A Living Prayer

I commented on a blog recently and ended with what I consider to be precious words of wisdom (not mine)..."teach me to know what I knew then" and it really got me thinking (again) about what it means. It's such a simple phrase and such a simple thing to do....or not. I remember having the joy of the Lord...I remember knowing the 'peace that passes understanding'....where did these simple truths go...why do they seem so fleeting? Why can't I wake up every morning and know my Savior and my purpose? Would my life be different if I started each day seeking His happiness, instead of my own? (rhetorical question) I get so far off the path that I know I should be on....doing my stuff, my way...busy with kids, home...life. And I live with the regret of what 'could've been'.

...except I'm not dead yet so I guess there's still time to do something about it...right?

Teach me Lord to know what I knew then.....

GO DOGS!

****** FRESNO STATE WINS COLLEGE WORLD SERIES ******

....Yea!



We happened to be in Fresno yesterday leasing an apartment for Brad to live in while he attends Fresno State next year (more on that later)...and of course we had to stop by the baseball field. No trip is complete for the Garver family without taking a look at the local baseball field (and I mean NO trip :). Suffice it to say, it was a fun day to be in town, the anticipation of the championship game for the Bulldogs was everywhere. We couldn't even get into the bookstore to buy a t-shirt; it was just too crowded. One gal at the Farmers market, rushing to get dinner preperations, said she planned her days around game time. We canceled an appt. in the evening ..."need to reschedule, can't miss the game".

Anyway, we rushed home so we could watch the final game at the local pizza parlor and it was really exciting to see this group of young men win. The TEAM of goofs and underdogs, the TEAM that seemed to not take themselves too seriously but always believed THEY could do it, ends up on top...pretty darn cool. We haven't attended a lot of FSU baseball games since one of Steves players (Adam Pettyjohn) played for the Bulldogs 10years ago, but it's always great for a 'local' team to win big, and this one was HUGE!

CDC Alert

The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically. This virus is called Weary Overload Recreational Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues or anyone else via any means whatsoever - DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely.

If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises.

Take two good friends to the nearest grocery store (except in Utah) and purchase one or both of the antidotes - Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system. You should immediately forward this medical alert to five friends. If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.



...tee hee

Our Project

Every summer for the past 7 we have put up a pool out in our backyard, and every year our kids find new and creative ways to jump into it. Last year they actually built a platform that they run to, climb up on, and launch themselves into the pool from. (click pic to make bigger)




This year we decided to make a walkway/runway which they can use to perform their dangerous aerobatics into the pool....and Mom and Dad will do less of the inevitable grass removal from the water. We are either the coolest or the stupidest of parents. I have videos of last years performances....helpful to show emergency room docs when asked to describe how the injury happened :)



Steve is a broken concrete expert extraordinaire....he has a way of getting the pieces at just the right level and spacing so that it looks way more expensive than the few (ok nine) bags of cement we had to buy. I am the chipper (sounds way happier than the job actually is); I use a brick chisel to take the sharp edges off the individual concrete pieces so that they look more like stone and less like the found objects that they actually are. Our sons don't find nearly the pleasure in saving a few bucks that their parents do, Wilson decided to start his own blog on just that subject.





We always do a bit of decorating when we pour cement.... broken dishes, tiles, and the occasional marble or two make the process more fun (more frustrating) and much more colorful in the end.






Almost done.....




Actually, you can sort of see that the left side is not completely finished, I just didn't want to wait another week to post. More pics to come!

Sunshine

Just a snippet of coming attractions...

......now you're on the edge of your seat huh?

Happy Father's Day

To the best Dad in the whole world (he has a tie that says so!)



By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.
- Charles Wadsworth

New colors....

...not sure if I like them but I was bored with the others....probably I'll change it back tomorrow :)

Graduation

Our beautiful daughter graduated last week....from 8th grade!!! She is way too pretty... and looking WAY too mature. I did my level best to freeze her at 10 and tea parties...darn!




Always ready to pose...with her grandmother ....and Steve and I.



With her younger (taller) cousin Eli and Uncle Dan.




and of course, here's one with her goofy brothers.

Never Argue with a Woman

One morning a husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book.

Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, 'Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?'

'Reading a book,' she replies, (thinking, 'Isn't that obvious?')

'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,' he informs her.

'I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading.'

'Yes, but you have all the equipment . For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up.'

'For reading a book?' she replies.

'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,' he informs her again.

'I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading.'

'Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up.'

'If you do that, I'll have to charge you with Sexual assault,' says the woman.

'But I haven't even touched you,' says the game warden.

'That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.'

'Have a nice day ma'am,' and he left.


MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think.


thanks Mom for sending this one!

Hey...My brother is opening for this guy!

and he's really funny! (my brother is too, but I know him :)

WIll anybody miss him?

So... I killed a bird today. One minute he's flying around, the next minute he's a hood ornament. And the weird thing is ....I started crying. The tears that I am always on the verge of losing control of, the ones that are constantly threatening to cascade out of my face, the ones I mostly manage to restrain....they escaped...because of a dead bird.

Yeah, I know I wasn't actually crying because of a dead bird. I was actually crying because I'm tired of being ugly and not wanting to go anywhere in public, because we got another bill from a collection agency, because I took pics at graduation last night and they suck!!!
I was crying for all the other stupid, silly, important, ridiculous, frustrating things that life is and I felt like crying.

...but a bird did die....and I am sorry.

What If?

Mom's a Prude...Get over it!

Trying to find a modest bathing suit for a 14 yr. old girl is like searching for the Holy Grail....though a noble quest, it is nonetheless completely futile. I would like to show pics of our adventure but that might be interpreted as promoting kiddie porn. Suffice it to say that after 3 hours and 11 stores we came home with a suit that is barely (no pun intended) acceptable and told daughter that she will wear a shirt over it at all times outside of the pool. Geez!

Our Own Graffiti Wall

Working in the yard again this weekend....got the rest of the garden planted, 5 tomato plants and green beans, plus I lined the whole thing with zinnias, vincas and allysum that my brother gave me. I love mixing vegies with flowers, makes for a happy garden. We were working on the walkway and in the process discovered that our youngest son had graffitied a big G on the back fence in the alley. Dad did not want to encourage other taggers to contribute their artwork to our property so we decided that it would be cool to do it somewhere in the yard and of course my darling daughter wanted to do it immediately. So, we wiped off the shed, got out the spray paints (as you can see we have quite a collection of beautiful colors) and all four kids (and dad:) got in the act (Brad added his this morning). I love the way it turned out and what was once a boring unnoticed corner of yard is now a piece of art....yea!