old fashioned lets play some ball kinda team. No uniforms, no specific other teams, just show up and we will play. I think Chris was somewhat disappointed, but for learning purposes I think the $24 team was very worth it compared to the much more serious $200 team. He enjoyed it. He learned a lot. I think? Today was the last day. Not many showed up, surprisingly. But they got to use the pitching machine which was a lot of fun.

I had recently taken some pictures of our friend Eric on his brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle and debated if it was blog worthy since most of you probably have not met him. Chris met him working with Dish Network and lived with him last spring/summer. Eric currently works at the power plant and was burned on 20% of his body. He was airlifted to Colorado with 2nd and 3rd degree burns. My nephew had an accident, nearly lost his toe and were excited to know it wasn't his whole foot. He is recovering well, but having to miss out on a lot of end of summer activities.

Hunting season is soon approaching. Already. So Chris and his Dad are scouting Pinedale to see how the hunting is this year. While they are gone, my mother-in-law and niece are staying with us. I do love the company. I always get so excited when nieces and nephews come to visit since I very rarely get to see them or spend much time with them.

I have been so upset with time, how fast it goes, the fact I don't know how to pause real time while still catching up on my own things. I just didn't think the summer was going to go so fast. There are still things I would like to accomplish, but I am going to a wedding next weekend. (Totally can't wait to see everyone!!!!) Its Chris's birthday the weekend after that. Then there is one weekend left, (of which I would like to go camping since I have not yet this year) before Isaac starts school. Yup. Only a few short weeks before school is here and fall sets in. Sept of course starts hunting season, so I am feeling somewhat smothered. In a good way of course, but I could use some summer heat and a little more time!

Cheerfulness is what greases the axles of the world. Don't go through life creaking. ~H.W. Byles

Random things that Jara likes:

• When my two year-old niece Libby says "yeah" as a 2 sylable word.
• When Zoey says "tweets" instead of peeps.
• When Isaac says "I'm keepin it in my brain" meaning speaking silently to himself.
• When Zoey sings All I wanna do hoo hoo hoo by Sugar Land
• When Zoey says "If you are nice Mom, I'll let you live in the tree house."
• When Zoey says "Mom, let's have brownies for supper with M&Ms on top. We have to buy the M&Ms, but they are only 62 bucks. I can buy them for you."
• "Good job Isaac!" "It was nothin Mom." After a really good bout of soccer.

Well it was more like random Soost quotes, but they were all good times and made me smile.

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. ~Jimmy Johnson

Here we are at Devil's Tower. It is the first time I have been there since we moved back to Gillette and I do like to go there. We were able to meet Ron and Denise (Chris's Uncle and Aunt) and Jack (Chris's 7 year old cousin) and spend the day with them.

The kids loved to go off the path and climb on every rock they could touch. Its a good day for them-they have a good time and then take a great nap on the way home!

Towards the end of our hike the kids found a porcupine and we watched it scurry under a rock. Just glad it didn't poke us for being so nosey.

If you wonder where your child left his roller skates, try walking around the house in the dark. ~Leopold Fechtner

Isaac has had the most boring week a 6 year-old could have. He felt much better on Monday so it was very difficult for him to listen when I would tell him to lay down, take it easy, slow down. That night his symptoms came back and he realized the rest of the week he should take it easy. No t-ball, no kids camp, mostly hanging out with Mom. It wasn't all bad, he still went to the adventurarium on Wednesday as well as a sleep over at Solem's. And on Friday we went to Devil's Tower with Ron, Denise and Jack. It was good to catch up and hang out with them for the day.

This week is busy with work, birthday parties and meetings. It will be good to get back to the regular grind and not be freaked out about my kids' head. Usually I just have to make sure my concussed athletes are sitting down for the 2-3 hours after school, which is hard enough, but all stinking day is a huge challenge!

As for an update on the house--we (meaning Chris) tore down the decrepit old deck. Yep, we are deckless, but hopefully the new one will get started soon.

My Husband Says He's Broke--Can You Fix Him?

O.K I kinda have a lot of catching up to do. May be some splanin, but here it is.

Chris planned a vacation to MN. I didn't know I was going to get the chance to come with him until the last minute. So if I missed you that would be why. I was on his iterary and mostly just along for the ride.

We played some paintball and visited some the first days we were there. I didn't take many pics until the last days of vacation. Probably should have gotten some paintball pics. We went to Iowa on Sunday and drove to Garrison from there. Fishing was cold and windy the first days. I honestly don't remember the misquitos being nearly big enough to carry Zoey away. Guess I have been away for too long.

We spent a day up in Longville to fish on Little Boy Lake.

Yeah, I don't know what's under there either.

This was not the BIG fish!

We did some Turtle Racing and yes it was a huge fiasco like before. I went out with two kids and found out that I cannot handle putting numbers on two turtles at the same time. So I set Isaac's down (he didn't want to hold it) and Ike chased it around the ring. While I was getting Zoey's number, her turtle scratched her and she dropped it on his poor little head. He should have ducked. This was the first warm sunny day and we totally enjoyed ice cream from Frosty's.

Honestly, we had a better place for him to sleep. I promise! But he loves to sleep in the chair. We moved him during the night, but he still ends up here.

I LOVE MY uncle Aaron. " We don't fight. We love eachother."

Ike and Papa

That sunburn looks like it hurts.

Lets go watch a Twins game!

We got our faces painted for the occasion.

Trainer! Trainer! What would the team do without their Certified Athletic Trainer?

Short Stop

Go Twinkies! But we have a lot of traveling left could you please do it in under 16 innings? We left after the 10th inning, but had we stayed we totally would have gotten our money's worth. Almost two games for the price of one.

One minute my kids were running through the sprinklers in the back yard and the next minute it was heavy rain and some hail. Who woulda thought?

So why were we in the house before the hail started? My kids put the sprinkler under the climbing dome and started climbing. Yes, I was aware of this. Well, it was slippery and Ike fell and hit one of the bars on the way down with his head. He had an instant concussion. It wasn't bad, but we had a calm afternoon. At bed time his headache got worse and he came upstairs complaining of nausia. Once he threw up we decided to go to the ER. They gave him some tylonal and meds for nausia. I swear we waited forever-but I was home in less than two hours from the time he vomited! He has zero symptoms today and it is very difficult to get a 6 year old boy to lay down all day when he thinks he is just fine.

I made a pan of chocolate chip cookie bars yesterday also. Who needs a spoon to clean out the bowl when your tonge works just fine?!