Harvest Time

Yesterday, Sheila stopped by the cellar with Blake and we decided to take pictures. Blake got to sit on my lap while we drove around the cellar and backed up to the stinger to unload. He also got to see Dad, Grandpa, Curtis, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lyndsey and Curtis all at the cellar. And you can't forget the spuds rolling by on the belts. He would watch them go by for minutes at a time! Here are a few pics- don't mind that everyone is covered in dirt!

For some reason...

This morning our family woke up to the news that Wayne Richards, long time DJ for KLCE Classy 97, passed away last night. For some reason, this news was very hard to take and I am still so shocked. Because my car doesn't have a CD player, I listed to KLCE quite often and even for hours at a time during harvest. I have never met Wayne, but as I was thinking about all the ways " I know him" and I have come to understand why I will miss him. When I was little it was his voice that would tell me that school was cancelled due to a snow storm. And I have only heard his voice annouce about a million times that Odells is once again having another sale. :) But I think the one event that will change the most for me is the 4th of July fireworks. Wayne's amazing voice was an essential part of the freedom celebration and I will especially miss his voice next summer as we watch the fireworks.

Even though I did not know Wayne personally at all, I will miss his humble personality on the radio even morning. This man took a simple gift, his voice, and his talent to know what to say and when to say it. His voice will forever be remembered in this Southeast Idaho community.

Everything you need to know you can learn in Primary

As I am the primary chorister in our ward, I get the oppurtunity to sit back and watch sharing time while I catch my breath for senior primary singing time. Junior primary is my favorite because the things they say just make me grin! Here is what I have learned in primary while we were talking about prayer the last two sundays.

Sis. Primary Leader: Do you think if I prayed for a million dollars Heavenly Father would give it to me?

Visitor: No.

Sis. Primary Leader: Why not?

Visitor: Because all rich people get greedy within 10 days of getting rich!

Sis. Primary Leader: Okay.......... so Heavenly Father doesn't always give us the answer we want, but he always answers our prayers, doesn't he?

WHAT? My friend Rachel, the primary pianist, and I were laughing out loud at this comment! And then today the kids were brainstorming places they can pray and times they can pray. The list was taking up the whole chalk board and some of the places you can pray were pluto, the bathroom, and Disneyland. The following conversation took place:

Sis. Primary Leader: Do you think this is all of the places you can pray or do you think there are more?

5 year old: No. There are at least 3,000 more.

Sis. Primary Leader: That's right. There's at least 3,000 more.


Oh the things these kids say just crack me up sometime and make me enjoy my calling so much more. You might not think these things are funny- maybe you just had to be there but I learned so much this week in primary.

September is Here Already?

Our family is struggling with the fact that summer is pretty much over- we actually had to turn on the furnace last night. No more sleeping with the windows open when there is frost on your windsheild! There is one thing that helps us say goodbye to summer and hello to autumn, and that is the Easter Idaho State Fair! Not everyone loves the fair, but for Doug and I, it just might be the highlight of September!

Blake and I went to the parade on Saturday morning to see my cute Blackfoot Jr. Miss girls and then we went home (to change into shorts- it was so hot) and went to the fair with Doug, Mom and Becki. We saw about everything there is to see and ate almost all of my favorite fair food. Blake enjoyed seeing the big animals and his balloon at the fair and also loved the parade with all the fire trucks and the awesome people just walking around handing him candy.

We are headed back this weekend to go to the Demolition Derby- who doesn't love loud noises and watching old cars ram into each other... and to eat some more yummy food! I can't let the fair pass by without eating a Tiger Ear.... and a cheesecake on a stick, and a teriyaki bowl, and ice cream, and frozen lemonade... oh i could go on and on! Anyways- Happy Fair Week- its practically a holiday at our house!

Laura and Blake at the parade

Its not the fair without a balloon and a Culligan hat.

Had to take a picture with this huge horse to show Jackson!

Long hours + dirt + grain = harvest!

So I wasn't planning on driving truck until the first of Sept. when we started spud harvest, but they needed some extra help, so i've been driving truck for a few weeks now. I really don't mind the work- its good pay, Sheila keeps Blake for us (what a saint!), I get to see Doug in the field, and the worst part is that sometimes it gets boring.... I have been entertaining myself by singing along with the radio (notice the updated playlist of my recent favorites) and I just finished reading Twilight. We enjoy the company of the stars as we do laundry and dishes and it seems like we just crash every night, but knowing its only a few months provides light at the end of the tunnel!

We have also enjoyed visits from some of my cousins, Melissa and Jared and their two boys, Eric and Danny from Texas. Their kids are so smart and adorable. And another visit from my amazing cousin Lisa, her hilarious husband Wayne, and their super cool kids, Emily, Johnny, Carrie, and Benny, who live in Missouri. Blake loved playing with the boys (see the pics below)!

Doug's little brother, Curtis turned 16 a couple weeks ago and he had to spend the whole day in the tractor working. I threw him a surprise party and invited all his friends, mostly girls- what a ladies man, and he seemed to enjoy it. I hope he enjoyed his Sweet 16!

The only bad news to share is that I have had a tooth hurting and got in to the dentist today to find that I have to have a root canal next week. :( Whatever they did today was just a preview of what's going down next week, and I walked out of the office in tears today from the pain!

Besides the discouraging root canal, we are doing fine. We are looking forward to our friends Sherise and Nate getting married tomorrow and then Doug starting school on Monday.

Here are just a few pics of Blake riding in the tractor and combine with Doug and Shane, and having a fun with his cousins -enjoy!

Blake, Danny and Eric ganging up on my dad in a major pillow fight!

Blake applying what he learned in summer swimming lessons.

Any uncle that takes Blake for a ride in the BIG combine is an instant hero!

Shane letting Blake drive the combine. Thanks uncle Shane, you're great!

On the mend...

We went back to Dr. Matsuuras office yesterday and the intern that was working there removed two more pieces of metal. The assistant that has worked there for 16 years said she has never seen so many "foreign objects" in a single eye before. Doug went back to work today and the dialation is almost gone. Now he just has to worrry about antibiotic/steriod drops for the next few days. His eye is looking so much better and the swelling has gone down as well. He should be ready to work a busy 75 hour week starting Monday! We are grateful that everything has turned out okay and we will consider this the first of many "Harvest Blessings."

Right Eye Update

Monday at noon Doug was working on some metal with Curtis at the shop and he got some tiny metal shavings in his eye. Now Doug's eyes are used to dirt, grime, oil and grain dust, but it was hurting real bad so they took him to the clinic in town. The Dr and I both looked at his eye with the dye, black light, and magnified glass and we could see multiple scratches and "foreign objects" in there. The Dr assumed that they had worked their way out and he has fine. He taped his eye shut and sent him home saying it should be 100% better with in 24 hours.

Next day... still red and irritated, but Doug wouldn't agree and he went to work. This morning, it was still hurting so we headed back into the clinic and saw a different doctor. We looked at it again and the Dr said he didn't feel comfortable working on his eye and sent us to an eyedoctor in town. Dr. Matsura took out 5 foreign objects, not just the one we could see and he wants Doug to come back in tomorrow to see if the last one will work itself out a little more.

Poor Doug got gouged in the eye like 8 times at the eye doctor and then they dialated his eye and put a contact in to help it heal, all of which is totally new to Doug since he's only been to the eye doctor once in his life. He's at home resting now, his eye looks pretty bad and he is milking this for all that its worth!

I won't post pics, since his eyes look scary (one dialated and one not) but just think about how Will Smith looks on the movie Hitch after he has the alergic reaction! haha- there's a visual for ya! Other than Doug's eye, we are doing great! They started cutting grain yesterday and we are looking forward to a busy couple of months.