The Armstrongs

Monday, October 06, 2008

Thursday, September 11, 2008

There's my grandpa! I tried not to take a direct picture of him, catching my husband by surprise, instead. And I certainly didn't mean to highlight the big block of diet Pepsi! No... I see my grandpa in the background. He came all the way out to my house on Labor Day and had a great time just watching everyone and eating some contraband chips. The "thank you" has to go out to Angie, who invited herself over and everyone else, too. I'd like to take credit for being the amazing hostess, but I've gotten a little rusty to even consider it over this past year. Unfortunately. So, whatever, whenever, whoever happens next can never take away the treasure of my family coming out on Labor Day this year. Especially my grandpa.

VOLCANO!

Fun days, I tell ya! We visited Mt St Helens!! We are volcano experts, nearly. Aidan got interested in them back in... 2004. Super Summer Spectacular that year was Lava Lava Island and we took a trip to Crater Lake for a wedding. We built our own volcano out of paper mache and blew it up with some soda and vinegar (not too exciting). The diet coke and mentos is much more thrilling. The kids especially enjoyed this trip, getting so close to the mountain and it was smoking a little! :-)

Four at OMSI

Oxbow Park Spontaneous Family Reunion

"Camping at the River"

Oxbow Park... Dwight and Kristi were up from Mexico and hangin' out so everyone came out. What a blast! The day was SO hot, but the river was wonderfully cold. These are some pictures from the swimming...

August is the BEST!

After meetings and more meetings and even more meetings (and conference calls and emails and another meeting) the MAACO build-to-suit site saw some action! "The boys" are checking out the footings. Underneath this slab, we buried the Bible verses that have gotten us this far, plus some promises for success on a stake. We have a lot of hope for what could come of this!

We love the Clark County Fair! We have made it a yearly event to see the Crash-Up Derby on Friday night. Our boys just get so excited over the loud motors and munched-up cars. Trinity thought they were crazy! She'll probably drive one when she grows up, right?

Yes! This is the FOUNDATION for our Maaco! WOW!!!!!! It's really BIG!!!

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Summer happens fast - already it's August and the cloudy day makes me feel like summer shouldn't have started, yet, and here it is more than half through. Or maybe I'm just getting older, so time flies faster. Who to blame?!

I didn't get even one picture at our "Day in Damascus", which was an absolute blast. For about $20 our kids got t-shirts and jumped in a bounce-house, raced goldfish and wooden cars, ate pizza from Papa Murphy's, got finger-printed and a police sticker, a fire-safety slap bracelet and dug thru hay for candy. We could have even taken a ride on the Monster Truck if our time hadn't already run out and Shad was off to a birthday party! It's hard to pack in all the fun sometimes!

We've had other fun, tho, too! Diamond went into heat and we had to move Dollar down to the patio for his own sanity temporarily. He hates being on a chain, of course, after living in his doggy-suite, but he found out he could squeeze into my planter box this morning, apparently. It's at least 10 years old, so it won't survive our 70 lb dog, but I didn't kick him out. Before we move him back "home", we'll be cleaning out the storage. A rat family moved in and made themselves at home. Since we live out here with coyotes and wild rabbits and the occasional cougar, I suppose it makes sense, but we've had the eebie-jeebies as we've tried to convince them to move on (or pass on!) It was time to re-arrange things, anyway, and get rid of stuff we're storing for no reason besides not wanting to throw it away, yet.

Sometimes it's nice to hold on... hold on to summer or stuff or youth. I mean, I can't believe our boys are old enough to go to birthday parties and bowling parties on their own! At least, I still drive them to and from! I felt like I was prying my hands deliberately back from holding onto Aidan too tightly yesterday as I dropped him off at the bowling alley with some friends. Growing up is Ok, I guess! I'm not done with summer, tho... we've got some campground hangin' out to do with Aunt Kristi and Uncle Dwight up from Mexico, the snake man at the library, the Burn's Feed store pony painting day... day trips to the lake and the beach... ?! "Sieze the day!"

Armstrongs Love Cars

The only thing we know for sure is that we're having a blast! It was a lot of work, too, loading up the Camaro and bringing it out of seclusion to show off so early in the build. The Abundant Life Car Show is close and we know everyone, so we did it!

Our car buddies were all there... the Corvette and Mustang right next to our awesome truck as well as the two-time '70s class winner Nick and his blue Nova. His wife, Katie, brought out her gorgeous '64 Nova wagon with the two kids and the mini-poodle.

Even Nana showed up just as I was losing my cool (it does happen, if unfrequently) over Cam and Trin fighting over the umbrella stroller that no one rides in anymore. She was a life-saver, as usual, and we enjoyed a relaxing lunch and stroll through the show with her.

Another Car Show

We have had so much fun going to car shows this summer!!!!!! Trinity found a purple car she thought was soooo cute and Camten found a green one with a blower (it was even for sale!)

Dad and Ted have had a blast buying a bunch of raffle tickets and gatherings their winnings all day. They each report to all of us the latest prize... a hat, more car wash, a t-shirt, a set of screw-drivers ("I totally needed that!"

) and tons of other great and useful stuff. I love it, 'cause there's always something for me... a bag of lotions, a free coffee, a gift card to a grocery store!

The goal, of course, is to win a trophy, and everyone hangs out all day in hope! Ted won with his yellow Corvette at least once and his wife, Robin, won with her teal Mustang, too. We were up against tough competition with our truck. At this show we got beat out by a Jeep... a JEEP!! Obviously the judges don't know what a "truck" is. So far we have found judging everywhere to be unsettling. Either the chosen judges didn't realize this was a "classic" car show and awarded someone's newer purchase that should not even have been entered in a show, or a local car club came with all their friends and voted for each other!!! Either way, we have found a way to explain every situation we haven't come home with a trophy this year. I don't think anyone could fault us for trying hard, tho! And we have lots of car wash!