Hey you can turn up the music now as I FINALLY changed it from New Moon to some great christmas music (before the season is over)! Sorry it took so long.

Three phrases that sum up Christmas are: Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men, and Batteries not Included. ~Author Unknown

December is always total craziness (in my head anyway). Christmas cards ordered and mailed out. Zoey's party planned and party items shipped to the correct address. Ice skating lessons finished up. One strawberry shortcake birthday cake prepared with only a couple of phone calls to the sis in law. We had Zoey's party at the bowling ally on Saturday. I forgot nothing this time. There were about 6 kindergartners there and as many siblings. Zoey had a blast. After that we went to a friend's house and stayed a little late. I was up for fellowship at church the next day (cooking and cleaning) so up at 6ish to start baking. Kids had Christmas program practice until noon. We took Zoey out for supper at a restaurant of her choice last night since we had a program to attend tonight and then I baked some pink cupcakes for Zoey's class birthday treat.

This morning she comes in my room and is excited that it is her birthday. She wants to know where the cake, presents and her friends are. She was extremely disappointed when I told her we already celebrated her birthday. "But today is my birthday and you have to have cake and presents and friends on your birthday." Well it wasn't so bad. I showed her, her pink cupcakes. She had a great day at school and got a hat that was signed by all her classmates and of course we saved a couple of presents for her to open after she got home from school. She is happy to be 6 and already telling us she wants to be 7.

Isaac had his school Christmas program tonight. He was an elf with a speaking part. Two whole lines and he did great. I did video the program ---so fam you know what we are doing when we get to MN. It was called the "The Littlest Christmas Tree" We have one more program to attend this week at church. Both of the kids will be sheep.

I can't believe that it is almost Christmas already and we will be traveling in about a week!! But actually I think we are almost ready. A few last minute gifts, but really we are about done. I have been spending my time studying. I will probably jinx myself for posting this, but I am applying for an online job position as a health coach for a company called sharecare.com. Please google it, its a cool website. It was designed by the Web MD guy and Dr.Oz. However, I have to do quite a bit of training and certifying. The health coach position will not be available on line to the public until after the new year. But once it is I will have a website up and going for any of your health and fitness needs. I will be able to work from home, plus it will drive business to me at the rec center and my massage. It is a very cool opportunity so I hope for smooth sailing. On top of that my performance enhancement advanced specialization has been updated and they would like me to take another test for that so that I would have an actual certification instead of just a specialization. So I am considering studying for that too.

With any luck pictures will be up soon and I will see you all next week:)

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. A couple of days late. Wednesday Isaac woke up with his croupy cough, a sore throat and a horse voice. Breathing was great tho! So I took the day off work, called the doc who had surgeries all day. She did call me back and we got him on his advair and steroids again. I wanted somebody to listen to him anyway. It was a very good sign that I couldn't hear him breathing from two rooms away, but I wanted to double check. I dropped Zoey off at Kindergarten and Ike to the school nurse. She was in a meeting so we waited. She didn't come so we went to Walmart to pick up his meds came back to see if she could have a listen and she still wasn't back yet. So I called one of the nurses I worked with when I was working with the school district and she was totally awesome. She listened to his lungs, throat, looked in his ears and throat, took his temp, his O2 stats and swabbed him for strep. We started him on his meds right away and gave him a nap so that I could send him out hunting in the brutal cold (and no docs for like 100 miles). and he totally sounded better in the morning!!! He had a great time visiting with family in Ekalaka Montana. Its a high light for him every year. Zoey and I just hung out. She helped me get ready for the open house at my office and she always loves being in charge. Friday we stayed in and baked. I really just didn't want to go anywhere. I did attempt some online shopping, but they were out of stock on everything I tried to buy:( oh well. Saturday Chris and Isaac came home with a deer. We had Eric and Justin over for supper and Justin's kids came too. I made apple cider that made my whole house smell just amazing! I also made cherry salad, green bean hot dish, sweet potatoes with apples, stuffing, gravey, cresent rolls and a blueberry sourcream pie. Chris fried the turkey and it was great. But I couldn't get the guys to finish off all the food. I tried, but still ended up with left overs. And now we are on to Zoey's birthday and then christmas. I will attempt to swich my new moon music out for some christmas music. New Moon is out anyway as Eclipse comes out friday at midnight. I wasn't really worried about getting it at midnight, but my neighbor's husband is going and picking up a few copies. Party at my house! and probably with some of that apple cider.

If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree. ~Jim Rohn

I guess I haven't blogged in a while and at some point I will have to check to see if I missed anything. But for now, I can accurately say we are staying busy and mostly healthy. I think the kids have a very minor cold which they may be trying to share with me.

Zoey is still in ice skating lessons and loves the boys teaching her. She works very hard and loves it. We had our first christmas program practice last night. I thought it was a little early, but I suppose until I decide to buck up and help--that's not really my decision. Isaac and Zoey are having some friends over for sleepovers this weekend that we are all looking forward to.

This morning Isaac made himself and Zoey eggs for breakfast but was not happy with the outcome. I told him he should eat as much as he could cuz they were still good and we shouldn't waste. He tells me "Mom, we could just put the yolks in the garden and the deer can come eat it. That is called sharing MOM." Yes, how could I forget about the sharing, silly me.

Well we had early release last week with a couple days off for conferences and next week we will also have early release on Wednesday with a couple of days off for the holiday. The boys are going to Montana as is the norm and Zoey and I are going to have a girls weekend--well except that I have decided to work on Saturday. But she will have a blast being my helper!

Proof of our society's decline is that Halloween has become a broad daylight event for many. ~Robert Kirby

Its cold out. Chris is hunting. By himself. Phone rang at 6am to see if Chris wanted to work today. Just sorta hanging out, I guess. Hopefully getting ready for the holiday weekend. The kids have fall festival tomorrow. Isaac's teacher will let him dress up as a pirate as long as he doesn't bring a sword, gun, hook or blood. I think Zoey can wear her costume. Kinda liked it better when you could have Halloween parties and the kids could wear their outfits more than once. We used to parade around the gym for everyone to see and I think we even had a contest for best costume. Apparently that wasn't fun. I do, however, have to remember to pack ALL of Isaac's shorts away--where he can't find 'em. He was so mad at me again this morning for not letting him wear shorts. It might get to 55 today, but we have snow and frost. I start my car early so I don't have to scrape it and he thinks just because dish network puts a sun on for today that he doesn't have to wear pants. I am just a meanie!!!

Zoey is doing well at ice skating. They are just doing learn to skate this session instead of the traditional ice skating (figure skating)levels. The hockey team is teaching them and I think its great. She did take a super crazy fall the other day. Didn't see what happened when she went down, but saw her tumbling across the ice and everyone heard her head. Good thing for helmets!!! She also recently got her second professional haircut. Its just above her shoulders and she got her bangs back. Its been so long since she has had bangs and I am so used to just braiding it or pulling it into a pony. I didn't quite get her hair dry before putting her to bed and had to take the iron to her spiky bangs. OOps.

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. ~Larry Lorenzoni

So much Bakugan you can't tell where one thing starts and another ends.

Isaac requested chocolate cupcakes with Bakugan rings.

Happy 8th birthday Isaac!!!

Who likes broccoli? Who likes spinich? That was the question of the day.

When Isaac initially opened his golf clubs he kinda tossed the box aside and I thought we could be getting out of his box phase. No such luck. The box will always be better than whatever you put in it! (Well except of Isaac himself of course)

Until you know that life is interesting - and find it so - you haven't found your soul. ~Geoffrey Fisher

Kind of an odd day. The kids had a day off school today. I told them they could sleep in this morning, which obviously was a mistake, cuz they were both up at 6:30am. So we made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Chris is so excited about not paying daycare anymore that I didn't fight him on it. But pretty much means I get extra days off too. It seems that in the past, if the kids had a day off I could just take them to the Rec Center with me on the days I was working there. But they gave the child care there the day off too. It was a great day to spend with the kids!! They had a jammy morning (Well we all did). But it was a very nice fall day out so I made them get dressed, packed a picnic lunch and we went to the Fishing Lake to eat and play at the park. The weather was fabulous and it smelled of fall. I took some pics of the kids playing. After we got back, the rain set in and it is pouring out!! Perfect timing.

The Viks play tonight and am super excited to watch them (as we only get a few of their games anyway).

Perhaps God gives us a physical body so that every time we change our mind, we won't be someone else. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

These are from the Big Horns a few weeks ago.

I haven't lost my mind; I have a tape back-up somewhere. ~Author Unknown

Our weeks are still busy, but definitely just normal chaos these days. Issac had his last soccer game of the season. He didn't make many goals this season, but stopped several! He really enjoyed it. Zoey had her last gymnastics session and will be starting ice skating next week.

Chris and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Last year for our 10th I felt that we had kinda hit a milestone, but at the same time I felt very old. We put in a new water heater, cuz ours had gone out. We did go out for a nice dinner but Isaac got hurt and the babysitter didn't tell us--don't think we have had a sitter since. So this year, I wanted to do something a little more special (even though we had a good time last year). So we spent Friday night in the Black Hills. We stayed at a bed and breakfast and ate at some good restaurants. The next day we went to Prairie Berry Winery and sampled some wines. I wanted to hike so much more, but Chris not only has been hunting and therefore hiking alot, but it bothers him to hike during hunting season and not be able to hunt at the same time. The drive through Spearfish Canyon was awesome though!! I should have stopped to take more pictures.

The kids' school pics came back this week and turned out great. Isaac is always so proud. He picks out his clothes and likes to dress up for them. Note the NEW dimple on his right cheek--that one is from day care last summer playing ninja. That poor boy's head:( Zoey the day before pics were taken had shredded her shirt during recess and had a mark on her forehead from headbutting my nose. So I was glad when they did the kindergarten first that morning and that her goose egg went away quickly.

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it. ~Author Unknown

Chris is hunting this week. Wayne drove out late Friday night and the kids wanted to see him before they left. So Saturday we all were up at 5am chatted with Grandpa til 6. The rugby team was traveling so we stopped by to see if anyone wanted to be taped. They did not have a good turn out--like 4 guys so I wished them luck and moved on to Isaac's soccer game that started at 8am. It was wet, windy and cold but the kids played well. Isaac spent the afternoon at a friends house so Zoey and I worked on the basement. Isaac wants a bakugon birthday party so I am trying to make the basement comfy and have a place for them to brawl. Monday was busy at work as well as afterschool. We had gymnastics at 4, soccer pics at 6 and soccer game at 6:30. So I attempted to plan ahead. I packed gymnastics gear, soccer uniform, snacks and sandwiches for supper inbetween events, the picture envelpoe with a check and waterbottles for both kids. When I pick up the kis I notice that Zoey is wearing a different shirt. She shreaded hers climing on a swing with the boys after the teacher asked her not to.We do well til I start to dress Isaac for pics and at the last minute I realized that I pulled a Jara and forgot soccer shoes. Bummer. Still had to rush home and rush back just in the nick of time for pics. As I am watching the game Zoey has an enormous amount of energy. She sings to me "missed me, missed me now you gotta kiss me." And as she finishes I bend down to kiss her at exactly the same time she jumps up to do the same. Her boney forehead cracks onto my boney nose. The noise was not pleasant and I saw stars. With my eyes gushing wet I decide to sit down for the rest of the game. It was bone to bone so just pain no injury. I soon thought "hey I can take a hit maybe I should play rugby" then I realized that the trainer lady would take no whiners. Nasty allergies with a bruised nose--you'd think I had some life threatening disease/injury. I'm a weenie.

Tuesday is picture day at school.

Like maybe two weeks before school started Wyoming passed a law that all students have to have two vaccinations for the chicken pox. They decided that 30 days was sufficient to get everyone vaccinated. I didn't know this. I got a letter last week from the school district saying that Ike needed another shot. I doubled checked my records and with public health. Zoey was fine but Isaac did need one more. Well the doctors offices are not giving the vaccine. Everyone in Campbell County has to go to Public Health. Not an issue but from the time I got the letter til the time they are required to have the shot there was only one full day to get it. I had planned on waiting cuz I new it would be a zoo. Next wednesday I figured would be less people even though they didn't offer it all day. Well my schedule changed as it often does so after I get done at the Rec Center I pick up Subway for lunch and pick up Isaac and hope the line moves faster than it looks. It was slightly shorter than it had been earlier. Isaac had checked the weather this morning and it said 70 degrees so I could not convince him to wear jeans-he wanted shorts. At this point I am thinking at the most a 3-3 1/2 hour wait. Still time to pick up Zoey, go to gymnastics and make it to my meeting at 5:30. It turned out to be a cold and cloudy day, but Isaac was not the only one in shorts. It was cold and the kids had nothing to do. I thought about leaving but it would have been cold, miserable hours I couldn't get back and we were moving a little. But we were not by the door yet when I needed to pick up Zoey. We don't have family here and Chris is out of town. So I impose on my neighbor to pick up Zoey after school (her daughter is also in Kindergarten). We waited at least 4 hours outside before we even got to the door. Shortly after we got in, one of the little girls right behind us pulled the fire alarm. She was very tired. Seconds before we were all just watching her lay on the floor and we thought she would rest. She wanted to see what it was. She was so scared. The thing was, that NONE of us in line was giving up our spot for a stupid fire and even the people in the waiting room that didn't know it was the little girl all just sat there. It seemed to take forever for the fire department to get there. Isaac says "Isn't the fire department supposed to put out the fore before it burns everything down?". They were wondering why NO ONE had evacuated. Three of them walk over to the alarm pulled and ask "Did you bring the key to reset the alarm?" And then slowly walk away. They also needed a code, but had to find the box the code went into and the one person in the county that HAD the code. We got there at 11:30am and got our number about 5pm. (Isaac was hungry and cranky by this time) Actually we were letter C. About 5:30 they realized that they mixed up the numbers and letters, said they were sorry for the mix up and lined us all up and out we went. Like three seconds for the shots (got him an extra so we don't have to do this next year). Missed gymnastics, picked up Zoey and headed to the meeting a half hour late. Couldn't find who I was supposed to meet so we went to supper at the choice of my children--KFC. Not appealing to me at the time, but I wasn't about to cook and they deserved the choice.

Tomorrow between 9am and 9pm I will be giving 8 massages and it will wipe me out--but I am also getting one tomorrow too and totally can't wait!!

Chris called today and sounded pretty down that Wayne had already gotten his elk. But I still have hope. He should be home Saturday. I am sad he will not be here on our anniversary, but we will celebrate the following weekend.

I'll clean this up a little, later. My computer was not cooperating tonight either.

Saturday was a full day. I went to Rugby while Ike played soccer. Ike's team did not win, but Isaac was able to stop a few goals while he played goalie. The rugby team didn't win either, but kept me busy with head lacerations that wouldn't stop bleeding. Talking those guys into getting stitches is like talking to a wall and after being certified for 9 years this was the first game I ran out of gauze. The day was absolutely beautiful though. Sunny and little wind. I got a sun burn:) Afterwards my family went to a friends house to play and have supper while I had a girls night out with Karina before she leaves Gillette (she's going to be a traveling PT so she can spend the winter in the warmer states). We did make it to church on Sunday, but the rest of the day I pretty much spent on the couch!!

Monday I thought I was doing great. Got stuff accomplished was home long enough to somewhat straighten up the house and get ready for Zoey's gymnastics. We get home and Chris says "Doesn't Isaac have a game tonight?" Well he did in 10 minutes. We got there in time, but it threw me off for the rest of the night. Darn it all:( Plus I have been just plain warn out from these NASTY allergies. I am ready to scratch my eyeballs out! So running around in a haze and trying to keep up with my constantly changing schedule and the kids--makes one tired momma. I did go buy more medicine today, which I was hoping to avoid, but that should help.

Chris is going to be hunting for a week. Kinda sad about that. He better bring me back something good to eat!

So this morning both the kids got up before I did and were dressed. In clothes that matched (not each other just the shirt and pants they had on). Isaac had already brushed Zoey's hair. They made breakfast. Shared most of it and brushed their teeth. There was no fighting, arguing, pouting or sass from anyone with each other or with me. I had no idea what to do with that so I just went with it and gave them each a high five. Plus we just bought Zoey new tie shoes and she tied one of them all on her own this morning!! What a day and its not even over yet.

A vacation is like love - anticipated with pleasure, experienced with discomfort, and remembered with nostalgia. ~Author Unknown

Labor Day weekend I just wanted to go camping. We really didn't get to go much this summer and I knew this would be our last chance. So at the very last minute--I convinced Chris we should camp in the big horns.

Chris took us to this beautiful spot. It was totally fabulous which meant the road to get there had me holding my breath for long periods of time. It was the kind of road that doesn't look like a road and you just hope that the next rock you drive over doesn't through you off the mountain. But beautiful and worth it. It got chilly that night. Frost in the morning. So I shared my sleeping bag with a cuddly Zoey.

The next day we fished there for a short while. I took lots of pics (to be posted a little later). We packed up and went to Meadow Lark Lake and let the kids fish some more. Zoey, of course caught the first fish and we got 7 total while sitting out in a perfectly sunny happy day.

We were all drop dead tired when we got back, but Chris fired up fast once he took a look at our garden. We were gone for just one night and the deer ate a good chunck of our garden and left fertilzer in return. We were pretty ferious--we just didn't expect them to jump our fence (not that its that high).

Sunday we went to Church and cleaned the house. Yesterday we tried to relax some, but I did give a massage so we were out and about some.

Today--back to school!!

I never think of the future - it comes soon enough. ~Albert Einstein

First day of school and random extras.

Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire. ~William Butler Yeats

Yesterday was the first day of school. The kids got up early and I made French Toast for breakfast. We walked on over and got Isaac off first as he had a whole regular day of school. Zoey didn't have orientation until 10am. Which of course is just a load of fun cuz all the parents get to come in and while the kids go on a tour of the school and read a book in the library--we sit in the little chairs and fill out paper work. But after I took Zoey out for lunch and she helped me some at my office. Isaac was supposed to go to his first soccer game last night, but school had totally wiped him out. So I went to go get his schedule and jersey. On my way over, I saw the gymnastics gym and decided to stop--so I got Zoey registered for Sept gymnastics two nights a week.

This morning Chris was off to work by 5am. But I heard noise just after 6. I could hear eating and whatnot. Isaac had fried himself an egg and cut himself a slice of cinnimon friendship bread for breakfast and then put the clean dishes from the dishwasher away. When he came in to wake me up he was already dressed and in an outfit that actually matched!! What a man!! He got stickers.

Today was Zoey's first full day at Kindergarten. We walked again and we found where she was to line up when the bell rings. Its was quite the ordeal with all the parents hanging out, some still taking pictures, kids not sure who their teacher is etc.... Mrs. Kremers came out and tried to line them up, sort them out and found a couple extras in the mix. But off Zoey went for the day. Unfortunately, I kinda forgot to tell Isaac that I would be at Zoey's door to pick her up when the bell rang at the end of the day--so even though we found eachother ok--he was not happy with me for not telling him where I was.

We went straight to gymnastics after school today and Zoey was elated!! Isaac got to tag along, but tomorrow he has soccer practice and hopfully that will go well. We now have something planned almost every evening for like the next two months--so a running I will be:)

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." ~Hans Christian Anderson

Here are a few pics from this summer. I had so many I hope I got what I needed to here. This starts at the end of July with us at Devil's Tower.

We went to Minnesota for a week. Didn't get any pics of paintball tho--I'll have to get on that next time.

Isaac lost a few teeth on the way.

Wayne caught an 11 pound catfish.



When Brandon came a few days later we went to the Big Horns and saw Tie Hack Damn and climbed to the lookout tower.

I went to the MS bikathon after that to give massages to the riders, pics posted later.

The week after that we went camping at Old Flume on the North side of the Big Horns (the cow pasture)

My kids had such a great time.


Shell Falls

Can't forget the Wyoming Moose.

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ~W. Edwards Deming (Thank you, Michelle.)

Just super excited that I finally got to go camping!! Dixie and Glen came for a visit and camped with us too so I hope it was all OK. Even though we camped in a cow pasture. Honestly, I have seen my share of cow pastures and have never thought to section one off to create a campground--guess its like a two for one for the owners. But we got to hike and fish. Zoey of course was the only one to catch a fish and Ike tried and tried with no luck:( We went to Shell Falls which was a good site seeing trip, but of course being afraid of heights I didn't exactly look over or through any of the chain link fence that they put right at the very edge of the cliffs.

Laundry day today. Open house for school tomorrow and school starts on Tuesday. So we are just making sure everyone has everything they need to start school this week and I think (so far anyway) we are on the right track.

God gave us two ends - one to sit on and one to think with. Success depends on which one you use. Head you win, tail you lose. ~Author Unknown

I was sad when I saw summer coming to an end. It is just starting to warm up!! But as I foresaw this, August still seemed to whiz by without my noticing:(

This week has been a very normal week. Not too much confusion, which for me is a good thing. But the reality of fall is upon us. I took the kids school supply shopping the other day. We went to Walmart which is like going people watching at the state fair, but without the fun rides. The isles were full and my kids had quite the time. I picked up their school lists, but of course Isaac insisted that he already knew what Zoey needed for Kindergarten since he had already been there. Zoey too, had a list in her head that she thought was perfect (and it probably wasn't so far off). I got Isaac registered for soccer, which starts next week. Zoey's age group had already filled so she is not going to do fall soccer, but I'll just register her for ice skating right away. We have also considered gymnastics, but it seems that at the age of only 5 my daughter has found an interest in the most expensive sports in town. So we will see if we do that soon or wait til next summer. So I am already thinking in my head how all these schedules will fit together as we don't have Isaac's soccer schedule yet, but after soccer he wants to do active kids again. I think that fits well, but having kids in different things at different times gets to be interesting.

Also now that summer is coming to a close things are starting to pick up at the rec center again and I am hoping to keep busy there. It will be different having Zoey in school on Fridays--possibly keep me more focused to work. Who knows?????

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. ~M. Kathleen Casey

This past weekend I volunteered to provide massage therapy at the MS Bikathon in Sundance. It was a very interesting experience. I miss working events like that--I haven't since I lived in MN.

Anyway it was 2 days of about 100 degree heat and 20-30 mile an hour winds. I was in town of course, but my tent where I was giving the massages actually blew down once--so I can't really imagine how aweful it was for the riders. I stayed until the very last ones came in, and glad I did. The last one in was a girl who came all the way from Oregon and she biked the 2 day 160 mile bikathon with MS. People come from all over and are so caring and compassionate. I love to surround myself with such possitive energy and amazing people.

The more I practice, the luckier I get. ~Jerry Barber, about golf

Feeling much more caught up and productive today:) Yea! Plus I am excited that football season, rugby season and soccer season are here.

If you come to a fork in the road, take it. ~Yogi Berra

Things haven't really slowed down here yet and I am not really expecting them to anytime soon. After we got back from MN Isaac woke up early the next morning haveing breathing problems. I had refilled his Advair before we went to MN in case he needed it there so I gave him a dose of that and sent him to the showers. I didn't really know how long the Advair took to work or really if it had much of an effect on him since I give him so many other things too. I asked him how he was feeling after his shower and he was still feeling pretty cruddy but he was feeling good enough to joke through it. After I asked him he says "But Mom I can sound like an old grandpa" with all smiles. I called the Doc and she prescribed his usual dose of asteroids (steroids), but this time I didn't wait for the pharmasist to bug his eyes out at the high dosage. Ike says they still taste terrible and should be grape flavored. I didn't have to take much time off work for the whole ordeal. He was breathing better before noon and he tagged along with me for the next few days. He answered my phone for me while I gave massages. The Doc wanted to see him the next day and I just scheduled it when she had her first opening, which originally was a poor time for us to go, but my schedule magically worked itself out so I could still have time for everyone.

By Thursday Brandon and Chloe were here. Its always fun when Brandon comes--well except that we were reshingleing the house so that probably wasn't the most fun we had ever had--but you know. They got the whole thing done by Sunday, which was super awesome, plus we had time to tour the mountains on Saturday. They stayed til early this morning so that we could all celebrate Chris's 35th birthday on Monday. After Chris got done with work they went to Devil's Tower (while I worked, bummer). We went out to Slices for pizza that night and had ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.

Today I did my best to find our regular routine. The kids were up late last night and I woke them up this morning and sent them both off to day care. It was an extremely slow go. So I am staying up tonight doing dishes and laundry and work things and catch up a little on my blogging.

I so totally can't believe that school starts in like two weeks. I am going to have all my children in school--all day--everyday. No daycare at this point in time so it seems that for a while I will be working more than usual this fall, but by the time Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around I won't be working so much between vacation and professional days. Gillette gets a lot of professional days and I am not always sure what the teachers do those days, but it means no school. So things will feel different from just daycare, plus daycare was kinda nice cuz I could pick her up when I wanted. Or like if I was running behind--no worries cuz they don't close til 6:30pm. Which really only gives me extra time in the summer when Isaac is also not in school, but still. It really gives me a lot less one on one time with them. They will always be together (usually fighting).

You sure can pick them, Bella. This movie really sucks. (Jacob Black, New Moon)

So have you guessed where I got my music from? This is the music stuck in my head all day long cuz I have watched New Moon way too many times. So I thought I'd share and get it stuck in your head too.

A good friend is cheaper than therapy. ~Author Unknown

We attempted a trip to MN and with all of the things we needed to fit in and all the things we didn't get to do--STRESSFUL does not even begin to describe it. I am still recovering from super sticky messes and ants not to mention Isaac woke up early on Monday with his horrible croup breathing again. Luckily I had his Advair refilled before we left for MN, so with a dose of that and the Doc started him on steroids before even seeing him he is now feeling much better. I do need to go out and get more Clariton it seems as Isaac, Zoey and I are all coughing. So Isaac has been hanging out with me the last few days being my receptionist. Which is really cute. Zoey is going in tomorrow for more shots and of course she wants her brother there, not for support, but to show him how tough she is. Hopefully Brandon will be here Thursday and the guys can get a start on shingeling the roof.

We are in motorcycle heaven here with the Sturgis Bike Rally going on (I should totally catch a concert), football starts monday and I will be giving massages at the MS Bikeathon on Aug 22/23.

Sometimes life's Hell. But hey! Whatever gets the marshmallows toasty. ~J. Andrew Helt

I am so sorry I have totally been ignoring my blog. I don't even know when I posted last.

Isaac finished up his baseball season and even played catcher (reluctantly). They had a good season. Not all that focused or anything, but I was very proud of Isaac and Chris too for taking on all those crazy kids.

We just finished up swim lessons. We had to buy Isaac (and therefore Zoey too) goggles. His eyes got really itchy, red and watery from the water and his teachers said that having the goggles actually helped him quite a bit. He can float on his own and loves diving for the rings on the bottom of the pool. Zoey can almost float by herself and loves to push off from the side. She has some difficulty putting her head under the water and blowing bubbles. She is willing to do it with equipment (goggles and those super tight nose plugs). Then every night for free time they got to go on the lily pads which was a ton of fun for them. They both passed. But I have not signed them up for more yet, because we will be on vacation next week.

We (Chris)have planned a trip back to MN for a week. We will leave Monday after Chris gets done with work. I think Tuesday we are going to the Freeborn county fair. Wednesday we are going to Valley Fair. We were planning on going up north Thursday and Friday, but those days are under scheduling construction. I will be going to the Cities Friday and Saturday tho to spend some much needed time wtih my girly friends (seriously I don't think I have seen you since 2008). Saturday Chris is going to play some paintball. If anyone has anything to add or just wants to join in--let me know.

Chris burnt his leg last week. He was putting in a dish at the Harley shop and backed into a hot bike. We didn't go to the doc, but on Thursday it was getting red and tight so I had some friends look at it. He played 24 of softball (or something like that) on it and is doing absoulutly fine. He did attend the softball tourney in Bellfoush. He left at 6:30pm on Friday night. I think they were scheduled to play their first game at 9pm. I hadn't heard from him the next morning so I called him and they had played their second game like at 6am and had another game noon. He didn't get back until 6:30pm on Saturday. They got second in the Beer division.

I have been sharing an office with Rachel Nava. She is an excellent massage therapist, but has decided to retire from that and move on to other things. So I have been deciding on if I need to find a new location or if I can handle this one all by myself. I tried to get into the Rec Center since we have been talking about that since I moved here, but if they chose to start massage it won't be until after the new year. It would have been nice to have them do all my paperwork for me, but we'll see. For now I am going to stay at the same location and possibly look for someone else to share the office with. I have been marketing like crazy. I had no idea I could be this social! Wyoming has passed licensure for athletic trainers so I had Dr. Kioshos sign for me and I spent the day with him at the clinic last week. Everyone was awesome to work with and now I have one more piece of paper to hang on my wall.

Isaac lost another tooth on Friday night before he went to bed. But I am so glad his top tooth finally came in. He looks good with teeth.

Jared and his family came out the weekend before the fourth of July. It was a short stay, but very enjoyable. We went to watch Isaac play baseball and I was surprized at how well the kids played together. I really wanted to go home for the fourth of July and was this close to doing it. My grandpa (who is like 86) celebrated his wedding reception on the fourth of July. It was supposed to be so that all the family could meet and I would have been able to see dad. But between spending $600 on my license and then realizing that we would have traveled back the same day as the party and my kids wouldn't have gotten to see fireworks--we decided against it. Instead we spent the day in Rapid doing some fun things with the kids and then Sunday we watched the fireworks here. Gillette always has good ones.

Our garden is growing. Yay. It is finally starting to get hot here. Our grass is drying up like it should have in June. Chris built the kids a new playhouse with a rope wall and a slide. We have put off redoing our roof. Not sure the expected date now, but still willing to take helpers.

Well, its sunny and hot out (may be even humid which is not normal for here) so I have to go. I might even stop at the library to see if Twilight is in yet. Seriously, I never thought I would be a fan--EVER. But I am going to have to read the books. Who knew:)

A day with Isaac

Well look at me! I went to Enrichment with Isaac today. It is his last day and he thought I would like it. So far we have listened to a folk story, flown kites, made homemade icecream and butter and had lunch. It has been interesting and now we are sitting in Techno Tooles. With it being the last day everyone just has free time on the computer. Most are playing games, but Isaac and one of his school mates are on linerider.com. They create a path (a line) for a little sledder dude to ride. The sledder dude crashes alot. Defnately pictures to follow. Actually he has one class left--Elementary Sports--where he gets to go bowling. However, I did not know that he was going bowling today and I did not send him with any socks.

I am so glad he has this class but the computer I am using does not have an "N" key and that seems to be annoying as I am using that button more than I thought I would. However, now finally we are having some warm sunshine:)

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds

So much is going on these days. A couple nights ago, I went to the Rec Center to work out and as I am enjoying the purpley sky and lightening, I am listening to the radio let me know that we had a tornado watch until midnight. I was just hoping that if a tornado came they would let me know in time as I was working out on the second floor of a glass building! We did not get much interesting weather that night, I don't really even think it rained. We did get really nasty wind that woke us all up the next morning. The tornado that was supposed to hit apparently moved on to Minnesota and destroyed quite a bit of southern Minnesota. I have only seen a few pictures posted on Amy's blog. But while buildings are still standing much repair will need to be done at my in laws and they apparently lost a lot of trees, down power lines, crazy stuff.

We have been getting more rain than normal still, but it hasn't slowed us down much. However, instead of working on the house (as I have such high intentions of doing) I instead have been watching movies and reading books. Isaac once in a while will claim that he doesn't like kids camp, but is so excited to tell me about his day and loves to pack his lunch. They have been making play dough, paper airplanes and contests, making homemade ice cream, swimming and playing games. He had finished up his first week at Enrichment. We finally got the bus schedule figured out after a call to the bus barn. The first day we waited, but it was late and I just didn't have the time, so I dropped him off myself. But since then he rides it there and back everyday about 20 minutes each way. I do get nervous about him finding the right bus, but I haven't lost him yet. He is taking storytelling/art. He got to do watercolor the first day and after that he worked with clay. He is taking kids concoctions which is just crazy. The first day he came home with oobleck (goo) which is a colloid and I was forced to not only recall what a colloid was but name the three colloids in my refrigerator. The second day he brought home several different types of polymers and he has made homemade sidewalk chalk and a rainbow in a baggie (its pretty, but I'm not really sure what to do with it). He is taking techno tooles. He doesn't really bring anything home from that class except homemade stickers--its kinda a computer class. He is also taking elementary sports. He did plyos on the first day and he's only seven.

In addition to this we have been attending baseball and softball games. Isaac usually plays catcher, but two games ago he got hit several times and a couple of times where he had no padding. He didn't get hurt, but that doesn't mean it didn't suck and so of course he doesn't want to play catcher anymore. He has become afraid of the ball, but I was so glad Chris got him to play a little bit of catcher in the last game. Not that he needs to play that position, but I really want him to get over his fear.

So the days are filling up and filling fast. I don't think I will be home for Grandpa's Wedding Reception, but who knows if I show up on a whim. I don't really want to miss it. But we are still working on the house. My car will get some of the hail damaged fixed next week and we will hopefully now by then how the roof faired as well. Anyone want to come help roof????

Thought I had a quicky moment to blog, but I got a little sidetracked. I hope it turned out ok. Guess I will post a little later.

Man cannot live on chocolate alone, but woman sure can. ~Author Unknown

Random late night rambling---

What a day!! Actually yesterday I was sick and got nothing done in the house. At All. The past few days I was having allergies and figured I should just suck it up. So we went to church and blessed the motorcycles for safe travels. And that was it for me. By the afternoon I couldn't turn my head and finally decided to check my temp--100.1. But the kids were good and both slept through the night. This morning my phone rings at 5:30am. Usually not a good sign in recent months, but it was just the rec center and I had missed it--It rings again. A personal training client askes "Is this the right day? Did we have an appointment today?" "Yes, we have an appointment at 5:30 this evening." She is not sure if that time works for her, I am not really awake--told her I'd call her back.

It is the first full week out on summer break. Last night Ike was not too excited about starting kids camp. I say"you don't want to play at the new rec center all day?" "Oh, its at the new rec center and we can swim and play games?" Yup--at the very same place you always ask to go to silly. So he packed his lunch this morning. He loves bringing a lunch as well as putting it together himself. However, I just realized some of the problem we had with this last year. I don't always clean out his lunch box until the next morning which tends to leave us short on ice packs. OOPS. So I drop Zoey off at daycare--reassuring her that she WANTS to play with her friends. I get Isaac to the rec center, but we go in the main rec center door instead of the enterance for the field house so we walk around wait in line to be registered. As we walk into to field house Isaac says "This isn't a farm." I am not sure if he thought they called it a farm house or if he just thought fields and farms went together, but it was kinda funny. I try to figure out which line is for his age group and wait in the wrong line so we head to the back of the longest line. Get him registered and off I go. My first client is personal training so I just need to head back to the rec center, but am running later than usual. Turns out fine as my client is also running late. But with massages to give right after I am still my frantic self. My schedule changed a few times. Gave three back to back massages. Now its after 4 and I have not picked up any of my children. Kids camp ends at 5 as does the kids zone that usually watches my kids if I have after school clients. So I pick them up and attempt to drop them off at home with Chris, but just like my day his schedule has also changed and he is not home. We travel back to the rec center--I don't change into my workout clothes just change shoes and the three of us wait for my last client to show up. Without day care I was hoping to have the kids play basketball, cuz I think they are old enough to be in there and I can pretty much see them from whereever I am at. But Zoey is mad that I don't let her run laps in the field house and I am trying to keep both of them close to me until my client arrives so they watch the rock climbers for a while. We did go play some basketball for a short time, but the "I can call you at 5am lady" never showed. So irritating!!! But Isaac did enjoy kids camp today. He made a boomerang and played at the park. Some kids from his class were there for him to play with. By the time we got home it was after 6 and we were all hungry and tired and wouldn't you know it--the chef forgot to show up too--so we had pizza for supper--from the freezer. Now to play catch up from yesterday--no one can find their clothes (even the ones IN their dressers).

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood

Chris went to the Mule Deer Banquet a few weeks ago and looky at what he won. Yup a brand new Winchester (that we have put in the hands of our children). The raffle ticket came with his beer glass and was the only thing he purchased all night. He was more than excited!!!!!

Zoey's soccer season is over and tho the springtime wind was not all that pleasant--she very much enjoyed herself.

Isaac has started baseball. He totally loves it!! Mostly he plays catcher and with this brings a new manly milestone. His first cup.

Chris is the coach of Isaac's baseball team. He enjoys it, but has found out that it is a little more work than he thought it might be. So far we have had a couple of games rained out, but they are doing pretty good.

Our garden was quite a project this year. I marked it out last year with the existing railway ties. This year we pulled out all the grass, tilled it a few times and planted some strawberries, watermelon, pumpkins, cucumbers and corn. We are not sure how it will go just seeing what will happen.

So I don't know really what's all going on. When its sunny the neighbor girls are over a lot to play with the kids. Last week Zoey finished preschool (forever) which kinda makes me sad. She knows now that she has to wait till fall to start kindergarten, but keeps asking me when the fall time is. It will truly be a long summer for her. Isaac had his last day of first grade today and I let him have a friend over for the night. For now Zoey will just be attending her daycare for the summer. No major plans just yet as gymnastics is leaving Gillette. With no high school gymnastics brings no free program. The same lady is still running a free activity program, but its not specifically gymnastics. There are some club programs that are crazy expensive, so we just have to see. Swim lessons are somewhere in the future. Ike on the other hand is signed up for baseball, kids kamp at the rec center and enrichment so he will be super busy at least through July and then sign ups again.

Yesterday we had some medical fun. Isaac woke up about 5:30 am with his nasty croupy cough. I gave him some of the delsym that the doc had suggested I bring to MN with me and sent him to the showers. He sounded better so I took him to the school nurse first. She listened to him with wide eyes and asked if I had medicine for that. She was very concerned. So I took him to the doc. And I tell you--I have never seen one person mystify and scare so many docs all at once. He freaks them out!!! She says " I think we should start steroids, but I wish I could see in there and see what's going on." Not surprising from Dr. Thomas she is very hands on. She asks me if she thinks the ears nose throat doc will remember him from December. Well duh? Every doc in Gillette was staring at him in amazement. So she calls him (in hopes of a scope, which she doesn't get) but he says to add Advair and an epipen to the prescription. Fine. Whatever. So we wait forever at Walmart to get our prescription filled and the pharmacist reads the bottle of steroid to me AND THEN realized how high of a dose that is. He asks Isaac how old he is and goes and talks to the other pharm guy who totally agrees that it is a high dose. Isaac is taking the HIGHEST dose you can give a 7 year old without turning his insides out. Pretty much they all think he is going to stop breathing at any moment--hence the epipen. I obviously don't want machines to breath for him again and I understand that medicine in the past has not always worked, but I still feel some over reacting going on. Plus the advair he takes twice a day was super expensive and I have no way of knowing if he is actually sucking all the medicine out--so that bugs me. If I am paying for it and want to know if it is helping or not I want to know if its actually in him or not. Oh well. I sent him back to school after the doc app and he went to school with out restriction today as well.

And for some good spring fun we had a super hail storm. We were actually got hit moderately as south of us got his less and north got hit harder. We had about ping pong size stones while north of us got the golf ball size hail. We did get damage. Our garden got hit pretty good and all of our vehicles. I don't know the outcome of our roof yet. It was craziness and lasted much longer than I anticipated, but we got hit twice that night. There was some minor flooding and I am always amazed at how hail just accumulates and has to be removed like snow.