Hello All,

 

Can you beleive it's been 4 months since our last blog?!?  We'll, I'll do the cliff notes version of what's been going on.  School's out... 

 

We did a bunch of fundraising over the past few months in preparation for Athena going on a European ambassador trip to Spain/France/Italy.  Bob has been traveling like a madman over the past 4 months, gone nearly every week to either UT, WA, OR, NV, CA or Asia.  After school finished, we headed to Barstow, CA for a family gathering.  We had a couple of great days of weather (i.e. not death valley hot) and good time catching-up on family activities.  While Athena stayed in Boise for school activites, Autumn & Ashley went to Bartow with Mom & Dad.  After Barstow, Ashley stayed with Mom & Dad to tour California and Autumn went to Colorado to spend time (working) with Papa & Grandma.

 

Monday after Barstow, we headed to San Diego where we stayed with Uncle Larry & Aunt Dollie.  Their hospilitality was great.  We toured the Midway Aircraft Carrier, Hard Rock Cafe, and La Jolla.  After San Diego we (3 of us) were off to LA.   In LA, we stayed with "Aunt" Connie and "Uncle" Loren.  Those four days were spent with great people.  While in LA, we walked (and bought... Ashley was happy) Rodeo Drive, ate at the Ivy (famous people watch), walked the Walk of Fame, toured Vince Beach, La Brea tar pits, and played at Universal Studies Park.  We got to LA via Salinas, where we spent the day on the coast (Big Sur, Monterey, Santa Cruz).  In Santa Cruz, we spent a few hours on the Boardwalk getting our fill of amusement park rides.  After Santa Cruz, we went to San Jose/Bay Area.  Bob had a conference while Ashley & Mom spent two days at Great America Amusement Park.  Yes, we also toured San Francisco and ate at the "Stinking Rose"; I'm sure the garlic lowered our cholesterol... at least Bob had immediate "evidence".

 

After getting back to Boise (3000 miles later), Ashley headed to Seattle for 3 days with friends.  Upon returnig, Connie & Ashley headed to Colorado to spend time with Nana (Connie's GMa) and the rest of the Blochowitz/Brown family.

 

We'll, that's about it for now...  Athena is packing for Europe (3 weeks) and Bob is packing for Shanghai (10 days).

 

See ya' on the flip side of 20,000 air miles.

 

God Bless,

 

Bob

Wow, I've been away a long time.  I thought with winter coming, my time would free up some, but that hasn't been the case.  The girls are busier than ever.  I've been working to get my new business venture off and running.  I'm now a Tomboy Tools consultant.  Haven't heard of it?   Ask me about it, I'd love to let you know what's going on!

 

Autumn's room is finished and so is my new office (I moved into her old room).  We have even started painting the entry way, trying to add some personality and style to blah!  I like color, makes me feel better than just new home dull.  For those who appreciate do-it-yourselfers, that's what we are.   We try to tackle most of our own repairs.  I guess you could say we like the challenge.  I will submit some pictures of our lastest home improvement projects and of course, Autumn's room.  With Spring around the corner, we'll be tackling the yard soon.

 

Take care all and I'll try to be on top of timely updates!

Wow, how time flies!!  In all the busy-ness of getting the girls ready for school, time has flown away.  It seems like we should have accomplished more than we have.  Autumn is getting excited about moving into her new room.  That's been the big project the last couple of weeks.  Our girls have played musical rooms, of sorts.  Athena moved to the basement after we finished it, which allowed Ashley to move into her new room (Athena's recently vacated one) and now Autumn is moving into Ashley's recently vacated room.   Of course, each room has to be custom decorated!  So, that's why the process has taken so long.  Time and finances have to be accumulated before each can happen - we haven't found our money tree yet!!!  Our goal is to get Autumn into her newly decorated room before the first day of school, which is August 25th.

 

As soon as we get it all finished, I'll take some pictures.  It's not a boring room!  In fact, I'll be surprised if she can sleep for the first few days after she moves in!!  You'll see what I mean when you see the pictures!  All our girls have bright and exciting taste when it comes to room colors.  Mom and Dad get to pick out the carpet, though

 

I hope everyone's summer was a blast.  We'll talk to you soon.

Hi everyone!!  This is coming to you from the great state of Colorado.  Two of the girls and I are in Colorado visiting Grandma and Papa.  The purpose of our trip is to make a child exchange.  Ashley has been here since June 11th and now it's Autumn's turn to stay with Grandma and Papa.  We arrived just in time for harvest. 

 

Although that term in the last couple of years has changed alot.  Growing up on the farm, summer was the busiest time of the year for as many years as I can remember.  Now due to less help (all us kids have "other" lives), dad has most of his harvest done by custom cutters (that's a term for people who work their way up the wheat belt with their combines and trucks and travel trailers hiring themselves out to area farmers that need some help).  As a child, my family never would have dreamed of hiring the work done when you could do it yourself! 

 

It was truly a family run operation.  I didn't much care for it, but I did it anyway!!  (I have allergies to wheat dust) My job was always driving truck.  So, what that means is, I drove the grain truck from the field to either the grain elevator in town, or to our farm where we would put the wheat in our home grain bins.  If we went to the bins at home, I also got the job of unloading the truck and then returning to the field.  One of my brothers ran the combine and one the grain cart.  My mom was usually in the tractor running summer till or the disc on the field we just cut.  The summer till is a clean field ready to be planted for next years harvest and the disc is for a field just harvested so it will be ready to catch the winter snow.  Dad's job was keeping everything running so we could get it all done as quickly as possible.  Summer weather could really put a hurt on harvest.

 

Every cloud was watched with care, because a sudden summer storm could harvest a crop quicker than you could and that would be the end of harvest for the year.  Sometimes a field right next to yours could be wiped out by a hail storm and yours would be untouched, which was a good thing.  Today, the weather still plays a major part of harvest, but now days, the custom cutters have outfits with three or more combines and can finish a field in a few hours rather than days.

 

It's taken me so long to get this entry written and on our space, I am now preparing to head back to Idaho.  Ashley and I will be on the road either this evening or early, early tomorrow morning.  I haven't decided because we are now experiencing a torrential downpour (thank you Lord for your answered prayers) and I really don't want to load the pick-up in this.  Bob is wrapping up his business trip in Denver and will be back in Idaho tomorrow afternoon, too.  I did get the chance to spend a couple of evenings with him in Denver this trip.

 

Well, all, I had better get this blog published so I can get some packing done.  God Bless you all richly and abundantly.  See you soon!

                              

         Howdy everyone!!  This morning, we had a visitor "drop-in".  Our cat, Tibby, frightened a small creature into Bob's office window well.  Bob happened to be in his office this morning and heard some scratching at the window, so he went outside to investigate.  He saw a small grey creature trying in vain to climb out (but of course, it's cement, and deep). 

 

 

     

                                                                                                       

Howdy friends and family!  I hope your day has been great.  I found this awesome link to a movie that will be a must see movie of the year!!  Please follow the link from our page and watch the trailer, then wait patiently for the days to count down until you can see the entire movie.

 

   

 

I had a leisurely morning today.  I was first awakened by Athena and her friend, Tori, leaving the house for cheer practice (1st day of many) at 6:30am.  I rolled over and went back to sleep (yawn).  I finally decided to get up and get my day going at 8am.  Bob had already been up for hours by now!  When I came downstairs, the patio door was open and the screen across, so I could hear the pond, which reminded me to take the fish their breakfast. 

 

I just love walking out into our backyard.  Mom and Dad came out to visit just after school let out for summer break and of course, we put them right to work.  The day they arrived, we were working in the backyard trying to get the weeds under control.  Mom and Dad pitched right in and we knocked those weeds right into oblivion!!  Yeah, us!!  Now our backyard takes moments to keep under control and we can spend most of our time enjoying it!!  Thanks so much Mom and Dad for giving us the gift of enjoyment!!!  We'll make sure it stays weed free so you can enjoy it, too, in September when you come to visit again.

 

So, everyday is a Blessing I thank God for each time I walk outside into our backyard.  God and His creations are truely amazing when you take a little time to appreciate them.  My prayer for each of you is that you have such a place you can praise and appreciate God for how Awesome He is every day!

 

God Bless you !

If you get the chance, take a look at the basement photo album.  The project started November 2006 and "officially" finished December 2007 (yeah, 13 months).  We were very blessed to have lots of help & ideas during this entire project.  While the dig & concrete represented > 80% of the cost, those 3~4 weeks of actual time only represented about 10% of the total time for this project.

 

You'll see from the photos that framing, plumbing relocation & installation, AC/heat relocation & installation, electrical, hanging rock, painting, sauna install, and trim out took alot of planning..and sweat.  Hats off to Todd Morrison, Jason Crowley, Joel Lashaway, Scott Asson, Greg Jewell, Ron Rand, Corey Ferguison, Tom Vasecka, and Don Howell for their insightfullness, expertise & hardwork.  Of course, I can't mention the countless nights "spent in the basement" with Connie & the girls.

 

Yes, we had a couple of water leaks early on, but we managed to fix it with some clever solutions encompassing landscaping changes, DryLock, and add'l gutters.  We added about 1300sqft at half the cost of today's square footage prices.  Let's pray it pays off in years to come.  In any event...

 

We're enjoying the new space now; it stays about 68deg, which is great for entertaining friends & family.  Not to mention, Bob is no longer having to work from the kitchen table (which he did for 18 months).  The office down stairs keeps him home during the day, which is both relaxing and fruitful.  We look forward to you coming-by to shoot a few games of pool, watching a moving, or simply sitting in the basement of 68deg when it's 98deg outside!

 

With the advent of the internet (uh... 15 years ago), we thought it time to get some of our "regular" adventures on the net and share with you.

 

We seem to be aging faster (correction... the kids are growing-up fast) so what better way to share our memories with family and friends.  Athena is 15, Ashley 13, and Autumn 10.  It's hard to beleive that we have a high school student, junior high student, and a 5th grader.

 

All of us are enjoying Idaho and have been here nearly 5 years.  Living in those other places (AZ, CA, WA, TX) seems so long ago.  We'll try to capture some of those past moments at this website... sort of a walk down memory lane.

 

Life is about making memories, making friends, and serving God...and having fun along the way.

 

We hope that you find our WebSpace interesting & enjoyable.  Feel free to leave a blog, comment, or send us a pic to add to our collection.

 

Have fun & see you soon,

 

Bob, Connie, Athena, Ashley & Autumn