My Talented Husband

"Is there anything that man can't do!" ...a popular phrase coined by one of our neighbors many years ago who was suitably impressed with Adrian's many skills and abilities! I was thinking about that again yesterday as Adrian replaced our pressure tank... (I think that's what it is called). I'm not exactly sure what the thing is for, although I know it has something to do with our water supply, because it was cut off yesterday while he was working. So, while I don't even know what it's for, my smart husband knows how to install one! He is so handy to fix everything around the house and knows about so many other things that have to do with everything from car repair, to building and making things, to fixing broken things, to...well, you name it and he can probably do it! And to top it all off, he's smart with so many other things like financial things, doing our taxes, and he can help with complicated homework (Algebra and Calculus...ahhhh!) right off the top of his head - it's impressive! To be honest, he's a handy resource for quite a lot of things! I could go on...I'm sure thankful for my talented husband!

Time for Soccer!

Logan got a good kick on this one. We love to go to the games and support Logan and the team. Soccer is a great sport to participate in and fun to watch, too!

Soccer Season Returns!

 

What we've been up to lately....

From Adam and 8bol enjoying a book, to the branch activity at Homeplace, to mission preparations and celebrations, to time on the trampoline and in the yard, to the guys camping trip, ....it's all been fun!

Where in the world will Adam go?

Adam should have his mission call in a few weeks...so any guesses as to where in the world Adam will go?

What a surprise!

I came home Friday afternoon to 5 big black garbage bags of video tapes from our entertainment center area that Adam and Logan had cleaned out! My first reaction was something like, "What have you thrown away?" I imagined all my family tapes and precious memories carelessly tossed aside and I was a little panicked at the thought. But they assured me they had carefully examined their selections of what to keep and what to throw away. Still, I had to look. So I emptied out each bag and sorted through, only to find that they were mostly right. There were a lot of old video tapes of long forgotten tv shows; and so, not many were kept from the reject pile...only a handful of movies and tapes I thought might be worth saving and several to pass along to some other folks who might want them. The "favorite" label on one of the old tapes was one that had been marked over many times where it had been recorded and re-recorded multiple times and finally just said "movie". There were a bunch of unlabeled tapes which I dutifully looked through. I mean, how could I throw them away not knowing what was on them?! Most were more of the same and several I wondered what I was even thinking to have recorded and saved it in the first place. But I did find a couple of treasures... Adam in the famous box routine, Adrian doing Tooty Fruitie, and Cory's mission pictures, which sparked a debate as to whether Cory, the master cleaner and thrower-outer, would want that tape. My vote was yes, but Adam and Logan said no. So, now the family room is cleaner and more organized thanks to the boys' initiative and I had a nice trip down memory lane!

Times and Seasons

The weather is hot, hot, hot, but I know fall is on the way. I can tell by the back to school stuff on the shelves in the stores and the routines we're trying to get back into.

Summer has been absolutely wonderful! I have loved everything from all the sweet visits of our family to the cleaning and organizing projects around the house! What a great time of year! I love summer... and the snow days of winter (I guess I'm a kid at heart), but there are good things about each season. And with fall, I suppose it will be good to get back into the routine of school days and soccer and look forward to the pretty colors of fall and the visits and fun things we'll be doing. Just a little hard to say goodbye to this summer.

In the news... I guess we're all doing fine around the Jarrell household, except for the coughs - boy will I ever be glad to quit coughing! Uncle Roger and Aunt Nancy were here for a visit recently and we enjoyed getting to see them. We all ate Sunday dinner at Mama's after church, which was nice. I'm getting settled in at work, but it's challenging to get everything done for home and family, housework, etc. with being gone several hours each day for work. I do love being home. Adrian stays busy with work and things around the house, most recently working on getting power and water to our outside building and the chickens; and he has just been called as YM president, which is a big calling with all the youth activities and scouting, but it will be nice for him to be in the program with Logan.

Family Update... Kristen and Cory and family are getting settled into their new house. They're doing well and the grandchildren are cute as ever! Ethan's doing great at his job at Logoworks and is getting ready for classes to begin soon. He has been running a lot lately, about 12-14 miles most days, but needs to slow down a little (the mom talking) as he's been really sick with a fever and sore throat. Adam should have his mission call in a couple of weeks and we're excited for him. Logan has started practicing soccer and starts back to school and early morning seminary on Aug. 27. It's been a full summer... Adam and Logan have enjoyed spending time together this summer and have been helpful with all my summer projects! Right now they're getting ready to go to guitar lessons which they take together. Logan is also taking drum lessons. It's sure been fun to hear them playing around the house.

Well, that's the recap...

Just my imagination?

Last night we (me, Adrian, Adam and Logan) came back in from a nice evening out together and as Adam walked in the door in front of me, I stopped and stammered, trying to warn him of a fairly large brown spider in the doorway. He was unfazed, but I stood outside the door until Adrian came to my rescue, but now the spider was nowhere in sight. I quickly went in the door, creeped out, but okay. Then, during the night I had to get up to go to the bathroom and felt a spider web on me. Remembering the spider event earlier, I was a little freaked out and thought perhaps there might be a spider in my hair and so I quickly brushed my hands through my upside down head, trying to knock out any spiders that might he hiding there. (A little bizarre, but I felt safer.) I went back to bed and when I got up this morning, again I felt a spider web across my arm and just thought how odd! But, I thought maybe it was just a hair or something and then to my horror I looked down and there at the edge of my shower was a fairly large, well, okay, probably medium, dark brown spider that looked like the one in the doorway last night! Now....did I just think about that spider in the doorway and then in my sleeplike state during the night and this morning, feel a little tickle and let my imagination run away with me and assumed it was a spider web...or did I have a spider in my hair making webs around me all night?

A Night at the Movies

After a great lesson and discussion, for FHE activity last night, we (me, Adrian, Adam, and Logan) used our soccer booster cards and got a discount so we could go to the movies to see The Bourne Ultimatum, where incidentally we saw some friends who were buying tickets for the same showtime as us, so that was fun, too. Anyway, Adrian and Adam had read the books and we all had seen the first two movies, The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremecy. I don't know how closely the movies followed the books (Adrian says the last one didn't very much at all), but I thought Robert Ludlum had an intriguing idea with this series and I thoroughly enjoyed all the movies, including the fight scenes, even though I did have to carefully look through squinted eyes a couple of times if it looked like something gross might happen. But Jason Bourne is impressive as always with his knowledge and ability to stay ahead of the game. Those bad guys should know better than to take him on...did they not see the first movies?! Anyway, a great action movie and I definitely give it a thumbs up!

More family...

We enjoyed getting to visit with Adrian's sister, Trula, from Georgia , who was here last weekend, then Bill and Trula's sons, Billy and Brad got to come for a visit this weekend. So nice getting to see everyone this summer!

River Trip July 07

Here are some pictures from our River Trip down the Dan River when everyone was home in July.
This trip was on a different section of the river than we usually go down.
A cool day, but lots of fun being together!


Kristen, Cory, Elise, Ian, and Merry Grace

Sherita, Kristen, and MG

Hannah does a balancing act.

Logan climbs a tree.