Wednesday December 7

Today was a much better day.

We had a nice family evening tonight.

Before the girls got home from school, Brent and I cut and loaded up the trailer with a cord of wood.

We found a guy who wanted to trade a cord of wood for a cast iron wood burning stove.

So we packed it up to deliver to him.

And when the girls got home, we all loaded ourselves in the truck and off we went.

On the way there....we kept hearing a weird noise...so we pulled over to see that we had way too much weight on the trailer, and the wheel was rubbing up against the wheel-well.

So....we called up Drew and asked if we could drop by their place.

We got there and Brent removed the wheel-well, so we could make it the rest of the way.

We got there safe and sound and made the trade.

I will have to take a picture of this stove...cause it is pretty awesome!

You know...that cool old fashioned kind of awesome.....

The plan is to put it in the shop for Dad....so he doesn't freeze out there during the winter.

On the way home...we stopped off for some dinner at Arctic Circle.

It was a big hit with the kids.....especially with the ice cream afterwards :)

In the booth we were sitting there was a grouping of pictures...one of them was a shot of downtown Boise with the US bank building.

Brent pointed to it and told Porter that he has climbed and repelled on the outside of that building.

Port thought that was pretty cool and we kept eating.

Well, on the way out, Porter pointed out another one of the pictures....a picture of a river running through some trees.

He said to Dad, "I was in that forest!"

What a clever little boy!

We got a good laugh out of him trying to one-up his daddy's story.

Smart boy, I tell ya :)

*****

I love spending time as a family.

I love that we get to have this life.

I never thought we would be able to....and still can't believe that this all happened to us.

I am so Thankful for the close-ness that has happened to us as a family.

The team-work that has happened to us as a family.

We were close....and we worked as a team....but this all has taken it to the next level.

I am excited about what lies ahead for our little family.

I am mostly so happy with the changes I have seen in Madi.

Her willingness to work hard, to help out, and the attitude change has been very drastic.

While we were driving home, she sat between Brent and I in the front.

We had a really nice talk about what we expect from her in the future.

She has been talking a lot lately about concerns she has with middle school coming up....and other things happening to friends of hers.

We told her that now is the time that she needs to make the decision of who she really wants to be.

And to stand firm....and be strong and never let anything sway you.

She is a strong girl....and she has some really great friends.

I do not look forward to the things that she will have to deal with as a team....

But after our talk tonight....I am excited to see what this girl grows up to be.

She really is so great, and I am so glad to have her a part of our team.

And she really is one of the heads of the team along with Dad and I.

I rely on her a lot when dad is at work.

Anyway....Madi, I think you rock :)

*****

p.s. Thanks so much for all the help in finding the toilet seat.

I will hopefully get one very soon.