Hazy days

I'm sorry it has taken so long to post. Things were kind of busy over the weekend and I played catch up on Monday. The big news around here is a fire that started on Tuesday morning. It started in Emerald Hills and grew from 50 acres the first few hours to 1,100 by that night and is now at around 5,000 acres. Many homes are in harms way but praise God the firefighters have saved all but 2 so far. The fire is still uncontained and winds overnight and this morning have made things pretty harsh. They evacuated all of Emerald Hills Tuesday and that mandatory evacuation is still in effect. They also temporarily evacuated an area close to Hwy 87. They have brought in a Type 2 incident command team and FEMA will kick in I guess. So that should help. Although our firefighters have done
an awesome job so far!!!
If you are interested in seeing what is going on go to montanasnewsstation.com or kulr.com for more information. There are pictures and video clips. Anyway that is what has kept me from blogging. Oh yeah not to mention that because of the fire and where it is we lost power from Tuesday afternoon until last night when it finally came on about 9:30 or so. Kind of hard to use the old computer when there isn't any power!! I'm posting a few pictures for you all to see.

The first, third and last pictures are taken as we sat in the church parking lot. The houses you see are in the new subdivision that is being built where the big field across the road from the church use to be. The fire actually topped the ridge and came part way down before they got that part out. It is still smoldering today.
The second picture is looking at the backside of the fire from I-90 between Billings and the Pryor exit. We went back out yesterday because they had closed that portion of interstate for awhile on

Tuesday. I didn't take pictures but the fire actually crossed the interstate in places and there were a lot of fence posts, trees and other areas that were still smoldering. It was pretty weird after just being there the day before!
It is pretty bad and I just ask that everyone would pray that there will be no loss of life and that houses can be spared. Thanks everyone!! Hopefully I can blog more later but for now thats all. Over and Out!!

Up, up and away...

Well I just got home from the airport. I took Becca (Levi's girlfriend) and her family to the airport. They are headed for Orlando. She was a little nervous and a lot excited!! I hope they have lots of fun together.
After dropping them at the airport J and I went to Wendy's and got drive-thru. Then headed up to park and watch the airplane take off. We had about a half hour to wait and we just enjoyed watching the other planes. I think he would stay up there all day if we could. He loves the planes. His favorites are the FedEx planes and the Fire Bombers because they are so huge and loud. He says he wants to go in the Army so he can drive tanks, fly jets and do other cool stuff. Wonder if he will still feel that way when he is all grown up!!
I got the boys new room painted and the wall border up. We still need to put the kicker board up, but other than that I think it is ready for me to put stuff away and get them moved into it. Hope it works okay. J isn't too sure about being in a different room and so far from Mommy and Daddy. But I think it will be better as he will be able to hear us when he first goes to bed and there is more room to play in this room. It use to be the master bedroom so it is the biggest bedroom in the house. I painted it Monterey Blue on the bottom, White on top with a Batman border and it will have dark wood trim around the floor and windows. I think it will look cool when it is totally done. Then once Levi moves out later this fall, I can repaint the boys old room and it will be a craft/exercise room for James and me. I already have a border picked out and some decorating ideas in mind. Just have to wait and see what gets done.
I leave for Tawny's in just a 2 short weeks. I am so looking forward to seeing my baby and her babies! I just realized yesterday how terrible much I miss her. She has been having some problems in her pregnancy and I just wish I was there to help out where ever I could. Hopefully this 2 weeks will go fast and then the time I spend out there will creep by!!! Yeah right!! It never seems like you can stay long enough. That's okay though because I guess they are coming here in late October or early November. Before the snow flies anyway. I feel very blessed that I get to see her as much as I do. I just miss her so much. Having kids is great until they grow up and move away!!!
I suppose I better get moving and get something done before James gets home. I want to make him a nice supper. I've been kind of a witch here lately I think. He never complains but I know that I've been kind of grumpy! So I need to do some make up with him. Don't you love making up....I sure do!!! Talk at ya later!!!

Today is a new day!

I am so glad yesterday is over. It started out good but kind of went south! We got up and ready for church with no problem. Church was awesome. I really enjoyed the music and the sermon was very thought provoking. I love it when a sermon gets you thinking! Then B went to a friends for the afternoon and we came home after stopping to get something fast at Wendy's. Okay here's where it starts to go south. Saturday night the gal I child sit for had called and asked if I could watch her little girl on Sunday while she took here boys to the fair. Well I talked to James and he said that would be okay. So when we got home after church she dropped her off. She was in a pretty good mood even though she wasn't going with to the fair. I was surprised! So anyway, we took off to run around. We had to return the lawnmower we had bought as it wasn't cutting right and had some mechanical problem. Then we went to a few shops to look for another mower. All in all E and J were pretty good little kids. Then we did the WalMart thing and the Costco thing and came home. Kids still being pretty good! James took the mower he had borrowed back and went to pick up B. Well he ended up bringing B's friend A back too. A can get a little wild and I had told James the only time he could be here is when James is here too. So they all started playing together and we got supper going. That's when it started. Here comes E in tears cause A said something mean to her. When confronted A denied it, although E doesn't usually cry for no reason! So I talked to A and he sat there and started arguing with me. I really hate it when kids argue with an adult!! So I took care of that and had him apologize to E. Supper was a constant stream of "Shhh, just eat" or "Elbows off the table" or "Don't talk with your mouth full" and "Lean over your plate, please". With 4 little ones it wasn't a very fun meal. So see E's mom was suppose to get her at 5 or so and instead we ended up taking A home first at 7:30 then on to B's mom's to drop him off, then up to the airport as we had promised J we would stop and watch the planes for a few minutes( this promise actually happened way earlier in the day but this was our first opportunity to fulfill it!!) then off to see if E's mom was home yet. We dropped her off at a quarter to 9. Her mom had just got home. She was really apologetic, but it really irks me when people are late. And come on 3 hours late that is just...well anyway, I'm glad yesterday is over and today is a new day. I will have four little ones today including my J, but I am thinking it will still be a much calmer day!!

On a happier note...yesterday was my BIL's birthday. Hope you had a good one Don! James tried to call but we figured it might have been kind of late over there. LYL BIL and SIL HAGD!!!

Oh what a beautiful morning!

It smells so fresh and nice outside today! I woke up this morning, opened the curtains and had to smile. What a beautiful morning!! The sun is poking through the clouds and the ground is still wet from the downpour we got last night. There is just a hint of fog and the air smells crisp and clean. Not to mention that it is quite a bit cooler today!
It was great last night to lay in bed and hear the rain on the roof. What a peaceful thing to fall asleep with. We had enjoyed a nice evening with friends, eating, visiting and playing horseshoes until dark. Then when they left it was bedtime and the rain started coming down hard. It was awesome.
Okay enough about our wonderful weather. It has been a busy week and shows no sign of slowing down which in a way is okay with me. I spent the week babysitting and getting a room ready to paint, along with keeping up the normal day to day stuff. Then Friday, I mudded the holes and when that dried, I primed the walls. Then yesterday I was able to paint. Got it all done too. Kind of surprised myself as I am doing two colors and had to wait in between colors for it to dry. Now today we have to get the trim and get it up. Then this week I babysit again and have to get the room back in shape as it is the boys room and the toy room!! The little guy wants to help me paint so today I told him he could help paint the trim for the livingroom. It has been needing to get done for a long time. James got it cut and now I just need to get it painted and up. We are hoping to get new windows in the house someday but who knows when that will happen. Just wait and see I guess.
Talked to Tawny yesterday. She had been having contractions and wasn't feeling well. She was kind of worried she might be going into labor and asked if I could come out early if she was. Then she called last night and was doing better. Things had settled down for her. So hopefully she will last until September. I am really looking forward to going out there to see them and to be there when she has the baby.
I think that about catches up with my week, but if I think of something I'll be back!!!

What a way to learn about someone!

I have been tagged by my SIL.
A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. dishwasher at a Mexican food place
2. youth leader
3. wife and mom
4. babysitter

B) Movies you watch over and over:
1. Pretty Woman
2. Wedding Planner, well anything with Matthew McConaughy!(yum)
3. Dirty Dancing
4. Both Zorro movies with Antonio Banderas

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Worden, MT
2. Billings, MT
3. Darby, MT
4. Pompeys Pillar, MT (hmm, get the drift...I've always lived here!!)

D) Four TV shows I love to watch
1. Grey's Anatomy (love McDreamy)
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Without a Trace
4. CSI Miami and the original CSI ( in that order)

E ) Four places you have been on vacation
1. Las Vegas
2. Spokane, WA
3. Newport Bay and Lincoln City, OR
4. Rapid City, SD

F ) Web sites you visit daily
1. johnsonsjunction.com
2. blogs
3. billingsgazette.net
4. eharlequin.com

G) Four of my favorite foods
1. Jade Palace Orange Chicken
2. Mashed Potatoes and Gravy (any kind of gravy!)
3. Steak
4. Tacos (Johnson or sloppy)

H) Four places I would rather be right now
1. reading a romance book
2. cropping
3. playing at the lake
4. taking a nap!

I) Four friends I think will respond
1. Don
2. Colleen
3. I'd say Elizabeth but she is the one who tagged me.
4. Pretty sad but that's all I can think of...Guess I need some more blogger friends!!!

Have fun!! Hope I hear from some of you!

Finally pictures of my finished project!!

Okay I've been promising pictures..well here they are. At least they will be if I can get this to work!! The first one is looking at the deck from the lawn. I love sitting in my swing and looking out over the yard in the early morning or in the evening when it starts to cool off. I still need to do some work on the rock around the bush and then I need to plant some smaller flowers around the bush too. After doing this rock work and seeing how pretty it is, I would really like to do a little more in a few other places around the yard. Maybe a water feature or whatever they are called. I want to make sure and use this same type of rock though. There is also a concrete slab at the front door that I would like to replace with a large stone someday. Not sure when that will happen though. And of course the house could use new windows and siding but that takes a bit of money so will have to wait. This rock work only cost about $30 because the rock was free so we only had to pay for mortar!
The next picture is sitting on the deck looking out into the yard. When I sit in my swing and look out over the yard, I dream of what I want to do in it. Some day the old shop will be gone and a new one will be put up all the way at the back of the property. Maybe we will have a little basketball court for the boys where the old shop is now since there is a nice little concrete pad there. The corral also needs to come down and all the junk needs to be either organized or taken to the dump!! We will need to plant quite a bit of grass but it will be beautiful. We also will need to plant some trees and of course more bushes and flowers.

The last picture is looking in the gate. We only have the privacy fence on the side of the drive way, but some day we hope to have the 6 foot fence around all of the yard except looking out the back. That way it would just be quieter and of course more private.
We spent yesterday and today working on our neighbors trees. James climbed up in them and trimmed and cut down branches that needed to come down. I worked on the ground cutting limbs up enough to drag them and get them in the trailer to take to the dump. We took one load this morning and James took the second load this afternoon. We are both pretty tired but it was well worth it. James really likes to do this kind of work, and it is something we can do together. I really enjoy that.
Well I suppose I better go. I am hoping to go visit my niece and her new baby. Then I hope to come home and just rest! I am sure James is hoping for a little rest also.

GTKM: Favorite time of day...evening when it cools off

Now tell me something about you!

Calgon take me away....

This past week has been too hectic! I had a party for James' 30th birthday on Sunday afternoon. I think everyone had a good time. Just a lot of visiting and relaxing. Really needed that after the week we had. I spent all of last week cleaning up from the camping trip and getting ready for the garage sale. I think I washed about a ton of laundry and dishes. Then took two or three days to get all the garage sale stuff out and tagged. Friday and Saturday I spent outside working the sale. It really went very well considering how hot it was. Made almost $200 in 2 days. I figured that was worth the trouble!! Then of course Sunday was spent preparing and having the party. The guys played horseshoes and the girls visited and played with the kids. It really was enjoyable. The only fly in the ointment was the fact that I ended up getting in an argument with my dad the night before and that is still bugging me. Oh well, I can't control how he is so I might as well get over it.
This week has been going okay. Jeremiah has been going to a Backyard Bible Club every morning for about an hour or so. It is at his Aunt Becky's and he is loving it. First two days I almost couldn't get him to leave. They have an inflatable "castle" that the kids can jump in. He totally loves it. I think he would spend all day in there if I'd let him! He finally understood that if he kept fussing about going home, he wouldn't get to come back the next day. Soooo yesterday he made sure and didn't fuss at all. He really is a pretty sweet kid.
Last night my brother called to let us know that his step-daughter, Joy, was in the hospital having her baby. I called this morning and found out she had it about 3am. Its a boy, but that is all I know right now as Rod didn't have details. I'll go up later and see her.
Tawny is due in about 5 weeks now. She is getting pretty excited. So am I as I get to go out there for two weeks when she has the baby. Wish I could fly but it is way too expensive, so I guess I will drive. Not sure whether I should take the van or the car. It would be nice to try the van out on a road trip!! I really do enjoy driving it. Never thought I'd be a van mom!!!
The weather has finally cooled off a little so we have been enjoying the great outdoors more. I think I will actually go out today and work in the yard some more. I need to take a picture of the rock work we did, but I want things to look nice first!! Okay so I'm a little weird about things like that. I hate taking pictures and then when I get them back I notice how yucky the background is! So now I take a little care about background, before taking the picture. Just makes sense.
Well it does to me anyway.
Okay I'm definitely "rambling" today so I guess I'll go for now.
Oh yeah, the movie.."She's the Man".. it was kind of cute in a weird way. I am waiting for the one with Antonio Banderas to come out so we can watch it. I think it comes out the end of this month. I love watching his movies!! Also Matthew McConaughy.
Well have a fun day all!!