Chad has a "dirty job"

Chad has a job ") - which we're all very happy about, especially in this economy. He works for a tree service business and this is an example of what he comes home looking like; dirty from head to toe with pitch and scratches all up his arms. I believe he takes/cleans up the limbs and puts them in the chipper. They quit a little early today because it was too hot (D'ya THINK? It was reported to be 107 at the Middle School). Druschba had invited us up to go for a swim, and enjoy their Lake Joy property, so old Chad showed up later, and this is what he looked like. His t-shirt USED to be white, and this is after only PART of a day. He is fortunate enough to work 4 - 10 hour shifts a week, which makes for long days/hard work, I know, but at least he has an extra day off a week and gets paid quite well for his hard work. I think he's growing up, and learning what it's like to "work hard for the $"

Ohh the JOYS!

It's official - we have a Honey Bucket in our front yard. We came home from shopping to find this little gem in our yard. Nellie was MORTIFIED to say the least, but we're having our house resided, and tearing out/updating our downstairs bathroom at the same time, so it's out of commission. I didn't really think it would be so great to have our sider guys coming all the way through the house and upstairs several times a day - especially when it's been so hot, so when the head guy asked if we needed a port-a-potty, I said it might be a good idea - given the circumstances and all :)

Our siding was originally supposed to be done by this coming Monday - but as you can see, that probably won't happen. Ahh the joys of home ownership/remodeling/maintenance. And if you haven't been hot enough this week, try taking off most of your siding (which acts sort of like a layer of insulation), revealing BLACK paper!! EEYIKES! ". . . there'll be a HOT time in the old town tonight - FIRE, FIRE, FIRE"

" Carrie Carrie quite contrary, how does your garden grow"?

Here's a little snapshot of our garden so far this summer. There are raspberries to the far right, strawberries, beans, corn, tomatoes, pumpkins and zucchini, with grapes on "the archway to my love".
We're trying to watch the zucchini to make sure it doesn't get so big

Some of them have already gotten a little bigger than I wanted but oh well :)

A "COMBO" birthday shopping trip (with cousin) AND overnight with Grandma

Look at these cute Grandgirls all excited for our shopping trip - they've got their purses all shined up and ready to go. It's nice of them to have their birthdays so close together so that we can take them both shopping at the same time. Last year we started our shopping tradition - for the older ones anyway, and I think it's going to stick :). We just allow them to choose their own gift, spending the allotted amount of $. Gracie turned 7 July 5th, and Bailee will turn 8 August 16th. I have fond memories (til I was 7 and she passed away. My Grandma Barrett passed before I was even born) of my Grandma Axtell letting us spend the night with her, occasionally, with a cousin close to our age, and we got to go shopping with a small amount of $. She would give us the tiny Tupperware midgee cups of M&Ms and we thought we had died and gone to Heaven. I'm not so sure how these kids feel about this yet, but they sure seem excited when it's their turn to go - so hopefully that's a good sign :)
Both girls decided it would be fun to go to Build a Bear so that's what we did. Bailee chose an owl (his head turns all the way around) - the moment she set eyes on it she knew that was the one she HAD to have.

Gracie is just a chip off the old block (her Dad's block - being the accountant and all you know) - she was VERY careful to stay within her allotted amount of $ and even came out with $1.75 change for her purse :). She chose the less expensive bear so she could buy more "things" to go with it. Here she is tapping the infamous pedal of fluff before the Hannah Montana sound box was put in the hand.

The "heart" (that goes inside the animals) ceremony

Giving them a bath when they're all done.

I was so happy that I ended up with my beautiful assistant, Nellie, with me so she could help when it came time to make up the birth certificates for 2 "excited" girls :)

Then on to Dairy Queen for a sweet treat afterwards

Gracie's bear dressed in her Hannah Montana outfit. Bailee's owl has a beautiful gold dress but she's not modeling it in this picture. Both girls got their animals, sleeping bags for their animals, and an outfit. They ended up sleeping in the family room and watching movies with their animals. It was a lot of fun.

Wednesday morning Nellie had an appt. so the girls and I ran to the store during the appt. They wanted to ride on my cart, so I told them they could ride in the butterfly cart - thinking they'd be too embarrassed . . . but they LOVED it - even though they were a little large!! I happened to still have my camera in my purse so I got a couple of shots (excuse the hair - we'd been riding in the car with the windows down). Good old Albertsons ").

The Adventures of the Agreeable Lemurs

So please excuse me for being behind in my blogging. You see I've developed quite a reputation in my family of being, what THEY call, a "real time blogger" - and since this was Tuesday night, and it's now Saturday night, I'm WAY behind - how embarrassing :)

Our little Summer is playing Tball this Summer and Tyson is the coach, so we went to watch a game this last week. It was a lot of fun and the kids did an amazing job for their age - it must be that great coaching ").

Here's Summer on first base being assisted by a Mom helper.
Summer had just hit the ball and was headed to first base (again)

In between innings

Mr Braden with Abby's play toy

The proud wife and Mom with baby Abby

Like Father like daughter . . . is she picking her nose? This picture reminds me of a Seinfeld episode - anyone?

Tyson has this great helper that you see here in the picture. She helps to keep everyone where they need to be and such. Here they are headed to greet/congratulate the other team.

A few "atta boys/girls" from the coach after the big game

High 5's for everyone

Happy 75th birthday to Marilyn and Don :)

Yesterday we went to Selah to help celebrate Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Don's 75th birthdays. It was a VERY fun party complete with karaoke - which of course provided hours of TRUE entertainment :). We enjoyed a delicious barbecue and scrumptious cakes for dessert.

These 2 crazy characters (Uncle Larry - the one everybody always says Lee is the spitting image of - and Uncle Don) did their rendition of "Of All the Girls I've LOVED Before" - hence the gray braids on Larry (Willie Nelson) - and Don was supposed to be Julio Inglasia - video to follow (hopefully).

Old Lee definitely had his tap dance shoes on for everyone - there's a video of Mark and Lee performing the Blues Brothers below, so make sure to check that one out. We've always teased them that that's who they are; Mark - Dan Akroid and Lee - John Bulushi.

Lee's been having neck and back problems lately but was sure to include a little "surprise stunt" that certainly didn't help his problem. I tell ya, when he's got his tap dance shoes on, he has super powers or something - nothing else matters . . . until later :)

The final video is of Don & Darlene and Larry & Marilyn performing "Sweet Caroline" I believe. Check it out ")

This sweet little lady complete with her acid washed jeans and ta too, snatched that microphone every chance she could, to share HER special talents - even though she was part of the group that was providing the karaoke service. She LOVED to sing and was pretty funny. There's a video below but it wasn't the best of her best - I'm truly sorry I didn't catch THAT because it was a sight to behold (and hear) :)

(Great) Uncle Larry and Uncle Mark dancin' the night away

WATCH THE HANDS BUDDY!!

It was a great party. Happy happy birthdays to Marilyn and Don!!

2009 Axtell Family Reunion in Sweet Home (Foster), Oregon

We had our Axtell Reunion in Oregon this year. It wasn't as well attended as in years past, probably because of the distance, but it was so much fun!! Here's Nellie jumping off our favorite rock in the river. It was really deep out there so you didn't have to worry about hurting yourself on the rocks. It was a good workout because you had to swim against the current just to get to the rock, then climb up, and THEN do your tricks :). Lee spent his time hunting for salamanders/lizards with the kids.

Here's Uncle Mark with Tanner down at the river.
Grandma Barrett with Melody and co.

Crystal, Haven and Mark

Nellie the Mermaid

Kaisa and Billy with their "lap dog"/daughter, Lucy - she was actually giving Billy a little dog smooch!

This picture is out of order but I don't have the time to start over :). Nellie and Tanner.

Part of our games; you were to blow a balloon through a straw down to the finish line, pick it up and run back so the next person could go - it was hard so lots of people started cheating!!

Addison, Chad, Abby and Calley

After the games with the "loot" (candy)

Heidi, Uncle Danny (always a hoot), Grandma Barrett, Ryan (Heidi's husband) and Grandpa Barrett

Nellie, Billy, Lee and Abby.

Nellie putting a salamander on Billy's bald head - ew yuck!!

A little kiss for the lizard "~ . . . who knows - maybe he'll turn into a handsome prince!

Jacob

Calley and Abby

Crystal on inner tube and Harry with dog, Nana, complete with her little dog life jacket on. Melody, who was in charge this year, reinvented the family talent show as part of the festivities, so after the potluck, we were favored with several very cute and entertaining acts. I didn't have my camera for that part of things but see Jen's blog for pictures of that. One of my favorite parts of the talent show was watching my Dad play his guitar and lead the great grand kids in an old favorite; "Truthful Bill" (chorus: I'm a truthful fellow. My name is Truthful Bill. I never told a false one and I bet I never will). We sang that all the time when I was growing up so it was fun to sing it again.
From our family, Bailee performed some fancy jump roping, and Jen's family did their rendition of "I Like To Move It, Move It" from Madagascar - complete with Tanner on his drum set, Braden on the guitar (both wearing sunglasses), Jen and Gracie dancing and Ryan being the lead singer/voice to the group :). Summer lead the entire reunion group in "If You're Happy And You Know It". They all did a great job - it was a lot of fun.