Day with Heath!

I hit the pool this morning early because Heath was home to get the boys off to school.  I went to get groceries for the week and met him at the Courthouse to get his DOT paperwork completed and our trailer licensed.  He went to Walgreens and I went to the bank to get my last piece of paperwork notarized for work.  Funny story…I got to talking to the woman that notarized it for me and realized that I swim with her husband almost every day that I swim.  She was actually at the pool this morning watching her husband for a little while.  I totally know who he is and I could tell you what time he arrives and that he is flip turns and is a great swimmer and that we both typically close down the pool, so I was relieved for her to tell me his name!  At this point, I should know it, but I am horrible with names.  We got to talking and she said that he could possible give me some tips on where to get swim workouts.  Small world!

When I got home, I unloaded groceries and made some smoothies for the week.  Last night we had talked about possibly going to Cheyenne today to get my bikes fit and all checked out.  When Heath got home, he loaded up the truck with my bikes and off we went to Cheyenne for a day out together.

We dropped off all three of my bikes to get tuned up.  It has been years since I have had anything done with my mountain bike and the cross bike was my dad's.  I really wanted to get fit on the road by Kristin is letting me use.  The guy that fits the bikes was not there, so Heath and I left the bikes to get worked on while we went to lunch and then shopping.

We ate at IHop and I had some really good blueberry grain and nut pancakes and Heath had an awesome steak burrito with a stack of pancakes!  Next, we headed to do some shopping.  Heath found a tool box for his socket set since his is broken and he keeps loosing the pieces.  I was able to find a swim cap since mine are very old and one broke a couple of weeks ago.

When we got back to the bike store the bikes were done and they introduced us to Patrick, the bike fitter and shop owner.  Great guy!  Pastor Wayne actually recommended for us to go see him and I am so glad we did.  He took us into a special room designed just for fitting bikes.  He put my bike on a stand and started measuring.  We had a great conversation with him and just took in all of his knowledge.  He is definitely an inspiration as he was paralyzed for a short bit after a bad car accident.  He has owned his bike shop for over 30 years and since 1998 has not been able to ride a bike.  Do you know what he is thankful for?  That he can hug is wife and kids!  Thank you Lord for this reminder!

My road bike feels so much better now that it is all adjusted and has a new seat and my yellow handles.  It is amazing what just a few things can do.  Heath and I talked about riding bikes together.  We are excited about our new venture!

Wearing something new!

Sunday

I am a lucky woman!  When we woke up, Heath asked me what I wanted for breakfast.  I have learned not to argue, just to enjoy his kindness.  I suggested eggs with fresh veggies and herbs from our garden, the multigrain bread from yesterday, and a peach smoothie!  He made it happened.  It was a huge, delicious breakfast! 

We headed to Sunday school and then to church.  Afterwards, we went to eat lunch with his parents and aunt and uncle.  It is a rather new restaurant that Heath delivers Pepsi to during the week.

The afternoon held some farm work for us.  Heath continued work on his barn while I mowed and trimmed.  We met back together for a nice bike ride at 6:30 pm.  It was so fun riding with him.

I made Katie Huffman’s Russian Chicken and rice for supper.  This was the first time I made it for Heath and I think he liked it.

The boys did not get home until 10:15 pm so I was already in bed.  Heath greeted them home and then came to bed.  We have our last Monday off together tomorrow as I will begin my new job with 21st Century on Tuesday.  Excited to have a day with my man!

Farmer's Market and Saturday

We got home about 12:30 am last night and got up this morning to head to Market.  It was nice at our house this morning when we left, but it was overcast as we drove toward the Monument.  When we got there, there really wasn’t a space reserved for us, so we had to squeeze in between a couple of booths.  We made it work as Heath helped me set up.  He left to go rent a machine to work on the barn.  He was back pretty quickly.  I so like when he is with me; we always do better when he is there.  We were right next to the Stryia Bakery from Denver.  It smelled SOO good!  We were slow, but the rain held off!  At the end of Market, the guy next door offered us some bread for 50% off!  I got a whole wheat, multigrain bread.  YUMMY!  Next week, the white chocolate, mint, lemon bread is on my list!

We returned the equipment to Home Depot and grabbed a few things from Walmart.  When we got home, I was exhausted and decided to take the afternoon off.  Heath was determined to work on his barn, so I got to write while he worked on the barn.  Beautiful day!  I eventually went outside and blogged under the tree in the back on a blanket with my doggies and kitty.

A Fall Friday

 Last day at TLC.  Such mixed feelings!  Departing something great for something new and different.  I have had such a wonderful experience here at TLC, but change is not a bad thing.  I am looking forward to the future with 21st Century.  I worked hard this morning to tie up a lot of loose ends and then when Sarah came I answered any last minute questions for her.  She is going to be a great marketer!  I am so excited for her to have this experience at such a young age!

2 pm, call from Barb that Andrew was getting ready to run.  Off I went, a few hugs here and there and I was gone.  Into mom mode.  I grabbed my camera and headed to Andrew’s cross country meet at the golf course in Gering.  When I arrived, there were cars everywhere!  Not 100% sure where the actual race would take place, I guessed!  I pulled onto one of the side streets and stopped in the first empty space.  About to run across people’s nice yards so I would not miss Andrew run, my second thought, I better not.

I got up to the race and saw the kids running.  I made an educated guess based on pace that Andrew would be behind these boys.  Thank you LORD!  I was able to catch him three or four different times through out his race.  So excited I got to watch him run and finish strong!

"Finish S+T+R+O+N+G Buddy!"

Post race photo.  :) 

After the race, I met up with him and he put on his sweats.  The overcast, nice cool afternoon made for a perfect afternoon for a race.  We walked around for a while to help him cool down and found Tiny and Barb.  Andrew decided to ride to Justin’s game with his mom, so I walked out with Tiny and Barb to give them some fresh zucchini.  :)

At the close of the meet, I called Heath again and he was just pulling into Gering with his truck.  He pushed super hard this morning hitting 38 stops before noon and just missed Andrew run.  He said to go ahead and meet him at home and we would take off for Gothenburg to watch Justin.  With the time change, their game started at 6 pm and with a 4 hour drive, we had some road to cover.  We made it to his game safely and the sun came out on our way there.  Thank you Heath for driving.

Justin #56, tall guy #53

After the game, we congratulated him for guarding a 6’8” 270 lineman #53.  Their school offered the kids a meal before they left.  They told me that Mitchell had always been so gracious to them.  Nice people!  Justin and Andrew headed out with their mom when she arrived.

Friday Night Lights

Heath and I stopped at Amigos for dinner and each had some awesome Mexican food.  This is a favorite of his from college, they had one in Kearney.  My drive home was short, as the passenger, because my eyes happened to close as soon as we were finished eating.  My man got us home safely!  Praises!  Prayers for the kids this weekend.

Sack Lunches

After TLC tonight, I headed over to Walmart to grab some ham and then to the school cafeteria to meet with the football moms.  We put together 45 sack lunches for the boys, managers, and coaches for their game tomorrow night in Gothenburg.  All the mom’s brought different things and the lunches included:  two ham sandwiches, a bag of chips, fruit snacks, two homemade chocolate chip cookies, and a Gatorade.  One mom brought cute little football shaped stickers which worked perfectly with my little note that we put onto each bag as we sealed them with tape.  (I was truly debating whether or not they would like this whole note idea….teenage, tough, football boys….but the mom’s thought it was a good idea, so we went with it.)

“We believe in you guys.  Go get ‘em tonight!” ~Your Mitchell Tiger Family

Nile Theater~Inspiration

Tonight, we got to go to a movie for our Bible study and we invited our boys.  When the Game Stands Tall was shown at the Nile Theater in Mitchell.  It was a great movie that even I stayed awake for.  I would highly recommend this movie to everyone as it is super inspirational!

The boys took a picture of us!  Thank you!  :)

“I don’t expect a perfect game, but I expect you to give a perfect effort.”  ~Coach

Night Off

Beautiful sunrise this morning!

Tonight is our only night off because we are going to a movie with the boys for our Bible study tomorrow night, I get to be a football mom Thursday night, and we will be traveling for football and cross country on Friday night.

Heath and I took the evening off.  The boys switched nights for supper at their grandparents, Tuesday for Wednesday, so they could go to the movie with us tomorrow night.  When I got home, Heath was working away at creating some awesome new horseshoe art in the garage for Market on Saturday.  I put together supper, we ate together, then I started writing.

When the kids got home, Andrew was super excited about his new cross country jersey.  A friend of his designed it and they were brand new.  He came home and proudly showed us that he got to have one too, even as J.V.!

Go Mitchell Tigers!

2 Chronicles 16

2 Chronicles 16 was my devotion for today and it just made me stop and realize how important it is to rely fully on God.  Thank you for that wink God!

Today, since it is Labor Day, we were all home together again!  Such a blessing.  Heath had some fun with the boys during all the garden processing.  He told them that if they tried all of his hot peppers, they would not have to weedeat/trim the yard.  They both took the challenge, and here are the results!

Andrew with milk on hand.

"Seriously DAD!"

Today, between all of us, we processed the following fresh from the garden:

1. Heath and Justin took all the stems off the pole beans, blanched, and froze them.
2. Heath shucked, boiled, cut off the cob, and froze the sweet corn.
3. We made two different types of basil pesto to freeze.
4. Dried out some basil and oregano and put into a shaker for our own, homemade spices!  :)
5. Washed up the carrots to keep in a cool, dark place.
6. Shredded tons of zucchini and put into quart and gallon sized Ziplock freezer bags.
7. Washed and stored up the potatoes in a cool, dark place.
8. Made cucumbers into canned pickles.

I felt very domestic today as we are storing up this great harvest for this winter.  So excited to just be able to pull out these wonderful things this winter and throw together a piece of summer for our meal!

Heath and Justin working the beans.

Fresh, dried thai and large leaf basil and oregano.

One of the best things today was our dinner guests.  Pastor Wayne and Linda came over mid afternoon to hang out with us and eat a garden harvest with us.  Our boys both had practice in Mitchell, so when they got back, we got to enjoy a wonderful meal together.  Heath did most of the cooking and serving!   The sky was absolutely beautiful tonight and the air was crisp!  It was wonderful!

Happy September!