A Lot Can Happen In 7 Months

So I’ve been a bit lax in updating the blog lately…  I think that it is because there have been so many changes in our lives these past few months that it’s been a bit overwhelming!

Church

After 10 years at the same church we made the decision to part ways.  Several events happened that made it glaringly clear in our eyes that we were to move on.  I think that taking a bit of time off to heal, refocus and rededicate ourselves has done wonders as we have put ourselves out there into the search for a new church family.  This is not really very fun.  I thought that I would like it a lot more, but it’s a tad awkward walking into a new place each week, not knowing anyone, afraid that I might mistakenly take a ‘regulars’ pew…  you know the run down…  but we are determined to find a good fit for us and won’t give up until we do!

Florida Trip

 

This past October, Koltin & I went on a trip together to Disney World & Universal Studios in Florida.  It was exciting for both of us, as it was Koltin’s first plane ride and it was the first time that I had ever really taken one of my kids off on an adventure so far from home by myself.   Both Hayden & Mike have no interest in flying so they chose to stay home.   I tried to prep him as to what to do if I keeled over dead, or some other traumatic event happened, but all was well, and our training was fortunately not needed.  We stayed at a fabulous hotel at Disneyworld called Kingdom Lodge that was surrounded by a wildlife refuge, so it was not unusual to see a family of giraffes or a zebra or two right outside the window.  Very cool place.  Our favorite place was Hogwarts at Universal Studios where we dined on huge turkey legs,  sipped butter beer, and picked out the perfect wand.  Great place to be… unfortunately for me, Koltin had no desire to go to any other place in both Universal Studios at that location so I didn’t get to see nearly as much as I would have liked to… I’ve decided that I would probably have much more fun without my kids at these places because they don’t really like the rides and just want to hang out in the hotel room… kind of like their father… 

Women of Faith

 

Just had to put a note here, for this short trip…  Cindy Dragoo & I went again this year to the Women of Faith Conference at Arco in Sacramento…  We knew that we had seats on the floor but had NO idea how close we would be to the actual speakers…  We were in the front row, right behind them, in fact, in most of my photos you will see the back of Sheila Walsh’s head… or one of the Mary Mary sisters, or even Mandisa….  AMAZING SEATS and Cindy & I, being the worship girls that we were, had a BALL!  If any of you women have the opportunity to attend a WOF conference, GO!

Fort Bragg

 

Took our annual trip to the beach house in Cleone again this past November.  I just love that place!  It’s huge, private and in a fabulous location.  It’s a nice break, Mike doesn’t freak out because the cell phone works there (yea!), and it’s fun to hang out with the family!  This year Mike’s mom Becky came, as well as Jenny, Bryan & their boys Casey & Lucas, and we included my niece Bailey with our family…  Can’t wait until next year!

Christmas

I was kind of bummed this past year at Christmas because I was hoping to be in the new house by then, but it didn’t happen!  I didn’t deck the halls quite as much as I usually did, probably because I knew what got unpacked, had to be repacked, and I was soooooo tired of packing.  The entire Christmas week was stressful with family emergencies and I was just glad when it was all over!  We went to an incredible  Christmas Eve Service in Chico, and to our traditional Chinese food dinner with the Slinkard & Shadd’s afterwards.  That was really fun!  Christmas morning brought the other traditional meal of biscuits & chocolate gravy over at Grammy Norma & Papa Jere’s home next door… very yummy!

The Moves

 January brought in the first move of the year for us, we officially moved Shadd Trucking to a location in town.  The new yard is large enough to fit all of our trucks, has a large shop with a couple of offices.  We leased it for 6 months and hope to buy the location when the time is right.  I have to admit that it is nice, as the light sleeper that I am, that I am not awakened several times each morning as each truck leaves on its daily runs.  All is good!

February brought in the second move of the year for us… OUR NEW HOME!  Yea!  We now live in our fabulous (well at least to us!) home that we designed ourselves and are incredibly happy!  No one has to share a bathroom, everyone has their own space, and, well it’s great!  The bad part is that our old home still sits there, not completely empty and it is proving harder and harder to go over there to pack!  We do have a timeline though, we are donating the home to our local fire personnel to use as they see fit for training purposes so it shall burn sometime prior to June.  I guess I better get on that packing, shouldn’t I?

Grandma’s 90^th Birthday Party

 

Last month my Grandma Arlene turned 90, and we planned a HUGE party for her!  It was a great opportunity to host family from near and far and boy was it a success!  My Aunt Tanya said that she counted well over 100 guests!  It was a bit of fun, because Dad kept asking how many people were coming, and we’d totally down play it… you know, we sent out 40 invites, plus family, etc. etc. so he was a bit surprised at all of those bodies!  He’s a worry wart, but with everything under control (i.e. he doesn’t have any responsibilities) he likes a good party.  I enjoyed having my cousins to myself here at our house.  Gerald flew in from Boston, Becky from Colorado, KC (and the well-dressed Stella) drove down from Washington & James and Kelly along with their children drove down from Oregon.  It was fun having so many people around all weekend long!  I think that Grandma was very pleased with the party and the write up in the local newspaper, with a great photo of her in it… that of course I took!  The one missing cousin (and family) was excused as Melissa & Travis had just welcomed their newborn baby girl “Shelby” in the week prior to then…  we will forgive them for inconveniently planning a child during that particular week, and will expect them to curb any future procreation due during an invite to a party held in California J  Missed you guys!

Current Events

So thankfully life is slowing down a bit for us…  Mike’s business is still going strong into the more profitable summer months, so thank the Lord for that blessing!  Hayden has been keeping busy with his FFA events, and particularly his Ag Mechanics class of which his team (of 4 young men) is going to the state competition at Cal Poly next month.  Koltin is just plugging away in 6^th grade, has found that junior high is a bit more of an adjustment than anticipated, but will pull through just fine!  I am keeping busy with attempting to keep our house managed, working part time at our new office and am looking forward to doing a bit of gardening soon!  We are hoping to get a few sidewalks in around the house and I am slowly trying to envision what I want as landscaping…  until then, I find that I absolutely love to lose myself in my music while mowing my acres of weeds.  It’s really quite an attractive vision, me bopping to my tunes, singing quite loudly (which thankfully no one can hear though over the roar of the engine!) wearing shorts with white legs glowing (note to self… buy some tanning lotion), a huge floppy hat (because I certainly do not need any more wrinkles), ginormous sunglasses (eye issues, blah) and dogs trailing me (in case I run over something tasty).  Occasionally I’ll catch Mike looking out the back window at my zippy little self,   and he just smiles…  I’m going to believe in my head that he is amused by my reckless abandonment of propriety, rather mocking my absurd mowing ensemble…  Whatever…  it makes me happy, and so I shall persevere, and pray that he does not decide to take any photos.

The Iron Girl

So... I'm not an Iron Girl...  I'm a girl...  but...  the only iron I'm pumping these days is my curling iron... and that's only on the days that I'm feeling particularily less than lazy...  BUT...  I love to travel and when my cousin KC said that she was thinking about driving from Washington state down to Tahoe for an Iron Girl competition I jumped at the chance to take off with my handsome hubby for the weekend... oh and support me dear younger cousin.  So the plan was to make all of these signs and to hold them up screaming "You GO Girl!" but apparently my sign painting abilities are lacking because my glitter dripped and looked a mess so off we went without any outward expressions of support.

The race began at 7:30, specifically upon the Aflac duck quack... not a very impressive quack I must say.  The women went out in  waves broken down by age groups... the oldest first.  KC was in the largest age category and was in the third wave.... the wave of green swim caps. 

Goggles on and ready to swim!

You see her don't you?

We were worried for a few brief moments that she might be one of those green capped girls hanging for dear life on a canoe marking the way... but alas she emerged with a "That was really hard" and trudged on!  What a trooper!

Shoe change...  for the LONG quarter of a mile trek back to transition to bike!

The bike ride is on!

Headed out of the gate on the run...

And... AT LAST...  The FINISH!!!!!!

In two short hours it was all over... They headed back to Washington State... and Mike and I headed back home!  Nice little trip...  I hope that she does it again...  Next time... I will hire someone creative to paint me a sign and I will be having TEAM KC shirts printed up... so I'm expecting a few of you to join in on the fun next year...  OH... and someone pick up an air horn... I hear she likes those!

Until next year!

Hayden's 8th Grade Graduation

Well my baby is going into high school! Can you believe it? Graduation was a lot of fun... the decorating, making the slide show, class trip... great memories for those kids... and also for the few moms that participated. My darling son was the only boy with a camo tie... classic!

The family...

Hayden, Aziza & Lane

Hayden speaking at the podium.

The four of us. I am holding Hayden's President Award with President Obama's signature... Pretty cool! His science teacher said that he probably knew more about engines than she did!

Springtime with the Shadds...

Spring has officially arrived... my trees are bursting with life!

Happy Birthday Koltie Bear! OK so my baby turned 11 this month... I can hardly believe it! We had a great dinner & arcade playtime...

This photo is of myself and a bunch of nieces at the pizza party... From the top, Danielle, Alyssa, Me, Bailey, MacKayla, Bella & MacKenzie. Unfortunately missing Kaili & Ella... maybe we'll get everyone at EASTER! Yea!

So the house is coming right along... the exterior is prepped for the first coat of stucco... and they are finishing up the plumbing, gas lines, electrical etc. on the inside... very exciting stuff LOL...

This is my darling husband playing with a toy... He borrows it from my dad every once in awhile and moves 'stuff' around.

This is my wall of many colors... my previously red barn covered with various shades of greens & greys in an attempt to find the perfect shade for the new house... it's a challenge, but I'm up for it...

Life is Great!

Well, although life conceptually should be slowing down with all of the holidays passed, reality proves a bit different. Mike & I were led to believe that the process of building our home would take forever and we were prepared to go at it slowly, with plenty of time to make decisions. I, of course began going through magazines, and color charts knowing sometime down the road, I would need to have prepared decisions as to what I wanted where when the time came… I put all of my cut outs in a lime green binder… sort of a bright yet dreamy wish list for myself. My binder is only half filled and now, apparently… the time has arrived that I’m being expected to pull out all of my decisions and share them with the world. Panic time. I’m being forced to make decisions like window heights, arch depths, roofing shades, stucco styles, window shapes & colors, right down to the nitty-gritty of what size my tiled shower should be, and how wide should the little bench that I’ll need to shave my legs will be… dumb, dumb, dumb, but heaven forbid I should pick things wrong because this will be the only house that we will be building so if I want something special I need to speak up NOW! In the past I really didn’t care about the shape of rain gutters, and the process of deciding on a kitchen bar height just about killed me! What if it’s too high and blocks the view to the kitchen… and what if it’s too low, and you can see my dirty dishes in the sink that is on the other side of it? Will someone fall out of the low window if I build a bench across it for seating in my dining area? How much stone is too much stone? Does the stone outside have to match the stone inside? Should the window next to the front door be filtered or clear, and if it’s clear will someone be able to see me from the road if I decide to run around in my skivvies? Of course I never run around in my skivvies (I’ve got two boys, you know.), but what if I decide that in my old age I want to? Then my mind flits to the fact that maybe, just maybe, I could learn how to do stained glass and put that in there… and do I actually have the time to learn how to do stained glass, when I just got a classical guitar with the full intention of learning how to play it? My mind has constantly been on overdrive this past week, and I’ve probably called a dozen different contractors for prices on everything from central air systems to fireplace people, to a special window company that has the certain perfect window that I want with white on the inside & black/bronze on the exterior. My little green binder has spilled over to a storage tub and I have brochures coming out of the woodwork! My barn has 6 different shades of grey-green painted in large 3x3 squares on the front of it. All of my shoes are muddy from walking back in forth to the new house… It’s freezing out there and my nose is always pink… when are those windows arriving anyway? The breezes are making me miserable! And yet… through it all… through every little eye rolling, minute little choice that must be made, Mike & I will take a few minutes, walk up our new driveway, looking at our new home, thinking about all of the new decisions that need to be done… and a sense of contentment washes over us that all of this newness is wonderful, and that we are truly blessed to be able to do this for our family. So bring on those decisions! I laugh in the face of the decisions to come! WHAH- HA HA HA HA…. That was my maniacal laugh, if you can imagine droll little me actually touching the fingertips of both my hands together in front of me and manically letting loose. How cool is this? I mean really? Very cool. Life is great!

Happy Fall Ya-All!

It has been soooooo long since I have updated this blog! I am not going to try to play catch up or else I would be totally overwhelmed! Things are going well here at the Shadd household... We finally broke ground on our new home! Yea! It is going to be a totally slow process, but of course, well worth the wait! I shall try to post photos occasionally... or make up a slideshow or something creative like that. I've planted around 19 trees in front of the new house, and a photo of the most recent is above... Acer Sun Valley... pretty cool color change pattern... Hey I'm easily amused!

The business is doing well and I'm doing the "Happy Happy Joy Joy" dance because I don't have to work in the office anymore! Another Yea! Well I pop in to sign checks occasionally, but mostly my friend Christy is managing the office. Thank you Christy! We had a truck & trailer blow over from the heavy winds last week down in Modesto... so needless to say, the business keeps Mike on his toes. Hayden has been keeping busy with the usual things for him... playing flag football, riding his dirtbikes, and he is especially proud of the new blue rim on his bicycle. Koltin has become a Halo expert and plays online everynight with his best buddy Uncle Jeremy... It's amusing to listen to the two of them talking to people all over the world with their little headsets... They scream things like "Sniper" and "Behind you!"... we just roll our eyes as we walk past Kolt's bedroom. Silly boys.

We've had a few new additions to the family this spring & summer... Ella, Hudson & Emma. The top photo is of Emma (my cousin Bobbies's daughter), next is little Ella (Mike's sister Kathy & Randy's daughter) & then comes Hudson (my cousin Lynsey & Jarred's son)...They are all way cute and I'm going to love taking photos of them for the rest of their lives... whether they like it or not!

Well we are off to the coast for the weekend, so hopefully I'll have some fab photos to add next week! Happy Fall Ya-All!

May Madness!

May was yet another busy month for the Shadd family! My most creative Mother's Day present that I've received EVER was given to me by my son Hayden. He's 12 and his Papa Jere just taught him how to weld, and Hayden knows how much I love yard art (or junk as Mike would call it).... ANYWAY, Hayden managed to make me a little yard sign, which I promptly declared that it belonged by the fish/frog pond in the back yard. Didn't he do a great job? If you look very closely at the photo there is a huge frog at the left the base, with his head resting near a stick.

So something new that Hayden also tried this year was 4H. Hayden, Mike, Jeremy & Papa Jere got together and set up a pig pen behind the old barn area, where 30 years ago piggies roamed in excess. Grammie Norma didn't get much say about the stinky mess growing in her back yard... Hayden tried to keep it clean, but... well pigs tend to smell & collect flies... it's a fact! The Silver Dollar fair was this past weekend. Mike & Hayden faithfully went each morning & evening to feed and water the pig... and on Saturday... this little piggie went to the market... I managed to slip in at the exact time that Hayden went out by himself with the pig. I was scared to death that no one would bid, and poor Grammie Norma would have to keep this pig in her backyard forever, not to mention how much pork can one family eat really? It was over in a matter of seconds. Porkie sold for $4.00 a pound and we were all jubilant! Hayden got a check for just over $900 dollars and was elated. Now that Mike & Hayden have gotten their first fair under their belts, they want to do the Gridley fair next... I'm not sure what Grammie Norma will say about another stinky visitor in the barn.

This is Hay showing his pig for the first time... There were about 10 pigs all wandering around with their little owners. Something that doesn't really make sense to me is why they wear white clothes... but I'm sure there is a reason that I have not been privy to. Below, is Hayden who is supposed to be guiding his pig back to the pen... unfortunately, the pig usually ran a bit amuck...

With May coming to a close this next week, June promises to be a great month! First of all it is my birthday month... and Bailey's too... and that makes it a very important month! Next the kids get out of school & we are off to Lake Siskiyou to camp for a long weekend with Mike's family, and then up to Oregon for a long week where we will meet up with some more family & visit a cousin in Portland, do a bit of riding on the sand dunes... and basically have a fabulous time at the ocean!!!!

One last photo... of my pretty hollyhocks... I just love them! They make me happy!

Dang nature...

Spring has hit our vicinity in full force… and as much as I love the green on the trees, wildflowers in bloom, happy little bee’s poking around… and all of the birds singing from early morning ‘til eve… a huge part of me HATES the nature… or at least hates what it does to my leaky itchy eyes, stuffy nose, and never-ending headaches. I guess I should be happy that it eventually fades… but until that time I’m literally chomping on benadryll like it’s candy. Yuk!

So, you might be wondering what we’ve been doing the past few months… and heaven knows that I’m lousy about updating this blog so I’m going to attach a few photos…

I threw a baby shower for my cousin Bobbie...
I threw a bridal shower for my cousin Lynsey...

We celebrated Jeren's (My brother Jeremy's son.) 6th birthday.

My cousin Lynsey, married her long-time boyfriend Jared and performed what had to have been the best cake feed that has ever been done... I was captivated from the moment that I saw her eyes sparkle with mischief as they each took a piece. Way to go guys!

Hayden & I went to Pt. Reyes science camp for a week with his entire 7th grade class... I swear we walked so much I was sore for a week afterwards! This gorgeous coastal area was an incredible place to hike, play on the beach & to just sit, enjoying the magnificent views.





I just love this photo of the campfire above, and all of the kids sitting around laughing & joking. Hayden is sitting behind the fire in the center...



Beachcombing was a blast... There were so many starfish, shells, driftwood & clams stuck to the rocks... This was my first slimy starfish that I've found... most have a crusty shell but this one was actually smooth.


Koltin celebrated his 10th birthday at Heart Attack Race Track in Chico... That's him in the lead...

I had a fabulous long weekend in Las Vegas with some friends & my cousin Becky. My first time there... and although Tom Jones was an interesting show... Cirque du Soleil Love Beatles show was the BEST!!!!! I walked almost as much as when we were in Pt. Reyes, but the shopping was much better!

Happy Easter 2009!

Casey on the hunt...

Koltie, Caden, Casey, Hayden & Kaili

Each year we take turns trying to crack each other's egg to see who gets the good luck for the year... This is one of Vicki's greek traditions and we've fallen in love with it!

This year, Jeren won!

It was a very long day... Bryan & Casey take a break...

So... as you can tell... things are as they always are... CRAZY at the Shadd home! It has been nice for Mike lately, he's decided to take a break from driving, and put someone in his truck leaving him more time to... well, do whatever it is he does... ha ha ha... mostly talking on the phone... just kidding honey! Until next time... I'm off to lay in the hammock and soak up a bit of 'dang' nature...