June Family Work Party

For those who are unaware of what a "Family Work Party" is, I will give you a little history. Several years ago someone came up with the idea that if we worked together we could get a lot more accomplished as a group than trying to do it indivudually. It was then decided that each family would take a turn and host the family work party at their house and we would rotate doing that once a month. Whoever's house it was at would decide ahead of time what they needed done, request tools or supplies that needed to be brought by others and would also provide lunch for everyone that day. It was kind of like raising barns in the old days.

Through this process we have painted a whole house in a day, put up and painted fences, installed patios, cut up trees into firewood that had fallen in a storm, poured tons of concrete pads, built barns and corrals, planted landscaping and did tons of other general maintenance. It has really helped getting those big projects done around your house not to mention the bonding that comes with working beside family. I know that my boys have enjoyed working with their uncles and this is also where they have developed many of the skills they have today. If this idea kind of tickles your fancy, I highly recommend it. You could also do this with friends as well as family.

Okay now on to the recap of June's work party. This month it was at Grandma and Grandpa's. This is usually a great place to have a work party because Grandma is a good cook and serves great lunches (think steak sandwiches).

The project was to install some fencing, move the corral and prep the area for a squeeze shoot to be installed (it needs a cement pad poured under it). The whole idea is to run the cows up the field into a smaller corral and then into a squeeze shoot which holds a cow while he/she gets doctored. Doctoring involves many things which I won't go into for the squeamish of heart, but know that it is for their own good. Much like us taking our vitamins. Here are the boys working on the fence.


This project also involved some tractor work. We teach them young at the TSR (ask Grandpa what that stands for :)


Here the guys are doing something really important and clever (I am not sure what but I know when they get that serious look it is important). I have also noticed that when I start taking pictures I get some scowly looks. I even heard mentioned by one character on the workteam that if he would have known there would be pictures, he would have worn a better shirt. Someone needs to inform them that even though they are all married, women like a working man. In fact, it is proven that when the pioneer woman puts cowboys from their ranch on her website wearing chaps, hits to her blog go up 100 percent. So if someone would volunteer to wear chaps next time it would help improve readership to our blog.


I love this picture. Here is Jack helping Grandpa move a section of the corral. This reminds me of my boys helping out and how they feel they were an important part of the "man team". Jack is a good worker!


Sidney was also a big help in the short time her attention span would allow her to scrape fences. She loves being outside with her dad, and of course when there are cousins to play with it just adds to the fun.

Well those are the highlights from this month. Check in next month as I believe we are tackling the cabin at the annual cabin cleanup.

Missionary Set-Apart

It was just yesterday. Blain's Set-Apart

Eagle Scouts

Another try at posting, retrain every try! We're proud of our Eagle Scouts!

April Flowers

Old things I have needed to add to our memories is the day the girls and I went to the tulip fields. The girls were so kind to each other, it was a real treat to be with them. Girl Power! I did learn they would bargain they'd go to the quilt shop as long as we'd go to the pet store after. Priorities?

Rough Night!

Sophie, on occasion, will fall out of bed at night. Last Friday night, she fell out of bed and I tucked her back in, loved her, and she fell right back to sleep. The next morning she came down stairs with a fairly good-sized shiner! The only thing we can think of is that she hit her eye on the nightstand on the way down.

June FHE

June FHE was once again a success. We did notice the absence of Blain, but know he is doing great on his mission. Grandma Thomas made enchiladas and taco fixings. I don't know if we are just really hungry, being it fast Sunday, but the food is always great and something we look forward to.

Lance and Kelly were in charge of the lesson where we talked about the creation. We first divided into groups of 2 or 3, after which we were handed a blank piece of paper that had a scripture from the book of Genesis. We were to look the scripture up and decide which day of the creation our scripture talked about and what was created. We then used pens and crayons to draw something that depicted that day. The highlight was when we took turns going around sharing our drawing. So here is the summary of what we learned.

Cole's Group had Day 1
This is where Heaven and Earth was divided
as well as light and dark.
We thought Cole's red moon was ominous and
perhaps he had been reading to much in the
Book of Isaiah. Good job Group 1.

Day 2 was done by Ashley and Courtney.
After figuring out what a firmament was.
They showed their interpretation of what
happened on Day 3 of the creation.

Kelly displayed the
artwork for Day 3.
Grass and Seed was the highlight of
this day. We loved the color and depth
of this drawing. Thanks Kelli.

Megan and her group headed up Day 4. This is where
the Light and the Day were created. The greater light
ruled the day. The lesser night ruled the night.
Great pictures!

Coty and Mark took the first half of Day 5.
This is where the creatures of the sea were
made as well as the fowl in the air. And they
were told to multiply and God saw that it
was good. That must be why Coty is so
enthusiastic.

Sidney and Lorri took the second half
of Day 5. We enjoyed drawing a cow
and creeping things. Some of us had
more fun with the whole creeping thing
than others of our group. But it was also good.

A couple of our younger artists,
Nathan and Jack showed us what happened
on the 6th Day God created man and woman.
Love the pictures!

Now Grandma and Grandpa took Day 7. I guess
there was a difference in opinion on what happened
so we showed each person's interpretation.

As you can see, Grandpa showed that after
the earth, animals and people were created,
God was tired and took a nap (at the bottom
of the page). So this is our day of rest.

Grandma on the other hand, believed that God
rested and had more of a Ahhh feeling than
a ZZZZZZZ feeling. So you read Genesis and let
us know what you think.

Grandma and Grandpa had refreshments and
treated us to chocolate bunt cake (if you
know the Thomas' you always need at least
a little something chocolate) and what Grandma
called Pig Lickin cake. Which was kind of a
pineapply concoction which was tasty.

So another successful FHE done for June!

Family Work Party May

Yes, there was a work party in May, but again, no one took pictures. So I will give you a quick recap and perhaps someone from the Lance and Kelli family (that means you Ashley) could at least take pictures of the work that was done and post them?

The work party was at Lance's house. The word on the street is that they worked on some stuff on the back side of the house. Namely a pizza oven which Lance purchased and needed some brickwork done (correct me if I am wrong). I believe last FHE Lance said it was almost complete and even said something about baking bread in it. Sounds pretty nifty and if the world and there is no electricity, we all know where we can get our bread baked (although it would be a heck of a walk).

It is always amazing how much we get done when everyone pitches in. We have been on the receiving end several times of the family work party. When the day is over you can look back on the projects that were completed (and usually hanging over you for awhile) and feel appreciation for the talents that everyone willingly contributes. So again, a big thank you to everyone for making the sacrifice to participate.