LEFT FOOT - RIGHT FOOT

4 years

2012-02-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

It's been four years and it still SUCKS!!

But we ate

And despite his annoyance with the blog-camera, we had a good time and he's takin good care of me.

Love you.....Miss you....And.......

Pics from Christmas day fire

2011-12-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks Christian for sharing your pictures from the Christmas day fire.....

Merry Christmoose

2011-12-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

I know, I know........it's only cute to me. But right know he's the only one that will hold still long enough for me to take Christmas pictures of with out throwing a major hissy fit. So he's just going to have to represent the whole Lafitte crew in wishing our family and friends a very merry Christmas.

xoxoxoxox

So preeeety!

2011-12-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

This was the sight I got to stare at out my window from work this morning once sun rose and the fog cleared. It was beautiful.

It was winter wonderland-ish.

He's officially official!

2011-12-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

Aaron Beiber (I will sneak into his room in the middle of the night and chop that nasty hair off his sweet head) got his license Friday. After much delay which included but was not limited to the driving instructor's father passing away in right at the time Aaron was to test, Aaron's mother's schedule, Aaron's father's schedule, Aaron's schedule, ect., we were able to finally get the poor boy down to the Drivers License Division to get the much desired license- FINALLY!!

And what does he get for his patients? A Dallas Cowboys key lanyard for the keys to his soon to be car.

Congrats Aaron Jean.

Now slow down!

Maybe homemade Christmas cards aren't such a good idea....

2011-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when I ~~bribe~~ make special arrangements with the boys in my family to gather around the fireplace and Christmas tree so that I can attempt to take a nice picture to make homemade Christmas cards with.....

Seriously Moose? Seriously??

Next year I think I'll just use this picture instead. Timmy's two baby's had curled up together on the recliner together in front of the fireplace last night.

And I didn't even have to bribe them to make them look cute!

Oh there's no place like Hometown Christmas for the holidays....

2011-12-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful weekend!

It was the Hometown Christmas Celebration this Saturday and what a fun afternoon/evening of food, activities and entertainment. The event took place on Commercial street (which is just around the corner from our house). All of the buildings along the street were transformed into a winter wonderland of a Kids Activity Room, a Christmas Cafe, a Christmas Boutique, a Gingerbread House, a Mrs. Clause reading room and Santa's workshop.

First stop......The Christmas Cafe'.

This is where the handsome Aaron Jean worked a double shift feeding the Christmas gathers .

Also located at the Christmas Cafe was my bestest girls Berit and Lizzy. They graciously voluteered for me at the Free Kiddee Treat counter by handing out popcorn, hot chocolate and cotton candy. I'm not sure they enjoyed it but if I got to pick a place to be stationed at all night, it would be the cotton candy maching :)

How cute is this girl?!!?

Second stop....The Christmas Boutique where Tim's mom Carol hocked her wares

She was selling her homemad velum Christmas cards, bags and tags.

Third stop......a preview of the Kid's Activity room before the chaos began. This is all the closer I dared get before the berage of children hit!

Santa arriving on the fire truck I never did make it down to get a picture of the Santa room but it was absolutely adorable!

I have made note that Mrs. Clause is a bit ticked that the Mr. arrived on a fire truck and the Mrs. showed up in the most unglorified manner. That WON'T happen next year, that's for sure!

The super, awesome 4th grade led by the even more super awesome Mrs. Netz in a round of Chrismas songs.

How do I know that Mrs. Netz is super awesome? Because I walked down the street with her and we couldn't get two feet without some sweet child yelling "Hi Mrs. Netz!!"

That would be one of Mrs. Netz's offspring......Chaston in the light grey coat singing along with his fellow fourth graders.

My favorite part of the whole shebang?

MRS. CLAUSE!!

She looked great. She read a darling book. The kids loved her. I loved her. She could definately turn it into a full time job.

And my part of the party.....The Grinch. Bob Peterson, The Awesome Tiffany Netz and JR Hopkin did a readers version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas as I embarrassed my self as the Grinch with Chaston as Little Cindy Loo Hoo and Brennon as Max the Dog.

Can you see Yo Bob's reflection in the mirror on the left. He observed our performance from outside. Why dad? Do I embarrass you?

The roast beast

Cindy Loo Hoo asking what I'm doing with her Christmas tree.

Max the Dog doing a little pre-show texting

Cindy Loo Hoo all tucked into bed with her Left Foot Right Foot dolly.

I'm sure it was not pretty watching me stuff myself in and out of the chimney.

Tim's mom on my left and Tim's dad on my right. Unlike Yo Bob, they came all the way into the building to watch.

A picture of my full make up BEFORE my nose started to run and ruined everything from my upper lip on down.

The whole event was a blast! If you weren't there you missed out on a such a fun-fun night.

Sweet Sixteen

2011-11-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Sweet Sixteen to this monkey

There just isn't a decent photo around of this kid where he isn't pulling some sort of goofey face.

Our new pad

2011-11-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

Our new parking pad that is......

We've been under construction at the Lafitte farm for a couple of weeks while we worked on a new parking pad.

We have "re-landscaped" the area next to our driveway with some extra concrete so that boys would have a place to park other than the street this winter once the snow starts to fly.

For those of you paying attention at home.....this is the part where Mr. Wiggle added a little something "extra" to my concrete project. If you thought I was kidding.....I WAS NOT KIDDING!!

He's all better in this picture.

And his special additive has been buried. NICE!! I hope I didn't get charged extra for that!

We now have a pretty little parking pad for Lydon and Aaron and they won't be swept away by a snow plow this winter.

So not fair!

2011-11-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

Life at the Lafitte house is not fair!!

I hauled Timmy off to a boutique a couple of weekends ago. The word "boutique" means: buying lots of girly stuff. So you would think that Timmy and I would walk out of the "boutique" with lots of fun crafts and treats for Stacy.

NOT TRUE

Stacy walked out with a Scentsy bar. Timmy, on the other hand, struck gold and spoiled the true loves of his life.

I give you exhibit A:

Doggie Sweaters. Timmy bought doggie sweaters. Sweaters. For the dogs. From the boutique. Not fair.

Moose is now sporting the finest of this seasons selection of knitted hoodies.

And Pancho will stay warm in this lovely high necked houndstooth sweater in vibrant red and white which off sets his black and white nicely dontcha think?

Not fair at all!

Busy Busy Bees

2011-11-16T12:57:00.000-08:00

Our bees have been super busy!

Just before Halloween, Tim and Carol busted open the hives, pulled out the frames and extracted the honey. I missed the part where they actually pulled out the frames (cuz you know there would have been photos!)

Once the frames were out, Tim had to slice off the "caps" (whatever that means) with a hot knife.

The un-capped frames were then dropped into the spinning do-kicky machine

which was heated by 85,000 watts of flame throwing heat and spun by Alan until the warmed honey was flung right off of their frames .

Once the honey was spun clean off the frames, it was drained from the kettle and through a filter (in order to get all the dead bee body parts out).

In the end we got nearly four gallons of honey. What a beautiful sight!

Halloween at our place

2011-10-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

Blogger--I do love you but why must you shuffle my pictures and make it difficult for me to document my memories, especially when I have a whole bucket load of pictures?!!? WHY?

We had our first ever Halloween party here at the farm this past weekend. And during the times I wasn't looking out at my beautiful backyard of fallen leaves with my family around me trying not to cry with gratitude, I think we had a really good time!

Since blogger mixed up my pictures, and since I don't have the patients to try and un-shuffle them, here's a run down of the action:

Dinner--my mom's chili (which we totally ran out of) in bread bowls, corn bread muffins accompanied by honey fresh outta the hive, apples with creamy carmel dip and to top it off---home made root beer bubbling like witches brew.

Costumes

Jill: Football Player (I'm sure it was 49er's related)

Boyd: Harley Davidson Motorcycle Man

Casuree: Miss America

Nate: Pimp Daddy

Kambree: Baby Bee

Jason: Carrigan Motors Mechanic

Carol: Bag-o-Trash (with a scarf--she's classy trash)

Shawn: Jason Aldean Country Singer

Tiffany: Pink Crayon

Brennon: Motorcycle Man

Chaston: Mad Scientist

Lydon: "The Situation" (from The Jersey Shore)

Aaron: Austin Powers

Stacy: The Queen Bee

Tim: My Drone ( aslo known as a bad sport )

Yo Bob: The Supervisor

After dinner we decorated the pumpkins that we grew in our garden. The kids/grown ups could either paint, carve or decorate the pumpkins.

After pumpkin decorating we had a donut eating contest.

And to end the festivities the moms got to make a smelly jar and the kids made trick-or-treat lanterns out of glow sticks and empty water bottles.

So....in no particular order.....enjoy this photo montage of our Halloween party.

Happy Halloween

"Bee" Safe

Is it Thanksgiving?

2011-10-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Because this weekend all I could think of was how thankful I was every time I looked out across this big beautiful back yard. This house truly is my "Barbie Dream House". I can't believe all this belongs to us.

This view that I look at from my tree swing of these beautiful trees is ours. The leaves were falling from the trees like rain drops this weekend. It was the most beautiful sight.

I can't believe that this yard that I once played in the leaves in as a kid, my kids now play in

I tear up every time I drive around the corner and catch a glimpse of our house and I can't believe how lucky we are!

Aaron Jean Dancing Machine

2011-10-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

I, Momma Lafitte, do hereby solemnly swear that I will not use the following blog post to embarrass my son, Aaron Jean Lafitte who went on his first date last night to the girls dance/Halloween dance with the super cute Rachel Harding.

I, Momma Lafitte, do hereby swear that I will not embarrass Aaron Jean by pointing that he has his eyes closed in most of these pictures. Aaron, just closing your eyes does not make me disappear.

I, Momma Lafitte, do hereby recognize that said Aaron Jean may need to "lift" these photos to either post on his facebook or share with his friends since their camera was not working properly. So I will try to refrain from getting all sappy about how cute their double dating Teen-aged Mutant Ninja Turtle couple, Bobby and Diana were. When did these kids grow up? I'm pretty sure Bobby was having sleep overs and stealing out of my fridge just yesterday......oh wait....he did steal out of my fridge just yesterday.

Hold the phone......sorry.......I am unable to keep my promise

How stinkin' cute. My baby boy is going on his first date! To a dance! With a girl! What a cute bunch of kids. When did HE grow up? When did I get this old?

Good-bye my sweet little dancers.....be safe and have a good time at the dance.....I take it you aren't going to let me go with you?

Who do I love the mostest?

2011-10-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

These gals!

Because they fed me Zupas for lunch today

and gave me this super cute pink breast cancer zip-up hoodie

and very funny queen bee card for bosses day.

Thanks girls! I love you tons!

Dear Buster

2011-10-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

You should see the Diet Coke holder in this beauty!

Be nice and maybe you'll get a ride in it :)

Seriously Garden?

2011-10-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

It's like you just keep throwing up vegetables and we just can't keep up!

Tomatoes, potatoes, jalapeno peppers, anaheim peppers, green bell peppers, cucumbers, egg plant, acorn squash, zuccini, yellow squash, onions........absent from this photo shoot is the whole entire pumpkin patch

We've been cookin, and cannin,....

And it sounds like we better kick it into high gear and get can what we got left before it SNOWS this weekend!!

Not my baby!

2011-10-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

It can't be true!

My baby (aka Aaron Jean) is old enough to be asked to a girl's choice dance.

ARG!! That makes me feel old!

Some cute little ckickee left this REAL pumpkin for my pumpkin on Saturday while Tim and I were in town. I think Aaron was trying to hide it from us. I'd like to know how long he thought he was going to keep this thing hidden from us in his room before it started to stink up the place.

This girl's choice dance is a Halloween dress-up dance. I can't wait to see what they will dress-up as! :)

If I remember correctly, SHE has to come to our door to pick him up. So that means that there will be a perfect photo op! Yay! Which, in turn, means a perfect blog op! (even if I have to hide in the bushes and sneak the pictures).

CONGRATULATIONS!

2011-09-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

To this little fella

(picture taken 10 years ago)

Because as of Monday, he will officially get to starting wearing a uniform for this department!!!

All of hard work has paid off and he has been hired on at Washington Terrace Fire Department!

Now excuse me while I grab me a box of kleenex and I slip off to have me a super proud mommy moment!!

p.s. Lydon----I am too young to be the mother of an official fire fighter. :)

Holy Garden Gone Wild!

2011-09-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to believe the thoery that bees possess some magical pollinating powers (or something scientific that I don't understand) and that they sprinkled their special magical pollination dust on our garden and because of their magic pollination dust our garden is OUT OF CONTROL!

We have more jalapeno and Anaheim peppers

and green peppers

and tomatoes by the box full!

and onions and squashes than we can keep up with.

So to put all those garden goodies to good use, we canned, bagged and bottled ALL weekend long. We made spaghetti sauce, salsa, and jalapeno jelly.

And if that wasn't enough, Carol got us some peaches and we even put up peaches this weekend.

That super gigantic sized 1950's stove was put to good use this past weekend.

I feel so domesticated!

I have made my official appearance

2011-09-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

And I have photos to prove it

( I love it when Yo Bob takes pictures....they have a soft blur about them that erases my fine lines and jowls and waddles, ect.)

I was a good (super duper-very good) sport and went to the woods (also known as "Shawn's property) (also known as Deep Creek) for an impromptu Labor Day weekend BBQ. See the picture below as proof that I was actually there: My Jeep parked under the Buster Netz Lafitte Memorial Deep Creek Arch.

Buster knows that the only way to lure me deep into the woods is with food so he had to make good on his offer by BBQing up some bacon wrapped chicken chunks (mmmmm...bacon wrapped food).

There was a little "horsing" around. Get it? Horsing around? Cuz it looks like Chaston is ride a tree shaped like a horse. Actually, Chase calls this his Star Wars bike because it looks like the bike in the Star Wars movie.

The boys fashioned up the fire pit so we could build a nice smores cooking fire.

Don't worry....there was plenty of adult supervision.

And Chase's wig was not bured in the building of this fire.

I played nice and ate in the woods, and cooked marshmallows in the woods

See how much fun Tim is having just spending quality time with me in the woods. Settle down Timmy.

Luckily, I did not have to pee in the woods!!

And, just to make me happy, my humming friend gave us one little fly by/buzzing while we were there

Which made the whole trip worth while.

I've done my time and summer can officially be over!

Dear Summer:

2011-08-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am so OVER YOU!!

Move along.

I love Home-ec

2011-08-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love back to school. And oh how I love the Home-ec class. And oh how I love Home-ec home work. Looks like I will be treated to all kinds of sweet treats from my sweet Aaron Jean.

Last night it was Rice Krispy pin wheels.

Total A+!

What's next, Aaron?

Buster and Brenn: What did you do so wrong?

2011-08-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

I don't know exactly what Buster and Brennon did that was so wrong but they were sentenced to live in the back country this past weekend.

They stayed in ~~Hell~~ the Unitas (I dislike the place so much I don't even know if I spelled it right), they had to hike in on mules, they had to sleep in canvas tent things and from the looks of it, they had to kill their own dinner with bows and arrows. What ever it was that they did to deserve a punishment like this, it must have been a doozey!

Notice Busters new teeth. No more braces. Good timing since it's easier to tear the meat off of the carcass of your hunted down prey if you don't have those pesky braces to get in the way.

Brennon, just remember that your Aunt Stacy loves you and that if it gets too bad at your house there is always room at the Lafitte Family Farm for you and your rabbit to come and live.

Dear T-Bone

2011-08-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks for dragging my backside out of bed before the butt-crack of dawn this past weekend to participate in the Focus 4 Mile Run. Please see photo below which shows that the sun is just barely coming up behind us, documenting that we were up, dressed and in Roy well before dawn cracked.

The race was in memory of four Focus employees who died in a plane crash while on a humanitarian mission. One of boys was from Morgan.

Teresa lured me to the event with promises of food........

and prizes because she knew that I would not participate solely for the purpose of running......duh!

I lifted this picture from Teresa's blog to show that I did indeed finish all four miles of the race. I believe I came in dead last with an impressive time of 58 minutes and some odd seconds. I was not dead last the entire time. Believe it or not, I was neck and neck with an "older" gentleman named Richard that everyone along the route was cheering along with chants of "Keep going Richard" "You can do it Richard" "We have faith in you Richard". I was a good strech ahead of Richard but due to a finish line malfunction, (translation: I didn't see the finish line and just stopped walking once I reached general area where the food table was at) Richard walked right past me and straight through the finish line which then made me the official dead last participant. Oh well---someone has to be "The clean-up crew".

Head on over to Teresa's blog to read about her personal best story at the race despite her achy mouth.

She puts me to shame more that Richard.

How 'bout that storm last night?

2011-08-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Was that an amazing thunderstorm and down pour lastnight or what?

The boys and I opened every window and stood on the front porch and watch the light show.

And then the rain just-a-poured. It rained so hard the street in front of our house pooled up with water so the boys ran out to do a little midnight puddle jumping.

Even DaMoosh played in the rain.

Did you fill the boot?

2011-08-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

Cuz if you'll throw your change in the boot......

This handsome fella will give you a sticker to put on your shirt.

Go fill the boot.

Oh happy day!

2011-08-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

First day of school for Aaron Jean!

Please forgive this picture of Aaron--I made him get out of bed and get dressed before he was ready just so that I could get a "first day of school" picture before I went to work.

I love this time of year! School is wonderful! Structure is great! Schedules are the best thing ever!

I'm going to love having someone up with me in the morning (contrary to what this picture of what Aaron may indicate). Aaron Jean Washing Machine is a Sophomore this year. He starts drivers ed tomorrow. He's going to keep working at his job after school and on the weekends. What a kid.

YAY for the first day of school!! Do you know what the first day of school means? It means summer is OVER! YAY!! It means that fall is on the way. YAY!! I love fall!! I love not sweating!

Yay for the first day of school!

HB to ME

2011-08-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

I guess it's only fair that if I am going to tease Buster about his birthday that I am obligated to blog about my own birthday.

I got to start the festivities off with a pre-birthday feast with the girls at the Brick Oven

(I give the restaurant two thumbs up)

Followed by some retail therapy.

Which witch is which? (don't answer that...)

On my actual birthday I was treated to a combined birthday breakfast to celebrate my Bday and Buster's Bday. Tim and Buster did all the cooking----I did all the eating.

Carol made sure I felt like a princess for the day. Not quite sure why she made me wear that clown nose along with the princess crown and feather boa. (seriously--what the heck is up with my nose in this picture?!!?)

Carol also made sure Buster felt all 40 of his well deserved years

Since it was my birthday, I felt I deserved to take all the "Deb's Glamor Shots" and everyone had to cooperate---because it was my birthday and that is what I wanted.

Pancho didn't like how he looked in that previous picture so he immediate ran and found his ball and came right back to pose for this perfect picture. No lie!

Breakfast Menu: Eggs from the chickees (not my favorite), potatoes-o-brien, bacon (my favorite), biscuits and gravy (my other favorite), ham that Shawn provided (pig #179---don't ask)

Tim looks like he is about to give himself a hand for the delightful breakfast that he just made. Actually, I think he was trying to squish a fly.

Tiff and Buster admiring the "Over the Hill Casket Kit" that Carol got Shawn for his big 4-OH.

Rare photo of Yo Bob

Buster showing off the apron that his buds Megan and Ashley made him for his birthday. Also making an appearance in this photo-his new mug which says "age is like underwear, it creeps up on you". FYI-he has a mouthful of ham and that is his excuses for not smiling with his teeth. Whatever.....

The only game that was played at this party was "who can swat the most flies with the electric fly swater". The Lafitte Family Farm seems to be infested with flies....not fun!

On to presents-- This would be my look of total disbelief after I open my beautiful new gleaming white IPad II that everyone (including the kids) pitched in and bought me.

Another FYI--Shawn also got and IPad for his birthday. He returned it. Loser. Now how is he going to read the blog?

The funniest card of the year goes to Aaron. Not because of the card, but because of what he wrote in it. (and because he put a dollar in it).

" I hope you have a day to blog about" Does that boy have me figured out or what?!!

I also got a beautiful "June Cleaver" punch out embroidered white (not WIDE, contrary to what Alan was calling me) apron from Carol.

Shawn and I showing off our birthday aprons.

In case you were wondering, the answer is yes--I did wear the princess crown and boa all morning. I felt very comfortable dressing like a pink princess and I did not want the feeling to end.

It was another year of fabulous.

The only thing that would have made the day any better would have been if Yo Bob would have sat still long enough for his glamor shot. This is gonna have to do.

Guess who's 40

2011-08-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

I'll give you a hint......

It's not the pretty dark haired girl on the left.

Buster is 40

Happy birthday to my 40 year old little brother.

You are old.

She's a blue ribbon winner!

2011-08-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

But of course!

Yay Carol

Yay Mini-Me

The only complaints....Her "Relay for Life" sign was a little skee-wamp-us and her "Hope" necklace got looped around the backside of her neck so you couldn't even see it-dang it.

And now she gets to come home with me :)

My Mini Me

2011-08-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Keep an eye out for this little beauty in the exhibit building at the Morgan County Fair this weekend.

This is my soon-to-be Mini Me doll that Carol MADE. For me. From scratch. All by herself. From cloth. She even made the clothes. She has entered it into the Morgan County Fair but she gave me a little teary sneak peak before she whisked it away.

It's made of all things that remind her of me.

Diet Coke, Relay for Life, breast cancer ribbons, camera around her neck.

Look at the detail.....right down to the charm on the bracelet. I couldn't get a close enough shot of the buttons on the shirt but they even have the breast cancer ribbons on them. Even cute pink finger nails.

Her hair is red with blond streaks. Carol hand painted the face.

Cute little camera and pink little sandals. Just and FYI---the dolls legs are much nicer than mine!! Although mine are just as white.

Cute little hope necklace. She even has on a bra-you can see the little lace on the right next to the camera strap (her boobs are nicer than mine too). Sorry for the shadows. I was trying to hurry and take pictures and either my hair or my finger got in the way.

Thank you Carol!

She's beautiful! I can't wait to see her at the fair. And I can't wait for the fair to be over so that I can show her off! You did a wonderful job! I think you have found your true talent.

Dear Dad: Shirlee did NOT puke

2011-08-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

The sponsors of the Morgan Valley Marathon will be happy to know that Shirlee's $15 entry fee/deposit won't have to go towards a "hose down" of the 5K route since she was able to do the entire distance without even so much as a dry heave.

Teresa, Shirlee, Carol and I got up bright and early last Saturday and joined the rest of the Morgan ranks to participate in the Morgan Valley Marathon/Half Marathon/5K.

Les was on vacation and wasn't able to join us, but look--that's Cindee's face squished in there between Teresa and Shirlee's faces.

Even Buster participated

He was there with Bren, Chase, Deanne, Caybree and Ron. Tiff and her sister Amy ran the half marathon which started a half hour before the 5K.

More of our courthouse friends--CoyAnn, Steph Teri and Tammy

It should be noted that the rules were explained before we even began the 5k that timing chips were not going to be handed out, that this was not a timed race and was to be more of a "FUN RUN". Did you hear that rude lady standing behind us? "FUN RUN" Because you were pretty much using your loud, outside, rude voice when the starting pistol went off and you shoved your way past us and you said "I knew this was going to happen" when we weren't moving fast enough for you. FUN RUN rude lady--not a timed race.

Any hoo....where was I.......

We very much enjoyed our "FUN RUN" by taking it easy and "fun walked" the route. In fact, by the time EVERYONE pushed past us, we were in last place. Which was ok, I looked at it this way: we were like the pick-up crew. We made sure there was no one left behind. And we got to see all kinds of fun clothing that got left behind. By the looks of the number of shirts we found, there must have been a lot of topless runners out there.

Below is photographic evidence that Shirlee made it over the Como incline and on to mile marker one. The party balloon was not left for her as a congratulatory gift.

My favorite part of the whole shebang......the ottorpop aid station

Buster (who made it to the finish line a lot faster than we did) made sure that he documented that we made it all the way to the end.

At which point Shirlee kicked it up a notch, started flapping her wings, and brought 'er on home. She may have thrown out her shoulder a little with that final push to the finish line.

Terry checked her over, gave her a clean bill of health and released her. If my blog had sound you would hear Terry telling Shirlee "No, really Shirlee, you're fine. We don't need to cut your britches off. No. Really. You're fine. Please, Mrs. Wilkerson, put your leg down. Those are strech pants--if we needed to we would just yank them down"

Here's our group photo suitable for framing.

After the 5k we watched friends and family finish up the half marathon.

Tiff and Amy show us how real runners look when they cross the finish line. They actually look too pretty to have just run 13 miles.

See what I mean!?!! Too pretty to have just run a half marathon. Not fair!

Cathie our independent auditor who is also in full hair and make-up just finishing the half marathon.

Patrick, our other independent auditor, doesn't need hair or make up to look pretty at the finish line.

Chaston give us the "That's all Folks"

Congratulations are in order

2011-07-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

Because this fella graduated today!

Lydon Edward finished fire science classes and is now certified in not only Fire 1 but Fire 2, Folks!! That's a big deal around these parts. So that calls for a celebration (and a blog post!). We rounded up Grandpa Bob, Grandma Carol and Alan and Grandpa Tim and Grandma Margy to par-tee!

Grandpa Bob made the best home-made card (even though it took him a couple of 3 or so hours to make). It was a super cool card that involved stealing Lydon's picture from his facebook page, a very nice firefighter poem, and some sappy/tear jerky words of encouragement(who taught him how to do those things-especially stealing pictures from facebook). It totally put my balloons, congratulations button and crepe paper to shame.

He followed it up with a new firefighter hitch cover for Lydon's truck and a firefighter key chain .

You have heard of re-gifting.......how about re-enveloping? Ask Grandma Carol what was up with this re-do of my envelope.

After gifts, we partied!

Why does it always look like they are trying to run from me and my camera?

We made the boy a feast fit for a Firefighting King of steak and chicken.

Congratulations Lydee--you are only 19 years old and you are EMT certified and Fire 1 and 2 certified and we are so very proud of you!! You are almost there with your EMT intermediate--keep up the good work and soon enough you'll be living your dream!

We Love You!

Out of Order

2011-07-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

Tim is currently incapacitated.

He recently went under the knife and had BOTH, I repeat, BOTH of his hands operated on. He had a double carpel tunnel release surgery. That's right-----there is a doctor out there somewhere that has it out for me because he was willing to do both of Tim's wrists at the same time, which means that he is out of order for the next six weeks.

I am going to choose to look at it this way: He better be nice to me because he is basically at my mercy for the next six weeks :)

This is the major look of excitement on Tim's face when he realized that I had smuggled a camera into the operating prep room. Remember Honey, you are going to be at my mercy for the next six weeks---be nice.

The nurse said something about this being a dose of bear tranquilizer. Just let the medicine do it's magic Timmy. Close your eyes........

This cute little gal was using her Lady Schick to shave the hair off of Tim's knuckles before surgery.

Timmy did really well through the surgery. Except he came out sporting these really nice looking Hulk boxing gloves. My suggestion is that we spray paint them green so that they actually look like Hulk fists and then he can impress all of Lydon and Aaron's friends with his super big muscle hands but nobody would go with my idea.

I have been shown up

2011-07-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

I was feelin all full of my self.

I was on top of the world

I thought I was the next 5-K wonder........

I was still on a high from getting up at 7:30am and walking the Morgan Marathon 5K route. No sooner had I posted my massive accomplishment on the blog when Grandma Carol has to go and conquer the "M" on her first try.

WHAT THE!!??!!

And she has photographic evidence.

SERIOUSLY?!!?

And she did it in the middle of the afternoon in the heat of the day.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!?

And then she went home and mowed her lawn.

I'm gonnago have some ice cream and then go take a nap.

Happy Birthday Yo Dad

2011-07-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Yo Dad

That's it

Nothin' else

I won't embarrass you

One of my moms favorite things

2011-07-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

One of the things my mom used to love was little green apples (ewww). Every summer her friends would bring her a bunch of apples and I remember her sitting with a salt shaker eating them all. In fact, I remember one summer when the neighborhood moms (who shall remain nameless) did a midnight raid on a tree that was located somewhere in the vicinity of the post office to get apples for her (I'll never forget that night)

Now I have one of her beloved apple trees in my yard and it is chuck full of her little green apples

Some of the limbs are so full of apples that they almost touch the ground.

I wished she were here to enjoy all these apples.....

Cuz I'm not sure how Pancho and Moose are going to feel after eating all these apples that I keep catching them snacking on.

Guess What Yo Bob's Got

2011-07-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

If you are nice I just might share.

Dear 5-K Friends

2011-07-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not (I'm sure you will opt for the not) I drug out of bed this morning and test drove (test walked) the 5-K route.

It wasn't too bad! I made Moose go with me. We left just after 7:30 (he had to fix his hair before we could leave) and we made the trek in less than an hour.

We started out from my house because it is all about me, me, me and my house, house, house (in fact, I think they wanted to start the race from my house but there just wasn't sufficient parking for all the contestants ;) )

Since Moose was with me I couldn't go at my full long-leg pace. He's got them short stubby legs but I thought that since he had four of them, maybe he could do double the time but that was not the case. Another thing that slowed us down was that he had to stop to sniff and piddle on everything. I promise I won't do that when we participate in the race (maybe). There was a nice thick batch of bugs (baby mosquitoes?) at the bridge at the fairgrounds and I'm pretty sure I took in more than my required daily allowance as I crossed the bridge---certainly not on purpose--not much I could do about it since I really really needed to breath!

It was a beautiful morning. The weather was cool. There was a handful of other ladies out walking the same route. Moose must have know we were all out serving the same purpose because when we passed the other walkers he would barely give them them a nod as if the say "move over before I sniff you and piddle on you".

So, Squirlee, get your walking shoes laced up.......this is totally doable!

4th of July Food Craft (I forgot which part we are up to at this point)

2011-07-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Blog stalking definately has it's benifits! I found this super cute 4th of July food craft for the gang durning a recent blog stalk. Tim is delicately modeling what should look like a fire cracker made out of the giant marshmallows, sugar paper (have you heard of it? It's the yellow star part of the firecracker), red sprinkles, and orange coconut (to represent the flame of the firecracker) all shoved on a skewer.

Unfortunately, my firecracker is a little lopsided.

4th of July Part #5 - Minute to Win it

2011-07-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

Reason #5 why this 4th of July was a dream come true--another opportunity to ~~embarrass~~ play ~~embarrassing~~ fun Minute to Win games ~~embarrassing~~ 4th of July style

Game #1 "What a Racket"

Aaron Jean vs. Grandma Carol

Object of the Game: To get the gumball from point A to point B on the by maneuvering the tennis racket with only your knees

Game #2 - Ready Spaghetti

Timmy vs. Nater

Object of the Game: To get six pieces of Rigatoni laced onto a piece of spaghetti using only your mouth

Game #3 - Mad Dog

Jason vs. Shaelee

Object of the Game: Shake the tic-tac boxes that are glued to both ends of the ruler empty using only your teeth

Note to Jason--DO NOT TURN YOUR STICKS UPSIDE DOWN TO EMPTY YOUR TIC-TAC BOX. That is called CHEATING, hence the bad, blurry pictures. I had to hurry and take pictures because the game was over before it even started due to his cheat-age.

Game #4 - Can't remember the name of this one

Couples Game

Jill and Boyd vs Buster and Tiff

Object of the Game: String a piece of spaghetti thru the tab of a pop can and carry the can across the length of the table, across the yard and deposit the can over the fence.

Game # 6 - Wet Balloon

Casuree vs. Chaston

Object of the Game: Get the balloon from the start line to the bucket using only a squirt bottle

Game #7 Hut-Hut Hike

Lydon vs. Brennon

Object of the Game: Hike 20 rolls of toilet paper thru hula hoops. Who ever gets the most rolls of TP thru their hoops wins.

Bonus Game - Nervous Nelly

Uncle Jill vs Bren

Object of the Game: players wear pedometers on both wrists and attempt to get the most "mileage" by moving their arms before one minute is up.

Up next: Food Crafts

4th of July Part #4 - What happens when Buster gets a hold of my camera

2011-07-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

Reason # 4 why this 4th of July was a dream come true: Timmy and Buster were off duty and I got to have them BOTH home for the holiday.

But heaven forbid I should put my camera down to enjoy the party by eating because Buster stole my camera and attempted to do a little blog photography himself.

Buster--just leave the camera alone and let me do the blog photography......

Stay tuned for episode #5-4th of July Minute to Win It

4th of July Part #3 - BBQ

2011-07-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

The third reason that this 4th of July was a dream come true:

Our super big back yard is so nice and shady that it made the perfect place to BBQ

Timmy made the perfect grill master wearing my cute little apron. (I don't think he realized that it was my apron he was wearing-----big guy in a little apron!)

Stayed tuned for 4th of July Part #4----What happens when I put my camera down and Buster decides to play photo master

4th of July Part #2 - Arts & Crafts

2011-07-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

Reason #2 why this 4th of July was a dream come true

Having a great big back yard with great big shady trees for everyone to spread out and enjoy themselves.

Our first activity: Arts and Crafts

And for the 4th of July we red-white-and-blue-tye-dyed t-shirts

Of course tye-dye wasn't YoBob's scene so he gathered up his partner-in-crime

and took her off to visit the chickens

Up next:

4th of July BBQ

Happy Birthday Uncle Jill

2011-07-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my original Blog Model.

I would like to think that because of me and my dynomite photo arranging skills in Grandma Billies backyard back in the day,

Uncle Jill was able to move up to the big time in 1982.

Your welcome, Uncle Jill.

Happy birthday to my favorite blog model and most beautiful Uncle Jill!!

I love you!!

4th of July-Part #1 Parade

2011-07-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

4th of July Dream Come True #1

The Parade came right past my front door!

We didn't have to get up early to stake out our seats.

We didn't have to fight traffic.

We didn't have to worry about running over small children as they ran out into the streets

We didn't have to share the candy that was thrown at us.........

We just stepped out our front door and the parade came to us!! Even the F-16's did a fly over for us. So nice of them! I didn't even know they knew where we lived.
Of course, I only took pictures of my favorite parts----that includes the Mtn Green Fire DepartmentGood to see Lester Lee participating again (center stage) Here's the Jr. Livestock with our friend Candi (pounding the pavement in the white t-shirt) and our other friend Cindee's kids Bailee and Hunter riding the float
The Relay for Life float got to spend a little down time parked in our yard. That would be the ever famous RaVonna there to the left of the cupcake doing the parade wave (even though her float is stationary)
My super proud mommy moment came when Lydon Edward drove up in this super fancy Morgan Fire truck. You may be able to tell that's him driving if you squint hard enough.
He was escorted by the lovely and talented Brennon Netz
They were followed by the fine candy throwing skills of Fire Chief Dave and Chaston Netz in the big Morgan Fire Rig. Sorry but you're gonna have to squint again to get a good look at Chaston.
The parade concluded with a nice little serenade from the Morgan High drum band. It was my most favoritest part (except for Lydon driving the fire truck) It gave me chills. It made Pancho's hair stand on end. Apparently he's not a big fan.

Stay tuned for part #2 of our 4th of July party--Craft Time

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

It takes me waaaayyyy too long to post one gigantic long post with all the super fun stuff we did on the 4th of July so I'm going to break it up into little bite sized pieces so that it's easier to digest!

It was a BLAST!!

They call us the Boody Bunch

2011-07-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

And this weekend we took the Marie McQuiddy softball world by storm

OK...it really can't honestly be classified as "by storm". But hey--we "participated" like nobody's business!! And when I say "we" participated, I should clarify that only those people whose names appear on the team roster below participated.

As you can see, my name does not appear on the roster, therefore I was not allowed anywhere near a softball bat, softball mitt, and there seemed to have been a definite effort to keep my body off the softball fields. So I took that to mean that my purpose for the day was to properly cheer and encourage our team by heckling--I mean harassing--I mean distracting the opposing teams. (Side note: word on the street is that the large gentleman on the Jubilee team that I was "allegedly" teasing by calling a teddy bear tossing cupcakes instead of softballs may be filing a protective order against me. Can anyone confirm or deny this story? Anyone?)

The games started at 7:00 am (I reiterate -- 7:00am) on a non-work day. But -hey- that's ok. It's all good when it comes to the Boody Bunch. Lydon made it on time. In fact, he was even a little early.

This is what the fan base looks like at 7:00 am. It was just a little bit chilly that early in the morning. And believe it or not, Aaron worked on his hair before we left the house, which means he intended for his hair to look like that.
Team Chairwoman, Uncle Jill and Little Yo. Please note: so help me, I will disable all comments if anyone reminds me of just how beautiful and skinny and young looking and blah, blah blah Uncle Jill is especially at 7am. I am fully aware. No reminders are necessary.

Buster likes to tell me that the sun rises and sets with him. It just so happens that he was right on Saturday.
Buster exhibited some of his mother's artistic talents by designing the team t-shirts. Buster, Buster, Buster.....He also had to bring the "tissue factor" to his and Tiff's shirts. Buster chose the number "2" which is the month our mom passed away and Tiff chose the number "13" which is the day she passed away. Hang on --- I gotta go get a tissue. Dang you Buster!Yo Bob served as our team mascot and even sported a Boody Bunch t-shirt.

Chase has just got to stay sharp....He never know's when Carol's gonna sneak a lovin on him Uncle Jill doing a little double duty by running the snack shack
What a great -blistering hot- day to spend watching softball. What made it even better was that we got spend time with the gals from work and their families.

Teresa and DaleLeslie

Leslie's hubby Travis

"Lil Red"
Colton doing a little maintenance work. He had brought in this fireworks garbage that he found in the parking lot. Colton, I think Yo Bob would like to speak with you about his future on Yo Bob's yard crew. Please submit your resume.
We even got to play against our former co-worker Mackenzie.

Here are some of my favorite action shots from the day.

Lydon "Pinky Long Legs" Lafitte

Jason "Young Guns" Carrigan

Nate "Team Captain" Roberts

Babooshka "Ball Bunter" Roberts

Tiff "The Skull Crusher's Momma" Netz
Quinn "The Do-Rag" Toone

Stephanie "The Newlywed" Pentz

Shaelee "The Stylist" Pentz

Buster "Ol' Man" Netz
Kasey "Spoon Me" Comer

Diana "Drivers License" Pentz

Chaz "What's that in your Can Cozy?" Rowser

Brittney "I wished I had her legs" Rowser

Unfortunately, this all the closer RaVonna "The Party Coordinator" McQuiddy would let us get to the coveted trophy.
Apparently, 2011 just wasn't the year for the Boody Bunch and their softball team debut.
Our scores were pretty sad

Game #1---27 to 3 (we were the 3)

Game #2 --- 13 to 33 (we were the 13)

Game #3 --- 11 to 10 ( we were the 10)

Game #4 see picture below

They wiped the score off before I could even get a picture of it.

I think lookin at Buster and Lydon walking off the field in the right hand side of the picture tells the story...........

I questioned whether or not softball was really our thing. I suggested that maybe we should start a bowling league team instead. That didn't go over well..... The Boody Bunch will be rallying and will begin practicing shortly for the 2012 Marie McQuiddy tournament.

Chuck-o-wagon-o-rama

2011-06-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Get it?

Chuck Wagon

Chuck-o-Rama

Chuck-o-wagon-o-rama!

I don't get along well with summer. They don't make enough extra strengh/prescription strength/manly strength deoderant for gigantor gals like me to make it comfortably through the blazin' season. But I have to admit that I do have one favorite part of summer----I am a HUGE fan of Chuck Wagon breakfast. And Chuck Wagon Breakfast is bascially the starting bell to summer round these parts.

Yo Bob/Cookie served up a good one this year. The hashbrowns were nice and toasty........and when I can convince him to bring back the bacon, all will be right with the world.

We got to treat Carol and Alan to their first Chuck Wagon.

Carol's sister Sylvia and her husband Barry made a layover in Morgan from California on their way to Wyoming so we also go to show off Morgan County Search and Rescue's finest breakfast skills to them.

Hangin out with Buster at the Chuck Wagon......just like the good old days......

Deep Creek = Jelly Stone Park

2011-06-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

Yo Bob and Buster own a lovely piece of property up Deep Creek. I say that Yo Bob and Buster own it because I am not much of a fan of the great outdoors or of sitting in the dirt, or eating food with bugs in it or of peeing in the woods. I am more of a stay at home-close to my own couch, close to my own potty, close to my own fridge kind of a gal.

Buster keeps trying to lure me up to Deep Creek with promises of cook outs, fire pits, and fun. I think I have finally figured out the true reason why he is trying to get me up there:

He wants to use me as bear food!!

Thank you-thank you Chad Carrigan for letting me borrow these pictures of the black bear that you got at Deep Creek. The top picture shows the bear up on his hind legs and the bottom picture shows him sniffing around.

Now that I know that the that fella is up there poking around, I'll stay down here and enjoy the chickens and the bees!

Nice try Buster!

What happens when the "Yard Budget" gets cut at the Lafitte house

2011-06-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Since all of our money now goes towards chicken feed and bee keeper outfits, we have had to take drastic measures by slashing our yard budget. Effective immediately, the following yard budget cuts have been made:

We have had to hire cheap manual labor to help move pipe while we re-lay the sprinklers in the back yard.

And there goes the cheap help running off with the new sprinkler pipe......

We have had to get discounted garden gnomes and come to find out they talk back

And the lame tigers we got for the petting zoo just aren't as vicious as we had hoped for
And if that wasn't enough --- the hired help that ran off with our sprinkler pipe is now using it as a chew toy.

Times are tough all over.

You have been warned

2011-06-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Thugs and Burglars:

Even though this sign is visibly posted in my front yard

And this little sticker is annoyingly stuck to every single window in our home

But the thing that should make you think twice before you assault our home is this little fella. He will bring the hurt. Respect da Moose.

You lookin at me?

Movin on up

2011-06-12T17:35:00.001-07:00

According to the "Bringing up Bees" bible, it was time to pop the lid off their single story living accommodations and check their progress. So this weekend Tim and Carol did just that......

They pop the top

And smoked them into submission

So that they could get a good look at how they were doing.

And by the looks of it, they are doing just fine thank you very much. Look at that honeycomb on the lid

This is just a little pile that they scraped off

The book says that once their box starts looking like this, they are too cozy and it is time to build a second storyAnd now the Lafitte bees are living comfortably in a beautiful two story duplex. Hey Gwen...does this mean that their property taxes will go up? :)
If you look closely at the side of the box in the picture below, you will see the bees moving into their new place. They don't waste time!

We won't see usable amounts of honey until sometime in the fall but is was cool to see this bit of honeycomb that they scraped off the boxes.

Mothers Day - Part 2

2011-05-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Blogger--You suck!

I had composed a perfectly lovely blog about my mother's day and for some reason you had a case of "Friday the 13th" and you wiped it out. I don't even remember what I wrote so I won't even attempt to recreate it. Let's just know that it was delightful!

It told the story of how Tim tricked me into thinking that he and the boys had bought me this sunflower yard ornament for mothers day after I had spent a good four months letting them know that I wanted nothing more than a red K-Mart bike.

And then I told the world that I went in the bathroom and cried a little when I thought that they ignored my pleas for a bike got me rusty sunflower instead. And then I told the world that I cried some more when I found out that they were tricking me and did indeed get me the red K-Mart bike and I felt like a fool.

And then I showed off pictures of my mothers day morning

We had a wonderful morning....Tim made us all a breakfast that included eggs fresh from the chickens (of course), homemade biscuits and gravy, bacon and potatoes o'brien. The kids played in the yard, climbed the trees and made bird feeders out of tree limbs, peanut butter and bird seed. Shawn only got bit by Moose once but it was his own fault. And it was just a nice morning with the whole family relaxing in the back yard and visiting.

And that is the abreviated version of the re-cap of the re-cap that blogger deleted.

Thank you Uncle Jill for Happy Mother's Day Part 1

2011-05-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

For the third year, Uncle Jill arranged for us to walk the Susan G Koman Race for a Cure in Salt Lake this week-end.

And the timing always works out so that we can honor the memory of my mom for mother's day

Is it just me or does this t-shirt make my elbows look fat. Ewwww.....

Joining us this year was Nate. He brought the "manly" to the girl walk.

Jill's shirt (My beautiful sister Billie Netz-My Hero xoxoxox)

My Little Babooshka's shirt (my aunt Billie and Marie)

Little Yo was the highlight of the day for me. I even found a "YO" shirt!

Little Yo wasn't hurtin for transportation. She was getting around by stroller

at least for a minute..

she was packed by Grandma

she got a piggy-back

(there may have been a small amount of crimal activity along the way--this flower may or may not have been stolen out of a yard by her MOTHER!)

She was even a trooper and walked it like the big kids.

I'm tellin ya, Little Yo is super kool!Here's this year's picture of the crowd ahead of me........tooooooo many people- ARRRGGG!

I had to close my eyes and go to my happy place......much better

We ran into loved ones--Chuck and Ravonna

and Marie's super sweet boys.

But my most favorite part is the t-shirts---this year's contenders.....

This make-shift shirt. We are the "Breast" of friends.A re-run from last year but still a favorite

Harley's for Hooters (this group kinda scared me but they were nice and let me take their picture before they broke my knee caps)

Oh, now you tell us
I am a card carrying member of the "smaller" membership of this club
And handful of the "Boo-Bee" club holding up bee signsI have to admit...if I had a set like that, I'd wanna touch 'em
His hair was more fun than his shirt
me too, sweetheart, me too

Tim's curly blond hair and pink tu-tu at last year's Relay for Life was much better than this dude's hair. If you are going to show up, at least put some effort into it fella....
Shirlee has a good "knocker" story. Ask me about it some time
Yes, Uncle Jill, I'll get myself checked before I get myself wrecked
Another re-run from last year but still a favorite! Hooray indeed
Ta-ta's are a blast? Really?

And this years grand prize winner...
Drum roll....
This team of gals from the Titsburgh Feelers!

I started a new tradition this year--picking up chicks for Pancho and Moose.
This one is cute but too blond

This little doll looked too much like Moose and just may be his long lost sister so we'll have to pass
This guy is a dog but not the kind of "dog" I'm lookin for

Not the kind of "chick" I'm lookin for

Now we're talking....a long legged, dark haired girl dressed in pink. Perfect.

It was a beautiful day and such a nice walk. Nate was a great sport. He said that even though the walk was a 5K, I could claim 5 miles since we had to walk from the car to the Union Station to the start line, the 5k walk, from the finish line to lunch, back to the car. I may be rounding up a little bit but Nate gave me permission so it's all good.

There was no shopping at the Gateway after the walk but I did find Tim a father's day present. Shhhh...don't tell him. Hot pink is his color.

Our tradition is to go to the Skybox for luch after th walk. What the heck!??!

So we had quite the prediciment trying to figure out where to go since the Skybox was closed. We settled on Abblebees but it still took consulting the map. Damn it Skybox--WHY?!!? WHY?

Another tradition that I failed miserably at this year was star gazing. I usually see Ronald McDonald, Griz the Hockey Bear or the Girls from Good Things Utah. But this year I was SOL.

Or so I thought.

And then, turns out, I was a little bit rock-n roll at the Wal-Mart on the way home.

Or am I a little bit country. I can't remember.

Either way, it was a pretty cool little Wal-Mart surprise. The star gazing tradition continues.

Thanks Uncle Jill for signing us up for the walk. I totally enjoy that I get to go and non-stress, walk, enjoy the view, think of my mom, and hang out with you and my little Babooshka. It was the bestest Mother's Day part 1.

Pictures from the funeral

2011-05-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

Thank you Teresa for sharing these pictures she took at the funeral today.

Morgan Fire truck
Morgan Guys in their Ogden blues starting from the left: Kevin Waller, Shawn Waller, BUSTER (who is hiding), Ashley Philips, Uncle Boyd Carrigan (also hiding) in his wildland browns. In the white hat is Ogden's Scott Atkinson. And then from Mtn. Green is Austin Larson in blue and Brian Doyle in white. The rest of the line up are from the Clinton Department.

With their backs to the camera, starting on the left: Rounding off the Waller clan, Hillary Waller and Tyler Waller, the tall one with the red band in his helmet would be Lydon Edward Lafitte, after the 6 feet 5 inches of Lafitte, the shorter end of the line up looks like perhaps the Roberts/Carrigan of the department (love you guys!)

That would be Buster Netz's face there third from the left. He was sure he dodged the camera. Way to capture the moment Teresa.

What an awesome tribute.

Gwen-Now would be good time to look away

2011-05-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

Bee-cuz I'm about to tell you the story of phase three (phase one-garden, phase two-chickens)of the development of the Lafitte Family Farm and it involves.............

BEEs

(I'm not kidding Gwen---look away now!)

Friday afternoon we drove home with two of these crates full of the buzzin buggers in the back of the car all the way from Logan.

Tim was supposed to "install" them into their hives Friday night but it started snowing just as we hit Weber canyon (perhaps an omen the we SHOULD NOT be bee-keepers). So since we could not keep them outside in the snow, we had no other option than to keep them in our BASEMENT until Sunday (sounds logical, right?)

Sunday evening, Carol and Lydon geared up for the installation (we only have two bee-keeper costumes). The rest of us had to go bee-commando.

Tim opened the bee crates and pulled out the can that held the Queen.

In the Queen can was a Queen box

Here's a close up of the Queen box

The Queen box is covered in bees that had to be brushed off

This is the Queen-box once all of the bees were brushed off

And here is one of the royal highness's. Sorry for the blurry picture. It's hard to focus under the pressure of being swarmed.

The queen then gets placed on her own special thrown inside the hive box thingy.

Once she is in place, Tim dumped the rest of the bees that had not yet escaped into the box hive thing.

Aaron was not lucky enough to score a bee-keeper costume and only had his coat to protect him so this is all the closer he could get.

Which is a good thing because this is what was going on on the top of Carol's head.

We had to go through that little exercise twice because we bought two bee-packages, which is a total of two queens and six thousand bees---I feel bad for the poor fella that had to count out six thousand bees and bag them up for us.

So to all the homeowners of Williams Circle, I apologize for the buzzing and bee commotion. But apparently this summer you will have the most beautiful flowers in town and if you are nice, you may get a jar of honey for Christmas.

Yo Grandma Ruth

2011-04-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Every time Aaron has a gang of his high-class boy buddies over to our house to ravage our fridge for what little bit of food there may be in there, they complain that our jam isn't good enough (BRATS!) and they want to know why we don't have any homemade jam on hand for them (STINKIN' BRATS!) What's wrong with a little Smucker's squeeze, boys?

Not wanting to disappoint the 15 year old boy population of Morgan County, I thought I better whip up a batch of strawberry jam. So I found a recipe, gathered my supplies and set to it.

I scrubbed, rinsed, sliced and smooshed

mixed and boiled, mixed some more

and made what I think looks like a decent batch of strawberry freezer jam. Now, I know that this isn't Grandma Ruth quality strawberry jam. She got to run out to her garden and pick a batch of strawberries. I had to buy mine at the Costco. Her jam was honest to goodness preserves. Mine is just easy freezer jam. She made enough to stock up those shelves behind the flowery curtain at her house. I made six little containers. So I'm no Grandma Ruth just yet. But that's ok.....as long as my jam is good enough to keep the 15 year old boys off my back! (next they'll be whining because my bread's not homemade and I am NOT making them homemade bread!)

Home, home on the range....

2011-04-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

Little did I know that when Timmy agreed to buy this forever home for me, he was really planning on turning our half acre of a back yard into some sort of a ranch/farm/plantation.

Phase one here at Ranch Lafitte involves a garden. Timmy's been tilling the land, prepping the soil, planting some starter seeds and this summer we will have quite the garden. With the help of Yo Bob, Aaron, Carol and Alan, he build a fence around his new garden area to keep the pests out (pest are also fondly known as Poncho and Moose 'round these parts).

They got the fence done just in time because phase two of "Ranch Lafitte" arrived this weekend. That, my friends, is a chicken coop. Yep.......a chicken coop.

And Tim is now a chicken farmer

....and the proud papa to a gaggle of Rhode Island Reds

He said he picked the Rhode Island Red because they matched my hair color. Do I take that as a compliment? Cuz I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.

somebody help me!!

Amazingly enough, this little venture is paying off for Timmy already. He brought his "girls" home late Saturday night and this is what Aaron found out in the coop Sunday morning.

yay--eggs. somebody help me!!

My heart is 'bout to explode with pride

2011-04-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

My Aaron Jean started his first job today!! He is now an official Deb's Spicy Pie Guy.

I managed to sneak a picture of his first night on the job. He indulged me by letting me order some dinner from him and then he politely asked me to "leave mom--you are embarrassing me". I'll be working with him on his customer service skills. I still left him a tip. He looks so mature. When did he grow up? I am so proud of both my working boys. They really do make my heart want to explode with pride.

He's our NAPA man

2011-03-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

When I need a bag of sugar I head straight to Morgan Jubilee where Lydon Edward works the morning shifts. He hooks up!

He's been my Jubilee Boy

And now, when Timmy needs and air filter, he heads to the Morgan Napa where Lydon Edward works the nights and weekend shifts. He hooks him up!

I guess you could now say he's our NAPA man.

Bless his little hard working heart.....he's working at Jubilee, NAPA, running with the Morgan Ambulance and the Morgan Fire all the while going to the fire academy two nights a week and on the weekends.

I think I"m going to start borrowing back some of the money he's been borrowing from me.

Mission accomplished

2011-03-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Most people didn't think it was possible but I was able to successfully complete an OVER NIGHT mission to Park City Utah this weekend.

This is a picture from my farewell. Attendance was low. Tim was at work, Lydon was at school and Aaron was at a friend's house. Oh well, I appreciate those that were there to support me. This is Kristy getting funding for the mission. These things aren't cheap ya know.

Once we arrived, I was able to write home. (FYI, nobody really cared) These are my companions

I'm not gonna lie....there were times when I wanted nothing more than to be released and come home, especially when I ended up at a little home away from home. But I was able to get some retail therapy.....

......... and some much begged for food (nothing says Park City like a Big Mac)

....and I was able to carry on

I strap on my missionary suit (a.k.a. Matchbox Twenty concert T-shirt) and our mission president put us to work on crafting project. This kept us going into the wee hours of the morning. Notice my pillow next to the hotel clock. The time there would be 1:38 AM!! It took us nearly four hours of cutting and hot gluing to put these precious pillows together. After a LONG night of shopping, minimal eating, lots of crafting and NON-sleeping it was time to brush the six inches of Park City snow off the car to head home.

Consider this my homecoming and my report on my mission. And you didn't even have to put on a pair of pantyhose. Your welcome.

Whose kid writes this kind of thing?

2011-03-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently mine!

Thanks Lyd!

except who taught you how to use the word "pissy"?

Dear Gardner Family:

2011-03-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Should you ever doubt my love for you, let me show the shrines I have erected in you honor in the two most important places in my life.

Exhibit A:

Thee ficus in the living room. Right in front of the couch (my favorite comfy spot) which is right in front of the TV (which is the best-est place in the whole house!!). I can't help but think of you all as I zone out in front of the tube EVERY night.

Exhibit B:

The calendar spot at the office. The first few months of the year are a little barren until your calendar arrives but for the remaining months I am reminded daily of my friends who left for cold-cold Bismark.

P.S. Dear Weston People--I don't know what you are selling, but I'm definitely buying! Just keep them calendars coming!

Miss you guys tons and tons! Can't wait for you to come to town again so that I can show you my new concrete living room floor. I just dare you to come and try to spill long island iced tea on it! No--really--I dare you--come on--come over to my new house right now!! ;)

Moose vs. Moose

2011-03-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

Moose

Oh how I luv da Moosh

Never again will I have to drive to the grocery store

2011-03-18T10:09:00.001-07:00

Because Aaron went here.....

And walked out with this

And now has to buy a new wallet to pack this around in......

So he gets go to the grocery store for his mom this way........

And his mom is so dang happy that she never has to drive to the grocery store---I mean she is so dang proud----that she bought him one of these to celebrate.....

Way to go Aaron Jean!!

One and Done!!

Driving Lessons with Aaron

2011-03-07T14:01:00.001-08:00

Now that Aaron Jean Washing Machine is 15, he has "gently" reminded me that he is now officially old enough to get his driving permit (gasp!). Therefore, every time there is five unoccupied seconds in our day it constitutes an opportunity for Aaron to practice driving. Such was the case Saturday evening.

Aaron took me for a cruise to the Morgan County Fairgrounds (which is practically in our backyard now). And this is what we saw on our driving lesson........
It was SPECTACULAR!! We actual saw a mama moose and a baby moose. The mom wandered in and out of the river and the two of them munched and the tree branches.

It was so exciting that we ran home, grabbed the camera, grabbed grandpa and ran back up to enjoy just watching them.

They sure mean it when they say that the photos don't do it justice. It was just incredible to see this moose so close up and for it to just wander around. Aaron and I sat there and watched it for a long-long time.

And you thought that this post was going to be about Aaron.........

Down she comes

2011-03-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

**WARNING**

The following material may be offensive to tree-huggers and the Williams Sisters.....so sorry!!

When we were in the process of working on the contract to buy the Williams house, we had to go through a lengthy home inspection. One of the issues that the home inspector pointed out was that the big pine tree on the boys bedroom end of the house was leaning towards the house.

He let us know that the tree was causing damage to the roof and rain gutters and one day would be crashing down through the boys bedrooms. Since we are quickly running out of money and would not be able to cover the cost of repair the roof and/or Lydon and Aaron's precious heads, we had to cut 'er down.

Tim brought his friend Matt "the Spider Monkey" home from work on Saturday morning to help with this mammoth job.

This is Timmy telling Matt that he wants him to climb on this tiny little ladder and get up on that tree and start cutting.

And this is Timmy throwing rope to Matt via a big ole screw driver tied to the end. We went about this very "old school". Matt started by shaving the branched off from the bottom as he worked his way up.

While Matt was shaving "up" the tree, we took out a couple of little scragglers that the previous owners tried to groom. I now have a blank canvass to work on in the back!

Tank was doing a little window-side supervising.

Once the spider monkey made it all the way to the top, they started bringing the tree down.

Notice Timmy, Yo Bob and Aaron down in the corner holding the rope that is tied to the top of the tree. Their job was to pull on the rope when Matt cut the tree off. This is my lame attempt at some action shots each time a piece came tumbling down. It didn't work out so well for me...... so much for my photography career.

We worked our guts out this weekend. The only reason we stopped was because the dumped closed and we couldn't take anymore branches over. There is still some clean up work to be done and a great big stump to take care of but the biggest part of the job is done.

Sorry Williams Sisters......we promise to replace the tree with something equally beautiful :)

Lydon b-day part 2

2011-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well hello there.......welcome to Lydon's birthday party (that's what it looks like Tim is saying)

The family celebrated Lydon's 19th birthday at the Kobe restaurant (the birthday hot spot for the Lafitte's). Kambrie got a Sing-a-ma-jig at Christmas time and it was such a hit that we just had to get one for Lydon for his birthday.

If you haven't seen one of these, you gotta get your hands on one. They are hilarious!

The boys have also been fascinated by the Fushigi ball. Note: not so fascinating any more.

Lydon also got some I-pod equipment. Check out that look of bewilderment on Tim Sr's face. And then there's the look of disapproval on Tim Jr's face.

The last present......

It looks like a lovely new shirt. But wait.....what's this hiding inside......

A NEW I-PHONE!! (and another look of disapproval on Tim's face)

At least Tim Sr. can appreciate! I just hope he doesn't try to walk off with it :) because he sure was fond of it

And the best part of the night-----cards with money from the Grandmas/Grandpas!!

Group shot by the waiter. He missed half the group. Nice!

On to dinner!

Timmy's monster plate of sushi

Great balls of fire I have got to stop wearing so much hair spray if we are going to keep going to this place! My head is highly flammable!

Chef with the pee-bottle is always a hit.

The lobster tried to make a run for it.

The rest of the night I tried to see how many weird faces I could catch.

Like this one from Grandpa Tim. I think he's trying to blow out the fire on the table top.

Once Timmy ate his sushi, he loosened up a bit--

Aaron snuck this face in---

Happy birthday Lydon---I hope we celebrated it up for you!

Happy Birthday Lydee!

2011-03-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to our not-so-little Lydee!

19 years ago today he woke me up at 5am to let me know that he was ready to start hanging out with his grandma......he didn't want to waste any time.

And from that point forward the two of them spent more time with each other than they did with me :) Luckily, the rest of us have been able to squeeze in some time with him too.

Happy 19th birthday Lydon Boy.

It's never too late for a Christmas Post

2011-02-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

A super long Christmas post ----------

Thanks to Timmy we got to move in two days before Christmas but that didn't derail the Netz-Lafitte-Carrigan-Roberts-Pentz-Marshal Christmas Eve Party!

First up----Santa. New this year (for some unknown reason) was pictures with our tongues sticking out. Who started this?

Tim: Look at me, I'm Captain Morgan

Pancho: Help Me, Santa. Help Me!

Santa: Seriously?

I love that Yo Bob's photography skills have erased the fine lines from my face, the grey hairs from my head and the bags from under my eyes. I've never looked better! Thanks Dad.

After Santa departed, we ate (my favorite part).

This would be one my most favorite pictures of the night. Timmy surrounded by the peoples that love him.

This is my second favorite picture of the night. I'm thinking Yo Bob is comfortable. As long as he's happy, I'm happy.

Told ya......the two Yo's, attached at the hip!

After dinner we played a little Minute to Win It

First Game: Santa Search

Next Game: Gingerbread Man Face Off

Third Game: Rudolph Race

Next up: Santa Cookies. This year we made Abominable Snowmans out of Hostess Snowballs, frosting, runt candies, Nutterbutters and Twizzlers

The Netz boys provided some new half time entertainment this year with a pinata.

We then moved on to the cousin gift exchange

Traditional Cheezy Christmas Jammy Picture

The last activity of the night is mixin up and baggin up reigndeer food

For Christmas, I gave Timmy the gift of dressing his dogs in adorable Christmas clothes cuz I know Tim loves nothing more than seeing his manly dogs in fine fasions. It's the least I could do for those muts!

The boys got some new "toys" for their new bedrooms for Chirstmas. Santa left them new TVs.

We did have to give them a couple of other gifts cuz they really didn't think a big red bow on our new house constitutes an acceptable Christmas present for a couple of teenage boys.