Three weeks left of school.  Crazy!!!

The weather has finally settled down and looks like we have left the snow behind and won't see it again until November!!

I recently spent two weeks down in Texas with my dad and helped with some medical issues he was having.  Everyone survived just fine with me being gone!

Jacob is the elusive child right now.  Don't see him much.  Between school, odd working jobs (he quit his lumber/hardware store job), basketball stuff, football stuff, the gym and hunting, he is hardly ever here.  He has connected with a few hunting friends and is spending a lot of time with them looking for bears.  It is nice to know they are responsible enough to go out by themselves and of course, they think it is great!  He recently spotted, hundreds of yards away, a dead elk.  The following day, JR, Jacob and one of his friends was able to go find it to harvest the sheds.  A big animal!  It appears the elk just laid down and died.  No trauma and surprisingly, a bear had not found it.

And for the first time ever, he cut his hair short.

Benjamin continues to work about 35 hours a week at a restaurant downtown.  He is considering making a switch but nothing definite yet.  He has launched into the Amway world.  There is a huge network/mentoring that has been amazing for him.  He is getting out now that the weather is warmer and going to car/coffee weekly groups.  He enjoys those connections.  He is also getting into shooting more, golfing, etc.  Great to see him getting out.  He just got the NFL schedule and really wants to go to the Seahawks/Jets game in NY.  He wants to go to NY so bad.  I told him if he wanted a travel companion to let me know...would be a fun trip.  I will always jump at the chance to travel with that kid.

Speaking of travel, everybody in the family now has a passport so we are hoping for a trip this fall, somewhere down south, if we can work it around Jacob's sports.  

Joseph's voice is starting to change!  So strange.  He has finally started hanging out with a new friend and I am so excited!  He has been getting outside more and active!  Hard to believe he will be 14 this summer!!  He could take driver's ed in a year!!!!

We have planted a second round of seeds.  Hoping to get them started inside before we put them outside in about 3 weeks.  The boys are getting into them, especially Benjamin.  Hoping this means they would all learn to eat them more frequently.  Benjamin would actually like to figure out a way to grow them all year.  Not sure that is possible without a really well built green house!

That's the latest!!  Maybe the next post will have pics of all three of them....crazy how much they have changed!

 Another month down!!  Can't believe it is April and Easter today.  He is Risen!!

Had a great day.  I wanted to catch the sunrise service at the ski resort but couldn't convince the family.  So we attended the annual Easter breakfast at our church, church service then we drive 45 minutes to a BBQ place for lunch.  The weather was beautiful!  Probably the nicest day we have had since November.  

It has been a brutal winter.  Long, cold and lots of snow.  About 2 weeks ago we got a dump of about 13 inches.  Everyone is ready for some shorts weather!!

Jacob has put in his 2 weeks notice at his job where he has been for a year.  He has some other irons in the fire, so will be fun to see where he ends up by the time school is out.  He is at the school at 6:30am most days of the week, with football and basketball workouts.  He is putting lots of time in the gym and man, that kid is getting strong.  He is really working on his vertical jump and his core strength.  He can now, being 5 ft 9, jump up and touch the rim of the 10 foot hoop.  He told me today that he should be able to do the light pole core manuever soon....I think he is referring to where he goes horizontal to the ground with his legs straight out, holding onto a pole.  I love to see his dedication.

Benjamin has started working at another restaurant.  He has also found a 'tribe' of guys/men to hang out with, so it is nice to see him out of the house more than he is in the house.  He is planning some weekend traveling this summer and fall, so trying to save up his money.

Joseph is glad that the snow at the skate park has melted.  With me working weekdays, it will be a struggle to get him out of the house and active.  He is at a hard age because there are not a lot of 'camps' for that age and they are not old enough to drive.

JR is hopefully done with roof snow shoveling.  I don't even know the hours he has put in on the roofs this winter.  There are so many roofs with leaks, from all the snow, freezing, melting, freezing.  And now we jump quickly into the 60s so I expect some local flooding.

I am still 40 hours a week and really enjoy it!  I like it when the younger employees invite me into their life, by sending me random Easter texts, or sending me pictures of their gender reveal, or telling me about their modeling gigs.  Just fun to connect with a different generation.  I am gearing up for a small garden this year.  Years ago I planted one and it turned out okay, but now there is so much more information online, that I find myself researching a lot.  I have always wanted to try a compost bin, so gonna start that this week too.  We have also gotten passports for Joseph and Jacob.  Hoping for a trip this fall.

We recently caught the Northern Lights.  I saw them years ago when I lived in North Dakota and have waited for another chance.  It was spur of the moment but I got JR, Benjamin and Joseph to head out with me one night.  They were amazed.  2 pictures are below.  Benjamin used a shutter exposure on his phone and was able to catch more color than what was visible to the naked eye.  The streak in the sky is a phenomenon they call STEVE.  

Here is a picture this morning from church breakfast.  Someone commented yet again how different they all look, and I agree.  It is weird to see Benjamin with longer hair than Jacob.

 Jacob's basketball season has come to an end.  They ended up with 2 wins and probably 15 losses.  A hard season.  It is a struggle to continue on when you are the underdog, but they persevered and finished the season.  He was asked by the varsity coach to travel with the varsity team to divisionals as a manager.  Coaches just really enjoy having him around because he is a motivator and hustler.

A few weeks ago, my little momma heart was so proud.  I have never really celebrated Valentine's day.  A celebration for me is more along the lines of picking up fun dinner foods and making a special meal. Well, our schedules were all over the place, not to mention Jacob had a basketball game that night.  So, it just kind of slipped my mind.  On the evening of the 14th, Benjamin walked in and said "I didn't forget" and handed me a box of Crumbl cookies.  He loves to give gifts and it just makes me smile!

The five of us recently went out to the local university and shot some pool.  They have a really cool Sub/rec center that is open to the public.  They are growing up!!

The following week, I took Joseph and one of his friends back there.  We shot pool and bowled.  It was ugly bowling for all of us, but I did come out on top for both games!!

We recently bought a new truck for JR's business.  His other truck was 20 years old, so it was time!!  Our first big cash purchase!  Feels so good to not have a car payment.  Hopefully 2023 will be the year to upgrade my vehicle!

Spring break is around the corner.  Not much planned, other than a day trip to meet a friend and take Joseph and a friend to a water park and trampoline park.  I am so excited for spring.  It has been a long, hard, cold, dark winter.  It is just about time to ditch the coats!!

Just a quick check in.

Jacob saw the hand specialist (he had a bone chip in his right hand during football and it appeared it never fully healed.)  The doctor manipulated the finger lots of different ways and there was very little pain.  The doctor said he did not know if the bone would ever really heal.  The bone chip was being held in place by the ligament and scar tissue, which was actually providing decent stability.  He was afraid to do surgery given how small the area/bone chip was.  He was concerned about making it worse.  So, the bottom line was 'go live your life and let pain be your guide.  So, Jacob is back on the basketball court.

The team is currently 2-12.  Not the best season but Jacob has done well.

We had a little excitement last week.  Something I want to chronicle for the blog but not wanting to shed light on anyone in particular.  One of the family members last week fell 13 feet onto some concrete.  They landed on all fours but their right side took the brunt of the fall.  After an ER visit, it was determined no broken bones.  After 3 chiropractic appointments, a full recovery is in store.  So thankful, it could have been much worse.  So thankful for the Lord's provision.

Our weather has been so wacky!  Swings from -40 to 40 plus.  The freezing and thawing is getting old.  Right now everything is so slick with the snow starting to soften and melt.  It is almost mid February.  Shorts will come in about 4 weeks.

My job is still going well.  Fun to be in a position that plays to my strengths!  Working close to 40 hours a week.  Hoping that as I get more processes in place and we can stay on top of things, the hours will drop a little.  Bree loves playing with Zoe (Dalmatian!)

That's it!  Good night

 Mid January 2023!

We blew through the holidays.  The boys were out of school for 2 weeks.  Jacob had a few days off from basketball games/practice, so he enjoyed a few days of skiing, working out and hanging with friends.  Joseph got some time in with JR at work.

I am still enjoying work.  Working close to 40 hours a week.  Definitely more than I want long term. The boss and I are hoping to maybe hire a third person in March or April.  I told him I need a good handle of the invoicing side of things (our A/P, A/R person just left - she worked about 15 hours a week).  That way I can train someone coming in in all aspects of the office.  We have hit a glass ceiling, so to speak, and need to either stop saying yes to things or we need to bring on more crews to do more work.  I think he is leaning toward the latter.

Some big things have happened over the last several weeks.  Probably the most impactful, several days before Christmas it was bitterly cold, like -40.  That kind of cold can reek havoc on vehicles.  So, Ben's heat wasn't working so he couldn't drive it to work in the bitter cold and Jacob's car would randomly die so he was selective when he drove his car.  We were all kind of sharing 2 cars and making it work.  Then on the 20th, our nicest car, Subaru, was totaled in a wreck.  The unnamed individual rear ended a truck in 5 o'clock traffic.  We had a fiasco getting the car towed.  Once it was towed, Jacob went with me to get everything out, take off cargo box etc.  

The crazy thing about the evening of the wreck, within an hour of the wreck, we had left the scene of the wreck and saw one of our vehicles pulled over by cops.  It was a minor infraction, so no ticket.  But then about 10 minutes after that pull over, the other male in the house was also pulled over, for the same minor infraction.  The joke of the night was that the Morales men represented well on the police scanner that night!

The biggest lesson learned for me from the wreck, was insurance.  We have always carried just liability, because none of our cars are that nice and they have always been paid for.  What I paid in towing fees, would have easily covered the full coverage premium on the Subaru.  So, totally rethinking the car insurance.  The other thing, if you look at the pictures below, the car crumpled exactly as it was designed to do.  Both of the front doors still open properly, so the front end took the full brunt of the wreck.  The air bags went off but the inside is fully intact.  Crazy!  There were only very minor injuries - seatbelt bruise and friction nose burn from the air bag.

We got through the cold and all vehicles began functioning normally.  Just a few days ago, we found a new work truck for Jose, so hope to pick it up this week.  Although we are paying cash, I will get full coverage!  

Jacob's basketball season has caused some frustrations.  The district sports teams are still struggling to keep up with the larger schools in our district.  They current record is 2-6.  The last few games he was struggling with some minor injuries, but his broken finger, from football, had been bothering him.  We went for an xray last night and sure enough, the same break again.  Thinking it never fully healed and then got re injured.  We will see a hand specialist this week.  The school's athletic trainer seems to think they might do surgery.  There are probably still some tendon issues too.

Trying to catch my breath.  

I have started working and still trying to get use to time management.  I have taken a job at a cleaning/property maintenance company.  There are about 20 employees, with hoping to hire another 5-10 in next few months.  It has been fun learning a whole new industry (although I am somewhat familiar with property maintenance side, with Jose's management business.)   It was real unclear when I started working, how many hours or what my job description would be.  I am currently office manager but thinking it will morph more into a general manager in the coming months.  I wanted 25 hours a week, but working closer to 35.  My boss is open and flexible and as I learn more of the systems, etc, I am hoping to drop down to 30.  The best part, I can take Bree, our dog.  The owner has a Dalmatian and her and Bree get along well.  It is fun to see Bree dominate and herd Zoey.  She holds her ground and makes it very clear when she has had enough of Zoey's antics.  Bree comes home every day tired!  There is a picture below of me with a helmet on.  My boss has a really nice side by side and we took it out for a spin recently.  

I have also officially started meeting with an 'official' financial coaching client!  So fun to be walking alongside someone on their financial journey!  The Turo cars are still parked, but anticipate we will start getting reservations in the new year.  Not sure if I am up for another winter with the cars.  Fortunately, if it proves too much, I have a friend I can hand them off to.

Joseph has his last basketball game this Tuesday.  Their team is undefeated.  It helps when you have a player that looks like he is 17, instead of 13.   Joseph has enjoyed the experience and has done really well with the early morning (6:30am) practices.  I wish there was another sport he enjoyed, because the activity and social interaction has been great for him.

Jacob had his first basketball game yesterday.  A very intense game that they almost pulled out  at the end.  He made the sophomore team.  There are only 7 kids on the team, so he is getting lots of playing time.  Shortly before Thanksgiving they had their end of season football banquet and he found out he letter, despite missing half the season with his hand injury.  He was so excited.  A picture of his letter is below.

Hunting season we ended up with 3 deer, 2 bucks and a doe.  There are still a few elk tags to fill for shoulder season, which is through February sometime.  A successful year!

 Thanksgiving 2022

Some of the big and little things that make me smile and bring great joy.

1Chronicles 16:34 - Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.

Thankful for Jacob recently getting his driver's license - the kid that always needs to be someplace :-)

Thankful for my new Vionic slippers, that keep my feet really warm and have great support.

Thankful for an amazing summer with my mom being here and the family that visited.

Thankful for the means to fix all of our recent vehicle issues.

Thankful for my new job (will post on it next week!)

Thankful for my morning cup of hot tea while I read my bible!

Thankful for another year of amazing health.

Thankful for basketball and the outlet it has become for Jacob and especially Joseph.

Thankful for my 2 new pots I found for my plants.  (Sounds silly but there are very few things I find and immediately love enough to purchase)

Thankful for my ability to be able to think outside the box.

Thankful for a church that doesn't waver on preaching the word of God.

Thankful for airplanes that help bridge the gap between me and my family.

Thankful for texts and memes, that give me another way to stay connected with the boys.

Thankful for snow shovels, which we have had to use way more than I would like :-)

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

 It has been a while!  We are on auto pilot!  

I went to Texas last week to spend time with my dad!

Joseph has started basketball and won their first game.  They have one this afternoon and hopefully can get some good pictures.  Joseph has started going to the gym with JR, instead of me.  I think he enjoys time with dad and much rather take lifting advice from his dad than his mom!

Jacob will start basketball just after Thanksgiving.  He has been going to open gym and shooting hoops several times a week.  He is still working every Sunday afternoon.  He is not much of a spender, so his account is slowly growing.  He is itching to get out on the slopes too!  

Speaking of slopes...our area has just been hit with another 12 inch dump of snow.  It is coming early this year.  And I am not ready for it!  Fortunately this time around it was the dry snow, so not real wet and heavy.

I went and voted today.  I don't recall ever seeing so many people out voting!  So good to see!  Will be interesting to see how things turn out and what the next 2 years hold.  Regardless of where anyone falls, I think we can all agree that some areas have gone sideways!

Benjamin is into a week of snow removal and I think he might be regretting this decision.  You are paid whether you work or not, which means he can go 10 days without working and still get a paycheck, but when you do work, it can be very intense!  He worked yesterday 7am-7pm, come home to sleep and then went back from 4am-noon today.  He has to be back tonight from 9pm until probably noon tomorrow!  Bless his heart.  He has committed to the end of March and I think it will be a long hard winter.  That will be like 35 hours shoveling in about 50 hours, plus the 45-60 minute commute one way!

Benjamin recently took a weekend trip to Seattle, all by himself.  The travel bug is alive and well with him.  He went to a Seahawks game.  Got a hotel room, took public transportation and shopped.  He certainly doesn't mind going and doing by himself, but wish he had a friend to go with.  He said most of his friends don't have the money to spend.  He is hoping to pile up money this winter and maybe take a trip next April or May.

While Benjamin was in Seattle, the rest of us carved pumpkins.  They had a good time!  I didn't get any pictures of the finished project, but I read to cut open silica gel packets and put inside and that will make them last longer...and it worked.  We got over a week out of pumpkins.

It is hunting season!  Between JR and Jacob, they have a total of like 6 deer tags and 2 elk tags.  So far we have 2 bucks (deer).   It has been fun to see Jacob start going out with friends to hunt.  He sure enjoys it.

I have completed my first 'blog' book.  I got years 2008-2015 formatted.  I sent it off to be printed in black and white.  Wanted to make sure it was going to turn out, before committing to color printing.  The book ended up being close to 400 pages!!!  It will look so nice in color.  Trying to format 2016 through end of this year.  Then early next year, I will send both of them off to be printed in color.  Not sure the boys will appreciate it, but in due time.  It is neat to go back and put a timeline together of trips, big events, illnesses, etc.  I am also trying to go through all the digital pictures and clean up/delete duplicates.  My goal with this is to give each of the boys the blog books, as well as a flash drive with all photos on it!!!  

Random pictures that were on my phone....

Fall is slowly rolling in!  The boys have been in school for a month and I have yet to get their 'back to school' picture.  

Things have been pretty quiet with the boys.  Jacob has football every day after school and then he works Sunday afternoons.  Several weeks ago he chipped a small bone in his hand.  Due to the location and nature of the injury, they could not really splint it in such a way that he could continue to play in football games.  So he is sidelined, but hopefully might get clearance just before the last game of the season.  He is still going through all the drills and footwork, but has been discouraging for such a small injury to sideline him totally.  It should heal on its on though!  He has decided he will play basketball, so that will start just after football ends.  He also gets his driver's license tomorrow!  Hard to believe!  Given the crazy car market and some other car issues we have had, he is going to drive Benjamin's old Mazda.

Not sure if I mentioned but Benjamin bought a new truck (with cash - yay).  He is currently working out at the airport, just trying to put some money back.  He is committed to helping a friend move snow this winter.  After that, not sure any plans.  He would love to move out but the rental market is still nuts here!  I anticipate things will look very different for him 6 months from now.

Joseph is currently doing a basketball academy once a week and I think is planning on playing basketball this winter.  He and I go to the gym most days after school.  He is just putting his head down and crushing 7th grade!

JR is moving into a slower season, before the snow comes in November.  Hunting season (bow) is here.  JR and Jacob are both geared up to get an animal and there is talk of maybe Joseph, but not sure.  I am trying to empty out our freezers so we have room for any game that comes home!

I am still in a lull with work.  Trying to get some financial coaching going but I have stalled out.  Just need some motivation.  My mom has been here all summer and it has been wonderful.  She leaves on Friday, back to Ohio.  Will miss her for sure!

Just a few pictures below.  We attended our fall festival and they have a free lunch and they roast pigs the night before.  Always cool to see their cooking set up. I jump at the chance anytime I can to get a picture of Benjamin!  Jacob and I after a shutout (we lost 63-0) but it was cool because they got to play at the university stadium.  Joseph and my mom's dog, Bingo.  Jacob and one of his best buds (Jacob is in green jersey!) 

 Another outing we took this summer, a boat tour of a nearby canyon.

A few other outings we have had:  Saw Tarzan in live performance and saw the musical Sound of Music.

 Still trying to catch up from summer photos

Jacob and JR went on an overnight back packing trip with two other men.  The weather was beautiful, the fishing amazing (think they caught about 80 fish total) and the hiking hard!

My mom and I recently went to Medora ND to see the musical.  What an amazing production.  Incredibly patriotic second half!  Lots of music and history of Medora and Teddy Roosevelt.  Highly recommend it if you are ever near SW North Dakota.  Before the musical they had a pitch fork fondue with steak and all the trimmings.  All held on a beautiful cliff overlooking the badlands.  It was just shy of a full moon and beautiful evening!

We have had some warm summer days recently.  Headed to the river with Bree and boys!  

Leave it up to Jacob to find a snake!

Jacob is trying to get Joseph to reach down and pick it up.  I made sure to stay far away!

The boys saw a tortilla challenge on Tik Tok and had to participate.  You fill your mouth with water and then take turns slapping each other across the face with a tortilla.  Sounds ridiculous and it is, but hilarious to watch.  Not sure who or how people come up with these ideas.

 

 A selfie of us at the Elvis movie

We checked out a Dueling Piano show.  I had no idea what we were going to but it sounded fun.  We both weren't expecting what it was.  Enjoyed the music but the banter was more crass that I would have liked.  Fortunately, the accoustics was terrible so I did not hear everything that was being said.  We ended up leaving early.

Jacob has had a couple of football scrimmages this summer...not a bad view and it was a beautiful evening.

School starts Aug 25th.  Football 2 a days started on Friday.  Summer is quickly winding down!

 Just some more summer stuff!!

We celebrated this kids 13th birthday on Sunday!!!  Our third teen ager in the house!  Pretty low key birthday, went out to breakfast and had gifts and cake/ice cream

It was also my mom's birthday the following day, so we did a few things that weekend.  We went to a local drive in movie.  This was started just after COVID by a teen ager looking for ways to make money.  This was the beautfiul sunset as we waited for the movie to start after dark.

The movie was my all time favorite ever!!! The Man From Snowy River....I had never seen it on the big screen!

This kid got creative one day with his pringles!

 Random summer photos!!

A recent hike!

Jacob's football team had some 7 on 7 skills.  He mainly played safety on defense, but was ready if he was needed for QB.

Bree got to experience a paddle board....too bad she only stayed on long enough for me to take a picture!

Jacob has caught some big carp....they are bottom feeders so not good to eat.

Did not even know that pup cups were a thing from DQ, but Bingo (my mom's dog) has introduced Bree to them!!

My mom and I recently went to see Tarzan at a local theatre.  She was blow away by the production...it was really good!  We had dinner beforehand!!

Some more football action!

Things have recently shifted in a huge way for me!  I am no longer doing my work from home stuff.  The company has decided to move their production to California (this decision still baffles me and everyone that worked in house...).  I am thrilled to be done!  I had wanted a shift but the pay, flexibility and ease of work was hard to give up.  However, I am not exploring financial coaching.   God is opening up some amazing doors with this opportunity.  I will share more as things fall into place!!