Father's Day 2012

We mostly had sun...and Caleb was racing in a Motocross at a place called Mountain View in Sandy, Oregon.  I called Dad to see if he was free to join us for the afternoon and watch Caleb race...So we picked him up and had a nice drive and met the Prueitt's there...

Aaron thinks he is quite clever with this little caption on his trailer!!

Caleb posing for me before he heads down the hill to the starting line up for the race...he is Number 8

They have a few benches built into the hillside for public viewing of the track...here is Dad, Lacey, Addie, (her friend) Aaron, holding Tristan

View from the bench...can't see all of the track and certainly not the height of the jumps!

It was a fun day to cheer him on...he came in third in both races we watched...then we all met at a local restaurant for a Father's Day dinner...we sure enjoyed the day with the Prueitts and my Dad!  What a blessing it is to have a fun family!

Caleb's arm....all healed, mostly

New shoes, but the arm cast is what I am showcasing

After the cast was 'sawed' off. we can see the pins in his arm...they were about 4 inches long

The doctor grabbed them with something like tweezers and had to tug and pull and twist and then they finally came out...pretty disgusting hand and arm!                   

Caleb is now getting Physical Therapy to strengthen his arm and wrist...it is helping a lot.  Of course his motivation is to be able to get back on the bike!  And he was finally given the green light by the doctor...so he raced last Thursday at PIR and again this last Sunday (Father's day)...he can tell it is still a little weak, just doesn't quite have the 100% strength to do everything he needs to do to win the race!

have I told you we are building a GYM?

...in our backyard?  well, technically it is the "neighbors" (*wink*) backyard!!!  Yes, you read right...a GYM plus there will be a little room for the tractor and a riding lawn mower...and I think even a room for the exercise equipment that is currently in the office at the neighbors!

This project involved all the boys...including Aaron who was the earth mover...Jamie and Scott who had to check the level and grading with a transit...and then finally someone came and set up the boards for the foundation...of course Scott does not leave anything to chance...so he is there 100% of the time, checking, rechecking, asking questions making sure everything is RIGHT.  And even then, he is back out there looking things over...checking other people's work...because you know he believes in Murphy's Law...if someone can make a mistake they will...so he needs to be the one to check it!

This day, I get a phone call asking to please come down and help him....

He managed to get himself down in this hole around all the rebar (tying together the rebar) and he was stuck...fortunately he did have his cell and called me...with a little hand holding and maneuvering, he managed to get out and the first thing he said was:  "Pouring our foundation and Getting rid of YOUR Biggest Problem!"  (meaning himself!!  ha ha...he thought he was quite clever with that little bit of prose!...because YES, if you ask any of the workers (or the sons-in-law) HE is the biggest problem of all!!!  LOL!!

After getting out of the hole, (which was actually just a huge space that was getting filled with cement for a footing...super big, to support the building)he is standing on the pad...there is about 8 inches of gravel under this plastic liner...you wouldn't believe all that goes into building this gym!

Then came the day of the pouring of the cement...alarm clock set for 3:30 AM...10 (TEN) cement trucks lined up in our field and on the road at 3:45 and the action started...we ended up using 15 truck loads of cement!!  I popped my head up off the pillow around 4:30 AM (no window covering...but hey, we are out in the country!) and with it being pitch dark outside, it looked like an alien landing station with the headlights of all the cement trucks lined up in a row in the field...

The sun is just coming up, making it a little lighter...the pad is to the left

Here is the last of the cement being poured

And finally, this is the coolest piece of equipment...it can go over the cement and is used to smooth out the cement...in the "olden" days, they had LONG trowels...this is so neat, it gets lifted up on a platform to keep it stable while it pulls the cement and finishes it off...to get this off the pad,  a back hoe had to come and lift it like a crane!

We are now into our third week of curing this cement pad, and weren't we lucky that it has rained so much!!  ha ha...we did put a sprinkler on it (two actually...it is a gym after all!) and have kept it wet...I will keep you posted...July 11th the building is suppose to be delivered and a crew will be here to put it up...they figured two weeks to raise the building!!  So stay tuned for more pictures as this becomes a work in progress!  The kids can hardly wait to start playing in it...it will be big enough for both a volleyball and a basketball court!

Continuing the month of May

Our group has diminished...life goes on...this year we are without Elsa...so sad.  We are also without Dina and Ellie for our Mother's Day Luncheon at our church.  Ellie had a big two day volleyball tournament in Corvallis so the Snook's spent the Mother's day weekend down there.  Lily  asked if she could stay with me and go to the luncheon...she even won a cake in the "cake walk"!  Lacey and Addie joined us...this was the first year for Addie and she did really well...she will be invited back again!  We had an awesome speaker who talked of her addiction to alcohol and how all her friends rallied around to get her the help she needed...she was such an inspirational speaker and shared that there is indeed HOPE and the one verse that was used during the speech was from Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  All we need to do is remember to trust in Him and to lean on Him...He will take care of us!