Good Buddies

I caught these two snoozing in similar positions and thought they were just so cute. We have enjoyed having Max here for a visit. I believe these two good buddies have had a good time hanging out together for awhile, but I know Max will be glad to see his family again soon.

That would be the lizard....

8bol, our little dog, and Max, Kristen's little dog (who is visiting while his family is on vacation) were running very energetically into the kitchen recently as I caught a glimpse of what I thought was a lizard slipping into a small space beside the dishwasher at the floor. They sniffed around the floor and then went on their way, pretty much unfazed by my quick, although loud, shrieks. I told Adam and Logan to be on the lookout for the lizard to resurface and I headed outside to do something. When I came back in, there were Adam and Logan...and the lizard...all sitting in the living room, apparently just hanging out together! I shrieked again and asked if they could catch it, which Logan did and took it outside for me. It was just "funny" to me that they hadn't even noticed it - in the middle of the living room floor - until I came in and pointed it out! Didn't I just say there was a lizard in the house and to be on the lookout?!

A good time was had by all...

We had a wonderful family vacation! We camped in Virginia from Wednesday until Saturday and had lots of fun together and made some wonderful memories. I sure love you guys!

Adam and Elise discussing strategy! We had fun playing mormon rook around the table at our campsite one evening.

Ethan and Lois along with the rest of us resting and picnicing by the lake.

The rafts were a big hit!

Merry Grace napping after a fun-filled day!

More family vacation...

Kristen, Elise, Ian, and Merry Grace riding on the alligator!

Logan on the raft at Claytor Lake

Adam playing frisbee at the lake

Adrian, Ethan, and Adam canoeing on the lake

Our Family Vacation

After setting up our campsites and getting settled in, we took a walk around the area and down to the lake. We had a good time walking along and talking with each other. Even though it got dark and started raining before we got back to our tents, it was still lots of fun!

The fam sitting around our campsite. We enjoyed the time in camp to eat together, play games, do crafts, visit with one another, have devotional and scritptures, and just be together!

We had some great meal planners (Kristen and Cory) and lots of great cooks! We had hot dogs and hamburgers, Kristen's wonderful chicken salad, Adrian's delicious peach cobbler, smores, hobo dinners, pancakes and smoked sausage, and lots of other good food! This is a picture of Adrian working on his famous peach cobbler.

Grammy and Merry Grace strolling along the beach at the lake. We're right in step with each other...two peas in a pod! :)

Summer Fun

We enjoyed a nice bike ride and walk on the Greenway Trail by the river.

The kids were so cute playing in the pool!

What summer day with the family would complete without a little water fight!

Adam has a good time playing with the kids and really gets on their level and has a lot of fun with them!

Into the Jungle

I just had to post this one because it really does look like we're going off into some tropical jungle! Adrian had to cut out a trail for us to take our trek down to the creek!

Togetherness

Father's Day Weekend at Kristen and Cory's house. This was taken after church on Sunday at the Garner Ward Building.

The proud Daddy with his children.

The sib's at Kristen's having a little fun!

At our house last weekend as we celebrated Adam's and Logan's birthdays! What a sweet group!!

Planting the Garden

We had so much fun, really, last Saturday working together in the garden. It was a nice family bonding time and we worked and laughed and made memories as we got the garden planted. I sure love you guys (insert WM look here)! :)


Daddy giving us instructions.

Working together laying off rows and planting, while Logan begins the scarecrow.

Logan continues with his scarecrow ideas.

It sure looks like the makings of a good garden! I can hardly wait!

What are the chances?

Today was pretty eventful, being my last day at work for a couple of months, and we had an office party (everyone brought in food) to honor an employee who was retiring, so lots going on. I was trying to finish up a few things and get my ducks in a row to be out for a couple of months and actually got pretty much everything done that I needed to. The day moved along quickly and I made good progress, until at last it was 2:00 and I was ready to head out. I shut down the computers, locked up, etc. and then put the lock on the sliding glass window, and as always, hung up the key...ALMOST...missed it by that much! Which wouldn't have been so bad, had it not dropped off in the deep, dark, abyss, the black hole between my desk and the wall! The way the desk system is arranged in my office, it is practically impossible to move anything around easily, so that key might as well be on another planet! Okay, well, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration! But, nevertheless, I thought, what are the chances that I could lose that key in just the last minutes before I headed out for the summer. (Should I just leave it for the folks on Monday to figure out?) I decided against that option! :) Luckily, I found another key, so it all worked out okay...but I mentioned we should probaly get another key made...just in case! :)

Mother's Day

On a more serious note, today is Mother's Day, so I wanted to take just a minute to express appreciation for my mother and the good example she is to me. I admire the way she faithfully lives the gospel, her good sense of humor and the way she loves to play games and laugh and have fun, and the way she loves and cares for her family. I have good memories of growing up and talking to her about anything, and of her reading the funny paper to me and telling me stories of the "olden days" when she was growing up. She is a wonderful woman and I'm thankful for her and all she does for me and our family and especially for her unconditional love for us. Happy Mother's Day, Mama! I love you!

A little buggy

Last night I was doing hair cuts on the back porch after dark, so we had the outside light on which attracted bugs. Not many, but one big, I mean BIG, bettle-looking thing. He buzzed around awhile and was gone. Later I was inside and happened to lift up my shirt and there was this HUGE bug, just sitting there! I screamed and walked into the bedroom, telling Adrian to "Get it off! Get it off!" The bug was pretty calm, but not ME!

We must be attracting bugs around here, because earlier in the day, Logan found a bag worm up his sleeve that had evidently been there awhile...alive and well, ...just hanging out! :)

Papa and Merry Grace at the park watching t-ball games

Merry Grace on the slide. Logan, Adam, and Ethan in the background.

Sure thankful for these hard-working guys who cleaned up outside and did yard work and made things look so nice!

tagged

Lisa tagged me, so here goes...

Using the first letters of my middle name to describe myself:

J Just
A Amusing and Affectionate
N Nice
E Effective

I'll tag Ethan, Adam, and Logan! :)

Happenings around the Jarrell house

Not sure this picture is going to show up, but in case it does, it's a picture of Logan driving in a driver's ed car. I got a lump in my throat as I watched my youngest drive off behind the wheel of a car...more independece coming, which is as it should be...just takes some getting used to.

Adrian blowing out his birthday candles. Grandma J made him one of his favorite cakes, angel food.

Still celebrating...and trying to get fresh air! I accidently put red pepper fumes into the air while I was cooking some homemade veggie burgers and so we were all coughing and trying to get a little more fresh air during most of Adrian's birthday dinner...quite memorable! :)

Eating cake and opening presents. Happy Birthday Adrian!

My washing machine is static free

I was doing laundry one day (imagine that!) and when I went to take the clothes out of the washer, I noticed that there were a lot of dryer sheets in with the clothes, and trash. I thought that was pretty odd, but assumed when I'd finished up that container of laundry detergent, that I'd knocked some things around it into the washer. So...I washed the load again and when I went to take it out, again, there were more dryer sheets in the washing machine. Now that was really strange! I pulled them out and started putting the clothes into the dryer, and then reached for a dryer sheet (from my new box of dryer sheets)...only to discover that is was gone....box and all!! Mystery solved! I guess I must have knocked the box into the washer and washed the whole box of dryer sheets, box and all, in that load of clothes! The "trash" was bits and pieces of the box the dryer sheets came in. Good grief!

Merry Grace being sweet with her bday presents.

Wild turkeys in our driveway.

Maybe they came to visit our turkey...

Logan playing church ball today.

Sunset, looking toward the mountains from our side yard, just past the chicken pens.

Another sunset pic.

Where Adam works - construction project at WFU.

Merry Grace blowing out her two candles!