Friday, July 15, 2011

Deer


Just wanted to share my favorite pictures from our visit to Yosemite. We saw this mommy deer and her THREE babies on our way out of the park!


John Bytheway and Paint

These last two weeks have been SO busy. We had our first renters move out the Friday before we left for family vacation to California. Now that we are back it has been lots of work!! I have driven to Dupont almost every day these past two weeks with the kids to work on our rental house.

Note
to others:

NEVER LET YOUR RENTERS PAINT WITHOUT MAJOR RULES IN PLACE

I have to say it has been a major lesson learned. When our renters asked to paint I thought. "why not?" They were excellent renters and I trusted them. I also when from years of renting myself that yearning to paint and make a house your own was a pretty serious need. So I s
aid yes, and only asked her to pick neutral colo
rs that would compliment the house.

BOY oh boy did we have a difference of opinion. She painted charcoal gray, navy blue and sunflower orange. All of her paint choices required that I [rime before I paint. So I have been painting now for forever it seems and NEVER want to lift another brush or roller in my life!!!

New rules:

NO PAINTING UNLESS THE COLORS ARE APPROVED AND A PROFESSIONAL PAINTER IS HIGHERED

On the brighter side the kids have all really enjoyed being back in Dupont to hang out with their friends. I love these kids, some like they were my own children. My kids have been so blessed by the friendships they have with these amazing youth. So it was good to be back and let them run trough the forest trails, park hop and just be kids again.

Another great blessing from all of this was that since we were traveling so much in the car and usually hit traffic at least one of the directions back and forth we got tired of the radio. Emily and Chase suggested listening to John Bytheway, a motivational / spiritual speaker for our church. We listened to several CDs and even listened to one of them twice! We really enjoyed being taught everyday. And then on occasion we were able to enjoy some excellent conversations.

So I suppose I have to swallow hard and thank the renters for leaving me such a massive paint job so that we could ha
ve such a wonderful time strengthening our testimonies and and friendships these last two weeks.

When life hands you lemons...