Picture of the week....

HI !! All ...... Well I'm a little late with the pic, but here it is.

 We went to the Lompoc mission in Lompoc last weekend to take some family photos. The old mission is neat to go to and see the old buildings and other stuff inside. It is also a great place for pictures

Happy Birthday to Kristin...dadadadadodo!

Well...our little Pit is getting older. It seems like just yesterday Caleb put sticks in her bike wheel resulting in nasty wrecks...I made Pit give me massages and sleep w/no covers...Katie made Pit braid her hair every night in numorous tiny braids so it would be curly the next day...Daddy and Mama let her climb high ladders and paint the entire trim of their new house. BOY!...DO WE LOVE YOU! It takes a one of kind person like YOU Kristin to put up w/all that and still love us! Happy Bithday, adopted Sister! :)

I did this really quick. The file size of  Allyson's picture is too small to do it well,but if I had the original size I could take more time and make it look better  :-) 

I tried it a little bigger

Picture of the week....

Here are the cows that are were I work...

I've found it!

Look no futher, Daddy and Mama! I have found your floating condo! You could even float this on a large puddle! What do ya think? :)

Happy Birthday to our dearest Mama!

Well, this Monday will not be drab, ordinary Monday. Because on the 21st is our darling Mother's Birthday! How many candles will your birthday cake Daddy's gonna bake from scratch going to sport? We fellow blog authors wish you a very Happy Birthday!

Greenbriar Riding Academy

Allyson just led Trigger out of the barn and is preparing to mount up and ride!

Allyson has finished her ride and brought Trigger to a stop in the center of the corral.

Allyson has completed Pee Wee Pony Camp...and finished w/flying colors, I might add. :) It was amazing the difference in how I saw her ride on Monday compared to what I saw her able to do on Friday! She enjoyed it SO much and had the time of her life! Before leaving camp, Allyson went around to all the stalls, visited w/all the horses and wished them farewell.

Kevin's pic of the week-Meradeth at Port San Luis

Last friday we went to Port San Luis which is a little ways from Avila Beach. We walked out on this long pier. This is almost at the end. You can get fresh fish here and a lot of the fishing boats tie up here with their catch. Meradeth couldn't stop running. Make sure to click on the picture to see a bigger size. 

Allyson doing her favorite thing

Today was Allyson's first day of Pee Wee Pony Camp at Greenbriar Riding Academy. From noon til 3pm, Allyson was doing her favorite thing...being around horses. She has camp the rest of the week...she will be staying at Papa and Grandma's house til Friday, and Papa will be taking her to camp because they live about 5 miles away from Greenbriar Riding Academy. It was so much fun watching her trot her horse and seeing her little head bouncing up and down...then hearing her laughter! So the next camp day I'll see will be her last day...Friday...and I plan on getting a video of her that day. There are more pics of Allyson's fun day at horse camp on 'hannafam'. :-)

DISCIPLINE or ABUSE?

I thought this was absolutely ridiculous.....take a look............


Iowa Mom Ticketed for Spanking Toddler

http://www.yahoo.com/s/916921

Well, I was curious to see what my husband would look like as a balding man. I'm hoping this would happen gradually because it would take time getting used to this...

Kevin was having his monthly buzz...so I cut this in. It was difficult for me while laughing to hold the camera still to take the picture.

Asking for good advice

Every summer, some people, who live on gravel roads, pay to have tree sap poured on their section of the road in front of their house to cut down on the dust that cars make when they drive by. You pay this company a one time fee and then they pour sap on your road a certain amount of times that summer.
Well last summer, because we had the extra money in our savings account, Kevin went over and offered to pay half of the bill...because since we live right across from each other pouring the tree sap saves us from getting road dust as much as it saves our neighbors. We did not help out the summer before this(our first summer here), nor did we enter into any kind of a written or verbal agreement last summer when we payed half.
So the gravel road has just had it's first pouring. This morning while Kevin was working in the garden, our neighbor walks over and hands Kevin a bill for $212 dollars...our half for the dust maintenance. We did NOT personally choose to have this done to the road, nor would we ever. Our neighbors called the company, set it up and decided to have this done w/out conversing w/us at all. Our neighbor's kids are grown and out of the house....so I would hope they would realize our priorities are different than theirs. Things come up...like doctor, hospital and ambulance bills...that make it impossible for us to spend money on road tree sap.

I would like some input or advice on how YOU would deal w/this situation.

Picture of the week....

This is some wild flowers that grow around were I work. On my fridays that I work I have to go out in these pastures to fill up pumps with fuel to irrigate the grass,mainly to get rid of water, but there are also cows that graze the fields. So I take my camera out with me, and while I fill the pumps I take some pictures of what ever I like. It is nice out in the green pastures...:-)

Allyson and Anna's shopping trip

Kaleb, Allyson and Anna walking in the Mall.

Trying on shoes...don't they match perfectly.

Beautiful girls at our favorite store Claire's

Kaleb can't keep up w/the shopping girls...so he takes a break w/Abbie.

Now we are ALL tired!

Anna and Allyson let us join them for lunch and a shopping trip at the Mall today! Allyson bought a purse, nail polish and a dress. Anna bought nail polish, bathing suits, PJs and clothes. We lunched at Arbys and Panda Express in the Mall food court. Abbie, Kaleb and Travis tagged along w/their big sisters...and so did Marian and Candace! :) We had loads of fun and can't wait to go shopping again w/Anna and Allyson!

This is our street last night. There is supposed to be NO illegal fireworks, punishable with 1000.00 fine, but that did not stop anyone here. We were surrounded by this. It was better than going to the fair grounds show...

  KevinW

Happy 4th of July!

Independence Day is the national holiday of the United States of America commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
At the time of the signing the US consisted of 13 colonies under the rule of England's King George III. There was growing unrest in the colonies concerning the taxes that had to be paid to England. This was commonly referred to as "Taxation without Representation" as the colonists did not have any representation in the English Parliament and had no say in what went on. As the unrest grew in the colonies, King George sent extra troops to help control any rebellion. In 1774 the 13 colonies sent delegates to Philadelphia Pennsylvania to form the First Continental Congress. The delegates were unhappy with England, but were not yet ready to declare war.
In April 1775 as the King's troops advanced on Concord Massachusetts Paul Revere would sound the alarm that "The British are coming, the British are coming" as he rode his horse through the late night streets.
The battle of Concord and its "shot heard round the world" would mark the unofficial beginning of the colonies war for Independence.
The following May the colonies again sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress. For almost a year the congress tried to work out its differences with England, again without formally declaring war.
By June 1776 their efforts had become hopeless and a committee was formed to compose a formal declaration of independence. Headed by Thomas Jefferson, the committee included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman. Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the first draft which was presented to the congress on June 28. After various changes a vote was taken late in the afternoon of July 4th. Of the 13 colonies, 9 voted in favor of the Declaration, 2 - Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted No, Delaware undecided and New York abstained.
To make it official John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence. It is said that John Hancock signed his name "with a great flourish" so "King George can read that without spectacles!."
The following day copies of the Declaration were distributed. The first newspaper to print the Declaration was the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6, 1776. On July 8th the Declaration had its first public reading in Philadelphia's Independence Square. Twice that day the Declaration was read to cheering crowds and pealing church bells. Even the bell in Independence Hall was rung. The "Province Bell" would later be renamed "Liberty Bell" after its inscription -
Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof
And although the signing of the Declaration was not completed until August, the 4th of July has been accepted as the official anniversary of United States independence. The first Independence Day celebration took place the following year - July 4 1777. By the early 1800s the traditions of parades, picnics, and fireworks were established as the way to celebrate America's birthday.

Did you know...?
That in 1776, there were 2.5 million people living in the newly independent America?
....and in 2008, there are over 304 million people living in America?
That Americans import $207 million worth of fireworks from China for their 4th of July pyrotechnic shows? We export, on the other hand, just $14.9 million in fireworks.

Man's thoughts of women

**This quote is in a book I am reading entitled "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins. He is a mystery writer in the 1800's. I thought this was really funny.

"It is a maxim of mine that men (being superior creatures) are bound to improve women--if they can. When a woman wants me to do any thing, I always insist on knowing why. The oftener you make them rummage their own simple minds for a reason, the more manageable you will find them in all the realtions of life. It isn't their fault (poor wretches!) that they act first, and think afterward; it's the fault of the fools who humor them."

Happy Birthday To Me

These are all the beautiful birthday cards I received from the sweetest family in the whole world. Thank you, everybody! I will save them forever.

Thank you for your Happy Birthday post here on the blog. I have read it many times and also printed it out to save.

I LOVE YOU!