~~MY PROJECT~~

Just before going to Arkansas, we had bought a new TV stand for the TV. (that was dah) Any who, I painted the inside black and thought by time we got back it would be dry. (Actually, I put the back on right side out and had nailed the sucker on pretty good.) Needless to say the Family Room was a mess, in all of the rearranging, I decided to build a built-in bookcase. I have watched millions of the DIY shows, how hard could it be? Darwin bought me the wood and I was off. I had an idea of building a frame and raising it into the square. I cut out the carpet, and built a platform for this frame to sit on. So far so good. The problem was that I had put all of the books on the love seat right where I need to put my frame together??? And I WASN"T going to move those books one more time!! So I built the frame in the middle of the Family room. Darwin said he would help me get it into the square??? Okay, I measured three times and everything was all set----we raised the frame. BAM! We hit the low part of the ceiling! With some finagling we got it in place. Yea!!! Next we went on a quest to get the brackets and peg things to put the shelves up with. Remember, we live in Delta!! Argh!! ;( Losee's had some of the uprights I needed but not enough and they didn't have the little peg things. So I had Gary order me some, he said they would be in on Monday. Ya, right! I called after 11 just to give them time to find them, only to find out Gary went up on Monday to get his order and would be back around 3 or 4. :( Mind you, I came down with a cold Saturday, I got chilled out in the garage painting shelves. So I decided to wait and called on Tuesday, The uprights were there but the guy couldn't find the peg things. Fine. :( I felt like crap so I took some cough syrup and had a nap. I worked in between feeling good and coughing on the frame work around the bookcase. Wednesday I headed up to Losee's! The peg things were not in stock at the warehouse and had to come from another company, Gary said they should be here Thursday! Argh :( (So did that mean next week?) I did some errands and when I got home Losee's called. The peg things were there!! ;) Happy Day!!
I rushed home with my little $35 package of peg things and got busy putting in the uprights I had gotten that morning and the shelves!! I couldn't wait to get the books off of the love seat, I noticed the seat cushions were getting flatter and flatter! No worry though, they popped right back up with some fluffing. The books now have a permanent home and I can say I built the bookcase myself !! Mostly.....

~~PHOTOS from ARKANSAS~~

Just a few photos of Arkansas kids. It is a really beautiful time of year, the leaves are starting to turn colors and it's just pleasant to be outside and walking around the park or neighborhood.

~~My APRON CAME~~

My apron was here when we got home!! The lady's daughter had her best friend die and so she was late getting it sent. Poor girl, that would be hard. I really like my apron and the little teddy bear, even the bag of Moose Poop!! It was worth the wait.

~~Baptism~~

Saturday was Isaac and Sadie's Baptism Day. It was a perfect day, the sun was shining and it was warm. Shawn and Bekah had a little program planned and everything. All of their friends and co-workers were there and the kids Primary teachers and the President were there. I felt bad for Bekah, her Dad's talk didn't get there as planned. She read her Dad's talk though and it worked out well, but I could tell she misses them.

Grandpa took care of Silas for most of the program, he really was delighted that one of his grandkids would go to him. (The others will like him more when they get older I'm sure).

All in all it was a perfectly wonderful day !!!!

~~ARKANSAS TRIP~~

We made it back to Delta in one piece on Tuesday at 4 o'clock. And Delta was still here!! Talula was excited to see us and she "meowed" for an hour! I think she was cussing us for leaving, I haven't heard her meow like that before?...

We had great fun in Arkansas with the kids! Silas is growing and says a lot of words. Like "I don't know", What's that?", "Okay" , "no", Sadie was plain but I couldn't understand Isaac or Phebe. Silas is definitely the King of the house. Sadie is a young lady and still a little shy, but she can get the other two to do things her way. Isaac is a young man and very smart, still has quite the imagination and he CAN tell a story. He can enunciate and add the drama in all of the right places! Phebe is Phebe, she can make you laugh and she can make you cuss all at once! She was definitely named after the right Grandma(Jan). Very stubborn, but very soft hearted when someone it hurt or hurting. And we loved our time with them. We found out they would be in school Wednesday but only half a day on Thursday and home on Friday. So Thursday we figured we could handle taking them to McDonald's or Sonics, and it went great. So after McDonald's we ventured on to Walmart to get a couple of videos for them. Sadie and Phebe got the new Barbie video "Diamond Castle" and Isaac and Silas got "Underdog". Then I had to get wrapping paper and gift bags, it was a record trip to Walmart!! We were in and out in 25 minutes. Silas was thoroughly bored and wanted down. Of course you all know what happens when you put a 1 year old down in a store? They RUN!!! Just as fast as two short little legs can carry them, even with one shoe on and one shoe off!! Hilarious !! Friday we watched the movies and when it warmed up, the kids went outside to play in the back yard. Grandpa took Silas for a stroller ride and the girls went with them. Later we decorated a haunted house that Sadie and Phebe got at a birthday party. What a fun mess!! Have you ever decorated with BLACK frosting??? (See photos) Isaac had a very black mouth from the big spoonful I put there. Sadie had it all over her hands and was drizzling frosting on the roof. After, her and I had a black hand battle, it was fun until I tried to get her nose black and then the fun was over!! I thought she would have to get baptized with gray hands! But it finally came off with lots of soap! Oh, but what a house they made! Friday night Shawn and Rebekah came home and the kids missed them and were so glad to see them. Silas especially missed his Dad, he is a Daddy's boy. (Which means he really liked Grandpa) I think me and grandpa were just a happy to see them.!!!

~~ OUR LIFE ~~

Just a quick up-date on "US". Darwin is doing great. He took prednisone for his knee and that seem to help him so far. He found out he has osteoarthritis in his knee also....(I thought he knew that?) He is still the Membership clerk for the Ward, has been for 13 years now. I was just put in over Visiting Teaching....(Katie, give me some ideas come spring)
We spent 4 days in Reno, helping Tara & Jake. Jake is in the hospital with bladder trouble.
Tara said he is doing ok. We got home Friday night. While in Reno, Eli was sick. I got it and when we got home Darwin got it. Tara had it. Not really fun, I felt so sorry for little Eli, he had dry heaves and it sounded like it hurt. However, it did not slow him down very much!
Next week, we are flying to Arkansas !! We can't wait to see the Bills Bunch there. I can't believe how grown up Sadie looked on the blog. I just hope Silas will like us. Sadie and Isaac will be baptized while we are there. Our little family is growing up. Next will be graduation, then missions!!
BTW= We thoroughly enjoyed having Sawyer for a couple of days (at the First part of the Month)(I think). He is quite the character, and he knows how to get around the NO's. I think he had fun, he just meandered around and played. Fun times, next it's Lincoln's turn.
See you all when we get back~~

~~BACK2LIFE~~

This is our new "stretch your spine" machine. I seen this on TV. On one of those ads they do.

It showed how it stretches and rotates your spine. So I thought it would help Darwin's degenerated disc disease, and it has. I tried it and it DOES work!!! Darwin said his back feels a lot better and he can move easier. Which means he can work harder! It also puts him asleep.....