JUNE

WOW I can't belive that today is the last day of June! That means that 1/2 of the year is over!!

Where has the time gone?

Well I kept telling myself (when school was in session) that when June comes I will get all of sorts of stuff done on my to do list. Well that has not happened as much as I thought it would have. But I guess that's life!

So Goodbye June and Welcome July!

castle

The boys are really enjoying their summer break. The latest thing they like to do is gather every blanket in the house and all of the kitchen chairs and build a castle in the middle of the living room. Each kid builds their own area within the castle. So when its all done it pretty much takes up the hole living room. I don't mind so much that they do this and all but sometimes their castle gets so large no one can even walk through the living room to go upstairs. But I guess their could be worse things that they could be doing! 

(in the picture they are pretending that they are knights and they have to fight off all the bad guys. That's why they are all holding up their weapons.)
(Kode, Dalton, Kris, Bry) 

~An Award~

So Mac received an award from work the other day. His new position is some what stressful at times and a couple of weeks ago him and his crew worked a lot of hours and jumped through a lot of hoops to get a loader up and running again. So Mac and his guys all received an award and $150.00 in chamber checks for all of their hard work. Mac was very honored to receive this award. Awesome Job Mac! You are AMAZING at what you do. We appreciate how hard you work for us so we can have the things we have. And thanks to Newmont for all of your wonderful generosity towards Mac and his crew!

New Work Out Area!

 So my basement has turned into a work out area! The boys and their friends come over to our house and all work out! They have created stations where they either lift hand weights, run on the treadmill, work out on the total gym, or use the tension band. They work out in each station for about 3-5 minutes then they switch to a different station. Its pretty funny to watch them. I am not sure where they came up with this at but they just love exercising this way! 

Bry on the total gym!

 Kode using the tension band!

 Kris (one of the buddies) on the treadmill!

and Dalton (another buddie) using the hand weights!

I guess I should be taking some lessons from these boys. Maybe I would loose more weight!

Anyway, I got a kick out of them doing this!

The Jamboree!!

 The Motorcycle Jamboree was this past weekend. So we ventured out to see all the motorcycles and eat some good grub (ooh and you can't forget all the weirdos out walking around). Anyway it was another good show! 

Just parked our truck and walking in to see all the action!

Our first stop was to watch these stunt men on their bullet bikes.

 and man they were crazy!

They stood on their bikes, they drove really fast just to stop very quickly. Total craziness!

 the boys just loved watching these crazy guys! (it makes me a little nervous after the boys watching these guys that they will be trying some of the crazy things that they saw on their own bikes. if so I guess we will be making a lot of trips to the emergency room) 

 and another stunt

 then he totally smoked us out!

So then we were off to see more stuff!

 Kode wanted a new hat so this is what he bought!

 All of us were in intrigued on how this guy was free hand painting on all sorts of stuff. He air brushed hats, shirts, skateboards, helmets, coolers, and tons of other things! It was so cool.

 and of course we took a walk down motorcycle row. We wanted to check out all of the motorcycles. There were some pretty cool lookin ones!

 and Bry bought himself another fedora hat. He just loves those!

So each year they have a concert and we go to them every year. The best part is that they are FREE!!

 So we took our lawn chairs and found ourselves a good seat and then went and got some good grub to eat before the concert started!

Warrant was the opening band and then after them Skid Row played! It was a great concert.

 This is where we sat compared to where the stage was. The music was plenty loud from where we sat. (I have to say I enjoyed the music but my favorite part was watching all of the people. Man there are some weird people out there!)

these are just pictures of Warrant singing on stage!

I have to say that out of both bands my favorite was Warrant! They did an awesome job! 

 Mac and I chillin listening to the music!

the boys got a little board at times so it was nice that they brought their nooks to play with.

All in all it was a great Jamboree weekend. 

Happy Father's Day!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dad's out there!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

So Mac got a hammock for Father's Day! He has been saying for a few weeks now that he really would like to have one and the next time he goes to the store he is going to buy one. Well luckily he never made it there cause we had already bought him one!

this was taken just as the boys brought it upstairs!

 

 Mac and Kode opened it up right away and set it up!

 Well Mac is thoroughly enjoying his new present!

Mac and his boys!

Happy Father's Day Mac!

Thanks for all that you do for us. You are the best dad to our boys!

Thanks for taking such good care of all of us. We would not be where we are if it wasn't for you!

Thanks for working as hard as you do to make it so that we live very comfortable.

You may not hear us telling you how much we really appreciate you but we truly do!!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!

We Love You Tons!!

Time for Change!!

 I just knew this day was coming soon. It was kind of sad but in other ways I was kind of happy. Well it was time to make a change! A change to trade in the old and get something new!

Yea that's right we traded in my 2006 Nissan Maxima

 It had 83,000 miles on it but it was falling apart by the day. I just had the AC fixed or so I thought well last week we figured out that the compressor was going out. ( I just payed the Nissan dealership to fix it and when I talked to them they said they fixed the leak and recharged it. That only cost $500.00. Crazy) Then Bry went to open up his door and the handle broke. When I had it worked on a few weeks ago they told me that the engine needed a complete over haul on it and it would take 2 days for them to do and $1500.00. So Mac and I decided that we maybe should think about getting something new!

 So the other day we found something we really liked and we made the move! It scares me to do stuff like this but we did it! I haven't had a car payment in a few years now but that all came to a quick end!

 Bry has a hard time with change and he didn't like to see the car go. So his little soft heart just cried and cried for a little bit. But after a little while he was OK about getting a new car!

Mac and I have been looking at a couple models of vehicles for a few weeks now. I really wanted a crossover type of vehicle and I didn't want large payments (hahaha I know I know. Purchasing a new car comes with a large payment right!!) Anyway after test driving a few vehicles and wheeling and dealing with the car dealer we finally agreed and we bought a Ford Edge!!

 We actually got a really good deal on it!

The sticker price was $38,000.00. But Mac qualifies for the X- Plan through work. So the X-Plan dropped the price down to $33,000.00. Then since its a 2012 model and they are trying to get rid of all of their 2012 vehicles we qualified for all of the rebates and then they ended up giving us $9,500.00 for the Nissan. Then I did a little more negotiating with them on the price to where I wanted my payments. So when all of it was said and done we ended up paying $27,000.00 for the Edge. Its not the top of the line nor does it have all the bells and whistles that the 2013's have but it has more than I have ever had in a vehicle. My payments are manageable, and my insurance only goes up $58.00 a year. That's something I can handle! Its so nice and comfortable to drive and I just love the smell of a new car.

So I am pretty happy with my new purchase! I really didn't want to get a new rig (nor did I want a car payment, but the Nissan was getting to the point it was unreliable.)

 So it was time to make a change!

the boys really like it cause its comfortable and they can recline their seats back and take a snooze!

BrAcEs!

 Ooh goodness! Well both of the boys had an orthodontist appointment the other day and that is when the doctor said it was time to start both of them in braces.

So I made an appointment for both of the boys to get their braces on for the next morning. Before I took them to the orthodontist Kode asked if we could go to McDonald's for some breakfast. (not my favorite but if that's what they want that's fine) I just wanted them to have full tummies before they got their braces on. I wasn't sure if their little mouths were going to hurt after or not!

 Kode before he got them on!

 Bry's before photo

 I got a kick out of this kid. We had to wait a little while when we got there. They were very busy and low on staff. So they seated Bry in his chair and then asked him if he wanted to watch a movie. I guess it was very bright while watching the movie so he asked for his shades so he could see the TV better. He was just one cool dude!

 Kode getting his braces on!

 Bry getting all polished up for his braces!

After Photos!

 So this is Bry with braces on! Bry only has braces on his 4 front teeth (in about 6 weeks he will be going back in for head gear that will attach to these 4 teeth. that's why they only put braces on the front 4) So he got to choose what colors he wanted on his and he choose purple, blue, red, and green. Quite a colorful mouth I have to say! Bry will be sporting this new look for 12 months! (then he will be taking a short break and then into phase 2)

 Here is Kode with his new look! He choose the color green! He is excited cause he is going to be able to choose a new color (or colors) each time he goes in. He will be sporting his new look for 18 months. Or so!

Then after they were both done getting their braces on they had to listen to one of the ladies tell them how important it is to brush and floss properly when wearing braces. (as you can see Bry was not a very good student. He made funny faces, played with his legs, did a little dance, and even got himself a drink all while she was talking to them. He says he heard every word she said. I guess we will see)

staples removed!

Well today was the day that Bry was able to get his staples out of his little head.

He was not so excited about having to go back to the doctor but it has been 10 days since his little incident so it was time. We were lucky we didn't have to wait very long. The nurse prepped him and then not long later the doctor came in to take out the staples. The first one was a little challenging though. The skin had already started growing around the staple so the doctor had to snip a little of the skin to get it out. But the rest of them came out a little easier. So now he is all good to go. He can swim, take a bath, and even wear his helmet with out worrying about those darn stitches.

The Mining Expo

I can't believe it but the Mining Expo was in full force the other day (it seems like we just went not to long ago) and we made it down to the Convention Center to see all the booths and what all the latest and greatest is when it comes to mining stuff. For the most part it was pretty cool. There were lots more booths there this year than there has been in previous years and lots more people browsing around but it was still fun.

Walking into the expo

This crusher was so neat to watch. He was taking large pieces of concrete and crushing it up into small pieces of gravel.

 Mac was showing us how they maneuver all their heavy/large tires out at the mine on this machine. Pretty interesting!

 Bry chillin for a quick photo

 Another picture of them crushing cement

 Chillin on one of the work buses! Before Mac went into management he would ride to and from work on one of these buses. The boys thought it was pretty cool to be on one of dad's work buses

.

 I am not sure what this machine is or even what it does but the boys really liked it and its tracks.

 Mac showing the boys different models and types of machines that they use at the mine site

 Just about each booth had a bowl of candy sitting on their table and anyone could help their selves to how ever much they wanted and of course the boys got their fair share. Bry didn't let it hit the bottom of his bag for to long. You would think that I never feed them cause that is all they wanted to eat was all of their candy!

Mac knew lots of people at the Expo. So he stopped and chatted a lot!

 Most of the booths were outside and as the morning went on it got a little warm out so Bry found some shade and took a break.

 Just walking around looking at all the booths

Bry holding all his loot in his large bag!

Another great year at the Mining Expo!