Lots and lots to catch up on.

Oh my goodness. Where did the time go? I have had such a fun and busy spring and summer. Here are some pictures to tell the story.


We replaced all the windows in the house and even uncovered one on the north side of the sunroom.  Very exciting!  They look great! Spike worked so hard.

 Track Season!  Jacob did some fun things.  He ran the 100 and high jumped.  He took 4th at regionals which is pretty good for a freshman. He got hurt at regionals so didn't get to compete at state but...       Coolness happened there!  We got to meet Dick Fosbury. You know of the fosbury flop?  Olympic high jump champion in 1968!  Cool. Very cool.


  Summertime fun happened.  Rachael came to stay for about four weeks.  Lucas' boys stayed for 8 weeks.  I didn't want to let them go. We played and played and went to Yellowstone and had a great time.
  

  

August went by quickly. Much too quickly. But that meant that our much anticipated trip to France finally happened.  Jared married Camille du Fou! We are so happy that they are married and so very happy.  We love Camille and her family!








But before that..... Paris!
Here we are at the Opera House of Garnier!  This is where the story of the Phantom of the Opera was set.  Box 5 is even kept locked so no one gets murdered. Rachael set up an English speaking tour.



We went to the Louvre. Oh my goodness. We saw the Mona Lisa, so many beautiful paintings and Egyptian Section which for some reason fascinates me. We were only able to spend one morning there. I think a good three weeks would be more appropriate.


The Eiffel Tower was awesome!
 



That pretty much sums up most of the happenings. Have a great day!

Chia Strawberry Jam

Low Carb Chia Strawberry Jam

This combination of Chia seeds and Strawberries is delightful. The swelling of the Chia seeds makes the jam set up so you don't need to add anything else other than the strawberries.

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries

1/4 cup Chia seeds

2 tsp Stevia if you want extra sweetness but I don't think it is at all necessary.

Cook the strawberries until they are mushy. You can use fresh or frozen.

Put that into a blender and add the Chia seeds. You can also add the Stevia at this time.

Blend until it is all liquid just about 30 seconds.

Done! You can use this while it is hot as a syrup for your low carb waffles or put it in a half pint jar and keep it in the refrigerator. It will set up nicely once the Chia seeds have a chance to gel.

Carb count

1 Cup Strawberries - 10 grams (13 grams subtract 3 fiber)

1/4 Cup Chia Seeds - 2 grams ( 16 grams subtract 14 fiber)

Stevia - 2 Grams

Life happens

We took out all of our windows, sold them to people who craft.

Then we put in new ones. This has been a huge project. Spike is awesome!

Basketball happened. Lots of freshman games. Go Jacob!

Jared and Camille got officially engaged in Paris. The wedding will be in Dijon.

Jared is being Jared. Silly.

Here we all are. The perspective is funky. Jared looks short. Lucas and Mark are Giants!

Pics of what is happening

This is a Major wiring project!

This  is taking much longer than we expected. We are GOING to have it done and cleaned up by this time Jared gets here next Saturday. He may have to pitch in and help with the bathroom project that was supposed to start today. The sheet rock stuff takes longer than we anticipated. We brought the toaster,toaster oven and waffle iron and the crockpot up to our bedroom so we can eat. It has been kind of boring food but we still live.

This and That

Life has been busy lately. Between Spike and I working and Jacob starting high school, life has gotten a little crazy but not totally out of control. At least it wasn't until this past week.....
Jacob is super busy with high school. He usually goes in early to make sure his homework is all done and he can talk to some of his teachers. So I take him in at 7:00. He doesn't get out of football practice until 6:00 or later. Football might be going on through next week. The Lovell Bulldogs won their first play off game and will play again on Friday. If we win then we go on to the State Championship game in Laramie the next Friday. Spike has the bus run for that so it might slow us down a bit more. Spike's hours are different every day. He works four tens usually so he can have Friday off but it seems like it never happens. He also drives activity bus in the evenings and most weekends. I am home the most but still leave at 7:45 in the morning and get home at around 4:00. Our Molly dog is very lonely and hungry by the time I get home. She makes me feel very loved.

So this is our adventure for the month of November. We decided to  re-wire the house. We have old knob and tube wiring that is original to the house. We are taking down the ceilings on the main floor to access all those lights and then have access to the upstairs floors. All of the furniture that is usually in the living room is now in the dining room and sunroom. I have way too much furniture. Hopefully not everything is going back inside. We are also hoping to get the floor sanded and sealed before Thanksgiving happens.

Also on the list is putting a new bathroom in the basement. I know our big kids will appreciate that since right now we have only one working bathroom and that is sometimes inconvenient especially with kiddo's that are being potty trained. We bought a new shower and toilet for the bathroom down there and we also got a new toilet for the upstairs bathroom. It has a cool flushing system for a 'light' or 'heavy' flush. Just think about that for a bit. We are hoping that we will save some water.

Then to add to our list, since Spike is in the Bishopric and I am the Primary President, the missionaries are using our home to do missionary lessons for some primary age kids that are taking the discussions. So far so good.  Our living room should be put back together by next Monday and then we can do the floors. Our Kitchen should be back to normal by Wednesday.

  Another project that was just finished is the new sprinkling system that Spike put in. I am so glad he is such a hard worker and so very capable. I will post some pictures....probably....When I get more time.

We are very blessed and happy. Life is good.

New baby boy!

Rachael and Eli have a new baby boy. His name is Seth Michael Cox and weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs. 2 oz. we were able to go to Utah to be with them over the Labor Day weekend. The family is all healthy and happy. We enjoyed our visit and even picked up Mark and Kylie on our way down. It is very nice to get to know Kylie more and more. What a sweet girl.

This is a picture of Jacob who seems not very comfortable while holding Seth.

This is Seth looking a bit confused. I think his expression looks like my dad. Grandpa Flash's eyebrows live again!

This is Seth at two weeks. What a healthy looking kiddo!

More pics

We had a wonderful weekend! Mark is now married to Kylie. She is a sweetheart. The wedding, luncheon and the reception went very well. Jared and Camille flew into to billings in time for the wedding. Mark and Jared hadn't seen each other since before mark's mission to that was way cool. We are so very much missing Rachael but we are sure we the announce the birth of her third baby shortly. Here are some pictures of our week.

A message from Jared

I love my Jared! I just got an email from him and it pretty cool.

We had a big meeting with all of the national sales team this week.
My team wasn't as involved because we aren't 'sales people.' But I was
able to show people some of the stuff I have done and am doing.  At
the end they did some awards.  The leader of Manpower North America
had a finite number of 'Challenge Coins' made and the director/sales
VP level people gave out a few each.  My director, my manager, and I
each were awarded one for different things.  Most of the awards went
to people for bringing in new business and selling above expectation,
so it was really neat to get one.  No one else on my team got one.