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Monday, October 23, 2006

Crazy Man

James is keeping me running. Now he goes from room to room, looking for new things to get into. I think he is getting tired of toys in general, and wants ‘other’ stuff to play with. He’ll take anything he can get his grubby cute little paws on, as long it looks new and interesting. Right now he is pushing Jeff’s tool bins back and forth across the floor, grunting as he goes. I guess he wants everyone to know how much work it is to be pushing those things around. He is getting really animated and its quite funny. When we were at Marinda’s, he would talk to and yell at the cat and dogs. One of these days he’ll surprise us with a word or two! That’ll be the day I call everyone in the phonebook…’Guess what?! James just said ____!!!’ Can't wait to see what will be his first REAL word..........

Strange Story

Ahhh, the magic of Google. Out of curiosity, or maybe just plain boredom, I decided to see if I could find any information regarding the Prairie Dog vacuum guy I had heard about. Quite a while back, Jeff told me they hired him out at the farm to see if he could get rid of the evil hoard of rodents. Sure enough, there were quite a few articles on the net about this guy and his crazy idea. It’s a funny story. Apparently, the down-and-out wanna-be inventor prayed that God would provide him with a genius idea to earn himself some much-needed income. He dreamt very specifically of a yellow truck with a green hose, sucking prairie dogs from their homes. He told his significant other, and instead of sending him to the funny farm, she encouraged him to act on his dream. Now they have a very successful business called Dog Gone, making thousands of dollars to rid the world of varmints! For the full story, in all its strange glory, check out this link:
http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/Maisonneuve/2002/11/18/481210?extID=10037&oliID=229

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Jeffrey's Masterpiece


For those of you who wonder what the heck Jeff actually does, here is a picture of one of his masterpieces. He designed this condenser for a power plant in Philly. As you can see it is quite large. He has been spending lots of time down there telling the workers what to do and then doing some of it himself! Ain't it nicest lookin' ACC you've ever seen? Makes me proud. Jeff, you rock!

Monday, October 09, 2006

James...the BIG boy?!

Ahhhh! James has upgraded himself to toddler status. I am soooooo not ready for this! Now that he has become more confident walking, he wants to walk….everywhere. Yesterday at church, he all but refused to be held, and insisted on walking up and down the ramp over and over again. He walked down the hall a bit. He climbed up the stairs. He walked just about everywhere. I am excited for this new phase but also sad. Sad that my little bean will want me to hold him less and less as he gains confidence in the world. I know he is only a year old and there is much more change and transition to come, but geeeeeez! Can’t things happen just a little more slowly?!?!

Sentimental Rant

During our visit, we went with the Roush’s for a ride out to the scene of most of our dating career: The Roush Farm. With memories swirling around, we drove past Hiline and up the hill toward the driveway. It still looks the same, only really run down. The John Deere-green mailbox is still there. Weeds have since grown and obscured the once neat driveway. The shop doors hang open, and it looks like nothing has been mowed for months. Jeff commented that apparently they hadn’t figured out how to use the brush-hog yet. Even the yard, which had always been kept so nice, was choked with weeds. We didn’t say much, just commented on how overgrown everything was. I think our heads were too full of all the memories associated with the old farm. I remember staring out at the stars with Jeff and squinting to find ‘our star.’ I remember Meg Folkestad and I taking the Linx on crazy rides no car was meant to take. I remember following coyotes on the 4-wheelers, just to see how far we could trail them. I remember swimming in the pond on a hot summer day. I remember the day we caught a giant catfish out of the pond. That was the same day we decided not to swim there anymore. I remember ice-skating around the hump of steer’s back, frozen in the pond. I remember driving around the center pivot countless times, shooting prairie dogs as we went along. There was the time that we saw a Golden Eagle land in front of us. It looked at us and then picked up the dinner we had just killed for it. That eagle picked up the prairie dog and off it went. I remember the sunsets and the harvest moons, and the clear night sky. So many memories are tied up with that place. It was through these experiences that Jeff and I fell in love. Hard to believe it has been 8 years since it all started. A lot has happened and its unbelievable how many things have been packed into those years. The good experiences and the bad have brought us closer together and we are coming up on six years of marriage. And who can forget, we have our sweet little son James to enjoy it all with us!

I’ll stop now before I get myself in any deeper! ha ha ha

Friday, October 06, 2006



We’re Back From Vacation…


Johnathan, Shelly and James

James with 'Big D'


Tyler and Shelly at the Butterfly Gardens


We're back, and now its time to catch up on some sleep. Isn’t that how vacation always goes? After spending a week in Colorado visiting family and friends we are settling back into our normal routine. Here are just a few highlights of our trip, in no particular order:

*We visited our friends at Loma church, as well as drove back to the old farm. Everything has changed so much! All these rich Californians are moving in and building huge houses. Loma is still a one-horse town, for now. The country store’s still running and that’s about it. No traffic lights…yet. Our little town’s growing up. Kind of sad, but what can you do?

*We drove over the Grand Mesa with Marinda and John. How beautiful!! There was a bit of snow on the ground, and the colors were fabulous!

*Jeff took me on a little tour of all the places he used to live. We finished up at Reed Park in Fruita, where we both remember playing as children. We took James to play in the park, his first real experience with playground equipment. He seemed to really have fun, and we did too. Later that week, we met Jeff’s childhood friend Rowdy, and his family at the park. It was really funny to see them both with their little babies, playing on the swings.

*Speaking of childhood friends, we got to see Meg Folkestad (Sears) and her family. That was pretty cool to see our kids playing together…who’d-a-thought???

*We enjoyed playing with our four nephews and our niece. They are growing up too fast! They spent a lot of time trying to entertain their cousin James.

*We visited with our friends Mike and Erin, enjoyed some great buffalo chili and took a gorgeous hike up to Devil’s Kitchen on the Monument.

Thanks everyone for a great time!! We enjoyed seeing everyone and wish we had more time to visit with everyone.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Picture Perfect


Mesa Lakes

Colorado National Monument


Here are a few pictures from our trip. We'll post
more pictures and stories soon!