TIRE DAMAGE

There is a great story to this. Okay, I don't know how great, but here is the story. The Suburban has been shaking really bad as we drive down the road. James even looked at the tires and everything that he could think of, but he couldn't see anything. So now we go to Sunday. We are headed to church. We are going to be early. James drives up our road about 50-55 mph. This is slow for my lead foot husband. But we couldn't figure out what is wrong. We go over the railroad tracks and a few seconds later we hear a loud pop, and I saw something go flying in the air, and I realized that we had a flat. So James and I got out and looked at the damage. It was unbelievable. The tread came off the tire. The thing that went flying through the air was the running board that broke. The mud flap was broken also. So James drives it up the road until he got to a drive for a field. The lady who usually walks the road stopped and talked and asked if we wanted her husband to bring a jack. We said yes. While we wait, James loosens the tire and gets the spare out. When the nice man got to us he starts to jack up the Suburban and then realized that we needed a block. So he went home and got a block. While we waited, a man that passed us and asked if we needed help came back with a bigger jack and an air tank so that we could get everything on the Suburban. We got everything back together and the first man pulled up. They knew each other, and their names were Dave and Dave. How great is that. And I guess we can call them our neighbors. The first Dave said that he heard the pop. He was out working in his yard. The kids and I decided that we will make cookies and take to them. We ended up being a half hour late to church. But we were able to thank Heavenly Father for keeping us safe. We could have had a bad accident.

So now we are trying to figure out what to do. We are trying to see who is responsible for this tire doing this. We have learned that the tire is ten years old, so it is the original spare. And the tire company only warranties them for six years. James will get to the bottom of this. He doesn't understand how someone can sell a car with an old tire. Or how Wal-Mart can put a spare on that is so old. I will keep updated on this as we figure out what is going on.

COUSINS ARE FUN

We are enjoying some time with cousins. Toby has been here for awhile now. And yesterday my sister, Sam, brought her kids to play for a couple of days. It is nice to have people for Haylea and Isaiah to play with. They keep each other entertained. And Amarie just walks around and smiles. There has been a lot of yelling, and arguing, but they soon get over it and play together. I think about the Savior telling us to be as little children. How easy they forgive each other for things that were done against them. And they get along after fighting so quickly.
It has been an adventure having them here. We will see who goes to bed first. Them or me. I am hoping them. It also reminds me of when I was little and our cousin used to come and play with us. We had so much fun. I am glad that we are able to do this for each other. I told Sam that she was going to have to take all my kids sometime. I think three extra is better than five extra.

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN

I thought we were going to blow away. The storm yesterday started about 5:15 p.m. I think. The rain came down from the south to the north really fast. My sister Sam said, "Oh look it is raining." I jump up and run outside. I left the windows down in the Suburban, it hasn't rained in weeks. As I am rolling up the windows, getting completely soaked, I see that the chicken coop door needs shut. So I run out there and shut it. When I came in I looked as though I had jumped in the shower with my clothes on. The wind was blowing so hard. It blew the front of the swing off the porch. It calmed down for a little while. Then it starts pouring again. This time it is coming from the north to the south. The roof looked like it would blow off the barn. Water was coming in the windows that even the storm windows were closed. Then the storm came from the east. It reminded me of the storm that came through in May and uprooted a tree on our property. I had told my sister earlier that I needed to go out when it cooled down and water the garden. She later told me that I didn't have to water the garden now. I looked out last night and our pour garden took a beating. The tomato cages were all leaning and the pepper plants looked like they were about done. But I do believe that all will survive.

JAMES' BLACK EYE

Yes, it is a beautiful black eye. On Friday Carl was pitching to James and the ball was pitched a little short. The ball bounced off the ground and came up and hit James in the eye. Now he gets to sport this beautiful bruise for a few more days. He wasn't too excited about having his picture taken. So he is a sport for taking the picture.

SATURDAY FUN IN TULSA

On Saturday we went to Bass Pro. I was hoping that my lost phone might have fallen in a chair that I was sitting in, but it wasn't. Every weekend through the end of July they are doing different things for kids. They can earn little badges. The boys really wanted to do the shooting. Yes, they have free laser shooting. This was great. It usually costs to play this, but the boys enjoyed about fifteen minutes of endless shooting. Haylea, Isaiah and Toby shot also. Then we were able to go to the archery department and the boys were able to shoot a bow. Carl hit the corner of the paper. And James had to shoot a right handed bow, and missed the paper all three times. But he tried hard. As we were leaving they had a place to make smores. We all roasted a marshmallow and enjoyed eating a smore even though it was really hot. I felt bad for the man standing by the fire to help everyone roast their marshmallow.

We then ventured over to Casa Bonitas. Every time that we have tried to go in the past it has been closed. We enjoyed our dinner. We were able to watch he magic show, play games in the arcade, and get a treasure out of the treasure room. I decided that it is better to go eat real tacos from the taco wagon, and take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese to play games. James agreed with me. It was a fun family night, but we will pass on Casa Bonitas next time.

LOST SOME CHICKS

The other day we moved the chicks with the big box out to the front porch. When we woke up in the morning half the chicks were gone. Even a Guinea. Needless to say we were sad. There was a wing in the box. We are thinking it was a cat. But we are not sure. So we moved them all out to the barn. They have been safe in there. We will have to get more soon. Especially the Guineas, because you need more than two James has learned. We will work on catching the cat and dealing with it. I can't stand it. Oh well. I guess we learned our lesson.

GREAT DAY

What a wonderful day. Yesterday Little James made cookies while I took a nap, and then the Holgates took us out for a wonderful steak. Then today was so great We went to Joplin to get some stuff. We were able to eat at Mucho Mexico, one of my favorite places to eat. Then we came home to go to the boys baseball games. It was fun to watch both of them play. Carl caught a ball that was hit to him at first base. And had two really good hits. James had some wonderful hits tonight also. He had a wonderful bunt. Then we went to Parsons to watch our friends play. Carl caught five foul balls and got everyone sodas from the snack bar. It was fun. I am grateful that I have a wonderful family who all make me happy.

12 CHICKS + 6 TOP KNOTS +2 GUINEA HENS = FUN

As we drove home from Parsons the other day, we saw a farm that had chicks for sale. So we turned around and looked at them. What an awesome farm this was. He has everything from chickens, birds, hogs, goats, calves. The kids had so much fun. The man gave Haylea a quail egg to hatch. We decided that we would have to figure out what to do with them before we bought some.

On Saturday we didn't think we would be gone so long, and we left our 3 chicks out. When we got home late at night we couldn't find them. On Sunday we found 2 out of the three. Knothead was missing.

So we got a big box from Westco to put our chicks in. Last night for family home evening we went back to the farm and bought our chicks. James figured we could get 11 chicks, and 6 top knots. And James and Carl wanted 2 Guineas. So that is what we came home with. The kids also chased the fainting goats, trying to get them to faint. It was so funny, I wish I had taken my camera to get pictures.

We came home and set up the box and as James put the chicks in the box we realized we had an extra chick. So we are off on an adventure of raising chickens. The two that we got from school are getting big. They are now outside in the barn. I will be looking forward to the day the little ones go outside to the barn. We are also going to put a pen up outside so they don't go all over the yard. And we don't feel bad about leaving them. James cut the box so that Adalyn could see the chicks. She loves to watch them. It is fun to watch her.

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

I know that it has been awhile since I have posted. We have been really busy around here. With the boys baseball, and activities at the library. We also had Toby here for a week, and he will be back later. It seems as though there is something everyday, and I am extremely glad when Friday rolls around. Why, you may ask. Well, I don't plan much for Fridays because James is home. We end up doing family things. And then it is off to baseball games. I hear so many people complain about the time that is involved with their kids playing baseball. It is almost as though it is an inconvenience to them. I have to say that I love baseball nights. We sit and watch the boys play, and then we watch the older boys play. The little ones run around and play with the others. I am glad that we all like to do this. I think that it makes it easier for everyone. James will even keep the older boys out sometimes to watch a game. Enough about baseball.
We went to the pool for the first time yesterday. I kept putting it off because I didn't have a swim suit. So I just put on shorts and a tee-shirt, and it was fine. Haylea enjoyed swimming in the big pool. She didn't need me over there to help her. It was nice. Adalyn liked the water. She lasted about an hour. We only have to go 20 more times to get our moneys worth. The kids were excited about going 20 more times.
Oh yes, I lost my phone. I think that it is at Bass Pro in Tulsa. I just need to get down there to look in some chairs that I sat in. I don't want to switch to another phone just yet in case it is there. I think that James thinks I am silly, but I might just be stubborn. Besides it gives us another reason to go get tacos in Broken Arrow. Yum, Yum.

ISAIAH"S FRENCH TOAST

With the weather really cool today, I decided I would make the kids french toast. And we are out of cereal. So Isaiah is really excited about making french toast. He goes into the kitchen and tries to get some bread. I told him that we would use the older bread first. So I walk around and finish up a few things and I realized that there was a piece of bread in the toaster. I asked him what he was doing. His reply was "I am making french toast." Oh the thoughts of a four year old. He is so sweet. He did help make the french toast. He is great at stirring everything together. Then he needed to find the thing that flips the french toast. He dug in the drawer, and together we found the spatula. What fun we had. Adalyn even enjoyed a piece of french toast today.