REAL WOOD FLOORS!

I love the floors, can't wait to see it done. We are worn out. Five O'clock came pretty early this morning. I will put more in tomorrow. Please tell me what you think.

Till Next Time, God Bless

And Yet More New Sub-Floor!

Just can't seem to get enough of it! Just kidden. My man has been working on the floor since right after Church, lunch and a short nap. I made him take a nap, he didn't want to but he was starting to look a little rough, you know scaring the kids and stuff like that. Right now he has about 2 more hours of work and 1 hour left in him. We are playing Klove, of course, and trusting God to get us through this. He always has.

I really am so proud of Mr. Sloan, he has done such a great job, and he will tell you himself he has grown in his walk with the Lord as he has learned to rely on God to bring things together. He pushes on for the completion of this and we both are careful to give God the glory for it all.

The hard wood floors will be going in all this week and then carpet the day after Labor day. While the floor is being laid by the "floor laying man" better known as Mel. Todd will be setting toilets, and sinks, putting up light fixtures, installing tub fixtures, and laying the rest of the tile.

Till Next Time, God Bless

Stucco & New Sub-Floor Day!

It started at this morning at 6:30......

Todd was up putting the last little bit of Stucco on the upstairs fireplace, I love the color and can't wait to see it with the rock accents on the mantle. I close my eyes and try to imagine it........and yeah, the part where the newspapers are..........that's the fireplace, not a new way to read the local news. The New floor starts being installed on Monday so Sloan and Casi had to work fast and furious to get the old floor tore up, the new floor put down in the great room today and the kitchen tomorrow. It took about 4 hours to get the old floor up and add some gravel and do some maintenance to the floor trusses, then we jumped into the pickup, took our load to the dump, and went to Heidi's for lunch. Heidi's is a little German restaurant in our town. Yeah, you heard me, I said German.

This house was the Homestead of my Great Grandfathers, my grandma was raised in this house and we have done alot of updates in the past little while. We raised our daughters in this house after we re-wired, updated the plumbing and pounded down the plaster and lathe and re-insulated it. It had very small bedrooms and a tiny bath while they were growing up. And now that they are married and have children, when they come home we wanted enough room for all of us to be together, and so we have been doing this 4-year add on/remodel, and we are just about done!!!!!! Todd has worked so hard on it and I can't wait to be done so we can enjoy the house and start roping again.

This is the new sub-floor, looks good huh? Finally we see a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't a train! Yahoo! Thank you Lord Jesus!

"Entertainment"

When we are in town and we visit with people from the city, they ask us where we are from, the first thing they do is make a few jokes about the name of our little valley and then they always have the same comment and ask the same questions, "I could never live there" in which our response is "Good" and the most popular question is "what do you do for excitment out there in the middle of no where?" In which we usually respond, "Anything we want!"

Just last night after a long long day of laying tile (see previous post),

and the hay was hauled; Tilly and Gypsy are sure Sloan couldn't live with out them and because of that thinking, they are always helping, watching, and checking on his work.

Then the horses have to be fed and watered, by the way Cider is walking much better, thank you Jesus.

Then Todd picks up a rope and Tilly and Gyspy get all excited...........

Then the really fun begins!




Sloan can and will practice for hours, Elvis is the last goat we bought for Casi her senior year of High School Rodeo, every year we would buy one or two littl goats for practice. Elvis is about 5 years old and has become great practive for Sloan. And if you look real close Tilly is laying in the weeds making sure every loop is a good one. Then Gypsy is in charge of keeping the "Elvis" honest. Everyonce in awhile Elvis and Gypsy have a misunderstanding and Elvis will chase Gypsy and then Gypsy will chase Elvis and then Elvis wil try to hook Gypsy and then they just go back to work. I have to get it on movie camera, it is so funny. And that is pure, clean, honest fun on our place.

Till Next Time, God Bless

Tile Day

"Tile Laying Day"

This day started early, Sloan was up and at it by 6:30, and that is why he is my hero. He got all the backer board laid and started on the tile by the time Ben got here to work. Ben is a good worker and Te Te is a great Construction Inspector.

The tile looks better than I ever thought it would, my neighbor and best friend as the same tile and it looked so good in her bathroom, I just tried to imagine how it would look all put together with the vanity. I am excited to get the tiles on with the picture on them put up. This is coming together real good. I will definitely have do some paint touch up here and there.
Sloan and I have this thing about benches, they always look real good and it is a good place to put the wall heaters.

Today Sloan and Ben finished the master bath and the guest bath upstairs, cause "We are go getters", that's what Sloan says and I would have to agree. The upstairs gets real hot in the afternoons and while they were finishing up they were sweating pretty profusely, (Sami, check that word for me, would ya?) When it came time to clean up they were happy to run the hose outside and cool off while rinsing buckets and trowels. Tomorrow, Lord willing, the target rooms are the front entry and the office. Nice square rooms, it should go pretty fast. I am so thankful for Sloan and all the hard work he has put into this project. He has set aside roping this again for this house and I can't wait till it is completed and we can start going again. Thanks Mr. Sloan.

Till Next Time, God Bless

"The Family Room"

On my trip to town this weekend, I stopped by my favorite furniture store, where my favorite furniture store lady works, to just look around, I just happened to have my paint and carpet samples with me at all times.


I have had a certain couch and chair in mind for so long and I was sure I would never be able to afford them when I found them. I walked around the whole store two times and found alot of things that were so out of my range, it was starting to get me down and then Deb said did you see this set? It doesn't have a love seat, which is ok with me, I don't have alot of room and I don't want to crowd it. The colors and the paisley are just what I have been looking for.
It has alot of the same colors as my carpet and then some rust and browns too. It also has some of the same color in it as Todd's burnt orange leather recliner. They both are very comfortable, we sat and visited for 45 minutes. The only thing that makes it not 100% perfect is that the back cushions are not attached. They are large fitted pillows. The price was low and the quality was high, so I told Debbie I would come home and talk to Sloan and then let her know. Debbie's folks used to run the little gas station in our valley when I was a girl. She was in High School at the time. I went to Debbie when we boujght the girls' hope-chests and I am really thankful for Deb even though she is planning on retiring in a couple of months and will moving to Shoup Idaho to run a fishing Lodge, we will stay in touch.

Till Next Time, God Bless

NEW LOOK!

TERRI KELLY MOYERS

I ran on to these prints awhile back and then the other night I was wanting to re-vamp my blog a bit, ok, alot. I couldn't help myself. It took me a minute or two to find them, because I couldn't remember her name and there were alot of others, but these just seemed to fit me. The colors she uses and the expressions on the girls' faces say alot. I am confident, I know that I can handle it. I love that they pack ropes, the tack on the horses is right and they just look like they could walk out of the picture. I am not sure if I am wrong to use them. I am looking into that to make sure. If you are interested in purchasing any of Terri Kelly Moyers work, click on one of the pictures and it will take you to where you can purchase them.

I plan on decorating my new office with them as soon as the paint dries and the tile is down. I will be taking lots of pictures to keep you up to date. We are expecting the flooring the first week in September and then after that we should be settling in. It has been a long time coming and I thank God for His timing, He is so kind to keep me in check and convict me when I am tempted to run ahead.

Till Next Time, God Bless

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8

My Famous Husband………..what? You have never heard of my husband? Well one of his famous quotes I should say is “That’s not how I’d do it”. If I had a nickel for every time I have heard that I would be……………still, well not rich. But for the past little while I have been struggling with something. Not a full blown I just can’t function while going through this trial, but just a nagging question mark as to why something is going on in our lives and how God has brought things about. I just have this big "Are you sure" in my mind. Why would he allow this to be this way? (Because that sure isn’t how I’d do it!) What is he doing? While praying concerning these situations we asked that God would be glorified and the people in the situations would come to either know God truly or grow closer through it. I have seen growth at time and we praise him for it, but I also see him asking more of us, ok me, and doesn’t He know how busy I am? Yeah, you can laugh, only if you have had the same thoughts as well. I know His desire is that everyone come to Him. I just never figured he was doing some work on me in the mean time. You see, His ways are not the ways you and I would figure on, we can’t even begin to see the big picture, I don’t even think I see the little picture, or if I am even looking at the same picture. How does he put up with me?
You see all the while I was praying for God to work in these other situations, these “other peoples” lives, he was working it out for me to get some testing, trying and trials. I even heard myself thinking Why Lord? Why? But God knows me, he knows what I need to grow to be more like him, so that my life will Glorify him, and now I am having growing pains.
You see if it was up to me……..well this is how I’d do it, I would pray for these situations and encourage as long as it isn’t really crossing my comfort line, yeah well, with God there are no lines. I have been praying to know Him more, to trust Him more, to be useful. I thought maybe through prayer, meditation and just spending time in fellowship, you know the good stuff? But now it seems as if He is asking much more. As we are put under heat, testing our faith, we seem to believe the intensity is too much, and we will never make it through the fire. Our human desire is to give up and retreat. Through the fire, the pressure of removing the junk of selfishness, bitterness and pride seems intense, though it's only a matter of allowing them to surface within our own hearts and minds. When a heating pressure is applied to our lives, God is beginning the change in us, in me. Though we often question God as to why we are being persecuted we soon come to find that God is blessing us with the very thing we thought was the curse.

Another week gone!

Here we are again, another weekend and another trip to town for Building Supplies.

This old Red Power Stroke and Stock Trailer may not be much to look at but to us it has more than done its job. For 13 plus years it hauled three awesome cowgirls, their horses, hay and goats to hundreds of Rodeos, Practices and Jackpots, not to mention the ropins. But the last 4 years it has been the main transportation for house materials and it has done a great job. Not many more trips now.

This weekend my co-pilot was my mother, possibly the toughest, wisest, Godliest Lady anyone could ever know, you would have to look long and hard to find another that would compare with my mom. One of her best traits, I think, is that she isn't afraid to tell you how it is and show you how much she loves you all in the split second. I have been told I have the same gift, and even though some people really don't know how to take us, we mean it in the best way possible. I thank God for my mom on a regular basis. And as an added bonus she is also one of the best Grandmas and Great Grandmas around. If have never met her and she saw you feeling down you would be encouraged by her, but if she caught ya doing something wrong, well lets just say she would let you know about it. I remember one Easter, way back when the ladies wore gloves and hats on Easter, a little kid in the pew in front of us kept turning around, not a good thing in church, then he started to stick his tongue out at us and then turn back around real quick like, well about the third time he swung around and stuck his tongue out my mom grabbed his tongue and with her gloves on she had a pretty good grip, I will never forget the look on that kids face. I will never know what went through his mind but he never turned around for the rest of the message and after the service I remember seeing my mom giving that kid a hug. Praise God for Grandma Pattie.

Till next time, God Bless