July Fly By

Well, our son turned 10 in the middle of June, but due to his and our family’s schedules, his party was set for July 12. I would like to say that the party went off without a hitch, however, that is not necessarily the case. Within the week before the party, we noticed a weak spot in the metal lining of our pool. It is an above ground pool that is partially sunk in our angled back year. Now, this spot was so weak in fact, that it had actually cracked the metal. Rust was a be contributor. We were planning on getting through the party and then mending that part of the pool. Well, it is the day of the party and I was observing the children in the pool. I was looking at my daughter when I noticed that the water around her was sinking… I started wondering how in the world they were causing that effect. Upon closer review, I notice that the pool has blown out the side and is now flooding, literally, the bottom potion of our yard. It was frustrating but funny, too.

We decided not to try to mend this break, but rather replace the pool. My husband and I pulled out the old pool, he dug more around it and we and his family put in the new pool that Thursday. It was fabulous. Our backyard is getting back in shape now and the new pool is really cool looking.

One of our neice’s had a bowling party for her birthday on the 19th. She got lots of cool stuff and the kids really enjoyed bowling with their cousins. Me, my husband, his brother, sister and their spouses played a couple of games too. It was a good time!

It was great having something like that in the middle of the day on July 19th. Why you might wonder, well, Dad passed away on July 19th, five years ago. And my oh my a lot can happen and change in 5 years. I miss my dad on a daily basis. Everyone says that will get better, but it has not yet. There are days, of course, when it is harder than others. I can be having a great day, then hear a song or see something that reminds me of him. I can still hear his voice at times. Words can not truly express what it feels like, even now, for him to be gone. I wish so badly that my children were able to be around him longer, they were his pride and joy, as were us kids. I still grin when I see the word Goodwrench printed somewhere, that is the CB handle he called my husband. I still look in the driver seat when I see a truck like his. I still yearn to sit on an old wooden swing in the evenings and just talk to those I love. How I wish I could talk to him face to face again today. What would our lives be like now…

Well, the 23rd and 24th marked an important meeting at work. It was a Board of Directors meeting, but not just any BOD meeting, no… this one was in our newly constructed BOD Conference Room. It is magnificent and a huge undertaking for our company. They did a beautiful job.

This past weekend was the Lackey Reunion in Haskell, Texas. It was a great time. It is always so nice to see folks that you do not get to see more often. I wish more of my branch, Lewis Lackey, were able to come this year. I miss seeing them on a more regular basis. Our branch is doing the invitations and entertainment at next year’s reunion, so maybe the couple of ideas we have had in recent years will get to play out in some way next year. Keep you fingers crossed that we come up with something that everyone will enjoy.

I am looking forward to our weekend. The current plans are to spend the weekend with my father in law and his wife at their timeshare near Lake Palestine, around Rusk, Texas. Hope the weather turns out and our plans go as expected!

Long Time Gone

Welcome summer! I've been away from my blog for quite a while and I apologize. Here is my update...

May was, as it is each year, the month of birthdays. We started with my cousin's party on the 2nd, he turned 2 and had a fabulous party at Leapin' Lizards. What fun! We left that party to attend a birthday party for our youngest niece, who also turned 2. Our nephew's party was on the 3rd where he celebrated his 7th birthday. On the 17th, our youngest nephew celebrated his 2nd birthday as well. Then, on the 31st, our oldest nephew also celebrated his birthday when he turned 8. In and amoungst all the birthday parties, were many more birthdays including my mother-in-law, two sisters-in-law and my sister, plus many others.

It was quite a busy month as I also had to miss 4 days of work due to illness. I was fortunate enough to have a migraine, severe strep throat and a raging sinus infection all at one time! Whoo Hoo! Glad that time has passed.

With June came the end of the school year. It also meant the start-up of summer activities. The first week in June was Cub Scout Twilight Camp which my son attended and had a blast after we got their den switched. Note to file: a cheerful giver recieves much! During that same week, my husband's mother, brother and family, and sister and family all went to Florida on vacation. They had a great time and all made it back safely!

Brandon and I got a Suburban. We used to have one which we were forced to sell a few years back for the money. That one was great, but our new one is far more than that. We love it and decided we should take it on our vacation this year.

The next week we had Family Bible School with our Church. That is always a great time. This year's theme was "How we Worship" and I think benefitted youth a lot. We discussed preaching, praying, singing, giving, and partaking in the Lord's Supper. We had a great turn out and everyone enjoyed it a lot!

Then, vacation week, and what a week it was. We left Texas and stopped at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which was neat. We stopped in Kansas to eat lunch and visit the visitor information center. We ate dinner in Nebraska and spent the night in the truck in the WalMart parking lot in Scottsbluff. The following morning, we went to see Scottsbluff National Monument. It was beautiful. We hiked up to the top and took lots of pictures. We left there and headed to Custer State Park in South Dakota.

We drove through Wind Cave National Park to get there. Custer State Park was BEAUTIFUL! We went to see Mount Ruchmore which has a facinating history, it was magnificent. We drove the Peter Norbeck scenic byway and the Needles Highway. We saw Crazy Horse. We visited the Wind Cave and the Jewel Cave National monument. Each of the National Parks we visited, the kids earned their Junior Ranger badges, they had lots of fun.

When we left the Black Hills area, we went west into Wyoming and visited Devils Tower National Monument. Then, drove south into Colorado to see Pikes Peak again. We drove through New Mexico on the way home, making a total of 8 states we visited on our trip. Everywhere we went, we hiked it seems, got in lots of miles. It was such a memorable trip, but probably the most memoriable, or at least the funniest, was when one evening at dinner, we are all sitting at the picnic table eating our dinner and my daughter, who was across the table from me, points behind me and shouts "Deer!". Well, I turned around and probably 6 feet from me, was a little white-tailed deer. It was very cool!

Here we are already in July...

We had a great July 4th. We went out on the boat early with my brother-in-law and his family. Everyone enjoyed the morning and then we got off the lake for lunch, a movie and dinner. We watch "Up". Then, we went back out on the lake with a friend and his wife to play a bit more then watch fireworks over the lake. Nice and relaxing, good time.

We were back from vacation nearly a week, when our son left for Junior Church Camp in Cisco. I have missed him lots this week and am constantly thinking of him. I hope he has learned lots of cool stuff and made some friends. Our daughter has stayed with her Granny all week while our son was at Church Camp. That was their arrangement. They come home tonight.

On Sunday the 5th, with our house free of children, we decided that "today was the day". And so it was, we drove to Trenton, Texas to see a GSD breeder. There, we looked at all the puppies and the mammas and daddys. We had a favorite and bought him that day. We are now the pround household of a 10 week old male German Shepherd named "BEAR". His is beautiful and a typical puppy. We are working on the chewing, and nipping and of course, house training. Our hope is that he becomes and inside dog able to interact with his people all the time. We sure loved and still miss Zeus, our first GSD who was white, was 10 when he passed last year. We gave him the best we could when he was here. This new puppy, who will be black and tan or black and red, has given my husband and I quite a bit of enjoyment since his arrival in our lives. Our daughter has met him and told me a bit ago on the phone that she can't wait to see him again. Our son, since he has been at camp, has not seen or heard of Bear. It will be quite a surprise to him. I can't wait!



This weekend is our son's 10th birthday party. His birthday is June 16th, but due to his VERY BUSY summer schedule to this point, we postponed it to this weekend. The weekend after that is another neice's birthday party. Then, we have our daughter's party in August and one more nieces's party in September.

We stay so busy but would not change it for the world!