County Fair & Rodeo

      We live about a mile from our County fairgrounds and every July the place just lights up.  It definitely brings our little town to life.  Being back to work at the County has its perks too.  Every fair season they offer free tickets and parking passes to employees and their family.  With that expense out of the way, we splurged and bought the kids wristbands for unlimited rides.  They were so excited.  They rode all evening long.  I even had a couple of turns on the swings with them.  Oh how that brought back memories of growing up.  One of the coolest vendors at the fair this year was an Exotic Animals exhibit.  They had some pretty cool exotic animals and some freakishly creepy spiders and snakes.  I literally ran out of the spider exhibit!  The other aspect of the fair that I enjoy is the rodeo.  The night we went was the kids rodeo which isn't quite as enjoyable, but fun for a while.  I think we all left that night feeling that we got our moneys worth.  We had fun, we ate completely unhealthy fair food, but it was oh so worth it!    

Trying To Understand Austin

      Over the past year, I feel that I have really tried hard to understand my son, Austin, who is now 11 years old.  The older Austin gets the more complicated he is for me to figure out.   We have a lot of similarities, but we are also very different.   For example, I am a social butterfly.   Its embarrassing for me to admit this, but I love to be the center of attention.   I love spending time with my friends, and be right in the thick of things.   Austin on the other hand enjoys friends, but he doesn’t need them to be happy.   Probably about half of the time he passes up opportunities to play with friends so he can do his own thing.   Because this is foreign to me, I tend to worry about his behavior.   Is he shy, is he insecure, is he being bullied?   These are all things I worry about!

       I expressed my concerns with Spencer about this and he in turn had a heart-to-heart talk with Austin to see how comfortable he is with himself.   I was very surprised at what I learned.   I learned that I am more concerned with how others view Austin than Austin is.   He is completely comfortable with who he is.   He isn’t out there doing things he doesn’t want to do for attention.  He isn’t compelled to go out of his way to fit in, he is happy just being himself.   I wish I would have grown up possessing those qualities.   For me, it’s a struggle that has taken lots of years to overcome.  Some days its still a struggle, to be quite honest.   It is SO extremely important to me that my kids grow up feeling secure and I just worry about them.   Now that I understand Austin a little better, I am grateful that he is comfortable simply being himself.   I no longer see him as quirky, like I once did, aside from being a socially awkward 11 year old boy!

Michael & Savannah's Wedding

      Our nephew, Michael, was married last July in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, which is located in the eastern part of the state.  It was a beautiful wedding, but I did not anticipate the heat we would be in!  The temperature was 100 degrees and it was, of course, an outdoor wedding.  Because of this fact we ended up spending more time in the car (one way) than at the actual wedding & reception.  It was miserable!  The wedding itself was really nice though.  When Savannah walked down the aisle, Michael sang the song, "When you say nothing at all".  It took me by surprise because for 1) I did not realize Michael could sing!  Holy Cow!!  And 2) I didn't expect him to just bust out in song.  I literally had tears in my eyes.  I am extremely disappointed that I didn't take any pictures of the happy couple.  How did I miss that!? 

      Because of the extreme heat, the kids were just dying to soak their feet in the little stream that ran through the property.  Before I knew it the kids had changed and had found a small section that ran a little deeper.  They were all over that.  I can't blame them.  Had I have brought a suit I would have been in there too!  

 

Bullseye Award

See, all that time spent at the Archery Range taught him something, lol!

 

Archery Range

      During the summer months our family can be found frequently at the archery range.  What is so great about an archery range you might ask?  Well if you know anything about golfing, then you will understand an archery range.  Instead of 18 holes, you have 40 targets.  Similarly, you walk from target to target, each with a different shooting distance and 3-D animal.  It is a blast!  As a family we take turns trying to see who gets closest to the bulls eye.  It's a fun activity our whole family can enjoy, and you never know what fun little surprises might be around the next corner; like a life-size zombie.  

The Fun Run

      One of the largest fundraisers that our school holds every year is the Fun Run.  The kids are encouraged to get pledges, either by a lump sum, or you can pay per lap as the kids run around the track at school for 20 minutes.  Each participant runs with a card and as they pass by you, completing their lap, you add a tally mark to their card.  It's a great way to earn a large amount of money while encouraging the kids to be active.  I love it!  This year I was free to volunteer my time to help during two of the runs.     

      I started out helping during the time Andrew's class was running.  Andrew was a champ!  It was his first year participating and he is just as competitive as any 6th grader out there!  At one point during his run he slowed down and said, "Mom, I'm tired."  I told him he was free to walk.  He walked about 5 steps and then took off running again.  Yep, he's his mamma's boy for sure, competitive.

      The next, and final group I was able to help with, were the 6th graders.  I was really looking forward to seeing how much effort Austin was going to put into this run.  Watching the 6th graders come out was HILARIOUS!!!  You could tell right away that this "Fun Run" was about to turn into a competitive race.  Austin's teacher, who also coaches football and basketball, had his class doing jumping jacks and push-ups to warm up.  It was so funny!         

      I am proud to announce that all of my boys did a great job running!  They raised over $30 to go towards the school.  Cameron ran the most laps around the track.  He ran a total of 9 laps, which was the equivalent of 2.5 miles in 20 minutes.  Andrew and Austin both ran 8 laps in 20 minutes, which equaled 2.15 miles each.  And Andrew brought home a medal for running the most laps in his grade.   Great job kids!!

Self Portraits

I love finding little treasures like these on my camera roll!

Dumpster Diver

      I’m not the kind of Mom who keeps every little drawing or A+ paper that my children bring home.  Now with that said, I am a very sentimental person though when it comes to awards or journals, or when I feel a drawing is just too cute; I stash those away in scrapbooks.  But apparently, this does not jive well with Cameron.  He doesn’t want to get rid of anything.  More times than I can count I have thrown away something that he has done and 9 times out of 10 that paper suddenly resurrects itself.  It doesn’t matter if whatever I have thrown away is buried in the bottom of the trash, he WILL dig and find it.  The funny thing is I never see him do it!  For example, just the other day he brought home a drawing he drafted of Captain Underpants.  It sat on the counter for several days until I finally pitched it in the garbage.  Two days later, it was magically sitting on the snack bar.  It cracks me up!  And the funny part is he doesn’t call me out on throwing anything away.  It is all done in silence.  He is definitely a Dumpster Diver! 

Sagittarius

      As I've stated before, I love to read my horoscope!  Not necessarily because I believe in astrology, but more or less because the analogies that are used really gets me thinking.  In light of Spencer's current job situation I decided to see what his horoscope for today was, and I found it quite interesting.  This is what it says:

 

          "In Alaska the climate is very different from most other places in America. 

          The temperature is generally much cooler or colder depending on the time

          of year, and summer doesn't last as long.  But those who were born there,

          and even those who relocate there, adapt to the conditions.  To an Alaskan,

          a forty-degree day at a certain time of the year might feel sweltering.  There

          has been or will be a change in your life, Sagittarius, but you will adapt. 

          And soon enough you will understand the beauty of the change.  It has many

          facets, and eventually you will realize how it can only add to your life in good

          ways." 

 

      Do you see why I enjoy reading horoscopes?  Sometimes they say just the right thing, in the right way, that really makes you think they were meant for you; or in this case, Spencer.    

 

Test of Faith -or- Blessing in Disguise

      The last couple of weeks my heart has just ached for some friends I know who's lives have been turned upside down.  I continually pray for them to receive the peace they need.  As their friend, the only thing I feel that I can do is to remind them who they can turn to for peace.  I have also prayed that if I was to be tested that my faith would be unshakable.  That I would never forget who to turn to.  I don't know if God decided to take that as a challenge, or if He is simply trying to bless my family in a-round-about way, but my test has now come.  Last Friday on Spencer's commute home he received a phone call from his boss and was told that he is being laid off in two weeks.  I'll admit I was frustrated that he was laid off via telephone, but I think we both actually have a sense of peace about the whole thing.  The reason for the layoff is due to budget cuts.  I honestly don't know if their thinking is rational because the stores are going to continue to have major maintenance issues with no maintenance man, but I guess they will figure it out. 

      It is ironic the timing of his layoff though.  Seeing as how I have been working lately we have a reserve built up that we otherwise wouldn't have had.  I recognize that as a blessing!  We aren't sure yet what his plan of action will be.  He has already been in communication with a couple of possibilities, but he is also contemplating the idea of starting his own business.  I'm leaning more towards the first option.  Now is when we have to really rely on prayer and fasting.  I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that this will turn out to be a blessing in disguise and that greener pastures lay ahead.  We shall see...