classic...

JC Penney catalog circa 1977. Say it ain't so. I was only eight. Did people really wear this stuff???

Here's are next dining room set, which is apparently made by adding upholstery to old barrels:

Also, I am totally getting this for our bathroom:

There's plenty more home furnishings where those came from, however I'm not going to bore you with that. Instead, I'm going to bore you with something else. The clothes.

Here's how to get your butt kicked in elementary school:







Just look at that belt. It's like a boob-job for your pants. He probably needed help just to lift it into place. The belt loops have to be three inches long. And way to pull them up to your armpits, grandpa.

Here's how to get your butt kicked in high school:

This kid looks like he's pretending to be David Soul, who is pretending to be a cop who is pretending to be a pimp that everyone knows is really an undercover cop. Who is pretending to be 15.

Here's how to get your butt kicked on the golf course:

This "all purpose jumpsuit" is, according to the description, equally appropriate for playing golf or simply relaxing around the house. Personally, I can't see wearing this unless you happen to be relaxing around your cell in D-block. Even then, the only reason you should put this thing on is because the warden made you, and as a one-piece, it's slightly more effective as a deterrent against prison-rapery.

Here's how to get your butt kicked pretty much anywhere:

If you look at that picture quickly, it looks like Mr. Bob "No-pants" Saget has his hand in the other guy's pocket. In this case, he doesn't, although you can tell just by looking at them that it's happened - or if it hasn't happened it will. Oh yes. It will. As soon as he puts down his matching coffee cup.

Here's how to get your butt kicked at the beach:

He looks like he's reaching for a gun, but you know it's probably just a bottle of suntan lotion in a holster.

How to get your butt kicked in a meeting:

If you wear this suit and don't sell used cars for a living, I believe you can be fined and face serious repercussions, up to and including termination. Or imprisonment, in which case you'd be forced to wear that orange jumpsuit.

How to get your butt kicked on every day up to and including St. Patrick's Day:

I don't believe that color exists in nature. There is NO excuse for wearing either of these ensembles unless you're working as a body guard for the Lucky Charms leprechaun.

In this next one, Your Search For VALUE Ends at Penneys. As does your search for chest hair.

And this -- Seriously.

No words.Oh wait, it turns out that there are words after all. Those words are What. The. H*** . I'm guessing the snap front gives you quick access to the chest hair. The little tie must be the pull tab.

Also, judging by the sheer amount of matching his/hers outfits, I'm guessing that in 1977 it was considered pretty stylish for couples to dress alike. These couples look happy, don't they?

I am especially fond of this one, which could be entitled "Cowboy Chachi Loves You Best."

And nothing showcases your everlasting love more than the commitment of matching bathing suits.

Enough I can't take it anymore......

Spanish Fork Young Men's Camp.....

This weekend we had the first ever Young Men's Camp in our Stake. After hearing all the awesome experiences that were being had at the camps down in California we could only hope that we might have some of those same experiences. We got more than we could hope for. Everybody made it up the mountain, including all three members of our Stake Presidency. I think it was more of a hike than everybody thought it would be, especially for some of the adult leaders. It was amazing to me how throughout the whole planning process nobody really got what we were trying to accomplish. We had quite a bit of opposition, even one ward that just decided not to participate. Funny story there. Leslie got a phone call on the Tuesday before we were leaving from one of the Mom's in this particular ward. She had been at a meeting when we were presenting the idea of this camp to the High Council. She had been waiting all summer for word from her ward leaders when it was going to be. Because she hadn't heard anything she called the house to find out when it was. She wasn't too happy when she found out we were to be leaving the next day. Needless to say we had three young men attend that we hadn't been planning on. It was a great time. We hiked to a spot just below the summit on Thursday. Some made it to that point in about 5 hours. We had one young man and his 'motivational team' (his YM's President and one of the Stake Presidency) take about 12 hours. Three steps at a time, but he was going to make it. It was neat to see all the others rally around him. It was a great experience for all of us. We really had some neat experiences on that mountain that can only be appreciated by those who were there. I will say this, miracles happen still today and prayers are answered. We had 35 young men and 15 leaders who's testimonies are stronger because of the experience. Now we'll have to start planning for next year. .

shingles are up...

We continue full steam ahead. I've been switching back and forth from plumber to electrician for the last couple weeks. I must say that plumbing is much more enjoyable. You have to drill too many holes when you are running wire. Also the roofers came this week and got the shingles and tin put up. You can't really see it but Leslie wanted a cupola put on the roof over the garage and when she went shopping around for one they ranged from $700 to $1500 dollars so she decided to just make one. It will probably end up costing us $150. It just looks like a black box on the roof right now. I'll take pictures when it's finished. In the mean time here are some photo's of the exterior and the arch we built to divide the kitchen from the living room, note the posts in the arch and the beams on the ceiling. These were the remaining wall for a farm building on a ranch up in Idaho. It's kinda funny when people come and want to walk through the house the different reactions we get to the old wood we are putting in our new house. Some think it's pretty cool lookin' and others just look at it and agree that it's old. We like it and it took as the good part of a morning to get them up, so we aren't taking them down at this point.

Ox in the Mire.....

OK, so they weren't Oxen but the neighbors cows got out Saturday night and Leslie and Kaitlin went to help round them up after church. For those of you who think we might be transforming into "Utah Mormon's" and are wondering why we wouldn't wait until Monday morning to go round up the cows you can blame it, and everything else for that matter, on the price of fuel. There used to be a time when a local farmer could care less if a few cows got out and spent half a day grazing on his field but with the price per bale what it is today they aren't quite as Farmerly. So it was a bit more pressing that the cows get put back where they belong. Kaitlin snapped a few photo's with her phone, it was quite the round up. I told it probably would have been a good idea to make sure that The one downside of dealing in ponies is that the water always seems a little bit deeper.

Progress on the house continues, I'll post some photo's next week after they get the shingles on. For now most of the progress is taking place inside the house so posting pictures is kinda pointless. The heating and air conditioning guy is done, electrical needs a couple more days, and I'm hoping to have the plumbing done by mid-next week. I keep thinking that things are going too smoothly and that a bump in the road is looming. I know now that I've said it out loud it's bound to happen. It just seems like everything has been working out better than we could hope. I've been able to spend a lot more time on the house than we ever imagined I would over the last couple months. I was put on a long term engagement that I've been able to work on from home. I think I've only been out of town two of the last six weeks. If this keeps up we'll move in sooner than I thought.

Finally....

After many delays, some legit others questionable, the lid(construction talk for 'the roof') is finally on and the project finally looks like a house. I started working on the plumbing Tuesday last week but had to jump off that and on to electrical. We've got a guy who's a brother-in-law to some friends in the ward who we are paying to help us. He works 4 tens for an electrical contractor and is going to spend Friday and Saturday's with us. This guy is a piece of work. We started at Home Depot on Friday morning at 7am and worked until 9pm. I new I was in trouble when he asked what time it gets light here. We started at 6am on Saturday. He goes a million miles an hour and we can't decide if he's dipping into the "candy" jar, if you know what I mean, or is just Hyperactive. At any rate we are getting a lot done. We hired our the HVAC while we are working on electrical and plumbing the heating and AC will be going in as well. Here's a few photo's. Front view, back view, entry and great room.

Here are a couple more pictures. Never a dull moment around here with all these animals. We irrigated our field this week and flooded out a couple gophers. Chloe's natural instincts (with a bit of prodding) took over and she had some fun with them. She also took a swim in the irrigation ditch, which isn't a very good idea when it's full of water. She kept trying to swim upstream, to no avail, and ended up getting sucked under one of the culverts where one of the boys was able to grab her. No worse for wear and now we won't have to give her a bath.

Moving Along...

Here's a photo of the latest progress. Note the trusses on the ground. This is one of the reasons why we are doing so much of this ourselves. "We'll get started on Thursday" will always turn into we'll start first of next week. Hopefully we'll get a roof on this week. In the mean time I'll be taking off my framing hat and putting on my plumbers hat and get that going this week.

We made a quick trip up to Northern Utah this weekend to get some of the beams and decking material we are going to use throughout the house. Lots of old weathered lumber off of a ranch that Leslie's sister Lela and family live on. I wasn't so sure about this particular design choice but I think it's going to look great.

We also got a second baby. Berti arrived a couple weeks ago. Our third mare delivered hers also but the baby didn't make it. So we've got Berti and Ender

Pretty good week...

We got a ton done this week. The pictures don't really tell the whole story. Most of the work was putting up the interior walls, got the second floor down, and started on the upstairs walls. I've got to work in St. Louis this week so Leslie is going to be on her own next week and then I'm back and we should be able to get things ready to put the roof on Friday and Saturday. I have to admit that it will be nice to take a little break. We have been going at from 7:30 until dark 6 days a week for the last 3 weeks and Leslie and I are both worn out. It's been a long time since I've slept this good, except for the night's that the cramps in my hamstrings kick in, those are awesome!.

We also had a new addition this week. We have three mares that are with foal and one of them finally delivered. They are all a couple weeks overdue. Misty, who is our babysitter, had a little bay colt. Just what we were hoping for out of her. The pictures aren't great, we'll try to get some more posted soon. We should have two more babies in the next couple days, hopefully.

In other news. Bronson ran the 200 in the big Hershey track meet and won. He was pretty excited, however, while he was trying to figure out when he was supposed to take his turn in the long jump he missed the start of the 400 he was supposed to run and then while he was trying to figure out how he missed the 400 he missed his turn in the long jump. He was not a happy camper but the when he won the 200 he was back to being happy Bronson. I asked him how close the 2nd place finisher was and he told me that he kind of waited for him to catch up and then took off so it wasn't such a blowout. Also Kaitlin competed in the District track meet and set a new district record in the shot put. Beat the old record by a foot. It's kind of funny because there are these girls who are really into and do the whole psych yourself up and then the whole backwards, hop, hop, through thing and Kaitlin just kind to steps up there and takes one step and chucks it out there, 35 feet. Who would have thought?