Sunday, September 20, 2009

Barney moving dirt



So here is my cute husband playing with a big boy toy in our back yard. He is sure having fun moving dirt. Little boys play with little toys and big boys play with big toys. Thanks Kory Mossman for sharing your toys with Barney. He is moving dirt around to divide our side yard, upper from lower and put in a retaining wall where a garden will go in the Spring, then some grass and flowers. We are making lots of changes in our yard before winter. Cement sidewalks and a small garage pad and a wall, then fences. So much to do. Winter time the projects move to the inside of the house, hooking up our wood burning stove and finishing off some rooms and projects that need more attention. Barney keeps so busy at work, at home and so many service projects for friends and family. He is such a hard worker and I appreciate him so much for how he uses the talents he has been blessed with. I love him so much. Thank you babe!
Life is great with Barney. We have a wonderful family and the cutest, sweetest 8 grandkids, and two great boys at home, John and Bryan. We love it. Rock on!

Carolyn's Hair Style late Aug. 2009


My Hair Style in late August 2009 after removing the perm from my hair. This is the "Before"......

Carolyn's hair style Sept. 2009


This is the "........After," just a couple of weeks later. This is pretty much what it looks like even this week. I have cut it alittle shorter but still the same basic style. Last week I nearly cut it every day somewhere on my head. I just played around with it to try something new. I actually like it.
I plan to highlight it soon too. Why not? Hair is a renewable commodity. It will grow back. You never know what it will look like until you try something new. I guess it's that four or five year itch for me when I take a longer style and go shorter. Oh well. I am sure I will start growing it out again real soon. What do you think?

Casey Sorensen


Claudia and Paul and Rocky


Last week we had the opportunity to have a family "get-together" at my parent's house to see Claudia (daughter of my sister JoAnne's husband Al) and her husband Paul from Colorado and Al's son Rocky. Last time I saw him he was about 12- 14 years old. Wow. I think he said he was about 29 now. He has grown up. Nice kid. Claudia and Paul have come to visit a few times when they can. Sometimes it has been during holidays when we leave town to visit our own kids and their families and we sadly missed visiting with them. We had a fun time catching up this time. Nice.

Carolyn's old hiking boots


Wow! Here's my dilema. I recently decided that I needed to go through my closet and get rid of some things. I started with shoes this time. I came aross these really awesome hiking shoes. Well weather proofed but not real warn - some. I actually bought these shoes back in the day when I was - oh , about 20 years old and one year married to Chris at that time, somewhere around 1972 or so. Wow! Maybe alittle later but close. I thought, gee, if I ever will need to walk to Missouri I will be prepared :0) back pack and all. I am sure glad I never had to, if you know what I mean. Not with these anyway. Think about good hiking shoes now days. These probably weigh at least two or three times that of a good pair of shoes today. These cost me over $50.00 in 1972. They would be at least $100.00 to $200.00 or much more today to get a good quality (and a reasonable light weight shoes). I did actually wear them for hiking back in the day. They were good shoes then. We did some camping and rock climbing then, starting with our honeymoon at Sequoia National Park where we bused in for the week. Nice. So through the years with the addition of two kids they were alot of fun. So I thought about getting rid of them. Now I have other boots - Ok - not expensive ones but good ones that suffice for me for now. I always say "take a photo of what you have and then get rid of them. The photos takes up less space in a photo album than the object does to store. Ok - it is definitley time to retire these puppies, especially now that I have photos and memories of them that will last so much longer. I can't believe I have had these shoes for how many years now? Wow - nearly 40 years. Unbleiveable, huh?!?! Theyare actually still in good shape. It's time someone else got some good use out of them. I'll be sad to see them go. So long shoes. It's been nice. It's been real but I am sure you will have a good home soon. I used to tell Barney's mom when we were helping her get rid of "stuff" - "Pass it on now, to someone who needs it and would appreciate having it while it's still worth having". It seemed to help her. I think about that withmy own stuff and figure someone else needs it right now. I can pass it on. I love it.
Anybody wear a size 5 in women's shoes?

Thursday, September 3, 2009

John Bryan & Karolynn

Our boys, Bryan (on the left) and John (on the right) with sister, Karolynn in the middle when she came to visit the boys. Nice. Happy??????? Cheer up goofie boys!

We took the boys to Legoland while in San Diego, Calif. this summer. They had fun.


Tide Pools


Awesome seashore at Point Loma San Diego California at the Tide Pools.

Dalton and parents

Dalton left our home and got to go home permanently to be with his family just before school started in August this year. We are sad to see him leave but happy for him and his family. Way to go Dalton! We'll sure miss his giggles and playfulness.

Nathaniel and BZ

Welcome to the world little Nathaniel Michel. It's not that scary really. You will get used to it. You have lots of loving people around you, like Grandpa & Grandma Zauss, your mommy and papa, brother Christian and sister Amelia, family and friends, to teach you, help you and protect you as you grow up. Don't worry. It'll be Ok. We love you very much.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Well - it's Football season here. We have Bryan playing weekly at the Jr. High School and John playing weekly at the High School :0) It's fun watching them. they are doing well. They love school - well probably just the social life - or should I say THE GIRLS!!!!!!!! Everyone knows them. They love it - of course! They keep pretty busy. They are both taking early morning Seminary this year. It's great to see their testimonies grow.
Barney got his Flooring license. Yeah, Barney. We are so excited for you. He already has his Handyman license. He can build small structures and remodels and repairs. He is keeping so busy. Heavenly Father has certainly blessed our family so much through the talents that have been given to Barney. He loves his work. He learns so much.
We are trying to get our yard in order for the winter so when Spring comes we might have grass, flowers, and a ready spot for our garden. We have trees to trim ( very large cottonwood trees) fences to get up, retaining walls to build and dirt to move, cement to pour (sidewalks, a small garage foundation, etc) among other things. We also have a wood burning stove to finally hook up and try to actually use it this winter. When it gets cold we will shift to inside projects. We are going to try and add on to the back of our house this next year. It will more than double the existing size of our home - adding three levels. We now have two. We keep changing our minds about how much to actually add on. Our goal is to finally have a real dining room to have people over for dinner, friends and family. We miss than. We will have a family room off the dining room which will be off the existing kitchen, separated by a bar/counter. Our basement will be added on which will give me a handicap access salon. We will be adding a master bedroom and bathroom on the attic level with a small deck off the back of the bedroom and a larger deck off the side of the dining room and a mud room/ sitting room/sun room or greenhouse type room off the back of the house from the family room entry. We want to grow some small tropical fruit trees. This all may take Barney awhile to complete. We are very excited though. He can do all the work. He would like to get the foundation in before the ground gets too cold. Then he could work on framing it up during the winter. We will have to keep our blog updated with the progress and pictures to go with it. We have already taken "Before" photos. We will post them as soon as we begin. Stay tuned for further notice.